French apartment renovations, Day 126: Happy birthday Dio! (and a good work day)

13,890 steps

Dio turned 12. He was so excited to get up early so we could open presents before school and do our ritual reading of the birth story. In fact, I heard him wake up at 6:30 and walk into the kitchen to check the time. Zari reluctantly had agreed to be woken up at 7:30.

We all gathered around and watch the 3 short videos we have from his birth, then Eric read his version of the birth story. You can read it here as well as see pictures and the 3 videos (one immediately after he was born, the rest once we were settled in bed). http://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2009/04/dios-birth-story.html

Then we opened presents: a wireless gaming mouse and a mouse pad. He was super excited. The mouse looks super futuristic and has color-changing LEDs.

I brought Ivy and Inga to school, then went running. I like getting back into our school schedule. I hate wasting half of the mornings, as happens a lot during school vacations.

I showered and headed downstairs to work. Since Eric was still getting ready, I did something super extra messy: I blew out the joints in the rock wall. It released an astounding amount of dust, and I couldn't see more than about 2 feet in front of me. It slowly settled and we both worked on cleaning it up.

We talked through the next steps, but it was getting close to lunch pickup time. I told Eric to go ahead and I'd keep on working. I attached a few pieces of 2x4s to the wall and then cleaned up in perparation for painting that section. (It will be a very shallow cupboard of sorts, where we'll hide the whole-house circuit breaker, the electrical panel, and the communication panel). Then I painted and left it for a while to dry.

I went back down after a late lunch and finished several framing jobs. I quite enjoyed finishing things that had visual progress. I forgot to take pictures, though.

I finished right when school got out...and realized that I hadn't put Dio's cake together. I whipped up a double batch of frosting and got the cakes out of the freezer. I was worried they'd still be frozen, but they thawed in time for dessert. Dio wanted a "surprise" cake that had M&Ms in the middle. And for decoration, I gave him the leftover M&Ms and told him to do whatever he wanted.

Meanwhile Eric did a quick shopping trip for Dio's birthday dinner. And wow, it was amazing! 

We ate, in this order:

- octopus & caper carpaccio
- a salad (just for Dio) made partly from ingredients that Ivy picked at the school garden. She spent a long time chopping everything into tiny bits and arranging them just so
- escargots
- white asparagus in cream
- duck breast in balsamic, honey, & shallot sauce
- a really good cheese
- birthday cake