Happy 82nd Birthday!

Big day at our house today!  Being the sweet daughter that I am, I sang Happy Birthday to The Daddler when he got up.  Then I fixed pancakes for him - it's been a while since he's had his usual muffin for breakfast.

His brother and sister-in-law are taking him to lunch - I know he's excited about that. 

July is a big birthday around here.  Kiddo's birthday was a couple days ago, and I'm having one in less than two weeks (yes, that's a hint!)

Not that my friends need reminding.  Last year I was really surprised by how many gifts and cards and calls I received.  Especially because I never remember anyone's birthday.  Except Kiddo's and The D's, and of course, mine.  But I do give my besties things at random times throughout the year.  When I see something that makes me think of someone I love, I buy it.  And I get so excited about giving it to them that I just can't wait until a real occasion.  Besides, isn't it much more fun to get a gift out of the blue than all at the same time on Christmas or your birthday?   Also, there's the scary possibility that one or the other of us would drop dead before the usual gift-giving occasion. 

That reminds me.  I need to redo my will.  Because if I don't spend all my money before I die, or lose it in the stock market or real estate investments, I like the idea of spreading my wealth around to the people I love.  More than just Kiddo.  Of course, he'll get some, but since he's frequently rude to me and he's gonna make a boat-load (it's boat load, not butt load, by the way) of money when he graduates next year and becomes a Gordon Gekko.  Since he's doing an internship in NYC  at Morgan Stanley, more than likely, he'll go to work for them next June.  And since he's making four times what I made when I graduated almost 30 years ago (as a college junior intern, no less), I don't expect he'll need much of my paltry fortune.  Plus, he's the only kid, and I'm sure his dad will give him everything.  Unless he never got around to changing the beneficiary on his life insurance, which is a real possibility, knowing him.

The best reason, though, for giving away my money post-humously, is that people will be extra nice to me.  And if they're not, I'll change my will accordingly.  Would it be mean if I left them a penny?  That reminds me of a story.  When I paid off my Regions home equity loan a long time ago, the following month I received a bill for $ 0.01.  That's right.  One cent.  I ignored it, and I kept getting invoices every month for over a year.  Finally, I decided to pay off my sizeable debt to them.  So I taped not one, but two pennies to the remittance advice and mailed it.  Just as I expected, the next month I received a statement which showed a credit balance of one cent.  That went on for another year.  I suppose they finally realized that they'd spent lots more than one cent on postage, printing, and other administrative costs for those bills.  If I hadn't had such a bad experience when they bought my loan from NBC, I wouldn't have been so devious.  It felt good though.

Well, I'm gonna close now.  It's time to wrangle with Comcast.  They finally came through with a nice big credit for cheating me for the last two years.  But I'm not sure it's right, so I'm going to continue the massive spreadsheet I started.  When I get it all straight, I'll prepare a bill for my time.  I have a little leverage with them, in the form of complaints to the SEC and FCC, so I'll try to strong-arm them without crossing the line into extortion.

All for now...