Yep, that time of year again. My birthday was this past weekend and having just come off a week-plus of travel to the east coast and with the Beloved staring at the next two weeks mostly on the road for work, when she asked what I wanted to do for it, I replied that really all I wanted was a quiet weekend at home.
And to eat a lot.
Well, you can hang that “Mission Accomplished!” banner from The Aerie’s rafter. After a trip to Coronado dog beach early on Saturday, I was able to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing: reading, playing piano, making a few quality cocktails, catching up on some tv. Pretty nice.
Oh, and eating a lot.
The Beloved wanted to make the entire weekend a schmear of all my favorite foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A worthy goal for sure, but one in which we realized that the goal was bigger than our digestive systems, so we scaled it back to a couple of fantastic dinners: our first attempt at making a porterhouse for two (awesome!) and a roast-it-all-day-pork and carrot risotto (awesomely awesome!).
Of course, there was cake, which we acquired from a new (to us) local cake bakery that we have been very excited to discover. Maybe a little too excited.
HBTM!
Layers of yumminess
One of my presents was a new coffee mug for work in which the goal was to replace my snarky Charlie the Unicorn one with that of another cartoon character we discovered this year that maybe has a little better karma: Shaun The Sheep.
Shaun The Sheep
Penny got me a brand new seat back seat cover to protect my car when we go back and forth to dog beach. And naturally she wanted to shower me (practically literally) with birthday kisses.
Birthday kisses!
Of course, with increasing numbers of solar orbits comes certain biological changes and one of the ones I’ve noticed over the last couple of months is that maybe – just maybe – the text in my books was looking a little blurry and most likely that road sign had to have been redone in a smaller font, because it sure seems harder to read…
And so yesterday I went to the optician and sure enough my right eye was — errr – somewhat worse than it had been back in the day when I got this prescription and then the nice eye doctor lady (who looked all of 20) said, “For your everyday glasses, you should probably consider bifocals or progressives.” Oi.
Yep
No worries. That’s cool. I had a plan to help with that sort of news. I used my dilated eyes to drive home without hitting anything and promptly got out the cake.
Stevil 
You’re Brother’s age, you’re so young!
Yeah…I’ve worn specs since age 2 and last time I went, they said i was perilously close to bifocals (I’m UBER far-sighted).
Yeah — I’ve had them since that terrible realization in 3rd grade, but I have to say the move to progressives is a little sad.
Happy birthday to you! Shaun the Sheep is a new discovery in our house, too! My (almost) 3 year old loves him! ;) that says nothing of your maturity, of course. Glad you had a great, relaxing weekend!
Thanks! There are times when I am totally a toddler! :)
That cake looks very good. my mouth is watering. Happy let me see if I can remember my roman numerals, naught, naught, double nought, carry the one, 46th birthday.
Gracias Budd!
Nice cake, but do I see a health insurance brochure in the background? 46 must have triggered off some concerns about mortality, though none serious, I hope.
Adjusting to bifocals was horrible, especially since I had been wearing contact lenses for years until my eyes became too dry for them. They do something to your depth perception, so you need to be careful when walking over uneven ground. My first year wearing progressives, I got a black eye and sprained an ankle from misjudging dips in the sidewalk and how many steps I was away from the ground floor.
But happy year, Steve! I hope you still have a slice of cake to enjoy today!
Thanks HG! They weren’t my insurance forms… :)
Just sent off my “regular” frames to be fitted with the new “progressives”, so I will be curious to see how it all turns out when they come back!
Happy birthday! Next year is a big one for me. I’m already trying to think of what I can do to take the sting out…. Probably NOT get an eye exam the next day!
No — I would leave the doctor appts out of the birthday mix!
Wow! Cake looks great. What were the layers? (ps – another great read) Oh, and the guy from Hunter Mountain said to wish you a Happy Birthday.
Chris — ha! I hadn’t thought about Hunter Mountain in a LONG LONG time! :)
I like that you put your birthday in Roman numerals, Super Bowl-style. Mine is XXX, which sounds like an adult movie. Or maybe something starring Vin Diesel.
Susan ate vegetarian last night because of how much meat you guys consumed this weekend. So nice to see her! You have a lovely Beloved.
Cori — I think XXX for you needs to have some sort of ninja-vin-diesel vibe. You could be an action hero. I’ve been eating very tiny portions of things since Monday morning with no end in sight. Probably good for me.
Where have I seen Shaun the Sheep before? He is sure to cheer up any office space, so horray mug! And Happy Birthday, I think chilling at home is a nice way to go.
Thanks Emmy! Shaun is a creation of the same team that does the Wallace & Grommet cartoons. He always cheers me up.
Wow, you’re almost as old as I am!
The first time I was told I needed bifocals I was in denial but tried them anyway – the “regular” kind with the reading-glasses “inserts” that I HATED and took back the next day. A lot of my work is at a desk-top level, and I had to practically stand on my head in order to see out the top half of the lenses.
A few years later I relented (when an eye doc showed me just how blind I really was …) and got progressive lenses. Not only have I had NO problems with them (except for maybe when I try to sit w-a-y back in the recliner to watch TV), I was also surprised to find I still have hairs, pores, and freckles on the backs of my hands! I hadn’t been able to see them in years!
Happy belated birthday. The weekend sounds ideal.
Thanks GOM — I am a little bit worried to see just what I’ve been missing because I went for the fuzziness in my near-vision, but after seeing how bad my far vision was in my right eye, I’m starting to wonder!
I tried progressives but couldn’t get used to them, so went bifocal. It’s fine except when I change prescriptions, the ground isn’t where I expect it for a couple days.
That cake looks amazing.
I love Shaun! We discovered him a couple of years ago when he was running on Disney Channel and recorded everything we could get. I haven’t sprung for the DVD compilation. Now I’ve got his theme song stuck in my head.
Great! I didn’t have the song in my head until you said that! :)
Lurker — we tried Shaun on a lark streaming on Netflix b/c we like the Wallace & Grommet cartoons. Great fun. Sometimes I’ve been known to go through the house singing the theme song…
Belated Happy Birthday, Steve. I hope you had an extra helping of that delicious looking cake because you really couldn’t see clearly through your dilated pupils, how exactly much you were serving yourself.
Thanks LG! This week, I’m using my blurry vision to not-accurately see my expanding waistline. :)
You know … I’m not sure which is better … the doggie kisses or that darn good lookin’ cake! And I love, love, love Shaun the Sheep :) What a good birthday, progressives excluded.
Cheers! MJ
Thanks MJ! As with all great birthdays, I got the cake and the kisses both! :)