I’m pausing as always on Friday to savor some of the week’s happening before they fly out of memory. I’m thankful that Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts this weekly exercise in gratefulness.
1. Time with Timothy. We watched him Saturday night when his parents had a meeting. After dinner, we watched A Bug’s Life. I think he enjoyed it. 🙂 As I was putting it away, I looked over the DVDs and videos in our cabinet, most from when the boys were younger, and thought we really need to have more movie nights.
2. My blog’s 20th birthday! To celebrate, I am hosting a giveaway on my blog birthday post. God has taught me so much through it, and I am so grateful for the friendships that have arisen through it.
3. Family celebration. Jim told me he wanted to take the family out to a favorite restaurant to celebrate my blog birthday. That seemed maybe a little odd, but I won’t turn down a dinner out. 🙂 Then I heard talk that Mittu was making a cake for it, and Jim asked the restaurant if it was ok to bring it in. And then, as we walked in, Jim grabbed a gift bag from the car. This was going to be a bigger deal than I thought. 🙂 I was a little self-conscious, but I appreciated their love and thoughtfulness. We even Face-Timed with Jeremy at the restaurant for a little bit. Jim had put together a summary of what was going on in the world at the time I started my blog and how old we all were at the time, and then he had printed off my first and tenth blog birthday posts and read them out loud.
One of his gifts was taking the picture from the header of my blog and having it put on a coffee mug. He also added an “extra” in front of the “ordinary” of my tag line. 🙂
Mittu made this beautiful Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake, and Jason 3-D printed the “blog anniversary” decoration.
4. An excellent waiter.He was not only generally good, but he offered to being clean plates and forks when we cut the cake and take-home boxes so we could divide the remnants of it among ourselves.
5. A funny moment. Someone with the restaurant–not a waitress, but maybe the manager–saw the cake on our table and asked what we were celebrating. When we told her, she came over to me and asked me about my blog. As I was telling her, she told another server who came by, “This lady has had a blog for 20 years called Stray Cats.” 🙂
Bonus: Lunch with my friend Melanie yesterday at Red Lobster.
How was your last week of July?
Stray Thoughts 
I think it’s the sweetest thing that your family is interested in and honors your work blogging! Just lovely. Interesting movie thoughts. Just this week I read that VHS tapes were built to deteriorate in, I think, 30 years? I have some I need to get rid of since they’re most likely older than that.
You’ve done such a good job with “Stray Cats”!!! 🙂 –Ann
Happy Blog Birthday!! I love the way you celebrated and were celebrated by your family. I realize my 20th year is in February. Wow, we’ve been at this a long time, haven’t we? Congratulations!
I”m laughing out loud at the Stray Cats!! That’s hilarious!
Happy blog birthday. I never thought to do that. and it sounds like Jim really knows how to throw a surprise! I don’t even think my husband knows the name of my blog let alone reads any thing from it. He’s such a podcast guy hahah
That cake is just amazing!! Too pretty to cut!
Oh i remember my daughters liking A Bug’s Life.
Barbara, you have such a special family…not that you needed to be reminded, but I just love how they make life so special. What a sweet husband you have because he put some time and effort into all of this celebrating your 20 years of blogging. The cake that Mittu made is gorgeous. I’m glad that you have had such a special week! xx
I’m still laughing at the “Stray Cats” comment! Congrats on 20 years! That’s a lot of cats!!
The cake is beautiful. And what a thoughtful gift from Jim – such a cute idea.
I love those older movies. I’ve never seen “A Bug’s Life” though. How is that even possible!
What a lovely celebration of your Stray Cats : )
Wow, congratulations on 20 years of blogging! How lovely that your whole family went all in with the celebration. That mug idea is inspired. And that gorgeous cake with your favorite pink roses. How nice that the restaurant was so kind to host. “Stray Cats” totally cracked me up!
Happy Blog-aversary! I did put my name in 🙂 I am wondering now how long I’ve ‘known’ you (through FFF). Your celebration sounds like the sweetest thing your family could do for you.
Lunches with friends are always faves. I’m glad you had that time with Melanie. And your evening with Timothy.
Have a good weekend!
How fun to have a movie night with Timothy. We haven’t done that with our little guy yet, but we have watched several episodes of Blippi together. His attention span isn’t quite ready for a full movie, but I look forward to when it is! Happy 20th Blogaversary! That’s amazing. My blog is about to turn 18. It’s crazy how much we’ve written over the years. I love what Jim did to celebrate your blog!!!
What a sweet way to celebrate and what a sweet and attentive family you have. It is funny about stray cats.
Happy birthday to your blog, Barbara. I just stumbled across one of your posts while doing some research, and I think it’s wonderful that you’ve been blogging for so long, and that your husband wanted to share that milestone with you. Best of luck with your ongoing writing!
Stray Cats, that made me laugh out loud. Happy blog birthday! How thoughtful of your family to go all out. They must be very supportive and proud of your writing!!
Congratulations! I enjoy your blog!
Linda Eades