Birthday Bash!

The post was originally entitled "not much" but then I realized I was missing a lot of stuff that happened over the weekend!!

So first, the tablet weaving continues!  I finished three lanyards for my Sounders friends, including Kelly, Daniel, Jose, Meli, Brandon, and Lauren.  The other three I just finished taking off the loom yesterday but I have yet to finish the ends and turn it into a lanyard.  The second set I made a bit longer to fit the taller folks in the group.  This one I sized for myself, which should fit Jose and Meli.  Kelly wore this one to Friday's game with his season pass card in it.  After I took the last weaving off the loom, I took the loom out to the garage and glued the upright pieces back together.  It's had a lot of hard use lately so things were loose and wiggly and it desperately needed some reinforcement.  It didn't help  that it has been dropped on the ground more than once.  Great globs of wood glue later...it should be good for another 3,000 miles.

For my birthday, Kelly got me a very cool gift--seats in row E at the midfield line!  We could almost see the whites of their eyes!  Or some people who aren't nearsighted could have seen the whites of their eyes...we were right by #24 (my birthday!) Roger Levesque, one of the goofiest men in soccer.

We started with dinner at our favorite dim sum place in the International district.  Kelly said the few words he knew in Cantonese ("good food" and "beer") to the waitress, an older Chinese lady, who talked back to him in Cantonese.  When he responded with a blank face and, "uhhhh..." she proceeded to cuss him out in Chinese for not speaking more of the language--trying to trick her into making her think he could speak Chinese and he only knows five words.  It was funny as hell!

The game kicked off just after 7:00 pm and we WON 2-0!  WOO!  I got a new scarf there that reads "KINGS OF CASCADIA"...the cup that they've won three years in a row.  The new goalkeeper seems to be a good choice--he made a couple spectacular saves.

Afterwards, I picked up some of the leftover rolls of green streamers that people threw down during the game (which is a huge nuisance when it gets on the field, but fun when it drifts down into the stands).  There were half-rolls left over under some of the seats, so I picked a couple of them up and put them in my pocket.  We kinda floundered around looking for a place to have drinks and food, but the kitchens were serving weird food or were closed.  Eventually we settled on a little sports bar that only had fried foods left, so we got some little shrimpies, french fries and chicken wings.  Drinking on an empty stomach is never a good idea...

The next day was my birthday!  WOO!  Cammie was very sweet and cooked me breakfast in the morning.  Unfortunately, she did it very early and I didn't get down to eat it until it was cold, but it was a very sweet thought.  She made me tea, french toast, and left out an apple and a stick cheese.  Such a sweet girl!  And a good cook, too!  I heated up the french toast in the microwave for a minute and it was yummy!  She also found my Sounders Rave Green streamers and decorated the staircases and dining room for the party.

In the mid-afternoon, Heide arrived from a long drive from near Vancouver and helped me get ready for the party.  We then sat and had tea and cookies until the other guests began to arrive.  Becca arrived with the cake she made for me...one layer was vanilla cake with lemon custard filling, the other was chocolate with cherry filling.  Yum!!

The party got underway.  At one point, it was mentioned that I needed a birthday tiara...so James's daughter made one for me out of aluminum foil.  I think it looks better on James, tho.

A lovely lavender plant arrived for me from Mom.  I'll have to figure out where to plant it.  I had it indoors for a few days and it started to get pretty wilted, so I watered it a bunch and then stuck it outside, where it looks much happier.

I received a few other gifts from friends--four bottles of cider from Jose, Meli & Daniel.  Two of them are my favorite, Thistly Cross, a Scottish cider.  The other two were kinds I hadn't tried before--one was a stout-like cider, dark and thick.  The other was a lighter one that I didn't care much for.  I taught a couple people how to play Tablero, which was great fun,

I also got a basket of travel supplies from Jen and Darby--a pair of towels, a washcloth, razor, toothbrush, sewing kit, first aid kit, and more...including a make-your-own Marvin the Martian kit.  Heide brought me some hand-spun yarn from Godith's sheep.

On Tuesday, it was Girl Scout day--we ate cupcakes and played board games like Nine Men's Morris, Fox and Geese, Mancala, and Peg Solitaire.  I was going to guy some glass droplets to use as game pieces, but realized it would be a lot cheaper (and tastier!) to use M&Ms.  The girls got together and bought me some flowers, two cards that included gift cards for Starbuck's and Michael's.  I love those girls!  They're awesome!!  We made some plans to have a badge ceremony and work on earning more badges.

So...what else have I been doing?  Not much.  Taking kids to doctor appointments, karate, school, scouts...the usual stuff.  Busy.

K