November 13th, 2008 by Jennine

Miss Elly turned 10 years old yesterday which is a relief to me. We have been listening to her countdown to the special day for the last 364 days. If you thought the political commercials were bad, try hearing a “It’s my birthday in only ___ days”, along with a list of her most coveted gift items.

We have a tradition of taking our birthday children out to eat at a restaurant that doesn’t require the engine to remain running while you eat. This year Elly wanted shrimp for her birthday meal which, in our rural area, limited our choices.

But we found her shrimp and she enjoyed the meal knowing that now she has one more thing in common with Hannah Montana because Hannah eats shrimp at every meal.

After we finished eating, we took Elly to a store to pick out paint for her bedroom, something I’m guessing Hannah Montana has never done.

Since Elly shares a room with her little brother, a choice she made when Kait moved out and she discovered that the darkness of night requires another body to be in the room, I tried to nudge Elly away from the neon purple that she chose for the color.

“You know what the smart decorators do, Elly?”

“What?”

“They choose a neutral color for the walls and bold colors for the accent. That way, should you go blind grow tired of the bright purple, it is easy to change the look of your room!”

Darren and I teamed up to sell the idea. That’s where I present the idea and Darren sucks in wind like he’s starved for oxygen and says “Ahhhhhhh… what a GREAT IDEA!”  We have found this to be a highly effective parenting tool whether it be for selling a bath, bedtime or a chore list.

Elly tapped her chin with her index finger,  thought about it for a minute and said “I think you’re right. This could work.”

And then she proceeded with a list of must-have decorating accents, the likes of which would make Bill Gates take a peek at his checkbook to make sure he could cover the tab.

Apparently counting backwards from 364 can make you irrational.

So this weekend, we are giving Elly her birthday gift–a redecorated bedroom. This weekend is also deer hunting, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by my husband.

“Oh, come on, Honey… [sucking in wind like I'm starved for oxygen]… this will be REALLY FUN!”

“It’s not going to work, Jennine, I know what you’re trying to do,” he said while rolling his eyes.

I leaned over and whispered something in his ear.

“Will you shake on that?”

I nodded.

“Then you’re right. This is going to be REALLY FUN!”

Yeah. I’m gifted in the art of persuasion.