Journey Beyond Survival

1. 2. 3. 4. One of the few perks to having family far far away is that I get to have my birthday spread out over many days.  The birthday cards in the mail coming a little early (Thanks Foofer-doo) or a couple days late.  My mum likes to be unpredictable, so that adds to the suspense.   This year she called me and informed me that I had missed an email to my account that I now use as a junk pile.  I had a gift card waiting for me.  I deftly rescued said gift card from the junk mail, and proceeded to mull over what I was going to get.  Lands End might not be the most trendy place around, but it is quality stuff.  Plus, I go for classics anyway and I thought I could pick up a few basics that fit for fall. As I entered the site, I saw a promotion for $15 off if you order more than $75.  Hah! I thought.  Not a chance. So I look for something distinctive right off.  Yes, I am aware that this is irrational.  I love looking at their u...

Today is my birthday! I've been working really hard on my layout. Doing things that I've been wanting to do for a while. Sort of my birthday present to myself. Well, that and buying myself a purse. Now you can have the song that gave me the idea for Chickadee's nickname. Or my road warrior survival kit for families. Now every time I'm yakkity yaking about something, it will be in the arsenal for surviving everyday life.  I put the button on the side of my blog and it looks like this: It was so much fun writing all the descriptions for everything. Isn't it pretty?  So pretty.  And a little funny too.  I hope.  So for my birthday, would you just check it out for me?  Let me know if there are any problems.  Please?  That's all I want for my birthday.  He He. **edited 8 comments in to add: how hard is it for you to find the categories?  There are four categories, and I'm trying to decide if I'm going to have to do some...

Food. I'm tired of trying to pretend that food should not be cultural, or enjoyable. Tomorrow is my birthday.  I will be .thirty.one.  I shall make no-bake Chocolate cheesecake.  I shall buy myself a new purse.  I shall run/walk for an hour and do the  abs workout  they use instead of waterboarding. I will eat Tasty , Real , and Simple food . And I will hope that my family remembers my birthday. If not, I will run away.  Anybody got a guest cottage? *photo by bluecinderella*

Today is Beansprout's birthday. That's right, in order to further my child's voracious appetite for reading, I gave birth to him on the same day as Dr. Suess. Lucky boy. I walked into a store one year and bought a 50th anniversary edition of The Cat in the Hat and realized it once and for all. I'd given birth to a genius by virtue of his birthdate. Actually, I couldn't have planned his delivery date if I'd tried. Beansprout gave me Braxton Hicks for two weeks. TWO WEEKS! Anyone who's ever seen this episode of friends knows that the entire world does not take Braxton Hicks seriously. No, I got so sick of going into the office and the hospital and they were telling me, "Oh, you're at about a 1" or "Oh, you're at about a 2. That's normal for a woman who's had a child. Go home. Take a walk and come in if it gets worse." I wanted to scream at them. I wanted to yank the stinking equipment out of the wall and throw it...