Do you love or hate your birthday? It seems like it’s an either/or sort of thing, doesn’t it?

No matter how old I get, I love my birthday! I just love that my birthday is on 2/2, that it’s on a minor holiday named after an animal (Groundhog Day) and that my parents had to drive from Nebraska to Iowa to get to the hospital.

This year, on the day before my birthday, we got 19 inches of snow. 19 inches! That’s a lot of snow! The girls were thrilled that we all got to stay home from school and play on my birthday! They did most of the playing while I drank tea and watched from the window. On one of my trips outside, I overheard Lily warning the neighbor about yellow snow, which is always good advice.

The snow was actually too deep for the girls to venture into the backyard, and I waded back there to make sure the dryer vent wasn’t covered in snow. Yes, I was doing laundry on my birthday. It was sad that my first snow day thought was that I would have time to wash clothes and perhaps even get my laundry folded. I had to walk around the house because the back door was snowed in! The snow was up to my knees. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing. I just had to stand back there for a few minutes, and enjoy the peacefulness of it all. I was so glad that I had taken the time to fill the birdfeeders before the blizzard started. I caught these two little birdies knocking the snow off the feeder so they could eat a snack.

Later that afternoon, I also fed my own little chickadees. They had built snow tables and snow chairs and wanted to eat outside. They reminded me of that fun children’s book that everyone has read, I think, simply titled Snow, by Roy McKie and P.D. Eastman. “Snow; it gives you a good appetite.”

Fortunately for me, the roads were plowed well enough by dinnertime, and it was my turn to be pampered. We drove to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and dessert. Have you ever noticed that a real Cheesecake Factory looks nothing like the Cheesecake Factory where Penny was a waitress in The Big Bang Theory?

The cheesecake was absolutely divine, but I still prefer the birthday cake Lily and Emmy decorated for me on Sunday. If you look at the candles carefully, you can figure out how old I am.

Birthdays! Do you love them or hate them? When will you be celebrating your birthday?

Link up your Birthday post here!

In 2015, I’d like to get the Spin Cycle grow. Here are some ways you can help:

• Write a Spin Cycle post any day this week and link it up here!
• Copy the code for the Spin Cycle button on my sidebar and paste it in your Spin or include a link back here in your post so that your readers will be able to find more Spins.
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My parents always tell the story of how they drove to the hospital in the middle of the night that snowy February. It seems as though my birthday is destined to be snowy most years, which also makes it a great day for Groundhog Day, since most of us are yearning for Spring by the time February comes around!

I have had some very snowy birthdays. In 2011, Chicago had the huge “Groundhog Day Blizzard.” We even had thundersnow! After 20 inches of snow, Ed couldn’t get out of the driveway to go to work and the rest of us had no school. Birthday snow day!

Lily’s snow tunnel in Feb. 2011

Blizzard of 2011

Sledding on my birthday in 2013

A couple of years ago, my birthday was on a Saturday and we had enough snow to go sledding. This year, we had another blizzard, although we didn’t get as much snow as we did in 2011. I don’t have an official tally yet, since it’s still snowing and blowing, but I think we have at least a foot. And I did just get the official call–snow day!

Since today is my birthday, that is the prompt for the Spin Cycle this week: Birthdays. How do you feel about birthdays? What was your most memorable birthday? Or if you prefer, tell us about your kids’ birthdays! Or how about a birth story; either your own or when your children were born. There’s so many ways to spin the prompt Birthdays!

Link up your Birthday post here and I’ll be back on Friday to share my birthday post!

In 2015, I’d like to get the Spin Cycle grow. Here are some ways you can help:

• Write a Spin Cycle post any day this week and link it up here!
• Copy the code for the Spin Cycle button on my sidebar and paste it in your Spin or include a link back here in your post so that your readers will be able to find more Spins.
• Sign up for my newsletter to get the Spin Cycle Prompt in your inbox.
• Send me a tweet @lemondroppie when your post is up!