Happy Birthday Char!

What's better than having a birthday party when you are turning ten? Having two parties! We always have a family party for the grand kids, and then they have a separate party with their friends. Even though I made both cakes for the parties, I made sure I was long gone by the time the guest arrived at the kid party. The following pictures are of the family party with a special mystery guest who came to sing "Happy Birthday" to Charley.


After a special dinner and cake, the best part comes when Charley gets to open her presents. She is holding up an architecture drawing kit and money--always the right size and color!

A giftcard to Target. Just what she had been asking for so she can get the exact Littlest Pet Shop toy she wants (and needs)!

And here is our special mystery guest. He had to come incognito so he wouldn't get a barrage of paparazzi--so annoying!

After a costume change, here he is singing his heart out for Char.



Do any of you remember a thousand years ago, the song Inagaddadavida by Iron Butterfly? That's kind of what it sounded like, only to the tune of "Happy Birthday". The words went something like this: Uh,huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, Charlotte, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh, huh!

The crowd went wild, and rushed on the stage and kissed him. What is a star supposed to do? If you are as gracious as Loudon, you just give them a kiss back!

I've Got The Cedar Fever Blues

If I were as talented as Annie at the Transplantable Rose, http://annieinaustin.blogspot.com/ I would write a song about it. I can hear it in my head, but it looses something between there and paper...and I couldn't hear it if I played it anyway. That's one of the symptoms I get when I get Cedar Fever--my hearing goes. My ears plug up, and quite often I will have spells of dizziness and nausea along with the red itchy eyes and nose. It starts a couple of weeks before Christmas, but doesn't get too bad until mid January to mid February. If I weren't taking massive amounts of Pharmaceuticals, I couldn't get out of bed. I have tried Butter Burr and Stinging Nettles and other natural remedies that escape me at the moment, but nothing helps. The only thing that seems to make it manageable are Zyrtec and Singulair. It's not constantly bad. I will have good days with lots of energy and I feel like I can tackle the world, but they are almost always followed by attacks of sneezing, stopped up nose, and red swollen eyes and nose that looks like I have been crying all day. Very attractive! Then there are the body and head aches and chills that make you think you are coming down with the flu--but no! The thermometer says no fever--lug yourself out of bed and off to work with you once again.

The weird thing about Cedar Fever--it doesn't come from Cedar Trees. The correct name is Juniperus ashei. I have no idea why it's not called Juniper Fever. Except maybe it sounds better. Cedar fever-- Juniper Fever. Sounds better I guess. All I know, it stinks and I'm not talkin about the smell!