Kind of A Little...

So... we're well and thoroughly trucking through the 25 Days of Sunny. I started this post on Day 3. I remembered to keep working on it on Day 13. And now, I don't even know what day of my own celebration it is. But it is at at this point when I must admit that I totally forgot I was supposed to be coming up with thrilling and clever montages about my age, and that I've really just been busy with the celebrations.**1

Which sounds like a good jumping off point for this:

25 Ways I'm Probably Kind of A Little Old

1.) I forget stuff sometimes.

2.) I get crochety when things change outside of my realm of influence.

3.) I like brussel sprouts, broccoli and peas.

4.) I don't mind doing laundry, and sometimes even enjoy doing dishes.

5.) I think Friday evening is a perfectly acceptable time to curl up and read a book.

6.) I'm not super keen on getting shmam-booze-eled.

7.) Video games frustrate the nose right off my face.

8.) I refuse to go out in public in my jammies, no matter how rockin' they are.

9.) I adore birthday cards. The real paper ones that come in the mail and have funny phrases on them.

10.) I save birthday cards (and thank you notes, and letters of recognition, and movie tickets) in a shoebox.

10.a) I'm already on my second shoebox. And I'm only 1/4 century old.

11.) I know cursive, and use it frequently.**2

12.) Sometimes my body aches for no apparent reason.

13.) I feel guilty going out for dinner when there are perfectly acceptable - albeit somewhat old - leftovers in the fridge. Which is why I ate lasagna for lunch again yesterday.

14.) I know who Richard Dean Anderson, Jon Schneider and Dwight Schultz are... and I had childhood crushes on all three of them.**3

15.) The children whose diapers I used to change are now teenagers.

16.) I have to wear glasses when I read or work on the computer.

17.) I cringe when people use bad grammar, and I'm a perpetual corrector of horrendous spelling.

18.) I know how to knit, and occasionally do.

19.) My day refuses to get itself into gear without proper caffeine intake.

20.) I have a budget, and I know how to use it.**4

21.) The idea of tanning makes me cringe in horrified anticipation of melanoma.

22.) I don't always get carded when I buy a beverage.

23.) I find nose kisses to be just as romantic as an enthusiastic probing of tongues.

24.) In my world, buying new clothes is an occasion worthy of note.

25.) I've found my One, and he knows it.

**1 I can't even tell you how much gelato I've eaten. But it's not over till I get my cupcake... which might happen sometime this week. Maybe.

**2 Most often when I'm belly dancing. I write clever notes with my hips. It's really a sight to be seen.

**3 But only from their re-runs on TV Land... come on, troopers. I'm not that old.

**4 I don't always use it, but I do try.

My Mom is The Best Mom

So... I have every intention of finishing the blog post I started on Day 3 of the 25 Days of Sunny. Really, I do. And it's awesome. But instead of writing, I've been living it up during my birthday stretch.

I started today's post thinking I would cross-post from www.diapersdaisies.com - there's this awesome list of "25 Rules for Mothers of Daughters" that I wanted to share. Since my own fantastic Maternal Unit was an integral part of my original birth day, I thought I'd shout it out to her as a Thank You For Being My Awesome Mom.

I mean, after all - this is the woman who brought both myself and my fabulous Seester into this world, and then promptly saw us through to adulthood without scarring us**1 and without running off with our father into the wild blue yonder like we know they wanted to, to live out their lives free from the craziness we imposed upon them.

But then the website was silly, and I couldn't get the original verbage. Maybe the original author is sick of sharing it. I haven't the foggiest why I can't find it, especially since it landed - kerPLOP - in my lap in the middle of the morning this morning when I really didn't have time to read it (but I took the time anyway because it was awesome).

So I decided to write my own list.

This is for you, Mumma. I love you.

 

25 Ways My Mom is The Best Mom 

1. Her hands are always just the right temperature for holding. When I'm too hot, they're cool. When I'm cold, they're warm.
2. She loves to get postcards, which gives me a reason to write to her about my adventures (and creates an instant catalogue of my travels).
3. She can justify popcorn and orange juice for supper, and make it sound like the best idea ever.
4. She never says "I Told You So," even when she totally did tell me so and I look like an idiot for not listening.
5. She belly danced before I did. I wouldn't be a belly dancer now if not for her... and that's a big deal.
6. She instilled within me a love of children, but without imposing pressure to have my own.
7. She never lost her faith, even when it was really really hard to keep believing.
8. She picked my Dad. That was a pretty awesome choice.
9. She always has room for the small animals that resulted from bad decisions. Her living room houses the bunny that came out of my last relationship that I didn't have a home for, so I wouldn't have to give her up for adoption.
10. She fed (and fed, and fed...) my love of literature. She bought Boxcar Children books until there wasn't room left to store them.
11. She always has time for my awards ceremonies, no matter how piddly the award is.
12. She can apply just the right amount of sympathetic snark to her commiseration about the miscreants in my life so that I feel better, without lowering herself to my level of anger and discontent.
13. She knew better than to get me the big brother I asked for.
14. She has encouraged every ill-planned scheme I've ever schemed without subjecting me to even an ounce of doubt.
15. She once sang a song about a rooster who hoped he didn't get run over by a snowmobile, just to distract me from getting carsick.
16. She doesn't hate me for boiling her beautiful copper tea kettle dry when I was a child. And she doesn't hate me for then letting it continue to sit over the flame without water in the kettle until the solder around the spout melted and it fell right off.
17. She's just the right height for hugs.
18. She survived my Learning to Cook stage, where I made spaghetti with Prego pasta sauce at every available opportunity, and usually dumped the pasta into the sink when aiming for the strainer, and then fished it out of the drain and rinsed it off and covered it with sauce to hide the fact that it was kinda gross with drain goo.
19. She doesn't complain about my belly button ring, even though I think it secretly bothers her.
20. She let me - and my sister - serve mud pies from under the porch stairs to incoming guests at Bean Supper, and all we had to do was wash up before we ate.
21. She always made me go to bed on time, so I could get up early and enjoy the day.
22. She can tuck me in over the phone when Boyfriend of Amazingness is out of town, no matter how old I get and how foolish it becomes that I'm still scared of the dark.
23. She changed my diapers, even after I was almost potty trained and then regressed because I was jealous of the attention rained upon my new diaper-wearing sister.
24. She didn't let her relationship with her Mom color her relationship with her daughters, even though it totally could have.
25. She cries when people help her - just the right amount of happy tears to make me want to help her more and more and more.

**1 Irreparably...

Definitely Not Old

So, one week from yesterday will be my birthday.

As this birthday will mark the tipping point of my twenties, I've decided to take a four-day weekend to contemplate life and what it means to me.

But I still have to get through this work week before celebrations can commence, and I'm already bubbling with birthday excitement.

So I'm starting my reflections today, and calling it the arbitrary beginning of 25 Days of Sunny.**1

(It probably won't last through today. But I have good intentions.)

Today's list is

25 Ways I'm Definitely Not Old Yet

1.) My favorite music is Disney music.

2.) Given the opportunity, I will always sneak a handful of cookies before dinner.

3.) I have sidewalk chalk, and I know how to use it.

4.) I really prefer my sugar with a little cereal underneath. The sweeter, the better.**3

4-1) You will never catch me with a spoonful of "Big Bran" headed to my mouth.

5.) I can, with relative ease, drop off for a nap whenever I please.

6.) I still have - and regularly snuggle with - a stuffed animal.

7.) Being told what to do makes me stomp like a grumpy dinosaur.

8.) If you're telling a joke rated above PG-13, I probably won't get it.

9.) I adore shiny things.

10.) I know how to - and occasionally do - access my local playground for a go on the swings.

11.) Sometimes I play hide-and-seek with Boyfriend of Amazingness. Most recently, he ran upstairs and pretended he was hiding in bed. Just when I was about to startle him with my amazing powers of findingness, he jumped out of the closet and scared the snot out of me.

12.) I'm quite easily startled.

13.) Scary movies/TV shows/books give me nightmares.

14.) I like raw cookie dough.

15.) I'm picky about my vegetables.

16.) When it's available, I'll always use glitter.

17.) I adore jumping in puddles.

18.) I jump up and down when I'm excited.

19.) When I get too hungry, I get cranky.

20.) When it's past my bedtime, I start to yawn and fall asleep. Standing at an outdoor show... sitting at dinner... wearing my finest dress or my skuvviest skivvies... Zzzz.

21.) I'm better off if someone else handles the knives in the house.

22.) I'm super-proud of my belly button, and love showing it to people.

23.) If I'm having trouble falling asleep, Harold and the Purple Crayon is a sure bet for dreamland.

24.) Sometimes I address people as "Um" when I can't remember their names. Not "Madam," not "I'm-so-sorry-could-you-remind-me-of-your-name"... Just "Um"

25.) I'm rather a victim of my impulses. If I want to boop your nose... I'm probably going to boop your nose.

 

**1 It would have been less arbitrary if I started it on April 1, but then I'd be nine days behind and that simply won't do. And it would have been even less arbitrary if I started it 25 days before my birthday, which works out to be some time in March. But I didn't do that. Besides - it's MY birthday. I get to decide when the celebration starts. And I choose today.**2

**2 When I decide to do a re-hash in December for Christmas, you don't get to be picky about that either. Again: My birthday. My rules.

**3 Seriously. I once ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch with egg nog on it. And then I napped for the rest of the day.

Happy Blogiversary!

Let there be Singing! Let there be Cake! LET THERE BE PREZZIES! 

Seriously. I accept anything except livestock.

Today is the one year anniversary of the launching of this blog!

A lot has happened in a year. 

A year ago, I was a recent college graduate. With 12 months of post-grad work experience under my belt now, I can call myself a "Seasoned Professional" and ask for extra tall heaps of dollars in my paycheck.** I can lord my amazingness over the indigenous peoples herein, and sometimes they even let me get away with it. Mostly not, but you know. Sometimes.

A year ago, I was in a totally different office building. I have moved "Downtown" (which is, ironically, north of my previous location by almost ten miles) and into the heart of the most city-esque location I've had the pleasure of frequenting. It was a massive feat, the accomplishment of which left me feeling very proud.

A year ago, I was in a totally different work position. I answered phones, answered questions and answered to the whims of a very disgruntled people. Today I work for a team (seriously - they all get along and everything) of professionals (they only cuss when they really mean it) that actually enjoy having me around (they even tell me so) and stuff. So it's kind of fabulous.

Yeah. Uber changes. All over the place.

But how to celebrate all this change? 

That, my ReaderFriends, is the question.

I considered everything.

No, seriously... Everything.

I thought about doing a sojourn through the archives. That is... if one can really call one year of backlogged blog posts an archive. But we're feeling ballsy, so that's exactly what we'll call it. However, archive dives on the anniversary seems like a cop-out. Lots of people do it. So I think we'll pass.

I thought about setting up a new layout and instituting it today. But then I started looking at the layout and how much it sucked, so I changed it right away (last week). And then said a little silent thank you in my head - and a not-so-silent one from my back porch - to everyone who put up with that icky, nonsensical layout of yore for almost-a-whole-year-minus-a-week-or-so-because-it-was-too-gross-to-put-up-with-anymore.

I thought about making myself a cake, but that just seemed self-congratulatory. And I didn't want to fill up on cake in case you got me something else that was more delicious. So I didn't do that either.

I thought about doing a photo montage, or drawing pictures of how awesome the last year has been.

It wasn't ideal.

I kind of suck at art.

I even thought about finishing that damned NaNoWriMo book. (See how desperate I was to please you, ReaderFriend?) But then I laughed at myself. Funny, Sunny. You're a basket full of chuckles, you are. That half-finished monstrosity is going to stay that way until long after I've gone back to the dirt from which I came.

So my point here is that I wasted a lot of time. Oodles and oodles of time. And I didn't come up with anything.

But then I thought to myself,"Self, what keeps these ReaderFriends coming by day after day?"

No, seriously. My writing capability is all but nil. There must be something here that keeps bringing you back around like a rat after morphine-laced water.

And then it dawned on me:

You're not in this for the babbly fluff.

You're in it because you are someone, or know someone, or psychic-ly connect with someone who deals with this sort of phenomenon semi-regularly.

(All The Vague was thoroughly implemented for that sentence. I'm kind of proud.)

You're here because somewhere in your life, there is an EngineerFriend (or a socially challenged someone not unlike an EngineerFriend).

(On the off chance that you ARE an EngineerFriend and you're looking to use my information to avoid social snafus of your own... I commend you. And would like to send you one of our anniversary stickers.**1)

So you aren't hear to read a long drawn out blurb about my day - You're here to commiserate, and to seek solace in the idea that you aren't alone in your dealings with this highly-educated-but-most-often-socially-awkward race.

That, we can do.

DEAR ENGINEERFRIEND,

Thank you for providing another year's worth of fodder for my imagination. Thank you for "forgetting" to refill the coffee pot, commenting awkwardly on my attire, fouling up my evenings and weekends with your ill-timed project requests and for generally being a pain in my posterior. Because as much as I complain, I would be a pitiful nothing without you.

Well... Relatively speaking. I will never be as pitiful as an EngineerFriend without coffee.

Respectfully (For Real This Time...),

Sunny Smiles

And so, without further ado, we celebrate! Here's to you, here's to me, and here's to another fantastic year!

Cпасибо!

Danke!

Merci!

Paldies!

Terima Kasih!

Obrigado!

शुक्रिया! 

Takk!

Thank you!

All these thanks and more to everyone around the world who has made this a fabulous year in SunnyLand.

It's so special to have my voice heard, and to share the Smiles when they cross my path.

(See, that wasn't so bad.)

Now, lets forge boldy onward into a new era of Adventures!

**I said ask for... Not get. Employer is not stoopid.

**1 They exist. Really! Or, at least, they will. If anyone actually wants one.**2

**2 Dammit, now I want one for myself.