My Real Life

First of all, a little business… Don’t forget to enter my giveaway contest!  Contest ends tonight!  Then, come right back and read the rest of the blog!

Today is my birthday.  I must say that 38 feels pretty good so far. 

Almost 40, but the truth is, most of the time, I don’t feel a bit older than…mmm…I’d say 28. 

And most days, I don’t act any older than 8.

I think that’s a good thing.

So, last night we went to my parents house for my annual birthday dinner.

Every year, my Mom makes me spaghetti with meat sauce for my birthday.

At school, one of our Italian teachers gives an award every marking period called “That’sa One Spicy Meatball” for a kid who is just on and is an overall great kid.  Every year when she gives out that award, I think of my Mom’s meatballs, because let me tell you…SPICY.  We usually start sweating as we eat her sauce, and if you have a sinus infection going in, you won’t have one going out.

It is delicious!

The monkeys make me laugh because they are all so different, but because we have three, they cover all of the different perspectives on any given topic. 

For example, my Mom’s spaghetti dinner.

Baby Monkey just wants the spaghetti.  No sauce.  Just the pasta.

Monkey in the Middle wants just a meatball.  No pasta, no sauce.  Just meatballs.

And Monkey Girl…yep…you guessed it.  She likes it all.

The kids love going to my parents house because:

1)It’s warm.  We keep our house between 58-61, closer to 58 most of the time.  My parents house is cozy and warm, and they have a gas fireplace that throws off some excellent heat.

2)They have cool, interesting toys, like this wooden Noah’s Ark.  The lid comes off and it’s filled with wooden animals that the monkeys parade around and they pull the ark around and it’s pretty cute.  My parents also have my Dad’s old Lego set, which isn’t called Lego, it’s called “Brick City.”  I used to play with it at my grandparents house in Ohio, when I was little and I loved it so much better than regular Lego’s because the set has some clear bricks.  I don’t know why, but I thought those were awesome!

I think my favorite part of the evening was when my Dad started telling the story of when he and Monkey Girl were at Barnes and Noble and his cell phone started going off. 

Now, my Dad is definitely not a digital native.  He’s a full-blown digital immigrant, and so although he has made great strides with regards to his use of technology, sometimes it gets the better of him.

Anyway, he and Monkey Girl were at Barnes and Noble and they were looking at the Harry Potter wand display.  His cell phone starts going off.  He has no idea what it was, so he figured it was one of the wand boxes.  He picks up the box and puts it next to his ear and starts shaking it.  Then, he picks up the next box, and the next.  Monkey Girl suggests that perhaps it was his cell.  He pulls it out, and by the time he does, the person (me) had hung up.

Monkey Girl loves this story.  She laughs so hard, she cannot breathe.  I cherish those laughs.  They are the best laughs in the world.

Be still my heart.

For dessert, we had Breyers mint chocolate chip cookies and Pepperidge Farms snickerdoodle cookies.  Since desserts are not the friend of a diabetic, I chose something that I could have a little of, but that were favorites of the monkeys.  The monkeys ate the Snickerdoodles faster than you could blink, and they finished up their ice cream, as well.

Oh, and they couldn’t find the candles, so we had matches for candles.  No wish, because I was afraid the house would burn down if I didn’t blow those matches out quickly!

The best part of the night was just spending time with the family.  My father-in-law always comes to celebrate, and it is just a great evening.  So, enjoy these last shots of happy people and happy times.