The Older You Get

the less you have to fear being sung to on your birthday! I am one of those people who do not like all the attention of the wait staff at the birthday dinner celebration. Especially, when they focus on you for 3 rounds of "Happy Birthday" in various renditions.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I am happy to say it was quite uneventful.

I woke up to a beautiful 78 degree day. The perfect temperature in my book. Austin had his Tiny Tot gymnastic class. Carmen, Todd and I all went to help him maneuver through those long tunnels, do flips on the bars and walk the balance beam! How cute are 1 - 3 year olds doing gymnastics!

We then dropped off Carmen and took a long drive along the beach while Austin napped in the car. We stopped at our favorite breakfast burrito place and picked them up for breakfast at home.

The rest of the day I did pretty much nothing. But nothing is bliss when days are full of work, errands, cooking, cleaning, and chasing.

My mom and Kalie watched Austin while Todd and I went to our old Greek hangout for dinner. While we were dating, and just newly married, we would go to this place for gyros every Friday night and then watch a movie. So last night, we ate our gyros and went to see "The Duchess". I liked it, he didn't. Too sappy for him, but just right for me! I love any movie that depicts history, has a love story, and doesn't include lots of sex scenes, showing breasts, blood, violence, and horrid language. Some call me a prude. Whatever.

It was a nice evening, and a nice day all around. Today we are going to the pumpkin patch with Austin, and then hopefully resuming the nothing for the rest of the day schedule!

Blessings

I'm going to try and write down/journal blessings that happen each day. I know God is amazing, but in the low times, sometimes I forget all that He has done.

Right now, with the rest of the world suffering from this depressing economy, I too am pinching pennies.

So on to the blessings:

First, my husband gave me a "two for one" coupon for a favorite deli of mine. I was planning to have lunch at my old school with some friends, and decided to pick up lunch on the way. Perfect! I ordered our usual favorite: meatball sandwich with antipasto salad. The salad would be enough to have for dinner that night, and we always split the sandwich. When I got there to pick it up, the owner told me that I had read the coupon wrong, and I needed to order some specific item for it to work. I apologized for the error, and he gave me the price cut anyway! Blessing #1.

Next, I had planned on cooking short ribs for dinner tonight. Usually I don't shop at Ralphs anymore unless I have some great coupons. Which I did the other day. I had between $3.00 - $5.00 off for some meat, $5.00 off total bill if over $20, and a free carrot coupon. So I went to Ralphs and loaded up my cart. I divided my shopping into 3 sections so I could use my $5.00 off for $20 coupons several times (I had three of them). I also divided up my other coupons/meat. What would have cost me over $100 in food, cost me less than $50.

While I was there, I checked out the short ribs. $4.99/lb. Outrageous. I'm not spending that much! But today, when I remembered our dinner plans, outrageous became, "I guess I'll just by 2 packages. I mean, if we go out to dinner, it would cost a lot more than $16.00". So I went to Ralphs again. BUT.... what did my blessed eyes fall upon? A sale on short ribs. Now they were only $1.99/lb. I rushed home to sing the Hallelujah chorus off my front porch. Actually, I snatched up 8 packages. Three for tonights dinner, and the rest in the freezer for future use. What would have cost me $50.33 cost me only $23.00, and that was with a loaf of bread ($4.39) thrown in. Can you believe the cost of bread?
Anyway. Blessing #2.

I'm looking forward to journaling all the blessings God bestows on us each day. What a great way to remember, even in times of recession, that He provides for ALL our needs.

Austin's first birthday party

Lots of neighbor kids enjoying a sweet afternoon.

I've been locked out

of my Google account, and I have not been able to post for sometime. Of course, the biggest news is that my husband is home and I have a weekly menu once again! All is well in the household when the kids aren't starving and foraging for food.

Today was a wonderful day. I did something that hasn't occurred for over a year. I went to the movies! My mom and I went to church, picked up Subway and headed for the theater. We love having a movie marathon day. Before I got remarried and had another child, we would go to the show every couple of months and stay from 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM. With pretty sore bottoms, we would waddle out filled with popcorn and the latest flicks!

Today I was reacquainted with the love of movie marathon day! We saw Nights in Rodanthye (Diane Lane/Richard Gere), Righteous Kill (Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro), and Burn After Reading (Brad Pitt/George Clooney). They were all great. Burn After Reading was probably my favorite, but Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are hard to beat.

I came home to a little boy fed and in his pajamas after a day of swimming with Daddy. I had the pleasure of reading him his goodnight stories and giving him his bottle while I rocked him to sleep.

All is well, now that Daddy is home!

PS With all the Golden Spoon dinners while Todd was in Alaska, I've managed to lose 6 pounds. I'm starting back at the gym tomorrow.