It was a GLORIOUS 78 degrees out today!!! It’s spring tra-la!! I refuse to even consider that winter may return!

Yes the design has changed again. The thing is that I love Mardi Gras and all the things that symbolize that celebration, so I had to have a Mardi Gras theme, even if it was only for a week.

This St. Patrick’s Day design is very important to me. My mother’s side of the family is Irish and her mother (my Nana) was named Elizabeth Theresa Lee Murphy and her birthday was on St. Patrick’s Day.

Or so we thought. Several years after she passed away we discovered that she was actually born on March 16. No matter, though, we always had great parties on St. Patrick’s day.

It’s one of my favorite days to celebrate, and to decorate for (along with Halloween).

Not that I have a single decoration up at the moment. But I haven’t seemed to have been able to get myself organized enough to decorate for any holiday lately…

Today was a day that I had planned very poorly. I have no idea what possessed me to think that I could possibly go to the laundromat after school and manage to go shopping for Matilda’s birthday present as well.

Even thought I was the only one at the laundromat and had the use of all washers and dryers, it still took me forever to get everything done. I can’t quite figure out why I had so much to wash in the first place, it was only about two and a half weeks since my last visit.

Whatever the case, it still took and hour and a half. From there I had to go to my mother’s to check the birthday gift list to be sure of what I was supposed to buy for Matilda.

That was a brief stop, but I couldn’t do just a hit and run, I had to stop and chat for a bit.

That done I was off to the toy store to buy doll accessories. My mother had gotten her a doll and an outfit for the doll, so it was up to me to get furniture. Of course I couldn’t stop there. I got a beach chair, table, umbrella and beach outfit for the doll. None of this was cheap, but I had to make sure that she’d have everything she’d need for the doll to "go to the beach".

I love to go to the toy store, and picking out this doll stuff was no easy task. There was a school desk and chair that I loved too, but I wasn’t crazy about the school outfit. There was something about this beach ensemble that spoke to me.

I think it was the purple flip-flops that had lime green flowers on the strap.

I’m sure Matilda will love it. She likes flamboyant stuff, too.

What I should be doing right now is packing, or at the very least making a list, to go away for the weekend. I just don’t want to go. I can’t think of a thing that I want to bring with me, haven’t shopped for anything special to fit in with the "bird" theme, and am not in the least bit motivated.

The thing is that I know I have to have this done before I go to bed tonight as I’ll never find the time to get it done after school tomorrow. I have to have everything ready to go so I can toss it all in the car and get to my parent’s for Matilda’s birthday party. Once that is over I have to get to rehearsal.

Damn. I’d better get moving.