Crappy birthday to me

Okay, I'm going to try really hard not to sound whiny and petulant, but if I do can y'all cut me some slack? It truly was a crappy day yesterday.

It started out nice enough. I got up pretty early, fed the horses and let them out, keeping Gem and Sparky in for the day as Gem got himself wounded (long story) and I wanted him out of the bitter cold. Even the trip down was nice: clear and dry roads and very little traffic. I got to Mom's around noon, and that's when the 'fun' began.

Mom had almost nothing wrapped, and she put me to work wrapping while she sorted and micro-managed and wrapped a couple of DVDs. After three hours, I was finally done. I packed the stuff in her car, then headed over to my brother's house for the gathering. No dinner, just grazing all day, sort of an open house. The kids were high on the never ending supply of brightly wrapped presents and noisy obnoxious toys. I got a lot of 'Happy Birthday' greetings, and a couple of presents, and that's about it.

Now, to be fair, there were some other things going on that distracted everyone. My great aunt Doris died that morning, my great aunt Astrid had died a week earlier, and my grandma was distraught. Mom was distracted with funeral arrangements, talking with her cousins, and comforting grandma.So I guess I can cut her a little slack. But come on, not even a cake?

Then the fun really begins. After most of the relatives leave, and it's just me, my brothers, mom, and my sister in law, I let it slip to my younger-younger brother John that Ken was in Michigan with his girlfriend, and that I'm finally going to file for divorce. That gets my older-younger brother Jay and my mom plotting on how I can ditch all my 'dead weight' and move closer to home.

I think their favorite plan was to have me turn the farm over the the bank, find homes for as many of the animals as I can, and move into a run-down house on a farm that Jay's renting. It's on 15 acres and has a barn and shed, so I could have some of the horses there, and maybe board for extra cash. I guess the house looks better on the inside and just needs some cosmetic work (I kinda doubt it's that easy).

After 2 hours of listening to them plot and my sister-in-law exclaim about how disrespectful Ken was to me to have an affair (it baffled her that I cared more about the animals than my marriage, which really died 10 years ago), I made a hasty retreat. I stopped by to drop off the rest of the cookies for dad, then started for home.

The trip back was pretty good, clear sailing until I hit Madison. That's when the snow began to fall. It was the storm I had been trying to avoid by leaving early, but apparently I was destined to drive home at 40 mph on the expressway all the way home. The closer to home I got, the more snow was on the road. I was so not amused.

I finally got home at 11 (I had left at 6:30, so I guess I didn't do too badly). Our neighbor hadn't been able to plow us out before I got home, so he did the best he could by driving around the driveway with his dually. I had to really gun it and keep going, but I didn't get stuck and was able to make it to the shed to park. Jac and the dogs met my outside to help bring in packages. After we got in and settled, Jac surprised me with two little pecan tassies with a candle in each, as I had let it slip that I hadn't gotten a birthday cake. I felt a little better, but I was so wired on stress and caffeine that I went online to check my emails (3 automated birthday greetings, none on any of my forums or networking sites) and then stayed up until 2am watching 'Love, Actually'.

So, that's how I spent my 35th birthday. Not too exciting, and a little disappointing. Anyway, today is a new day, and hopefully I can get my life turned around the way I want and next year I can have a better birthday.