Happy "New Big Honking Monitor To Me" Birthday!

Free Candy For Everyone: "Happy Birthday To Me
Filed under:World of Warcraft, Gadgets — Tara @ 11:55 pm

It was my birthday this weekend, so of course I needed to get myself something really nice. What to get, what to get? Well. A few weeks ago, my monitor blew up. Yes it did. What was I doing at the time? Playing World of Warcraft, of course. It was quite dismaying. I had no recourse but to push the power button on my machine - no nice log off, no returning to a town. I left my character out in the cold wilderness since I had no way to see what I was doing.

But what was I to do? My lovely 21″ Trinitron was dead. There had been a scary pop and all attempts to turn it on yielded only a cycling clicking sound. Not good. After booting up my trusty laptop and doing some web research, I realized I needed to have this monitor. A 24″ wide screen LCD with a native resolution of 1920×1200. Well. It seems that WoW actually supports this resolution. Oooh. Ok, must have. After waiting a bit for it to go on sale, I managed to find a massive coupon for 35% off and ordered it this week."


Here's a smart cookie who turned a disaster into a great birthday present to herself. All the better to play games with, my dear. He-he-hee!

(Sorry, I turned into The Wicked Witch of the West there a second. Halloween IS coming.)

And she got it discounted. Happy birthday, Tara!

This Birthday Is In The Bags

Hot Momma Drama: Time for a birthday story...---Hot Celebrity Gossip Served Up Nice and Fresh: " So many of you know last week was my birthday. It's really no big deal..I'm not one of those people who announces to everyone I see on that day that , 'Hey..it's my birthday.' In fact, I had lunch on my birthday with my friend Julie..and she had NO idea it was my birthday. Granted she felt like a big dork when she found out 3 days later..but oh well. Anyway..the point is I got some sweet CASH-ola for my b-day. Which is the best present you can get..( I dont' care what anyone says..it is!) So tonight I decided to go out and spend it."


This blog just goes to show that a frugal gal can go right off the deep end for her birthday!

Overcoming Un-Merry Birthday Memories

Maragold's Fancy: BIRTHDAY - P45blogs.net: "BIRTHDAY

I don't do birthdays. The Gnome says I give him 'mixed messages' because I remind him of the date but when it comes down to where to go and what to do, I avoid commitment.

I realise this. I realise that as the day approaches I get tenser and tenser, not knowing what to say or do. I realise I get irritable.

May I share some of my birthday stories? Sit down, they're long. You may want to pee first because if you wiggle when I get to the teary part I'll smack you.

I am one of six kids (2 older boys, three younger) and my parents had very little money. On our birthdays, around 1 pm we got one present, Mom made a cake, we had hot dogs and crisps and it was all over by 1.15. This was the ritual until I was about ten and the youngest boys finally understood there would be no balloons, entertainment or games and stopped, well, participating is the word I want. No one had a party with friends or relatives.

Everyone's birthdays fall in June, July and August except for mine (likely part of my parent's problem, no time to save up, hmmm, new insight there) One year, my father actually complained when he saw my mother lighting the candles on the third birthday in a month: 'Good lord, it never ends, does it?' He was not kidding. He wasn't smiling and he left the room after we sang the song."


Here's someone who intends to have a happy birthday no matter what. At 43, she's had ONE nice party and she threw it herself. Good for her!

Dysfunctional families. Don't you just love them? NOT.

I admire this lady's determination to overcome it and see the joy and blessing of reaching forty-three. You go, girl!

Another Book of Birthday Stories--and Here's An Author!

lisayee: Opposite of Italian: "Opposite of Italian
Got my copies of THE YEAR WE MISSED MY BIRTHDAY (Scholastic) yesterday in the mail. It's an anthology of birthday stories and I have one in it called 'The Opposite of Miffy.' My story involves sushi, prison and electric shopping carts. Other authors who have stories in the book include Lois Lowry, Norma Fox Mazer, Sharon Robinson, and Lois Metzger. I think the book is only available via Scholastic Book Clubs."


Sushi, prison and electric shopping carts? It's got to be anything but an ordinary birthday story!

I consumed many a Scholastic Book as a young 'un. I bet I would enjoy this one too. Guess I better scare me up a kid to keep me supplied with goodies like this.

How About a Poker Birthday Party?

The Online Series Of Poker - Multisite Poker Tournament: "How To Throw The Perfect Poker Party

Every Thursday, Stacey Stefanich and some friends go to an Applebee's restaurant to have dinner and a drink or two.

But the meal is just a preamble.

The night really starts at 7:30, when they gather around poker tables at a friend's house to best one another with a couple decks of cards and some poker chips.

Poker's popularity has exploded in the past couple of years. Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee with only online poker experience, was a major catalyst when he won the 2003 World Series of Poker. People now obsessively watch poker on television and play online.

And poker parties are becoming more common and even a regular part of some people's social lives."


It's not just for fellas anymore. This blog talks about a lady who regularly plays with the guys and occasionally wins! Know a female whose birthday is coming up? Want a new idea for how to celebrate it? An all-girls or guys-and-girls poker night birthday party could be fun.

October Baby's First Birthday Ideas

baby's birthday: "Fall 1st Birthday:
Purchase Anne Geddes plain note cards (the one with the pumpkin). Print on paper for inside (I understand these are hard to find)
'Our Little Pun'kin is turning ONE!'
Cake: Pumpkin cake made in a bundt pan. Frosted orange and decorated with autumn foliage (artificial) in the center. Mini bundt cakes for children with tootsie roll for stem. Serve with pecan praline ice cream.
Activity: Go to the pumpkin patch and choose your pumpkins. Have a pumpkin carving contest."


These are all good ideas. I particularly like the Anne Geddes note cards. Have you seen her astounding baby pictures? What she does with babies? Incredible stuff. Even if you're (gasp!) NOT into babies, you can't help but smile her Anne Geddes pictures.

Two Birthday Stories With Great Charm!

DenverPost.com Bloghouse » Birthday story: "Birthday story
Photo by Julie Soulen / Colorado Journal
So, I was sitting on the front step, doing nothing in particular,
when Julie appeared on the road, just cresting the steep hill
about a quarter mile away. Now, this was not unexpected
since she had left on her morning walk a half hour
or so before. Also, just as expected, Dude the Dog
could be seen trotting along beside her, his tail
a golden banner in the early sun.

No, the scene was as I have witnessed it
countless times before on those days
when I am too tired or too lazy to accompany
them on that two-mile trek. What was unusual
was the sight of a big, white balloon
floating above her head. And it followed her
all the way up the road, through the gate
and right up to the steps where I was sitting.

“Happy birthday!” she smiled, and handed me her prize.

“You shouldn’t have,” I responded, accepting the gift
and watching it bob about playfully in the breeze.

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t. I found it. It was stuck in a tree over on Pete’s Road. Isn’t it a hoot!? Some little girl let it go way down in town and it sailed all the way up here and I found it!”

She was actually beaming."


There's more to this story, then goes into another story. Both are charming birthday stories well worth your time. Check it out.

Collect Birthday Friends For Marathon Celebrations!

A View from Sierra County: "Edging Toward A Celebration

Counting Down the Days

My birthday is rapidly approaching, ushering in a brief season of celebration. For the past couple of decades, I have collected friends that are fellow Libras, and found ways to celebrate our birthdays together, with events stretching out at least a week on one side and the other of the actual date. One year, my friend Suzi (whose birthday is exactly a week ahead of mine) threw a killer birthday bash to ease into becoming an elder (it was her 50th)... including flying in crab and hiring two different bands for two nights' worth of dancing at a lodge up in the Gold Lakes Basin."


Now THAT'S cool--collecting friends who share your birthday month. Go ahead and read this birthday girl's blog. She has lots of good ideas and stories about birthdays.

She's a knitter. No wonder she's so creative!

A Book of Birthday Stories to Savor

book blog: Birthday Stories: Selected and Introduced by Haruki Murakami: "Birthday Stories: Selected and Introduced by Haruki Murakami


Its been a long while since I've read. And though this not exactly the right time to read, oh hell... what the heck. Haruki Murakami, who am I kidding... especially when I saw it on the library shelf waiting for me to read it.

I picked it up.

I read it.

Though, this is anthology of a variety of stories all having the same theme. Birthdays.

It was a surprising book for me. Some of the stories are endearing. Some are heart-breaking. Perhaps, I've been lucky. All 23 of the birthdays I had was wonderful so far. Sure, there are some years that I wished it was better... but mostly, I was happy. I never had or could imagine a sad birthday. And one of the stories, broke my heart... The Birthday Cake by Daniel Lyons...

I can't exactly say that I enjoyed this book... for to me, I still love After the quake. It is to me, one of the best short stories ever compiled into one book..."


Everyone has birthday stories and some are bound to be sad. I wouldn't care to share a birthday with Hitler, for instance. Or have my 21st birthday be on THE 9/11.

This is a cool idea. A collection of short stories, all about birthdays, could be a great birthday present for the reader you know and love.

Happy Birthday Song Copyright Protected

News Bits: Happy Birthday Copyright Protected: "Happy Birthday Copyright Protected

Taken from Snopes

The 'Happy Birthday' story begins with two sisters from Kentucky, Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill. Patty Smith Hill, born in 1868, was a nursery school and kindergarten teacher and an influential educator who developed the 'Patty Hill blocks' used in schools nationwide, served on the faculty of the Columbia University Teachers College for thirty years, and helped found the Institute of Child Welfare Research at Columbia in 1924. Patty's older sister, Mildred, born in 1859, started out as a kindergarten and Sunday-school teacher like her sister, but her career path took a musical turn, and Mildred became an composer, organist, concert pianist, and a musical scholar with an speciality in the field of Negro spirituals. One day in 1893, while Mildred was teaching at the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School where her sister served as principal, she came up with the modest melody we now know as 'Happy Birthday'; sister Patty added some simple lyrics and completed the creation of 'Good Morning to All,' a simple greeting song for teachers to use in welcoming students to class each day:

Good morning to you,
Good morning to you,
Good morning, dear children,
Good morning to all."


We have these ladies to thank for the melody, and an unknown person contributed the lyrics. Singing it to family and friends on their birthdays is okay, but get up on stage and warble it and you need to pay for the right. Who knew?

My Chemical Romance Birthday Story

Looking for my 100 dollar bill . . .: My birthday story: "My birthday story
So, last night had to have been one of the BEST nights of my life!! Granted, the events leading up to the MOST AMAZING THING EVER weren't all that great, but the end result was SO good, that I just forgot about all of the crap I had to go through to get there.

First of all, I guess I should explain myself. . . I went to the My Chemical Romance concert last night in St. Paul. It's my birthday today, so, as a birthday present, my sister got me tickets and a hotel room for herself and me. I left Brookings about 10 a.m. and drove, and drove, and drove (withOUT air conditioning, mind you). So, that kinda sucked. But, I finally got to Shakopee, where I was supposed to meet my sister. Only to find out, that she was running behind and had NO idea how to get there. So, NUMEROUS phone calls later, we finally caught one another and set out to look for the hotel room.

Yeah. . . or so we thought..."


Shall I give away the ending? Her super treat was meeting with and talking to the lead singer of My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way, and he signed their ticket stubs. As she says, "But, to say the least, it was the BEST birthday present ever!!!"

Top Ten Birthday Stories, Plus One!

Mommy Grows Up: Birthday Monday: "Birthday Monday

My birthday is this week, so I am offering both a birthday story and a birthday top ten.

First, the story. Katie is currently obsessed with birthdays. Especially mine. This is due, largely in part, to the Dora story which she insists on hearing every night. And I mean every night. It's the Dora story where Dora goes on a trip to gather the ingredients for a recipe for her Mami's birthday cake. She gets nuts, bananas and chocolate - the chocolate from a chocolate tree which, quite frankly, I want to know the whereabouts of.

So, anyway, Katie is obsessed with my birthday. Our neighbors were strolling down the street the other day and we were chatting when Katie announces that it's 'my mommy's birthday!' And I say, well, not today, but soon. Frankie, our neighbor's oldest child who is five, looks at me and asks me how old I am. And I say, very dramatically, 'I'm going to be a HUNDRED years old!' And both Frankie and Zoe get very quiet. At which point their mother whispers to me, 'That's how old we tell them people are when they go to heaven.' Doh! So in honor of my birthday, I've traumatized the neighbor's children.

And also speaking of birthdays, I've decided that today's top ten is my top ten memorable birthdays. As usual, in no particular order."


Want to hear about birthdays? Stories of ones that went right and ones that went horribly wrong? You're in for a treat. Read this!

Marmellies Birthday Party Game

Party Game Central- Party games and birthday games for kids and adults: "MARMELLIES
Objective: A hilarious game where players try to place marshmallows with a wooden spoon while a bit dizzy.

Categories:
Relay Race, Birthdays
Game type:
Passive. Little or no movement is required.
Players:
2 to 6 players.
Needed: 2 bowls, small marshmallows, wooden spoon, oven mitts, blind fold

Rules: Take 2 bowls and fill one up with small marshmallows. Get 2 oven mitts and put them on the player. Get a blind fold and wrap it around the person's eyes and spin them 10 times. Give them a wooden spoon and they have to take as many marshmallows as they can and put them in the empty bowl in 1min. Count the marshmallows. Each player get a chance and the player with the most marshmallows in the bowl.

Submitted by: Sylvie Byrnes, Sudbury, ON ,Canada"


Great fun for a family birthday party! The kids would get a giggle watching Daddy get blindfolded, oven-mitted and dizzy, then try to move marshmallows. Makes me giggle imagining my dad doing it. Why do I think moms could do it best?

Five Star No Bake Birthday Cake Recipe!

cake | Full Page Printable Format: "Angel Cake Surprise
An easy, quick no-bake cake made with angel food cake,
fruit, flavored gelatin, and whipped topping. Prep Time:
approx. 20 Minutes. Ready in: approx. 2 Hours 20 Minutes.
Makes 1 - 9x13 pan (24 servings).
Printed from Allrecipes, Submitted by Mel
1 (10 inch tube pan) angel
food cake
1 (3 ounce) package
strawberry flavored gelatin
1 (15 ounce) can sliced peaches
3 bananas
1 (5 ounce) package instant
vanilla pudding mix
1 (8 ounce) container frozen
whipped topping, thawed
1 (20 ounce) can crushed
pineapple, drained

Directions
1 Break angel food or pound cake into bite size pieces.
Put into a 9x13 inch pan (preferably glass).
2 Dissolve 1 package of flavored gelatin in 1 cup of
water and pour over cake pieces, spreading to the edges of
pan. Drain the peaches and pour the juice over the gelatin
in the pan. Slice bananas on top of gelatin. Arrange
peach slices on top of banana slices. If desired, add
crushed pineapple.
3 Prepare instant pudding according to instructions on
box and spread evenly over fruit.
4 Spread whipped topping on top of the pudding. Try to
keep the layers separate.
5 Refrigerate at least 2 hours"


Can't bake because your oven died just when you have a birthday party to host? Not a problem. Look at this delicious creation! Slurp!

Kid's Choo-Choo Train Birthday Cake Decorations

"This is an oh so easy Train cake to decorate...



6 Choo Choo Train Edible Hard Sugar Decorations (see note below)
4 Traffic Signs Edible Hard Sugar Decorations
1 Happy Birthday Plaque Edible Hard Sugar Decoration
1 pkg. Chocolate Pebbles & Rocks
1 Brown Writing-Decorating Gel Tube
1 Black Writing-Decorating Gel Tube

PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT
Choo Choo Train Sugars:
The Train Sugars are shaped and colored on one side ONLY. The back of the sugars are FLAT. The Train sugars in the cake photo have been placed standing up but the backs are flat and white. A cute and impressive way to use these Train sugars!"


I was never a little boy, or the mother of a little boy, but this cake kit appeals to me somehow. If you have a train-loving tyke, can't you just imagine him making train noises as he plays with his new birthday train and anticipates eating his train cake?

Birthday Wine Tasting Party & Wine Tasting Game!

Winerd - The Wine Tasting Party Game from Paisley Creek: "Winerd - The Wine Tasting Party Game
Item No: G150
Whether you are hosting a wine tasting party or just a friendly get together with a few close friends, this Winerd Wine Tasting Party Game is sure to be entertaining and educational for all of your wine tasting party guests. This is also a perfect gift for the novice to the connoisseur. The game includes over 300 question and answer cards, 12 bonus/challenge cards, four game pieces and a Blind Taste Test Notepad that guides you through the steps of wine evaluation. For a fun filled evening, just add your own wine and friends. Be sure to check out our guide on Hosting a Wine Tasting Party by clicking here"


What a cool idea for a birthday celebration for the over-21 crowd! You don't even have to be a wine expert. Explore your old or new interest in wines, learn something and have fun together while turning one year older. Can't beat that.