So today is my birthday and I am forty-six – in case you wondered. I didn’t awake feeling old, but I did have a headache. It’s all the Ashtanga this week. Yoga is not usually an intensely warming activity but Ashtanga employs a breathing method designed to make a person sweat. Two days in a row and I am dry as toast.

By 8 AM this morning, I’d been bathed in birthday goodness though. Two cards. One from Rob that brought tears to my eyes because it was so sweet and romantic and just all around awesome. The other from Dee which she added her own sentiments too in her own words. She is much prouder of what she writes than what is in the card to begin with.

Before Dee caught her bus, she and Rob gave me my first gift – well, only gift as nothing else had arrived in the post yet (Rob shops online).

They led me into the living room where a huge box was draped with a blanket.

“I told Dee that this was something you really wanted,” Rob said.

Dee looked dubious and when I pulled off the blanket, I knew why. It was a mixer. Not a seven-year old’s idea of a great present.

But it sure was mine!

A Cuisinart 7 quart, stainless steel, nearly industrial strength mixer. It even has a cover to keep the flour from coating the rest of the kitchen, which is an issue when baking scones and for an asthmatic like myself.

“Now, I can entertain my wild ideas about selling baked goods at the farmer’s market next summer,” I said.

“You are becoming quite the bohemian,” Rob said.

Yeah, dreaming of a yoga studio and selling edibles made from scratch with an emphasis on nutrition that is sadly lacking in commercial bakeries these days. Pretty soon I’ll be wearing flip-flops year-round and studying Wicca and working on a degree in natural healing. Okay, I wouldn’t be wearing flip-flops. It’s the toe thing. I don’t know how people stand that thing between their toes. But I am a leap closer to my goal of shunning cultural norms as they are written in concrete and paved over by asphalt.

“You can have your office up above my studio and I will sell baked goods and tea in between classes,” I said.

“And I will be this fat bastard who has to roll around on his industrial strength chair because of all your baking,” he only half-joked because he has sweet teeth.

Oh, and today is my first payday at Care2. They’ve published 7 of my articles. Five this week. It’s not a lot of money. In fact, it’s barely any money at all after Uncle Sam snatches back his war surtax, but it’s still sweet.

And, my birthdays isn’t even over yet. Rob took off a half-day to have lunch and spend the afternoon together. We have a sitter for the evening. Birthday goodness abounds.

AND,

there is still Christmas coming round the corner as my husband understands the importance of keeping my birthday goodness separate from my Christmas goodness. Not a lot of people understand the significance of this to those of us born in the neighborhood of Jesus Christ. I spent years – decades – putting up with the combo presents from friends and even some family. Being born within three-ish weeks on either side means a life time of people rationalizing their cheapness at your expense.

But, today is sunshine and showers of love and a brand new – totally awesome beyond my ability to truly convey – mixer. And it’s only 9:22 AM.