Velna's 80th Birthday

Velna's 80th birthday was May 24.  We celebrated by going to Costco to return a defective new vacuum cleaner, the second one so returned, and then went to Lowe's to buy another new one to try out.  We went to lunch at SausaLeedo's, a Mexican restaurant, and then Russ and Susan and Ron and Lani came for ice cream and cake that evening.  The next day, Velna's two sisters, Evetta and Beth, came to help her celebrate another day's worth of birthday festivities.

The little flower pots contain a layer of pound cake, a layer of ice cream, and a layer of blender-crushed chocolate cookies (dirt), along with a straw in the middle to hold a flower.  All from the inspiration of Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman of blog fame.

The clever birthday card opened to find eight petals, one petal for each decade of Velna's 80 years.  Underneath each petal was a gift certificate for an eating place.  So now she can choose a new place for lunch each week for eight weeks, plus one week for another gift certificate she was given and that will keep her busy for a week.  Her sisters then took us to Rockwood Pizza for lunch.  After numerous facebook messages, phone calls, and several cards, she felt appropriately remembered and life is back to routine today.  For another birthday present, I did mop the kitchen hardwood floor on her birthday.  I also gave her a printing calculator to make it easier for her, as CFO (chief financial officer) of our family, to do the finances, bill paying, and taxes.  How thoughtful could I have been.  Plus a couple more books, some lovely ball point pens, and a mirror compact for her purse.  We had a great weekend.