Thoughts on being 8

My 8th birthday was pretty great. I remember an unexpected car pulling into our driveway and my Aunt Alison getting out! What a fantastic surprise! Alison was/is the aunt who was/is totally fun and cool (although, as far as aunts go, I'm pretty blessed with all of my six!). To make my birthday even better, my brother was on his way to Boy Scout Camp for a week (not that I don't love my brother, but to an 8 year old, a week without him was a pretty good present!). Well, once Alias left, the girls went to see a movie!! And what did the birthday girl choose?! Harry and the Hendersons. Looking back, what a lame pick! But when you're 8, Bigfoot is pretty cool. I don't really remember much else about my 8th birthday. I just remember it was one of my best birthdays EVER. While Alias was at camp, I convinced my mom to let me put a Nintendo on lay away at K-Mart. With my birthday money in hand, all $40 of it!, I proudly reserved the $100 game system. Being $60 short, I had a grand plan: Once Alias returned from camp, I'd convince him to match my $40 and then our mom could pay the $20 balance. Wouldn't you know, my plan worked brilliantly! So, the Mixes were proud owners of a Nintendo the summer we turned 8 and 13. What could possibly beat a summer of old school Super Mario Brothers? If I made it through the first level of World 1 alive, I was doing good :). [And on a side note: What were they thinking when they thought that Duck Hunt would be a fun game to include with Nintendo? Who liked that game anyway? [except for Jed; thanks for ruining my theory] A better question would be: Who played that game by the rules? No one stood back at the required distance [5 feet?]! To shoot a duck, you had to be right up at the TV.

So, I was thinking about my 8th birthday because I went to Emily Sue's 8th birthday party/sleepover yesterday! Whew, what a ball! Emily Sue is one of my treasured first graders from Riverside! Currently, she holds the title of "World's Funniest 7 Year Old." She'll be promoted to "World's Funniest 8 Year Old" on June 3rd when she officially crosses over. The party got started at Cinema World, the 16 theater megaplex right here in Melbourne! (Yes, shocking!) We saw Shrek 2, complete with Shrek fruit snacks, Shrek juice AND Shrek ears :). I hadn't ever seen Shrek 1, so I was in for such a treat! It was HILARIOUS. Go now to a theater near you if you haven't seen it. Puss in Boots...well, he was GOLD! Back at Party Central we geared up for a romp around the backyard complete with a Slip and Slide. Now, I have no memory of ever slipping and sliding as a kid, so I was pretty excited to give it a go yesterday. It was great fun! GREAT FUN! The running start is crucial in getting a good slide going. By the 5th try or so, I was sliding the whole length :). However, this morning I could barely move. I may mentally feel like an 8 year old sometimes, but I physically felt very old this morning! My knee has some pretty good battle scars/bruises from yesterday's sliding adventure and every muscle in my body aches. But, the watery fun was well worth it. Emily got quite a few nifty presents that us girls were able to enjoy last night: Nickolodean Trivia Game, What Would Lizzie Do (who doesn't LOVE Lizzie McGuire?), and PETER PAN, THE DVD :). I just wish all little kids could experience the magic that Wendy, Michael, and John did. It's pure magic. I love it! Well, hanging out with 7 and 8 year olds is sheer joy! (Except, they tend to get very cranky late at night...and of course they refuse to go to bed because after all, it's a sleepover and that means: STAY UP AS LATE AS YOU CAN EVEN IF YOU'RE TIRED AND CRANKY!) It's too bad that, most of the time, the older one gets, the more magic slips away. I wish that we could somehow bottle that childhood magic and keep it forever! We could let it out in doses when we realized we were acting too adult or grown-up!

My weekend's been pretty great thus far. Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone. Please make sure you tune in for Willie Nelson's special on USA Monday evening at 9 PM. Bob Dylan will be on!!!

Happy Bob-day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to BOB.

And now, a correction to last night's blog:

I am not alone in my ALIAS watching! My friend, the Dylan enthusiast, also watches ALIAS...which promoted him from really cool to ICE COLD!

I'm on a roll here with blogging! Blog is such a fun word :).

Alias is Over

No more ALIAS until September. No one who reads this is really a fan, except my dear friends in Scotland, but they're 2 seasons behind, so I'm all alone! Tonight was the season finale...it ended only moments ago. It had a satisfying conclusion, on some levels...certainly not the cliff hanger of first season when beloved Vaughn was trapped behind the door with the rising water! However, there was a troubling twist at the very end, but it's one that I can comfortably live with until September.

My almost grandparents, Don and Ginnie, have just celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary. Isn't that remarkable?! They also recently celebrated the date of their first date, which was 68 years ago. I feel very blessed to have known the Lambs, and to be their adopted granddaughter (as they have no grandchildren of their own!). Anyway, I thought their marriage was quite the noteworthy thing to be mentioned here on my infamous blog!

In other news: tomorrow is a national holiday of sorts, at least in the Mix Household. It's Bob Dylan's 63rd birthday! There might even be some cake involved. Dylan has left an indelible mark on the Mix girls' lives, and "his musical legacy cannot be overstated" (I once saw that on a website). As Adam Duritz so brilliantly said, "I wanna be Bob Dylan." I don't necessarily want to BE Bob Dylan, but I wouldn't mind being able to write a song as poignant as one of his. I also wouldn't mind being able to play the guitar AND harmonica simultaneously like Dylan (I've never been one to multi-task).

So, Happy Birthday, Bob!

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

The Last Day of School

Yesterday marked the end of school. The last hour of the day was crazy: a water fight ensued and my door knobs were smothered in marshmallow cream, but those are the moments to live for! I was actually quite surprised because the last day of school was actually anti-climatic. Nothing hugely memorable (besides the water and Fluff) happened. I guess I always thought that when BIG days happen they'd be marked by moments of greatness. But, the last day of ninth grade, well, it was pretty ordinary. I went to school today to sort out grades and other sorts of housekeeping things and the bells continued ringing like normal. But, of course the familiar faces didn't come in and out of my classroom. I will really miss some of those familiar faces [and you know who you are, especially if you have this website and are reading! I hope you can look back on our year together with as much fondness as I can!].

Now what?! Monday begins preplanning for Summer School [which technically begins on Wednesday]. That will last until the end of June and I'm fairly certain time will pass quickly! I'll have the month of July to do whatever I please, which will probably include sleeping late (at least until 7 am!!), watching some television [but not massive amounts...summer is my time to cut back on my TV addiction because my shows are in hiatus], and eating a fair amount of ice cream and watermelon [there are just some foods so closely associated with certain times of the year, for instance, what do you think of when you eat pumpkin pie or green bean casserole? Of course, Thanksgiving. How about those Bisquick biscuit balls? That's right, Christmas! Well, ice cream and watermelon SCREAM summer!].

If I could wave a magic wand and do anything this summer, I just might choose to go to the Grand Canyon. Have you ever fallen in love with something from a song? That's what happened with me and the Grand Canyon. Summer of 2000 is when I got the Andrew Peterson CD Carried Along and that's when the Grand Canyon become imprinted upon my heart, because of "Nothing to Say." So, 4 years have passed and I'm still always thinking of the Grand Canyon and it's ok if I don't make it there this summer because I know one day I'll be there and am confident that I will feel just like Andy: "And I don't believe that I believed in You as deeply as today, I reckon what I'm saying is there's nothing more, nothing more to say. And the mountains sing Your glory hallelujah. The canyons echo sweet amazing grace. My spirit sails, the mighty gales are bellowing Your name. And I've got nothing to say."

Maybe I'll go to Nashville for a visit! I said this last year, too, and it never happened! But, for those of you who don't know, I am seriously hoping that THE great move to Music City will happen next fall. My intentions now are to go to graduate school at Belmont while wearing red boots, most likely for a master's in Education. I'd love your prayers; open doors are always welcome! I don't know how my cats will feel about taking up residence elsewhere, but I'm fairly certain all three gnomes won't mind :).

Here's my list of recommendations (because I think is a fun thing to do):

CD: Switchfoot's -- The Beautiful Letdown (truly, an amazing album!)

Book: Prayer and the Art of Volkswagon maintenance (I recently reread this, and I love it all over again!)

Movie: Rent Peter Pan, and if you've recently done that, then go and see New York Minute with the Olsen twins (I'm just kidding here!)

Thing to avoid: squirrels!

Color: anything yellow, it's the happiest color

Snack: Peach Jello :)

TV Show: ALIAS! The season finale is on THIS Sunday night!!!!!!!!!