More Birthdays

 Sometime in 2009  my neighbor, Diane, gave recipe cards with matching envelopes from a group she'd had leftover from a work project to all the members of our neighborhood book club.  They were very cool and I wondered for a long time, how I would use them. Aren’t the envelopes great?

Then later that year, for the holiday in December of 2009, another friend, Martha, got together with David on the sly.  He provided a recipe card and she made this apron with an actual print of the pie crust recipe my mother could never teach me to do correctly but David learned perfectly.  (a better learner?  More willing?)  Anyway the pie crusts with spelt flour are as flaky as Betty Crocker, but the really wonderful thing is that the recipe card on the apron is in my mother’s handwriting. It is an exact copy.  The gift was particularly special for me because my mother died of ALS in 1988 and I miss her every single day.   The apron is a standard size but the wearer is size small so the recipe is down just above her knees rather than up just below her waist. J

That gift helped me to know just what to do with the recipe cards.  So this past February 7th for my daughter’s 30^th birthday I gave her the gift of  a  recipe per month sent to her on the 7^th of every month of her 30^th year.  She would then have a dozen recipes in her mother’s handwriting where as I had only a couple.   This week I sent off the 12^th of these gifts.  It has been fun for us both and I’m very happy I did it.  #13 of the baker’s dozen will go to her on her 31^st birthday February 7^th.  Yes it's true, a birthday in December, one in January and one in February.

But today was David’s birthday.   Our family has all of its parties during the bleak winter time.  Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, New Years, David’s birthday,  Carrie’s birthday and then we’re pretty much out of parties for the next 9 months.  An additional downside to that is no more excuses for moist yummy chocolate cakes with butter cream icing.  But after two cakes in December, one in January and one in February if Carrie should come home, it’s probably time for a break from cake.  J

But today was cake day again and here I am whipping it up dressed appropriately and dancing along to the sound track of Mama Mia.  Those Abba songs can definitely get you stirring!

All decorated (using the term VERY loosely) and ready to go.

If you have your birthday with us, you get to be Royalty for a day.  Do anything you want, have anyone do anything for you, cook anything for you etc.   David chose to play racquetball and because he liked the December home made pizza so well, he wanted another and of course cake for dinner.   Nice and nutritious birthday dinner don’t you think?

Dough getting ready to be oiled for rising

Pizza going in the oven on the pizza stone.   Looks GREAT! We actually made two so we'd have leftovers.  We ate all of this one with no problem at all.

After the consumption of all those carbs and calories, YUM, it was on to opening gifts.  Well one gift since we are taking things out and trying not to add more.  He had no idea what was in the big box.

Usually birthday gifts are always “winter things” since you can’t buy anything else in December, January and February.  But this year I planned ahead.

But here it is.   A cart for his kayak so we each can tote our own down to the many, many rivers and lakes we will be visiting SOON.   I have one already since I’m the major kayaker and so we've been making two trips when we needed to tote them, but no more.

Now that we are planning an entirely new unconventional life, I think it’s time for me to change my birthday to the June one I've always wanted.   Don’t you?  So in 2011 my birthday will be moved to June 7.  Maybe David will like that so well he will change his to July 8 so that I can still be the elder and wiser one.  J

Have you ever wanted to or actually moved your birthday?