I wasn't born yesterday!

Yes, yes - I know I owe you days 2 – 4 of our Natchez Trace Recap, but first…

Happy Birthday to meeee…

Self-Deprecating Self-Portrait, Age 35:

Yes, that’s right Gentle Readers*, Mother Everett** is celebrating her 35th year on this planet today.

All in all the celebrations were low-key – though I was surprised that one of my favorite members of the management team remember and wished me a Happy Birthday first thing this morning – he’s a good guy, and that meant a lot to me. I got a lot of nice greetings from friends and co-workers - talked to my family, of course - and had a treasured phone call from Connie - who sang me Happy Birthday as Bill Murray. Perfect!

Matt and I spent the evening together – we had dinner at August Moon (lame fortunes not even worth sharing) and for my present, he bought me an objet d’art:

So we found this little shop in Natchez which carries pieces by Brandon McRainey – he uses bottle caps to make frogs, crawfish, armadillos, catfish and so forth. Given that this lovely creature looks like my Lola and is made from beer bottle caps, we had to have it. It’s in the kitchen and it makes me smile daily. I got the dog last week -then tonight, he gave me Flight of the Conchords' newest album. EXCELLENT!

My sister sent some cheery cherry dishtowels, a wooden bowl and some artwork from Henry. Matisse has nothing on my nephew. Mom says their card arrives tomorrow. Which I like - we have to extend birthday week til Friday.

That said, this is going to be a fun week, which, frankly, I am going to enjoy.

Tomorrow I get to sleep in a little, do some training and plow through a few things at the office. Thursday is Project Runway day and of course, Friday – costume day at the office, as a prelude to Halloween. I can’t yet disclose my plans because I don’t want to tip off any competitors who may be lurking. Suffice it to say, I made my two final purchases last night (spray blood) and this afternoon (fake flowers). Now I get to put it all together and win a sweet little prize. I hope. Not that it matters (LIE - it matters terribly).

Saturday, aside from being Halloween itself, is a big day of its own. Matt and I had a guy come to the house last night and give us an estimate on new flooring in the downstairs bedroom. For anyone who knows me, this has been an item on the wish list for some time, and I decided over the weekend that the time to act is NOW.

So, James of Empire Carpets (who looks just like the guy in the logo) measured the room, made a few calculations then gave us the bad news and the good news. Bad News Item # 1 – Ceramic Tile would be a bad choice for the bedroom. I disagree, but he made the point that in an older house, the tile is more likely to shift and crack. Point reluctantly taken. Bad News Item #2 – Hardwood would run $1700. Um, no. And...no. Then we got the good news – new carpet would run us $500 soup to nuts.

We decided to take the plunge, and our installers arrive on Saturday. I still wish ceramic would have been an option. I’m not entirely convinced, but you can’t argue with the price of carpet, and it has a fifteen year warranty. So. Yeah. The color is a medium sandy brown color called “Milky Way”. I suspect that if you took a Milky Way, threw it in a blender and pulverized it, the color would approximately match my new carpet. So, that’s that.

I may not fall into that all-important 18 – 34 demographic any more, but life is still good.

So yeah, happy birthday....toooooo meeeeeeee.

And as my late grandmother would have said, "Let's let that be it."

*Why, yes, I do sort of think my writing is Dorothy Parkeresque, don't you?
**While I am not actually a mother, I often call myself this - it just seems kind of homey and nurturing.