Friday Happenings

• Hip hip hooray - good luck prevailed (in a manner of speaking). We got away with replacing a part instead of having to replace the whole air conditioner. Who'd have thought I'd be so happy to pay for a replacement part (which was dear enough but nowhere near the cost of a new unit). And no more breaking, busting, crashing, crushing or unpleasantness has clouded our week, so I'm thinking maybe our house-karma has finally rebalanced (for the time being).

• "One more sleep" until the birthday party. Thank goodness, because Jules say "I just can't wait anymore. I've been waiting a million minutes mama." Wow - a million minutes really does sound like quite a feat of patience.

• To tide the birthday girl over, we were thrilled to receive an early package from a very special, very thoughtful, cookie-baking and all around wonderful Auntie. First of all, there is the excitement of a package, which is always a treat in and of itself. But the day takes a whole new turn when the package includes totally adorable girlie-wear AND the most delicious peanut-butter-chocolate cookies and sinfully wonderful brownies. NOTE: I am speaking from pure observation when I describe these treats. Of course I didn't sneak a single bite of the birthday girls loot. Not one little crumb. No no no no no...I wouldn't dream of doing something like that. Have I ever mentioned how quickly I can type with my mouth full of sugar?

• As a follow-up to yesterday's cutting excitement, there was some further activity which was definitely not of the encouraged variety. Ever since pre-school started and safety scissors became part of her craft-life over a year ago, I've been waiting for this moment. Many of my friends have already been through the trauma. Several discussions have been initiated and warnings delivered. But in my heart I knew that this day would come.

Julia cut her hair!

• I was paying attention to something else for literally 2 minutes, and there she stood with scissors in hand, trimming away. "What *are* you doing?" (probably the most redundant and yet most frequently uttered question in the parenting vernacular). Now, my sweet little wildebeest has a lot of hair and it's pretty much been a defining feature since she was born (with a full head of hair that resembled a baby wig), so I've been dreading this moment and have had images of the sudden appearance of bangs or perhaps even some variation of a mullet (business in front, party in the back). All things considering, her first foray into hair design was been pretty tame and she walked away with one very small patch (cut right at the root) that will pretty easily escape notice with just the right brushing. But of course I made sure she got a good long look at the locks that were cut and the stubbies that remain. I even told her that if she had cut any more then her hair would be shorter than Matthew's. That seemed to be the threat that drove the point home and just enough of a lesson that perhaps I don't have to live in fear of a repeat (at least until she hits her pre-teens and lets a friend cut her hair, because I think we've all done that at some point too!)

And with that, I will wish you a great weekend. I'm going to go do some cleaning in the kitchen now...around those Tupperware containers...oh look, cookies and brownies. (Don't worry Auntie M...I'm just kidding...of course I'm kidding...I'm kidding, right?)