Another Year; Another Decade

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday. The celebrations for those years that end in Zero seems to warrant bigger celebrations.

When you turn 10 - it is very exciting to enter the two digit world, oh to go back to the single digits.
When you turn 20 - life is very exciting and liberating. You are thought of as an adult, finally.
When you turn 30 - You realize that 29 is the age you will remain, time is going by to swiftly.
When you turn 40 - WHOA! put on the breaks, life is speeding by quickly. Hey, where did those gray hairs come from - - that's not ME in the mirror.

That is my experience thus far - up to date, as of yesterday LOL

What will be 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 - yes 100, need to stay around that long to torture, I mean love, my children :)

I have been tending to make big celebrations the year before the 'zero' year. For my 29th birthday I talked my dad into rising early to make and serve pancakes at the local Threshing Show - an annual festival that 'must' be attended.

My 39th birthday - well now that was a bash. Girlfriends together, in costume and character for the evening.... I was a lady of status and money (LOL LOL), we had a detective, a cow girl, a serf, a medieval queen, a toddler... we dined; we piled in an SUV, rolled down the windows waving at everyone singing ABBA at full volume; packaged food for starving children; and watched a comedy video. Just being silly!! OH it was fun!

Now my 40th I spent with my family. Three months prior I bought tickets to see the Broadway production of Wicked which nicely is playing during my birthday in my town. Good thing I bought those tickets three months ahead of time. About a month prior to my birthday, I had adopted a dog, expensive deal, who knew? She was free after all! Had I not had the tickets I think hubby would have given me a picture of Gracie and declared it my gift.

Now the dog.... she has been brought several projects one of which was installing an underground fence around about 3 acres of our property. She has a propensity to chase the my precious kitties, something I am not pleased about with her. However, the cats will run into the barn for safety. Unfortunately, the floor to the shed never did get finished so the openings under the door allow even a large dog to get underneath. This just won't do, as once in the shed, Gracie runs everywhere, terrorizing. SO...... this requires dirt, lots of dirt. Something that needed to be done years and years ago. Now it must be done.

Back to my birthday. The morning of my birthday, 80 tons of dirt arrived. What more could a girl want? I mean really, this is great, previously I have received a lawn sweeper, another birthday a nail gun with 3,000 nails but dirt, now dirt, that is extra special.

Before the dirt can be spread, the shed must be cleaned out. OH WHAT A JOB! 12 years of stuff, equipment, stuff, to move, clean out, sort through. UGH! Hubby has a tendency to keep stuff along with tractors, combine, hay baler, skid steer, lawn mowers, a car that needs fixing, tools, tools, stuff, stuff, ladders.... you get the idea.

Back to the morning of my birthday... I started out going to exercise, then I got to stop at the city recycling center to off load a lot of cardboard (from the shed), then home to clean out the shed and pay for the dirt, then into town to take the aluminum cans to the recycling center, back home to shovel dirt and clean out more stuff. I did get to drive the skid steer! Yes, a girl can do that too.

This was my morning and afternoon - - cleaning out and shoveling dirt. What a special day. Sound exciting yet? I'm tired.

But the real fun was yet to come: hubby and I got cleaned up, dressed up, and made our way to the city. We had dinner reservations where they had personalized menus for me! Wishing me a happy birthday. I finally got cake - yummy cheesecake following a meal of lobster and shrimp linguini Diavolo. I could not pass up the appetizer of Portabello Mushroom and Goat Cheese Bruschetta, very yummy. It was all delicious! I even managed to not over eat (i.e. not clean my plate). So I was pleasantly full.

Then we were off to see the show! Sitting next to my best friend, my hubby, watching a fantastic performance of Wicked. Priceless and a memory to treasure for a lifetime.

An excellent way to launch this next decade of life. A fantastic family, a dog, hard work, good food, and great entertainment.

P.S. my children are just wonderful too.... they need not do anything extra special for they are a gift just being part of my life.