BIRTHDAY BLOG (Me <----- 40)

It's my birthday! It's a par-tay! Gonna' rock it!

OK, it isn't my birthday anymore. That was last weekend. But it was a great bash to bring in my fourth decade and celebrate before we got back in to the mighty (full) school schedule.

We HAD a wonderful turnout! Just about everyone invited made it! YAY! Although, I will admit that made it a little hard to get around to visiting with everyone but I did and everyone visited with everyone else so it was a blast!

John Deere dude brought his pit out at about 8:00 am-ish to start getting the wood burning and the temp right.

Lil'Gal and John Deere dude a/k/a Fisher Man

While the mesquite was burning to the perfect temperature for my FILs awesome briskets/s John Deere dude threw some ribs on for some lunch munchin'. He also threw on some homemade steak and chicken-jalapeño-bacon wraps. I'd show you a pic of those but they didn't last long enough. YUM!

What survived:

Yum! Ribs! Everyone loves pork ribs!

When Lil'Gal's Bestest-FF saw her mom's FB page (Ms. Les) and saw that I had posted a pic of RIBS on the PIT she drove her mom crazy. Diva loves MY ribs and John Deere dude used my rub on some and his rub on some. Needless to say, Ms. Les and Ms. Diva ended up showing up about two hours earlier than planned. Yeah, that good! LOL!

Lil'Gal took some for lunch this week because the Intermediate campus has three microwaves for kids who bring their lunch. She said she was the hit at the lunch table and everyone was drooling. So, she decided to take the last rib - my last rib :-( I'd been saving - to lunch again the next day. *snicker*

Then Papa a/k/a my awesome FIL put on the briskets!

That's a man with experience who knows his briskets

I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family come out! We had about 50 adults and 25-ish kids. [I don't count the teens and graduates as kids anymore.]

I have to say I was thrilled that PJ (Pickle Juice is her nick name on my blog), my life long friend... the one person that even through the trials of my childhood that even the Lifetime Channel probably wouldn't be able to show, she and I kept up with each other.

Gosh we have so many memories! As little kids. When we met, I was walking down the sidewalk of our street in our neighborhood. (Back then you could let your kids walk anywhere and I was coming from about six blocks away from another friends' house). She was sitting on this bench on her front porch (about four years old). They had just moved in. And, as I walked by she said, "Hi." I said, "Hi," back.

She said, "You wanna' be my friend?" And, we have been friends ever since. She lived two doors down from my Gramm with whom I was living with at the time. We drank pickle juice and put kittens down our shirts while riding bikes. We did so much together. All of my memories with her are good ones; even those silly young girl spats. "I hate you!" "I hate you too!" "You are the worst friend ever!"

Twenty minutes later one of our phones would ring at our own homes (we spent summers at home while the adults worked - you could do that back then too) and "Hey? What are you doing?" "Nuthin'" "Wanna' drink some pickle juice?" "We have to eat all the pickles first." That's my PJ.

Me, PJ's Lil'Gal and PJ.

I lover her beyond means. We share quite a history together. <3

Sweet D and Ms. Les were in charge of the cake. [I was going to make one all black inside and black outside with a big 40 on it but they wouldn't let me...] They know me so well! Look at the beautiful cake they had made. (Pic is full size so click to zoom so you can really read it!)

It has my name, and the date of the 'finely aged wine' and my motto

So much food and fun and then everyone was dragging me inside to open presents! Yes! I got lots of presents! How cool is that! I just wanted a party :-D

Wonder Mom

 I think WonderMom just wanted to see if I had enough hot air in me to blow out all those candles. YES, she used 40. But I can't complain because I do the same thing to everyone else.

Guess what?

I blew them all out! In one breath.

Without ANY SPITTLE! :-D

Me, embracing 40 as they sang to me :-P

I can be quite theatrical sometimes... [most of the time...]

My floral friend made me a BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement in which she even incorporated tulips that are actually hard to find down here right now and out of season. Here is a pic, that doesn't do it justice:

It also has my second favorite flower, large gerber daisies!

This bouquet is HUGE and again, the picture just doesn't do it justice.

Oh, and the final cherry on the cake? [Don't hate me.] Hubby surprised me with a beautiful new ride! She's a dream to drive and I have so much ROOM!!

Now I just have to name her. But gosh darn. How do you name such a beautiful piece of machinery. She is a dream to drive. She floats down the road. She does everything for me. And, she's so darned pretty! She is perfection... And, so much space! Gosh I love the space!

Such a great party and such a great time! I'm truly blessed! I'm spoiled. In the words of Dave Ramsey, "I am better than I deserve." But I will say, I work hard to earn my keep and be the best I can be. And, what more can we offer?

So, this is me. Blogging at 40. And, still with my glass half full and more so. May the Good Lord bless you and yours equally and above.

BIRTHDAY BLOG (Me <----- 40)