Birthday Weekend, Belated Photos

Okay, so I am running behind in just about everything -- especially where writing is concerned.  My therapist gave me a writing assignment two weeks ago and I have yet to even begin it.  Oh well.

But here I am, finally posting some random pictures from my birthday weekend, which was last month!

Enjoy (I'll caption anything I think needs extra explanation)...

On Friday, for school, we did a couple cool things for science.  One was a blood-type compatibility project (never mind Rh-factor for this experiment).*

If a type of donor "blood" (the blue is Type B, the clear is Type O) changes the color of the recipient's "blood," it is incompatible.  If it doesn't change, it's compatible.

I made this chart so they could track and visualize the results of the experiment as we went along.  We discussed our results at the end.

The next project was creating a model of human blood.  Each student created their own models based on the equivalents of 55% plasma (corn syrup), 44% red blood cells (Red Hot candies), 1/2% white blood cells (mini-marshmallows) and 1/2% platelets (candy sprinkles - we used hearts).*

Then we combined everyone's individual models into one big jar.

This jar will serve as a reminder model in our school room for the school year.  I labeled it with the components and percentages (not shown here) for easy reference.

After school, I took those who wanted to go with me (Z, J, O) a few blocks away where the high school was scheduled to have their Homecoming parade.  I love impromptu fun.  This was not planned for us, but I saw them getting set up earlier in the day and so I surprised the kids and took them.

Yeah, I got a little crazy with the photo-editing options.

And they threw candy.  Just so you don't worry, C joined us at the parade when he got home and he was standing right by O there in the street to catch candy.

As planned, C took me to Uptown to look at the iPhones (see the Apple store on the right there) and to have dinner at the Melting Pot.

Our dessert course at the Melting Pot.  This plus chocolate fondue, of course.

Good stuff.

C had ordered a birthday package deal for me at the restaurant and that included chocolate covered strawberries to take home.  They were good, but they had nothing on Shari's.

On Saturday morning, as planned, we went up to Flying Star Cafe for breakfast.  Yes, I did order my favorite Southwest Bennie, but C saw me eying their fruit tart and he got this for me as well.  Soooo good and fresh.

After J's dance class, she and I headed over to the hair salon for haircuts.  I was desperately in need.  J took this picture of me before my haircut.

J took this picture of me after my haircut, when we met up with the rest of the family at Taco Bell for lunch (nothing fancy, but I do enjoy their new Cantina Bowl).

Then, over to the BioPark's Botanic Gardens, for some photorific fun.

I have never seen ducks in a tree.  This couple of Wood ducks were pretty high up in the branches that extended out over the water.  It was kind of funny.

Okay, so I couldn't make this picture look good, but it was such an exciting catch for me that I'm posting it anyway.

Probably our last visit to the Butterfly Pavilion this year.

This guy was trying to escape the Butterfly Pavilion.  He was in the passage way between the secure doors.  I took some pictures and then I reported him to the authorities.

This is a display in the farm area of the park.  I'm sure there are 1000s of pictures of it.  But here's another.

We went next door to the Aquarium while we were there.

In the parking lot.  Our state bird.  I still get happy when we see one because they're not so common in our area.

On Sunday, we had church services and then we met up with my sister's family for dinner at Mario's.  Their lasagna is the best thing they offer and I order that almost every time we go, but I started with a cup of their Creamed Chicken and Green Chile soup, which was also very tasty.

C made my dessert -- carrot cake (without raisins or nuts) -- and we were able to bring it to the restaurant and serve it there.  It, too, was very delicious.

This was the evening sky as we headed home after dinner.

From the family out-of-town who still send me gifts (not that I'm deserving), I mostly got gift cards and cash.  Here are two sweaters I purchased with some of that money.  I love the color blue, but I usually end up with red coats and sweaters, for some reason.  So I took a risk and got blue and purple this time.  I love them.  Thank you family!

From my family at home, I got some gifts of service that I'd been hoping for (in addition to a new UV lens for my camera and a pretty new Swiffer WetJet since my other one had stopped working).   One of these gifts was having our entire tile floor mopped.  They did a great job (sorry the lighting is so yellow, the tiles are tan - and clean!).

My sister and my nieces gave me a variety of things from candles to bracelets (these bracelets were from K and N) and other stuff in between.  Thank you all so much.

I know I don't often include pictures of myself here, but for the record, here I am in a self-portrait taken by my cell phone on the day I turned 39.  Thank you, God, for the many blessings I've received in 39 years!

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* These projects were ones I found online on several sites.  There are varied options suggested if you wish to make your own model of blood, but the blood-type compatibility project was pretty straight-forward, using red for Type A, blue for Type B, purple for Type AB and clear for Type O.