Another Year Older

I celebrated my 58th birthday this week.  I know I'm weird, but I still get excited about birthdays!  I don't mind the fact that I'm getter old.  I've had a great life, and I'm excited to see what else there is in store for me!  I'm actually thankful that I'm not young.  Aside from the inevitable aches and pains and physical deterioration that comes with age, I am enjoying this stage of life.  With the way the world is going, I'm not sure I want to live to see what the next 50 years holds in store!  Plus, Dennis and I finally have time to spend together and do things that we enjoy.  I have time to do my volunteer work, which I love.  I have GRANDKIDS, which is the greatest thing ever!  And I even kind of like my gray hair. 

The kids had already given me my gift, which was having those wonderful family pictures done and digital rights purchased!  That is the BEST GIFT EVER!  I had a 16x20 canvas done and got it on Saturday.  I love it!!!  Also on Saturday, Sheila treated me to lunch at Olive Garden (with my free dessert) and a movie (Tarzan).  Then we went back to her apartment to pack up her kitchen for moving into her new apartment (yesterday).  It has been awhile since the two of us have spent the day, just the two of us.  It was great!  Then on my actual birthday (Monday), Dennis took me out for breakfast to a local diner.  I had a CASA visit to observe after that, but when I returned home, a dozen yellow roses were waiting for me.  Beautiful!  Then he and Ricky took me out for supper that night.  Stephen called that evening, and I enjoyed a good, long talk with him.  Plus I got a "grandma" card from my boys.  Perfect day!

I really enjoyed the Tarzan movie.  I grew up watching Tarzan on TV.  I always loved it...especially the old Johnny Weissmuller ones.  Then, when the kids were little, I enjoyed watching the animated version with them.  In all my many years, however, I never got around to reading the original books.  This movie was so different, that I decided it was time to go back and see what the original story was like.  I found a great deal on Amazon (all 24 books on Kindle for $1.49), so I bought them.  I'm on the second one right now...it will take awhile to get through all 24!  The writing style is old, and some of the "facts" of the day are rather antiquated, but it is still a pretty good read!

We left early yesterday morning to go help Sheila move into her new, larger apartment.  She had hired a moving company to do the actual moving, so Dennis did the unhooking and hooking up of her washer and dryer, and I helped her direct the movers and unpack her kitchen stuff.  Everything went well, and I think she is REALLY going to enjoy this apartment a lot more!  Besides being a LOT bigger, it is DOWNSTAIRS!!! 

I went for my annual checkup this morning.  Of course, my bloodwork results will take several days to come in, but everything else checked out just fine.  (I really DO need to lose some weight tho!  Being crippled up for the past several months has taken its toll!)

We haven't worked on the house this week.  Last week, Dennis was able to get a couple more cabinets built and hung.  Even though they aren't finished, I'm able to start putting things away in them to make it much more convenient!  I can now stand in the middle of my kitchen and get to most of what I need to prepare meals.  I've made the bottom shelf of the upper cabinet by my stove a little "mini-pantry" to hold all of the things that I use on a daily basis.  It sure saves a lot of steps!  I also love having the microwave over my stove...so convenient!

Well, that's about it for this update.  I hope you are staying out of this heat as much as possible!  Until next time....