Happy Birthday to me!  And a good one it has indeed been.  Really wasn't approaching the day with my usual birthday enthusiasm and believe you me,  I have always been a huge birthday person.  Birthdays are meant to be celebrated!  Bill also teases me that I have a Birthmonth.....not a birthday.  I have always seemed able to drag my own birthday out for a great length of time.  Of course with things being like this one has been I was less enthused and more inclined to think that curling up on the couch might be a better way to go.  My day started out with a pedicure with my two favourite girls, Kelli and Lindsey.  They picked me up and took me over to Delicate Nails to treat me to one of my favourite self indulgences-a pedicure!  It was fun sitting there between these two having my feet pampered and massaged.  It got me to wondering when I took up this decadent indulgence.  Then it suddenly came to me.  On my fortieth birthday (so not soo long ago actually) Bill threw a surprise birthday party for me out at Ron and Margs place.  It was so awesome and actually did come off as a complete and utter surprise and is one I will never, ever forget becuase I have never really been good at pulling off surprises.  Bill, however, is the total opposite.  He has given me some really wonderful surprises over the years and they have honestly come off without a hitch.  This was one of those parties.  Ron hitched up his team and we went for a hay ride, Checkmate and a couple of other horses were saddled up in the arena for those brave enough to go for a ride, the barbecue was smoking hot and the ice cold beverages were flowing.  The best part was the group of friends and family who were there and it was an impressive group!  My friends gave me some wonderful gifts on that day including a gift certificate at Victories Beauty Salon for a makeover.  I'm hesitant to say who introduced me to the wonderful world of "pampering me" for a day but believe it was Holly, Wendy and Kim!  So thanks to you girls I have developed this life long addiction to getting someone else to pamper my feet probably much more frequently that is warranted.  Yesterdays adventure was really fun because we all chose such different color selections not even close or similar. Kelli chose a bright almost fluorescent pink that I swear she will be able so see in the depths of darkness, Lindseys a deep purple and my demure pink with white daisies on the big toe!  Our color choices might have been totally opposites on every level but we all felt so pleased with the end result.  Thanks girls!  What a nice treat!
From there we headed back home and Bill announced he had another surprise for me but he needed to pick it up around five ish.  OOOOKKK.....I've already had two birthday gifts from him....my camera lens and the rocks for for my Inukshuk so was a little taken aback that there was more to come.  We ate an early supper and he headed out to pick out my remaining surprise while I retired to my chair in the living room to wait and see.  Well he arrived home shortly thereafter with no surprise so just assumed I would be getting the surprise the next day which was my actual birthday.  I settled back on watching the news when the garage door opened and in walked my friend Margot all the way from Montreal.....just to see me!  What a thrill that was!  Imagine Boomer recruiting dogwalkers from across the country!!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  The last time she came as a surprise was again the weekend of my 40th birthday.  We gabbed until 10ish and I was happy to see she was lagging a bit as Montreal time is a couple of hours ahead of Calgary time and these days I'm pretty much ready to crash by 10:00.  Up and at it this morning and to per promise Bommer was treated to his morning walk with Margot!  I finally got up feeling quite nauseous this morning...most likely a sideeffect from the antibiotic they have put me on.  My second birthday TREAT was Kelli informing us that no cancer had shown up in the lung fluid they drained off last week.  I am just continuing to have side effects from the various drugs they are giving me to try to fix problems that keep cropping up..  The fatigue and shortness of breath are most likely still related to the drug I have been treated on to get my cell count down and who really knows how long I will have to deal with this problem.  Originally the doctor said it could be up to three months which would really suck but will just have to wait and see.  Based on how I;m feeling at the present I think that some of the fluid is probably back so may be looking at another drain session along with a temporary drain until things clear a little.  Enough of that....next surprise....Geoff and Lindsey showed up to cook us an awesome, delicious brunch this morning  They marched into my kitchen and in no time we had Edible Delectables (THANKYOU Pat and Marian and Auntie Marion), two types of delicious pancakes, sausages and bacon.  Everything was delicious and even I who have been a little off food enjoyed quite a hearty breakfast!  We all LOVE fruit and the fruit centrepieces were a delicious work of art.  We have been spoiled by my baking friends....monster cookies and rhubarb muffins from Judy, cupcakes from Cheryl and chocolate something cookies from Maureen and Cookies by George from my brother Kevin.  Good thing I have pals keeping me company here who love sweets this weekend!  Kathy also stopped by for brunch.  Now you are all probably wondering where Kathy and Margot fit into my life puzzle.  The girls and I spent many years hashing it out both off and on the badminton court during our badminton days.  Kahy and I also stayed with Margots family when were out east for tournaments.  We all spent a year playing together at the National Training Centre in our early 20's, and both of them were bridesmaids at my wedding.  These are special peeps to me!  Kathy and Margot have taken my beloved fur kid to Nose hill to spend some time with Kathy's new addition George.  She arrived this morning from Gull Lake bearing a card and one intact sleeve of Lady Bug balls and one not so intact sleeve.  In fact the second  sleeve had two Ladybug Crystal balls missing in action. All that was left of the cardboard sleeve was a shredded mess.  Apparently the balls were travelling in the backseat with George.  We did locate one ball but there is still one not accounted for.  I have given Kathy my tried and true formula for "How to make your dog puke when they have eaten something they should not have."  For those of you who have dogs prone to eating things such as gloves, socks and yes even the odd Ladybug golf ball I highly recommend you post this on your Emergency bulletin board.  You administer 1tsp for every 10 lbs a dog weighs.  So for example Boomer weighs about 75 pounds so I would give him 75 tsp. of 1% Hydrogen Peroxide.  Wait 15 minutes before administering another dose.  If this does not work the first time no alarm...you can give it up to three times before you need to see your vet.  Now Kathy is not sure that George actually ingested these balls and by now it would certainly be too late for this magic to work.  Hoping if he ate it he chewed it up well and it will just passing on through.....I cannot bring myself to consider how much a surgery would cost to retrieve a ladybug golf ball!  The only good news here would be that the ball might be salvageable!

Kathy's back with George and has rescued Margot for an hour or so for a Nose Hill Walk before she heads back to life at the lake!  This will be good for Margot.  I'm not thinking shes at all used to this sitting around all day stuff.  I know I'm not but for now it's just something I do.  Lovely to see her though and we are catching up on a ton of visiting!