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Let's start with last weekend. I had to work a 6 day week, but Renee, Tara and I had planned to celebrate that Saturday after my birthday at the Lounge here in my little hick town. That way, we could all get crazy drunk and Shawn could drive us back to our place to sleep it off. So after work, I quickly changed, put on my face and we set out for the 45 minute drive. When we got there, the girls were already 6 sheets to the wind. As well I knew they would be. We had been chatting via cell phones while I was at work on and off that day, and they had hit 2 bars and a friend's house before even making it to the Lounge.

Tara was a bit rowdy. Not necessarily in a bad way. Sometimes when she gets sloshed, she gets to be a bit ... on guard. Like she has to prove who she is to other people. She got like that at the Lounge with one of the guys. I was cracking up, yet at times, wondered if Tara and the guy she was having a testosterone battle with wouldn't end up out in the parking lot duking it out. But they didn't. So that was cool. Not long after we arrived, she got to being a little more a giddy drunk. So that was fine by me too.

Renee was definitely trashed. The drunker Renee gets, the quieter she becomes. When we got to the bar, her eyelids were at half mast and blood shot. She was barely speaking. She just sat there sipping her beer and watching everyone else. Although she did declare on several occasions that I needed 3 shots. Why 3 I haven;t a clue. She just kept saying it over and over ... so I obliged her ... and then some. Haha.

I started out with a shot of tequila and a tequila sunrise, switched to kaluha and creams ... managed another tequila shot, a cactus juice shot, 3 root beer float slammer shots and God knows what else. We ended up closing the bar and then headed for my place.

Once there, we kind of hung out, got a little crazy and had fun. It wasn't too long and I forced myself to stagger to bed. I was whooped. And when I woke up, I felt like I had been hit by a Mack Truck and it had backed over me again just for spite. The girls got up shortly after I did, and Shawn followed suit after that. We all sat around and shot the shit and had a few laughs. Then Tara and Renee headed out to do some more partying, and Shawn and I headed into the city for errands.

We, Shawn and I, had hair appointments at 3 p.m., so we went there first. Got there just in time too. Shawn got his usual. I was thinking of just a trim, but Shawn and I had discussed cutting my hair. It had reached my butt practically when down and combed out straight. He loves my long hair, and threatened to leave should I ever cut it. I had been teasing with the heat at work and the unruliness of it, I was gonna chop it all off...

I did. 10 inches right off the bat, plus whatever else she trimmed after that. When I saw all my hair lying there I was in shock. I felt the color drain away and the lady seemed a bit nervous. It's still shoulder length ... and my natural spirals have returned. At first, I hated it and wanted to glue my hair back on. Now, I love it-honestly. It's by far easier to manage and it just looks and feels healthier.

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Work all week has been crazy. Seems like every spring/summer when the warm weather hits, all the machines run for shit. Just keeping them running is a miracle in itself. trying to keep them running in print??? A damn chaotic mess. This is the time of year that quality and set-up always go toe to toe. We (quality) want the machines fixed, they (set-up) say it's always been that way, or that it can wait. It's a never ending battle that I usually have fun with ... when it's not 130 degrees.

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I took a vacation day this Friday from work, which gives ya the weekend off. I was feeling badly burned out at work and needed the rest. Not to mention I had a gazillion things to do.

So, I got Shawn off to work. And I left for the city to run my errands. Just paying my bills was a flipping chore. I told Tammy that since we haven't gotten the chance to hang out, I wanted to get over and see her or do something together. But between paying my bills and getting Shawn food ... time wasn't on my side and that really put me in a sour mood! It took me an hour and 25 minutes just to pay our dial up company because they only showed one account. It took me 45 minutes just to get my prescriptions. It was a nightmare.

And then when I was at the Hot and Now drive thru, Renee rang in on my cell phone. We had plans to take her daughter to our local Border's for the Harry Potter book party, and she was watching the news and the store we were going to had 1400 reserved copies and had been giving out numbers to people who registered, and depending on what number ya got-that's how long you'd be waiting in line for your book.

So... I raced Shawn's food to him, sat for a quick bit then hightailed it to Border's. We got 44. Yeehaw. So once I got our number, I decided to do a bit of shopping. I stopped at Payless and got 3 pairs of summer shoes cheap enough. But I swear to goodness, not everyone has slender perfectly formed feet. I in fact have fat snausage feet. Finding shoes was nuts. The sales lady tried to help me when I explained my dilemma ... and she grew rather frustrated. I could see the relief in her eyes when she had to pardon herself to go wait on a customer. She avoided me the rest of my stay. LOL. But, I found 3 pairs wide enough for my feet. So I bought them all.

I also went to fashion bug in hopes of getting a new swim suit for my trip home to Saginaw since the hotel has a pool. The bathing suits my size were horrific. I wouldn't pay my worst enemy a million dollars to put one on for 5 seconds ... so I left the swim suit area. I don;t know what it is about people who make big people clothes. I know damn well they're prolly not bigger than a size 10. Mostly, I've found in my case, all the bigger women's clothes are granny-fied. Huge floral print, granny styled screen prints ... etc. And what is cute, is cut all wrong or what not. It's truly amazing. And then, to top it all off ... you get penalized for being fat. It costs an arm and a leg more just for the extra effort they make to outfit fat people. I paid 55 dollars for a pair of no name brand jeans once ... just because they fit and were boot cuts. Ugh. Frustration.

So I decided not to get the hideous 55.00 swimsuits. But thought maybe an outfit. By the end of my spree at Fashion Bug, I had a tie dyed swimsuit cover up, an Americana sweater, a pair of khaki shorts, 2 summer nightgowns and a huge smile for my efforts. The sweater was the only thing NOT on sale, and on top of the sale prices, everything was an additional 10% off. Well, weeeeeeee!

After there, I left and stopped at Wal-Mart to send my car payment and look about to blow some time. I ended up finding a suit that was all one color (YAY) and MY SIZE! (bigger YAY) and it was only 15.00 (Orgasm here please). Then I grabbed some capris and a matching shirt, and a red-white-and blue striped polo style shirt that was cute. And a pair of earrings. At this point, I was absolutely giddy. With all I purchased, I kept it under 150.00. I've never gotten so lucky before. I was stoked.

After I checked out, I slipped into the restroom and changed into my new outfit, put on my Potter-itis face and headed to my car where I sat on my cell phone as I waited for Renee and Sasha to arrive for the festivities.

When they arrived, we headed inside and into the Harry Potter Party madness. We decided to stop at the coffee bar and get a drink. Once we ordered, a local news camera guy came up and asked if anyone had ordered a butter beer. I did it just to give him his needed footage being the good sport that I am. LOL. So he taped the girl making them ... which turned out to be hazel nut and caramel something's ... lots of frothy steamed milk. Very tasty. We got both our drinks ... and as we were walking away he asked if he could film one of us drinking one. Renee and I both stepped back and volunteered Sasha. Man, she didn't wanna do it. But she did once we cajoled her into it. It was so hilarious! She was so nervous. But she sipped it as sexily as a nervous 13 year old in front of a local news camera could. Rock on, Sasha!

With that out of the way, we sat outside at a table sipping our yummy butter beers and calling anyone and everyone who might be home and able to tape the news for us since we'd still be at the store. Jamie was gonna try to catch it for us. I hope he managed. That'd be awesome if Sasha made it on.

We made "Magic Wands" and surfed the shelves. And FINALLY, the countdown began. People got crazy when it was pert near midnight. Lots of pushing and shoving. I got knocked out of line and luckily, Renee and Sasha managed to keep there places so I just cut back in. We ended up like the 15th people to get our books and were out of the store by 12:10 a.m. When we walked outside, there was a line waiting from the front of the store a good block or two down the sidewalk. I thanked my lucky stars to have gotten in early.

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The rest of this weekend, thankfully, has been blah. Yesterday I worked on my much needed house work and played on line a bit. Today, It's 9 p.m. and I haven;t done any housework. it's too hot. So I am going to wait for the sun to finish falling, go out and water my garden, finish the last bit of housework I can cram in and play on line.

I'm enjoying the down time. The quietness. And my new Harry Potter novel. I'm over 100 pages in now.

So that has been a recap on the past week, and my Potter-Party-Itis...

We leave for Saginaw Friday... I'm geeked. I'm gonna nab my sisters, my home girls and we're gonna paint the city red.

Stay tuned...

Simply,

Sara