Birthdays and more birthdays...

Well I think I went into hibernation with the heat here in Adelaide and now I am finally coming back out. Here is what I got up to in March!
I had a birthday back on 8/3 and was given very practical/frugal presents.
My BF refinished the bench tops in my kitchen which were peeling badly.
New timber on top (I bought some tongue & groove floorboards a few months ago) and then two coats of stain/lacquer and 3 coats of polyurethane later. They look fab - will hopefully post a pic on my blog soon!
My parents got me a torch to put in my car (my request) and it doesn't need batteries! BONUS! It is a wind up one. Also has a built in radio, siren and adaptors to do an emergency charge on your mobile phone. How cool is that! They also gave me some $$.
My best friend had me over her house for dinner and bought me two things that she had, that I had been eyeing off. An awesome circulon dish brush - every time I have used hers I kept asking her where she go it! The other thing is a non-stick Mat for the BBQ - this is like a silicon sheet that you put on the hotplate of your BBQ - especially good when you are cooking marinated items as they don't burn or stick. When it cools down you just remove it and wash it in the sink, ready for next time!
My workmates gave me a cute card and more $$.
Why the $$ you may well ask - well I am taking my family to BALI in August this year - so most people have been giving me money to buy stuff I need for the trip or to add to my savings a/c (I have a separate one) for spending when I get there.
I saw a great digital camera in the K-Mart catalogue last week ($149) with really cheap SD memory cards (1GB for $15) so I put one on lay-by as well as two memory cards.
So there goes all my birthday money
On a side note my other camera which is 4 years old will go to my son so he has a camera for Bali too!

My son's birthday was on Easter Sunday.
All my son wanted for his birthday was a copy of Mario Kart for his Nintendo DS!
I tried to be frugal with my shopping so we ended up with the following:
- Mario Kart for his DS - I finally found a second hand copy for $40 at the local gaming store (after I had walked two larger shopping centres looking for one).
- a small backpack for our holiday and when we go on family bike rides - it was marked down for $16 to $12.
- one of those large "how to draw" folder/collections. There were on special at Big W for $14.95. My son loves drawing and I have realised that even in high school they still need to draw stuff on their assignments.
- some really cool black and white board shorts off the clearance rack at best & less for $5.
So all up I spent about $72 - He was quite thrilled with all his gifts and they were all things I know he will use :)
I made mini choc chunk muffins which he took to school last Thursday - much easier than a big cake.
On the morning of his actual birthday, I made two birthday cakes and some sausage rolls. We had lunch with my parents ( microwave butter cake and sausage rolls) and then dinner @ my ex's house (his Dad) - where we consumed a small part of cake number two - boiled chocolate cake with lashings of cream!
Enough of the calories and birthday - on top of all the Easter chocolate I am trying to inspire myself to exercise more by watching the biggest loser - the trouble is I sit on the couch every night and watch them doing exercise! D'oh!