Happy Birthday To You, And You, And You....

Wow, it seems like there are so many birthdays in February. What's weird is I've never noticed it before. In our family we have back to back birthdays in September/October, almost on the same day. Then we have a week of birthdays in January, a week in May, and then June/July, once again back to back. This month I'm thinking that everytime I turn around I'll be making a cake, eating a cake, and singing Happy Birthday. That's fine, I just think it's crazy that I've never noticed it before. This weekend we celebrated Alpa's and Allysen's birthdays. Last night we went out to eat at the Roadhouse for Alpa and then came home to have a homemade cake, which David made. Yellow cake with green frosting, Alpa's favorite. We even spelled out "Dad" with M and M's for fun. Later in the evening David and his dad played Game Breakers, a NFL trivia game. They were hooting and hollering, so I can only guess that they were having a good time.

For Allysen's birthday we went to a family gathering, ate some good food, and watched her as she watched others open her presents. It's crazy to think that's she's one year old. Time certainly does fly. She was pretty unsure of her birthday cake. She definitely didn't dig in and seemed to want to stick to her bottle of milk. Even so, watching her attempt to try the cake was still fun.

It's been a few days since my last post. I'm sure you already know I've been crazy busy. Just trying to make it through the week alive, with my sanity has been my goal throughout these last few weeks. Even when I get to the weekend it's tough to unwind because I'm always needing to do something or go somewhere. It's not necessarily that I don't want to do certain activities, but it makes for days that actually have to be planned out and not just going with the flow. For instance I had to work yesterday. Then immediately after work we went to Allysen's party. Then a few hours later out to eat with Sita and Alpa. As for today I wanted to wake up early enough (which calls for setting my alarm clock, even on my only day off) to make sure I could get a long run in, because come noon we have a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to attend for David and Dad's coworker who completely lost everything in a house fire just before Christmas. Then we have to prepare for the Super Bowl. Once again, it's not like I don't want to do these things, it just makes it tough to relax and take a deep breath. And ya'll know that every spare moment I have between those activities I sit my butt down in front of the computer to jot a line or two for school work. Yeah, it's getting old, but I'm getting there.

I guess I better fill you in my schoolwork/professor situation deal that I told you about in the last post. After multiple emails throughout the week I have found that the video doesn't have to be completed all in one sitting and I can use notes. Whew! I'm not allowed to read my notes word for word, but I know that those notes are going to be my savior. Thankfully I had already started an outline for studying reasons. As of now I'm tweaking it here and there and I should be ready to videotape soon. For the most part the videotaping is easy once I get a crew together to help (mom and David) and figure out a specific day. It's more of a hassle transferring and getting everything in orde. I have a Hi-8 camcorder which means I have to transfer it to the computer, then edit it, and finally make it into a DVD. Thankfully we have the Pinnacle setup. If we didn't have that I'm not sure what I'd do....the funny thing is I didn't get it for school, I got it to transfer family videos, etc. I never knew I'd need it for school. One of those small, important details that they don't tell you when you sign up for the program.

With all of the school crap and crappy weather this week the last time I ran was Tuesday. I'm kind of nervous for my run today, but after looking outside the roads/sidewalks look the safest they've been all week. We've been dealing with hardcore winds and freezing rain-type of stuff all week....making for a nice sheet of ice. I got up awhile ago, got some oatmeal in my belly, and now it's time to get all geared up. Wish me luck.