Aamused in Austin, TX

She is the first to bemoan the lack of pictures we have of her as an infant. My dad was shooting mostly slide film back then and we don't even have a projector any more. She will say "I know I was a black-market baby."

And so, back in November, my Mother asked me if I had anything special planned to fete my sister's 40th birthday.

"Yes," I said, "I'm going to give her a bill of sale as a black-market baby."

There was a protracted silence on the other end and then "Oh you are horrible!" (pause)"You know your sister's going to love it.

After months of hemming and hawing, and waiting until nearly the very last minute (I climb on the plane Thursday morning) I have the document written. I'll print it out on parchment paper, give it ribbon and a wax seal. Clip a picture of her when she was but a few days old to it, and stick it in a shadow box frame.

An image to show you the old, Colonial style font I choose can be found here in my scrapbook.

The text of the document is below the LJ cut:
( Read more... )

hee hee....

I'm sooooooooooooo goin to hell for this one :)

I hardly know what to say in the face of all this.

I arrived to work this morning, after being in bed with a stomach bug yesterday. Flowers covered my desk as did boxes and bags, gifts from friends and relatives near and far. So my desk looks pretty, and smells really good too!

I called my father today to wish him Happy Birthday. Today he turns 70 and 2 years ago we were told we'd only have him around maybe 6-9 months. I feel very blessed to have him around for this mile stone birthday--in relatively good healthy and in terrific spirits. For as bad as my relationship with my mother has always been, my relationship with my father has always been very good.

The weather today could not be more perfect for my mood. I can't think of any recent year where our weather was so gorgeous in Mid-November. Usually by now we're being lashed by a series of winter storms. Cold, wet, blustery is the standard this time of year. Yesterday the high hit the mid 60s. It was sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky. Last night was positively balmy hardly scooping down into the 50s.

This morning there was no fog, no clouds, just a warmish light wind and sunshine. I came to work in a lightweight sweater and sun glasses. I didn't even bother with a coat. I haven't looked at the weather forecast...and I may yet regret the 'no coat' decision, but oh it felt nice today! I bumped into Lori and her seeing-eye dog this morning and she enthused about the weather too (so it's not just me) and said she went swimming on Sunday. If it continues this warm she plans to go swimming after work today, too.

I brought Miso soup and some crackers to work with me today...too soon to abuse my poor tummy just yet. HOWEVER, unlike yesterday, today I *MUST* have coffee...and so it has just finished burbling in the pot and I'm about to pour myself a steaming, fragrant mug of Joe with a shot of Moo.

Here's to mornings, to friends, to family (as weird as they get). This having a birthday 'week' thing--it's a really good idea! Trust me on this.