So, the weekend. Ahh. Saturday, Mom took me out for a whirlwind shopping adventure at Canadian Tire, where we bought paint for the kitchen and new handles for the cabinets. It’s not looking too shabby in there. Still have miles to go with cleaning, filling and painting the cabinets, but it will all be done before New Year’s Day. The only bad thing about Saturday was that my “starting to get sick” feeling from Friday night blossomed into full-blown “icky snotty achy” by morning.

Sunday I had a lovely birthday, starting with waking up with JVL, (always a delight), who surprised me with a signed book by Charles deLint and a Master Replica of one of the cursed Aztec gold coins sought so viciously by the crew of the Black Pearl in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. Mum called to sing to me, then Justin cooked us breakfast, and we ate it while watching ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ (aka ‘The Weather Movie’), which was an incredibly apropos given the new ice age happening right outside my front door. I then realized it was almost 3pm and embarked upon an intensive cleaning crusade, Dan arrived early with ‘Northern Exposure, Season 2′ for me as a birthday gift (awesome), and then there was very little action until about 6:30pm when Christie and Amy showed up.

I did get lots of lovin’ from JVL’s family. Both his Mum and his aunt came by to wish me a happy birthday – Mum bearing a gardening bag and massive gardening hardcover, and aunt with homemade cookies. Paul called to send hugs, Livie and Alyssa called to say the inclement weather was keeping them at home, and John and Tina showed up as late, but very welcome arrivals. Onnie and Glenda made courageous efforts to be at the house, but Onnie looked tired and cold and had to drive home early with her friend Janet, and Glenda had just returned from vacation at 4am that morning and still showed up AND stayed late playing Cranium with the gang.

After everyone else left, a tipsy JVL and I showed John and Tina around the house and then they, too, drove home and we stayed up until 1am giggling and watching the MTV WildBoys marathon.

All in all, an excellent birthday! Thank you to everyone on LJ who posted me their good wishes yesterday; much appreciated!