Wow. Several things are wow. 1. I can’t believe it’s been almost 5 months since I last wrote. 2. So many insane things have happened since I last posted a blog, but I’m not going to get into that right now. 3. I feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel soooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooold!!!!!! lol.
So, today I officially turned 35. Seriously. 35. Can you believe it??????? Troy called today to wish me happy birthday and when I told him I’m officially old, he said I’ve been old since mid-20s. Thanks, Troy. I’d smack you if you were on the same land mass.
Here’s an obligatory photo of me as little tiny nugget versus what I looked like today. It’s so weird thinking I was once that tiny. I don’t know my exact stats, but man, I think I was pretty darn cute. lol
As for the day, today started well. Got up, finished prepping my lesson for Sunday School, and headed off to church. It made me giggle when my friend, Tamara, turned around during Sacrament Meeting to wave and mouth ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. She got to be the first person to wish me happy birthday in person.
During Sunday School, Tamara’s daughter, Kizi, wished me happy birthday and a bunch of the other kids started wishing me happy birthday. A boy started to sing and nobody joined in, so he stopped. He tried to get other people to sing with him, but there were so many other conversations going on and people arriving that it was a bit too chaotic. I appreciated the effort and thought, though. I really love these kids. I call them kids, but they’re all 15-16 years old. Great people. I’m going to miss them in January when they move up to the next class. They’ve been really wonderful to hang out with every Sunday.
Class was pretty fun. We played Jeopardy, which I thought they all loved because everyone laughs and goofs off and they all seem to be having fun, but I found out that for a couple kids it’s too chaotic and stressful, so I promised not to play it as often. We had soooo many people there today, which kinda added to how chaotic it was. We normally have 6-7 people in class, but there were 12-13 today. Instead of doing boys vs girls, we did four teams of three. I think if it had been a smaller group it wouldn’t have been as hectic, but that wouldn’t have helped with the kids being stressed out from it. I’m glad they told me so that I can come up with other ideas for less stressful learning games. I get tired of formal lessons all the time, so I try to change things up to be a bit more exciting once in a while. I guess now I’ve got to be a bit more creative.
After Sunday School, I went to Relief Society. That was fun. They announced it was my birthday and aside from the awkward everyone staring at me and everyone wishing me happy birthday at once, it was really nice. I had a mini panic where I didn’t know who to look at and who to thank because they were all saying it at once, so I think I just made a weird face and then sank in my chair. lol. Being socially awkward is so much fun. But I did get a lot of hugs from people, which was really nice. I love hugs. Several people told me happy birthday in the halls, which was nice, too. It felt good to have people acknowledge it was my birthday. Most of the time hardly anyone ever knows it’s my birthday and it just feels like a normal day. Today I felt special. There was no party or cake or celebration, just that people noticed me and took the time to say something nice to me. It meant a lot.
During the Relief Society lesson, the teacher passed out chocolate and when the bowl got to us, Christy, the lady sitting next to me, asked me which kind I liked. I picked out a Dove chocolate and she picked on up, told me happy birthday, and then gave it to me. When the lady on her other side asked if I got to candies because it was my birthday, Christy told her the second piece was her birthday present to me. That lady then said if she hadn’t already bitten her chocolate, she would have given it to me, too. lol. That cracked me up. I love the ladies in my ward. Later, during a multi-group discussion, my group got to talking about travel and they teased me for never having been to Canada, even though it’s less than 6 hours away. Sheesh. I do need to go there.
After church, I called Troy back. He’d called me during Relief Society, so I couldn’t talk to him then. We chatted about life, what’s been going on this week, how things are going at my job, what I have left with school, and what my plans are after I graduate. I’d been thinking about staying with CARD and applying for OM at the center they’re going to open here next summer, but with the way things are going lately, I’m not sure that’s going to happen. I’ve also considered getting on with Fast, the company Troy works for, to do project management or be a systems trainer (I think that’s what they’re called), but I don’t know. They’re work is super technical and I don’t fully understand all of it, but some people I’ve talked to there don’t have IT training and they’re doing just fine, so I think that could still be an option. It’s a good company, from what I’ve seen.
So, yeah, Troy and I talked for about 10 minutes and then he was off to video game with his brothers. We don’t talk much anymore, but I always like hearing from him. He’s a good guy with a solid perspective. I’m glad we’ve been able to remain friends.
After talking with Troy I was going to finish up some homework that was due today, but my professor finally got back to me and told me I could have an extension. Wish some of the stuff that has been going on this week, I was in a really bad mental space and asked for extensions for all my classes. This one professor didn’t write back until today, so I’d been trying to do the work, but it just wasn’t happening. When I saw the email granting the extension, I emailed him back to thank him and told him I’d turn it in tomorrow. I needed today to just have no responsibility, no stress, no worrying about anything. I popped in Persuasion and watched that while working on my quilling. The candle holder I’m making for Jeffry, my brother’s boyfriend, is coming along nicely and the snowflake I’m designing is making progress, too. I think I might be done with the snowflake. Well, after I glue it together. I’ve got all the pieces made and it’s laid out on a board, I just need to glue it all in place now.
My home teachers came over for a bit after that and then I booked it over to Holly’s house. She invited me over for dinner and games and we had a wonderful time. Her kids are seriously my favorites. Even when they’re cranky, I adore them. Holly taped my name to Emma’s shirt, so instead of saying ‘Yay! It’s my birthday!’ it said ‘Yay! It’s Erin’s birthday!’ It was so cute!
Jackson and Isaac gave me cute drawings as soon as I walked in. Well, Isaac kinda threw his at me and then bolted down the hall. I was like, “uh, okay, what was that?” He was all miffed I didn’t open it right away. lol. He asked me if I knew what it was and I guessed a car. Oops. It is a heart. He was super excited to find out that the colors he used are my three favorites, so that made up for my lack of artistic interpretation. Jackson’s is also a heart, but he didn’t make me guess. He just told me. lol. He probably heard my wrong guess with Isaac’s and wanted to spare me the embarrassment. haha.
The evening at Holly’s house was nice. We talked, watched Relative Race, had homemade pizza (thanks, Spencer!) and played games. It was so fun. At one point the boys were hiding under blankets on the floor and I went and laid on them. I love listening to them giggle. Couldn’t play too hard because I was in a skirt and Isaac still has a decent cough when he gets overexcited, so we just goofed off a little.
I wish I’d played with them more, but part of me is still struggling to get back into the rhythm of life. A lot of emotions I thought I’d dealt with six months ago are resurfacing and I just feel overwhelmed and…..stuck. It’s been hard to function this week and I’ve spent a lot of time laying on the floor, watching tv, and trying to sleep, but just laying there for hours on end replaying things in my mind. Being sick for three days kinda helped, which sounds weird, but it did. Today did, too. It felt good to take a break from all that to laugh and have a good time, there were just moments when all those feelings would creep back.
Honestly, just hanging out with Holly and her family makes me feel better. They’re such good people and she has such a good heart. It’s funny how both of us had some reservations about how well we’d hit it off initially, but we’ve become really good friends over the last few years. I really love how she’s such a positive and practical person. She tells me exactly what she thinks about things, is always finding ways to improve herself with, keeps trying even when she’s stressed, and is such a positive influence on my life. I’m really glad she’s my friend.
One of the funny moments at Holly’s was when Isaac decided to try and block me from walking past when I was behind the table. He was on the table leaning over to the counter using his body as a ‘bridge.’ I just slid my arms under him, picked him up, and tried to put him on top of the fridge. Listening to his little laughs was hilarious. I was actually surprised I could do an overhead press with a 30lb kid, but I did it! I was so surprised, I did it again to be sure I’d actually done it the first time. lol. It was pretty hilarious. When Isaac tried to block me the same way again, he squirmed too much for me to lift the same way, the little turkey.
Another funny moment was when we were eating cookies. Holly let me pick from her big stash of oreos to try a flavor I liked. She’s doing another blind tasting party soon and this time it’s going to be oreos. Last time she did pringles and the time before she did chocolate. She’s done other things, but those are the only two I’ve been able to attend. Hopefully she does the oreo blind tasting party at a time when I can go cuz there were a ton of flavors that sounded tasty. I ended up choosing the coconut oreos cuz I do love my coconut. I’ve had them before, but that’s okay. It’s my birthday, so I can choose flavors I like instead of new ones if I want to. lol. The boys and I had fun eating them and goofing off.
Sadly, Holly didn’t eat any oreos with us. She is doing 30 days of no sugar and I am soooooo incredibly proud of her for making it 21 days! This is the longest she has ever gone and it is amazing! That’s why we didn’t have cake or ice cream. We’re going to do that after she gets off her no-sugar kick. I’ve got a free birthday dessert from Olive Garden, so we’re going to go there and get the cannoli trio. She wanted that for her birthday, but they were out, so we’re going to try it for my birthday. If they don’t have it this time, they’re going to get a stink eye. Maybe I should call ahead and make sure they have it. It would be sad if she gets denied twice. I was also going to go get ice cream with Ashley and Melody yesterday, but I was too sick and exhausted to do anything after work and completely spaced it. I’ll have to reschedule with them cuz I really want to hang out with them.
After oreos we played Yahtzee and Apples to Apples. Isaac was on my team for Yahtzee and Jackson was with Holly. Isaac and I won. By a long shot. Cuz we’re awesome and amazing. haha.
Holly ended up winning Apples to Apples, though. We had to be sure Isaac didn’t see which cards she and I put down because if he knew which one was mine, he’d pick that one. lol. The goof. So Holly won even on a rigged game. That takes some skill.
I didn’t get to hold Emma tonight, but that’s okay. She’s getting over croup and just wanted to be with Holly or standing on her own near Holly, so I mostly left her alone. Got a few fun photos with her and made a lot of faces at her. She’s such a sweet little baby.
We all had some sour icebreaker mints at one point and, dang, were they sour!
Oh! Totally off topic. Holly decided to do some ‘magic’ tricks with the boys. She and I laughed way harder than they did. There’s this video going around facebook of this dad who tells his daughter to stab his hand with a fork before he can wipe up a puddle of water she’s sitting in front of. He then throws the rag at her and drags her across the water. Holly did that with the boys and aside from some silly faces, they didn’t react much. Holly, though, man, she was hilarious. She was cracking up so hard. It was awesome.
When I got home from Holly’s, Andrea had left me a brownie and a card at my door. It was really nice of her to do that and such a nice thing to come home to. I really appreciated that. I will eat it tomorrow with my lunch cuz it’s too late to eat anything right now.
All in all, this was a really great birthday. I guess it technically started yesterday because my dad wished me a happy birthday yesterday afternoon. haha. He texted later to say he knew yesterday wasn’t my birthday, he just wanted to be sure I couldn’t accuse him of forgetting. Mmmmmhmmmmm, suuuuure, dad. lol. My parents and my sister also sent me videos of them singing me happy birthday, so that didn’t get neglected, either. And then there were all the obligatory social media birthday wishes and text messages, which I absolutely love. All the good things happened today and I feel very blessed and fortunate to have such good people in my life.
Oh, can’t forget gifts. A couple people asked me what I got for my birthday, so might as well include that here, too. My mom sent me some stuff from Bath & Body Works. I love their aromatherapy line, so I was super excited to get that. A friend from Ireland sent me a card, Holly gave me oreos, her boys drew me pictures (Isaac’s is the red, blue, and purple; Jackson’s is the green), Andrea gave me a brownie, Christy gave me a chocolate, and my parents helped me buy a painting I fell in love with a few weeks ago. I ordered it yesterday, so I don’t have it yet. It should be here in a week or two and I’m super excited for it to arrive. It’s small, but it’s so beautiful.
So, yes, I had a wonderful birthday. I feel happy and blessed and so much lighter. I have wonderful people in my life and I am so thankful for all the people who went out of their way to acknowledge me today. I have really felt special today.
