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Busy Days...
Jet's birthday party day. I do litergist today and we all paint bowls for Empty Bowls again.
So Jet being Jet invited two ten-year-olds for his all-day birthday party. He and John went and picked the other two boys up at 9:30 a.m. and went to Home Depot and built something wooden there before I even got up and had my breakfast. Biked around the neighborhood. Ran around playing tag, went down into the basement to play with the Eye Toy until they were all panting, and then just played through the house until it was lunch time. A double helping of macaroni and cheese later, they built an electronic "kite" and flew it. And then they put together Jet's new electronic dart board and played with it.
At 3, we took them to the Longmont Rec. Center and they swam, rode the slides, swam around and around and around the Lazy River, jumped off the low diving board, and ended up in the hot tub for a while. Then we went home, and John built a fire in our little fire pit and everyone roasted their own hot dogs, so that they could cook them exactly as much as they wanted them and no one complained at all. *grins* And Jet surprised the heck out of John and I by asking for two hot dogs and eating all of them.
After dinner they played a little, and then and went and got ice cream at Dairy Queen because that was Jet's favorite, and everyone could get what they wanted rather than just buying one ice cream cake for everyone. Of course, in the middle of the ice cream, one of Jet's friends reaches in and pulls out his six-month molar. Blood everywhere, but he says, "It didn't hurt at all." He's probably right, but it took a little cleaning up... *laughs* Everyone was very happy after that, and they frantically stuffed what they really wanted into the last twenty minutes of the day before we took them back to their own houses at 8 pm. When Jet came home from delivering them home, he was so tired, I actually carried him to bed; but he was really, really happy, too. That was very good indeed.
So it really was an all-day party. During some of the playing bits I got to write and John and I rechecked all our taxes.
Today I got to be liturgist at church, which means I just read a lot of stuff off the program, some of the prayers, the scripture, and try and time things. The pastor said, afterward that I was a very calming influence from the lectern. That made me giggle. A few folks complimented me on my reading style, and on my voice. Others simply thanked me for doing that job, especially the folks that would never have done it. *laughs*
I just signed up for Reading Service of the Rockies... so maybe I'll get to use that to some blind person's advantage as well. It's a service that reads newspapers so that blind people can keep up to date on the latest news.
After that we all went to the Fellowship Hall, had some soup and painted bowls.
Jet was pretty happy to show off his bowl. The funny thing was that they sent the "Sophisticated Palette" instead of the usual Day Glo one... which made me have to think very hard indeed. John did something straightforward:
I, on the other hand, thought too much:
So we were there most of the early afternoon. Then Jet and I played a lot of Indiana Jones. I made chicken wings for dinner again, with the caramelized wings and the straight boiled and broiled (boil 15 minutes and then broil them until they're crispy) wings. Jet loves the caramelized ones as it's a mixture of soy, honey, ginger, garlic, poured over the joints and baked until the sauce thickens, sometimes over an hour and they get really tender. With as many loose teeth as he has, the softness really helps. That sauce is really good on rice, too.
We had a really quiet evening. Just watching Mythbusters, writing drabbles, and hot tubbing. Jet was quite willing to go to bed early.
So Jet being Jet invited two ten-year-olds for his all-day birthday party. He and John went and picked the other two boys up at 9:30 a.m. and went to Home Depot and built something wooden there before I even got up and had my breakfast. Biked around the neighborhood. Ran around playing tag, went down into the basement to play with the Eye Toy until they were all panting, and then just played through the house until it was lunch time. A double helping of macaroni and cheese later, they built an electronic "kite" and flew it. And then they put together Jet's new electronic dart board and played with it.
At 3, we took them to the Longmont Rec. Center and they swam, rode the slides, swam around and around and around the Lazy River, jumped off the low diving board, and ended up in the hot tub for a while. Then we went home, and John built a fire in our little fire pit and everyone roasted their own hot dogs, so that they could cook them exactly as much as they wanted them and no one complained at all. *grins* And Jet surprised the heck out of John and I by asking for two hot dogs and eating all of them.
After dinner they played a little, and then and went and got ice cream at Dairy Queen because that was Jet's favorite, and everyone could get what they wanted rather than just buying one ice cream cake for everyone. Of course, in the middle of the ice cream, one of Jet's friends reaches in and pulls out his six-month molar. Blood everywhere, but he says, "It didn't hurt at all." He's probably right, but it took a little cleaning up... *laughs* Everyone was very happy after that, and they frantically stuffed what they really wanted into the last twenty minutes of the day before we took them back to their own houses at 8 pm. When Jet came home from delivering them home, he was so tired, I actually carried him to bed; but he was really, really happy, too. That was very good indeed.
So it really was an all-day party. During some of the playing bits I got to write and John and I rechecked all our taxes.
Today I got to be liturgist at church, which means I just read a lot of stuff off the program, some of the prayers, the scripture, and try and time things. The pastor said, afterward that I was a very calming influence from the lectern. That made me giggle. A few folks complimented me on my reading style, and on my voice. Others simply thanked me for doing that job, especially the folks that would never have done it. *laughs*
I just signed up for Reading Service of the Rockies... so maybe I'll get to use that to some blind person's advantage as well. It's a service that reads newspapers so that blind people can keep up to date on the latest news.
After that we all went to the Fellowship Hall, had some soup and painted bowls.
Jet was pretty happy to show off his bowl. The funny thing was that they sent the "Sophisticated Palette" instead of the usual Day Glo one... which made me have to think very hard indeed. John did something straightforward:
I, on the other hand, thought too much:
So we were there most of the early afternoon. Then Jet and I played a lot of Indiana Jones. I made chicken wings for dinner again, with the caramelized wings and the straight boiled and broiled (boil 15 minutes and then broil them until they're crispy) wings. Jet loves the caramelized ones as it's a mixture of soy, honey, ginger, garlic, poured over the joints and baked until the sauce thickens, sometimes over an hour and they get really tender. With as many loose teeth as he has, the softness really helps. That sauce is really good on rice, too.
We had a really quiet evening. Just watching Mythbusters, writing drabbles, and hot tubbing. Jet was quite willing to go to bed early.
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(Also, very glad Jet had a great day.)
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And, yes, he had a great time at the party of his choosing. *laughs*
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The bowls do look lovely but gawd you're making me so hungry talking about caramelized chicken wings *drools over her desk*
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The OUR Center then holds a soup lunch, and you have to buy tickets to go to that. But you get to get and keep one of the bowls someone has made. If we're really lucky we get to find the bowl we made.
A few dozen of the donated bowls are held aside for a silent auction, to raise more money. I've had bowls in the auction for the last three years running, so I try harder on my bowls. If you click on any of the pictures it'll take you to the set with all my other bowls as well, I think...
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It's that same problem... figuring out when to *stop* tweaking... *laughs*
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And I have to agree, I like all the bowls for different reasons.
It was a pretty good day, all in all...
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The bowls are gorgeous, of course. :) Do you keep those or send them off somewhere - is it a charity thing?
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But we really tried to think of a few alternatives to the two-hour sugar party, including letting him pick a trip somewhere like to San Diego and Legoland, or this all-day thing, or a special thing to make or... and he decided on this himself and planned most of the events with us. I think that's why he really enjoyed it.
*grins* Thanks about the bowls!
Empty Bowls is local community fundraiser for the OUR Center, our main resource center for homeless folks. Basically, you pay about half price for the bowl and to paint it, and Crack Pots (our local U-paint place) sends the bowl, after it's fired, as a donation to the OUR Center.
The OUR Center then holds a soup lunch, and you have to buy tickets to go to that. But you get to get and keep one of the bowls someone has made. If we're really lucky we get to find the bowl we made.
A few dozen of the donated bowls are held aside for a silent auction, to raise more money. I've had bowls in the auction for the last three years running, so I try harder on my bowls. If you click on any of the pictures it'll take you to the set with all my other bowls as well, I think...
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I used to take my daughter to "paint your own pottery" place when she was younger. We haven't been for a few years, but looking at your pictures made me want to do some of our own!!! I know what she's going to say though -- "Mommy, you're trying waaaay too hard..." LOL
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Exactly...
Jet and I go once in a while as he finds it a real treat, still, and I'll take advantage of that while it lasts. *laughs* I did a plate last time and he did a little pumpkin candle holder that we used for Halloween. He loved that.
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Thank you!!
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The bowls were all so cute. Yours is especially lovely. :D
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Yeah, we spent a little time with Jet to figure out what he really wanted; so he really got into doing it. *grins* That was really nice.