My 42nd Birthday!

Yay-- I've made it to 42!   Yesterday was my birthday.

Don't just count your years, make your years count.   -Ernest Meyers

 

To celebrate, my family and I went bowling and they had a special surprise for me; Grace and her boyfriend, Joe, were coming for a visit.  Grace, my oldest daughter, lives in Valparaiso, so I don't get to see her often.  

Usually, my birthdays are rather low key, and since I'm hooked on fishing, I tend to spend the day out on the water.  So, in order to keep me home for Gracie's arrival, Glenn told me of the surprise, with the condition that I act surprised.  

Have you ever accidentally called one of your children the name of another child?  Jean and I are having a conversation about coincidentally wearing stripes, and by mistake, I mention Grace instead of Gladys.  Immediately, I correct my slip of the tongue.  My giggle-box husband overhears all this and cannot contain himself.  Thus, the secret spilled to Jean as well.

 

 

Grace and Joe arrived early in the afternoon.  We all gave them our super surprised look, (as if someone just dropped handfuls of snakes on our laps). 

Earlier in the day, I had a quiet morning and tied some beaded bugs.  

I made some beaded blood worms too. 

I like the way the light shines through these, so I tried something new.  Instead of tying these beads on the hook, I just used a dab of superglue to hold em on.  Looking forward to testing out how they hold up.

I put together a bunch of beaded flying ants too.  These are fun to tie and I'm making similar ones out of dubbing for the Tie-a-thon next month (part of Healing Waters mission to collect flies for cancer victims).



 Here is a completed flying ant:
   
I got all kinds of wild and tied up white flying ants too.  For the dubbing/hackle section, I used a feather cluster and achieved similar results. 
 

Oh, Guess What?! The day before yesterday, we got a new tub liner installed. 

Gary and Pat from Midwest Luxury Baths did all the work.  I asked them if they wanted to be on my blog and they said SURE!  You see, this way they can let the owner know they got em some free advertising and then ask for a raise! :)  You guys are welcome, btw.

The other highlight of the past two days, is I got my truck washed!  The kids are thrilled by the car-wash.

Sophie doesn't think much of it.

 Dustball is 16 years old; that's just a baby compared to 42.

Sophie is 5 years old.  She is definitely still a baby.

Age doesn't bother me in the least.  It is what it is, ya know.  I mean, I like being 42.  I like being a mom, wife, daughter, business partner, fishing buddy, teammate, running partner, and whoever I am to anybody.  Life is good, I intend to feel that way if I turn, 52, 65, 78, and 105 too.  Be humbly proud of those years.  

Actually, I'm rather impressed with myself that I lived dangerously through the years.  The days of racing through the woods on a dirt-bike and seeing how fast we could make poor Bunny, our horse, run while holding on to her back were just a few examples.  I hardly ever wore a helmet, (unless someone made me wear it), even when I knew I was about to try something that would most likely kill me.  :)  Sure, I have few teeth that are missing and a few that are cemented in-- who doesn't!

Us Girls:

Have a Great Day!