Sunday 17 April 2011

All growd up

So Dobby is 14 tomorrow. I know! Where did that time go? She turned 5 the year we moved to Adelaide, and in fact had her birthday at the caravan park we were living in at the time.

Now she's in highschool and causing me endless grief as only a teenager can. She has a party each year (lets face it, it's no fun with just your mum and your dad) but the last few years she has opted for just a small gathering for a sleepover. She toyed with a themed party, toyed pretty hard in fact, but in the end, just selected a few close friends for that ever popular teenage girl bonding night.

I wouldn't mind, but because our bedroom is directly across from the lounge, and said lounge is so tiny, it can get a bit loud. I draw the line a big parties. I usually say only two or three friends. This time, because she has a trundle bed and a fold up mattress, she chose 4 friends and herself.

But boy, those friends! They have to be the loudest group she has ever assembled in one party! Still, they were quiet enough early enough. Though not for Dobby. She stomped off to her room for half an hour apparently because they wouldn't stop talking. Then they woke her early this morning (and me) and she got crabby again at them. Dobby doesn't do the whole group friend thing very well sometimes...

Anyway, she planned this one entirely herself. She figured what she wanted to do, and what she wanted me to buy so she could do it. Luckily she only had a few friends over so it wasn't overly costly. She is a big believer in the gift bag thing, but being all teenagers, you can't just shove some lollies and a balloon in the bag. No, you have to go and buy those multi sets of silver bangles and split them among the bags. And some multi packs of candy, and glow sticks, and one or two other bits and pieces.

Plus Pass the Parcel. She LOVES Pass the Parcel. So we found a set of Lip Smackers lip gloss and she wrapped one every few layers of newspaper. In the middle was a card of earrings. Went down a treat. Dobby was DJ and each friend won a lip gloss, with one winning the card of earrings.

They ran around the back yard for awhile, ate party pies and sausage rolls and cocktail franks (I can't call them Cherios anymore, people don't get it unless they are from Queensland so I have to practice being a South Aussie). They ate ice cream cake for dessert, then had a chocolate fondue, but by then they were all full so didn't indulge much.

The icecream cake was a bit of a disappointment to look at, but Dobby was happy with it anyway, and it was half cookies and cream flavour, half hokey pokey, and declared a resounding success by all.









They retired to watch Burlesque and were relatively quiet for the rest of the night.

Today I got them all breakfast of buttered toast with complementary condiments and they went back to watch TV. Several times I reminded them their folks would be here soon so get dressed and pack up your gear. They were all still sitting around in their jammies when said parents arrived. Typical teenagers.

Dobby and I cleaned up, put the mattresses away, then went off to see Diary Of A Whimpy Kid 2. She loved it. Home again and we watched Knowing (with Nicolas Cage). Fluffy arrived home, sat outside for a bit, then retired to the bedroom to watch the formula one racing. And promptly fell asleep. Halfway through the movie Dobby too fell asleep. Even the cat was asleep. Man, it was soooo quiet for awhile.

Dinner tonight was quick and easy - just put some chicken thigh fillets into the dutch oven with a jar of curry simmer sauce and some oven fries. Too easy.

The rest of the week was busy preparing for the weekend. You may remember last year for Dobby's graduation present I gave her two tickets to see Short Stack and Good Charlotte. She wanted to take a friend but we were reluctant to let two teenagers go alone to a concert. So she got quite upset when that left, well, her daggy old mum. It's just not cool to go out in public with one's parents.

But by concert day she was quite excited. We were dropped off by Fluffy, and stood in a very long line outside for almost half an hour. Then waited inside for another. But it was worth it. The first band they had on was called New Empire. I didn't like them much, but Dobby did. I had packed ear plugs to protect my ears but the music level was quite tolerable.

Next band were Short Stack. Dobby has long been a fan of theirs. The last year she decided maybe not quite so. But when I gave her the Good Charlotte tickets and she saw who was their support act, she was quite excited. They were actually very good. They tour again in July so she has asked to go see them then too. General admission tickets though.... not sure. Would have to arrive very, very early and snavel a seat methinks.

Anyway I didn't want to take my big camera so I used my phone:







I have more Short Stack pictures than Good Charlotte, because Dobby wanted them, and because my phone battery was going flat and I had to still phone Fluffy after the show. Here's a Good Charlotte pic:



Not terribly great photos, but Dobby was happy with them. Our seats look quite far away but it's just the camera. We were actually well placed I thought. We paid the same for seated comfort as those in the mosh pit. The place was not overly crowded which surprised me. And when the two young girls in front and to the left of us tried to stand up, the mother of the family beside us soon put paid to that rubbish. She twice made them sit when they got carried away. Go MUM! Haha.

Short Stack were not real loud either. During the break I went to the loo and wandered down to the merchandise stand. I had planned to buy Dobby a Good Charlotte shirt anyway, but when I saw a CD and poster for $25 of Short Stack I decided she could have that too. She was over the moon.

Then Good Charlotte came on. Oh man! They were sooo loud the music distorted. I promptly shoved my ear plugs in which toned it down to a more bearable level, but it was soo bad I couldn't recognise what song they were even playing because I couldn't hear the words!

They were good anyway, and we enjoyed the show. Fluffy picked us up after the show, after some initial confusion about where he had actually parked. Because I had guessed we'd be done my ten thirty, and he got bored at home, he came over an hour early and sat waiting for us. We didn't get out until after eleven. Home by eleven thirty and poor Dobby couldn't hear a thing after that.

That was Tuesday night. Wednesday she had guitar and her teacher started her playing "What Planet Are You From" by Short Stack. Thursday Fluffy took the black furry boys to the vet to get their shots, and I took Dobby to Marion to search for cheap lolly bag fillers. We did okay. So did the boys. Apparently the vet said he was very happy with Roger, saying we did the right thing by keeping him as a primarily indoor cat who only goes out under supervision, and his coat was lovely, and he's not fat (just fluffy).

Ozzie got a glowing bill of health too. The vet told Fluffy that if he ever had to show anyone what a border collie cross dog should look like, well, he'd get Fluffy to bring in Ozzie. He's right on his correct weight and he was told not to worry about his hip displacia because there were things they can do now to help with that when the time comes that don't even require surgery. Neat! I'm glad we got that out the way before we go away in the van next weekend.

Friday was get ready for party night. We packaged up the bags and cleaned the house. Saturday Dobby was to do a couple of chores then I would take her to buy the party food but she was being a pain so I went alone. I had to go to the cheap grocery store for chips and soft drink (because it's right beside the Chemist Warehouse where I had to buy iron pills) then across town to Harbourtown to Woolies for the rest of the food and the cake.

Oh yes, I went to the doctor on Friday because I had tried to give blood last week but my iron count was way too low and they sent off a sample to their lab. No drama, but I have to take pills for six weeks then go for another blood test.

Anyway, back to Saturday. Then, home to help decorate the house and set up for the party. Fluffy was at work so it was just us. Dobby got the lounge cleared and set up and then we sorted the food. Then the guests arrived and it was party time.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Oh my, that was strange. Just as I sit here typing this, the front doorbell rang. Unusual in that it doesn't always work. Even more unusual in that there was nobody there. At all. Fluffy answered it (it is ten to ten at night afterall) and there was no one. He went out the front, looked up and down the street. No one.... *insert Twilight theme music here....*

PS. Just as an end note, I started a diet a month ago. On Friday I went for a weigh in and I have lost 2kg. I also started Dobby on it but she won't seriously start until tomorrow (given we had a party weekend!).

I also decided to include a couple of the pics I said weren't really worth uploading last week. Because my brain was fried and I couldn't be bothered last week I guess....





Look! I photographed the rain! Hahahahah!

6 comments:

Butterfly Kissez said...

Shirt Stack is great! Even I like them lol...my nieces who live in Canberra actually met and got photos taken with the Short Stack boys when they performed in Canberra a year or so ago before they got really big. One of the girls still has one of the boys as a "pen friend" of sorts so you can imagine how popular she is now!

Hard to beleive your little one is now 14!! Time does fly!!

Anonymous said...

wow love wally

SOL's view said...

The photos look great, even if you didn't think they were good enough to include.

It would have been a good concert. I like Short Stack and Good Charlotte, never mind the kids!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that was a long blog! Happy birthday to the kiddy! You will always be a QUEENSLANDER so keep calling them cheerios, it sounds better than cocktail franks! Love Rat

JoeinVegas said...

Nice of you to let her put on the party - it sounds like fun.
The doorbell thing, well, we have a name for it here where kids ring the bell then run off, and hide in the bushes laughing at the old man wandering around.

Chris H said...

Oh man you have so much fun... can I come live with you fulla's? lol