Pretty good day

Thanks all, for the well-wishes.

Today turned out pretty well. Last night....was not so happy. A confluence of things culminating with a fitted sheet that apparently shrank a bit in the wash ended with me sitting on the edge of my bed at about 9 pm, crying, because....oh, well, everything: I was old and "alone" and my hair is getting thin and grey and I have a few more tiresome medical tests I have to start planning for now that I'm 50 and I was going to be eating birthday dinner alone today like a total loser, and, and, and.... I wound up sleeping not so well because I stayed up a bit too late and I let myself get upset too late.

And both the "freebee birthday things" were not so great: the one from Ulta being a lipstick in a color too pale for me, and a thing of mascara (I don't wear mascara). Both are still unopened on my desk at home; drop me an e-mail if you want them...

And yesterday, I had my tax appointment, which stresses me out. On the way home I stopped at a local shop as I had been promised a "birthday treat" from them which turned out to be a couple of small chocolate truffles....but ones that were slightly stale. I mean, yeah, they didn't have to give me anything but it almost seemed....worse...that it felt like old stock was being fobbed off on me.

(Though the tax appointment was not so very bad, and pending some big capital gain - which I do not think happened if I remember the most recent stock info; I don't have the final year-end 1099 quite yet - I should be getting a smallish federal refund. And because no itemized deductions this year, my bill from the place was a good bit less, and the woman - who has worked with me before - even gave me a $25 discount for "loyalty" because I've come in for several years running)

Today was okay though. Classes went fine; it was the tree identification lab which is always fun to teach and some of the students seem to really enjoy it. I made going outside optional (we use herbarium sheets for most of the lab but since about half the trees can be found on campus). A few people hung around to do it, most left, but that's OK. (It was cold and drizzly, and I have lots of people getting over being sick). Two of the people were my two women athletes, and they thanked me for going out and showing them the trees after we were done, and that was nice. (Even if, showing people the trees is kind of part of my job).

 I got a pattern for a toy sloth from one of my friends. And I have a gift from my parents (the "you should have a surprise to open on your birthday" from my mom) for this evening. And I am getting a carry out meal from Main Street Barbecue - probably the best restaurant in town (though Roma's is surely a close second). I think I'm going to get a mix of pulled pork (my favorite barbecue meat) and smoked sausage (sodium be darned, at least for once) or maybe turkey, and the sides will be sweet potato fries and macaroni and cheese, unless they're out of one or both, in which case I'll have either pinto beans or mashed potatoes. I have a cupcake at home for dessert.

I also received quite a few nice presents:

- A moomin mug
- A copy of a book of patterns for knitted toys
- The new cutting mat from my parents
- The stuffed fat black-and-white toy cat, now named "Snox Boop"
- The stuffed gryphon, who has been named "Gaspard"
- a copy of "New York Knits"
- a copy of "Fire in the Thatch" and this one is a mystery. I mean, not just a mystery novel, there was no name on the "from" on the gift tag. And it came in a nice gift bag - a red tulle bag with a drawstring that will be the right size for a sock-knitting project in progress (so it will definitely be kept and reused)

There's also the surprise gift from my parents. And I suppose I'll receive something from my brother and his family, if Fire in the Thatch wasn't their gift.

And at any rate: age is as much "just a number" as weight or dress size is. I've had a number of people tell me I look a good bit younger than my age though I suspect that's as much lucky genes as it is me taking care of myself.

And the rest of the week should be fairly easy: no evening meetings, I give an exam in one class tomorrow so I don't have to talk (at least), and while I have to make a potato casserole for the memorial service Saturday, that's not so bad. (I think I'm going to compromise and use frozen hash brown potatoes BUT make a from-scratch cream sauce - it's just potatoes, green onions, cream sauce, and cheese, so I figure (a) hash brown sized will be easier to serve and (b) the flavor comes from the cheese and the cream sauce so if I use good cheese and make a good homemade half milk/half broth sauce, they will be better than if I dumped a can of cream of chicken soup in there. And it's the cutting up boiled potatoes I dislike; making cream sauce is easy).

I might even actually bake something this weekend, I mean, something more than the deep-dish crust I am planning for using up some of my spaghetti bolognese sauce (Plan is to make a thick bready "Chicago style" crust in either my pie plate or my 8" square pan, layer mozzarella on the *bottom* - which is the real Chicago style - and then ladle a generous amount of sauce on the top, and bake the whole thing. Probably blind-bake the crust a bit first so it doesn't sog too much, though the cheese should help prevent that).

And, in two more weeks or so, it's spring break, so there's that.