Two Surprises in Two Days

It has been a busy couple of days and I've had two surprises in two days - and both of them were firsts.


Last night was our Red Hat group and we had decided to do it at my house as a potluck. What I didn't know was that they were having a surprise birthday party for me last night, which was so sweet.

Teresa, Diana, Julie, Debbie and Susan N. all brought me gifts - Diana made cupcakes - Debbie took pix - they sang. It was really nice. And, it was a first for me. I've never had a birthday party as an adult. Actually, I've never had a birthday party at all that involved friends. When your birthday is two days before Christmas, it's a little tough to pull that off - for the obvious reasons.

Even without all of that, it was a nice evening all the way around, with special gifts shared and some wonderful memories made. I had gotten ornaments for everyone.


I was touched by the generous spirit of these friends. Debbie posted a photo of me blowing out candles on the cupcake on her blog at www.bluebix.blogspot.com.

Tonight I had my board over for dinner at my house - nothing fancy - just soup. We've done this every year that I've been the Executive Director and it is always fun. They surprised me with a very nice gift, and it was completely unexpected, but very generous of them.

This year we invited spouses too, and that was even neater. It was good to see everyone socialize. I didn't have time to take photos as I was busy replenishing the table and such, but it was a fun night.

I'm blessed to have a wonderful board of directors - exceptional people who are committed to our mission. I'm grateful for each of them.

I served chili and veggie soup. I had planned to also make potato soup but had a little something extra put into my day and ran out of time to get that done. I reached down to put something in the garbage disposal this afternoon and got shocked. Yes - shocked! When I hit the switchplate I got shocked again. So, I called Zenor electric and - thank heavens - Dennis was just leaving another job so could come right over. He eventually found the problem and took care of it, but it took awhile. I was just glad he could come right away and glad that I'm on longer afraid of my kitchen.

I've almost got everything cleaned up already from tonight - maybe one more load through the dishwasher. This was my last party of the season, but instead of feeling relieved, I'm a little sad that it's over for this year. I've had six gatherings in 11 days and I could do another six, but Christmas will be here quickly.

I love to entertain. It makes a house warm and inviting to have the energy of lots of people passing through the doors.