It's my birthday! ..........

....and I have had a very good day! My mom called to wish me a Happy Birthday this morning and wondered what I was planning for the day. I wasn't sure and she said she'd call later tonight to see what I did. We talked about the stormy weather. The midwest can't seem to get out of this rainy, stormy pattern. I like rain, though. It goes back to when I was a child. I loved rainy days because it meant you got to stay inside. It always made me feel cozy and I remember getting out the paper dolls when my sister Judy and I were younger and when I was older it was a good book, especially any Nancy Drew mystery!
So, thinking of that good feeling that comes with memories of growing up, I decided to drive over to Gaylord, county seat here, and visit the Dueber's Variety Store. I love a good, old-fashioned variety store. When I was a kid, I loved a stop at the "Dime Store". Newberry's, Woolworth's, they had everything you could need and more! And the candy counter!! Wow! You could stroll along and look into the glass cases and see every good candy there was available at the time. I always chose chocolate covered peanuts. I remember that when we would go to visit my Grandpa and Grandma there was always candy in the cupboard. My grandpa would ask us if we'd like some candy and would go to the cupboard and pull out a couple of small white paper sacks. One bag usually had chocolate stars and the other those peanut butter bar things or orange slices. He would give some to each of us kids and Grandma always said "now, Thurman, you'll spoil their appetite!" I don't think it ever did. So, visiting a dime store/variety store is like visiting my grandma and grandpa even though both have been gone for several years. I found a few pieces of fabric today and some old-fashioned satin covered hangers on clearance but sadly there's no candy counter anymore.
From the variety store, I headed back to town to have lunch at Toody's Sweets on Main Street in Henderson. My quilting friend, Pat, was there having lunch and I joined her. Nice visit. I came home to find a happy birthday message on the phone from my son, Devlin. Later on my daughter Collette called. She brought me a really fun gift last Friday - a gift card to Dollar Tree stores. For those of you who know me well, you know I love the Dollar store. I think I have bought almost every supply needed for my retreats at the dear old Dollar store! My mom called again and I told her what a good day I had. She's doing pretty well now.
I spent most of the afternoon and evening on the computer working on a project for my Wooly Buddies group. I am having "sew" much fun learning how to make the best use of the computer/internet but there is so much more I need to know! I want to post some more pictures here on my blog but instead I am going to sit down and do some stitching on a crazy quilting piece. Once again the crickets, frogs, etc. are singing their night song! I love it. Where we lived before, the night song couldn't be heard for all the traffic noise! I am off to stitch..................