post party mortem...

having trawled through my little selection of party pics, i have discovered that the majority of them are extremely blurry...which comes as no surprise really, so here's a sample of 'the best' of a 'bad lot'...

i must thank you all for your lovely supportiveness in my 'week of crisis'...i am now fully recovered from my 'under the weatherness' and have sworn off cocktails mixed by 'well meaning friends'...at least until the next 'big number'.

and so dear readers, i am starting my first full week of being a 'grown up'...it is just fine, much better than i thought it would be, of course that does not include the moments when i catch myself remembering i am 40, then i am not quite so good...

this week i have my in-laws back to stay, plus the pressing need to read my panini maker instructions (for crying out loud, i've never been a 'diamonds' kind of girl, but please 'a panini maker' for one's 40th...i ask you) to keep my mind from drifting towards 'forty thoughts'...with such a thrilling week ahead, i am going to take the next few 'days off' from my little blog and will see you on friday...

she's thanking you so very kindly for the 'birthday wishes' ~ Tif

saturday, fortysomething...

dear readers, i have found the perfect way to get through one's first day of forty...

just drink a 'Tifini' or 'two' the night before and wake feeling so hungover that you mistakenly believe you are '22' again. except one is not because if one was '22' again, one would most definitely not be standing in the pouring rain watching two kids soccer matches and trying very hard not to 'throw up'...it's just perfect, i was so busy focusing on feeling 'rather crappy', i forgot to focus on 'feeling forty'...

now the evening is upon me, i am feeling slightly more 'human' (as long as no one squeaks louder than a mouse) and have even mustered up some energy to unwrap my gift...quite frankly, after cremating a grilled cheese sandwich earlier in the week, i have no idea what my man was thinking...

i am now the proud owner of a 'panini maker'...

she's keeping a stiff upper lip about being forty and counting her blessings ~ Tif

footnote: please note photo was taken in my heady 'carefree youth' of last week and not in my 'maturing years' of today...

friday, thirtysomething...

on my last 'friday of youth', okay...let's just get it out there, my last 'day of youth' (deep breaths) i am feeling sick...sick with nerves, what made me think it would be jolly to have a '40th birthday party' in those 'lazy hazy days' of this past july, i will never know...i can only imagine it was something to do with being 'carefree' and 'young'...

today the 'mizzling' has turned to 'drizzling', (good job i am made of british genes)

to add to this, i have discovered our #1's music player is not functioning as it should (i.e. broken)...i had visions of a never ending play list of well thought out music choices that my guests would marvel over (how i would have achieved such a thing, i don't know as i am not 'technical minded' but one can dream)...alas this is not to be. i will stick in a CD and hope i remember 30 minutes later to change it. (mental note made to one's self, stay off the booze for at least the first 30 minutes)

my 'party' frock which i was planning to wear has been removed from the closet, and horror of horrors i have discovered that my 'lotion with a hint of summer' has done wonders at adding a nice tan line to my little frock's neckline (and yes i had washed it, i'm not that bad...but it's linen and thus requires gentle attention which obviously does not remove fake tan stuff)...there is only one thing i could do at this late hour, delve into my lace stash and do a bit of customizing. interestingly i think i like it better now...

i have also had a thought...shouldn't a birthday party have a cake? now if i was Nigella this would not be a problem. but i'm not lovely 'Nigella with a magic mixer', no i am 'Tif with a crock pot'...i am hoping this little detail will be over looked by my polite guests and also put paid to 'happy birthday' being sung by some 'tipsy' types that are bound to come...

i am now off to decorate my canopy with the help of some lovely friends who are stopping by in my 'hour of need'...

in a few hours i will be slugging a 'Tifini', thanks to my friend Jeff (life must be pretty good to have a drink made after one's self)...

and so it just leaves me to say...

it's a little bittersweet to be celebrating my 'big day' knowing all my family and some good friends are so far away across the pond, they have watched me grow from a skinny little scrawny kid with frizzy hair, through some interesting teenage moments and a crimping iron...onto my years of populating the earth with mini me's and an 'annie lennox' hair do.

and now i stand here on the eve of 'growing up' holding onto my youth, sporting pigtails...i thank them all kindly for 'loving me' just the way i am...

and you, dear readers...where would i be without you in my day to day life, i wish you could be here as well, oh how we would have a blast. so do me a favor...have a little drinky on me and let's toast 'the good times ahead'....

she's breaking her 'vow of silence' on a weekend and will see you tomorrow for the big day ~ Tif

thursday, thirtysomething...

i knew i could rely upon my lovely readers to appreciate my 'nipple' issues...

today, i have other issues to be addressed.

it is all very well and lovely to imagine a outdoor party to which we all drool over when flicking through magazines, but i believe it is quite a different thing to actually 'pull it off'. my first issue for the day is 'cleaning' and 'squirreling' away the house...i have so far put in three hours of hard graft and have not noticed 'used dog' being the slightest bit of use...quite the opposite, as fast as i vacuum up the dog hair, she kindly comes behind me to deposit another little bundle...i also realize it is completely pointless and a waste of time to 'clean' and 'squirrel' when in a few hours the kids will come home and all my work will be undone...but none the less it must be done just incase a 'guest' at the party takes a wrong turn and ends up in my laundry room...

my second issue of the day is the weather, isn't it sod's law that after two weeks of non-stop (so sorry, dear brits) blooming sunshine, today it starts to 'mizzle' (is there such a word...i feel it was 'too light' a drop of water to say 'drizzle' so i felt 'mizzle' fitted the bill)...however, dear readers we will not let this put a damper on the proceedings.

the 'tent men' have arrived, i am ever so hopeful that a small marquee (sounds grand) will be put up against the back of the shed. of course i don't actually know whether this will be the case as i couldn't understand a word of what the guy said to me and it soon became apparent, he didn't understand a word that i was uttering (along with lots of arm waving, in the hope he would understand me better if i flapped a bit). only time will tell whether i have a small 20ft by 20ft canopy out the back or a cirque de soleil number...

to reward myself for spending way too much time up close with several toilet bowls and some stainless steel appliances...i defy anyone to tell me that they don't have a 'love/hate' relationship with stainless steel. i am way too lazy to spend each day polishing my kitchen appliances, therefore quite frankly if you were to drop by unannounced it would be true to say they 'look like crap' on any given day. but not today, oh no...today i got down on my hands and knees and polished the little buggers (dear god, my language this week is atrocious...forgive me, it is my age) till they were gleaming. of course 'used dog' followed behind leaving 'snotty' marks, good job i love her...okay, so i have totally digressed to the point of having to start my topic sentence again...so here goes,

to reward myself for spending my last 'thursday of youth' scrubbing loos i have set aside a quiet hour to catch up with my 'UK County Living' (september issue)...it's really rather lovely this month and well worth a 'ganders' if you come across it...i am coveting (is there such a word?) several things...

the raised beds,

the clothes,

the dahlia garden...

and the radio...

she's off to do a 'sun dance', possibly in just her undies...after all she's nearly 40 ~ Tif

wednesday, thirtysomething...

i am on my own for the first day in 'yonks'...our #2 has recovered and is back at school, she didn't look too great when she left this morning...i have a feeling she is still sick but would rather go to school then stay home with her mum. i don't think it is anything personal, just a survival thing, i surpassed myself yesterday on the old 'culinary' front when making her lunch...

luckily i didn't make a mess of the peg bag...it seems to have worked out fine, i can't tell you how i made it because i often just figure these things out as i go along. however i can tell you that now i 'step back' and examine it, i see that the pink doily and button, resemble a 'nipple'.

now that i see it, i can't stop 'seeing it'...

i shall add a few more buttons in a day or two and with a bit of luck it will help to disguise my 'nipple' dilemma...

and so on this last 'wednesday of youth' i shall put aside feelings of panic knowing that my 'birthday do' is only two days away and i am not at all organized (i believe the magazine did know what it was talking about after all)...

i am trying hard here to recall (my memory is not what it was...darn the aging process) if i have ever actually thrown a birthday party for myself or anyone else for that matter...to calm my nerves i have been busy with the old crochet hook...

oh how i love crochet, i can not believe that i waited 38 years to learn it...

she's off to enjoy a little of the sunshine before the herd comes home ~ Tif

party planner...

there is only one way to deal with your last monday of being 'thirty something' and that is to not dwell on it...i have a few days to myself as my in-laws are on a boat trip and so i must prepare for the 'big day' on saturday...

last week 'passed by' in a blur of 'garden centers' and 'gardening' but sadly none of this...i know some of you will not want to hear this but we are going into our thirteenth day of blue skies and lovely temperatures...my sun dresses have enjoyed a revival from the back of the closet and my razor has been spurred back into action.

amongst the 'jollies' that i took my in-laws to was a 'u-cut' dahlia farm...i now know it is my destiny to fill one of my veggie patches full of dahlias so that i may 'waft' out of my shed each morning and cut a flower to put 'oh so effortlessly' into a vase whilst having little hens pecking around my ankles...in the meantime i placed the lovely dahlias upon my mantlepiece to remind me that this must be achieved before i turn 'forty one' next year (oh god, doesn't that sound scary...)

so this week i am planning a party, no point in pretending that the 'big four- 0' will ignore me and pass on to someone else...the count down is on, i have lived my last saturday and sunday as a young, care free 'thirty nine' year old and must face the fact that next saturday and sunday i will living as a grown up 'forty' year old...

i knew back in the summer that i must prepare for this up and coming event and so decided to throw a party...according to the magazine i was reading at the time (showing me beautiful pictures of what my party should look like), i needed to start planning two months in advance. apparently if i do this, the party is bound to be a success...sadly i started planning my party two weeks before the big day, i am hoping there was a miss print in the article and that it really meant two weeks...

whilst thinking about my list of 'to dos' for friday night i will spend my last monday of 'youth' buying weetabix cereal, returning a soccer shirt that was too big and nursing a sick child...i really know how to 'live it up'...

she's wondering if it's still okay to serve up cheese cubes and pickled onions on sticks ~ Tif