Why is the blonde UP this early????? Why, indeed.

::groans:: HEY, UNIVERSE! Yes, I'm yelling at YOU!!! What's the big idea of waking me up at 3:45 a.m. On. My. Birthday????? Of course, there also had to be the added ... enhancements to the experience with being too hot (!?!), having aching fingers and unable to breathe. ::sighs in extreme exasperation:: Okay, as I'm up (with the tree and garland lights on), I may as well talk about my Thursday.

So ... it's still too early to go to bed with just a cotton sheet. I found that out the hard way by waking up to stiff, freezing claws. ::sighs:: And it appears that we're going to get rain and cool temps for the next few days. It's raining right now.

So, because of the cold indoors and out, there was NO way I was getting in the shower. Instead I got my hands into the kitchen sink and did a pile of dishes. Ahhhh. Now that was better.

I had many hours before my noon pickup. I wanted to show off my pedicure, so wore my sandals. I also wore my slinky two piece leopard print outfit but put a black turtleneck sweater underneath the top. I didn't bother doing my hair and just stuck my black beret over it. Then I got carried away with reading a sexy series. Aw, darn. Is it time to go already?

I arrived at the centre around 12:30. People were very slow to show up which is usually not the case. I spotted one of our new leaders who told me she wasn't offended by the e-mail I'd sent. Whew! The other leader ended up sitting at my table, so we got a chance to talk some more. They're fully aware of the new challenges. But enough of worries. We were there to celebrate the stepping down of our 92-year old leader who'd been volunteering since 1995. One of the super-volunteers was there to present her with a plaque (provided by the Lions' Club). And she got two bouquets of flowers. Well, for the first time in her long life, she was speechless! It's too bad the speaker from the Library cancelled, so instead we had the man who'd visited me a couple of times for Independent Living Skills to speak about some new developments. When he came in, he walked over to me to say I was looking fabulous. ::grins:: We had lovely treats for food (egg sandwich fingers, cucumber/cream cheese on baguette and salmon on fancy buns.

After the meeting, I had to rush out to get: money from the bank, stuff from the drugstore and greengrocer's. I picked up only a dozen apricots and a ripe avocado. Then I was trying to hurry back, but my right foot was screaming at me. I was passed by the new leaders who told me my ride was already there. Oops! I was thrilled to be home around 4:40 and to get out of my sandals and into slippers. [Note to self: go get your foot x-rayed next week!]

I returned to reading the series and that's how I spent the rest of my evening until my brain drain forced me to go to bed early. Now I'm back to yawning. Oh, decisions. Do I stay up or do I try to get back to sleep again? Hmmm.

Why is the blonde UP this early????? Why, indeed.

::groans:: HEY, UNIVERSE! Yes, I'm yelling at YOU!!! What's the big idea of waking me up at 3:45 a.m. On. My. Birthday????? Of course, there also had to be the added ... enhancements to the experience with being too hot (!?!), having aching fingers and unable to breathe. ::sighs in extreme exasperation:: Okay, as I'm up (with the tree and garland lights on), I may as well talk about my Thursday.

So ... it's still too early to go to bed with just a cotton sheet. I found that out the hard way by waking up to stiff, freezing claws. ::sighs:: And it appears that we're going to get rain and cool temps for the next few days. It's raining right now.

So, because of the cold indoors and out, there was NO way I was getting in the shower. Instead I got my hands into the kitchen sink and did a pile of dishes. Ahhhh. Now that was better.

I had many hours before my noon pickup. I wanted to show off my pedicure, so wore my sandals. I also wore my slinky two piece leopard print outfit but put a black turtleneck sweater underneath the top. I didn't bother doing my hair and just stuck my black beret over it. Then I got carried away with reading a sexy series. Aw, darn. Is it time to go already?

I arrived at the centre around 12:30. People were very slow to show up which is usually not the case. I spotted one of our new leaders who told me she wasn't offended by the e-mail I'd sent. Whew! The other leader ended up sitting at my table, so we got a chance to talk some more. They're fully aware of the new challenges. But enough of worries. We were there to celebrate the stepping down of our 92-year old leader who'd been volunteering since 1995. One of the super-volunteers was there to present her with a plaque (provided by the Lions' Club). And she got two bouquets of flowers. Well, for the first time in her long life, she was speechless! It's too bad the speaker from the Library cancelled, so instead we had the man who'd visited me a couple of times for Independent Living Skills to speak about some new developments. When he came in, he walked over to me to say I was looking fabulous. ::grins:: We had lovely treats for food (egg sandwich fingers, cucumber/cream cheese on baguette and salmon on fancy buns.

After the meeting, I had to rush out to get: money from the bank, stuff from the drugstore and greengrocer's. I picked up only a dozen apricots and a ripe avocado. Then I was trying to hurry back, but my right foot was screaming at me. I was passed by the new leaders who told me my ride was already there. Oops! I was thrilled to be home around 4:40 and to get out of my sandals and into slippers. [Note to self: go get your foot x-rayed next week!]

I returned to reading the series and that's how I spent the rest of my evening until my brain drain forced me to go to bed early. Now I'm back to yawning. Oh, decisions. Do I stay up or do I try to get back to sleep again? Hmmm.

Birthday Balloons ... must be somewhere in my future, right?

Okay, so who's the meanie who rained on my parade uh ... birthday today? Don't you think you got more than a little carried away? Sheesh. I think the universe needs some help with anger management. Because this weather is so unexpectedly wild for this time of year. And any balloons would surely be blown far, far away!

Anyway, I was lucky enough to sleep from 7 until 9 a.m. And then it was time for my birthday brekkie (that just happened to be my Friday brekkie, salmon and rice in lemon sauce). I finally finished reading some nostalgic erotica. [I know: SUCH a hardship. NOT!] In the afternoon, I finally had my big treat for the day. On a platter, I set out smoked salmon, a sliced tomato, sliced avocado, two slices of fresh rye bread, black pitted olives, soft butter and gravlax sauce. Then I opened a bottle of sparkling Brut Rosé. Unfortunately all of my flutes were in storage (I thought I had at least a couple of the cheap ones here), but I made do with a tulip shaped glass.

Oh, everything was delish. I also had some of my banana split flavour ice cream. While I was still under the influence, I'd thought of listening to either the Berlioz Requiem (because I performed it) or Mahler's Resurrection Symphony (because I listened to it after an eye-opening erotic interlude 40 years ago). Both are quite ... uh ... loud and long. But - despite my history with both works - I didn't know whether I could remain engaged in just using my ears. So I decided to watch 1977s The Turning Point with Baryshnikov. I couldn't care less about the soap opera plot (with Shirley Maclaine and Anne Bancroft), but the dancing was marvellous. As it turns out, Baryshnikov and I share an ailment in common, namely arthritis of the spine. So it's at least a wonderful thing that I do have samples of his dancing brilliance saved for posterity.

After that, I really needed a nap to sleep away some of the tipsy effects of the wine. I set the alarm for three hours, but just managed two.

I totally avoided the SGA rewatch on sga_squee as the episode was another Lucius one, Irresponsible. ::shudders:: Ugh. There was NO way I was going to contaminate my birthday with the Pest. Of. Pegasus. Mind you, I will end up watching, probably on Monday, just to maintain a perfect attendance and commenting record.

It was lovely to see how many people left me birthday greetings (mostly on FB). One of my friends kindly knocked off twenty years from my age! Brian sent me an adorable e-card with lovely fairies in it! Anyway, I can't wait for the dinner in my honour at his place tomorrow evening. Yay for good food, fun and friendship! And, on that positive note, I think I'm going to go away now, possibly to bed. I want to preserve the no-foot-pain part of the day (from the wine???) for as long as possible.

Birthday Balloons ... must be somewhere in my future, right?

Okay, so who's the meanie who rained on my parade uh ... birthday today? Don't you think you got more than a little carried away? Sheesh. I think the universe needs some help with anger management. Because this weather is so unexpectedly wild for this time of year. And any balloons would surely be blown far, far away!

Anyway, I was lucky enough to sleep from 7 until 9 a.m. And then it was time for my birthday brekkie (that just happened to be my Friday brekkie, salmon and rice in lemon sauce). I finally finished reading some nostalgic erotica. [I know: SUCH a hardship. NOT!] In the afternoon, I finally had my big treat for the day. On a platter, I set out smoked salmon, a sliced tomato, sliced avocado, two slices of fresh rye bread, black pitted olives, soft butter and gravlax sauce. Then I opened a bottle of sparkling Brut Rosé. Unfortunately all of my flutes were in storage (I thought I had at least a couple of the cheap ones here), but I made do with a tulip shaped glass.

Oh, everything was delish. I also had some of my banana split flavour ice cream. While I was still under the influence, I'd thought of listening to either the Berlioz Requiem (because I performed it) or Mahler's Resurrection Symphony (because I listened to it after an eye-opening erotic interlude 40 years ago). Both are quite ... uh ... loud and long. But - despite my history with both works - I didn't know whether I could remain engaged in just using my ears. So I decided to watch 1977s The Turning Point with Baryshnikov. I couldn't care less about the soap opera plot (with Shirley Maclaine and Anne Bancroft), but the dancing was marvellous. As it turns out, Baryshnikov and I share an ailment in common, namely arthritis of the spine. So it's at least a wonderful thing that I do have samples of his dancing brilliance saved for posterity.

After that, I really needed a nap to sleep away some of the tipsy effects of the wine. I set the alarm for three hours, but just managed two.

I totally avoided the SGA rewatch on sga_squee as the episode was another Lucius one, Irresponsible. ::shudders:: Ugh. There was NO way I was going to contaminate my birthday with the Pest. Of. Pegasus. Mind you, I will end up watching, probably on Monday, just to maintain a perfect attendance and commenting record.

It was lovely to see how many people left me birthday greetings (mostly on FB). One of my friends kindly knocked off twenty years from my age! Brian sent me an adorable e-card with lovely fairies in it! Anyway, I can't wait for the dinner in my honour at his place tomorrow evening. Yay for good food, fun and friendship! And, on that positive note, I think I'm going to go away now, possibly to bed. I want to preserve the no-foot-pain part of the day (from the wine???) for as long as possible.