I don't think any of this really helps...well, the NyQuil does make you sleep...not my favorite first option on a fine summer weekend, but not bad when your main activities on the fine summer weekend consist of coughing and sniffling.
Well, the weekend went nothing like planned! (As my husband says, "It's important to have a plan...so we can change it.") I want to thank Aimee for very generously sharing her yucky cold with me...who gets a cold in August for goodness sakes??? After sharing said cold, and completely recovered herself, Aimee left town for a fun filled weekend in Minneapolis, leaving me behind sniffling, sneezing, coughing, and pretty much good for absolutely nothing all weekend. The bright side of this is that now Aimee and I have had a run at this early in the season, so we should be good to go for the rest of the year...at least that is the hope. A little of this goes a long way. (I still love you, Aimee...friends are for sharing things together!)
No football games or parties for me this weekend...no apple pie for Mark...but I did manage to get all the laundry done and everyone squared away for the upcoming week. One of the cute bits over the weekend was that we needed to shop for a birthday gift for Annika's fourth birthday party. The task fell to Mark and Alex, neither having a clue in the world how to shop for "girls!" Needing some suggestions, sister Olivia thought Annika might like a Barbie or a Polly Pocket (this is a 50/50 chance at best as Olivia is 9, so this could be what Olivia really wanted and have nothing whatsoever to do with what Annika might like). They headed off to Target and the "girl aisle" of the toy department...Mark said Alex took one look and said, "Too much pink for me, Dad, you are on your own here," and headed off for electronics. Mark is definitely not at home with girl things...he grew up with four brothers and one sister who was not much into pink and dolls. Being a father of sons, he has had no experience in pink aisles whatsoever and was totally unprepared for the amount of pink there is to choose from in the "girl aisle." (I would have given a lot just to see this sight actually.) He decided to play it safe and get both a Barbie and a Polly Pocket. I asked him which Barbie he chose and he said it was a Tahitian Princess because she had a very pink outfit (hmmm...I am thinking that the words Tahitian Princess and thoughts of Gauguin's Tahitian artwork might have entered into the decision, but I kept mum about that and just chuckled to myself), and then he selected whichever Polly Pocket was first on the shelf. Alex said Annika was very happy and loved them both, so I guess that was quite a success. May have to send Mark shopping for pink things more often. (And to be quite fair to Paul Gauguin, I do love his earlier Breton period and the Yellow Christ...the Tahitian period, while inspired and beautiful, doesn't draw me in like the earlier Breton pieces...but, then, I am not a guy.)