ideas for a birthday gift??

when you're a stay-at-home mom with a fairly frugal lifestyle, you (well, at least I) have a hard time coming up with ideas of gifts for people to get you when your birthday and/or Christmas come around... I spend so much time NOT spending money on myself that I have a hard time letting other people spend money on me - especially since I can justify not NEEDING whatever the items are that on my list - after all, they usually don't fit with the frugal lifestyle I'm trying to live... not that I'm not appreciative of people wanting to get me gifts - believe me - I love the gifts, a little too much at times, probably... but for some reason I tend to feel guilty for having the money spent on me when it could be "better" spent paying bills, on something for the kids, etc... if you've ever seen one of my "wish lists" for birthdays and/or Christmas (especially in the last few years), you'd have seen a lot of "requests" for non-personal items: alarm clock, massage chair, DVDs, bedding, towels, small appliances, etc. Most of the time when I'm trying to come up with ideas for people of things I "want for my birthday/Christmas", I end up looking around my house to determine what my household (or people in my household) could use - only a few items are actually personal items - things that only I will enjoy the use of. But, you know what? That's okay with me. I would SOO much rather, if someone is going to spend the money "on me", receive something that will benefit others rather than just myself.

So, if you're looking for ideas of something to get me for my birthday, here goes:
1. support a missionary (even just a one time gift);
2. choose one of my bills to pay for the month, or even better, use the money you would have spent on me to send an extra payment in to pay down one of your debts (credit cards, house payment, car payment, etc);
3. buy something that my whole family can enjoy together - or at least something that I can share with my husband (eg babysitting money for date nights, golf membership, MI state parks vehicle pass - for our camping trip this summer/fall, One Tree Hill seasons 1-5 - yes, my husband will enjoy this too!!, iPod - my husband and I both would be able to enjoy this);
4. a swimming pool and fun water toys (even just the water toys - then we could always play with them at the lake if we don't have a pool)
5. contributions to my house fund... this would be AWESOME!!
6. ideas for a book - I need some direction on this one... too many general ideas - I need specific ideas - what do you want to read a book about? what genre would you like to read? (devotional, Bible study, "self-help", etc) any help in this area would be a GREAT gift!!
7. gourmet decaf coffees... yummmmmmy!!
8. groceries to make yummy dishes (specifically groceries that would not normally be part of our monthly budget, thus the dishes are not normally consummed at our house, but we love to eat them)
9. a ready-made at home business that does NOT include selling crap to people - bookkeeping, editing, writing, administrative duties, etc - or just a work from home position (preferable) for a company... if i could find something to fill all my "down time" with (other than playing on the internet), i would love to be able to contribute to my family's income and to the world in general! i'm just not going to sell crap to people, regardless of it's apparent value to society...been there, done that... i'm not a marketing person - i'm a get stuff done person...

Well, I think I'm currently out of ideas... if you have anything to offer, feel free to leave a comment!!

Oh yeah... and my birthday isn't for a few weeks... and it's (supposedly) a pretty big one - the big 2-5!! (but I'm not sure what's so "big" about it) oh, and for those of you who know me and know how much I love birthdays, I'm actually going to try to enjoy it and have fun with it this year... I know... that's a pretty big step for me!! so... here goes nothing!! in fact, anyone want to have a party?? don't all fall out of your seats - yes, I really did say "party" in reference to celebrating my birthday!