Oct21

Blog buddy meetup #… 7? 8?

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Blog buddy meetup #… 7? 8?

Maybe it’s 9? Whatever. A month and a half ago, with next to no warning, which I thought was pretty cool, Chel Owens alerted me that she was in the area!

So we took a hike.

We had a fun time chatting like old friends, as blog buddies always are, and traipsed along an ocean lagoon with our husbands and sons.

My little dude discovered layers of colored sand thanks to the sandstone above, which was fun for him to play in.

Chel later bought my novel, which I mailed to her, autographed, of course.

Oh my. What’s this package?
Oooh. Looks mysterious.
Let’s see what’s happening here.
Do you mind? I’m reading.
The next day, having not slept, eaten, showered, or changed clothes–finished and satisfied. Now where’s the sequel??

Not to worry, Chel. I’ll have copies of Wish You Were Here soon!

*Pictures courtesy of Chel Owens. Captions courtesy of Yours Truly, but I’m pretty sure they’re accurate.

P.S. Fun fact: when looking up the link for the sequel, I discovered Wish I Was Here has been translated for Kindle not just into Spanish, German, and French, but Italian and Portuguese as well. Who knew? Not me until now. And now you, oh fortunate ones!

As if meeting a blog buddy weren’t enough of a birthday month joy…

Ju-Lyn, my blog buddy in Singapore, remembered her birthday month twin and wished me well. (So thoughtful of her.)

And a local friend who has a long-standing record of the most random birthday gifts, gave me…

Napoleon and Pedro dolls from Napoleon Dynamite. Every year I get something like this. I have more than a dozen ND items.

Oh, but she isn’t finished yet.

My kids were a little disappointed it wasn’t the usual gummy eyeballs.

But, she truly outdid herself with this next one:

To be sure I’m fit to teach at the school, she said. I don’t even know where she finds this stuff!

What’s going on in the background there, you may ask. This same woman held a baby shower for her daughter. One of the shower games was to guess how many peanut M&Ms were in a large jar. I missed it by four. Peanut M&Ms are my favorite, so you darn betcha I was going to win that jar!

Once the candy was gone, I suggested we use the container as a family gratitude jar. We each had a color of paper assigned to us. By my birthday, the jar was full, so I declared one of my gifts would be going through our slips of paper and sharing some of the things we were grateful for. It was a fun family bonding experience. The jar is being refilled now.

One of mine, obv.
I also decided I’d reached the age where I could be honest: I don’t care that much about cake. Just give me the ice cream. So the kids created an ice cream bar of sorts.

The next night, I went to Chili’s with some Jiu-Jitsu ladies. Here I did get cake.

This looks like Darth Vader and Chewbacca had a dessert baby.
Oh good! Ice cream on the inside. Phew!
All courtesy of Her Royal Highness, who complained earlier today that my blog had died and needed to be resurrected.

Ever one to try new things, I believe this was a … shoot, guava? Something wild margarita. I think guava. It was delicious. That’s also the first time I’ve used a shaker. (I know, Mark. I know. I’m supremely lame. You’re too nice to say it, but I hear you thinking it.)

Oh yes, and among the birthday gifts from Hubby…

A lock picking set… because… I aspire to be a thief? I’m not sure, but it seemed like a fun idea to learn this skill. If my son gets his hands on this, I can see him getting into mischief. Why might I think that?

My son…

While his sister and I were shopping, he climbed up into this jacket still on the hanger and popped out at us, looking delightfully creepy. Also, my gosh, is he a cutie or what? Dang, with that dimple…

Now I’ve gotten you caught up on two big things. Stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading.

Which gift above did you like the most?

Last Q: Although once legal, the “fake to third, throw to first pickoff” move has since 2013 been classified as “balk.”

New Q: The 16th- to 18th-century Safavid Empire ruled over what today is this nation.

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36 responses »

  6. A birthday for a whole month? cool. Happy birthday!

    Everybody needs a lock pick set. Bonus points if you know how to use them. I went on a hike once — well I was told to take a hike — maybe not the samething.

    and Iran with parts of Iraq and Turkey.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Doesn’t everyone celebrate their birthday for a month? I have yet to experiment with the lock pick set.

      Oh geez. Not only do you get the correct answer, you add bonus detail. Typical Andrew. Take a hike. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

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  11. Fun looking birthday. Chel is cool. My wife and I got to meet her and her husband and kids when they were in Colorado Springs for something or the other. She had a picture of your book on her blog the other day.

    Like

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    • Turkey hill ice cream? Did I have that? I’m not sure I’ve heard of that, or I wasn’t paying close attention to what was on the outside just what was on the inside. People are like ice cream that way. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

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      • Sigh…..
        me and my diabetic eyes. I saw “thrifty” upside down with the small writing under it and the colors were the same as Turkey Hill, so I didn’t fact check myself.
        Goodness, if I could feel embarrassment, I would. Thankfully, I’m incapable of such a lesser human feeling, so it’s all good 😀

        Liked by 1 person

      • Does diabetes affect eyesight? Genuinely curious now. Also, being incapable of feeling embarrassment sounds like a blessing. Then again, it could get people like me into serious trouble. “Lesser human feeling.” Ha!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Yep, it does. First it affects the heart (a lot of diabetics die of heart attacks), then the eyes.
        Blurb from the internet:
        “Type 1 diabetes affects eyesight primarily by damaging the tiny blood vessels in the retina, over 40% of people with type 1 diabetes develop diabetic eye disease.

        • Diabetic Retinopathy: High blood sugar damages and weakens retinal blood vessels, causing them to swell, leak fluid, or grow fragile new abnormal vessels. It is a leading cause of blindness in working-age adults”

        I have retinopathy. So I have to get shots in the eyes every 3 months. They inject a chemical which retards blood vessel growth in the retina. At some point I’ll have to have surgery. For me, it is mainly manifested in not seeing small things and needing greater contrast to distinguish things.

        If embarrassment served a greater purpose, I’d say we should have it. But so far in life, I’ve seen zero use to feeling it 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • Leaking fluid. Eeesh. That sounds unpleasant. I’m glad you’re getting treatment and that such treatment exists. I’m glad you can’t see some some things like Oxford commas. 😉

        If I didn’t get embarrassed ever, I’d probably do a lot of things that I OUGHT to be embarrassed by, maybe even imprisoned.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. Most excellent post. And a belated (cakeless) happy birthday!
    Is it wrong to say I’m jealous of your zombie lollipop fingers? It’s not everyone who has a friend that thoughtful.
    Hope she found her way into your thankful jar.
    Love that idea btw.
    ❤️

    Liked by 1 person

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    • I usually give the weird scary candy to a friend who gets trick or treaters. We do not. I’m afraid I won’t be able to report back on how good or bad the zombie fingers are. 😛 But, yes, she’s a fun friend, especially because I never know what I’m going to get.

      Liked by 1 person

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  14. You guys could pass as sisters!

    Not technically a gift, but I like the Chili’s Presidente Margarita the best. Tara introduced me to those, and I swear, they’re like crack. We have a copycat recipe (and of course, we make them in a shaker), but it’s not quite the same.

    The marijuana test kit is pretty rad too.

    I knew it was a balk!!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • We do look similar, don’t we?
      I’ll get the presidente next time. HRH is a part of the Margarita of the Month club. She’s never been cooler.
      That test was hilarious. I didn’t know such a thing existed… or what to do with it now. Give it to Goodwill??
      I knew you knew! I was tempted to state you were the winner, but I had already mentioned you. I don’t want people thinking I play favorites.

      Like

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