Friday the 13th

Years and years ago, my dad handed me a small, simple, wire-bound black book.  It ended up being one of my mom's journals.  It just happened to be the journal she kept from the year I was born.  As I read, I found that we really had very parallel lives.  One of the first things I wanted to see was how she had spent her birthday that year.  I loved reading about all the sweet things my dad had done to make her feel special.

Someday, who knows, my children might wonder how I spent my birthday.  So, for future reference, here's how the day went....


Friday the 13th is a great day to have a birthday.  Wow!  I can't believe how much I ate.  Ugh!

I was supposed to clean the garage that day.  That was my plan.  Umm...yah right.

I really had no other plans until the day before.  My sister-by-marriage (my traveling companion to Spokane last year) contacted me about getting together the night of the 12th.  At that very moment, a wonderful friend contacted me too, so we all three made plans together and went to the Cheesecake Factory.  While my friend and I were in the car, she asked if she had met my sister-by-marriage before.  It was then that I realized that they had on another birthday:

Kind of fun, huh?

We stayed out late and talked about all kinds of things and had some amazing cheesecake.  I had the Godiva chocolate cheesecake.  YUM!  I ended up taking half of it home.

In the morning (at 6:30, believe it or not), a friend came by to get me, and we went to breakfast.  This friend is one like I think everyone should have.  If you don't have a friend like her, pray for one.  She's been a God-send.  Any time I need last minute help, she's my go-to girl.  She will sacrifice in any way she can to help.  She makes herself available to watch my kids or come over and talk or whatever.  She's kind of like how my mom would have been if she were here.  Sometimes I wonder if my mom might have had a hand in the making of this friendship.

We had a great breakfast at Biscuits Cafe.  I had the sweet potato pancakes.  They were very good.  We talked over kids and life and getting and staying on track.  Then we talked over an invention I've been mulling over in my head.  Her husband's an engineer, so we're thinking the three of us might just be able to do something with this concept.  Fun!

I got home and interacted with my family and responded to facebook birthday greetings and then ran off to the Claim Jumper for lunch with my new and wonderful friend Bobbie.

Bobbie came all the way from Sheridan (an hour and a half away) to have lunch with me.  I love this woman!  We talked and talked and created some wonderful plans for the future that I'm SUPER excited about.  This is going to be a GREAT year!

When I got home, my friend Rachel had been by.  She had made Birthday Trifle (a tradition at her home) for us.  We had had this once before (see this link).  My love for Nutella is no secret.  Rachel had also made Nutella homemade ice cream.  Wow!  I was so sad I'd missed her.  What a great sacrifice for a woman who has had sick kids and has had all kinds of health problems since the birth of her last child.  Thank you, Rachel!  I wish I'd been there to thank you in person.

Again, I responded to some facebook greetings, watched Sesame Street with #6 and #7 on my laptop (on Netflix), did some indexing and ran off with #1 to go give blood at the blood drive that was going on at the church.

The Warden and I used to go give blood on a regular basis.  We would always race to see who would bleed faster.  Yesterday's blood-letting only took five minutes.  Beat that Mr. Hess!  HeeHee.  In the past he'd also gloat about how many more times he'd given than I had.  There were times when I was pregnant that I couldn't give, so he'd go without me.  Now, though, I have him beat big time.  He can't go any more, so I'm on my own.  I'm not sure if I've passed him up yet, but I think I'm pretty close. 

Lynne, the woman who took my blood, handed me a birthday pin.  That was fun!

On the way to the church for the blood drive, #1 and I had taken the top off the car.  That's how beautiful the day was.  As we walked back out, big ol' drops of rain had just started to come down.  Ugh!  We ran to the car to put the top back on (No, I hadn't left my purse in it; although, jokingly, I had told #1 I was going to before we went in.  At least I'm getting so I can joke about it now.  I'm thinking that means I've come a long way).  We got the top on just in time, but it poured down.  The day had started out so beautifully.  Such is Portland, I guess.

We went home and hung around for a bit while #2 went to basketball practice.  #4 also had a campout to go on, so he left in the mid-afternoon.  When #2 and the Warden got home, we took off for dinner.  We went to Applebee's, which I thought I loved, but I guess not so much any more--small portions for a big price.  The food was adequate.  #1 and I shared the spinach artichoke dip, and I had shrimp and chicken.  They gave me a free dessert--a chocolate mousse with oreos in it.  I shared it around the table.

The funniest thing about dinner was just after we pulled up and parked in the parking lot.  We got out of the car and started walking on the sidewalk toward the front door, and as we looked in the windows at the diners, they were (at three different tables), literally turned around in their chairs gawking at us.  No joke.  We bought our van three years ago (on April 12th, by the way), but I have to say, in that amount of time, I've never felt like such a freak show.  I smiled and waved at everyone, but they really unabashedly continued their wide-mouthed staring.  Amazing!  Was it my driving?  Or maybe it was our breathtaking gorg-e-osity.  HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Yup.  That has to be it, right?

An old friend, Megan, was hostessing.  She was in #1's Girl Scout troop years ago.  We followed her to our table.  #7 danced, beebopped and lip-synced to the music in her high chair the entire time.  #5 and #6 got dancing too.

We got home, opened presents and headed to bed.

What a great day!

Thank you to everyone who made it a special day!  Thank you to those who took the time to be with me and for all of my Facebook friends who sent love and wishes .  Thank you particularly to the Warden and our children for being patient with your old mother and for partying with me and  making me feel special all day long.  I love you!