10 things I did on my birthday:

1. Woke up early. Tess woke me up around 9 am and would not stop talking! I got up with her and we read email for a while. I had lots of sweet birthday wishes. Then I nursed her, she fell asleep, I counted my blessings in the quietness, kissed on her sweet cheeks then put her back to bed.

2. Anticipated a long, hot, quiet shower. But a few minutes after I got in I heard Milo at the door.

“a gum ahem glblahblah,” he said.
“What?” I yelled.
“Where are we going?” he repeated. (He asked this because I was up before him and showering.)
“Nowhere.”
“aggllal hummm,” he said.
“What?” I yelled.
“I want to get in when you’re done,” he repeated.
“Ok.”
“Mom! Hahmmal alldglem gahblahablah,” he said.
“What?” I yelled and leaned out of the shower.
“I feel better today,” he repeated.
“I’m so glad,” I said.
“Blah glum glele blah,” he said.
“What? Milo! Please stop talking until I’m done.”
“I said, when are you going to be done?”
“I’ll be done when I’m done!” I yelled.

3. Went outside with the kids to enjoy our last day of warm weather. The rest of the week is supposed to bring cold and rain. Today was very breezy. Tess did not like it. A lot of the petals had blown off the tulip tree and it was beautiful.

4. Held and rocked Tess a lot more than I wanted to and caught up on some 24. Though I should have been cleaning or folding laundry.

5. Opened some gifts and cards from my kids and got one in the mail with a check!

6. Did school. Teacher’s don’t get their birthdays off. Even though the students wish she did.

7. Made pizza for supper.

8. Put on make up and squeezed into a pair black slacks that shrunk in my closet while I at that pizza.

9. Went to revival.

10. Came home exhausted. See #1 and finally finished this post.

The lost hour did catch up with me early Sunday night. I fell asleep early but did not sleep the whole night. Tess woke me twice, then early this morning Milo woke up feeling nauseous and with a fever. While getting him Tylenol I was surprised to see that it was still so dark. Not even a tiny streak of sunrise brightened the morning sky.

But the evenings are my favorite times. This evening I sat on the porch rocking Tess while Milo played in the yard with Sophie and I watched the cars go by on the highway and the clouds in the eastern sky turn cotton candy pink as the sun slowly set behind us. It’s even nicer when people start mowing lawns and the smell of green grass fills the warm air.

As a teenager I loved horseback riding. I had a friend in high school who had horses and she took me riding a few times. But now, horses have become like roller coaster rides to me. The girls rode safely in the pen, but my cousin took my aunt and me on a trail.

After that I began to relax and enjoy the trail. I think if I rode more I would get used to it and enjoy it again. Though my body, my poor aching legs, bottom and inexplicably my little pinky toe on my left foot, might not.

**Thanks to those who have entered the birthday giveaways and those who have mentioned it on their blogs or put up my button. See you here tomorrow for another fun prize!

I have set the week for March 9-13. That gives me just two weeks to prepare. And here’s where you come in. As soon as I get the button made I’m going to ask if you will put it up on your site and spread the word.

Also, this year we (Clark and I) are on the Dave Ramsey plan which means there’s no money, sadly, in the budget for gifts to giveaway on the blog. Last year, I had a couple of donations for prizes made by bloggers. One was from the Nester and just look at her now! I’m sure giving away a tassel on my blog is what propelled her to the blog star levels she is at right now.

Wouldn’t you like to join her?

I need bloggers who make stuff or bloggers who have etsy shops, wait, you don’t even have to be a blogger. I need a few beautiful things from you to give away during my birthday week. In exchange I’ll do a some linkage advertising for you. I may even attempt to make something myself (won’t that be interesting).

Anyone interested? Email me at afamiliarpath at gmail dot com if you want to contribute and I’ll give you more details.

I have a couple of people who have already offered some of their gorgeous things. But I’m going to keep it a secret until the birthday week. It’s going to be so much fun! I hope you’ll be here.