Visiting my folks this weekend for my youngest niece’s 3rd birthday.  I drove down to my parent’s new house on Saturday morning and got the grand tour.  It’s nice – one story with plenty of storage and a huge garage.  They have good neighbors and seem pretty happy here.

We headed over to my sister’s after lunch and helped with the setup for the party.  The theme was butterflies so I learned how to make those out of paper and then taught Dad so we could help decorate.

The birthday girl was super excited  – even more so when she got a little frosting in her.  🙂   The kids did some crafts and played outside before it was time to head to dinner. Before we left, she was fussing a bit about getting her hair fixed into pigtails – or “birdy hair” as she calls it.   I sat down on the floor with her and suggested that her mom would fix my hair the same way after she was done.

My niece looked at me incredulously and told me – in no uncertain terms – that I did not have enough hair for birdy hair.  We bantered back and forth a bit while she was getting her own hair done and she was soon laughing again at how silly “uncle” is.

Dinner was good and we said our goodbyes.  I stayed the night at my folk’s new house and I’m doing a little reading and writing this morning while they are at church.

The book I’m reading is an adaptation of a video game.  It’s always a little interesting to read how an author can try to expand or create a story from a standard slog through a dungeon, but it’s a fun read and not too challenging.  Though it could have done with a better editor – the typos and grammar are a bit distracting.

The characters in the game  – Gauntlet – are healed from their injuries by eating.  When a character is near death, a voice will intone “Wizard needs food badly!

And for some insane reason, the author choose to force that line – in the most obvious and blatant way possible – into the story.  I’ve read this book before and I’m always cranky when I get to that one stupid section.

So, today, I skimmed back through the book to find that line and with a black marker, I struck the line from the text.

Not something I did lightly, but with grim determination and certainty of purpose.  I think the book is better for it.

Think it’s time for a snack and some sitting outside.  Feeling…quiet today.  And I think I needed it – the last couple of weeks have been rough.