Happy Birthday Jennifer Mimi Sitting Again and The Evils of Splenda

First off, Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Here is a cat picture for you. Yeah, gee thanks, Mom. Just what I've always wanted!

I was going to do some dusting this morning since I still haven't cleaned our knick knack cupboard in the living room after the dust storm on Sunday, and got as far as putting a cleaning rag on the counter. I came back later to find Little Miss Must Sit On Things sitting on it. It's a folded up cleaning rag so only a small part of her actually fits on it, but even small things must be sat upon apparently.

You can just barely see a corner of it under her.

And now for the Splenda part of my post. I've been using Splenda instead of sugar for quite a few years now and have also been gassy for quite a few years, something I just assumed was a part of getting older or eating too much fiber or whatever. But, the past few weeks I've been having really bad stomachaches and extra bad gas and cramping and just not feeling well. I'm of course thinking stomach cancer or some other horrible disease of the digestive system but then got to thinking about the splenda. We had discussed whether or not it gives you gas in the past and had googled it and yes, it can. I had tried some other sweeteners, stevia and monk fruit, but the generic knock-off splenda is a lot cheaper than those so I went back to it. Much to my stomach's distress, I guess. I threw away the splenda and got a stevia/sugar blend that tastes good and whaddya know, my stomachaches are largely gone and I'm not so gassy anymore.

Moral of the story? Sometimes it's better to pay more and not have a stomachache and gas.

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

(and James!)

Today is Jennifer's birthday and she's getting to the age where you really don't get as excited about birthdays because it just means you are another year older. And maybe you are getting a few wrinkles or some gray hairs along with the another year older. The only reason I can even remember how old she is now is by counting back from the age I will be on my birthday this year (FIFTY SEVEN! ACK!) and then subtracting by 20.

It is also stepson James' birthday today and if Keith's brain is remembering correctly, he is 10 years younger than Jennifer, 30 years younger than me, and Jennifer was 7 when he was born although we didn't know them back then so he is 27. So, you can do the math and figure out how old Jennifer is today. Although she may not want us all to know.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to the Birthday Kids and we'll be celebrating next weekend at our first of what we hope will be an annual Birthday Barbecue Event.

We got a new barbecue yesterday because if you are going to invite people to a barbecue you really should have something to cook on other than the Patio Bistro Barbecue that we got last summer that is basically a George Foreman grill on a stand. It works very well for a dinner for us but is kind of small and when people are looking forward to grilled hamburgers and chicken it just doesn't taste the same done on an electric grill.

We weren't specifically looking for a barbecue but were in Tractor Supply to get cat food and flea meds and saw a big charcoal grill that was a very good price so there you go. New barbecue.

We also went to the dollar store to start getting all the napkins, plates, tablecloths and plastic forks for the party. Next week I'll be doing a spring clean of the house so that there aren't cobwebs in the corners and speaking of cobwebs, the eaves on the outside of the house are covered with them so we need to clean those. Keith is taking a long weekend with Thursday and Friday off to try and get the bricks down for the patio so we aren't sitting on dirt and weeds, and then he's taking the Monday off too so that we can go do something fun. If it's not too hot. Its HOT here already, with temps up in the 90's. Summer is early this year.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER! We'll see you next weekend!!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Today is Jennifer's birthday. She is turning 35 today. What? THIRTY FIVE? How in the world am I possibly old enough to have a daughter who is turning THIRTY FIVE?!? Ack!

But it's not about me and how old *I* must be to have a child who is THIRTY FIVE. It's about Jennifer and it's about her birthday and I'm hoping she will have a nice birthday with some fun presents or at least some money to go buy her own fun presents and maybe some dinner out and a cake but not THIRTY FIVE candles on that cake because you don't want to burn the house down with so MANY candles, now do you? Ack! THIRTY FIVE!

Anyway, Happy Birthday daughter, and I hope you have a good one but please don't get any older because you are making me feel positively ancient here!