photos of my dad's 78th birthday in May 2010

Dad turned 78 yesterday.  My brother and his wife came to visit him for his birthday, along with their two daughters, my boys' cousins.  My dad's sister "Aunty Cookie" was fetched to visit too.  See Aunty Cookie holding a rose at a wedding in late 2009, and see Aunty Cookie dancing with Tony at the same wedding.

Here's mom, Aunty Cookie (my dad's sister) and dad, relaxing at dad's 78th birthday.

Below, sisters Samantha (26) and Carmen (24) tackle the chips and dip along with their cousins, my boys, Basti in the blue shirt (12) and Zooty (11)

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2010

It's my dad's 78th birthday today

My dad is 78 today HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Even though he's had a badly broken leg and a few operations (that freak him out and had him in a wheelchair for months) and even though he has pagets disease, he's still spritely, still drives a car, goes to auctions and generally gets around.

He used to enjoy fishing a lot (I loved going with as a kid and playing on the beach, swimming, or trying to catch my own little fish in the rockpools, and delighted in following the mazes my brother drew in the sand for me). My brother is 11 years older than I am, and will be visiting with his family tonight. Tony and I and my boys stay at my folks. Tony is preparing his tasty spaghetti bolognaise for all of us tonight - and there will be milktart too. Yum.

Because my dad used to enjoy fishing and enjoys pictures of the ocean, I had a photo I took enlarged and framed for his birthday gift. I'm pleased he is so pleased with the gift. It is the one at the top of every page of this blog - should I change the image at the top of this blog later, I better include it here too:

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2010

It was my 41st birthday yesterday and Tony took pictures of me

We didn't do much for my 40th birthday, and did even less yesterday on my 41st birthday. Of course a big fat party appeals to me, but we'll keep that for another time, when we can afford to splash out, and not feel it too much.

On our way out to breakfast at the Wimpy (which, due to being so late, was more like lunch) Tony took some pictures of me, and I posed for him. Took some pictures in the same spot against the garage door last year on my 40th too. It's probably going to become a tradition, posing for Tony on my birthday each year. Kind of nice, I guess, to see how I age from one year to the next, with the photos being taken exactly a year apart - and while we're still staying at my folks' house, in the same spot too. Could also get a bit disturbing though, to see how much, or how quickly I'm ageing. Kinda sucks, when although I do sometimes feel my age, I also feel like I'm still just 17!

Here are some photos Tony took of me yesterday:

And regards that big fat birthday party I'd like one day, perhaps in one year's time on my 42nd birthday would be a good idea - we went to a party early last year to celebrate Mouse's 42nd birthday and to take photos for him and his wife, and the party was nicknamed "a second 21st" (and double that is 42) - and I like the sound of that - but maybe Tony and I will wait for my 50th and call it a second 25th or something, and at the same time perhaps celebrate great success with our business, (by then, surely?), display some photos and digital art perhaps, invite a few of our clients too, etc etc - lol, I guess this is the point where I usually say, nice to dream..., but Tony and I are determined little buggers, regards our work, and many other things too, and we look forward to having that nice big fat party one day.

©  copyright Teresa Schultz 2010

How about blog comments as a birthday gift service?

I'm forever dreaming up different ways to make money, not just for myself, but for my visitors to my different sites too - and since my birthday is coming up in two days' time, it got me thinking about gifts, and blogging - although blogging is something I think about a great deal more than birthdays.

When thinking of what to buy others for their birthdays, I usually think of what I myself would like if I was that person, and that's what I buy, or create, or make, or organize. I usually have to know the person quite well to get it right.

Now, for myself, I was thinking, what gift would I like? And would others also like what I like? Oh, I love hats and scarves, and chocolate, if I'm thinking of items as gifts, but I also like blogging, and working from home as a freelancer. I also like trying to give others ideas as to what they can do to make money from home.

My blogs are all still relatively new - and, so many people out there like the idea of blogging, but also have new-ish sites, - and hardly any comments - it's really exciting for newbies to get those first few comments, and even for the not so new bloggers to get plenty of comments. Decent comments - thoughts and input, not just "nice blog, I subscribed."

Knowing how much it can please people to get decent comments on their blogs, I should think about offering a birthday gift service to friends and family of active or new and excited bloggers - I would get paid to leave comments on a person's blog - look through the posts, read through them, understand them, and then leave a suitable and related nice comment - often geared towards seo for that person too, so that they would be really pleased with the comment.

Others that are great at leaving welcome and interesting blog comments should think of offering a birthday gift blogging service too. Or, if you're generally just a great listener, enjoy reading, and are friendly, think of it as a work from home opportunity to look into a bit more.

I know that, I, for one, would love to receive a birthday gift of some nice comments on my blog posts on my actual birthday, and know that it was a gift from somebody who understood what I liked, and wasn't able to do the commenting himself or herself. So, I should think about what I enjoy possibly being something that others could enjoy too, and I should offer the service. I (or you, if you are thinking of doing this too) could sell different packages eg 5 comments, 10 comments, 20 comments! Then there could also be sub category packages to choose from related to how many words I should write eg minimum 50 words, minimum 100 words, minimum 200 words etc!

Tony and I do already offer a blog commenting service, but hadn't yet thought of marketing it as a birthday gift service. (so here's the first step towards that idea!)

If you're a keen blogger, and it's your birthday today, I hope you have a super birthday, and that your blog or blogs get loads of comments today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

© copyright Teresa Schultz 2010