I became a multiple of 11 last week. I decided I would like to involve my family in my celebrations.
On Thursday night, I spent the evening making sure the house was as clean and tidy as I could. I got to bed around 1.30am, stupidly writing a poem as I was going to sleep as I had an idea for World Book day/
Friday, after school, my Mum, older sister, her husband and my niece came to our house. We had a cup of tea and chat and then we all chose what we wanted from the local Chinese takeaway. My BiL and I drove round to pick it up. Unfortunately, they made one mistake on our order so we went back and picked up the correct one again!
The dinner was tasty but there was loads left over. We then set up our coffee table for a game. We started with one of my favourites, The Big Taboo.
If you have ever played Articulate, Pictionary or Cranium, it has aspects of all of those.
If you land on the red Taboo square, it is a describing round where you have to communicate words to your team without using certain Taboo words.
If you land on the yellow Drawing square, it is a drawing round where you have to communicate words to your team by drawing it.
If you land on the green 15 words square, it is a describing round where you have to communicate a word to your team but ONLY using 15 words in the ENTIRE round, so you have to be as minimal and sparing with words as you can. The best I have ever done at this is my team has guessed 8 different words from my only saying 15 words.
If you land on the blue Bendy Bob square, it is a puppetry round where you have to communicate words to your team by manipulating Bendy Bob, a purple flexible puppet, to act them out.
There are also 2 purple Memory round squares which are ALL PLAY rounds where a team member has to take all the cards that have been played already and describe them to both teams by only using 2 words.
It is a raucous, hilarious game, especially Bendy Bob round. CBC was a asleep in an armchair and so my BiL and I were on one team and then my sister, niece and Mum were on the other team. My team TROUNCED the other team.
We then played the 5-second rule game which is great fun. In this game, you have cards which say "Name 3..." and then you have to name 3 of whatever is on there by the time the 5 second timer has run out. If you fail to do it, then the next person in the circle has a go (don't name an already named one!) and then the next... I won!
I was sad when they went home but it had been fun!
The next morning, CBC and I woke fairly late, he later than I!
I did a little bit of resetting and tidying up and did some work in the garden and then at around 3.30pm, my Dad, Stepmum, my other sister and the dog arrived. We had a cup of tea and then set off in the cards to take a walk where the HMS Beagle's final resting place is supposed to be in a village called Paglesham. We then went to a pub for dinner. It was very nice but very expensive!
We drove back home which took a little while and had crisps and tea and then played 2 board games.
We began with Qwirkle Cubes which was a birthday present from my Brother in Law, CBC's brother. I ADORE Qwirkle so it was fun to play an alternative version! I won!
We then had a quick game of 'Pass the Bomb' which is a word game. You draw card with a 2-3 string of letters e.g. ELL. You roll the dice and that determines if there are any exclusions, e.g. You cannot use the letters at the START of the word or at the END. The first player then picks up the 'bomb' which has a variable timer on it. It ticks and you pass it around the group, saying a word that uses the letter sequence e.g. HELLO, BELLY, JELLY, BELLOW, FELLOW, FELLOWS, FELLOWSHIP. At some point, the bomb will 'explode' (sound effect). Whoever has it in their hand has to keep the card and then at the end of 13 cards,whoever has the least cards is the winner. If there is a tie, the people in contention play until sudden death. It got to tie between CBC and I and he won!
They went home fairly late.
The next morning, I got up for church. It was a lovely service. After that, I ate some breakfast and then lunch whilst reading and then decided to go for a walk (CBC was out cycling) as the weather was so beautiful! I walked about 3.5 miles and decided to call in at my friends Richard and Jenny from church. They were delighted to see me and we had a lovely chat in their conservatory. I then walked home and then read and we ate leftover Chinese for dinner whilst watching Gladiators.
I got some nice presents. CBC got me a beautiful pair of Indian Block print pajamas from a shop in Hexham as well as a cute squirrel music box jewellery box that plays music from Mozart's Magic Flute. Mum gave me some money to pay for my new Saxophone case and got me some edibles including a kilo of Cacao. My sisters both got me edibles plus some cute green beaded hoop earrings from my younger sister, my Dad and Stepmum got me some nice balsamic vinegars and a Booktoken, CBC's Mum got me a book I wanted, my Godmother got me a lovely travel mug and a book on boardgames and my BiL got me Qwirkle cubes.
It was a lovely birthday weekend and I am very grateful.
xx