I didn't have time to post an entry yesterday 1) because it was a busy day, and 2) because I was playing with my Birthday present--Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI.  What fun!  I attended a class on it some weeks ago, and really enjoyed it.  Now it is going to take some time to figure it all out and remember what we did with it in the class.

We had a lovely day yesterday--My Mom's Birthday.  It felt like a holiday because we were celebrating not only her birthday, but mine, and Boo's also.  We spent the morning opening and enjoying gifts.  Everybody received something because there were birthday gifts, Christmas gifts from my parents (who weren't here over the holidays), and gifts sent from far away where my brother and sister-in-law are missionaries.  Some were surprises, and some were not.  It was such fun!  My Birthday gifts included the above mentioned software, and a pair of beautiful earrings from my husband and children.  My gift from my parents is being shipped.  I believe it is a book I have wanted for a while.

For our Birthday dinner I roasted a chicken with stuffing, and we had mashed potatoes and mashed turnip (the childrens' favourite vegetable) with it.  Lemon meringue pie (home-made by Mom and I) was for dessert.

Mom and Dad went home today, and we all miss them already.  To ease the pain of parting, we headed off to town to do some shopping right after they left.  There wasn't much we needed, except that we discovered that the velcro on Boo's shoes (which we purchased only a couple of months ago) was no longer sticking, and the toe area had worn so badly that his sock was wet.  Back we went to the store we got them from, and showed them to a man in the shoe department.  He said that we could exchange them, and to pick out another pair before we went to customer service.  I was quite surprised at the level of service coming from that particular store, and we even received some cash back because the new shoes were less expensive than a replacement pair of the same brand!  I don't make a practice of returning things, so this was a new experience for me.

Looking forward:  Belle is excited about starting MUS on Monday.  I am hoping to get Monday's lessons all ready before tomorrow evening.  I am looking forward to getting back into a routine after a week of sickness, and a week of holidays.

Tomorrow the plan is to take me out to lunch at the little cafe downtown, and then DH and I are invited to dinner with a few other couples in the evening.  I am looking forward to not having to cook at all tomorrow, and even Sunday will be mostly leftovers that were in the freezer.  A light weekend for cooking, but I do have to clean the house.