In Which I Turn 50-7

The older you get, the boringer your birthday gets. So you have to find ways to make it exciting. Like making pastrami from scratch (more on that in another post). Or trying out a decorating technique that no one else is interested in:

Or letting your kids talk you into opening cards first thing in the morning (even though you have to get to work by eight)

Or by saying yes when your coworker offers to buy you a muffin and hot cocoa.

Or by having the sister missionaries (YAY!) over for dinner.

And birthday math:

And silly renditions of the birthday song, that Kristen videoed.

As for presents, I bought myself a Nathan Fillion limited edition t-shirt, got my hair cut and dyed,

and Russell conspired to buy me a gift card to my favorite spa (guess what I'm doing Thursday?!) and a cast iron skillet.

So, all in all, it was a happy birthday.

Mom's Job is Really Cool (Part Whatever)

DK, the publisher of billions of Star Wars books, sent me a kit and some money in order to throw a Jedi Party. So I did.

Alison and Kristen decided that they wanted to come and participate/help.

(Well, I have my Halloween costume for this year.)

And, we all had tons of fun!

Sometimes My Job is Made of Awesome

Tuesday, Alison got to see and meet Ridley Pearson. He was a great presenter and a good sport about all the questions she had for him.

And then on Saturday, we had a local string quartet from WSU come and do their musical rendition of "Where the Wild Things Are." I just recorded bits of it, but the whole thing made me very happy.

Snow!

Which means we have to document it.

We did get out to go to the pink Palace to see Night at the Museum 3, and afterwards decided to go sledding at the Kansas hill

Everyone got into it:

Except for me. I stood at the bottom and tried not to get hit.

We can now say we've had our fun with winter, and it can go away.

42 Isn't That Bad

I had a nice birthday. I made a yummy cake

(yes, it's crooked. I'm not a professional.)

And opened some presents before heading out to book group. I got lots of cards

(My favorite was Alison's homemade cake.)

Alison and Kristen pooled their money and got me another minion

I'm told that now I have three, I'm officially collecting them. So you know.

And we bought ourselves a new camera to replace the one that I've hated for more than a year. (It's only a year and a half old. It never was a good camera.)

It was a happy birthday!

Mama Went Down to Austin

And this is what she saw:

Friends!

An Amazing Bookstore!

I thought this was hilarious.

Good food! 

Cool Architecture!

Guitars!

Weird things on the way home!

Presents! (These are Alison's. She was very happy.)

It's good to be home, though.

41 Is Not to Old to Throw a Birthday Party

The original plan was to drive 2 1/2 hours to see Austenland, because there was no hope that it'd come to Wichita. Then, on Friday, we discovered that it DID come to Wichita. (And there was much rejoicing.) So, plans abruptly changed, and what was a road trip became a PARTY! I called a whole bunch of people (we had 8 for lunch, 9 for the movie; okay, so I don't have many friends), and took them out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Which is what one should eat before going to see a silly movie about Austen fans. Right?

Our waitress was fabulous, taking good care of us (although she looked at me askance after I told her it was my birthday and then ordered a virgin pina colada).

 She even gave us birthday dessert nachos (um, YUM!) on the house.

From there we headed over to the theater to see Austenland, which was, in a word: HILARIOUS. Seriously. I was worried how other people would take to Shannon Hale's humor (I love it, personally), but everyone (even the teenagers) really, truly, honestly, laughed. A LOT. It was probably good that we were basically the only ones in the theater, because we were catcalling at the screen, and hooting, and cackling. Megan and Caitlyn immediately said that we need to own this one. I agree. Too many good moments (we've been quoting "Bloody Americans" in a Bad British Accent ever since) not to.

In short, one of the best birthday presents I could have gotten. Who needs stuff when you can throw a party?

Right?

Edited to add actual birthday pictures:

Intermission, Part 2: Friends

One of the reasons we wanted to go to Michigan was so that I could see friends I haven't had contact with in  a very long time. More than 20 years, really. I didn't get to see as many as I would have liked, but I did see a few. And that was lovely.

The only person I knew in this group was Heather -- whom I'm standing next to.
That said, it was a great evening. 

With Mariah, who was one of my best friends in 8th grade.
We talked for two hours. It was wonderful seeing her again. 

With Felicity, who was another one of my friends in middle school and early high school. 

Cabin Fever

We started the week off with yet another two snow days. Neither day was fully justified: on Monday the snow came down at lunch (and then we closed the store early) and then stopped until about 6 p.m. Which means, 1) they could have gone to school, and 2) Tuesday was canceled. And on Tuesday, it snowed for a little in the morning, but cleared up pretty quick and was a lovely day. They could have gone then, too. Which also meant that they were going stir-crazy by Tuesday afternoon, and begging to go back to school. All except Megan: she thoroughly enjoyed not having homework.

They did get out to build stuff in the snow, though. 

 

And so, Wednesday, we were back to Normal. But not Too Busy. And thankfully, in a Routine. 

 

And, honestly: nothing happened. We did realize that we have only TWO weeks before we head off on our spring break trip, so I’ve been frantically trying to gather Stuff To Do in the car, and make travel CDs, and laminate things, and make final preparations. How did this come up so fast??

 

With all of that looming, I spent FOUR hours getting my hair blonded (just to be different) on Friday. So far, aside from the younger girls randomly asking if I’m going gray (yes, dear, that’s why I’m messing with the color), people have liked it. I don’t know if I’m going to keep it, though: blond really isn’t my thing.

 

Russell and I managed to get out (because of the adult session of stake conference) yesterday, and actually went out to eat. *shock*

 

And stake conference this morning was a broadcast that was generally nice enough. We’re looking forward to having the rest of the day to be lazy. (That is, until they start complaining they’re bored around 4.) 

 

Next week will be busy, though. Ah, such is the way of things.

It's the Little Things

That make life happy, right?

Like a brand-new, paid for by herself, backrest arm thingy:

Or a tooth that finally came out after weeks and weeks of wiggling.

Or a new pair of glasses.

It's been a good week.