Playtime for Mark and Diane

I really need to blog frequently, living here, because so much is going on! I'm not used to that. Since last Saturday, they held the Super Bowl party in the theater, where they could watch on the movie screen. Pizza, chicken wings, pasta salad, chips, and a vegetable and fruit tray were part of the spread. I ate a chicken wing and veggies and fruit; then we left because it was sooo loud! I'm sure you know the Packers won - stinkin' Cheese Heads! lol Then, yesterday, we had a great singer here - Jerome Dean - for Julie's birthday (they used to date). Surprise, Julie! We sang Happy Birthday to her, while they rolled out a cake. She almost cried. I gave her a card from Mark and me, one of my goofy-looking but heartfelt homemade ones. She said she'll always keep it - probably as a liner for her bird cage! jk Jerome sang so many great, classic songs: Teddy Bear, Only You, More, My Girl, Venus, When I Fall In Love, The Hop, The Girl From Ipanema, and so many others. It was just like a scene from My Best Friend's Wedding, and Jerome sings like the man who sang at Cameron's wedding. I'll never forget his "Just the Way You Look Tonight." So romantic! I stayed a while, visiting with the ladies. Then I went to our room and worked on some things. I'd just started relaxing when Mark came in and said they wanted to go bowling, so I grabbed Little Women and headed out the door with him. Turns out, we're going bowling today. Instead, Julie took us to a Chinese restaurant and we had some delicious food. My favorites were the melon balls and candied walnuts that came with a shrimp dish - heavenly! For dessert, we had chocolate cake with raspberry syrup and delicious, unusually-flavored ice cream with fried banana pastry things surrounding it. I didn't eat the cake, but I ate the blueberries and raspberries that came with each dessert. The ice cream/banana dessert was nummy! This a.m. I went and made cards again. I found out that Barbara, our teacher, makes the cards herself, from her own ideas. Then she cuts the stock and prints them out for us to decorate. Amazing! She's going to enter Hallmark's contest this year. Yay for her! I think she'll do well. In a couple of hours, then, we're going bowling with the same group. Julie's 13 yr.-old son is here with Julie this time (she comes here a few days a week). He's very cute and shy. Deedee (whom he has grown up around) loves to give him big hugs and embarrass him. Anyway, he wants to go bowling, so we are going to Red Rocks, a big casino with a bowling alley, this afternoon. Whew! : ) One thing I realized yesterday is that, in the midst of trying to be helpful and sociable, we are playing, something we rarely did before. We had little kids and clients for so many years, and we were scrambling to make a living and establish traditions for the family, and we didn't get to play much. We were happy, but operating under duress. Now we actually play, almost every day. Wow! So this is what playing feels like...it makes me smile. Do you get to play each day? Tell me about it! xoxoxo