It's My Party

First things first...

Downton Abbey.

Lord have mercy.

I don't want to spoil it for those that haven't seen it yet, but can you guys believe it!?

The guilt that Lord Grantham shall carry now will be heavy for sure.

And Thomas - did you see the softer side of Thomas? Yes you did.

Mark my words - there is more to come.

Second things second..

The BoyChild.

He was home this weekend, because it was a very special weekend indeed.

M'birthday.

The big 51.

We'll get to that in a minute.

I finally got all the details of LasVegas.

He stayed in Caesar's Palace.

Look at this child.

Is it me, or is he the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

I'm sure it's just not me.

He's so danged happy, and exhausted.

It's so cute how he gets here, eats and within a half an hour, he's sawing logs.

Luckily we get to jabber jaw the whole way home on the just over an hour trip.

OK...now the post.  I just had to get that off my chest.

I turned 51 on Saturday.

It's most ridiculous because wasn't it just a couple of months ago that I posted saying I was fifty?

I had a ridiculously nice birthday - it was more of a birthday month actually.  Gifts and wishes kept rolling in.  Doesn't that sound funny?

For some reason, it does to me.

It felt that way, but actually it was only a few.

A fabulous aqua blue Life is Good hoodie.

My dear, dear friend Gina - get a load of this gift - a month's membership to CrossFit.  If you've never heard of it - well, it's like this hardcore gym, I do mean hardcore.  I've determined that they call it CrossFit because you will pray to the one that hung on the cross while you are there, and for the days that follow your visit. 

 I never knew I was capable of the things I'm doing now.  I'm not entirely sure I am.  Yesterday my glasses were completely fogged from sweating, and I felt that I would surely faint a couple of times.  As well as the one month membership to hell, she bought me an entire workout outfit, and took me to a session at a Reiki master, followed by a fabulous lunch.

I knew nothing of Reiki, and I'm still not entirely sure I believe it to be anything - but I did find the woman that did it an absolute doll and a very sincere, loving person.

Apparently my chakras are all high frequency, in line and I'm balanced.

I'm assuming it's a good thing since she teared up and told me that I had a lot of work to do, that the world needed me.  

Interesting.

I got a fabulous red Vitamix mixer for my birthday, a gift from Glenco, which I ordered.  Glenco never knows what to get me.

I've been drinking green smoothies like nobody's business.

My sister gave me a JoAnn fabrics gift card.

Yay!

My friend Renee stopped over with two large bags of gifts.

I'm so blessed!  Not only did I get gifts, but she also brought gifts for the camper as well.

She's my vintage camper buddy - this is what I made for her birthday a couple of weeks ago.

I also found gifts placed at the back door a couple of times, and got cards in the mail - so exciting to get real paper mail, isn't it?

Interesting enough - with all of this fantastic stuff going on - the morning of my birthday I found myself feeling a little down and sorry for myself.  I know!  Ridiculous, but true.  I'm not even sure why - and it's difficult for me to admit that I was down - I still struggle with admitting that - it seems like a sign of weakness to me - and I don't like to appear weak.  I'm working on it.

Glenco planned on going to a gun show with a friend of his - and we were to meet up later in the early afternoon and hang.  We were going to pick up Aaron in the evening, so there really was no plan for the day - just letting it unfold.  No worries.  The comical thing is that Glenco has never gone to a gun show, and really isn't interested in guns - but he needed some guy time, and I get that. 

So here I sat, all alone on the morning of my 51st birthday, and I was feeling sorry for myself.

It's like eating your Thanksgiving dinner on the Wednesday before - it's just not quite the same if all of the festivities don't actually take place on the day, or is that just me?

So I sat here for a moment and realized that life was what you make it.  I decided that I'd do whatever made me happy - and off I went.

First stop...thrift stores.  (it's becoming a bit of an addiction, and well, a job - I'm an officially picker.)

Thrift stores make me really happy, the thrill of the hunt.

I went to a bunch - all over tar-nation.

I passed an old bakery and noticed how old the sign was, and I thought - golly, that's gotta be a good bakery - look how old it is, and it's still in business - then I noticed a little old babushka'd lady emerging, and that sealed the deal.  I u-turned it and stopped there.

I got myself a birthday cake.

Doesn't that sound sad?

: -)

It was an atomic cake and I even had them put my name on it.

It was right there in the HiWay Bakery in So. Chicago Heights, Illinois that I realized that I had the power to be happy today or not.  It was all a matter of what I thought.

Life is what you make of it.

I wanted a cake, so I got one.

I was going to have a happy day - and I did.

(The cake was delicious, but due to eating wheat, my joints are killing me right now!)

What else makes me happy?

Starbucks.

I went there.

Triple shot vanilla latte is my weapon of choice.

As I sat there sipping that, I thought about what else would make me happy on this first day of my 51st year.

Cats.

Cats would make me happy.

I'm going to go to the shelter and play with cats.

The nearby shelter was under renovation, and I had to go to Petco to see the cats that were up for adoption.

This is why I should never be left alone - especially on my birthday.

For a brief moment I felt incredibly sad thinking - it's my birthday, I'm alone, I got my own cake and now I'm looking at cats.

Then, I thought it was funnier than heck.

I'm sure you realize by now that I brought one of those cats home, don't you?

I felt it my civic duty to give a cat a good home on my birthday.

This is where it gets a little creepy.

This kitty that I brought home, a six month old little girl - is the splitting image of my Jinxie that passed away last Christmas.

I feel like in someway I've married the twin brother of my dead husband.

She's a fabulous little kitten that is a lap cat extraordinaire, and I'm in love.

She slept in my arms all the night long.

Glenco loves her too, and laughs that he'll never leave me alone again on my birthday.

Amen.