HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We've just had January (6 family birthdays) and now we're working on February (2 family, 2 friends). 

If you don't have any b-days to celebrate this month, remember there's Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12th and George Washington on Feb. 22nd. Or you can combine them into one grand President's Day, Monday, Feb. 17th. And if you're really in a party mood--celebrate all of 'em!

Here are some thoughts I gathered to entertain you while you're waiting for your own big day:

From Eleanor Roosevelt:

I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity.

From Pablo Picasso, some food for thought:

It takes a long time to become young.

More food for thought

Do you sing on your birthday? Do you serenade other people with "Happy Birthday"? In our family we call the Birthday Person and sing to them. Unless we have a bad cold, of course.

Ella should know.

And for a little light-hearted approach:

Erma Bombeck:

A friend never defends a husband who gets his wife an electric skillet for her birthday.

George Burns:

At my age flowers scare me.

And finally, some sage advice from a man who probably learned from painful experience:

He wrote great poetry, too.

Whenever your Big Day occurs, celebrate it! Remember, there's only one of you around--everybody else was taken.

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If you can't get out for a store-bought cake, here's a wonderful (easy) home-made variety:

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch pan.

Mix together:

   2 c. flour

   1 c. sugar

   1/4 c. cocoa

   2 tsp. baking soda

   1/2 tsp. salt

Add:

   1 c. water (or cold coffee)

   1 c. real mayonnaise

   1 tsp. vanilla

Beat 2 minutes. Spread in pan and bake 30-35 minutes.

You can also bake this in layers or a Bundt pan. Time required will be different.

Note: This cake was allegedly created by the wife of a Hellman's sales rep during WW II, when eggs and butter were often scarce. (Maybe the hens and cows went off and enlisted?) Anyway, it may also have been around during the Great Depression (approx. 1929-1941). I grew up with it in the '50s. Tastes as good now as then!