Birthday Time...

 My 74th BD was  day of ups and downs...Bob gave me a beautiful, meaningful BD card, we had a nice breakfast and then the Internet went down.  OK, so not a big deal, right...but enough to have to call tech support and be on hold for over 1.5 hours until a real person came on.  Later about that remaining 60+ min. call.  

While Bob was on hold, I had a phone call from my friend's sister in Florida informing me that my friend had passed away!   I received the message Elizabeth had passed away around 10 a.m. on 1/16.  I was devastated and just in shock. 

 Elizabeth and I have always kept in touch with each other via email/text or phone calls.  Elizabeth was such a kind soul and just a sweet, sweet lady...as is her twin sister, Jane.  My heart hurts because it's such a shock and it certainly made my birthday seem like such a silly thing to celebrate.  

Elizabeth's little dog is named Ranger and she has been working him in agility!  They were becoming such a wonderful team in that sport!  Ranger is the only dog, other than Kalee, that Gigi would actually play with.  They would lay in the grass while Elizabeth and I would talk (and talk!)...we both love to talk and the two 'kids' would run in the back yard.  Sometimes playing and sometimes just ignoring each other.  Other times, one of us would be on our dog walk and the two dogs would just lay in the grass, yep again, just listening to Elizabeth and I talk!  This is hard for those who know Gigi to think she would tolerate another dog.  I love little Ranger and I'm so glad Elizabeth's sister has him to hold in her heart.  Elizabeth will always be with her in this way.

Fortunately, my grand daughter, Amber, called  me just as I had hung up talking with Jane...and we did a video chat on Google Duo.  That was such good timing...I needed that call from her...so we chatted along for over 20 min.  Amber was keeping me occupied, which I didn't realize at the time.  She knew what surprise awaited me!

 Bob was still on hold and then he signaled me that he needed help with the tech and the internet...so Amber and I hung up...I went into the office and started to help Bob when my daughter called on the phone.  She said "open the garage door"!  And yep, Dawn and my DIL, Kris were unloading their car! 

Those sweet girls brought me beautiful flowers, an Instant Pot air fryer, recipe book, birthday cake, breakfast for tomorrow (Dawn's famous French toast) and Blueberry scone mix! What more could this 'mum' ask for!!!

This Air Fryer fits on top of my Instant Pot!  Both the girls use their Air Fryer's and love them.  I can't wait to experiment with more recipes!  

The brown topping is for the delicious overnight French Toast my daughter has all ready for me to bake...and fresh blueberries and scone mix!

This is the BEST overnight French Toast!  Both the girls are great cooks and always find fantastic recipes!

This is a White Chocolate Raspberry bundt cake! OMG...my DIL has had this cake on different occasions and it is fabulous!!! And it's all mine! HA Well, I will share!

Well, the only thing left was what to have for dinner!!! Bob called and ordered take out Mexican from our favorite Mexican restaurant. My favorite dinner (chicken Faitas and chicken flautas!). Of course a Margarita was in order too.

Oh, back to the internet...we were actually on the phone for over 3 hours trying to get the internet up and running...which we finally did BUT....now the pswd has been changed to this funky pswd that we now need to either a) change - which isn't as easy as it sounds or b) change all our devices, which are at least 10-12! That includes phones, laptops, tablets, NEST, Google Home...you get the picture!

And, yes, we did have some cake! SO SO SO good!

It has been a day of different emotions...so sad for the loss of my friend and how her twin sister is hurting and I can't be there to give her a hug. And so thankful for my wonderful family who give so freely of themselves to make others happy. I am truly blessed and so thankful for what I/we have.