Where's a house-elf when you need one??

It's been rather a whirlwind week! DsD is graduating high school this weekend, and there will be a small influx of friends and relatives. Which, of course, necessitates that my house be somewhat presentable. That, and that my cablemodem has been rather non-cooperative the past few days, so I feel a bit of catch-up is necessary.

Thursday I had carpet cleaners come in - that took a while. The house does look rather cleaner for it, though. Friday we had a mattress delivered for our guest room, and we also had an estimate on replacing the fence that got taken out by Frances. Ouch - the fence will cost nearly as much as our hurricane shutters! But other than that, and patching a few shingles, and we'll be back to pre-hurricane conditions!

Saturday was DD's birthday party at a local pizzeria/arcade - she had a joint party with her bestest friend, and from the comments I got from other parents, it was a rousing success! We opted not to open presents at the party, since there would be a few guests there for one child but not the other, and at this age the guests only care about their own presents being opened. So we brought home a huge 30-gallon garbage bag full of wrapped presents, and I was wondering how I'd ever be able to find places for DD to put them all away! As it turned out, once the packaging was removed, the bulk of the presents fit into a small (3 gal) storage bin. (I'm not sure whether to be pleased or appalled by the fact that most of the volume was taken up with disposable packaging). Being a small girl, there were the usual run of princess, purse/jewelry, and makeup presents. DD got a couple of Barbie items. I really don't care for Barbie things myself, but I find I certainly prefer them to Bratz. At least Barbies just have a bunch of different outfits and the occasional professional accessories. The only profession Bratz seem suited for is the world's oldest one! But anyway, DD is happy, the toys are pretty well stowed away, and a good time was had by all.

DsS came over Saturday for DD's party, and stayed over to Sunday. We played a full game of 4-player Britannia with gaming buddy J, and the day was capped by an episode of Conquerors on William of Normandy on the History Channel. How appropriate, given that we'd spent the day replaying the history of Britain.

Monday was most excellent from a stitching perspective. A new Secret Stitcher round has started, and I got several packages in the mail. From my new Secret Stitcher, I got some nice overdyed floss, some nummy British chocolate, and Passione Ricamo's "Once Upon A Time" and associated specialty fibers and beads! What an amazing opening gift. And from some unknown benefactor (who was not my SS - I asked), I got the Just CrossStitch Christmas Ornaments 2003 issue, some Piecemaker needles, and a nice opalescent hand-dyed fabric. Very lovely.

So that's been my week in review. Things will probably still be rather hectic the rest of the week in preparation for graduation.

On a side note, there have been a few changes in interstate wine shipments, which will be helpful to a budding wine snob like me! Wine is an integral part of many cultures, and it would be a shame to miss out on this aspect. One nice domestic vineyard DH discovered on a trip to San Diego is Orfila Vineyards. They have an excellent port, among other offerings. I've just tried a Gewürtztraminer from them. Fruity with a slight effervescence, and in my opinion would make a superior replacement to champagne for holiday sipping. I haven't tried a wine from Orfila I didn't like, so I certainly recommend them!

Anyway, such is the abridged version of my life this past week. If you know of any unemployed house-elves, send them my way!