Pen Pal Rundown

That's a double entendre!  "Rundown" as in overview and "rundown" as in... the general feeling at 4012 Harvestwood Court.  But, that's a good thing.  Rundown when you have a house full of kids means energy is being expended and fun is being had.  Allegra and Rebecca are getting along great... laughing; singing to the Jonas Brothers; eating lots and lots of gummy worms, sour patch kids, and chewy sweet tarts - sugar galore!; swimming; lots of crafts; and a big dose of Magic 8 Ball-reading and MASH Mania, F.L.A.M.E.S, and Crush Casters.

Maybe the best way to fill you in is to do it through it through the lenses of high, low, and aha.

High:  Today we took the girls to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Forth Worth, Texas.  We wandered through the Dinosaur Roundup, dressed up in chaps; posed for cowgirl movie posters; and rode bucking bronco rides.  On the way out of the museum I looked up and Rebecca and Allegra were holding hands.  It warmed my heart.  There was a little bit of risk involved in flying these two girls to Texas without them meeting beforehand.  It seems to be working.... so far.

Low:  Tie Dying T-shirts.  I'm going to go on the record for saying... craft projects, like recipes, should be REQUIRED to forecast prep time and "cook time."  Now, I'm an event planner by nature, so accurately assessing how long something will take is not usually a problem for me.  NOT SO for the Twisted Tie Dye Machine.  Back in the day when t-shirts were a nickel and we had to walk three miles to the store to get them... through the snow and up hill both ways... the whole shabang took a couple hours.  Heat the water, a little bit of vinegar and dye, rubber band the shirts, and hang them out to dry.  Within two hours your sporting your new shirt.  

The Twisted Tie Dye Machine is more like a Time Machine.  There's "fixing solution" that needs to sit and I suppose "cure" for an hour before the shirts can be "prepped" for tie dying (there was no prepping back in the day).  Next the die tablets (used to be liquid poured in boiling water) must also sit and "cure," but for two hours.  Then, and only then, are the shirts ready to be dyed.  Once done, they must sit OVER NIGHT in plastic bags, then be rinsed, and hung to dry.  According to my calculations... they should be done with the shirts in time to board the plane on Monday.  P.S.  We started on Friday morning.  The  best laid plans...

Aha:  Hard to say where to go with this...  Is it, that ten year old girls thrive on drama?  Nah... too obvious.  Is it... that ten year old girls still posses an insatiable curiosity that will compel them to open an emergency exit door in the middle of a restaurant - even thought it says in big, bold, red letters, "Emergency Exit?"  Nope.... we can do better.  Is it that the taste of ten year old girls can be so vast and so eclectic, that buying plastic horses, a metal lunch box, chokers, and a bag of rocks could all seem like reasonable purchases for a single afternoon?  Maybe.  But I think my real "aha" for today is that the interests, dreams, and hopes of young girls transcends geography and even generations.  I can remember being excited about all the same things they're talking about... and, yes... even still I want to know Mansion, Apartment, Shack, or House.

Side note:  Katie is sitting next to me and wants to add her "aha" for the day.  Rebecca and Allegra also love music.  It seems that today Katie learned, she is too old to know who Aerosmith is, but not too old to ask Santa for a tubal ligation.  

Signing off until Monday...