A few weeks ago, we had a party. It wasn’t your typical shindig in that we weren’t celebrating a birthday, graduation, or anniversary; we weren’t gathering together because of someone, but rather something. We invited some friends over to meet the newest addition to our family; the Wii U.

Nintendo not only sent me a Wii U and a couple of games, but they also sent Chris and Brian, who were able to explain this amazing new game system to a room full of eager party-goers in about 15 minutes flat. Also, they brought pizza. I kind of wanted to keep them.

Do you know how hard it is to make a teenage girl laugh? How about THREE teenage girls? The Wii U has powers, y’all. No joke.

Like the power to make me contort my face. This is me, losing the Luigi’s Ghost Mansion game. My son is just drinking that juice box like he DOESN’T EVEN CARE that I was just attacked. Rude.

What I love about Wii U is that the fun spans the ages. After three generations raced and chased, we all sang and danced to Justin Bieber’s, “Baby”…

…The B-52s, “Love Shack”…

…and Frank Sinatra’s, “New York, New York.”

Then we had prizes! Everybody loves prizes. See?

Family game night has taken on a whole new meaning for us. Honestly, we haven’t even tried to engage our kids with a  board game lately, mostly because they call them “bored” games. The tech-savvy teens and tweens at this party enjoyed the Wii U’s challenges, the team-elements, and the superb graphics, while the parents enjoyed having the kids around on a Friday night.

We connected, we laughed, WE HAD SO MUCH FUN. I’m not kidding when I say that I would do this every weekend if we could.

For now, I am practicing my vocals and scaring the dog out of the room in the process. I’m working on my dance moves and improving my Mario chasing skills. There will be no more face-contorting for me!

But first I have to stop watching Breaking Bad on Netflix, because that’s also something for which I use the Wii U and I won’t even get into how I can watch shows AND tweet with it at the same time, or purchase On Demand movies, or have voice and video chats with friends. Have mercy. I haven’t even told my husband about the sports features because I’ll never get my hands on the game-pad again!

I want to offer a huge thanks to Nintendo for making our party a success! The Wii U provided hours of entertainment and a great time was had by all. We can’t wait for next time!

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Hi. Remember me? I’m the woman in a perpetual state of pony-tail. Pony-tail is not a state? Says you.

Last night I went to a gala fundraiser for a local special needs school and I wore something sparkly. Do you know what doesn’t go with sparkly? Pony-tails. Actually, since Pinterest came along and made hair-dos the next DIY craze, I don’t feel comfortable going anywhere with a rubberband in my hair.

So, once again, I turned to a tutorial. Some people use online tutorials to create their own wine racks from discarded wood pallets; I take bobby-pins and make a bun. Here’s the video I used:

And, here’s how mine turned out. This was only the first try, so I’m pretty happy with it. It was hard to pin the left side of my hair, but with a little practice I think I could do a better job. Clearly, the skill I really need to work on is taking a photo of the back of my head in a mirror.

Other bloggers are choosing their favorite hairstyle tutorial videos and asking for your opinions on which you love most. Each week, BlogHer is giving away prizes to 3 lucky winners: one grand prize viewer will receive a $250 Visa gift card and two more folks will each receive a $100 Visa gift card! Visit the Prizes and Promotions page on BlogHer.com for more info!

Hair Sweepstakes Official Rules.

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There is the friend who sent me relaxation in the form of a spa gift card.

There is the parent who offered to get a group of people together to take my son on the field trip he wasn’t allowed to attend, and who also wanted to throw in a Reds game. Sharks, beer, and peanuts? Count me in!

There are my in-laws who provided me much-needed respite. I even took a bubble bath.

There are dozens of people who emailed, texted, hugged and listened. There are so many friends praying and hoping for us right now. Thank you.

I haven’t felt this good about humanity since the infamous meat-wagon, freezer incident of 2009.

And, maybe that’s what this is all about. Maybe every now and then we need to be reminded that there is more good than bad; that for every awful thing you read or experience, there are hundreds of good deeds going unnoticed or unmentioned.

If I’m going to share the bad, then you’ll have to bear with me as I share the good, too. That spa gift card, though? I’m keeping that all to myself.

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My son and I went for a walk last night.

We talked a lot while we were strolling. He likes to talk. One of his favorite things to do is plop down next to you, wherever you are, and ask, “So, what do you want to talk about?” He gets his chattiness from me, for certain. Lately our conversations are all about his behavior and it’s not a pleasant topic, so last night I tried to let him enjoy himself without discussing, what has become, this disruption in our lives.

standing atop the roots of his favorite tree

We didn’t really know where we were walking; there was no destination in mind, no idea where we would turn off the path and exclaim, “This seems a good place to stop.” We just went where our feet took us.

We laughed at dogs playing, we talked to our neighbors, we stopped to watch the ducks swimming and get a glimpse of our reflections in the pond. We were happy. There are few things that bring me as much joy as my daughter’s laugh or an authentic smile on my son’s face.

My son wore his plaid fisherman’s hat and I carried bottle water and a chestful of overwhelming guilt and confusion. As if my own weight weren’t enough!

Our life, in this moment, bears many resemblances to walking out the front door into the unknown. Private school? Public school? Therapy? Meds? What will it take? I like to be prepared when venturing into battle and right now, well…I might as well be going up against a fire-breathing dragon armed with nothing but 16.2 ounces of spring water. But, one way or another, I will slay that sucker. You can be sure of that.

We saw some strange things on our walk; a bird’s foot, lots of goose poop, a wrapped tampon laying in the road, which is far better than an unwrapped tampon, I can assure you. And, we saw beautiful things too; like the blue sky, trees in bloom, and a man sitting on his front porch reading to his wife.

As we have for the past 11 years, we find ourselves on a journey for which we have no map. It’s hard to be lost, but I hope more than anything that my son will be smiling along the way.

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