July 09th, 2019

This year I decided that I didn't want to make a cake for Tim's and my birthdays.  (My birthday is today, Tim's is Thursday)  Not because I'm too lazy to make a cake, although I am admittedly fairly lazy, but because we do not need to eat an entire cake.  And that's what happens.  If  I make a cake, we eat a cake.  If I made a pie, we eat a pie.  Cookies we aren't so gluttonous about.  It is, afterall, possible to eat one cookie.  Unlikely, but possible.  Cookies freeze easily and with no harm done to the integrity of the cookie.  So when I make cookies, and I do, usually I bag and freeze them and we can indulge once in awhile with a cookie (or two) and 1) we have not eaten the entire batch in one sitting and 2) the rest of the batch doesn't have to be thrown away to either prevent us from eating it or because it has gone bad.  It makes sense.

But cookies, while yummy, aren't special enough for a birthday. After all, I make cookies all of the time.  A cake or a pie is more of a rarity which makes it more special, more celebratory, more festive!  Still the decision had been made...No Cake!

No cake?  What a drag.  We still felt the need to do something special and birthday-ish.  We considered going to a bakery to buy A slice of cake but oddly, around here, you cannot just walk in and buy a slice of cake.  An entire cake, yes. But one slice, no.  Dang.  There are however, bakeries where you can buy one slice of pie.  I wasn't in the mood for pie.  

Ice cream would be my special day dessert substitution go-to normally. I have even upon occasion requested Dairy Queen, for example, as my birthday goodie.  But - and this is even more unusual - I wasn't in the mood for ice cream.  Sam?  Not in the mood for Ice Cream?  Has the world gone mad?   Hey I don't explain 'em, I just report 'em.  And today's report was...no ice cream.

So it was decided that instead of any of the usual choices, we would have cheesecake.  And not just any cheesecake. Oh no.  It had to be Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake.  Why?  Because there are roughly 5 zillion calories in each slice.  Slice mind you.  Not the entire cheesecake, one slice.  And it seems that sabotaging my diet is the primary way that I choose to celebrate the day of my birth.

So off we went to Sarasota on Saturday for cheesecake.   (yes technically that's the weekend before our birthdays but it's close enough to count!)  On the way we talked about when was the last time we were at a Cheesecake Factory.  We think it was around 8 years ago.  We used to go there with our friends Brian and April.  For some reason that was just one of the places we ended up when we were together.  Not every time, but often enough that Cheesecake Factory is the place I associate with spending time with them.  But then, Brian and April moved away (sniff, sniff) and we just didn't go back.  Just somehow didn't go.  

Until the birthday treat this year!  Oh me oh my, so many choices. So Many Choices!   There were at least 30 different possibilities and I am not even exaggerating.  It took forever to decide.  At long last I ended up with the Oreo Dream Extreme and Tim picked the Caramel Turtle Pecan.  We couldn't wait to get home to eat them!  Holy Cats!  I was concerned that maybe after all this time, I wouldn't like it anymore.  After all we all remember the Hostess Twinkie debacle, right?

Not to worry. It was still decadent wonderfulness and two days worth of eating.  Seriously. I couldn't finish even that one slice.  But I saved it and finished it the next day. It Was So Good!  And, bonus points, it followed the birthday rules.

Do you remember the birthday rules?  Well just in case you don't, here they are:


 BIRTHDAY RULES

1. Number one and most important on this hit parade:  It's all about the birthday person.  It really is.  No exceptions. If it's your birthday, everything that day is about you. Period.

2. Of course, to be absolutely fair, I am not a person who really likes being the center of a big crowd of people. But a small, comfortable, familiar crowd is fine. In fact it's awesome.  A small group of people that I really care about it absolutely perfect.  If that group consists of me and one other person, sometimes that is the best group of all.

3. And there should be at least one treat that a person rarely has, like cake. Or ice cream.  Or cake AND ice cream.  And for heaven's sakes, if a person is going to indulge, it should be the good stuff. The real deal. No fake, crappy substitutes.  And speaking as a person with Lactose Intolerance, if I'm going to suffer later, I want the suffering to be worthwhile, which means the ice cream must be primo.

4. There should be a few cards, some of them should have sparkles, some flowers, some funny, some touching or maybe thought provoking. I like cards.  I set them up on top of the big display cabinet in the living room and admire them for far to long afterwards.

5. There should be some sort of contact from people far away, whether it's phone calls or emails or texts or facebook posts or telepathic thoughts, heaps of good wishes from folks far away makes a birthday extra special.  To think that all of those people bothered to take the time to acknowledge your existence on your birthday shows that you matter in this life.  That's important.

6. There should be no chores on your birthday.  Not one single solitary gotta-do should be done by the birthday celebrant.  Those things can either wait a day to be done, or someone else needs to do them.  I'm immovable on this fact.

7. The birthday person gets to choose what or where to eat for dinner.  And no matter what they choose, that's what dinner is.  Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  It is the ONE day of the entire year where nobody else's likes/dislikes/or personal opinion should take precedence regarding food.

8. It should be a happy day.  Only positive comments and thoughts please.  It should be a day of smiles and laughter. If there is something negative or sad that needs to be said, keep it to yourself for one more day.  Not even boredom is allowed.
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So taadaa!  Happy Birthday to me today!  I plan on having a wonderful marvelous fabulous day from Top to Bottom.  And even though you aren't here to celebrate it with me, I wish you the same.

Hugs all 'round