I’m officially old

Yesterday was my birthday. Yeah, me.
I’ve mentioned this before, but really, the week of Christmas is just a crappy time to have a birthday. People don’t remember, and if they DO remember, they are just recovering from Christmas and don’t have any money to spend on a gift. Or they don’t want to go shopping, or….and the list goes on. I have learned through years of having this birthday not to expect too much. When I had my fortieth birthday extravaganza, I planned it myself, which some people thought was odd, but I kind of knew that if I left it for my husband to plan, it might not happen. Not to dis on my husband, he’s a wonderful guy and supportive and great in many aspects, but he’s not much of a party planner.

This year, I made no plans, and I really didn’t expect anything. I had thought about going to get a pedicure, since I have a free coupon for one, but I didn’t make fast plans. I reminded everyone the day before that my birthday was coming, just so they wouldn’t be totally shocked. I told Ryan that I wanted to go to yoga in the morning on my birthday, and he was kind enough to ask if I wanted my “breakfast in bed” (a tradition I wonder WHY we ever started) after yoga, when I came home. So, I went to yoga, and while there I saw a friend who suggested we go out to lunch, since it was my birthday! How nice of her to even remember!

When I came home, there was my family, and my brother’s family who are staying with us this week, having breakfast and playing, and my sweet hubby was making me an omelette. Yum. I got out the blender so I could have a smoothie with it. Only silly me, I put the blender together wrong, so my milk ended up spilling out the bottom where the rubber ring should be. Thankfully hubby fixed that, too. Smoothies and omelettes all around!

I took a leisurely shower, then got dressed. Even though it was my birthday and I had decided I wasn’t going to do anything I didn’t want to do, I did throw in a load of laundry. I just couldn’t help it. I helped John get bundled up to go sledding with his cousins, and then I went to lunch with some neighborhood friends. It was the perfect casual lunch at Blue Lemon with four friends. One of my friends gave me some yummy smelling lotion, another gave me some home made bonbons. Yum! I felt lucky to have such friends.

When I came home, Ryan had taken Cole out driving (and shopping), and only Jenna and Megan were home. They finished watching something and I decided we were going to watch A Christmas story. After that, I had a 20 minute nap and read my book while Cole ran the snowblower on the driveway and Ryan took Megan to her footsall game. Doesn’t that sound like a perfect relaxing afternoon?

When Ryan made it home from Megan’s game, I had made a simple dinner for the kids, and Ryan and I were going out to a movie. First, though, they insisted I open my presents. They had bought me presents! How thrilling. They gave me a new yoga mat (mine has been in the garage for a while and smelled like gasoline), a new bowl for the Bosch mixer, some earrings, and scissors. Yes, I have been needing plain old kitchen scissors since the gift wrapping started and they disappeared. And a cute little teddy bear that Natalie bought me when we were perusing the 75% off Christmas items at Smith’s marketplace the day before. And there was even a surprise present, the movie Hairspray! How fun. I was thrilled that they had bought presents for me!

Ryan and I braved the snow and went to see the Blind Side. Excellent movie! We hurried to make the 6:30 showing, and then when it was over, he was hungry (we’d skipped dinner) and wanted to go get real food. I didn’t think I was hungry, but when we got to Rumbi’s, it sounded good. Only it looked like they were closed! It was only 9, but because of the snowstorm, they hadn’t had many customers and were considering closing up early. They were nice enough to let us come in and order a chicken bowl and a piece of key lime pie for me.

Another fun thing was getting all the birthday greetings from the facebook friends. I LOVE that! It made me feel so special that people would notice that it was my birthday and think enough of me to just jot down a greeting or a few nice words. It made my whole day! It’s like getting a whole bunch of cards in the mail, only cheaper.

I think it was a VERY nice birthday. Other than the part about being a year older. I haven’t figured out how to get out of that one, but I’ll let you know.