Na na na na na na - YOU SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! Na na na na na na - IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, TOO, YEAH!

Thank you to everyone for the Happy Birthday wishes - and to Tish over at CrAzy Working Mom for this beautiful cake!! Everyone have a piece - it's delicious!

This isn't a "milestone" birthday for me - but in a couple of years it'll be the Big 4-0. Still, here are some interesting things about the day I was born....

(Info courtesy of this site, which I found via Dawn at Coming to a Nursery Near You)

7 October 1969

Your date of conception was on or about 14 January 1969 which was a Tuesday.
Nice to know, but no one likes to really think about their conception, do they?

You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Libra.

Your Life path number is 6. (This is pretty accurate if you read the description...)

Your fortune cookie reads: Be direct, usually one can accomplish more that way.

Life Path Compatibility:

You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9. (Hubby is also a 6! As is Bubba's Mom! Daughter is a 3!)

You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7. (NOT true - my BFF is a 1, and we love each other very much! Both my sons are 5's. Hmmmmmm.....)

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2440501.5.

The golden number for 1969 is 13.

The epact number for 1969 is 11.

The year 1969 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 2/17/1969 and ending 2/5/1970. You were born in the Chinese Year of the Rooster.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Raven; your plant is Ivy.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Choiach, the fourth month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

Your date of birth on the Hebrew calendar is 25 Tishri 5730. Or if you were born after sundown then the date is 26 Tishri 5730.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.17.16.2.17 which is 12 baktun 17 katun 16 tun 2 uinal 17 kin

The Hijra (Islamic Calendar) date of your birth is Tuesday, 25 Rajab 1389 (1389-7-25).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 6 April 1969.

The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 13 April 1969.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 19 February 1969.

The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 25 May 1969. The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 1 June 1969.

The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Saturday, 13 September 1969.

The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Thursday, 3 April 1969.

The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 18 February 1969.

As of 10/7/2007 11:39:14 AM EDT -

You are 38 years old.

You are 456 months old.

You are 1,983 weeks old.

You are 13,879 days old.

You are 333,107 hours old.

You are 19,986,459 minutes old.

You are 1,199,187,554 seconds old. (NOW I feel old!)

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Shawn Ashmore (1979)
Rachel McAdams (1976)
Toni Braxton (1967)
Thom Yorke (1968)
Simon Cowell (1959)
Michael W. Smith (1957)
Yo-Yo Ma (1955)
Vladimir Putin (1952)
John Cougar Mellencamp (1951)
Bishop Desmond Tutu (1931)
R.D. Laing (1927)
June Allyson (1917)
Vaughn Monroe (1911)
Andy Devine (1905)
Niels Bohr (1885)

Top songs of 1969
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In by Fifth Dimension
In the Year 2525 by Zager & Evans
Get Back by Beatles (with Billy Preston)
Sugar, Sugar by Archies (I happen to know this song was #1 the day I was born!)
Honky Tonk Women by Rolling Stones
Everyday People by Sly & the Family Stone
Dizzy by Tommy Roe
Wedding Bell Blues by Fifth Dimension
I Can't Get Next to You by Temptations
Crimson & Clover by Tommy James & the Shondells

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.4320939334638 years old. (I'm younger than Good Girl Dog!)

Your lucky day is Friday.

Your lucky number is 6.

Your ruling planet is Venus.

Your lucky dates are 6th, 15th, 24th.

Your opposition sign is Aries.

Your opposition number(s) is 9.

Today is not one of your lucky days! (Oh, great.)

There are 366 days till your next birthday on which your cake will have 39 candles. Those 39 candles produce 39 BTUs,or 9,828 calories of heat (that's only 9.8280 food Calories!). You can boil 4.46 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1969 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.

In 1969 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.

In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages (9.3%) and 479,000 divorces (2.5%)

In 1969 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)

In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.

In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

Your birthstone is Opal.

Your birth tree is Rowan, the Sensitivity - Full of charm, cheerful, gifted, without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, unrest and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive.

The moon's phase on the day you were born was waning crescent.

There are 79 days till Christmas! (Yay! More presents!)

Tora! Tora! Tora!

The Wings Over Houston Airshow is this weekend - a 2-day event featuring some pretty awesome aerial demonstrations. This year the Canadian Forces Snowbirds will be showing off their precision acrobatics in the sky, the Texas Air National Guard F-16's will be doing fly-by's, there will be re-creatings of WWII battles, including the Tora Tora attack on Pearl Harbor, plus much more to delight the crowd.

I live about 2 miles from the runway. Every so often my house shakes with a fly-by. It's going to be a loud weekend.

Friday's Feast #17

My feast offering for this week.....

Appetizer

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you look forward to your birthday?

An interesting question - my birthday is Sunday! I would say probably an 8 - I think the day you were born is pretty special.

Soup

What is one word you don’t like the sound, spelling, or meaning of?

slacks

Salad

Do you wear sunglasses when you’re outside? If so, what does your current pair look like?

deep red plastic frames - not too big but not too small - scratches on the lenses of course

Main Course

If you were to write a book, to whom would you dedicate it?

my mom - the strongest woman I know

Dessert

Name a beverage that you enjoy.

Sometimes there's nothing like a cold beer....

Wordless Wednesday - Three Generations

Sucker Punch

That's what a cancer diagnosis is. A sucker punch. Life can be going along just fine and then BAM! You're battling a serious disease. In the past year I have known five people who have gotten a cancer diagnosis. Two of them have already passed on. It's downright scary.

Not all of the cancers I've brushed up against lately are breast cancer - but October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and that's the cancer I'm most afraid of. I've seen Bubba's Mom - MY mom - fight it twice. She's a survivor. I'm so very proud of her.

Today she was sucker punched again. I'm right beside her to fight Round 3. She's going to beat it once again. Cancer, be damned.

Ten Television Shows I'd Like to Have on DVD

This week's Ten on Tuesday list really made me think - I'm not one to watch TV shows - or even movies - over and over. I don't own any TV shows on DVD. But these are some of my favorites that would be cool to watch again - from the beginning....

1. Alias
2. Ally McBeal
3. All the Amazing Races
4. All the American Idols
5. Dallas
6. All the Dancing With the Stars
7. E.R.
8. Friends
9. Lost
10. Will & Grace

Drama Queens

Today Drama Daughter and her BFF participated in the first Drama Festival of the school year. They both competed in the same five events: Individual Prop Improv, Prepared Audition, Dramatic Acting, Humorous Acting, and Individual Pantomime. And they each received four Superior ratings and one Excellent rating (ribbons for awards), which also earned them each the Five Star Trophy for excelling in all five events!!

Me and D....we're some mighty proud mamas tonight!

Friday's Feast #16

Hungry? It's time for yet another Friday's Feast!

Appetizer

How are you today?

a little tired, but OK - looking forward to the weekend!

Soup

Name 3 television shows you watch on a regular basis.

Dancing With the Stars

Survivor

CSI

Salad

What’s the scariest weather situation you’ve experienced?

Hurricane Alicia in 1983

Main Course

If you could wake up tomorrow morning in another country, where would you want to be?

someplace that's really having fall right now - Canada maybe? - it's still in the mid-90's every day here

Dessert

What do you usually wear to sleep?

just a pajama top - can't wear the bottoms because they get all twisted up!

Wordless Wednesday - Stuck!

Dancing With The Stars - The Men

Another great show tonight! We didn't get a production number by the professionals tonight, just a review of what the women did last night, but then the men turned it on for the competition! I have a theory about why mostly men have won DWTS - in ballroom dancing, it is mainly the woman who is showcased. The audience's eyes are naturally drawn to her. So if the woman is the professional dancer, the couple will naturally look better than the couples consisting of a male professional and a previously-untrained female. Just my theory.

My early favorites of the men are Indy car driver Helio Castroneves and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban - both of them surprised me with how well they did! Soap star Cameron Mathison didn't do too bad, and he's easy on the eyes. (Did anyone else see Edyta's thong showing??) Model Albert Reed (who?) was just odd. Not bad - but he's kinda dorky. I wasn't too impressed with Floyd Mayweather or Wayne Newton (Bubba's Mom calls him Fig Newton). If I had to pick one to go I'd say Floyd - Wayne deserves to stick around for a little while just for being the icon that he is. And he's lovable in a Jerry Springer kind-of way.

But only one will go home tomorrow - will it be a man or a woman? My prediction? Josie Maran. But we shall see....

Ten Things I've Been Putting Off

What a great Ten on Tuesday topic for a procrastinator such as I! I mean really, if it weren't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done! Here's what I've been putting off lately:

1. getting everything unpacked from the move
2. organizing my closet
3. making my appointment for my yearly exam - I'm usually quite vigilant about this, and I'm not that far behind, but it just hasn't happened yet.
4. going to the dentist - yeah, not so vigilant about this one, and we won't discuss how long it's been since I was last there.
5. cleaning out my old refrigerator that is sitting in the garage
6. calling Goodwill to haul off all the crap I didn't sell in my garage sale
7. taking my dogs to the vet for their yearly shots - again, usually on top of this type of stuff.....
8. getting the registration sticker for my car - it expired at the end of August. What can I say? I'm just flirting with getting a ticket.
9. finding a new exercise program now that I'm not teaching dance this year
10. finishing this list

Dancing With The Stars - The Women

Let me just start by saying I LOVE THIS SHOW! From the opening number tonight I was enthralled. I want to dance like that.

Tonight the six women of Dancing With The Stars started off the competition; they did Cha Chas and Foxtrots. My early favorites are Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan and Spice Girl Mel B. Next would be Jane Seymour and Marie Osmond. They really all did well tonight! Model Josie Maran was a little clumsy, and Jennie Garth was quite obviously nervous. But all in all, I was impressed! Can't pick a winner yet, but if I had to pick one to leave it would be Josie.

Tomorrow....the men!

Curious Snail Mail

I received two very strange letters in the mail today. The first came from my bank. Due to some problems with my dumbass ISP, I had to change my e-mail address last week. I made the correction on all the websites that have my e-mail address, including The Bank. Today I get this letter:

Notification of Undeliverable E-mail

Dear Bubba's Sis:

The Bank recently encountered some difficulties e-mailing the important information referenced below.

It is very important that The Bank is able to send you notices regarding your account. If your e-mail inbox is full, please go to your inbox and clean out some of your old e-mail so that The Bank can continue to send you important information.

This original e-mail was sent to bubbassis@oldemailaddress:

Greetings Bubba's Sis:

Your E-Mail address has changed. Thanks again for choosing to bank with us. For your security we wanted to let you know that your primary e-mail address you provided has been changed to bubbassis@newemailaddress.

Sincerely,

The Bank

Um.....hello? If you are notifying me that you have a new e-mail address for me, wouldn't you send the notification to THAT E-MAIL ADDRESS??? I have a new one for a reason! The old one doesn't work anymore!

The other letter came from my phone company. I registered with them online so that I could pay my bills online. Obviously registration requires giving them your personal information. They sent me a letter today that said this:

Dear Bubba's Sis,

Thank you for your interest in The Phone Company's self-service feature available with your phone service. You are receiving this letter as a confirmation of a change to your Phone Company Account Manager online account. The following change was requested on telephone number xxx-xxx-xxxx (my phone number)

This telephone number has been added to your profile.

Thank you for using The Phone Company

What?? They spent money on paper and postage to let me know that my phone number is my phone number??

Am I the only one who doesn't get it?

Fall TV is back!!

I'm so excited - it is finally time for Fall TV! A couple of shows I watch have already premiered, and most of the others premiere this week! It was a long summer with nothing to watch but Houston Astros baseball and the one good prime time show - Saving Grace.

I've added something new to my sidebar - Shows I'm Watching. As they premiere, I'll add to the list. If you watch them, too, let me know! I love to dish on the latest episodes! Here's what I think so far:

Kid Nation - great show! I was way impressed with those kids; I cried with them and cheered with them - I can't wait to see how it unfolds! My early favorites: Sophia, Taylor, Laurel, and Michael.

Survivor: China - off to a pretty good start. The last Survivor was kinda boring, but being the devoted Survivor watcher that I am, I stuck with it. I hope they liven it up a bit this season. So far so good. There are people I like and people I dislike on each tribe, so I haven't really sided with either one yet. I think the Gwen-Stefani-lookalike-girl needs to go. My early favorites are Aaron (easy on the eyes), James (big and sweet), and Leslie.

Some of my favorite shows aren't coming back yet - like Lost, American Idol, and Amazing Race. They'll be back mid-season. Something to look forward to!

Friday's Feast #15

My fifteenth Friday's Feast!

Appetizer

What is your favorite type of art?

dance

Soup

When was the last time you got a free lunch (or breakfast or dinner)? Who paid for it?

Bubba's Mom bought my lunch yesterday!

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how emotional are you?

Easily a 9.

Main Course

Approximately how long do you spend each day responding to emails?
Hmmm......maybe 30 minutes to an hour? I do it sporadically thru-out the day, so I've never really added up the time.

Dessert

To what temperature do you usually set your home’s thermostat?

In the summertime, 77. In the winter, 72.

The Cost of a Free Education

My children go to public school. For one thing, I can't afford to pay college tuition prices for them to go to grade school. But even if I could, I wouldn't - because we have superior public schools where we live and I know they are getting a great education. However, this "free education" guaranteed to my children by the government is starting to break the bank around here.

First of all there's the cost of new clothes and shoes for them. Of course this is an expense I anticipate every year (because those darn kids keep growing!) and I try to spread it out by buying a little at a time. But it still ain't cheap. And they both needed new backpacks. Not wanted - needed - as in the old ones were filthy and worn out and had been used the past two years anyway.

Then there's school supplies. I was able to pre-order Daughter's school supplies - a great convenience offered by her school - and they cost about $35. Because she is in a program for gifted/talented students, she is "highly encouraged" to purchase all the novels they will be covering throughout the school year. So we did. $35 more. Little Son's school supplies also came pre-packaged - $65. And "oh-yeah-I-need-a-binder" - add $10. (Do you know you can get binders for $25???? Insane!)

So school begins. In the first week of school I wrote out $55 worth of checks for various class fees for Daughter's school. I then bought her approximately $30 worth of sewing supplies for Home Ec class. Her first Drama Festival is $3 per event - she is in 5 events. There's another check.

Then - THEN! - we're hit with the fundraisers!!! I bought a little something from Daughter's catalogue of goodies, but Little Son's school is selling "Butter Braids", which is frozen dough that bakes into a lovely pastry. For $10. Even Little Son agrees that's highway robbery. We'll not be purchasing one of those.

And it's also time for school pictures! I chose one of the lowest packages I could buy and still get pictures large enough to identify which child it was. Still came to $20. Each child. No, I didn't have to buy them, but what mom doesn't buy her kids' school pictures? The guilt would have eaten me alive. Now I'll at least have 1 5x7 picture to remember their 5th and 8th grade years by, and they can have the 500 postage-stamp sized pictures to hand out to their friends.

By the way, we skipped both Book Fairs. My credit wasn't good enough for the loan needed to pay for anything else.

Wordless Wednesday - Shark!

Ten Things I Do When I Have Nothing Else To Do

As I was making this week's Ten on Tuesday list, Hubby saw my title-less list and said, "What's this? A list of how you spend your days?" Har har. I really do have lots of things to do with my days - this is what I do when I'm done with all that other busy stuff:

1. nap
2. surf the Internet
3. play a game on the computer (I'm really into Spider Solitaire right now)
4. snack
5. look over my calendar for important things that might be coming up
6. watch TV
7. pull weeds from my flowerbeds
8. read the newspaper (I try to do this every day anyway)
9. take the dogs for a walk
10. call Bubba's Mom and see what she's doing!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Space City

Having grown up in this NASA community, all things space were just a way of life to me. My daddy worked at Johnson Space Center for over 41 years - he just retired at the end of 2006. I attended the splash-down party for Apollo 11 in-utero (I was born less than 3 months later). My first grade teacher was an astronaut's wife. When Bubba and I were kids Dad used to take us to work with him sometimes. We have seen the parts of NASA that you don't see on the public tour - we've been in the shuttle simulator and seen where the astronauts train. We were never allowed in Mission Control, but Dad has been there several times. Even today Hubby and I know a few astronauts personally. They are the people we go to church with, have lunch with, and see at the grocery store. Their triumphs are our triumphs and their tragedies our tragedies. I can't even begin to explain how the Challenger and Columbia disasters rocked this community of ours. I had friends who lost parents in Challenger, other friends who dropped out of astronaut training after Columbia. You never get over those things.

But today Daughter got to experience one of the perks of living in this NASA area. In an assembly today at school, the students got to speak to one of the astronauts onboard the International Space Station (he has a kid at that school). It was a live feed and the students got to ask questions, such as "What do you do to exercise?" and "How does living in space affect your hair and fingernail growth?" Daughter was impressed with how clear it was - just like talking on the phone, yet this guy is orbiting the earth 220 miles above the ground!

I think Neil Armstrong said it best: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

And we continue to leap.

Friday's Feast #14

Happy Friday and Happy Feasting!

Appetizer

When was the last time you visited a hospital?

The last time I was in a hospital was in January when Hubby had surgery to remove the screws from his ankle (which were put in last November after breaking his leg/ankle).

Soup

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?

Eh, I guess a 5.

Salad

Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)

Apes need kind, loving empathy.

Main Course

If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?

I think a club to share vacation tips and info would be fun - I'd call it The Vacation Information Station! (**Disclaimer - if you already have a club named that, I'm sorry - I just thought of it off the top of my head and it's late.)

Dessert

What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?

oatmeal