One year older and wiser, too....

Yes, it's true. Today is my birthday, and I'm totally seeking out birthday wishes. I'm going to copy something I read on another blog a while back and send out a request. I am perhaps the most guilty person when it comes to reading my friends' blogs and never commenting, meaning some of them don't even know I'm following along. So today (or whenever you read this) I am going to ask each of you to leave me a comment and just say a small hello, so I know who is out there enjoying the greatness that is me. I will enable the feature that will allow people without a profile to comment, so be sure to include your name if you use the anonymous setting. I will, however, have to turn on that pesky "word verification" so that I hopefully prevent any spammer comments. I've had those before and they're just not the kind of energy I want to experience on my birthday, you know? And if any of you are surprised that I would be so bold as to solicit birthday salutations, don't be. I'm nearly the baby in my family which means I grew up getting a lot of extra attention. Plus, isn't that what a blog is-a place to showcase me, me, me? (Please don't think I'm always this self-centered. It only happens once a year.)

Anyway, back to regular business here at the B&PPH blog. I started back on my second of eight semesters this week. I really like all my professors so far. One in particular is hilarious, mostly because she isn't even trying to be. We'll see if I'm still singing her praises after our first test, but so far I've looked forward to each of her lectures. (Ashley, it's Dr. Lim-did you have/like her?) I had a wonderful Christmas break, but I'm glad to be back in school.

So, to try to make up for the many Memory Mondays I've missed, I'll just write down a few memories about my nieces and nephews that crossed my mind yesterday. Pretty much anytime I see one of those automated paper towel dispensers I think of my niece who used to say the paper came out "automagically" instead of automatically. My brother got a new car when this same niece was about 4, and it had radio controls on the steering wheel. Her carseat was right in the middle of the back seat so she could see the radio, but not really the steering wheel. So he used to tell her to say "Magic UP!" and the music would magically turn up, or "Magic DOWN!" and it would go back down. She really believed that the new car was magic, because she could clearly see that he was never touching the radio. I don't know how old she was when she finally caught on.

My nephews have provided us with some of the most classic memories that won't ever be forgotten. The first is this one, a letter to Santa that my sister found in her oldest son's backpack (I'm blotting out the names cuz frankly they're not my kids):



In case you can't read it, it says: "Dear Santa, I can explain for beating my brother. I just didn't want him to bother me. I had to teach him a lesson. Sincerely,_______." I think any letter to Santa that starts out "I can explain..." is sure to be a classic.

Don't worry, there's more where that came from. The younger brother was writing a letter to a cousin who's on a mission, and drew him this picture. The first drawing is of him and his brother fighting, the second shows his brother (who is older) crying with a black eye and an ice bag on his head, and then the last is of both of them in time-out.


The message on this one says, "Me and _______ fight a lot. I always win. Love, _______." You've got to love his confidence, don't you?


P.S. Don't forget to post a comment!