There are 12 more days until my birthday. I can honestly say that I am nowhere near being in a festive mood either. No amount of trees or lights or sugar cookies can put me in the mood for fa la la la la or even my birthday. Things are so weird this year. But I’ll get to that. To celebrate Original Diva’s birthday, I’m bringing back my list of favorite things….but this year it’s not just about the products. It’s about what makes me happy.

That being said (sing along with me)……On the first day of Diva’s birthday, her favorite thing to share was…..

Murder She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for twelve seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series, The Law & Harry McGraw. It is one of the most successful and longest-running television shows ever for CBS, with close to 23 million viewers in its prime, and was a staple of its Sunday night lineup for a decade. It is also hugely successful across the world.

Lansbury was nominated for a total of ten Golden Globes and twelve Emmy awards for her work on Murder, She Wrote. She holds the record for the most Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress in a television drama series and the most Emmy nominations ever for outstanding lead actress in a drama series for Murder, She Wrote, with those nominations netting her four Golden Globe awards. It is now considered to be a TV cult classic around the world. The series got three nominations but no wins in the Outstanding Drama Series category at the Emmys. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in the same category six times and won twice.

Though the last filmed program was shot in 2003 in the form of a made-for-TV movie, the franchise is still very much alive through a series of spin-off novels by Donald Bain (the front covers claim that the books are written by Jessica Fletcher and Bain).

I am one of the biggest fans of Murder She Wrote that you will ever find.  There is nothing better to me than a good mystery (and hot sex).  I am excited that the dvd’s are available on Amazon.com and will be adding them to my personal wishlist before the night is over.

Lesson of the day:

Lil Diva (circa 19??)

The road to success is paved with opportunities for perseverance.

Remember the pastry catering job I talked about?  Well it’s done and I’m not ashamed to say that I called Melette from the car freaking out.  I’m not ashamed to say that I tried to talk myself out of it a couple of weeks ago and somebody told me I was thinking too much.  I started doubting myself yesterday and my husband said not to say a word…..just not even speak it into existence.

I FREAKED OUT! The only thing that kept me from starting to cry was knowing that 1) Crying would be quite damn loony and 2) If I showed up looking like I’d been crying…..they’d think I was loony.  Well I persevered.  I finished the job and everything tasted great.  I know that for a fact.  Besides myself I had some pretty great tasters. LOL  Speaking of which, my mother in law jumped in and helped me out at the last minute like you wouldn’t believe.  After I had spent days dirtying up her tables and a space, she helped put together boxes and load the truck and was really excited for me.  I spoke to my aunt yesterday and she said she wanted me to know that it will NEVER be perfect…..But that it will get better and better each time.  She told me about her first BIG job and how horrible she thought it was (I remember that one) LOL.  Ironically though, the food was so good that was the job that the governor attended and decided he’d found himself a new personal event planner and caterer.  She was right.  It wasn’t perfect but I walked away better for it.  I now know where to get my real supplies from.  The wedding section of Michael’s is not the business all the times.  In my rush I didn’t think to get their names, but if you are in the Chicago area and in need of serious baking supplies, Cakewalk Chicago is the place for you!  I called no less than 15 times in one day and they did all they could to help me.  When I finally made it to the store they were even more helpful and engaging and even though they laughed at me for getting lost, they made me feel very at east AND gave me the quick point on getting home.  GREAT PLACE.  I will be doing all of my supply shopping with them from now on.  I’ll find out their names and let you know who they are.

Today I am grateful for great memories from my childhood and Facebook.  I recently became “friends” with one of the first men who had a crush on me.  In the fourth grade two boys had crushes on me and wanted to give me birthday gifts.  Everybody and their mother knew me.  Aside from being the neighborhood princess, my mother worked at the school.  By the time I was at dating age….all the PTA mamas were trying to get my mother to let their son call me. LOL  So one of them took her son shopping and he bought me some cute little earrings for my birthday.  Problem is another boy wanted to give me a gift too.  Now that I’m grown I can’t figure out why they both couldn’t give me a gift, but back then it started a fight and somebody got hit in the mouth and lost some blood.  They were sent to the principal’s office where my mother worked and she said they looked so pitiful sitting there trying to explain that the reason they got into a fight is because they both wanted to give me a gift.  Unfortunately my mama didn’t like that at all so she told em both to take they behinds and they cheap gifts home. LOL