Ok, I've been back since Monday night... I am such a freakin' slacker. Seriously, I could have come back to put a freebie up here as early as, well, ok, WEDNESDAY because it took me all day Tuesday to play catch-up. But did I? No. I'm not apologizing. Not making excuses. Just sayin'... And I've been hanging out at that little place called Facebook the past two nights... doing heaven only knows what with my time... bad habit to have gotten into, but dang, that place is FUN with all caps!

So, I'll get to the freebie eventually, but first I'm going to wax on (wax off) about various and sundry other things kicking around in this brain I inhabit. Maybe I will number my topics. For some reason, that helps me stay more organized and get everything in...

1) My Grandpa... is pretty much status quo. No better, no worse. He was thrilled to see us and even my brother came to visit too, so I think that helped his spirits a lot. He's still in the hospital. Have talked to him a few times on the phone since I got home. Your continued positive thoughts are prayers in his general direction are much-appreciated. We got to have a little birthday party in his room and he even got to have a sliver of cake. I was so happy to be able to spend that time with him AND to be able to see my entire immediate family on my birthday, which pretty much never happens anymore since we're all scattered geographically. Which actually brings me to topic #2...

2) My birthday. The big 4-0. I don't know what the hype is all about, frankly. I still feel 26, and they (whoever they are) say you're only as old as you feel, so I guess that makes me 26. (Which is interesting, considering I've been married 15 years... I guess I got married really young then, huh?) So my birthday was actually really nice. Watched football with Mike and my Dad, spent a few hours at the hospital with my Grandpa, got to see my brother, had cake, presents... all good stuff. My husband, in his never-ending creativity and pre-planning finesse got me some totally cool stuff which I must share with you now... (these are just the top two of things he got -- he always seems to get me way more stuff than he should...)

He scored this book for me, which is huge since it's only available overseas and with the cost of shipping is quite pricey:

And then, while I was off talking to the drummer backstage at the Crowded House show back in August (y'know, the night I MET NEIL FINN!), Mike had Neil sign this CD single for me... how cool is this?

I was pretty floored, to say the least! I had no clue he'd done it. It now happily resides on the shelf in my office so that I may admire Neil's signature on a regular basis. And the fact that he wrote my name. On the single for my favorite song of all time by anyone. (Freaky fan much? Nah, not moi!)

3) Designing -- gosh, I have to get back into it. I was feeling most creative when my other computer was down and the addictive Facebook has since reeled me into its evil (ok, not really evil, but definitely time-wasting) but oh-so-fun clutches. I will get back to it, perhaps as soon as this weekend.

4) Freebie -- today's freebie is one that was supposed to go out last week... better late than never, right? It's this groovy brown swirly designs with just the tiniest hints of blue in it. Here's what it looks like:

You can download it here. If you do, please leave me a comment and tell me what you are doing this weekend!!!!