MY BIRTHDAY

It was my birthday once again yesterday. I wonder why, when you are a kid and you love birthdays, there seem to be years, decades almost, between them and yet when you are an adult and would rather do without one, they turn up at, what feels like, monthly intervals. Isn't life funny?
Thomas ordered me a present which we went out in a snow storm on Tuesday night to pick up, only to find the pick-up service at Tesco closed. It was freezing and we'd gone after I finished work at 11pm, so that wasn't the best start.
Wednesday morning started with me having to work 7am onwards (ie before the kids woke up). Fun! (But as a first present Anna slept all night - what more could I really want?) The big ones rushed off the school squabbling as usual without so much as acknowledging it was my birthday. What's new there?
Things improved when the postman turned up with two cards for me at 10am. Thanks Shona and Sheina.
Mum and Dad invited me to the Golf club for lunch which was nice. The course looked very crispy!
Then I spent my usual hour picking up the 3 big ones.
We got home just before 4 and Charlotte wished me a Happy Birthday. Charlotte proudly handed me an envelope which she'd coloured in. I opened it to find a home-made card which had been too big for the envelope so she'd folded to fit in. It was a bit of a mess - but very sweet! I tried to open it but she'd sellotaped it shut! I opened the tape and 5 tiny chocolates fell out. My teacher gave me these for Christmas so I kept some for your birthday she said proudly. (I guess that's a sign of will power in a small child!) I then opened the card to find she had taped two 10p and one 5p coin inside. I saved this for you to buy yourself something, she said! How sweet! She then tidied the living room as an 'extra gift'. She is an endearing child. I went to the kitchen to make coffee. Pudge turned up with a freshly homemade card. He had taped one 1p coin in it!!! This is from my money pig, he stated very seriously! 26p - I guess I need to go shopping today ;-)
Suddenly at 4-10 I remembered I was meant to be at the doctor for Léon's MMR booster! Oops - senile already? I flew out the house and arrived just 5 minutes late. The health visitor checked his records and couldn't find any note of him having had the original MMR at 13 months old. I am sure he did but have no proof. She checked the computer - it said he'd had it on 13 December 08... emmmm that was a Saturday and 18 months too late - I don't think so! After half an hour of checking various records we abandoned the booster until the doc could track down where we are at on the immunisation plan. The rush out in the snow seemed to be in vain, until she offered Anna a Men-C booster instead! Poor Anna.
Home again, I made a nice curry. I was just finishing it at 6-15 when Marcel wandered in Oh you made dinner - I was just coming down to make you dinner for your birthday he said. I guess it is the thought that counts.
After dinner, back to Tesco in another snowstorm to pick up what turned out to be a shiny new black laptop. That will be wonderful because my old one is so slow running Vista it takes me 20 minutes to log in in the mornings to work!
Then we all shared a ridiculously fattening chocolate cake and went to bed.
The day definitely improved as it went on.
Now I guess I'll blink and my next birthday'll sneak up on me at an even more alarming rate.