Woo hoo! Sixteen inches of snow for my birthday!

This is the snow at 11:15 p.m. last night.  My
camera couldn’t capture how windy it was.

Outside our house this morning.

Some people think it’s a negative to be born two days after Christmas, but I’ve always found the 27th to be a very gentle way to come down from the highs of the 25th.  Everyone is nice to me because it’s my special day.  Today, I’m re-framing all sorts of ordinary tasks as “gifts to myself” and  feeling luxuriously self-indulgent.  To celebrate my birthday, I’d love it if you would give yourself a gift today as well!

Here’s what I’ve received or am getting today:

  1. A long, hot bath to begin the day.
  2. Watching the latest issue of The Closer in the middle of the morning.  I can’t get enough of Brenda.
  3. A clean office!  Instead of moaning that my work space is still a mess, I will have an oasis of calm and order by the time I go to bed tonight.
  4. Not eating anymore of the Lindt dark chocolate truffles from my stocking.  They’re wreaking havoc with my mood, so instead of framing it as denial, I’ve framed it as the gift of sanity.  However, since it is my birthday, and I found myself craving more chocolate truffles during The Closer, I decided to give them to myself after all.  Only four more left.
  5. Snipiness.  Yes, you read that right.  I unloaded all sorts of ungrateful thoughts on my sister this morning, and it felt great.  She just listened and commiserated.  What a great birthday gift.  Thanks, Deanna (even though you never read my blog–what’s up with that?)! 
  6. Finished medication.  December 25 was the last of 14 days of a medicine that is supposed to give me PMS symptoms.  At the beginning of the 14 days, I thought I would escape them, but by Christmas Eve, they were in full force.  Soon, all traces of the medicine and the last four Lindt truffles will be out of my system and I can be back on the road toward stability.  I may even give myself the gift of going to the gym tomorrow morning, even though it won’t be my birthday anymore.