It’s nice to finally be in the mid-70’s after a lot of ups and downs this past month. Today was a glorious 78° or so, which made working outside that much better. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Friday Jen and I hired a babysitter so that we could go see the movie everybody said was amazing and incredible and fantastic: The Hunger Games. We left, two and a half hours later, underwhelmed. The story was handled pretty well, but the director used puke-inducing shakycam for 4/5 of the movie. He also could not direct action sequences for a can of beans. I never knew where anything was, where anybody was going, or what was happening because the camera was MOVING ALL THE GODDAMN TIME.

Saturday started out with a birthday party for one of Finn’s oldest friends. It started at a branch of the Howard County Public Library, which in its sheer size makes our local branch look like a broom closet. They were holding a Children’s Discovery Fair, which was pretty awesome in its size and scope: dozens and dozens of exhibits, displays, and craft tables. Finn made fast friends with the rock lady, then wowed the fur and bones women with her knowledge of fossils and dinosaurs, and then we made a butterfly from a coffee filter, a clothespin, a pipe cleaner, and some food dye. That’s some MacGuyver shit right there. After meeting up with some of the other partygoers, we took in some more exhibits (including balloons, guessing games, and a stuffed porcupine) and then ran a few errands before arriving at the party.

As can be expected, there was food, there were games, there were kids, and then CUPCAKES. Need I say more?

After getting her home and in bed to wind down, I did some futzing around the house and in notime we were walking down the street to meet some friends for dinner at El Nayar, which sadly hasn’t improved in its quality since the last time we were there. Luckily the company was great and we brought in beer. After dinner we walked up and got ice cream, then sat outside and caught up in the evening breeze.

Sunday after service across the street, I busted out the ladders and commenced to painting replacement siding on the east wall of the house, as well as caulking, scraping and priming as many windows as I could reach. After a quick visit from a new friend on the Binder Planet, I got all the siding covered, some repair carpentry installed, and then mowed the back lawn.