Take look and give your opinion and reinforce what a good choice they made by choosing my question for discussion. And by the way, I think women age better.

(Just go to any 20th high school reunion and see what I mean.)

I found out that if you use a whole glass jar of yeast from 2006 that it will make your emergency cake flour ground flax mix rise. To some extent. Of course the whole family was more regular than usual for the rest of the week thanks to the flax.

I used turkey sausage and had to make a parmesan mozarella cheddar mix as I was low on dairy too. It was a mess of a pie that any true blooded Italian would cry over. Luckily I am Irish so I didn’t waste any Kleenex as I’m am low on those too.

I ate the last of it today and went shopping to celebrate. I needed to get band aids for my son who sliced his finger in a blizzard making ice cream mixer. It slipped. And honest to God, he was making a Butterfinger one with extra finger.

God just may have as warped a sense of humor as I do.

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“if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Five pounds down and another 20 to go before I even feel human again, my next goal pants are tucked in the bottom drawer, their elastic inserts waiting to not be stretched to the ripping point. I have  a series of goal pants for each and every goal I have set that I have accumulated as I gained weight over the past 5 years. I like to plan ahead.

I survived the nieces visit this past weekend, but not the photos of me taken at that time. Rude wake up call sent and received. They were great but I have forgotten how hard it is to get  your beauty sleep with little kids around.

And now vacation is coming and I hate waiting to go swimming until the rest of the family has had enough beer and wine to cover my multitude of sins. And then there’s that pesky keeping their drinks refilled thing that I have to make sure to do so they don’t get a good look  at my condition in a state of sobriety. And they think I am just being a good hostess. (Can’t help think of Twinkees just now.)

And speaking of vacation, I had to buy a new Megastation floating island for the lake, but I went the cheaper route and got a Coleman thing that seats 6 and has 8 cup holders.  I also bought a floating cooler that holds … well, I think you get the picture. It’s all part of the plan.

So is eating four small 400 calorie meals a day. I downloaded this 400 calorie fix app to my iTouch. Pretty cool and if followed, works. Maybe someday my goal pants won’t have an elastic waist.

Not thinking of that just yet. One day at a time.

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“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” ~ Robert Brault

Note to Robert – I am looking back NOW and see big things.

The first, the move out and into a new apartment, was a lot of exercise – too many stairs and not enough boxes. I did learn how to deftly handle 15 hangers with clothes on them on each arm.

Later that day, I  cooked 300 hot dogs at the community yard sale, and left the next morning at 4 AM for Philly for a business trip.  I walked a bit more than usual so on the positive side,  I did burn some calories.

In retrospect, working the hot dog stand was probably the worst. We do this ONCE a year and most of us are not teenagers. Some people (customers) get pretty feisty over their hot dog if it’s not delivered ASAP and that is asking a lot when half of the people working with you have hearing aids in and the other half are required to figure out how much the bill is. I think that might be my last year at the old volunteer hot dog stand. I smelled hot dogs all that day and well into the evening.

After all of this, I am cooked.

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“May the dragon of life only roast your hot-dogs and never burn your buns!”

This weekend will be the mother of all good freebie visits. We are doing a wine tour. You visit all these places and they give you samples of wine in hopes that you buy some. I have all my lines down for maximum freebie capacity. Things like, “Can I have one more taste of that? My palate wasn’t quite clean” or “I am almost ready to purchase this but I need one more taste to make my decision.”

This procedure is most effective  when the person behind the tasting bar is very busy so that you can make a quick exit before any actual purchase. I wait for a bus of  red hat ladies on their weekend outing to arrive. Nothing like a group of menopausal women to provide adequate cover. When the kids were little, their crying and screaming worked pretty well, and a pre-teen hissy fit also did they trick, but they have grown up. Now they request payment for providing such diversions. At first I thought about paying them but realized that made me a free sample whore. I rather just spend my money on the bottle of wine at this point.

Anyway, this should be a happy weekend as we go from winery to winery and I am looking forward to it very much. I hope I last past the first two stops.

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“Of course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.” ~ Robert Towne

My husband made lasagne, which takes him the whole day. He does the same dinner for us every year. It was delicious. I was happy too that my daughter observed how funny it was that it takes him the whole day do make a dinner, something I do daily in about 30 minutes for less. Now, THAT observation is a birthday present.

I used to hang around and put my two cents in (he didn’t put any sauce on the top layer – none!) but that was a mistake. I noticed this after about 25 years. I decided to just shut my mouth and let him make dinner. If he made a mistake, it was his. So I don’t get tempted to intercede, I leave to get a mani-pedi combo.

My birthday gift to you other wives out there who might be like I was in my younger years is some advice. Offering unwanted supervision when your beloved is trying to take a load off, even though it is hard for him to do and easy for you, isn’t a good idea. A few mistakes make for a more relaxing dinner atmosphere. And heaven knows, he’s had to eat a few of mine from time to time. Chow.

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“Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.”  ~ Sophia Loren