xtcian

My husband has an extra lower incisor tooth AND he did not KNOW that it was an extra tooth until he was a TEEN! Fascinating!

A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a danish.

My wife is undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive.

As I type this she is demonstrating to me the various noisemakers she has collected for the "noisemaker parade" portion of my son's upcoming birthday party (approx. 15 6-yr-olds.)

This will be the 74th of 86 activities she has planned for the 2-hour party.

As far as I can tell, since January she has dedicated 12 hours of each day and 3-4 hours of her dreamtime to identifying new ways to occupy the children in the event that they finish all the other activities and become bored.

BTW, this year's party theme is Star Wars. Please arrive by 1:30 so we can familiarize you with the station you will be working. As of today we still need people to attend the moon bounce, the Jedi knight training obstacle course, the Shirt/poster signing station, the pool noodle/Lightsaber craft station, the day-in-the-life of a stormtrooper dressup station, the color-you-own deathstar station. If anyone has ideas where we can find an additional 5-8 eWok costumes then we can go forward with the eWok pride parade. If not then we will have to scratch that portion of the opening ceremony.

Not that there's anything wrong with obsession - I love you sweetie!

[help]

No extra cake for Jabba; he's got to cut back some. Oh, and my favorite 'new' Star Wars character is "Dark Mall".

I'm afraid I'm suffering under the same affliction as Greg's wife. Although my obsession concerns packing my two daughters for summer camp. There's an extensive list provided by the camp - but I've spent hours determining the proper ratio of shorts/t-shirts, finding just the right fan and the most appropriate sunscreen. Also, pre-addressing envelopes (handwriting is a challenge in our family) and otherwise worrying everyone to death. My 9-year old finally told me to give it a rest. Her camp t-shirt from last year has this mysterious yellow stain & I was trying to get it out. "Mom, chill out. It's CAMP!" she told me. I'm wondering if this crazed focus on preparation and planning is something unique to GenX mothering. I'm sure my mom packed me off to camp with some old clothes, flashlight and nary an extra thought .

Good thing Ian accidently left his laptop in Brooklyn and not someplace where it was likely to get stolen.

"I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise." Hillary Clinton

Don't even get her started on back-to-school supplies. I think we (she) spent 4 weeks and 2 weeks salary during that phase of the obsession.

I turn 40 on June 14.

I am fascinated by the culture/nostalgia of summer camp attendees. How many of you went to camp? Was it a horrible extension of the cruelty of public school or an incredible bonding atmosphere that made you the team player you are today?

@LMFD: What are your big plans to mark your 40th? I turn 40 this October and am looking for ideas minus the light saber station and eWok parade (no offense Greg!).

Hi Lola. You know, I have been so busy with assorted life issues (FYI - my Dad returned home from his heart surgery/kidney dialysis/therapy extravaganza last week -- he had not been home since the first week of April! Go Dad!) that I have not even thought about it. The weeks have just flown by and my bday is upon me. Plus, my daughter and I share the same birthday, so I have been planning for HER party, rather than thinking about my own celebration.

My advise to you is to plan early. Otherwise, the daily grind of life will take up all of your time and you will be spending your 40th birthday entertaining a bunch of antsy 9 year olds. Which, is actually OK with me, but I would like a spa vacation thrown into the mix as well!

My junior year at UNC, my right knee snapped completely out of socket while I was dozing in me loft. My roommate (GFWD) thought I was kidding but, after much cajoling, climbed into the loft and popped my leg straight. To this day, he turns a tad green every time this story is recounted.

This is the most interesting story that I have that happens to cover more than 1 reader of this blog.

well the most interesting thing i have right now is my movie script. anyone want to read it?

i have two kid parties in July I am trying to prepare for and i have SO been there on the OCD thing. the worst was the TMNT party when my oldest was turning 3. i tried to find actual turtles for a turtle race but nixed the idea due to the salmonella and potential backlash from the kids'parents if they got a live turtle in the gift bag.

so instead i bought a box of wind-up walking turtles in bulk and proceded to decorate them with tiny little ninja costumes for the turtle race, and made matching ninja costumes with the big shell back for the kids to wear during the race.

i think i might have snapped out of it when i was surrounded by heaps of ninja bandana material the night before trying to figure out how to thread the sewing machine, but my mother-in-law was there for the event and she went right down the rabbit hole with me and we wound up crafting all through the night like 2 party favor crack heads.

amazingly, the kids didn't even notice that there were two slightly different shades of green for the bandana and the costume shells weren't perfectly concave.

both kids made a switch a few years later to this circus training place where they teach flying trapeze lessons and they both did that religiously for 3-4 years in a row, which took a lot of the pressure off, except that first year when i didn't know exactly what to expect so i got these clown ensembles with fake noses and joy buzzers and such.

but eventually, as they get older mine just seem more and more to shun the mom as party-planner-from-hell type party and just want to go somewhere cool like a skating rink or water park. can't imagine why.

@ Andrea: Some of my greatest childhood memories are of camp. My parents shipped me off for 6-8 weeks every summer. My husband just doesn't get it and had been reluctant to send our 9 year old. Next year, that child is GOING. But just for 2 weeks. It costs $2500 for 2 weeks. I just can't wrap my mind around that.

Last year it was my turn to play the obsessive party-planner role when Gina (my wife) turned 40 (June 17, btw...)

I didn't attempt to make it a surprise party, but did have elements of surprise. Friends flew in from all over the country for our pirate-themed party in the park. All guests were directed to arrive in costume, some took in more seriously than others. To honor Gina's childish nature I hired a moon bounce and we periodically kicked the kids out for the adults to bounce.

I hired a pirate entertainer that typically worked children's parties. He led Gina and a band of 10(maybe 8?) children around the park to search for hidden treasure and kept all of them mesmerized for around an hour.

We were blessed with gorgeous weather and fabulous company.

All that just to recommend that adding elements of a typical kid's party to an adult birthday party can go over pretty well if the adult is of the right mindset.

most interesting thing here: a six-week old! He doesn't sleep much, but he's cute. Would be willing to send him to summer camp so I can get some shut eye. Or a pirate party. He'd be cute in a treasure chest. Somebody send me to the brig - maybe I can sleep there - before I start looking like a pirate.

too late, really.

Let us mark the occasion of the use of "@" on this blog as it has been used on others. I guess we are some slow fuddy-duddies that it took this long! (Unless I missed its use here earlier.)

Oh, Ian, I hope you get/got your 'puter back!

I was tailgating all day at the Jimmy Buffett concert. Saw Urban Meyer and told him that Tim Tebow is no Tyler Hansbrough. Coach Meyer gave me that look (paraphrasing from Fletch), "you know, he's got that look!"

I can confirm the night DFB's&T's knee popped out of socket (think Mel Gibson's shoulder in the Lethal Weapon movies). That was nasty.

Salem's little sister: So that's where my daughter's tooth is! (She is missing one lower front tooth, permanently. Just doesn't have one.) :-)

Greg T: I would love to attend that Star Wars party!! But I wouldn't touch an Ewok (or its costume) with a 10-foot light sabre. One of Lucas's missteps, IMO. :-) I bet the crowd of 6 year olds will eat it up, though.

My SW credentials:
http://annenotations.blogspot.com/2005/05/holy-sith.html

http://annenotations.blogspot.com/2005/04/in-galaxy-far-far-away.html

No geek like an old geek, I say.

I loved camp! Girl Scout, church, 4H, tennis, you name it, mostly in the NC mtns (heavenly). They have "family" camp now. Do they have camp purely for adults? That would rock if you could get your kids sent off to kid camp. Hey, maybe there's a Star Wars camp-too bad it would probably look like an ewok village. I would still go though.