My first official birthday gift. This was given to me by a co-worker. See my old favorite mug looking shunned in the background?

Tomorrow's my birthday. I have tricked a large group of my friends- 14 in all - into having dinner Friday night at a local Mexican restaurant.

Let me interject a comment from my 16-year-old son here: "Mom, I am impressed you even have 14 friends."

 I called the restaurant to make a reservation last night and was told they are not taking reservations from 6-8 pm. We live in a college town and this is the first week back for students. Because of this, the restaurants will all be fairly full. The owner offered us a 4:30 time and I laughed. I'm not going to be so old that I have to eat during the early-bird specials. Then the owner offered me an 8 pm. I took this time but this morning I am looking at it in a different light.

Eight at night is kind of late for dinner. I usually eat before 7 and then by 8 I am pretty much done for. That's when I pull on the *give-up-on-life pants and settle down for the evening. So, the question now becomes: Am I too old to eat that late? Gosh, I sure hope not.

*My son's slang for sweatpants.

Christmas is finally over and the next holiday—Erin's Birthday Month—will soon begin. Most of you know I have not always been a fan of my birthday. This year I am going to try to be positive and enjoy gaining another year of wisdom (and many more gray hairs). 

Jon is off in sunny California helping our friends Tony and Beth move with their mother to Colorado. He said it was 66 degrees there yesterday. It was 29 degrees here. I am a bit jealous. I can't seem to get warm. I am grateful for the bit of sun we have had recently though. It breaks up the dreary days a bit. 

I do feel a bit lazy lately. I honestly had every intention of being productive during my winter vacation, but those plans have gone the way of the warm weather. I read a whole book yesterday and am partway through a second. Funny how exhilarating it is to come to the last page of a novel. I hadn't realized how little time I have spent reading these past few months. Reading also makes me want to write. I found myself sitting up in the middle of the night last night to write down a sentence I had dreamt. In the morning it was a little hard to decipher, but it wasn't bad. If I keep doing this I could have a whole notebook of single lines, but very little sleep.

Maybe that's what I will write next—a book entirely out of first lines. I'm good at opening lines, it's the middle and ending ones I get hung up on.  :)

My youngest turned 10 today. I can't believe I'm (I mean she) is that old. She had a blast at her party. We had peg-leg (three-legged) races, egg relays, water balloon fights and, as requested by my daughter, dunking (bobbing). We didn't have any apples to bob for so they settled for grapes. It's funny how easily amused they are at this age. We made a red velvet cake with Nutella filling and cupcakes. The cake was delicious. It wasn't the prettiest thing ever, but it was edible. The girls were grossed out when I told them it might turn their poo red. It's like an after party surprise.

Pirate cupcakes

Treat bags in a pirate's chest

Mo and the her mateys in their bejeweled eye patches

Bunting made from brown paper bags (I forgot to take down the fly tape before I took the pictures. It did  come down before the guests arrived.)

Egg the Plank (Mo looks like she is plotting in the background)

Pirate flag adorning the wall above the food

Jon and Maggie all dressed up in their pirate gear. Apparently, modern day pirates like the guitar (hence Maggie's T-shirt)

Moira is having a pirate birthday party next week and we have been working on her decorations and stuff. Her dad has gotten a little too excited about it and spent hours yesterday making pirate hats for the two of them.

So far, we have made invitations, eye patches, bandannas and gift bags. Tomorrow we make a pirate flag, a treasure map and pendants that will hang around the back porch. It is going to be so much fun. Moira makes a really cute pirate.

Nine more days until my thirty-old birthday. Ughhhhhh!!!!!

While most people are counting down the days to Christmas, I am counting down the days until I am in my mid-thirties. I am not happy about this birthday, not happy at all. I admit, thirty was hard and I tried to be twenty-nine for a few years, but this one, ouch! 


Maybe I should make a sort of advent calendar for my birthday, like the one we made for Christmas this year. Behind every door there will be a small prize to make me feel better — a nice pendant necklace, some age-defying face cream, a button that says 'Age isn't everything,' chocolates, a certificate for laser hair removal, a thousand dollars and maybe even a mirror that doesn't magnify, but in fact makes everything look smaller. The more I think about it, the more this could work. 


I may have to break out the scrapbook supplies and make me a calendar tomorrow. Is it cheating if you buy all the presents yourself and just pretend to be surprised when you open the little doors?


Countdown: 26 days

Well my Dell laptop is dying a slow death. First the battery started to lose charge (it only stays good for about 30 minutes) and now the charger is doing weird things, like buzzing at me and not working. So now I have a dead laptop and no way to charge it unless I want to pony up $60 for a new charger. I know that I will have to eventually, seeing as how I have a ton of stuff on my computer. Fortunately I really don't need any of it right now. Jon and I are getting new laptops for the new semester - MacBooks. We are so excited to change over to Mac. Hopefully we will really like them, they are not cheap.

Just an update for everyone: Moira turns 8 this Saturday and she will be baptized at the end of the month on the 23rd here in Moscow. She is very excited. Grandma and Grandpa Humphreys are coming and we are going to show them how good a time you can have in Hippyville. Then right after that Jon and I start school- so don't expect too much of our blogs for awhile. Today we are taking Maggie to see Prince Caspian at the dollar theater in Pullman. Then we will have to endure weeks of her retelling the story to us, even though she has already read it. Oh well, at least I get popcorn.