Thanks To My Fellow Bloggers and The St. Patrick's Day Story

Thanks To My Fellow Bloggers

I would like to start today's post with a great big thank you to two of my fellow bloggers, Katie of Katie's Korner and Donna of My Tasty Treasures, for the recipes I got from your blogs.

This is the Shrimp from Katie's Korner. It was spicy and delicious and the perfect side for our thick cut strip steaks. Thanks, Katie!

Here is Chicken Mutz, compliments of Donna and her Firefighter Husband. The recipe calls for stuffing the chicken with mozzarella cheese, but I strayed a bit and also made one stuffed with pepper jack cheese and one with colby jack cheese. They were all delicious. Thanks Donna!

The St. Patrick's Day Story

I know you've been waiting to find out the reason I dislike St. Patrick's Day. You couldn't sleep last night and you've been waiting for my new post all morning, right? Well, maybe not, but here it is anyway.

Today is my birthday! Because I have had the same birthday all my life, it has always been the day after St. Patrick's Day. It's not much of an issue now that I'm older (41 today, in case you were wondering), but when I was a kid I really hated it.

Remember, back when you were in elementary school, how the teacher would have all the kids draw a picture and write a personal note to the birthday girl/boy about why she/he was special? For me they were all the same. Maybe because the St. Patrick's Day decorations were still hanging on the walls, I'm not sure, but every picture that every kid drew seemed to have shamrocks, leprechauns, and/or rainbows with pots of gold in them. They would say things like "Willoughby is special because she likes to play fun games" and the drawing would be me playing jump rope with a leprechaun! Or "Willoughby is special because she is nice" followed by a drawing of me wearing a complete shamrock ensemble. Some of the drawings even depicted me as a leprechaun! It was like that all through elementary school.

Years later, after I thought I had escaped the birthday/St. Pat's connection, one of my co-workers brought in a cake for my birthday (she decorated cakes as a side job, the boss paid her to bring in cakes for everyone's birthday). The cake was frosted in white and covered with green plastic shamrocks. When it was cut, the frosting between the layers was revealed. What color do you suppose it was? That's right, green!

So that, my friends, is why I am not a fan of St. Patrick's Day. It's not quite as interesting as the reasons some of you guessed, but it's the truth.

One last, semi-interesting thing. This is my 50th post! It seems a perfect time to thank those of you who read (and perhaps) enjoy my blog. I love writing it, and I enjoy the comments you leave.

That's all for now, I've got to go put on my shamrock ensemble and play jump rope with a leprechaun. It's my birthday and that's (apparently) what I do!