Best Murphy birthday party ever? Quite possibly. Ingredients: Twenty kids; BFF makes birthday cupcakes for us; Murphybeach; treasure hunt for Captain Larsen's tala booty; a 1.5 mile hike up and down Fogamaa crater; and good friends. Two bonus points to me for surviving a 7 yr old slumber party.

My son is a dork. I almost kicked him out of my Sunday Bible School class for being a dork (excessive use of Alvin the Chipmunk voice). This week... warning. Next week... dorks sit with their moms.

Three weekend days. Three meals cooked by someone other than us. I'm turning into a bum... which wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that our hosts generally cook for an entire family of five. Telling rat stories at the Ashley house... priceless. No wonder they don't invite us more often.

Two weeks without a refrigerator. I finally broke down and bought a 17.4 cubic ft. Whirlpool for $629 at ACE. I should've done that two weeks ago. Jaime was kind not to throw my mistake in my face.

Apparently, there's a Recession going on in the States, and companies have slowed down their hiring. Who knew?

'nuff said.