Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

Yes, today is my birthday. It was a pretty good day. My group at work took me out to lunch, one of them brought me a cake, and they gave me a card and some mints I'm addicted to. Another group of friends is taking me out to brunch Friday. The only sad thing was that they didn't launch the shuttle. I really hoped the return to flight mission would occur on my birthday. But, as several friends pointed out, it's better to have it delayed than have it explode on my birthday. I don't want to remember today as the day the space/shuttle program ceased to exist.

I've been slowly fixing up my house over the last several weeks. I finally painted all the bedroom and bathroom doors (a total of five), and they look 100% better, especially with the new door knobs. I also replaced the cheasy knobs on the kitchen cabinets. The old ones were white with little flowers painted on them, the new ones are silver and much prettier. I haven't replaced the hinges yet, that'll come a little later. I also fixed the main floor toilet. Having a functional powder room makes the place seem much less ghetto! The next plan is to finally finish working on the basement. I had planned on doing a beach theme, but after seeing some space posters on sale in King Soopers, I reverted back to my original plan of a space theme. My sister laughed at me and said she knew I would go back to the space idea.

So for my birthday present to myself, I just got back from spending several hundred dollars on camping equipment...and all I really got was a sleeping bag and mattress (well, also a tent, but a cheap Wal-Mart one). I want to use the gear for backpacking, also, so I splurged and got a lightweight sleeping bag that packs down quite a bit with a good Thermarest mattress. I'm borrowing a backpacking tent from a friend for my trip the end of July, but I needed one for my trip this weekend (he's using the one I'm borrowing this weekend) so I just bought a cheap one. Next year I'll spend the money for the tent.