The long weekend

First of all, we're greeting my sister Kim a happy 22nd birthday! We hope you continue to grow with the values enriching us this season of Easter. Celebrations may be postponed until the proper time, but enjoy it anyway.

***

It's such a long weekend for us, having no work from today until Easter Monday. After attending the Stations of the Cross this morning, there was nothing much to do, specially with the cold rain suddenly trapping us in the house. It's the perfect weather for cuddling, which we certainly did as we browsed through every channel.

At midday, the chef called as many Sri Lankans he could possibly think of, as today marks the New Year in their calendar. It's interesting to note that they also have a specific time to take their first meal, which we almost interrupted when we called my sis-in-law.

The weather tomorrow will be colder, and not necessarily a more comfortable one than today's. But there's much to be ecstatic about with waking up tomorrow. My uni days friend, Mitch, had driven over from Sydney today with her sister's family, and we're meeting up after having last seen each other some 5 years ago. I have a school kid's hope for spring in me, and that's enough to keep me going.

Twenty-ten

"You're leaving quite early?"

"Yeah, it's market day," he said.

"And it's something else, too."

"What's that?"

I let out a short sigh, quickly caught by a what's-wrong-with-you smile. "It's my birthday."

"It's not. That's tomorrow."

Ok, why argue, right? He's clearly forgotten it. Oh well, well, well...

Alone later, I thought, it's somehow good to forget when you're turning a year. It's definitely not a younger year anyway. But on second and more dramatic thought, hey, I'm turning the 3-big-O this year!

I decided to put on a pout when we met again after work, and somehow it didn't turn right.Funny as it may seem, we ended up with a slight argument. A celebration wasn't anywhere near that hour because of the long weekend ahead, so we could very well afford that misunderstanding. Then today, my chef and I met with differences set aside. He also made up somehow, with a new timepiece for me. To tell the time? What irony. (Well, yeah, it was something like that. Hehehe.)

***

Apparently, it wasn't only my husband who forgot my birthday. It was past mid-day before anyone in the pharmacy remembered it was my day. It was really nothing to fuss about, but they think it should be. So today, Bev and company surprised me with a cake and some indigenous balloons.

what's left of it... one candle per decade

my "Smokefree" campaign balloons looking naughty

To Bev, Bob, and Tamara, thank you very much. Late as it may be, you still made my day.

Adopting too soon

No, I don't think we'll be adopting at this point yet, nor have we discussed the matter. It's too soon to tell anyway, but we're very much hoping we'll be raising our biological children. But here comes this kid who volunteers to be our adopted.

We hadn't come to know Matti until he introduced himself to the chef's bike. Yeah, the bike. He seemed to have been stalking the chef's bike, and then one day, approached to ask about it and professed his adoration for it. Equipped with the talk of a salesman, he offered prices to bits and parts of the bike, which of course, the chef had no intention of putting in the market. We were just shaking our heads in disbelief at the talent of this verbally diarrhoeal kid claiming to be 14, but the chef had (unfortunately) fallen trapped into the kid's accidental charm, especially when the BMX dirt track was introduced to him.

Tonight, after coming home late from their ride, we invited him to join us for dinner. He reckons we 'love' him to have him over for dinner, and insists on having us 'second' parents. The chef and I look at each other, trying to contain the kulit-ness of this kid.

To Matti, our home will always be open to you. Just please, next time, leave your shoes outside the door. :)

struggling with the chillis in the seafood pasta