Last night and today were just so fun!!! Here's a blow by blow account!

Haley Willams had a sleepover for her 16th birthday. It was actually much earlier this month, but you konw how it goes with scheduling. We had dinner while playing a murder mystery game. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were the kitchen staff, and played the parts stunningly! Especially Mr. Williams serving triscuites and chedder with two knifes, and serving water pretending it was my "Double bourbon on the rocks. Shaken, not stirred." The food was really good, too. Prepared by the butler's twin, Bob.
Oh, I've had so much fun since last night! Here's a blow-by-blow account.

Haley Williams had sleepover for her 16th birthday, which was actually quite a few weeks ago, but you know how it goes with scheduling. I gave her a hardback Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn, which I highly recommend! Hope she likes it.

We played a murder mystery game while eating supper. The supper was delicious, prepared entirely by the butler's twin, Bob. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were the staff, and played the part perfectly. Especially Mr. Williams. Serving triscuits, chedder, swiss, and gooda (sp?) with only 2 knives/forks, and water pretending it was my "Double bourbon, on the rocks. Shaken, not stirred."

The murder mystery was interesting in that amid 8 characters 5 of them had good motives to kill the victim. He had angered two of the characters by having affairs with both of them, another two by owing them large sums of money, and the last, but also the murderer, hated him for thwarting her Hollywood acting career. BTW, I was innocent (although 4 people thought I wasn't) and Chloe was the murderess!

We then changed into night clothes, did eachother's hair (Chloe did mine in double, inside out, french braids), made popcorn, got snacks, and settled down to watch the extended TT. That ran about 4 hours what with extra scenes and intermessions (not counting the time I got a bloody nose right out of the blue.). I cried and laughed, and rejoiced in having fellow Tolkien fans with me to sniff and "ahh" when Treebeard recited part of the rhyme about the entwives and Aragorn said he was 87.

After that, Haley showed me soundbites, ROTK scenes, Christian fans of Tolkien message board, and fantasy stories about Frodo and Sam written by somebody on that. With that I was the last one into bed at 4:45. :) And I couldn't find my sleeping bag in the dark, so I slept on the floor with just a pillow and was cold.

Then I was the first one up at 9, played myself a chess game, and had breakfest with Mr. and Mrs. Williams. We discussed theirs and mine schooling experiences, where we had lived, hunting, hydroelectric dams, salmon, cougars, deer, enviromentalist wackos, why it's amazing that Mama has any kids, and Andrew Jackson's home, the hermitage. They are are just sooooo fun!

Then I drank tea while talking to the girls while they eat their breakfest, and saw Emily and Sarah off. Then, left with Naomi, Mama, Joshua, Isaac, and Caleb at about 11 with a very high opinion of Haley, her family, Sarah, and Emily, and the pleasure of meetin Cara (sp?) and Corrie.

We went straight from there to Atwoods. We dug through a huge rack each of tee-shirts, gloves, and rubber boats, and bought everybody one pair of gloves and boots. I love rubber boats in the winter time, and I got a beautiful pair of grey Chenille gloves. They're soooo soft! We then played on the go-carts and 4 wheelers, and then were sucked into the toy aisle just like a ship is pulled into a whirlpool.

OHHHHH! The joys of the toy aisles (3 of them!) at Atwoods! Jack in the boxes, gyros, puzzles and Breyer products of every kind, kaleidoscopes, periscopes, toy trucks, trains, and planes,.................

And then we finally made it home after a lightning stop at Warehouse for eggs.

The rest of the day was nap, Andy Griffith, computer, a quiet supper with the little boys, bathes and showers, and talking.

It's been a blessed 24 hours. God has so blessed me!