It was my birthday this week. I reached the grand old age of 42. According to Douglas Adams I should now have the answer to life, the universe and everything. I’ve been thinking really hard, racking my brain, think, think, think ….
…. but nope! No nearer to having all, or actually any, of the answers! I’m sure when I was small, people in their forties knew exactly where they were headed in life, knew how to behave in every situation and always knew exactly what to say. Turns out, now I’m here, that either I’ve gone horribly wrong somewhere, or my prepubescent self really wasn’t paying proper attention to adults! I do think that my generation has had a whole load of bumps and twists along the road – super competitive job market, ridiculous housing market, major recession and now the dreaded ‘B’ word – all of which have made getting on in life harder and have massively affected confidence, but hey, on the plus side, and in contrast to my Great Grandparents and Grandparents, we haven’t had a war (despite some politicians seemingly best efforts) so it’s not all bad.
Anyhow, I digress ….. birthday talk!
At one point I thought I was headed for a really depressing birthday making the epic trip back home from my work trip in northern Spain, but luckily the trip was shifted forward by a day so I made that tiresome journey on my birthday eve instead.
I was at work on my birthday but it was my first day back after a week’s holiday and three days away for work, so I didn’t mind being there because it was nice to catch up with everyone and I allowed myself a day off Slimming World so we went to Notcutts for lunch and I treated myself to a jacket potato with tuna mayo and salad with pesto dressing. I know that probably doesn’t sound particularly indulgent, but it’s my favourite lunch which I haven’t had since I started Slimming World at the end of May. I really enjoyed it! I let myself have an orange fondant biscuit from the selection of obligatory birthday sweet things that I took in for my colleagues.
I didn’t open any cards or pressies in the morning because time’s of an essence and hubby was still snoring away when I left so they were all waiting for me when I got home. I always open my cards first and leave the presents till last, and this year was no exception.
Didn’t I do well? Notice all the cats? My friends and family know me well.
I got lots of lovely, thoughtful gifts from my loved ones.
I love everything I was given.
Hubby excelled himself!
I ordered the two project bags from him a couple of weeks ago, along with the new Edward’s Menagerie crochet book which I haven’t got yet because it’s not released until next week but he surprised me with the two biographies. I’d looked at them in WHSmiths a few weeks ago, and he was obviously paying attention!
My Mum sent me a home made bag.
Isn’t she clever! I haven’t decided what I’m going to use it for yet.
The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the Apple Watch draped next to the former First Lady.
Dad (in Birmingham) and I went shopping for this yesterday and I love it! We almost didn’t get one! The first shop didn’t have the silver aluminium finish in stock so we headed off to a shopping centre further away, and found they have a reservation system so they don’t run out of stock, and I got the last available slot! I’m still working it out, but I used it to log my workout this morning and it says in an hour of combat I burnt 577 calories and my average heart rate was 140 bpm, and so far today I’ve done 6504 steps.
My Dad (in Worcester) and C contributed towards my swing chair and also sent me garden centre vouchers which I will very much enjoy spending (I’m considering getting a Pampas Grass, they had lots of it in Spain and the plumes were in full bloom and were so pretty).
We’ve sat on the swing chair a lot since we got it, and have really enjoyed the luxury of swinging back and forth forgetting our troubles and strifes, and whilst it’s raining cats and dogs out there at the moment, I’m staying optimistic that we might get an Indian Summer so we can sit out there a bit more this year. If not, it’ll still be there waiting for us next year.
So, that’s almost it for another year. I have a meal out planned with the girls on Friday so there’s still a little bit of celebration left to look forward to.
Have a great week all!
Green Girl Gardener 