Friday, July 03, 2009

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday so I celebrated by spending the day doing exactly what I wanted to do! I guess this whole summer I've basically done just what I want to do so it has been a good month.




As always, I took a morning walk and yesterday Leiya and my niece joined me. I don't think either of them really want to go walking in the morning but they do it to keep me company. We took a harder jaunt than usual up to the hills over looking the city. Every year I come up to this point at least once because I love the scenery. If I could just get here a little bit earlier I'm sure I could catch a spectacular sunrise but I draw the line at walking the Southern California streets while it is still dark.

Marcy and I decided to cash in all the change that we found in Grandma's drawers during our cleaning. I'm surprised the bottom of the drawer didn't fall out! We could hardly lift the drawer from the dresser! Mother has just been dumping her loose change from her purse into the drawer for the last 10 years and the total was $404!!

Takumi turned up suddenly to take me on a birthday date! I am so surprised that my son remembers my birthday, comes to surprise me, and will take me to lunch! My son has become a man!



But I guess he still is a kid at heart because he wanted a Blizzard (you know, those thick ice cream things that can be turned upside down and they still won't drip) after lunch.

And in the afternoon I did some sewing. Yes, Brenda Lou, you did spot a sewing machine right off my mother's kitchen. Marcy picked out some fabric and a pattern for me to make her a table runner so I sewed that up last week and did some random machine quilting on it. My mother found this a fascinating process and spent over an hour peering at the sewing machine. She also found it absolutely hilarious that I concentrate so hard that I stick my tongue out while I quilt. Hey, I didn't know that! Thanks for the information Mom. I'm glad I added some humor to your day! (Unfortunately I stitched in a big tuck in the backing but Marcy promises not to show the back to any experienced quilters.)

And Kiana also picked out some fabric and sewed a table runner ALL BY HERSELF!!! I think I've got a budding quilter!! She wanted four-leaf clovers quilted onto it so I am still in the middle of that project.

In the evening Marcy's family came over to help me celebrate and my family gave me a Willow Blessings figure, t-shirts and gift cards to Barnes and Noble, Jamba Juice and JOANN'S!! Let's see how much sewing I can get in this last week!

And I guess my birthday gift to myself was another blog book. I am desperately behind on this endeavor (this is still the latter 6 months of 2007!) but I am very satisfied with the Blurb book making website and I guess I'll continue in this vein. This is why a few days ago I was philosophically pondering (while I went through all my mother's stuff) why we humans feel the need to record our history for posterity. Ah well.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved the picture with the three generations.

Maya Madhavan said...

Looks like you had a lovely day yesterday. Belated birthday greetings and here's wishing you a wonderful year ahead!
The quilting looks great!
Are you enjoying the warm weather? I am out in Livermore and it has been *hot* these past days.

Chookyblue...... said...

Happy birthday......

quiltmom said...

Happy Birthday Tanya,
I am glad that you were able to enjoy some celebratory time with your son and other family members.
You have accomplished so much while you have been with your mom. That must be very satisfying.
I hope you continue to have fun time with you and yours- Enjoy your shopping expedition with your gift cards.
Warmest regards,
Anna

nonchi said...

Happy Birthday.
Among whole family, it was a birthday of one cup of happiness.
okutomi

Janet C said...

Glad to know you had a wonderful day with your family! Happy belated birthday greetings!

Anonymous said...

Taniwa, Happy Belated Birthday. Just in case you are unaware, Joann's has a July 4 sale this weekend and it started today till Sunday. You can also get extra 10% coupon off from the catalog off anything even sale items. So load up your suitcases.

Amanda said...

Happy Birthday Tanya, what a lovely day you had. Sons are great at surprising you sometimes aren't they? I'm so glad you turn your blogs into books, they're so well written it would be a real shame for them not to be available for your descendants to read.

Elaine Adair said...

A lovely post today - I am wishing YOU a Happy Birthday, for a few days more. I LOVE your photo with the dark tree bordering the lovely sky! You are a good daughter, working so diligently to ease your Mom's life.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Happy birthday this year and many, many more!

Sandy said...

Happy Birthday- what a special day you had, what fun with your family. I plan to see my Mom this weekend - 3 1/2 hours by car and all of her 6 kids will be there in Iowa with her. I just finished a 30 min apron from a tea towel and 1/2 yeard of fabric for a neice doing a 4-H demonstration on smoothies. Quick and easy project with great rewards. Take care

Karen said...

Happy Birthday! Such a nice way to spend the day.

Shasta said...

Happy birthday Tanya! It sounds like it was a wonderful day.

Quilter Kathy said...

Great to hear you had some fun in between all your hard work with cleaning. Happy Birthday!
Thanks for the reminder to get working on my blog book! Yours looks great!

Quilter Kathy said...

Great to hear you had some fun in between all your hard work with cleaning. Happy Birthday!
Thanks for the reminder to get working on my blog book! Yours looks great!

Anonymous said...

お誕生日おめでとう!今年もいい年になると良いねぇ><w50代を楽しんでちょうだい!!

meggie said...

Belated Happy Birthday!

Mary said...

Happy belated birthday -- so glad you were able to spend it with your son!