It's the final countdown!

Till the end of the year. Every year it seems to be going faster. And faster, as I spiral downward to the barely anticipated joys of old age.

Heh.

I've also just realised that the Teen has only about three weeks of school left. Forever. That's a huge step. Not that I'm going to wax philosophical, but wow. I feel so old!

Preparations a frantically underway for her Formal. I managed to purchase a dress for what I thought was a reasonable price; about $190 plus freight. Mind, it's going to cost $117 to have it altered! Each alteration on its own is quite reasonably priced; all together is a different story.

All in all, it's not a bad price for a Formal dress. She blithely informed MOTH and I while sitting at dinner the other day that one of her friend's parents have spent $800 on their daughter's Formal dress! *wonders what the really rich girl will be spending??*

I pick the dress up this Thursday. *fingers crossed the alterations turn out well*

The Teen and I are in discussions at the moment about monitoring the use of the phone plan. I think I mentioned that while she was away, she notched up a phone bill of astronomical proportions. Last month wasn't much better. It was better, but not much. We are now watching her fingers closely.....

We haven't had a chance to get out in the car much. My nerves still need calming. Timing is the problem. I can only manage when I get home from work. That borders on twilight and, she tells me, bad for her night vision. I think that option is still better than trying to get her up early. Teens are so not morning people!

The week was pretty cruisy; most weeks are. All the action happens on the weekend.

Friday it was Wogboy's turn to sleep over. He hasn't done that for a while because they usually go partying and go back to his place. Somehow or another he managed to bring Lion with him. *shrugs* Lion is quiet and polite, so I didn't mind.

Mum! Teen tells me. A friend from Gladdy is coming over. Oh, sure. No worries. I found out later he was bunking down as well. Huh. The noise in the yard increases. I look out. There are two extra girls and another boy out there. A friend of hers dropped by and brought two others with him. Before we knew it, it was an impromptu party.

She asked me to let her open the trick or treat lollies early. No! Why not? Because you had a party without permission. *grins* Pfft, Mum, it's a Gathering.... I thought about that. No, I said. A Gathering is a little food, conversation. Possibly some drinks. But no music. She laughed and took off outdoors.

For teens, they were remarkably good about noise. The Teen seems to rule her parties with an iron fist. The next morning, the Gladdy friend was up fairly early and finished off the tidy up that had been started the night before. He's welcome back!

Wogboy bought the Teen some new shoes. Plain canvas slip ons. She uses that boy and his wallet mercilessly. She decorated them ...

Saturday afternoon found MOTH in the garden again. I helped a while, trimming branches from the shrubs that guard the front of our house. They are a little patchy from the lack of moisture. The little mulcher he bought earlier in the year doesn't know if Armageddon has arrived or not.

Sunday morning I vacuumed and mopped the tiled area in the meals/kitchen. Whew. Sunday afternoon we were back in the garden. This time MOTH went at the shrubbery with ... a Herring! No, really he just used the hedge trimmers. The sun was bitingly hot and I was less than enthusiastic about helping. I stayed a while as I couldn't in all conscience leave Mr DNA man to his own devices with sharp things. He usually manages to leave his DNA all over them!

After playing in the garden it was time to help Teen rebleach her hair. It's two toned, so trying to grasp only the blonde bits and leave the dark bits behind requires quite a deal of concentration.

Sunday night Bones and Castle called to me *w00t for exceeding download limits and making the system slllllloooooowwwwww* and MOTH put the internet aside and joined me.