Stress-Free Kids Party: The Ultimate Oxymoron

Easter kicked my butt.

My daughter's birthday was on Easter Sunday this year and she really wanted to have her party on the day; not a week before, not a week after, the real day!

So we planned it. We sent out invites 2 weeks before the big day to give people enough time to rsvp, figuring that we could always reschedule the party if people were going away for the holiday. Instead everyone bar one said that they could come! party on.

Then the day before the party we started getting calls and texts saying that such and such couldn't make it because they had some Easter do on. One parent even gave me a 'lecture' about how their child's birthday had been on Easter Sunday last year and how they couldn't have the party on that day because everyone is busy with their families on that day. I also had another person tell me that Easter Sunday is for families and that I really shouldn't plan a party for that day. What the...!

Well this was all news to me! As a Mormon I never noticed the Easter Sunday being any different than Good Friday, Easter Saturday or Easter Monday! Well, except for going to church but we did that every week. I had never experienced the Sunday as any different to the other 3 days. I never even knew which day to plant the easter eggs, I generally just picked a day that suited me best.

Hmmm. The morning of the party we had 2 more rsvp reversals and we were forced to reschedule the party. My daughter had a few tears (I had a few tears- thanks A for listening to me whinge!) and then we picked ourselves up and went ice-skating. It was invigorating and extremely enjoyable. (Next year I think we'll have the party there!).

So yeah... just when I thought I could live my atheistic life in peace Easter came and knocked me for 6.

One Year On

mid-Happy Birthday song...  cake decorated a la kids
(oh! do you love my hitchhiking dinosaur shirt? he's off to one of my favourite places - Vegas!) and uh, that's me dancing to the song btw.

It is my thirty-second birthday today but I am also marking another milestone; it has now been a whole year since I last paid tithing (10% of my income) to the Mormon Church. I noticed this when I went over my finances for the 2009/10 year and discovered a difference of about $700 between what the Church says I paid and what my records say I have paid. Hmmm, so I will look into that and I think I will go back further in my records to check that out. Besides that oddity it was quite satisfying to see such concrete evidence of my departure from the Church.

I have not as yet received anything official from the Church to acknowledge that I have removed my name. I am going to re-send my letter, along with the tithing query, along with, wait for it... a letter from Rockstar! He's decided that it's actually taking too long for them to excommunicate him and he wants out.

So, where am I one year on?

I had an amazing aromatherapy full body massage today at my local organic day spa and as soon as I laid down on the massage bed I just melted away. The music, the soft bed, the peace... and then the awesome massage. I felt very happy. A few thoughts flittered through my mind while I was there, one of them was how wonderful it is to feel free to think whatever I want. I can read about anything that I am interested in, talk to whomever I choose and make up my own mind about how this world works and what might be beyond it. Early on this idea freaked me out a bit but now I find it to be extremely liberating and calming. I am the one at the helm of my life and it feels great!

So I am 32 in earth years and 1 anno libertatis!      


(Daniel, dear linguist friend of mine, have I bastardised the latin or does it work? See Daniels comment below for the reasons I have changed anno liberta to anno libertatis! Thanks Daniel)

pizza faces

looks like Canaan thought I'd need some help