Thursday Ten: It’s ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY Edition

1. You heard me. It’s ALMOST my birthday. The day after the day after tomorrow. And I’m getting older and I don’t really care (much). I love my birthday. I love your birthday. I love birthdays. PERIOD. Birthdays are a complete day of celebration to me, and my own is no exception.

2. Yesterday was a difficult day for me and I made a point last night of tabling my worries and just trying to relax and wrapping my head in an episode of “Top Chef: Just Desserts”. It worked. Today, I woke up ready to try for a better day. I even did my hair and put on eyeliner – so you KNOW I mean business.

3. Somehow, all the hours we have spent in puppy training class have faded. I have made it my MISSION to get this puppy to straighten up. I’ve had it with the puppy thinking he’s king of the sofa, and I’ve had it with him picking on Pumpkin and jumping on her. Armed only with a bag of freeze dried chicken breast (ew?), I am determined to make him into a nice family dog. So far… not bad.

WOOK AT HIS WIDDLE FACE.

4. In guitar this week, my teacher started me on 12 Stones’ “Broken Road”. It has some chords that we’re working on making sound less ugly (some of those major chords are a pain. A big ugly pain). I’d never heard the song before and it’s… just aight for me. Sometimes it’s fun to learn something I don’t know, though. I like to be exposed to new music.

5. The Michigan – Michigan State game last weekend. Sigh. It didn’t go well. For Michigan. If you’re a State fan, I imagine you were thrilled. Me? Not so much. My dad calling in the midst of the third quarter to play MSU’s fight song on my voice mail didn’t help. Neither did my (not so lucky) Michigan underwear. Oh well. At least they’re cute.

6. I got school pictures back for both of the kids this week – looked at them and then put them right back in their backpacks to send back for retakes. Now, I think my daughters are gorgeous, but the quality of school pictures is often poor. The coloring seems off, and I was slightly peeved that they couldn’t take the time to brush my kiddo’s bangs out of her eyes (or tell HER to) before snapping her picture. I had pinned her bangs back with a barrette before sending her to school – by the time they had pictures, they’d also had recess. Smart. The Princess’s coloring looked so “OFF” in her pictures, her skin had an orange cast to it. I really SHOULD skip the whole endeavor and just take my own shots of the kids.

7. Did I mention my birthday was coming up? I did, right? I’m pretty sure I said something.

8. The fall colors in Michigan are amazing right now. The leaves are gorgeous reds and oranges, and it’s like driving through an amazing tunnel of color when driving down a tree-lined road. Now, I’m grateful I only have one small tree, so I can embrace the beauty without having to rake it all up – but man, it makes me smile to see it.

9. Every parent has a limit to how many kindergarteners he or she can tolerate in one place. My number is somewhere less than three. Maybe two. Or, you know, just the one I have. I just got back from Pumpkin’s field trip – a visit to the pumpkin patch with TWENTY-FIVE kindergarteners. That’s TOO MANY. Not sure how that teacher does it, but, goodness – elementary school teachers deserve a big high five at the end of the day (and probably a drink too).

10. And in the interest of carrying on my good mood…. I love Michael Franti & Spearhead’s “Sound of Sunshine”.

“Here I am, waiting for the storm to pass me by…”