Surprise!

Yesterday, my eldest sister, auntie and I (with help from my next eldest sister's boyfriend) had a surprise party for the latter sister. What fun! She didn't expect a thing and we still went ahead and stuck with her plan for a tea party. The only difference is that we were able to get into the apartment a couple of hours before she returned home from work, there were flowers (pink carnations, as they are her faves), balloons, cupcakes from Cupcake Charlie's and everything was ready and arranged when she arrived!
She was very excited for her new bunch of fabric and "American girl" barbie doll (from Auntie), and her pretty, white scarf and vintage sewing book from our sister. We used the gift I gave her to serve the tea. (I inadvertently picked the swap gift at christmas that was meant for her; a silver plated tea/coffee service. So, I bought a pack of vanilla scented Cape Cod Metal Polishing Cloths, shined her up like new and Bob's Your Uncle!) I don't think she minded to regifting.
We laughed, shared our "resolutions" and played Rock Band into the night.
Now, I come to my confession. I seem to have come down with some sort of bug that begins with a scratchy throat. Instead of the planned Dream/Psychic tea last night, I downed 2/3 of a dose of NyQuil that I had staring me in the face when I got home. Thank goodness I'm never sick enough to empty those meds in one illness. I'll just go ahead with the tea tonight. But the sleepiness from the medicine put me out from whenever we returned home last night (11, maybe?) until 8:40 this morning. If I had slept without "help", my body would have naturally woken up around 7. Then again, my scratchy throat probably would have kept me up all night...
I did have at least three dreams last night, though. In two, there seemed to have been children around. Also, I seemed to have been helping them with something. In one, I was definitely baby-sitting two brothers. They couldn't have been much older than 7. That was a dream within a dream. The outer layer had me talking about my dream to a woman with whom I was traveling and scavenging. It was a sort of "take what you can find to survive, but not war-like" sort of future world. It couldn't have been this future world, though, as it was all lush and green. I started pocketing pristine apples that had fallen to the ground when she tapped me on my shoulder and pointed to that odd, little plant. "Fairy Cupcakes." That wasthe name of the plant. No joke, the "flowers" were tiny cupcakes with "bubbled" tops. They were in a lovely assortment of colors, but the only cakes ripe for the picking had to be a toasted, golden brown (think: unfrosted, vanilla cupcakes just out of the oven.") One was the size of roughly three erasers (that you'd find at the end of a pencil) put together. This was the only dream I remember vividly enough to share this morning. Though medicine induced, I may still share a bit of what the "dream dictionary" finds in its meaning.

~Children: Retreating into myself to a more childlike state? Doesn't sound like what I'm doing. Then again, Ive always had an affinity for the more childish pursuits.
~Babysitting: Again with the need to take care of the child within.
~Survival through travel and scavenging: I will prevail through my troubles, but must stay positive. The travel signifies my need to get out of my daily routine and make a fresh start "where no one has any expectations of" me. (But how do I escape my own expectation of myself?) The only "scavenging" entry was for "scavenger hunt," and tells me that I'm lacking something in my waking life. I was looking for food to survive, and I just obsess about getting back to better eating habits every day.
~Apples: (a magical fruit)To see apples scattered on the ground in your dream signifies that false friends are working to deceive and harm you.Hmm...my circle of friends is itty-bitty. I don't think that this is true.In particular, to see green apples represent developing love or love that has yet to blossom.Interesting, especially since I have no prospects. The last apple I picked up was a massive Granny Smith, before the woman I was with took my attention away to the Fairy Cupcakes.
~Cupcakes:To see or eat a cupcake in your dream suggests that you are treating yourself to a little sweet reward. You feel that you are deserving of some sort of gift of prize. Alternatively, a cupcake represents your need to downsize some aspect of your life in order to make it more palatable or manageable. Take it a little bit at a time. Telling me to slow down my planning for the year? Or is it telling me to keep my plans as they are and do more (if I feel that I can/must) next year?

**Update: I'm feeling (surprisingly) better after having spent nearly all day in bed. I had my usual morning oatmeal (with peanut butter and banana) and a cup of Immune Support Yogi Tea (the pink label). Now, hours later, my scratchy throat is not scratchy, but the left side of my sinuses are only slightly stuffy. I should have known something was up days ago when I had a little tickle deep in my throat that just wouldn't go away. Oh, well; I'm on the mend. And how!