Apple Quinoa Salad

I am in love with this salad. I got it from my friend, Elise's, Healing Cuisine blog (this is a really good food blog, by the way).

Here is the recipe. I altered it a little from the original, to make it less expensive for me (i.e. buying dried mint leaves instead of using the fresh stuff, using an onion instead of a shallot because I always have onions on hand and hardly even know what a shallot is) and to feed more. Another thing I don't do is rinse the quinoa, like everybody else that I know seems to do:

1/4 cup raw, slivered almonds
2 cups quinoa
4 cups filtered water
2 Tbsp onion, diced
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 Granny Smith apple, diced thin
1/4 cup dried peppermint leaves (in the herb section)

1.)  Bring 4 cups filtered water and quinoa to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover and reduce heat to Low.  Simmer until quinoa is tender but still chewy, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

3.)  Whisk together onion, curry powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Season with pepper. Whisking constantly, stream in olive oil, whisking until dressing is emulsified.  Add quinoa, apple, mint, and nuts.  Mix well to combine.  Serve.

(If you feel like it, you can slice up part of the apple to make it look pretty, like I did.)

Springtime, Kuznia-Style

Ocean rigged this up for Peace:

Peace likes it a lot:

And now, whenever we want to go for a walk with Peace in the stroller, I can't just push from behind like a normal person (or a gay guy in prison). I have to take the string off the bike and pull her along. Kind of like I'm the reindeer and she's Santa Claus.

Here's a picture of Ezra, so he doesn't feel left out (f-stop, 1.8):

And this is what Vern's office looks like so far:

My Food Story

I have been so confused about food lately.

I don't even know where to begin, so this is probably going to be kind of disjointed and not fully thought out kind of post.

First, I'm tired of being a hypocrite regarding the way that I eat versus the way I let my children eat. I want to be as strict with myself as I am with my children.

BUT, at the same time, I don't want to do that because I don't want to have "food rules" with myself. I've been in that mindset before, and it's dumb. Although, for the most part, except for the week in high school when I only ate an apple and half-pint of skim milk for lunch because Vanessa Dufault was doing it, I have more or less had a pretty healthy attitude toward food.

I really like food. I enjoy food. Food is my friend.

I have always been kind of suspicious of people who don't enjoy and love food the way that I do. (Vern's a foodie too. He's engaged in enormous food challenges a handful of times and can eat a lot if he wants to. I love that we have that in common.)

And now I've turned into this food-nerd, who enjoys reading nutritional books (by Diane Schwartzbein, Gary Taubes, Sally Fallon, etc), blogs (I am especially enamored with Matt Stone's 180 Degree Health blog), and discussing all of my findings with my nerdy food-nerd friends. (Because it's just not a playgroup unless we're discussing cortisol, leptin, and insulin!)

So, let's see... where am I going with this?

Yes, so I really know a lot nutritionally about food. And I love that. And I love to eat healthy. I love preparing and providing my family (and myself) with nutritious, quality food.

But, now, here is where the confusion arises... I also believe that (any kind of) food eaten in celebration and gatherings has a different energy than, say, the time I ate at least 20 pieces of leftover Halloween candy alone in my car before dropping it off for donation. I think that food eaten with friends, in communion with one another, is special. Thus, different rules apply.

To be the person that doesn't eat anything at those times because it is not healthy is hardly appealing to me. (Because I DO think there is such a thing as "orthorexia", as much as some of use foodies might want to poo-poo it.)

So, I have always eaten heartily at gatherings because of this.

But something is different lately. Or maybe it isn't. I seem to remember eating myself into a food coma last March around this time as well (which I wrote about in the post titled 'How Eating Out Is Like Having Sex'). Maybe it's just that I've been going out to much. Maybe I need to stay at home more.

But even with staying at home, there have been times when I will justify Vernon and I eating a 1/2 gallon of ice cream together while the children are asleep because of the fact that we are eating in communion together, and enjoying it.

Because I have these differing food philosophies (eating healthy all the time vs not thinking about the nutritional content of food), I am more confused than ever.

I think I may need to re-define my relationship with food.

To what, I don't know yet.

Maybe still carry both philosophies (to be used respectively at whatever time I deem fit), but instead of say, going up to the buffet table at a potluck five or six times until I feel like throwing up, I could eat a normal portion. Or, maybe, when I'm eating out at a restaurant with friends, instead of offering to eat the rest of their strata because I know they're not going to take it home and I don't want the waitress to throw it away, maybe I could just eat what's on my own plate and be satisfied. (Yet, there is a part of me that is resisting these ideas because I actually really like eating a lot on occasions such as those. So, putting up those "food rules" would start to mess with my mind in a way I'm not comfortable with. Yet, on the other side of it all, my body really doesn't feel well when I eat like that.)

Oh, how to balance this all.

Vern showed me some pages in one of D.D. Palmer's Green Books (D.D.'s the founder of chiropractic), and here were some things he had to say,

Chiropractic has not formulated a system of certain, prescribed, fixed rules, because what is food for one is poison for another. Therefore, "Take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry." The one who takes life easy, eats, drinks and is merry, is the one who enjoys the good things of life and lives long in the land.
 
Collectively and individually, those who enjoy life, live to eat and drink and have a good time, are the ones who do not follow any prescribed principles or set rules, who do not measure their food, nor time their eating. St. Matthew tells us to take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink.

When the men or women who have lived to a ripe age are asked how and by what means they have attained such longevity and retained good health, the universal answer has been and no doubt will continue to be, "I have eaten and drank whatever I desired, have aimed to enjoy myself and get the best I could out of life."

D.D. wrote those words in 1910 though, and a lot has changed within our food supply since then, but I like the general idea behind it.

Then, also and in relation to this, there is this quote that I found in Matt Stone's blog that reads, "...stressing out about your diet too much is a leading cause of excessive cortisol production (my note: cortisol contributes to weight gain, especially in the stomach area). It’s probably an even more prevalent problem than eating a truly crappy diet."

All this thinking I'm doing about this isn't doing me any good either. It's increasing my cortisol production, right? It is hard to "eat, drink, and be merry" when you're thinking of how what you're eating is going to affect your insulin levels, digestion, etc. Although, I actually don't really have an issue there... I can eat, drink and be merry with the best of them without thinking about food stuff. It's when I'm nursing the food hangover the day afterward that I start the thinking...

Something needs to shift here, but I'm not sure what it is going to be.

I'll keep you posted.

Treasure Map

One week from now, Vern and I are going to make our respective Treasure Maps (also called Vision Boards). Next Sunday (at 9:32 am, CST) is Aries New Moon, which is apparently the time to make a Treasure Map (don't ask me why... ask this lady, or join this thread on mothering).

But feel free to mark that day on your calendar and join in the Treasure Mapping fun.

Here is what we've been up to lately:

Goofy Mama Answers, Part 5

What methods did you use to potty train your two oldest? I am getting a lot of pressure from my husband's family to train our 2 1/2 year old daughter. I really don't think she's ready and would like to use a gentle approach and wait until she wants to train. We have received potty training books, pull-ups, Dora underwear, and lots of unwanted comments for Christmas. 

I've never liked the term "potty training". Creates such pressure to get our kids to comply to an act that couldn't be more inherent. Kids learn how to use the potty when they're ready. When you're a grown up, nobody ever asks you how old you were when you learned how to go pee on the toilet. You're not filling that answer in on a job application. And the reason for that is BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER!

So what if a kid isn't using the potty before they're three. They'll figure it out. It's not rocket science. Just leave them be, don't pressure them, and maybe let them run around without any pants for awhile (if you have hardwood floors and are cool with stuff like that).

Pressure from extended family about this is unnecessary and annoying. It's like the question, "So, is she sleeping through the night yet?" Who cares! Kids are smart and they're not going to spend the rest of their lives peeing in their pants (no one ever has... I'm almost certain about this, but I have yet to meet everybody on this planet, so this is only my estimation).

Tell the relatives to butt out, and don't sweat it. (You'll have enough to sweat when she's older and pees in the bottle that you use as an essential oil room spray, just to see what pee smells like when she sprays it.)


Your post called "Lower Standards" was interesting and the comments showed several people doing the same. I would like to hear if you've found any drawbacks to this approach. Do you ever get tired of seeing dirty clothes or do things start to smell? Maybe you could role play the part of someone objecting to this philosophy. For example, "I went to Goofy Mama's house and it had a smell." "Goofy Mama's kids seemed dirty and I felt uncomfortable walking in the mall with them." However you do it, I want to hear the other side of the lower standards idea .... 

This is a strange question, but I applaud you for having the courage to ask it, because they always say, "There are no dumb questions..." (except for this one, maybe).

Let's see... role playing? Umm...

PHILOSOPHY OBJECTOR: Goofy Mama, your house smells worse than my dead grandma after a raccoon threw up on her corpse.

GOOFY MAMA: Then your dead grandma must smell awesome because that's what my house smells like... awesomeness.


Is that what you were looking for? Or should I do another?


INT. ROSEDALE MALL - DAY

Philosophy Objector is walking through the mall with her one-night-stand, Charlie Sheen. They stroll past Hot Topic and are approaching The Pretzelmaker.

Philosophy Objector has something she wants to confide to Charlie Sheen. She leans over, whispers,

PHILOSOPHY OBJECTOR

Goofy Mama's kids seemed dirty and I felt 

uncomfortable walking in the mall with them.

CHARLIE SHEEN

What? Goofy Mama is awesome.

Duh... she's winning!

PHILOSOPHY OBJECTOR

But, they were dirty... like my dead grandma.

CHARLIE SHEEN

Being clean is for fools, amateurs.

I don't know. Winning, anyone?

Does that about sum it up?

The quick answer behind this (somewhat presumptuous question) is that we DON'T smell and that our house is lovely and smells like incense and food cooking (when we're not living with Vince, that is. Here, it kind of smells like chemicals sometimes).

Duh... winning!

The Great Potato Debate

This just in: We are now once again considering it safe to stick potatoes up our butts. Someone posted a good comment that said:

My 3 homebirth midwives with a combined number years experience exceeding 70, all recommend the potato. Amongst them personally they've birthed 14 children, so I'm sure they are speaking from personal experience, as well as experiences of mothers they've worked with. What you do is cut a raw potato in the shape of a suppository, insert it before bed, and poop it out in the morning. The potato will help the hemorrhoid deflate. 

Can't get more evidence-based than that. That's my side and I'm sticking to it.

Vern Gets Recognized

It has happened on at least 5 occasions where someone I don't know comes up to me (at some sort of gathering or other) and says, "You don't know me, but I know who you are because I read your blog." To which I will say something like, "That's awesome... it must mean you have good taste."

Well, this happened to Vernon for the first time last week.

He was out doing door-to-door surveys for his new business. At one of the houses, a guy answered the door and said that his wife knew who he was. The wife comes up and tells him that one of her friends had posted a link to this blog on facebook, and that she knows who he is from reading this blog.

First of all, this is amazing, because I can't even imagine what kind of posts people are linking this blog to. I mean, I REALLY want to write link-worthy posts, but all I seem to come up with is posts about my menstrual cycle, maggot-infested penises, my birthday, and sticking potatoes up your butt. (Speaking of which... I just received a comment from someone on that post, and apparently I should tell you that it is NOT a good idea to stick a potato up your butt because it could get stuck up there. So, just be careful, people. Be careful. Shred it up or something.)

Anyway, so after that happened, Vern said something like, "See, I knew something like this would happen." He was referring to the fact that my having this blog would reflect badly upon him as a professional. (I have talked about this before.) And I was like, "Really?"

If anything, getting recognized probably saved him from having the door slammed in his face. I'm just saying.

Sometimes I Say Things That Don't Make Sense

Today, when I was shopping at the co-op, the cashier said to me, "Thank you. We appreciate your business."

To which I said, "You too."

And now, Peace:

Ezra:

And, Ocean:

We Have an Office!

We officially have an office location! Vern signed the lease a couple days ago. And I say *we* because this chiropractic business is kind of turning into my little business as well... a nice little family business, if you will.

I'm not trying to play Yoko or anything, but it has just kind of evolved into Vern wanting my help and opinion on things, and me being a part of it more than I ever thought I would... and I kind of like it.

It's like playing The Apprentice.

The office is in Roseville, MN. The lease starts on May 1. It's called Mind & Body Chiropractic Life Center (Vern got the name from a dream he had). Now, we're just busy putting together all the little (and big) things that need to get done before opening... you know, like the project managers and team members do on The Apprentice.

The Letterman's Jacket

I think it would be funny if thirty-somethings went around wearing their old high school letterman's jacket. It would be totally camp, ironic, and cool. (Or, maybe, exactly the opposite... depending how good the individual is at pulling it off.)

On a related topic, I think it would be funny if I had a letterman's jacket in the first place.

On an unrelated topic to this here conversation, I think I may have lost one reader because of that Tosh.0 post. Goofy Mama's facebook fans went from 306 to 305. *sigh*

eClubs

Since signing up for all those birthday specials, I am getting inundated with e-mails from all these places that I am not interested in going to. So, now I'll have to unsubscribe to all of them at some point here.

It really did seem like such a good idea at the time though.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here is the all-green supper we had today (cream of broccoli soup with a salad):

My Mom and Tosh.0

So, I was watching Tosh.0 on Comedy Central the other week, and in it he referenced a clip that they had shown the studio audience that was not suitable to air on TV, but that they would later put up on their website. Curious, I go to the website to check it out. But it turns out that it is not even suitable to put on the Comedy Central website, so Tosh said that he would post a tweet with a link to the clip.

Which I found.

And then I watched.

And, it was, indeed, one of the worst things that I have ever seen. I still cannot get the image of it out of my mind. I literally had to cover my eyes while watching it.

(If you are curious like me and want to watch this video no matter how much I tell you not to, click here. But, I warn you, it is not suitable viewing for anybody. Please stay away from it at all costs.)

So, anyway, the point of my story is this: I showed the video to my mom. This most horrible, disgusting, inappropriate video that anybody has ever seen, I showed to my mom.

And here's the thing... instead of covering her eyes and cowering away from the screen like I did, she moves closer to it and says, "Hmm."

That's it. "Hmm." From my mother. On this video. That's it. What the heck?

Ocean Turned Eight!

Ocean turned eight on Friday.

Here are some pictures:

(...because once you've made one giant cookie cake, how can you go back to anything else?)

We went rollerskating (where we took this wonderful family photos, except for the fact that Ezra was so obsessed with the video games that he couldn't stop looking at them)...

And here is another photo for my ongoing series called "Random Places I Have Nursed My Children" (the only other shot in this series is that one in the foam pit at the gymnastics place. I'm working on getting more). I decided to play Peace like she was an air guitar in this photo because I'm just awesome like that.

Happy Birthday to my beloved Ocean. She's a good one.

Goofy Mama Answers, Part 4

Okay... Time to tackle some more Ask Goofy Mama questions again. Sorry for the delay.

It seems Vernon is very laid back and go with the flow with life and choices. You seem to be the dominate decision maker... Do you think if you wouldn't have chosen such an extreme "crunchy" lifestyle that Vernon would have been content in a "mainstream" lifestyle or somewhere more in between? 

It is true that I am the one who comes up with the idea first for avenues of "crunchiness" to pursue (homebirth, not vaccinating, homeschooling, elimination communication, etc.)... but, after Vernon, you know, READS A FACT about any of it, he's on board.

Well, except for the elimination communication thing. With that, he was, like, "Ugh... that seems gross." But, cut to 14 months later, and he's actually very happy about it because our babe is out of diapers and he likes that.

And, about a lot of things, he is actually more vocal about things than I am. He knows a lot more than me about the reasons behind not vaccinating. He went through chiropractic college and now REALLY believes in the power of the body to heal the body (without nerve/toxic interference).

He gets it.

So, would he have ended up in this "crunchy" lifestyle without me? It's hard to say. Would I have ended up here without him? I don't know that either. But things happen for a reason, and we are where we should be.

Learning and growing on the way.

Together.

Weird Comments

I have the strangest people commenting on my blog.

One More Tip

I just heard one more great tip:

If you have hemorrhoids, stick a raw potato up your butthole because that will help get rid of them. I am not making this stuff up, people. So, I'm just saying... store this in your memory somewhere in case you should ever need this sort of information. Something I wish I would have known 8 years ago, if you know what I'm saying. (If you don't know what I'm saying, I'll translate: I'm saying that I had hemorrhoids.)

Also, someone said that  Raw Apple Cider Vinegar helps with their UTIs (I had mentioned it originally as helping with breast infections).

Now, once again, Peace:

Last Part About My Birthday

I bet you are all just waiting to hear how this birthday adventure ends. So, here it is.

After the cake, I got a 1/2 hour massage from my entire family:

And then we ate this lasagna that Vernon made:

And put the kids to bed, and, wait for it... WENT TO ADULT SKATE AT THE ROLLER GARDEN! Vernon had arranged for his sister to come over and babysit so we could do so:

And let me tell you this, adult skate is awesome. We thought it was going to be kind of lame, but actually we were the only lame ones there. It was packed (at least over 200 people) and these people all knew how to skate really well... and then there was us. I don't know if you've gotten the impression from all my rollerskating talk that I am actually good at rollerskating, but I am not. And Vernon is even worse. And it was R&B night, so that made us fit in even more.

But it was still awesome.

And I think I've discovered the second factor in what makes a grown man really sexy (the first is wearing a baby in a sling): Being able to rollerskate really, really well. And I'd say "no offense" to Vernon, but I'm pretty sure that he would agree with me.

So, there it was. My birthday. It was a good one.

Here is a quick formula on what makes up a good birthday:

   Alone Time
+ Benihana's
-  Lame Box of T-Shirts from my mom
+ Giant Cookie Cake
+ 1/2 Hour Massage from family
+ Favorite Meal
+ Adult Skate
A perfectly wonderful day

My Menstrual Cycle - Part 2

I got my period today, Day 30, right on schedule. Little-Miss-Natural-Family-Planning's, as my friends like to call me (no, they don't... I only wish that they did), reign continues!

More On My Birthday!

Okay. Now, where were we...

Ah, yes. We got home from Benihana and had my birthday cake:

It's a giant chocolate chip cookie cake.

Vern has been doing an extraordinary job making my birthday cakes lately. And they are usually always pretty healthy. This year was a little bit of an exception... it was the first time we've used real sugar in anything in a looong time. He got the recipe from marthastewart.com and it called for 3/4 cup sugar and 1-1/2 cup brown sugar. So, instead of that, he used 1 cup organic sugar and 1 tsp stevia. (We usually sweeten with maple syrup, raw honey, stevia, or rapadura). He also substituted whole wheat flour for the white flour.

I suppose I should take a moment here to explain my philosophy on nutrition to those of you who are new here and are confused by why I go around talking about getting freebies from some of the unhealthiest places in town, to talking about how we never use sugar in the house. Basically, I'm really strict about what my kids eat, and less so about myself (because I care so much more about my kids, right? You know, like a good mother would.) So, we always eat really well at home with the kids. As for me, I do like to eat well most of the time, but not when I'm out of the house. It's my idea of balance, I guess. 95% of the time I eat well, 5% of the time, I don't. (Plus, about the idea of freebies at those places that don't really even sound good to me... I just really like getting free things. It makes me feel like I'm getting gifts from the world.)

Oh... now more about Vernon's cakes! This is what he made for me last year (an ice cream cake made with real cream, carob, nuts, and sweetened with stevia, I think):

And a cheesecake in 2009 (sweetened with raw honey):

And I'm not sure what this was in 2008, but it sure looks healthy:

And another cheesecake with carob chips in 2007:

Okay. There's only one more part to this birthday saga, and I will wrap it up tomorrow! Stick with me here.

My Menstrual Cycle

I interrupt these endless posts on how I spent my birthday to bring you news on my menstrual cycle.

I am currently on Day 29, Hour 9 of my cycle, and have not gotten my period yet. Not really a big deal (as I will tell you in greater detail later), but the thing that is making me wonder is that we had sex (yes, we're having sex here now) on Day 18, Hour 13. Which is not really a big deal (for the sake of this story), except that I can't quite figure out what my temperature shift means this time (Note: a woman's temperature goes up .5 degrees AFTER ovulation).

See, for the past 11 years, I never took my temperature and just relied on cervical mucus as my indicator of fertility (as well as my regular and consistent cycles). But, over the past couple of months, I have been taking my temperature regularly because of some 180degree.com health stuff which involves raising your temperature to be in better metabolic health (but that's another story).

So, this month, my temps were:

Day 13 = 97.2
Day 14 = 97.5
Day 15 = 97.6
Day 16 = 97.3
Day 17 = 97.5
Day 18 = 97.7
Day 19 = 98.2
Day 20 = 98.1
Day 21 = 98.4
(You get the idea.)

You see where I'm going with this? Where does it look like that jump occurred?

My cervical mucus has remained consistent to what it usually is (on its respective days throughout).

My previous cycles have been:

28 Days
30 Days
30 Days
32 Days
28 Days 12 Hours
30 Days 10 Hours

So, as you can see, nothing to really concern ourselves over other than the confusion with the temperatures not matching up to when I think I ovulated based on cervical mucus (which I would have put at around Day 16).

I will keep you posted.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

This has been Goofy Mama, reporting.

Birthday Redux

So, after my (not getting any of my birthday freebies) alone time, I got home and opened up my presents. My mom sent me this big box (she spend $7.05 mailing this box) filled with her old t-shirts. Very funny mom. Vernon and the kids got me some board games and a Gumby t-shirt. My dad sent me a gift card.

Remember that Benihana freebie that came through? It was for a $30 Birthday Certificate. So we went there (even though we were originally going to just stay in). I looked online and saw that they had lunch specials for under $10. So I thought that we could all eat there and get it for under $30 (I figured $5 for a kids meal for Ocean and Ezra, and $10 for me and Vernon). But then I read the fine print a little better when we were in the car ready to go, and I saw that it said "Limit one certificate per person, per party". Which meant that I could only use it for my meal, and not on the entire bill. But we were in the car and ready to go, so we went.

The lunch specials were around $10 (which is what Vernon ordered his for), but the lowest price for a kids meal was $8.75. So they just ordered off the adult menu something of a similar price and got a salad and rice with it as well. And I ordered a $15 lunch entree (the highest price) and $15 in side items to get up to $30 for my meal.

And, let me tell you this... Benihana's is freaking awesome! I had never been there before, and it was so worth the $30 (plus the tip off of $60, whatever Vern ended up putting for that) that we spent there. A very fun place to go to with the family.

 




 

And here is the picture that the waitress took (when Vernon was out in the car looking for the phone):

(More about the birthday later.)

You Say It's My Birthday?

So, I had this great idea last night to sign up for a bunch of eClubs in order to get free stuff on my birthday. I must have spent over an hour doing this, signing up at places such as TCBY, Caribou Coffee, Orange Julius, Papa Murphy's, Dairy Queen, Annie's Pretzels, Noodles and Company, Sonic, Benihana, Einstein Bagels, Bruegger's Bagels, Fuddruckers, Perkins, etc. (Check out the sites http://www.thefrugalgirls.com/birthday-freebies and http://bargainbriana.com/birthday-freebies-clubs/ for info on these birthday freebies.)

Well, it turns out that signing up for these things on the DAY before your birthday is not such a good idea, because, APPARENTLY, they don't have enough time to process your information.

So there went my dreams of hopping from store to store in the Roseville mall, like I had planned. Note: I had seriously planned on doing this... hitting Orange Julius, Caribou, Bruegger's, Einstein, and Annie's Pretzels all in one fell swoop, and then stopping to pick up some free cookie dough from Papa Murphy's on the way home.

But this was not to be. (A Divine Intervention from God, as Vernon called it.)

The only stores that really came through for me were Sonic and Benihana. A couple of the other stores (like Dairy Queen and TCBY) came through, but just had a BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE offer (which you don't necessarily KNOW when signing up). I signed up for Baskin Robbins, and they sent a thing for a free 2.5 oz ice cream, no other purchase necessary... but there is not even a Baskin Robbins in the area, so I'm not sure why I signed up for it in the first place.

So, my day started out at Caribou Coffee where I had to PAY over $4 for my medium spicy hot chocolate (ah, if only I could have gotten it for free). But it was sooooo good. I love the spicy hot chocolate there. (I normally don't frequent Caribou Coffee, but once, a couple of months ago, when Vern and I were having a Very Important Meeting with his realtor about business stuff, we met there and I ordered a hot chocolate. The barista said, "Would you like to make that a spicy hot chocolate?" And I said, "Yes"... which was, quite possibly, the best decision of my entire life.)

I went there alone, for this was also a gift to myself... alone time. (Vernon and the kids stayed at home making the cake.)

Oh, how I love being alone. I stayed there for over 2 hours, and I only left because a lady came in who smelled like perfume or hairspray or body lotion or something (and you all know how sensitive I am to that crap). I read the newspaper. I finished the book I was reading. I sat silently and daydreamed. I looked at the wall colors. I watched people.

It was lovely.

(I'll talk about the rest of my day tomorrow. It's not over yet.)

And, once again, Peace:

Last Day at 33

This is how I spent my last day at 33:

 

And here is Peace:

Birthday Plans

My birthday is in two days.

I have this tradition of going rollerskating on my birthday. But I just looked at the schedules of the rollerskating rinks in the area and none of them are open on my birthday (except for one that has an adult skate from 8:30-11:00 pm).

Now what will I do?

I also have this thing for celebrating my birthday on the actual date of my birth... so going rollerskating on any other day just won't cut it. It's like people who go on a trip six months after they got married and call it a honeymoon. That's not a honeymoon... it's a vacation.

Seriously... feel free to give suggestions in the comment section. I am disappointed and am at a loss here.