June 27th

When I was a kid, it was my favorite day of the year. Now it's just another day -- or maybe it's a day when I get sad and miss my mom, who had a gift for making birthdays special.

Another year older. Another year wiser. Another year, more gray hair. I'm getting old. It beats the alternative, though!

Birthdays were always a big deal to me. I make a big deal out of Thomas's birthday as well as my husband's. They don't for me.

This weekend I went to the store and bought a chocolate cake mix and chocolate canned frosting. I told the boys that I will be getting a birthday cake this year. Then I pointed to the mix. DH got the hint and I'm proud to report the cake is cooling. =) (All the dirty dishes were stacked in the sink for me, though. lol)

I'm tired of crappy birthdays and decided I need to take it upon myself to have a great one. So tomorrow shall be a selfish Frankie day. I deserve it, right? ? ?

Thomas and I will go out for breakfast. I have not decided where we will go yet. Truth be told, I love an Egg McMuffin. However, a nice, sit-down breakfast would be nice too. We will then depart for a day of shopping. Ah, in my little town I should say a morning of shopping.

My husband did not buy me a gift this year because I nixed what he was going to get me. (A swing for the back yard.) It isn't enjoyable going in the back yard anymore because the neighbors on our north just hacked down all the privacy shrubs and there's no privacy and the neighbors to the south are always outside with their #$%# poodle that barks incessantly. When I go out to garden, I always check to see if Yappy is outside before I head out.

So I think I'll buy myself a gift, but I don't know what it will be yet. I want a food sealer, but my mom's words keep echoing in my head: Don't buy gifts for the house, buy them for the person. She hated any appliances as gifts because she called it a gift for the house. And she's right. Mom also hated money as a gift because she would use it for groceries. I disagree with her on that, I love getting money as a gift because then I can buy what I want.

Okay, so breakfast out, a morning of shopping, I think that Thomas and I shall go to lunch at a bar. My town has many lakes and there is a bar/restaurant that has been there forever. It was built on the lake. It is a busy place, smoke-filled in the evenings, but great for lunch. The food is greasy but fantastic. I think a pork tenderloin sandwich is in order. We'll go after the busy lunch crowd and look out on the lake. In the winter this place is great because we sit and watch cars driving over the lake. To this day it freaks me out seeing cars driving on the lake. Our town looks very similar to the town in the movie Grumpy Old Men. Ice huts everywhere. In the summer, this restaurant is great because we get to watch all the boats come to the dock and the people come in to eat.

I'm at a loss for what to do in the afternoon. Maybe a movie? Thing is, I don't like sitting through kids movies. We did just go see Over the Hedge and I actually enjoyed that movie. I think the theater is showing the Garfield movie. I know it's showing Click. I wonder if that's appropriate for a 10-year-old! Another idea is to drive to the next down east and go to their motel. They will let you swim for $3 an hour. Maybe that's what we'll do. I just am not in the mood to go to our local swim park because it's loud, noisy, full of kids dropped off for the entire day, and I know for a fact the pool is half bodily fluids.

I'll let my husband surprise me for supper. He's a good cook, or he can take us out, either one. Then we'll have cake.

What a boring birthday, but it will do. Birthday small-town Minnesota style.

I could get together with friends, but everyone wants to go to the water park in the summer and I just don't. Aside from what I already mentioned, I don't hear well and with the water spraying and gushing all over the place, I can't hear to have a conversation there.

41. Definitely middle aged, feeling and showing it, but loving the fact I get smarter and better every year.