Monday, January 07, 2008

One more time around the sun -- and the gift can be yours!

In just two more days, the calendar will have turned over another year for me. As most folks report, the older you get the faster the years seem to roll by. I'm certainly no exception! My head still thinks I'm 18, but my body knows the truth and reminds me now and then with stiff joints, grey roots (thankfully they're usually hidden by color artfully applied by my hairdresser), and general tiredness. Oh, well. If that's the price of a dance around here, I'll gladly pay it!

At any rate, I certainly have a lot of things to be thankful for and a lot of stuff in my house, too -- even after decluttering -- so I figure maybe I ought to give a gift away in honor of my birthday. And I'm in sort of a nostalgic mood, so leave me a comment about the best birthday you've ever had.

Everyone who leaves a comment will be put into the magic random number generator and on Friday I'll pick one to receive this lovely skein of sock yarn from a local indepent dyer, Sharon of Stitch Jones. It's 495 yards of gorgeous 75% merino/25% nylon superwash yarn in a color she calls Kansai Colors - Maiko. Lots of pink/orange/green/purple shades in this skein and I'm certain that anything made from it would be gorgeous. (BTW, Sharon has lots of other beautiful stuff in her Etsy shop -- check it out!)

But wait! You can get more chances to win! Small gifts can sometimes be the very best gifts and Heifer International knows how to take small gifts and turn them into big, positive changes in the lives of many people. For just a $10 donation, you can buy a share of a sheep that can bring "shear" joy to a family in need! Not a bad deal and a great way to contribute to the wonderful circle that is sheep to fleece to yarn to socks/sweaters and so on.

If you donate any amount to Heifer International, drop me an email at maxfunATcomcastDOTnet and let me know (you don't have to tell me how much, just that you did donate -- you're knitters, I trust you). I'll add another entry to the contest for you.

That's all. Just leave a comment to get one entry to the drawing. Donations are more than welcome and will get you an additional entry, but they're not required to win.

For now, I'm creaking my way to the shower, then to the shop to teach my first ever crochet class. Wish me luck!

52 comments:

KnitaSaur said...

My dad made me a Survivor party for on of my birthdays. Before the Survivor board game came out. So, he made all the challenges and prizes and rules up. It took hours and hours and eventually it was me and one of my best friends in the final two! I won, but I think it was just 'cause everyone would feel guilty if I didn't :P

Alwen said...

The best birthday I can remember was the year I turned 40.

My husband was gone for his National Guard drill all weekend. My parents came down and my dad helped me drain & haul the electric water heater outside. We spent much of a chilly fall day outdoors sluicing cold water from the garden hose through the water heater to wash out about six inches of lime chips out of the bottom. Then we lugged it back in and put in new heating elements.

At the end of the day my husband got home, my parents went home, and I got a precious 30 or 40 minutes at the local art gallery walk that I'd been wanting to visit all day.

I guess "best" changes a little when you turn 40!

Danielle said...

Happy, happy birthday!

Angelika said...

I never win anything, but I'll tell you about my best birthday, or let's say gift, anyway. That was 10 years ago, when my oldest son was born on my birthday. Boy, how many people can say they were legally high on drugs on their birthday? He is one of those gifts you can't return or get a refund for. Trust me, I've tried (just kidding, he's a great kid).

z's momma said...

Happy Birthday! Best Birthday? they were all good. ;-)

Brena said...

My favorite birthday memory was my 16th birthday. My mother, aunts, and grandmother took me to Key West to go snorkling.

Cheryl, the jungian Knitter said...

Happy Birthday! And remember we're not getting older, we're getting better!

wenat said...

My 40th birthday was low-key because I had a one-year-old who was totally attached to me. But when my girlfriend turns 40, we're planning a girls weekend in Vegas, and I'm going to have my belated 40th birthday bash then!

Chrispy said...

My favorite birthday has to be my 25th. All my friends had been turning 25 for the last few years and kept moaning about how old they were and that it couldn't be possible that they were 25. I thought they were all crazy because 25 is still young and at the time I was just finishing my art degree. How could I be old?

So I jokingly suggested to all my buddies that I should have an over the hill party since it was such a huge age achievement. Being me I forgot about it completely until everyone showed up at the restaurant wearing all black and handing me over the hill cards and gifts. It was awesome.

I also spend most of that birthday talking on the phone to a guy that I had a date with on the next day. This lovely man turned into churchable my one and only.

Now how could 25 be old when I just met the man that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Now I can grow old with him.

FiberQat said...

The most memorable birthday party was one I held for my 39th. I asked people to bring 39 of something and I would put them together into a collage celebrating my 39th birthday. I got cocktail mermaids, wooden nickels, socks, bottle caps, and memories from a good college buddy who came up with them on pieces of paper. I was a real geek then so it was a great laugh to hear about them all over again.

zarafa said...

my best birthday was my 26th during which i discovered i was not, in fact, too old to wake up nekkid in a bathtub wondering what on earth happened. :)

Anonymous said...

Best memory: My 18th birthday, my freshman year of college. My parents had a cake delivered to my dorm room, and my roommate and some friends threw a "surprise" party for me. Although, when she went to help prepare for it my roommate said, "I'm going down to Heather's room right now. You shouldn't go down there at all for the next little while." Which totally gave it away, but made me feel very special.

OhAmyKP said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
teabird said...

Happy birthday!
My favorite birthday was my 21st - I camped with a friend, and spent the evening walking around a lovely lake and singing songs by James Taylor...

teabird / ravelry

katrynka said...

My best birthday was 8 years ago this May. I was dating a guy... and he took me out to dinner and told me he loved me (for the first time) and we got married 2.5 years later!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Bobbie Wallace said...

My best birthday? The next one, of course! Like you, I still think I'm 18, but I stopped thinking I was ten feet tall and bulletproof, so I guess that's a sign of aging! LOL! Anyway, here's to you, babe! Hope there's a whole lot more birthdays to come!

MorganMagic said...

on my 30th birthday, my boyfriend organised a surprise party at our place - he took me out walking, in my wheelchair since I was very bad at that time, and when we came home, my whole family was there and they had the place decorated and there were gifts and food and...
one to never forget, 'cause my birthdays have never been fun, being ill half of my life...

MorganMagic said...

and I wish you the best birthday ever! mine is coming up at the end of the month too...

OhAmyKP said...

My favorite bday was when I was when i turned 6 or 7yrs and I got a bike. it was pink with, white handle bars and a white basket in the front. I think its the best birthday because I got way more than I was expecting so I was soo happy and i learned how to ride a bike

K8 said...

The best birthday I had was actually the last one I had - I organized a wine tasting trip for a big group and we all managed to coordinate and have a good time. That and a pizza dinner with a few friends afterwards made for a great day!

Casey said...

My best birthday was 7 or 8 years ago when I lived near Lake tahoe. My then fiance and went cross country skiing and laughed a lot because we didn't know what we were doing. Then we had a lovely lunch at an old, rustic lodge, sitting by a huge fireplace and watched the snow pile up outside. It was perfect.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday! :)

My best, BEST, most favorite birthday memory EVER is from my 20th birthday. My boyfriend came back early from school (had rearranged his finals and everything to be back) to surprise me for my birthday. As if THAT wasn't enough, he'd baked me a cheesecake for my birthday, we were at a restaraunt and had them serve it to me. When it came out, it had a little box on top of it.

You guessed it, he proposed to me in front of the whole restaraunt!! That was a little over 5 years ago, and he's the best husband I could ask for :) Still the best birthday EVER :)

Umme Yusuf said...

happy birthday! We do not celbrate birthdays as such but it is nice to enjoy the day with my fanily and know that we love and care for one another.

Kathy said...

I think my best birthday ever was when I turned 30. I had gotten married the year before right after my birthday, was very much in love, and was expecting our first child. The whole world seemed to be full of wonder and joy that day. Now, as I approach 40, I find that that day was the start of a very good decade :-)

Kimothy Jones said...

Happy birthday!!! My favorite birthday was 9-9-99! I had this huge party with the theme of 9 and it was a blast. My best birthday memories though of every year is my cake. My mom makes a special cake for each kid and she's a cake decorator. Every year they have had meaning behind them and are filled with love...and sugar! XD Hope you have a great day!

Kim C.

Anonymous said...

The best birthday I ever had (so far) was my 37th. I'm very close with my sister and was devastated when she moved away from Portland to Chicago four years earlier. We missed each other so much and would try to see each other at least once a year. Birthdays were especially hard because we had always spent them together and tried to make them special for each other. Mine was coming up, and I had a dream that she was here with me. In the dream, it was just an ordinary day, and we were talking about our plans. She said, "So, what do you want to do today?" When I woke up from the dream, it made me miss her all the more. I called her and told her about the dream, and she said she was so sorry that she couldn't be with me on my birthday.

On the day of my birthday, a beautiful flower arrangement showed up at my door, and I was touched to see that it was from my sister. My husband took me out for a movie, and when we got home, there were several cars in our driveway. I came through the door and my friends were there, and my mom was there, all singing happy birthday to me. It was a nice surprise. Then I rounded the corner in my kitchen, and my sister was there! I was so happy and surprised that I fainted. When I came to, my sister said to me, "So, what are we going to do today?" My husband has all this on tape, and "the faint" is one of my family's favorite things to play over and over again to laugh to.

It was such a good day.

I'm glad to see you calling attention to Heifer International. It's such a great cause and one that I've supported for the past couple of years.

Happy Happy Birthday! I'm glad to have met you this year.

Happily Knit said...

My favorite birthday memory is of my 3 year old niece singing "This is your birthday sonnnnng it isn't very long!" to me on my birthday. So cute!

happy birthday to you!

Bianca said...

Congrats on your upcoming birthday! I hope it will be a sunny and festive one.

Shea said...

Happy Birthday!

I think one of my favorite birthdays was spent traveling by myself to New Orleans. This was years ago, pre-Katrina and pre-marriage and kids. Airtran was running a first anniversary special that offered anyone who had the same birthday as the airlines a free one day round trip ticket to anywhere in the US. I jumped at the chance and next thing you know was wandering the French quarter and Jackson square and finding all the little hidden boutiques there. By 9pm I was back home again in Atlanta. It was a lovely birthday.

Deeners said...

Happy Birthday!

My favorite birthday was my 18th. I was actually dropped off for my first day at college on that day. August 16th. It was great because it was a completely new part of my life beginning. My parents also surprised me with a car. We had driven two cars there (which I thought was a bit weird considering my stuff didn't fill them both up). When my parents went to leave, my dad tossed me the keys. It was a crappy little 87 Mustang POS. But it was a car. I also remember my dad hugging me goodbye and telling me how proud he was of me.

Sabrina's Creations said...

Happy birthday knit for joy!!
My name is Sabrina and I love your blog. My best Birthday was when I was turning 5 years old, because I remember everything about that day! I remember my dad giving me a cabagge doll ( with a red dress and brown hair, I still have it!) cooking pots game, it was full of butterflies, and games to play with my brother. I was so so happy that day. I told him about this and he says that he remembers it, and that I asked for all those toys. I think that I always remember that birthday like the best ever because I all the happiness and love that I felt that day.

Happy Birthday again
Sabrina

M said...

My best birthday so far was my 40th. I was on the lovely island of Kauai with my equally lovely husband, two year old daughter and 5 month old son. Really, I just felt like "life doesn't get any better than this!". Which was a good thing because the next two years brought some challenges that took a lot of strength to get through. That birthday was a good "calm before the storm".

Liz said...

Well, happy birthday! And you're only ever as old as you feel you are.

My best birthday party ever was my 19th which I think was the last time my friends were all in the same place and could actually celebrate with me together. We went to a children's museum played with all the little kids. It was awesome.

westie-mom said...

I guess I would have to say my favorite birthday is the one I am having now as I am still alive to enjoy it. I will be 48 on the 11th and I still look forward to them and not shy about telling my age. I sure don't feel I act 48 but sometimes I feel it.

andrea said...

Happy birthday! What a nice way to celebrate a birthday - by sharing the love and giving something away. I'm definitely going to do something like that on my next birthday!

My birthday memory...
I think my best birthday was my most recent birthday. My husband had listened to me mention several times over the course of our relationship that nobody had ever thrown a surprise party for me... so he surprised me. I really didn't expect it. The best thing was that it wasn't an overdone bash. Just a small group of friends. It was a very relaxing day and it made me very happy!

Dj said...

First, happy birthday!

Second, the best birthday I ever had was when my MIL purchased tickets to Disneyland for me. It was the first time I had ever been and had a great time with my family to boot.

Anonymous said...

My best birthday ever was the year my husband *then boyfriend* suprised me with tickets to Stars on Ice, I'd always wanted to see it, skated thru school and that but never got to go see them live. Now this was a few days after i had just gotten all 4 wisdom teeth taken out, I looked like a chipmunk and had bruises all over my jaw line but I didn't care, I was just in aww to be there.

Unknown said...

It was my 18th birthday, and I was a asenior in high school. My boyfriend personally delivered a dozen red roses to my homeroom class. I got called to the office later, and had 18 more long-stemmed red roses in a vase from my parents. My best friend had to ride home with me to hold them all so they wouldn't spill in my car, which by the way had been completely filled with balloons. I had to kick some out into the parking lot to even get in! It was all very memorable...

Happy Birthday to you!

monica said...

My best birthday? Probably all of them when I was really little. My birthday is right before Christmas, so I've never had a real party with bunches of friends. My dad would always make an elaborate scavenger hunt for me and my sister. We'd spend an hour trying to find my present, and even if it was just a Barbie in mom's underwear drawer, it was always so much fun.

Happy birthday to you!

Jen C said...

One of my favorite birthdays was my 22nd. At the time I was a member of a competitive performing arts group and my b-day fell on the weekend of our world championships. I got to do what I love, hang out with good people, and go the beach during our down time in San Diego. I also found a McDonald's there that still sold the old fried apple pies (and this was in '04)!

Turtle said...

Happy Birthday to you! Birthdays are kind of low key in our house, especially for mom. I do not have a specific birthday in mind..no one would let my go skydiving for my 30th. But i do have a couple of incidents...hubby called me 2 years back on my 35th and was on his way home early from work, i was getting ready to go in just for a couple of mid morning hours. He asked me to wait for him though so he could say hi, and he suprised me with a beautiful circle/diamond pendant. I so did not expect anything at all, so it was a big suprise. Another would be when my mom drove myself and a friend to VT (from NH) to see a favorite music concert on my 16th. Was special. My theory...if i do not have to cook dinner on my birthday, i am happy! Happy day to you, enjoy your knitting with the girls tonight!

Heddy said...

Happy Birthday ... I hope it was happy and filled with yummy cake!

The yarn you are giving away is beautiful! *fingers crossed* My favorite birthday? Hmmm ... I don't really have a favorite one, but I do have a "Most Memorable" - I was turning 6 , and having a birthday party (the sort you have when you are 6 and invote the entire class). We were let out of school early that day (at noon instead of 3)because of a threat of a hurricane ... all the kids were supposed to come to my house after school on the bus, and decided to come at noon since we were out early. I arrived at home, with the entire class behind me, went to the front door to be met by my mom, frantically trying to get ready for a party for 15 6 year olds. She told us to play ouside ... inth e storm (I don't think she realized it was anything more than a bit of wind). One kids lunchpail blew down the roa ... really fast, and we couldn't catch it. When the fence in the back yarnd unrooted, picket by picket, we were finally allowed in. Shortly after, the power went out (it was Feb. 2nd, 1973 and a HUGE hurricane for Nova Scotia ... one that the old folks still talk about to this day - the Groundhog day hurrican of '73. We tease my mom about it every year on my birthday!

ikkinlala said...

My best "birthday" was actually my unbirthday. When I was younger, my grandparents used to visit us every year at around the time of my brother's birthday - and about six months away from mine. I don't remember saying anything about it, but I guess they could tell that I was a bit jealous because one year (when I was eight, maybe? I don't remember exactly) they surprised me with an unbirthday party, complete with presents and cake. I think my grandma even remembered to put eight and a half candles on the cake.

Esther said...

Happy Birthday

My best birthday was also one of the saddest.

Just before my tenth birthday I met my Dad for the first time. My mother took me out of school we all spent every day visiting places and enjoying one another's company.
For my birthday my Dad gave me a pendant, the first birthday present he had ever given me. I still wear it.

It was also very sad because I knew he would be returning home in a few days and it would be several months before I could see him again.

cthulhulovesme said...

My birthday is generally the low point of my year, every year. I do remember one time when I was young where my parents took me to the aquarium, which remains one of my favorite places to be, though. It's hard to be in a bad mood when you're surrounded by such amazing creatures. (PS, for a little explanation of why I generally dislike the day of my birth-- I was born on Valentine's.)

Suna Kendall said...

Mine are usually pretty low key, but one year, when my kids were small and I was living in Illinois, my sister gave me a birthday tea party and all my women friends from all the different things I did showed up. I didn't realize I had so many. They all gave me small, cute things (including yarn), and we ate dainty food and got to know each other. I especially liked that people made new friends there.

maxine said...

When I turned 16 (that was September 1980), my family owned a campground in upstate NY. My best friend colleen had asked my folks if it was okay for my gang of friends to come hang out in the game room after school.

I thought it was odd that when I got home, there was already a fire going in the game room as getting one started was usually one of my chores.

About 30 minutes after I got home, Colleen and the core group of girls showed up. My dad ordered pizza. A lot of pizza for 5 girls.

Just as the pizza arrived, so did about 20 other friends. A most excellent time was had by all with records continually spinning and pinball blinging.

What made it extra special was everyone letting me win each time I was shooting pool as I totally sucked at that time.

Anonymous said...

Hope you had a happy birthday! I found your blog off Ravelry.

I think my favourite birthday memory is my teddy bear dress. We had a party in the front yard with bubbles and toys and stuff... I remember I got to wear my favourite dress - it was kinda pinkybrown and had teddy bears on it. I love the pictures - all my friends, my cousins, and I look so ittybitty!

txknitter said...

My favorite birthday was 38. My husband planned a surprise party for me. The only reason it wasn't a surprise was a shopping list he accidently left on the couch one day. Otherwise, I had no idea. Of course, I acted surprised and he was so pleased with himself to have pulled off such a coup. It was such a thoughtful thing for him to do.

--Julia

Unknown said...

My absolute best birthday was the first birthday sleepover I had in sophomore year of high school. It was the catalyst that really drove the friendships that I had with my high school friends for the next three years, and we became like soulmates through singing choral music (Eric Whitacre is amazing), playing Cranium, watching Finding Nemo, talking until 5am about life... some incredibly fond memories are nested in that birthday.

Chris

Natalie said...

Happy Birthday!

Linda said...

Well, I missed your birthday, but I hope it was fantastic!