Not holding 39 any more ;)

Funny, I always forget my own birthday because it's so close to Christmas that everything else takes precedence. So I'm always startled when other people remember it. Last year, it was at a Christmas-type party that I thought just happened to be taking place on my birthday; it turned out there was even a birthday cake with candles and everything, and I nearly cried. This year, I got e-mails from friends, hugs from my coworkers - I don't know how they even knew it was my birthday, let alone remembered it!- and phone calls from all over the place. Sadly, I couldn't actually answer the phone, but I got my cousin from Germany, my dad and his family all wishing me happy birthday in Spanish, messages from so many people...

And Chris hired a Lawn-O-Gram company to put 40 animals on our lawn overnight. "A tiny menagerie for a tiny lady," says the sign on our lawn, because I've always said that as soon as genetic engineering gets advanced enough, I want to have little tiny zebras and lions and wildebeest in a sort of terrarium. Maybe little tiny cows, so we can have milk for our tea and coffee in the morning.

As genetic engineering has not yet reached that stage, Chris did the next best thing. The flamingoes are a nice touch, but the giant penguins are a little creepy ;)

And Chris and the boys spent the last few hours making me an Indian dinner. Onion bhaji, jasmine rice, mustard shrimp, curry cauliflower, and some kind of curried veggie thing...

Happy Birthday to Me :D :D :D