The Day of 40 Hugs

Do you know what today is!? It's...


I know, I know, I really haven't been looking forward to it too much. There might be surprises, of which I'm not always a good recipient...I try to figure them out, spoil them, etc. It's the little kid in me I guess. Plus I'm a control freak. ;-)

And then there's the issues of "turning old", because you know your body goes through a lot of physical changes between the last day you're 39 and the first day you're 40. Well, there aren't TOO many liver spots (more to come, I'm sure), the mail-order dentures should be arriving any day, and I've only pooped myself once. Oh, and I've forgotten the name of the really nice gentleman who lives here with me.

But other than that, it's not too bad. ;-)

Seriously though - so far it's been a great start to the day! Sure, my parents flew to Cancun yesterday (mom's bday is on Saturday) and I still haven't heard from them, so we don't REALLY know if they haven't been kidnapped or are off the road in a ditch somewhere - but other than that, all is good!

The birthday celebrations actually started this past Friday - we drove out to House Gourmet and met up with Sharon and Andy for a surprise dinner (yay Sharon and Andy! yay House Gourmet! yay sweet potato sushi!)! Sharon made the card above, plus had a really cool present for me. I guess you'd call it semi-homemade? It's a binder she ordered that's chock full of recipes that she, her mom and her sister contributed - some of which we've already enjoyed eating with Sharon and Andy, and some Sharon recommends now that she's a budding cook!


Check it out - there's pics for most of the recipes (see Sharon's Tuxedo Strawberries and her Chili in the pics below), little personal notes (like how we're both excited to start growing green and purple asparaguses (asparagi?) this year, etc...


After dinner, Sharon and Andy came over and we played video games and ate the S'mores cupcakes that Andy made!!! (I still need to get a pic - sorry Andy!) Those were REALLY good! Thanks again Sharon and Andy!!

And then today when I got up, there were MORE presents! Brett and I both took the day off, and he's had some surprises for me...



Peter worked with Brett to get me a gift certificate for my favorite garden center near here. We'll actually be heading out shortly to have fun, starting with Donzell's! I think I'll be getting some more seed starting stuff (just cheap stuff to help out with what I already have), and then I might save the remainder to get a plant/tree/shrub/whatever later - something I can plant in the yard and always remember it was a gift from Peter and Conrad for my 40th bday.

In addition to the gift certificate, they ALSO got me Martha Stewart's Cookie book. I originally poo-poo'd it, thinking it might not be as good as another cookie book I really like that came out around the same time - but Peter's made and sent enough cookies from this book that I've changed my mind. Yum! Can't wait to make something out of it. Thanks Peter and Conrad!


And just to make sure it was a totally Martha birthday (really, I'm gonna have to stop with all the Martha shit, or people might think I'm gay!), Brett got me the Martha Stewart Cooking School cookbook. Again, this was something I originally turned my nose up about when I first heard about it. I'd never had a Martha cookbook before, and while I enjoy her on TV, in podcasts and on the web immensely, I felt I didn't need her classier-than-thou cooking techniques to force their way into my life and tell me how I was doing everything wrong. (Yes, I really do love Martha - it may not sound like it there) But we've been waching her show occasionally, recorded on the DVR but deleted more often than not, and really love it! She's quite funny, and can be very down to earth. And she really DOES have a lot going on - including some GREAT recipes! Martha ran a number of episodes where they always cooked something from this cookbook, and I was sold! The stuff's gonna taste great, plus it has lots of great pictures and explanations!


And now back to garden talk - here's the other big gift Brett got me...and this one's a doozy. If you start your own garden plants from seed, you know you need some sort of heat source to encourage them - especially since all my growies are in the basement, and it's still FREEEEZING here. I've gotten two small, single-flat heat mats over the years, and one of them finally died on me. It just doesn't make heat anymore. I've been intending to buy a replacement, and did a little shopping on Amazon. Brett said this is the one I'd had on my list (I'd already forgotten!), and wow, did he do good!


See that diagram above? Read the dimensions below... This sucker's gonna heat not one, not two, not three...it's gonna heat FOUR seed trays! It's mega-huge! I've got plenty of seeds already started (more on this later), and have plenty more to go...so this'll be great!


Ok, we're about to head out - I just wanted to get this first post of the day taken care of. Brett said I should plan to do multiple postings today, so we'll see how that goes... Thanks again for the gifts, cards and well-wishes!!

Oh, and PS - Brett said I get 40 hugs today! I've cashed in on a few already! :-)