It's my birthday and I'll smile if I want to!

I had intended to get up and go for a long run, but about 6:30 I decided to roll over and go back to sleep, sleeping in until 8:00. I got up, made a cup of tea, and went out on the deck to read the paper. Later I had a bowl of vanilla yogurt Cheerios. What a great start to the day!

After Chelsea got up we decided to go shopping for a snowboard. We went to two places that claimed to be having a "huge Labor Day blowout sale". Both had only a couple of snowboards on sale, and none were what Chelsea was looking for. We decided to go for lunch at the new TGI Fridays. I had a great salad, the pecan crusted chicken salad, which was a taste sensation! It had pecan crusted chicken (of course), candied pecans, dried cranberries, celery, bleu cheese, mandarin oranges, with balsamic viniagrette dressing, and of course, lettuce. Every mouthful tasted different. I would highly recommend it! Chelsea had a plain cheeseburger and fries--that's her idea of a gourmet meal!

When we were done we went to Sports Authority to check out the SNIAGRAB. That was a good choice. Chelsea found a snowboard she loved, with a price I loved (it was so inexpensive because it's a 2005 model). It is wood grained with birds on it, like the Partridge family birds. She also needed a pair of soccer cleats since she has outgrown her current pair. She insisted on trying out a pair in the youth section and they actually fit! They are black Nike's with pink trim. They were on clearence for $19.99, so I convinced her to get a pair of softball cleats also. She has been playing softball since 4th grade, but she has always worn her soccer cleats to play. I told her if she made her school team this year I'd buy her softball cleats since she was the only girl on her team last year without them. She did make the team again, but when I mentioned getting softball cleats she said she didn't need them. I know it's because I told her money was tight (I hadn't gotten my VA money for about 4 months). But, since her soccer cleats were so inexpensive and we got such a great deal on her snowboard, she reluctantly agreed. And of course the ones she picked out were in the youth section and on sale also! I made it out of there with a snowboard and two pair of cleats for less than I had planned on paying for the snowboard alone!

When we got home I read my Good Housekeeping magazine, then took a nap. After I got up Chelsea and I moved her twin bed into the spare room and the full size bed from the spare room into her room. She has been sleeping in the spare room for about 3 years now, and it was time for her to move back into her room. She is thrilled with having the big bed in her room and I am thrilled to have more room in the spare room so I can do my homework, even if it is late and Chelsea is in bed!

Chelsea is now at a party with friends from school. She has been looking forward to this for a few days. Unfortunately my birthday BBQ had to be rescheduled to accomodate her party, but I am glad it was, since she is such a good kid and told me several times she didn't need to go, even though I could see that she really wanted to.

Chelsea gave me exactly what I wanted for my b-day. She gave me coupons for doing extra stuff around the house, like making my bed, doing my laundry, taking the dog for a walk, going for a walk with me, washing the car, etc. The best part is she made them like punch cards and so she'll do many of them more than once. The exception is wearing her hair down for church. She only will do that once for me. Oh well, I'll take it!

I am working on making girls birthday cards for a card swap I'm doing in my Idaho Scrappers group. It works like this: I make 10 of the same cards, mail them to the person heading up the swap. There are 9 others in my group. They will make various cards, such as wedding, baby boy, adult birthday, etc. When I get them back I will have 10 handmade cards to use throughout the year. So, if you get a handmade card from me, I might not have made it myself. Sorry! Well, I need to get back to work!