It's the Birthday Fairy Again!

It is the eve of yet another of those birthday things! Funny how they come and go each year. Many thoughts are going thru my mind. I am working tomorrow, like a normal, regular Monday. I could have taken off if I really wanted to, but we didn't have anything special we were going to do, so it didn't make a lot of sense to take off to sit around the house for the day. Besides, I really wanted to be off on Friday so I could do what I need to get done before my daughter and her boyfriend come up here from Texas. And really, do I need to take a vacation day on my birthday? I think not. So I will work. But we will go to dinner in Burlington after I finish, and that will be nice. I would have loved for my sister and her husband to join us, but their schedules don't work out for a good dinner time. So instead they will come over here tonight to have dinner with us. We picked up some salmon this morning that is already marinated, and we will roast some asparagus, so it will be a very easy dinner. I did make some rolls:

I made these awhile ago, and they turned out yummy good, so I thought they would go well tonight. And for dessert, I ordered this cake from a very well known bakery in Burlington:

It is a Creme Brûlée cake! It is a yellow cake filled with rich vanilla custard and topped with a crunchy melted sugar topping. Doesn't it look wonderful? I can hardly wait to eat it! It'll be fun. Today has been a busy day; breakfast this morning with my sister and her husband, like normal. Came home and did 4 loads of laundry and cleaned the bathrooms and made the rolls and tended the fire in the fireplace. I almost didn't do a fire because it really is mild out. So mild that there is a hint of spring in the air. And a hint of sugar season in the air. It got up to about 43° which feels wonderful. But the heater was still coming on in the house, and it is nice to have a fire going if you are having guests over for dinner. And speaking of sugar season-we haven't tapped the trees yet, or we would surely be out collecting sap today. I'm sure it would have run. But it has just been such a frigid, cold winter, it didn't make sense to tap yet. They will do that next weekend. I only hope that it warms up a bit when my daughter comes because she is coming for sugar season and it will be a shame if nothing is flowing. But that is the way the sap drips! It is forecasted to be -2° when they get here Saturday night! They will be quite chilly considering it is 70° in Dallas today.
This morning 2 of my daughters ran a half marathon in Disneyworld. It was to commemorate one of their 30th birthday which was 2 weeks ago. I am so glad they had a lot of fun and ran it together. It sounds like they had a great time. It would have been really nice to be there, but I try to not think too much about it. I know it wouldn't have worked out for many, many reasons, but still... In the end, I'm just really glad it worked out for them.
My sister, who lived with us for several months bought a house ten days ago. I am so happy for them. It is a beautiful home and I know the,y will do a fantastic job with it. I can hardly wait to see the seasons evolve there, the setting is so pretty. I did go over for about 5 hours on my day off last Friday and helped unpack maybe 6 boxes. I feel like I should have helped so much more. I'm sure they have been overwhelmed, but it sounds like they have made some progress. I did have them eat over here on Wednesday night and then again tonight. I know its a long process, but I hope they will be really happy there. They are 8.5 miles from our house, and it takes about 15 minutes to get there. We won't see each other every day, but I know we'll see each other often. It is so nice having them close.
That's it. I think that catches up on the basics of life here in Northern Vermont. Winter is winding down, and even if the Polar Vortex does roar his angry head this way again, we know it won't be for a terribly long time. The new season brings lots to look forward to. Life is keen and cozy.