Happy Birthday Pity Party! That was my birthday. I know it sounds strange but it was so fitting. Just a couple of days ago I was lying in my bed in sheer pain from my shoulder joint and other various aches and pains. Amy walks in to see what was the matter since I was crying and moaning away. In jest, I told her that I needed for them to throw me a pity party since I was so tired of having such pain all the time. So, she did. By birthday time, I wasn't in the mood for a pity party so I got a huge laugh out of it. I was laughing the whole time.

Amy and Todd decorated the dining room the night before with blue, white and black streamers hung in a rather haphazard fashion. There was an Eeyore balloon but his message was an upbeat, "Hope you get better soon." There was this clever sign hung on the wall announcing, "Jo's Pity Party." Todd had added various woeful sayings, especially ones that I have been known to say. Like, "Sucks to be me" and "Woe is me" and "I can't do anything." But the best one was "At least there's cake..." They also made their own party hats with those kind of sayings on it.

Besides the usual Happy Birthday song, I was serenaded by their own version of a birthday song. It was sung to the tune of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party." Here's a couple of lines from it. The rest of it were inside jokes that would be hard to understand. The Neil referred to here is Neil Diamond, of course.

Playin' my records as loud as I can
Leave me alone for awhile
Mel, Neil and Nicholas Cage
Would give me reasons to smile

Chorus:

I share my house with three ungrateful brats
Just look at the mess on the rugs
My doctor says I'm too fat
And makes me take pricey drugs

Chorus:

I try to sit here and tune it all out
The best parts of my life are not real
On gray days I like to pout
And then I listen to Neil.

Chorus:

Even the bears got in on it. For awhile there, Mervyn thought it was his party but Threadbare straightened him out. He decided that he didn't want a pity party thrown for him but he was happy to be part of one for someone else.

Nothing starts a day better than having birthday cake so that was our breakfast with a bit of eggs, for protein, cooked on the side. I got a neat new pair of binoculars. Which I needed since my other pair had been dropped or banged and the focusing lenses were out of whack. So, that made me very happy. But, you're not supposed to be happy at a pity party. Are you? I put on my best pity face. But that was soon cheered up with the arrival of CHOCOLATE! The chocolate was sent to me by my good friend Eva who lives in Toronto. What a Sweetie!(tm). Everyone should have a real pity party thrown for them sometime!