Older!

And occasionally I feel wiser, but then I do something utterly daft. Oh well, at least it usually involves physical comedy and everyone gets a good laugh.

In news, this was a lovely birthday and that was a lovely party! Except I cocked up on one important item, which was not checking my inbox on the other email account I own, wherein were sitting two bounces for invites that had gone out and come straight back out. J has configured everything tricksily, and apparently my home account goes through my GMail account, which would have been good to realise last week.

So I am so sorry to Wenchi and Mr K, who were definitely both invited, if only it had reached you! And of course there were several other people who I meant to invite but just never got my act together. But that's just general D crapness.

As to the people I did invite, it was wonderful to see everyone! And there was charm and good humour and delightfulness all round. Thanks so much to Art, Blayney, Bleddynn and Deense for the last-minute organisation help. Although Deense should have sat down and relaxed!! I feel that the onions brought your headache back and that is not a happy thought.

Eadie led the rush to the children's play corner, then some actual toddlers arrived and the taller kids had to vacate. After spending time choosing pillows with different textures and putting out toys, it was the old favourite game of Rocks in Pots that kept the midget set happy (give toddler pot, set loose on pebble pathway, watch as pebbles are redistributed, return later. It's a winner!) Is and AJ were alternately adorable and grumping for England, but every time the tears started, there were more rocks!

M&M's barbecue was a godsend and chugged along merrily through many, many bits of food. We were going to have some sausages tonight, but we accidentally had cake first and that was the end of us.

It was very good to see people I don't get to catch up with often, including Peter, Taryn and Sarah. I know that Sarah was having a fairly crappy day for other reasons and it was really good to see her being able to relax for a few hours (and resist J's evil pavlova blandishments!)

J was completely right about the amount of pavlova required to feed our peer group. I was very over-compensating with the food. Keria supplied all the pre-prepped catering and it was delicious! And packaged in very thoughtful little ways. The kiddie dips were very fun. Oliver decided that he was not for blue kiddy tzatziki, but not before sliming his whole face with it. Sorry, DV! Our neighbour Jim and Meags and her J have now had the beer fairy visit after we realised that an undrunk slab of Coopers would take up the whole fridge.

As to pressies, made out like the proverbial bandit! Thanks, chaps! The best thing was that every gift was very thoughtful and just right. It's not that I have issues about parental forgettings of birthdays ... oh, hang on, yes I do. J was a winner, too, with a perfect pair of earrings and a light and magnifying glass combination for sewing.

And a very big thank you to everyone who commented on the cleanliness of the living room and garden. While my knees may never forgive me, at least we're now set up for more entertaining. Although the cat thinks we've done it all for her and was very cross when the cushions came back inside.

Thanks, too, to Drakey, Myna, Blod, Margie and Aphie for their notes. I feel very loved and happily birthdayed. Now I have to go off and sew lots while planning more great novel and serving all my meals in the new Countess bits (so we drink soup for a while, it's good!) Must sew, or J will be naked at Canty Faire and that would be very, very bad.