. . . celebrated a birthday

My daughter Stephanie was born 34 years ago yesterday. I remember it vividly. . . my firstborn. . . but I refrained this year from retelling the story, as I have been known to do, much to the eye-rolling chagrin of my kids. They used to love to hear about the day they were born, but somewhere along the line that all changed. Maybe they just heard it too often. Yesterday I made chocolate birthday cupcakes and Betsy decorated them with sprinkles and we sang "happy birthday to you" after supper.


Stephanie and Andy recently told us that we could expect our third grandchild in early July. Betsy will be 4 1/2 and Joe will be a little over 2 when the new baby arrives, so they will be very busy. Betsy wants to name the baby Schmitty if it's a boy and Nina if it's a girl (apparently they are cartoon characters); Joe just says "baby" (and Betsy has taught him to say "shake your booty", too.) It was a wonderful Christmas present.


I didn't do much more than think about art yesterday, primarily on how to go about selling some of it on etsy, and trying to think of other ways to market it, as well as alternative ways to go about earning some money without having to work in a law office. And that's assuming there are any jobs in law firms to be found around here. Have you ever just written down your dream jobs, with no regard to financial compensation? Near the top of my list would be book reviewer. Imagine getting paid to read. . . I do it now for free. Also near the top would be writing about something I knew about or something interesting I could learn about. . . not fiction, more reporting, facts, only facts. . . and where I could talk to people about what interests them. I am practical, pragmatic and a creative problem solver. I'm trying to figure out how to parlay those characteristics into cold hard cash.