Birthday Eve

The countdown is almost over - tomorrow is my birthday!  So what am I doing today to get ready?  Housework, of course :P.

I got up nice and early today because I knew my kids were meeting their dad for some more Christmas shopping.  My oldest son had to work, which probably is best since his dad and siblings were shopping for him (I think he is going to be pleasantly surprised).  I got breakfast ready for us and was enjoying Eggo waffles and bacon, when I got an alert that Shelbey had posted a new video.  As soon as I was done eating I went on youtube to watch it.  She does great makeup tutorials which I love watching, but today it was about beauty gifts for Christmas.  She had us laughing quite a bit!  I really do enjoy her videos.

After that it was time for the kids to get ready and me to start cleaning.  I had to beat a pair of my youngest son's pants; he went to get something out of his closet last night and says he saw a cockroach on his sweatpants.  That boy is terrified of cockroaches.  He didn't want to go anywhere today because he didn't want to have to think about what was in his pants :P.  He actually wanted me to take all his clothes out of the closet and wash them because the thought of a bug on his pants grossed him out so bad!  Yeah boy, that ain't happening.  So I beat the pants till he was convinced there was nothing in them, then inspected them for half an hour before putting them on.  It was quite a sight.

Because of our sweet American bulldog Molly shedding so much, I have to vacuum or sweep the floors everyday.  This week I'd swept more than vacuumed, and yesterday I didn't clean the floors at all, so this morning my floors were furry :P.  Once the kids were all gone I got to work vacuuming and mopping up her industrial strength drool.  It was on the sliding glass doors as well, and I had to scrub it to get it off.  I'm not even sure it's completely clean, but I was getting frustrated.  Every time I looked at the glass I saw another smudge of drool.  Ugh!  I love you Molly but can't you keep your saliva inside your mouth?!  And quit all the shedding, girl.  I could make a second dog with all the fur I picked up today!  So I was vacuuming the family room, and the vacuum cleaner got stuck between the two recliners.  I pulled on it to get it loose and something went wrong.  The vacuum cleaner isn't working.  Well, technically it's working, it just isn't vacuuming from the bottom portion, just from the attachment.  Which is a problem.  I'll probably have to turn the thing upside down and figure out what I did to it, or get it repaired.  Dyson vacuum cleaners don't come cheap, so replacing it isn't an option.  I'm gonna have to get it fixed.  Add that to my to do list.

Since all the kids were gone and it was just me, there was no reason to make a big meal for lunch.  I cooked up some Totino's pizza rolls and munched on those.  I also had a butter pecan ice cream bar; it's not as cold out as it's been this week so I could tolerate some ice cream.  The high today was 75 degrees.  It was breezy the whole day so I was able to keep the windows open.  The humidity was 50% which for us is pretty low.  It made the weather very pleasant and enjoyable.

It's been 5 days and my Ulta order has not shipped.  This is out of the ordinary for them, but I imagine it's because of the holiday rush.  I went ahead and emailed them anyway, just to keep them on the alert.  Wonder how long before I get an answer?

At 3:00 I went to take a shower and get ready for tonight's concert.  Last night the Christmas concert at our old church was very contemporary; tonight's concert at our church would be more traditional, with the church and school choirs coming together for a reading and singing.  This concert is a dressy event, with most folks dressed in red dresses, blouses and shirts.  I love that type of tradition, so I pulled out a long sleeved red blouse I'd gotten a couple years ago at Kohl's.  I especially like the ruching around the waist that makes me look thinner ;-).  I paired that with a black skirt with a dark pink pinstripe.  What I love about this skirt, is how the pinstripe mimics the color of the top.  With a pink top the pinstripe looks pink, with a fuschia, plum, magenta, or burgundy top, that's what the pinstripe will reflect.  With my red blouse the pinstripe looked like a light red and matched beautifully.  I had plenty of time to do my hair and makeup, get dressed and be at the church with 10 minutes to spare.  The concert started off well, and we were singing along with some of the old classics.  As Silent Night started to play, I noticed a girl in the back who was moving around, something you aren't supposed to do when you're singing in a choir.  I also saw the girls around her kind of pulling her.  I couldn't understand what was going on till the girl looked up.  She looked kind of spaced out.  I suddenly realized what was happening - she was fainting.  She went down, got back up and continued singing but went down again.  Several people went to help her up but she was in and out of consciousness.  The curtain went down, and we were left to wonder if the girl was alright.  Within a few minutes our worship pastor came out and said the young girl had been overcome apparently by the heat and lights and had passed out.  She was awake and alert but an ambulance had been called to make sure she was okay.  Thankfully the ambulance got there right away and it appears it's nothing serious.  The concert continued after 15 minutes, but it was kind of awkward after that.  Our pastor got up and spoke about the Christmas story, and about 5 people raised their hands in response to the invitation to receive the gift of salvation, the greatest gift of Christmas.  We prayed for the young girl before leaving the church.  Despite the hiccup, the concert was lovely and it was a sweet time of fellowship.

Once I got home it was time to get out of my outfit and exfoliate.  I do my facial exfoliation once a week because I have sensitive skin, and I've chosen Saturday nights so Sunday morning my skin will look radiant for church.  As I cleansed my face my daughter talked about her birthday party next Friday.  Both my daughter A and my son E were born on December 27, 10 years apart.  E will be turning 15, and A will be 25 years old.  She has decided to have a winter wonderland party, with a hot chocolate bar and desserts such as cookies and cupcakes.  That will be the main focus of the party as opposed to a big meal.  We'll have party games which is something we love, and Christmas music because it is Christmas time after all.  She has invited about 25 people so it'll be a packed house.  She's really looking forward to it.  I've got a lot of scheduling to do to make sure everything goes smoothly.  That's my type A personality working overtime.

It's almost 11:00, and the bed is calling out to me.  You know what?  I haven't got anything planned for my birthday.  Unlike my daughter, I'm choosing to play it by ear.  It's my attempt at being spontaneous, which means letting go control :-).  I'll be posting about my special day tomorrow.  Come on back for a visit, won't ya?