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Week of Birthday and Busy Days
The last week has flown by.
My 43rd birthday was last Friday. My hubby and children sang Happy Birthday to You at midnight while we were driving from Illinois to Virginia. I slept for a couple of hours that morning, but there were birthday calls to attend to and I have a hard time sleeping during the day. So I opened loads of lovely cards that had come in the mail, enjoyed reading birthday messages on Facebook, and began the unpacking process. Katrina and I got most of the stuff unloaded from the truck, but the lock on the u-haul had become jammed during the drive here. We ended up having to get bolt cutters to deal with that particular situation.
Jack and Katrina each had a gift for me that they had sneakily won at the fair. Jack presented me with a Wonder Woman doll and Katrina gave me a cute stuffed bunny and dog. Katrina also presented me with breakfast in bed and made some toll house cookies and put a candle in one for my birthday.
Friday night, we were in bed pretty early...all tuckered out!
Saturday was movie watching day. We began watching the miniseries Taken. This is the Spielberg extravaganza from about 7 years ago. I didn't get to watch all of it when it first came out because I was too dang busy with a 6 year old and a 2 year old. So, we bought it on disk and started watching. There are 10 2-hour episodes. We finally finished watching it today. I found it very intriguing but the ending left me unsatisfied. I wanted answers. Ironically the point of the whole thing was that we are all searching for answers and that is part of life.
Sunday, we attended church in the morning, did some unpacking in the afternoon, then headed to Roanoke to meet Bruce, Ryan, Charles and Joann. Daniel took us all to the Outback Steak House in honor of my birthday. It was most yummy and Bruce gave me the beginnings of a trollbead bracelet. I hadn't heard of troll beads, but Bruce said they are the big thing in jewelry right now. If you haven't heard from them, think a new take on charm bracelets. I like these a little better though as the charms don't hang down and get caught on things. He bought me a bracelet and a two beads - one a blue bead with a gold stripe in it and the other is a lion (I am a Leo). I spent about an hour yesterday perusing their site and making a wish list of the other beads I would like to have. The guys are happy to have this help when it come to gift time!)
After we ate dinner, Charles told me he wanted to take me to see a movie on Friday and we would talk later in the week about it.
Monday, I had to go to the grocery store. Also did more unpacking and sorting. I also received a birthday present from my next door neighbor. A lovely candle, red linen napkins for special occasions and a neat piece of chocolate cake that is a decoration, not something to eat (much better for the waist line!)
Tuesday, we met my mom at Cold Stone Creamery for lunch. It's an annual ritual. We visited, then I took the kids to piano lessons and mom and I met up at Barnes and Noble and visited some more while the kids were playing piano. We really need to do this more often. Mom and I both have very busy schedules and don't see one another near as much as we would like. We have to work on this. I received another birthday present today. My friend, Dotti Enderle, sent me the complete set of her Ghost Detectors series. These books are a great read for youngsters who like ghostly stories that aren't too scary and the binding is superb (as are the illustrations). For me the really cool thing is that Dotti mentions my name in the dedication as I helped her by reading through and passing on some comments on each of the books. But, I would tell you you should go out and buy these books even if my name wasn't in them because they are good! Dotti is a wonderful storyteller!
Wednesday, I spent most of the day helping Daniel with cleaning the office and moving things around. We took two loads of stuff in my Xterra to the Goodwill and three loads in the Jeep to the dumpster (fortunately, one load was completely recyclable). We made a good dent in it, but also realized that we had to buy some plywood to put down on the floor in the main room (long story, but basically the floor of that old trailer is rotting out from under our feet.) We are putting downt the plywood so we don't fall through and to help squeeze a little more life out of the trailer/office.
Thursday, the kids had a monster group piano lesson. I dropped them off at 9 and went to Barnes and Noble and read a book and enjoyed a cup of coffee. I also perused the bargain section and purchased a couple of books...dang I love books! Then I picked up some of the kids from the group lesson as I was one of the chauffers and we headed over to Valley View Retirement Center. The children put on a concert for several of the residents. It was wonderful for both sides. You can hear Jack and Katrina by clicking on the videos below. After the recital, we had lunch as a group at Vinny's pizza. I hadn't been there before, but I am going to have to go back!
After we were done at Vinny's, we stopped in Lowe's. My dad and Dianne had sent me a $50 Lowe's gift card for my birthday. I used it to buy a new air purifier for our bedroom. We have had one for years, and can no longer get filters for it (they just don't make them anymore), plus it was a little the worse for wear after having fallen off of its perch several times. The new one is much nicer looking and quieter. Got home and helped Daniel empty the main room in preparation for our plywood delivery on Friday.
Friday morning came bright and early with a phone call that the Lowe's truck had broken down... and they couldn't deliver til Monday! Bummer, dude! Gave me time to work on my video to DVD project I have been working on. I am making good progress on that and the kids and I got some school work done, then I left home around 2 for my date...
Charles took me to see The Orphan (I got to pick the movie and I have to say I really liked it). I kept thinking about the movie The Good Son while watching it, until towards the end when there was a big surprise and everything changed! Afterwards, we met Bruce and Ryan at Abuelo's for some delicious Mexican food. It was fun for me to go out alone with the boys and visit with them. I thought it was really sweet of Charles to arrange it and we are going to try and have more movie dates in the future. When I got home, it was about 9 and we watched a Kolchak episode out on our improvised movie screen on the deck. All in all, a lovely week!
