thanks

Thanks for the many birthday wishes. It turned out to be a very nice day and weekend, easily topping last year. :) Other than the very beginning, when I got in my car and backed into something (just some scrapes in a small area, but still), it was pleasant.

I felt kind of guilty later in the day that I elected to spend so much of it alone. I figured that if it was my birthday, I should spend it doing what I wanted to do -- which happened to be things that are better done alone. Perhaps that was too selfish. Ah, well. What's done is done.

I spent much of the day at one of my favorite places in the world -- the state historical society library. :) I didn't find a whole lot and it was pretty busy, but there was some parking discount so that was nice.

Next I visited Ikea. It was my maiden voyage -- I hadn't realized before I got in the door that it's more of an experience than a shopping trip. You can't just swing by. It takes some time commitment. But I liked a lot of their stuff -- also didn't like a lot. Bought myself a children's tea set. :)

Later went to a cheesy movie. Meanwhile, my family calls my (dead) cell six times, worried that I'd been abducted or in an accident because I'd said earlier I might drop by as soon as 6:30. This is where I feel guilty -- spent the whole day without them, declined two lunch offers and another for a beer.

But today we did a nice family thing. My mom and my sister planned a nice Italian lunch, and then we sat around watching TV on mute and making fun of the people on it. (I always watch TV with closed captioning and sound. My dad and my brother prefer to watch it on mute with no closed captioning. My mom and my sisters are irritated by both of those habits.)

This should be another interesting week of work! Aren't they all...