Maybe February Doesn't Suck Afterall

I used to say that there was nothing good in February.

Why did we even have this waste of a month where it's cold and we're so over winter and all the holidays in it weren't worth the time.

Of course there's groundhog's day, which is still stupid, but whatever.

But there was also my birthday.  And Valentine's Day.

It's interesting to watch the progression of your life with the 20/20 vision of looking back.

I woke up on my 30th birthday and can only describe how I felt with a word like: exhilarated.

Because I knew, I just knew that my 30's were going to be tenfold better than my 20's had been.

I just turned 35 and the contentment and security I feel in my life are something that I cherish.  Because I know what it is to not have that.  People joked and asked, how old are you now?  23?

And I would smile and say, I'm not afraid of my age, my 30's have been tenfold better than my 20's.  Please don't make me be in my 20's again.

The side effects of being with The Man are more than I had ever realized they would be.

February is kind of fun now.

Even on my birthday this year, when I had an early morning class, a full day of work, and an evening class, I still felt excited that it was my birthday.  He and the kids had celebrated with me the Sunday before, with gifts and a surprise of lemon brownies (candles and all) when I walked in the door after church.  The Man had read on facebook a random post I had written about "someone should bring me lemon brownies for my birthday," even though I never suspected it to actually happen.

It's okay to celebrate your birthday on Superbowl Sunday, when no one makes you watch the Superbowl.  We still made dinner and lots of dips and treats, and then had a family movie night.

(The tripod present?  Not a tripod.  An iPod dressed up to throw me off.  The box?  A tripod.)

But even on the day of he sent an edible arrangement to my work, and met me for a late dinner with The Circus after class and told me he had set up a photography lesson for me, with my new fancy camera from Christmas.

The small gestures just fill me up.

And that chocolate covered pineapple?  Love.

We never do much to celebrate Valentine's Day, it's a holiday I've always detested.  But I think that may be because I've never had anyone who really made me feel like I wanted that day to be special.

Even now Valentine's Day is mostly a family affair for us.  

A special candlelight dinner at home.  With The Circus.

And I love doing it for them.  And for him.  

Because they fill me.

I've found the past year or two that I like to think of little things for The Man and The Circus to surprise them with.  It's never anything big, because truth be told I still like to keep pressure off of this day, but it's fun to have an excuse to do something little, even cheesy, for them.

We don't have kids today, I leave this afternoon to drive them to their dad so we did our dinner last night.

Cherry 7-up floats with chopped strawberries in them, mini heart pies with strawberry and cream cheese in the middle (here), Navajo tacos (one of The Man's favorites), and lots of candles. 

And lots of kids, as we had extras over.

But all the kids helped prepare it, even the friends, and  it was cheery and happy and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate it.   

This morning we jumped on the band wagon this hairdo for Cali and Tayler:

And I set out pink tic tacs for the girls, and red tic tacs for Sean to say Happy Valentines just one more time before they headed to school for the day.

Last night, after dinner, I tied a note that said "Break me off a piece of THAT" to a giant Kit Kat (printable here), and put this note (even though it's not actually National Nude Day, I used it anyway) and a print out copy of this ecard

 in a pretty little box, along with a rather inappropriate store bought card that had a little vibrating action to it and when it was all sealed up in the box and envelope, I had Cas slip out and put it in The Man's car so he'd find it first thing.  

He took the truck this morning.

I seriously suck at surprises.

I expect tonight after taking the girls that The Man and I will sit on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and watch something along the lines of The Big Bang reruns, and that's pretty perfect in my book.

Who Can You Trust, Padawan? Professor Trelawney. A Birthday Post.

I was threatened with cadaver parts today.

And threatened with bodily harm.

I laughed in his face.

"Bring it."

Except severed fingers on my desk is kind of a disturbing thought.

Yesterday I climbed into a car with a few of my co-workers and we headed to the gas station for a quick drink run.  We'd hit the afternoon lull and needed a pick me up.

(A pick us up?)

As I climbed out of the front passenger seat I threw my door shut and then...

I was stuck.

My index finger of my right hand had some how become lodged between the two doors in the process of us closing them.

I stared at my finger crushed in the crevice of the doors and felt the pressure and I glanced at the others.

They were blissfully unaware and were starting to walk to the gas station.  I did the only rational thing I could do in this situation and started yelling, "Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

That got their attention.

I looked at the co-worker who had closed the back door that had trapped my finger.

"The door, the door, open the door, open the door!" I cried.  I couldn't get any other logical thing out of my mouth.  My finger was beginning to pulse and I might have panicked a little.

Just a little.

Finally he realized that my elbow wasn't tweaked up in the air for the fun of it and rushed to open the door and release the car's grip on me.

My finger throbbed and grew hot.

And I repeatedly told them I was fine though I was struggling not to cry.

You can't cry when you're the only girl.  

That makes you the silly girl.  

My finger swelled to twice the size and looked like a little sausage.  There was no feeling to it on the outside, though there was plenty of feeling to it on the inside.

I continued to assure them that I was fine.

Last night Cali complained of a stomach ache. 

(This ties in, trust me.)

And then Brynn complained of one.

In the middle of the night Tayler also complained of stomach pain.

So when my alarm went of this morning I called in with sick kids, figuring with three of them I should stay home.

I sent an email letting various people in my office know I would be home with sick children, but if a certain co-worker asked, to let him know that I was out with a hurt finger.

(See?  It tied in.)  

He's the prankster of the group.  It's fun to prank a prankster.

Turns out this morning the girls woke up and felt fine after all.

So I sent them to school and headed in to work.

Turns out the office had played my hurt finger off well.  One person telling him my finger had been hurt so badly I had to stay home.  The chief investigator told him that because it had happened in a State vehicle he needed a memo explaining what had happened.

He was feeling pretty bad and agreed quickly to write a memo about it.

Then he was called into the Director's office.

He began to understand what was happening at this point and after the Director mentioned it, said that I had been speaking badly about the Director so he slammed my finger in the door.  He said I'd deserved it.

And the Director actually believed him for a split second.

My co-worker said he knew where this was coming from and not to worry, I still had nine fingers left that he could go after.

When I arrived at the office he smiled at me and said he knew someone and had access to cadaver parts.  

Don't be surprised if I find extra fingers lying around.

The moral of this story is: it may be fun to prank a prankster but be warned, it only fuels them.

The rest of my birthday was fun.

Aside from the creepy gas station clerk who called me Padawan (is it bad that I know that's from Star Wars?) and then sang the afro circus song to me while dancing.  

I just wanted to pay for my drink.

And he was egged on by my co-workers who told him while doing this that it was my birthday.

Thanks again for that guys.

Thanks to everyone who drove my house honking.

And thanks to our family who showed up for dinner.

 

P.S.  It's not Padawan, thank you very much.

Professor Trelawney is in the house.

P.P.S.  Thank you to my husband who knew that the funny party dress ups would be hilarious.

He gives the best presents.

A Typical Tuesday. Or Not.

It started out as a typical Tuesday.

I was out of the house and on campus before the sun was up, a very indecent time and a very indecent temperature of cold.

I cranked out two miles because the switch my husband flipped when he told me he didn't think I'd get up early to run is still turned on.

I'm so showing him.

And then I went through the motions of my early morning yoga class.  

It's slowly getting better.

Slowly.

By the time 7:50 rolled around I felt like I'd already had a full day.

I pulled out my phone as I walked through the bright college gym, headed to my car.

I got a text from brother Billy goat.

And a text from cutest Jen.

The phone rang and before I had fully said "hello," I was bombarded with the sound of The Circus belting out a rowdy rendition of Happy Birthday over speaker phone.

Tell you what, if you want it to sound like you have a lot of kids, have them sing loudly on speaker.  I swear there was an entire choir on the other end of the line.

I listened to them singing out the song as I tromped across the frozen parking lot of campus to my car and I couldn't help but grin ear to ear.

They warm my heart.

In the lobby of my work building I ran into my "boys."  They broke into cheers and jeers and dance moves.

And then I saw this:

Luckily, as I sat my coat on my chair, I heard a rustle, and stooped to see what had made the sound...

The poor cleaning lady for our building wasn't so lucky, however.  She grabbed my chair to get to the garbage can and...

I suppose it's not going to be a typical Tuesday after all.

While I was working my butt of over at the campus, The Man had made his way to my office, knowing full well that some of the people I work with show up really early.  And he wasn't disappointed.  He knocked on the door and was let in.

He makes me so happy.

Guys!

It's my birthday!

It should be full of all the things I love.

And I want to share them with you.

It's nothing too huge, but I've gathered some of the stuff I'm obsessed with.

A $5 gift card to McDonald's?  That will get you five large cokes!  (Or if you're feeling blasphemous *ahem, Beth* then you can get diet or Mr. Pibb or lemonade I suppose...)
A $5 gift card to Burger King?  That will get you ten Odis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookes.  Oh, Odis.  He and I have a love affair far too often.  Also, when I get Odis cookies from Burger King, I don't have to bake them myself and I don't have to share with The Circus.  Sorry kids.

And a whole bunch of other random stuff that I'm not going to list out because seriously, it's random.  Except it's not because it's all things that I love.

So who's daring?  Who wants a mystery birthday package from me? I promise I'll fill it with balloons and all sorts of streamers and stuff.  Maybe it's your birthday too?

You might end up with a car air freshner.

You might get a bag of chocolate.

And strawberry Icebreaker mints might have made their way in.

And chapstick may or may not be involved.

*whew* the stakes are getting high.

I'll send it out to the winner on Friday.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you decide not to enter, that's okay.

I'll gladly keep this stuff myself.

Because... it's my birthday.

Another year has come and gone

and I'm OK with that.(Card made by Cas)
I was meandering through a store with Cali (6 yrs) and she asks me how old I am. I tell her I just turned 32. "Wow, Mom. You're old." To which I reply, "yup. But I'm OK with that." She says "I'm not," and then adds something I'm always telling her, "you need to stop growing right now. I don't want you to get big."
I got spoiled at work with balloons, pizza, and an ice cream cake :) (and since My birthday was on a Friday, and Fridays are my half day... score!).Cali and Tayler made bracelets for me West surprised me with a kindle! And I have since found out that I can download all the classics for FREE! They're old enough to not have copyrights on them. I'm in sweet heaven.While I was at lunch with my cute neighbor friends Makenzie and Krista, West took the circus to a flower shop and made a bouquet of flowers for me, even adding six chocolate gummy bears on sticks... I've mentioned this before but West and I have a running joke about "mine", and more specifically "mine sticks", as in I need a stick to beat off all others chasing you because you are MINE. The sticks holding the gummy bears eventually had "ours" written on them by the kids :).And a necklace hung around the vase.
We ended the day at Leatherby's with family. I have four words for you: Tracie's peanut butter cup. And of course I got ratted out and sung too. I love that West makes it "my" day. He doesn't have to. I don't really expect much. He's amazing and I love how he incorporates the kids in it. Man did I hit the jack pot with him. I'm so blessed with all the people who surround me in my life.

Happy 30!

I am so ready to be 30! I woke up yesterday morning and felt quite satisfied with the thought that I was now 30 years old. I figured the day would be low key. West would be bringing his kids up after I got off work and we were making fajitas and heading to Nielson’s for frozen custard afterwards. They’d been advertising a cherry cordial flavor that I really wanted to try. The circus woke up and excitedly told me they had presents for me and to “hurry up and get dressed, put your shoes on, and brush your hair, Mom, so we can open your presents.” That’s usually the spill they get every morning, minus the presents of course. Usually for a birthday I get all the wrapped presents and cards on the table for the birthday girl to find when she wakes up. And then “hurry up and get dressed, put your shoes on, and brush your hair so we can open your presents.” Steph Jr. had out done herself. The table was covered with coordinatingly (is that a real word? I don’t care, I’m using it any way) wrapped presents. The girls were bursting with pride. They’d snuck out to Target with Jr. the night before and picked them out for me.
Cas and Brynn and Jr. gave me head phones, and armband holder, and speakers for the iPod I got for Christmas (YES!) and Tayler and Cali … well, their’s were funny. Picked out by themselves, Cali got me matching panties and tank tops, and Tayler got me a baby blue robe that “is just like MINE, Mom!” It was hilarious, I was laughing so hard. Jr. told me that Cali was adamant that was the gift she wanted and wasn’t changing her mind. Of course Cali and Tayler made sure I wore their gifts to bed last night. “No pants, Mom!” “Ok, Cali .” (Where does she come up with this stuff?!)
At work Tina showed up with balloons and threw confetti at me, and we had root beer floats and pie. About midmorning the flowers arrived, about bringing me to tears. I was admiring the general overall look of the flowers when Jr. pointed at the sticks and asked, “What are these?” My focus turned to where she was pointing and when I saw the “mine” painted there I burst out laughing. “Mine” sticks have been an inside joke with West and me since we first started dating. His friends have a tendency to hit on me, all in good natured fun, and always in front of West, and it became a joke that West needs a stick to hit them away while yelling “mine!” We always mention in teasing that we need to get him a “mine” stick. There they were, sticking out of my flowers. An envelope was also tucked in with the flowers with “Do Not Open” and a set of directions for me to go somewhere at 2:00 written on the outside. West amazes me! Already this has been the best birthday that I’ve had in at least ten years. Maybe longer. Apparently West had called earlier in the week and gotten permission from my boss for me to leave early. Everyone knew about it but me. At two I headed out and followed the mysterious directions and found myself at Ashley’s house, his ex sister-in-law (weird dynamics here. West is still close to his ex in-laws, excluding his ex of course. And they all claim to be closer to him than their sister. I decided right away that if it didn’t bother them, and it didn’t bother West, who was I to be bothered by it?). Ashley does hair out of a salon in her home, and inside my envelope was a check to her to do my hair. He told her I wasn’t allowed to pick my colors, it was up to her and to have fun with it. I told her I just wanted to get rid of the blond because I’m tired of frying it when I do my hair. After that I headed home where West (and a handful of well wishing neighbors bearing goodies) showed up, and we had our fajitas and custard. WHAT AN AMAZING BOYFRIEND. Can I just say here, that I can really appreciate that West does these things. It also stands out to me that he’s only recently started doing them, but I see it as he’s worked his way into doing them as he feels them, and isn’t throwing them at me in the beginning to impress me. Top it off with the blog post I found on Jr’s blog about me (lots of tears on that one) and I can say that this birthday will stand out in my mind for the rest of my life. I’m ready to be 30. I’m excited to be 30! And I have my girls, my amazing guy, and supportive and wonderful friends and family surrounding me. I’m truly blessed!