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It snowed.

Yes, it did indeed snow on APRIL 18th and on the 19th also. ( Friday and Saturday) We looked out at it in disbelief. IT WAS SNOWING IN APRIL. What a weird place this is.

I was tired... just to the point to where the thoughts of everything that I need to do and everything that I have ahead of me has me worn out before I've even barely gotten started. I've been telling myself that I cannot get overwhelmed. I just can't. What's ahead of me is just way too important to me. I am getting what I want. I rested through the weekend and searched my pockets for "determination"...

I got quite a lot of things done, little things that add up to big things. I cleaned out my desk, organized, found things that I needed, tossed things that I don't need. I sat down and figured out exactly what I do owe for bills and how much income I really need for all of us to be comfortable with just my income alone. I looked for work.

When Wally came in Saturday evening we clung to each other. He was late. I was worried. He was shaken. The border crossing was frightening this time. The EPA was there and lots of men with guns. ( we have no idea what was going on) He got through without a problem because he was recognized but it was still a heart stopping experience.

Sunday we did Danielle's birthday, early, but it seemed like the best time to celebrate it. (She is my "Earth-day Birthday" child. April 22nd is Earth Day)

Wally and I had already bought her gifts last weekend. She wanted a new cool hoodie from Macy's and and pair of shoes. We all went to the mall together so that she could point out to us exactly what she wanted and besides... clothes and shoes are really things that must be tried on.

The shoes were a real surprise... or should I say, a shock? She had picked out a pair of lime green canvas tennies. Then I saw the price tag. FORTY-FIVE dollars??? For THOSE??? I had intended to just buy her whatever she wanted... BUT... I had to say no for those. I just felt like they were grossly over-priced for what they were.

She ended up getting a different pair of shoes, the same name brand, a little more expensive, but at least her second choice was worth the cost. They were cute. I think in the end she was happier that she ended up with those instead of her original pick of the green canvas crappy ones... geesh!

Sunday, for her birthday we sent her out with a little spending money and she went to the mall to hang out with friends. She brought one friend home with her.

Cake?... yeah cake was a bit of a problem... Yeah, I know... I am a professional cake decorator. I've spent most of my life doing it, but I just I don't bake at home. The recipes that I have memorized make 200 pounds of cake batter and 100 pounds of buttercreme icing. Ohhhhhh, not to mention things out here are different. I thought about having a cake made for her here at my work, but I did that last year and we didn't like it. My kids hate the cake and icing that they make out here. They HATE it... HATE it..... the cake is dry and the icing is like eating creamed sugar that's full of sand... uggh...

We did a birthday brownie instead that Dani and her friend made themselves. I took a jar of crap-in-the-can buttercreme icing from the grocery store shelf, (yeah crap-in-the-can is BETTER than what they make out here in bakeries, sorry... it's sad but true) and food coloring and mixed up "the colors of the rainbow" as Dani wanted. I made piping cones from wax paper and filled them with each different color of icing. She called me a cake decorator nerd because I knew how to do that. HA! I let it slide because it was her birthday after all. I wrote the Happy Birthday across the brownie and then Dani and her friend went about decorating it with the icing cones I made for them. It turned out to be a great idea! I mean I really wasn't sure, but it ended up GREAT, oh better than great. They got to put their own twist on it. It was better than anything I could've done for her. I really could not believe how much fun they had with it!

I got lots of pictures while the girls decorated the brownie and Wally was making Dani's birthday dinner. She wanted Wally's beef stroganoff.

It was such a happy weekend! Happy 14th birthday Danielle!