Planning for Chaos

Avocado turns fourteen this month and already the planning for the party has begun. Sleepover, of course. For nine girls (the spouse wanted her to lop a couple of names off her list...but once you've got eight fourteen year olds in the house, how much difference does two more make? Not so much). A "spa" theme (did this once for Sarcasm Girl when we still lived in NYC, and it was terrific--except one of the girls turned out to be allergic to the masque the girls were using. Which is why God made Benadryl.

Fortunately this doesn't look like a high-input party, parent-wise. Avocado has lists of supplies and movies, and other than making dinner and cowering in my room (with the dog and the Spouse) I don't anticipate too much stress.

Yes, I know. You may all laugh at me later when my optimism is shown up for the foolishness it is. In the meantime, back to work.

Onward to an Education.

Tonight Avocado and I sat down and filled out the public school application for ninth grade, listing her seven top choices in, more or less, order. Granted, the last three are not optimal--but she's got some good options (plus a couple of other school applications--two charter schools and two private schools--to finish up and send in). And this evening she allowed as how she didn't think she wanted to go to private school, although if she was accepted and got a huge scholarship maybe she'd rethink that.

Tomorrow she turns the form in at school, and concentrates on her monologue for her audition for The School of the Arts on Saturday. It won't really all be over until April or so, when we get the results of the various applications, but at least it feels good to have this part of the process in the can, as it were.