So last night I did something that’s embarrasingly uncommon for me: I participated in government.

Odd (and long) story:

I would love to buy some land near my current house so that I can build my next house (let’s face it, I’m gonna outgrow this one!). A few months back a plot of land right around the corner from mine went on the market. I was intrigued, so I called the listing agent. Sadly, the plot was 6.9 acres, which was far too rich for my blood.

Fast forward a few days. I am at my Dr.’s office (Sabrina Mentock) and I’m talking to Melinda, the office manager. She knows I added onto my house a few years back and asks me how I like it. “Oh, great… I love the addition. I love the neighborhood. In fact, I’d like to buy some land around here so I can build my next house here.”

“Oh, really? Dr. Mentock’s trying to buy some land right around here so she can build a new office!”

(You can guess which plot Dr. Mentock was trying to buy.)

So when I went in to see her, I asked Dr. Mentock about her plans. She told me she’d like to build a doctor’s office that’s actually a large house (maybe a Victorian?) with a wraparound porch, where folks from the community can hang out, even if they’re not patients of hers. The only problem is that the zoning of the lot would need to be changed in order to accomodate it (from low-density residential to commerical). Now, I *love* this idea — this is the sort of “mixed use” development that’s good for communities. It’s even good for the environment, as the amount of impermeable surface for her single house-office would be *less* than the amount that would be created if houses were built as the current zoning allows.

So last night I went before the planning council to speak on behalf of the idea. And it will be recommended by the planning council! :) Next step is the actual rezoning hearing, which I might try to attend as well.

So, I’ve been wanting (badly) a cast iron bundt pan. You see, my Granny’s pound cakes were just about famous. Everyone from Hugh Morton (who owns Grandfather Mountain to Dean Smith (former coach of the UNC Basketball team) got one every Christmas. I have the recipe, and I’m not a half-bad baker, but the cakes have never turned out like Granny’s. The crust, which is supposed to be light brown and crumbly, was instead always dark brown & shiny. The curse of a thin, non-stick pan.

So I looked on eBay (they’re few and far between and very expensive) and looked at the Lodge website (where they had some, but I wanted to see if I could find an older, pre-seasoned one), but I’d not gotten around to doing anything about it.

Imagine my surprise last night when Jeff presented me with a beautiful cast iron bundt pan! More impressive yet is the fact that in between when I looked (3-4 mos. ago) and now, Lodge stopped making the pans! So now they’re quite sought-after and difficult to find. In discussion groups where bundt pans are a topic, there are, according to Jeff, lots of comments from folks along the lines of “this pan’s ok, and that’s one’s pretty good, but you’ll have to pry my cast iron bundt pan from my cold, dead fingers.” Jeff was dilligent, though, calling lodge and just about every antiques vendor with a website on the planet it seems. He finally found an antique dealer in VA who had one (and apparently didn’t know what she had), and spent the entire weekend while I was in Charlotte with my Grumps cleaning it up and re-seasoning it.

Awwwwwwwwwwww!

Further prolonging the birthday ecstasy were flowers from Dad that arrived this morning — they’re truly beautiful (pics to come).

I do declare that this is my bestest birthday ever!