Happy Happy Birthday Baby

Happy birthday to me! Today is my 30th birthday. Alas, Mother Nature decided to pull in some April showers. It was gloomy and rainy all day. I cheered myself up with cereal and birthday-or-rained themed cartoons and TV show episodes. I ran the first 80s Strawberry Shortcake special, The World of Strawberry Shortcake (which is set during the title character's 6th birthday), during breakfast. Ran Perfect Strangers' first season finale Happy Birthday Baby and the Tiny Toon Adventure episode Rainy Daze, along with two Disney shorts, Mickey's Birthday Party and Pluto's Party, while waiting for Rose and Craig to pick me up for the 45-minute drive to Erma.

I got a call from the Acme while Tiny Toons was on. Sharon wanted to know if I could come in from 2-6 tomorrow and help bag cookies in the bakery. Did I ever! Steve and Roxanne (the latter is the head of the bakery) must have finally found something for me to do there. As Rose put it later, I just got my little toe in, but it's something. They couldn't have given me a better birthday present!

My little family party got really noisy. Skylar, hopped up on cake and excitement, was difficult to control. Rose and Craig couldn't find anyone to take care of their puppies Kelsey and Toby, who were equally loud and crazy. All three had to stay inside because of the lousy weather and couldn't get rid of as much energy as they normally would have if they'd had free reign of a dry yard. Skylar kept chasing the dogs. The dogs barked at noises and climbed over everything and everyone.

Adding to the problem, Skylar's mother and my younger sister Anny wasn't feeling well. She apparently has a nasty toothache...and to add to this, says she may be picking up a virus she got from her son. She couldn't eat the big dinner Mom made, slept for a good chunk of the afternoon, and was in the bathroom a lot.

On the other hand, I did get to meet my new baby nephew. Collyn is about four-five months old now, and he's SOOOO little and cute! He's a small, pudgy fellow with light brown hair and brown eyes like his daddy, Anny's boyfriend Mike. He's also extraordinarily quiet, especially compared to his brother. He barely made a sound all afternoon. He's grasping things now. He got my finger a couple of times. I even got to hold him.

It wasn't all bad. We had a great time playing Mario Kart Wii. The various versions of Mario Kart have always been family favorites, and this one is no exception. (I think Dad and Keefe got the Wii to get the new version of Mario Kart!) I first played with Rose, Anny, and Keefe. Rose and Keefe mostly competed against each other, followed by Anny. I really can't figure out the controls for Mario Kart Wii - it's a lot easier when you use the arrow pad on the controller to steer, not the controller itself! I always came in last. I did mildly better when I played against Skylar a bit later.

Mom's dinner was great, too. She made roast beef (actually, three roast beefs to feed all nine of us), honey-and-ginger-glazed carrots, spring greens salad, a sauteed asparagus-onion-mushroom dish, mashed potatoes, and her famous biscuits. (Now made with margarine and a bright yellow color.) I had a ton of everything except the mashed potatoes, which I'm not a big fan of. Got seconds on the asparagus. That was soooo good, slightly sweet and yet tender. I need to get Mom to send me the recipe.

Skylar refused to finish anything but his carrots and meat. I have no idea why. Everything else vanished. I don't think there were even many leftovers.

Rose brought the cake. Her "connections" turned out to be my old friends at Desserts By Designs, the wonderful bakery a block from Abbie Road in Audubon. Rose and Craig loved the desserts they provide for the restaurant they work at so much, they decided to get my cake from there. The cake was completely delicious, a deep, moist dark chocolate cake with fluffy cocoa icing and huge, bright icing flowers. (And I was right. Once again, I took half the cake home with me...and half of that is now in the freezer with the other cake.)

We opened the presents after the cake and ice cream. Rose gave me yoga/sports clothes. (She's been teasing me about doing yoga in t-shirts and work pants.) Keefe gave me a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble. Anny and her family gave me a gorgeous velvet-covered journal and a much-needed new velor blanket, both a lovely wine color. Mom and Dad gave me $500 that they want me to use for clothes. Rose got the Spaceballs DVD from me, a basket of crochet items from Anny and her family, money from Mom and Dad, and an iTunes gift card from Keefe.

Skylar was obviously winding down, and Anny wasn't feeling any better. We just ended up leaving earlier than planned, about a half-hour after opening the presents. Dad gave us each a can of crab meat on the way out.

So...it wasn't a GREAT birthday, but as Lauren pointed out, it could have been worse. It least I have a nice, warm new blanket, some nice work-out clothes, and money. And it'll be a long, long time before I need to bake myself a cake!