Jason arrived safely home Saturday from Castlepoint Ministries (formerly Camp Lucerne) in CA. I hadn’t wanted to say before exactly where he was. Even though I don’t really think anyone would stalk him from reading my blog — better safe than sorry. They had had to leave in the evening to drive to Sacramento to fly out around midnight, but their flight was delayed, which caused them to miss their connecting flight in Houston. They were on standby for a couple of other flights that were full and finally got on one and arrived in Charlotte by 5 p.m. (originally due around 10:30 a.m.). I thought he would be dead tired and out like a light early on, but he was still up at 1:30 a.m. — then I remembered his body clock was still on CA time, three hours behind the east coast.

He had worked on operational staff for two previous summers, and this was his first summer as a counselor. He seemed to really enjoy it.

Jeremy’s birthday was on the 15th, but he wanted to wait to celebrate it til Jason got home, so we did that Saturday. One of our traditions is letting the birthday honoree pick dinner, so we went to Fuddruckers. Then we went home for presents and cake.

I won’t list all of his presents, but his interests are along technological lines, so his gifts reflected that. One was a GPS thing (you see how technologically inclined I am) that works with his blackberry. Another was this t-shirt with a glow-in-the-dark Transformer on it:

If you’re familiar with Homestar Runner, you might recognize this guy:

This is not just a cuddly plush toy — if you kick and toss it around it makes all kinds of little sounds. (Shrug. It’s a guy thing. 🙂 )

The next couple of days were spent cleaning for company — busy, but good to get a lot done in a concentrated effort. Jason’s company came in last night. I am a mother of three boys, and it is different having a girl around!

My birthday was yesterday, and we went to Fatz cafe (love their babyback ribs!) Jason’s friend and her mom gave me a pretty plaque with Psalm 118:24 on it. Jesse gave me a gift card to Michael’s (always a pleasure!); Jeremy gave me a hard drive for my computer (I had been talking with him about how to back up files and pictures now that all our new pictures are digital, and he said this was a good way to do it); Jason gave me Cassidy, a new book by Lori Wick. Jim gave me Summer, new and just out by Karen Kingsbury and The Mitford Beside Companion by Jan Karon. He also gave me a blender. I had asked for one. I have an old kitchen made multi-purpose appliance from 20-25 years ago. Not only is it bog and clunky to use and change features, but the controls are stiff. He also gave me a under-the-counter radio CD player to replace my big old boombox. That will leave so much room on the kitchen counter! I am already figuring out how to rearrange things. 🙂 All in all I had a nice though busy day. (No black balloons in honor of my 50th, thankfully!)

The rest of the week should be a lot less hectic. Jason’s birthday was in July, but he wanted to wait til he got home to celebrate, so we’re doing that tomorrow. I have to go get a few things for that, but otherwise the rest of the week will be pretty easy. I have another project due next week — I may go ahead and get started. I’m leaving myself open to just visit with Jason and his friend while she is here. They start back to college next week, so we won’t see either of them much. Jason’s friend is of Indian descent and he wants to go to an Indian restaurant for his birthday. I’m a little apprehensive about that. I am not an adventurous eater, and I don’t want to offend her. But having someone who knows what the choices are should help us find things we like.

Regular readers usually see a “Works-For-Me-Wednesday” post here — but I think I am officially out of tips. 🙂 I had been keeping a running list as tips came to mind that I could use, but I am at the end of it unless something else comes to mind. I am one more in need of tips than one who has great tips. But the WFMW runs regularly on Wednesdays at Rocks In My Dryer — I invite you to browse through the tips there today as I will be doing later on.

Happy Wednesday!