Today...
May 19 - Charles is the last of the kids to celebrate a golden birthday. This is a custom that I have learned through my children. Poor deprived souls such as my husband and myself - both having birthdays on the first of the month - grew up oblivious to the honor. It has taken me all this time - six children; twenty nine years - to come up with the perfect way to commemorate the golden day. Wilton Elegant Shimmer Dust! It’s edible, FDA-approved and certified kosher.

I ordered the chocolate cake that Chuck requested. I picked it up after work and rushed it home to dust the white flowers and scallops. It was not quite as golden as I had hoped - I could have gotten away with yellow sanding sugars - but I didn’t dust it as thickly as I could have, for fear that it might have a bitter taste. (Why bitter? I don’t know. Gold looks like it would be bitter. You know, rather than salty, sweet or sour.)

Chuck lavished praise on the golden flowers, his birthday gift to me. Humor Mom. After making sure the gold is edible.

The rest of the gold - along with silver and pearl - is hidden in my bedroom, instead of with the rest of the cake decorating supplies. We don’t want any gonzo cookie decorator to turn a single Christmas cookie into a mini mother lode.

The rest of the birthday festivities have been fun. Chuck, Martha, Eddie, Rick and I went to see Iron Man. Iron Man would not have been my choice for a good time, but it isn’t my birthday. And, I am amazed to admit, it was a good movie. Robert Downey, Jr. is wonderful. There is plenty of technology and action but it is accompanied by an engaging story. And now, with a bit of a head-ache precipitated by sitting in the fourth row at Showplace 8 compounded by popcorn and gilded frosting, I am off to bed. Chuck and Eddie have their second wind and are downstairs playing with a new XBox game. More power to them!