Happy Birthday to Me

I wasn't going to do a post today.  It seemed a bit self congratulatory to be posting on your birthday but i think i might have too.  I have been inundated with blessing and good wishes from so many people in all kinds of ways from everywhere.  Can i let you all know that i feel very special today thanks to all your messages on Facebook, through comments on this blog, by SMS on my mobile, in handwritten beautiful cards, phone calls and in person.  I feeling very well loved today.

This still give me a thrill!

My birthday celebrations started yesterday when not one, not two but three people called a day early.  Mum actually got all the way through singing Happy Birthday before i um gently let her know she was a little early. No matter, she called again this morning just after 6am and did it all again.  Lucky Me.

Oh, can i point you to the opening picture - how beautiful is this 3D card.  It is so well made.  The pink is a cutout to the inside and the little plate of cakes is raised and its all textured.  Such a lovely card Veronica.  It came with the most beautiful bouquet of flowers and a gift card and the birthday wishes of my work family. They always spoil me.

Today is also my anniversary of working with them as i started on my birthday in 2007. Makes it easy to remember.  I've reached 8 years continuity of service today which means i am now entitled to 7 weeks Long Service Leave.   Yeah!!!   I cant actually take it (unless agreed) for another two years but its there, fuelling my dreams of a future holiday, somewhere.  I don't know who i am kidding, i get itchy if I'm away for over a week and start calling in.  I miss the action and the people.

Later in the day i was given another arrangement from Janusz (Prod Man) and his wife, Karolina.  I'm leaving this one at work today, so i can enjoy it all tomorrow before bringing it home for the weekend.  The fragrance from both arrangements is beautiful.

This evening after work the three of us went to the Plaza and Tom shouted me dinner with his left over birthday money.  My tummies not up for solids today so (as its my birthday) i had ice cream (lemon cheesecake and mango) and coffee.  It doesn't get better than that.

Its a special treat night.  Mum's a cheap date.  Argh..... Carbs!

He also took me to the book section of Big W and told me to choose.

I believe this is a great movie and a highly recommended book.  

I'm looking forward to Tom having a job as i think he might be quite generous when he has his own money.

After my shameful dinner confession above, can I tell you that my husband bought me a FitBit Charge for my birthday.  Several of my friends have one and they are all linked and keeping track together and so i can now join the club.  With the help of a generous gift from Mum, today Amart Sports allowed me to swap it for the recently released Charge HR that also measures heart rate and improved features over the Charge.

Features of FITBIT Charge HR

STEPS, DISTANCE
CALORIES BURNED

CALLER ID

STAIRS CLIMBED

CONTINUOUS
HEART RATE

ACTIVE MINUTES

SLEEP TRACKING
& ALARMS

• Continuous, automatic, wrist-based heart rate
• Displays daily stats, time of day and Caller ID
• Records run stats, routes, splits and workouts
• Monitors sleep and wakes you with a silent alarm
• Rechargeable battery lasts 5+ days
• Includes tracker, charging cable and wireless sync dongle

With my wonky ankles and feet  I am never going to be in Ella's league, who last weekend did 30,000 steps in one day, but i can certainly work on keeping my heart rate up during exercise periods.   One of the desired features is sleep monitoring.  I don't sleep well and i imagine that many nights i am getting well under 5 hrs and mostly broken.  The Fitbit will actually chart (via my phone or tablet) my sleep patterns - how long it takes to get to sleep, and the duration of sleep between awakenings. This is an area i really need to improve and knowing what's actually going on might help.  I'd love to be one of these people who sleep through the night and wake up slowly but after only a couple of hours I'm bouncing and ready to go like an Energiser Bunny. I'm on watch all the time! Do all mothers feel this way?  I thought I'd grow out of this. He's 18 for goodness sake.  I do crash though.  Usually about 3pm.

Tomorrow night, after dinner, my Fitbit girlfriends are coming over to check out Tom's new treadmill and to help set mine up so we are "on the same page".   I'm mindful of this possibly being another expensive "gizmo" that sits in the drawer but I'm hopeful that it will, with the help of my friends, motivate me to keep up with the exercise.  I struggled to think of something that i needed and then came up with something that i wanted.  

Anyway, its been a lovely day and i just wanted to say thank you to everyone.

Thanks for Visiting Living In The Land Of Oz