Blokus Night

It's 10:30 p.m. as I type this........ C and her mom just left.... they brought pizza and stuffed mushrooms, and I made a tossed salad and Key Lime squares for dessert. After dinner, we played our Blokus game...... great game.... never the same twice, and it's just a lot of fun. We played four games, then we all got tired and called it a night.

L told us that it's official......... C's dad will be taking back his old job in Louisiana, and leaving the job in Vegas. He's a little disappointed that both his wife and his daughter didn't like Vegas, but his old job gave him a great raise in salary, as an incentive to come back. So really, it has all worked out for the best. Needless to say, C is thrilled to not have to leave her school and her friends and her home. And of course, my husband and I are happy not to be losing them.

C was here three times today..... early this morning with her friend L--- they came over for their usual Saturday breakfast. Then they rode their bikes over again this afternoon...... and then C came for dinner tonight with her mom. I swear, C knows this house as well as her own.

This afternoon when C was here with L, both girls asked to use the bathroom at the same time. They stood there deciding who would go first, so I told them to each take one of the bathrooms and they wouldn't have to wait. C said she had "dibs on the master bathroom" and seemed excited about that. I asked her what was so special about that one, being that the guest bathroom has the Victorian-ladies wallpaper. C said that she likes to look at the little blue house in the master bathroom.

After they left, I went in there to see what she was talking about...... and realized she was talking about a ceramic house figurine, done in blue...... one of those designer collections. I just have one of the houses, given to me as a gift years ago before we bought this house. The little blue house has been in just about all the rooms here, moving from spot to spot as I changed things around. When we had the blue and pink wallpaper put up in the master bathroom, I moved the little blue house in there.

Tonight when I was setting the table, I took that little blue house and put it next to C's place-setting. I figured if she loved it that much, then she should take it home and put it in her own room so she could enjoy it every day, rather than waiting till she could use our bathroom to see it. The little blue house, as C told us, is her dream home.... she hopes to have a house like it one day. And where would she want it to be? By the ocean, of course, water person that she is. Hopefully, her dream will come true when she gets older.

I made placecards for the four of us tonight..... in the red/blue/yellow/green colors of the Blokus game. I took four colored placecards and cut them into four equal strips, then attached one strip of each color to make a placecard of the four colors for each of us. They came out great, and of course, C was happy to add them to her growing collection.

One day when C was here and in my sitting room, she saw my "party book" on the shelf and asked if she could look through it........ the book caught her eye because it has grown so thick that it doesn't close all the way. The book's pages are filled with invitations and placecards from the parties and dinners we've had here. For each occasion, I save one of the invitations and/or the placecards, and I also make note of what foods were served, what games were played, and what favors were given out. I started keeping the book just so I wouldn't repeat the same things too many times, but over the years, the book has turned into a keepsake.

Looking around this house, everything in it is a keepsake.