#7 Birthday Bread

I turned 23 the other day. I don't feel any older but it sounds old to me. When Ilie was here in December she gave me money to take Tefanesh to get a massage. Since all the babies and children have been sick and then Tefanesh was out of town this was the first time we could get away. I asked her if she wanted to go on my birthday and she said yes. I called that morning and made the appointments for two one hour massages. Tefanesh has never had one so I was trying to explain what was goin to happen.When we got to the day spa I was amazed at how beautiful it was. I asked the lady up front if we could have women and she said of course...phew that could have been awkward. They took us down stairs to this dark peaceful lounge with rows of doors on each side. Inside my room there was rose petals all over the floor and candles with soothing music playing softly. The lady washed my feet and then left for me to change out of my cloths. Oh it was so nice and relaxing. Than you Ilie. We both really enjoyed it very very very much! On my way home Alizar and I stopped at the harware store and I bought faucets ffor the jerry cans. I asked the man for some caulking and he said that I didn't need it. Foolishly I trusted him...I should have made him sell me some right then and there. As soon as i got started on the project. Afer the children had their dinner and were in their pj's we sent them back downstairs for my birthday celebration. When I got to the living room there was popcorn, deep fried dough pieces (they are like a hard candy but taste like bread) and the biggest loaf of bread that I have ever seen. They make the bread round and cook it on the injera maker. Meseret put the number 23 in dough on the bread. We had that instead of cake. The boys ( Alemu and Israel) got me a small purse, which has come in handy so far. They all sang the worst rendition of "Happy Birthday" that I have ever heard. They kept singing for a long time. Finally, I had to tell them to all stop because they had sung it around 10 times. I will try to recreate it for you all. "Happy birsday Emily, Happy Birsday Emily, Happy birsday Emily". Over, and over and over again. Oh and they have a really hard time pronouncing the "th" sound. All of the chikdren had a really good time and they loved staying up later than 7:30. Thank you family for the birthday presents. Aunt Tammy-everyone here loves the movies. Thank you Mom and Dad for the cloths...I needed one more skirt for church. Thank you Autumn and Brian for the shirt and picture frame. thank you G-Rams for the card.