Etc.

Some items on my to-do list today:

• hand off shirts to stranger in Oakton so that he can fly them back to Indonesia where our friend can use them to size the wedding wear she is having made for us
• mail handcuffs to our contact in Chicago so that I don't have to try and get those through airport security on Saturday along with our diorama (we're flying out at some god-awful-early hour and, while I know the handcuffs-and-diorama-through-security story would probably be a good one...I'm not a morning person and prefer to not deal). Raise your hand if you are completely disappointed in me and think I should not be allowed to have a blog named Brutalism.
• provide background information about Hillary and I to the Chicago Tribune for their story on us, while conspicuously leaving out any mention of age (one of us may be ten years older than the other and I don't want to embarrass someone of a certain age who should not be spending her time on such undignified shenanigans...)

Because of our trip to Chicago this weekend, my husband has to take over at home...which means that he is responsible for taking Avery to one of her friend's birthday parties on Saturday. I'm a little sad to miss it -- not just because she is one of Avery's best friends and we really like her parents, but also because something quirky happens at every birthday party involving this child.

At her swim party a couple of years ago, Canetto was standing in the pool talking to the little girl's dad, while also throwing a swim mask to our daughter in the shallow end so she could retrieve it and bring it back to him to throw again. (In re-reading that, it sounds an awful lot like fetch. We're terrible parents.) On one throw, Canetto overshot and the mask hit the birthday girl squarely on the head and she burst into tears. In his characteristically dry delivery, Canetto turned to the little girl's dad (who had obviously witnessed the whole thing since he was standing right there) and said:

"Wow. I'm glad her father didn't see that."

Last year, this little girl and her mom showed up for Avery's undersea-themed birthday party at the appointed time on a Sunday.

Only problem was...the party had been on Saturday.

Fortunately, all the decorations were still up, so we re-enacted the party games and had leftover cake and took pictures and Avery got to celebrate her birthday twice. (Hmmm...wonder if this was somehow premeditated payback for all of the fetch games...)

Did I mention you should follow me on Twitter @BrutalismBlog? You should also friend me on Facebook -- Kathleen Canedo. And if you live in the Chicago area and want to participate in our diorama drop-off this coming Sunday, April 10th...let me know -- we'd love to see you.