40-hr Famine Weekend

Poor Annie Was HUNGRY!

8pm Friday night - the famine starts. No food for the next 40 hours. Ok, so it sounds like a big deal, but it's really not. If you think about it, it's just all saturday and breakfast sunday. Not that bad. I honestly wasn't that worried about it.

That said, Roz, Loz and i had a mini-movie-night on friday, but watching Amityville Horror and Dirty Dancing with no chocolate/popcorn/food was somewhat bizzare... Amityville Horror was not that bad - Roz and i consider ourselves scary movie buffs, and we rated it as good. Not fantastic, but good. Ryan Renolds was hot (though the beard was a total turn off...) and there were quite a few scary moments. Dirty Dancing is always a great chick flick (and great for getting your mind off the scariness of possessed men). That said, in my state of somewhat constant misery that i live in at the moment, a silly off-hand comment from Roz had me crying silently through the second half of both movies. Luckily i've perfected the art of the silent cry and nobody noticed, but still. Pathetic.

Come saturday morning, my tummy was giving a little rumble as i headed to stateswim (after picking up Loz)... the next three hours were looooong. Apparently the children decided that they'd be violent and non-responsive the even the best coaxing and teaching that i could offer. Buuut, my dear little Edmund was as lovely as ever, and the adorable Bagdon Bagdonovich (yes, that's his real name...) were so cute that it was worth it. Still was glad to get home!

After an afternoon where the most productive thing that i did was straighten my hair, i went off to babysit. The family had only moved house that day, so there was no food/tv/linen... most of the night was spent making beds, then i read to the littlest (adorable bub) and lay with him for awhile in attempt to get him to sleep. The most awful part of the evening was when we ordered pizza and i had to watch them eat it. Torture! The older girl went off the bed too, so i finally got up to date with my psychology readings, yay! I felt very productive. The parents got home eventually (stupid PAC quiz night for running overtime, grr) and i whizzed off down to church.

Finally, no more work for the day. Granted, it was midnight when i arrived at church for the famine sleepover. The youth ambassador for world vision was talking to us when i arrived, about the various things that world vision is doing for the kids in Laos. After that, Angel, PB and Loz left. I was bouncing off the walls for some reason and was in no state to go to bed, so we all started watching Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope. GREAT movie - i haven't seen it in so long! That said, by the time it was over it was 3.15am and i was falling asleep on the comfy couch that i was curled up on with English. That kid is a total legend. He knew i still wasn't cheery, so he gave me a nice cuddle for the three or so hours that the movie went on. Good boy. Dr.B was already asleep, so i turned off all the light and put the rest of the kids to bed. Engligh was still in my sleeping bag, so i borrored LittleM's and settled down on the floor next to Shirtless Buddy (who was, in typical fashion, wearing little more than boxers). It was 4am by the time LittleM had finished fussing around.

To my intense dismay, it was only about 6.15am when i heard people up and about. I tried my hardest for the next hour to ignore the noises that were getting louder and louder... but eventually had to give up. I crawled out of my sleeping bad to the wonderful noise of laughter... directed at me in my glasses. There's a reason that i never wear them our in public! Two hours later, i'd moved about two metres (to avoid a tickle fight between English and Shirtless Buddy). Eventually, i got dressed and WON a game of Blockus - best game EVER! :P We were all starving hungry by this point - the thought of the pancakes that we would be cooking after church was making our mouths water. We sat through some church and sunday school activities, before firing up the BBQ and cooked some pancakes. It was pretty torturous watching people eat them for the fifteen minutes leading up to 12.05. As soon as the clock ticked over, i grabbed a pancake and wolf it down. Yum!

Granted, the famine wasn't that hard to do, especially seeing as the real objective is to raise money for the kids in Laos to have a better life. If we raise $1000, Dr.B is going to shave his head and English is straightening his hair... We've already raised almost that much and think we might go over, so we're pretty happy.

After another game of Blockus and some down time with dearlest darling little Bobby, Loz came back and we headed off to Kent Town to meet the girls at the Tap Inn. Really, the meeting was for BigSister to introduce us to her new girlfriend (for those of us who hadn't already met her). However, on my two and a half hours sleep, it was all i could do to down two apple juices and help the girls out in the eating of chips and wedges. After about two hours i bailed, sensing the oncoming black cloud looming and wanting to spare the girls from my newfound cynicism.

Loz and i went straight back to church in the end, prefering to stay away form our respective homes for as long as possible... we were feeling the misery, so settled down in the youth room with bowls of neopolitan ice-cream and some good music. A few hours later, it was time for church. I had to pinch my hand all over throughout the sermon to stay upright (not to say that it wasn't fantastic, because it was actually really interesting - but i'd had so little sleep!) - i'm going to have a bruised palm tomorrow. There was an alter call, which i somewhat misinterpreted. I ended up going up, and Angel came to pray for me. She really rocks my socks; she just totally gets me at the moment. Lucky for me! Plus, she gives good hugs.

After church, i took PB home, because he was feeling like he'd been run down by a truck. We had a lovely, silent ride home (as of yet i'm undecided as to whether the silence was awkward or not), saying pretty much nothing at all... i was going straight home, but, with tears in my mind, i decided to be miserable in company back at church, rather than alone at home. So English again tried his hand at comforting me, as did Loz. We bagged most men in the end and i heard horror stories from English about his brother (attempting to make me dislike him, i think). I still think that most males are jerks and need to learn how to tell girls things without coming off as absolute morons... i think face to face explanations always beat msn conversations in these circumstances... I got lots of hugs from Angel and the SouthAfrican though. I love hugs. Eventaully though, i had to head off, as more homework awaited me.

I don't think i've seen my parents since friday night... oops. But i've been so insanely busy. I've barely slept, let alone had time for small chat with the rentals. I'm sure they'll survive. As for this incredibly long post about the various ins and outs of my weekend, i'm sure i've enthralled you. What, with my witty and captivating writing style, i don't know who could resist such a lovely post, full of this weekends woes... lol, at least i won a game of Blockus! A definate highlight of the weekend :P

Annie