Happy 4th of July!

I feel at loose ends. I'm alone in the office, just a girl and her Internet connection. No, seriously, I think there's four people in the building today, and I'm the only one on the second floor. I brought in a bunch of my CDs, and am typing while listening to Amanda Marshall (VERY underated singer, by the way).

I'm off of everything this month. While we're on vacation, DH and I figure we'll ttc the old-fashioned way. Can't hurt, even though our chances seem slim at this point. What's the worst that can happen, that I don't get pregnant?!? Well, news flash, I'm getting really used to that recurring theme.

On a totally unrelated-to-the-infertility-dance note: Happy Independence Day to everyone who celebrates it! We get to celebrate more than Independence Day in our house. Tomorrow is my mom’s birthday, and her mom’s. That’s right. My mother was born in 1944 on her mom’s 26th birthday. After my Grampie died, we found the Red Cross telegram and the letters from both sets of their parents letting him know that, while he was off in the middle of WWII, he had become a father. Pretty cool family history.

Now for the embarrassing part. Until I was about 7 years old, my Grammie and Mom had me convinced that the reason that everyone had the day off and we had fireworks and cookouts and a day at the beach was because it was both their birthdays. And worse, I believed them. Of course, I also believed that my mother was the little girl in “The Wizard of Oz” (she and Mom have the same name). Grammie told me that one too, trying to calm my fears that the Wicked Witch would finally get Dorothy, telling me that Dorothy grew up and had kids of her own (meaning me and my brother). This all SO explained why, when I was a teenager and couldn’t stand my mom, I would cheer the witch on, just hoping she’d catch a break this one time.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mom. I make her a cake every year, since I am the baker in the family. The usual: lemon cake (no, I’m not that great a baker; it’s a Duncan Hines mix, but then again, that’s what the instructor at my Wilton cake decorating course said she uses all the time) with buttercream frosting (another Wilton trick: it’s butter-flavored Crisco and sifted confectioner’s sugar, with some vanilla extract for flavoring. Best part: it doesn’t need to be refrigerated). I’ll also have fresh sliced strawberries to put on top, Mom’s favorite. We will sit and have cake tonight, and watch the fireworks at the beach from their porch.

And, since I know she’s looking down on me, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Grammie. I wish you’d been able to stick around longer than 59 years.