Happy birthday to me.
Thank you to everyone who wished me happy birthday yesterday! My birthday was kind of a mixed bag, so your good wishes definitely helped to tip things towards the positive.
I had asked to sleep in until 9am; Two did come in right on cue. I noticed he was chewing gum at that hour and he said it was because he was hungry but that "Dad said we're going out to breakfast so I'm waiting." This, of course, was news to me. I thought maybe Will had planned something as a surprise that I didn't know about. But I wasn't going to complain, even though we were already going out to dinner. I went downstairs, Two in tow, to where Will was on the bike in the basement, and asked him about it. Turns out, he'd prevented Two from making me breakfast (not knowing that Two had already asked, like, a week before, what I'd want - I told him my usual breakfast would be fine) by saying, "What if Mom wants to go out to breakfast?" And Two had misunderstood that to mean that we WERE going out. So, ok, issue cleared up, although I was faintly let down, having thought maybe Will had something up his sleeve, like breakfast at the college cafeteria (inexpensive).
I grabbed a banana instead of my usual fruit salad with plain yogurt, in the interest of saving time, because I needed to get on the treadmill. And let the puppy out. And start laundry (changing our sheets, guest bed and, because Two yanked them off before I could protest, his sheets, plus regular laundry). And Two was proudly showing off all the signs and banners (even using window markers for our big living room window) he'd made to decorate the house, proclaiming HAPPY BIRTHDAY with "43" everywhere. Except that I was turning 44. (And, if you go back and look at the survey in the previous post, he knew my age, so I was baffled by this. Both kids later swore that, when they had double-checked my age with Will before decorating cards, banners, etc, he had said "43" even though he remembers saying "44". So, who knows? I was mildly miffed that nobody seemed to know my right age, but, as a friend later pointed out, at least they erred on the younger side. ;-) )
Anyway, it was about 9:45a when I finally got on the treadmill, and, seven minutes later, my mother called to wish me happy birthday, so Two brought the phone down to me. She offered to call back, but it was honestly easier to just get off the treadmill, go upstairs to open her gifts (it's tradition: we open gifts by phone on birthdays), talk to her, have the kids talk to her, throw the next load into the wash and then go back to finish my 3-mile treadmill run. Gifts from mom: the travel skirt I took to Europe, this tshirt that had been on my Amazon wishlist (it turned out to be cut a little on the small side, but it'll have to do because the tag popped off when I first put it on), a zippered tote bag that she'd decorated with a photo iron-on print of Jade's "orphanage" photo, when she was wee, and a pair of Celtic spiral earrings. I have absolutely no need for any more tote bags, adorable or otherwise, but it was a sweet gesture, and I definitely liked the other things.
After I finished running and Will finished biking, I threw the final load into the wash. I wanted a shower, but the kids were dying to have me open their gifts, so I just got dressed and went down to do that. MiniPlu gave me a Disneyland Paris photo frame, with a family portrait we'd had taken with Mickey and Minnie (which Will printed out at the drugstore across the way). Two gave me homemade "coupons," a homemade shopping notepad, and artwork he'd made. Will gave me this t-shirt which I'd actually bought a couple of months ago and then handed to him, saying, "Here's a birthday gift idea." Conveniently enough, I then totally forgot about it, and was very pleased to see it again. We had already agreed that gifts would be simple, since we'd already splurged on Europe, and that was okay with me. He gave me a very nice card, too, as did Two. MiniPlu had colored a mandala and then written all kinds of really amazingly lovely things around the perimeter as her card. ♥
While I was opening their stuff, my dad called to wish me happy birthday. He normally would have sent a simple card (possibly not even a birthday card, just a note, which would be fine) but this year he said the call would have to do. Okay, that's all right. But when I asked if he had sent me his bank teller's info, so I could write the requested thank you note, he did not initially remember what I was talking about. He then offered to get the info and give it to me over the phone, even though on Sun he said he would mail it (his usual preferred means of getting info to me). He was gone from the phone for quite some time, and in the end had to say he couldn't put his hand on the info, and would mail it later. He denied having troubles with anything else (I did get him to tell me it was, indeed, the math that was throwing him wrt his bank statements), and didn't want me to worry, to come out, etc. I'm trying to decide how forceful to be with this. Sigh.
Two had been chomping at the bit to get to the grocery store (he loves coming with me) but by this time it was nearly noon - I was hungry and also wanted to get the laundry hung outside. And I still hadn't had a shower. I had expressed a willingness to take the kids to the pool if they really wanted to go, but then somehow this turned into something that felt more expected than anything, I'm not sure why - maybe their eagerness to go RIGHT NOW THIS VERY MINUTE? When I planned to get my shower before the grocery store, Will pointed out that if we were going to the pool, it would probably make more sense to shower afterwards - and he did have a point. So, sigh, I decided to take them to the pool and hit the shower and the grocery store afterwards. But I was grumbling a bit while getting sunblock on.
So, we get to the pool. Oh, look - two girls in MiniPlu's grade (and went to our elementary school) are there with their families. MiniPlu isn't as close to them as she used to be, but they normally get along fine. However, they're hanging out in the pool with a third girl who apparently no longer gets along with MiniPlu, and when MiniPlu started wading out to them ... they turned their backs on her. I don't know what the real story is behind that: it's not really in the nature of the two friend-ish girls to do that sort of crap, so I don't know if L turned her back and the other two turned the same direction automatically, if they felt momentary peer pressure to follow L's lead, or what. But whatever the reason, MiniPlu was, unsurprisingly, very hurt by this. She immediately got out of the water, plonked on the bench next to my chair, and proceeded to sulk behind her cell phone. I offered to take her home, but she refused (I later found out she hadn't registered this offer at all), and I found it very off-putting to try to read with her radiating sulk next to me. I tried to get her to find something else to do, acknowledging that she had a right to be annoyed but that she could also essentially say "Screw you" to the shunners and go frolic and do whatever she normally would do in the water. But she wouldn't. After about 45 mins, Two got out of the water - he'd been playing with random kids, but I think he felt a little abandoned without MiniPlu - and declared he was done. So we went home. MiniPlu was mad at me for not being more understanding, I was annoyed that I'd delayed my shower yet again to take them to the pool and then MiniPlu had refused to swim.
I went upstairs to put the clean sheets on our bed, thinking I might take a short nap, but Will came in to talk to me a bit, and then went to talk to MiniPlu since I figured she'd probably shoot me on sight if I tried, and I took the puppy out. And then, finally, at last, Will and I got a shower, and Two and I walked across the street to hit the grocery store, pharmacy and Staples (to drop off a UPS return). When we came back, Will had the dogs outside - unattended - which is normally something to do for only a couple of minutes. I prodded him to go retrieve them, went to put stuff away and deal with other things, and when I came back, the kids and Will were in a huge frenzy, because Jade had found a nest of baby rabbits. Which was ironic because MiniPlu and I had JUST been talking the previous day or two about how we hadn't had any baby bunnies this year. Be careful what you wish for. :-P Anyway, when Will had gone to get the dogs, Jade had actually taken a baby and had ... torn into it, and was trying to gulp it down. :-( Will managed to get it away from her and dispose of it, and the kids dragged me out to see the nest. There were three others still in it, in a little hole in our lawn, so we covered it back up with the fluff and grass mats, and now we have to take Jade out on a leash whenever she goes out, because she'd otherwise go straight for the bunnies.
We were getting ready to go out to eat, so Will and I went to bring the laundry in, at which point S&S called to wish me happy birthday - which was great, because I miss them - but it delayed our departure. We went to a favorite family restaurant we hadn't been to in awhile, because I was feeling like my previous choice of an Italian place was feeling kind of predictable. The food was good but took longer than usual to arrive (the waitress apologized) and we were trying to eat before MiniPlu had to go to tumbling class at 7p. One of the ceiling lamps nearby was vibrating off the ceiling in what appeared to be its natural frequency, for no reason we could see, but we were assured it's been doing that for awhile and wouldn't fall down at any moment.
We dropped MiniPlu off at tumbling, went home, Two and I walked the dogs, then my SIL K called to wish me happy birthday and then launched into an update on our niece, who was recovering from a concussion and back pain related to a car accident (not her fault), and she talks 100mph so I couldn't even get in a word edgewise that we had to leave to pick up MiniPlu for awhile, and only got there with 5 mins to spare. I needed to be there early to talk to the dad of one of MiniPlu's tumbling friends (a girl we actually knew from TKD way back when she was tiny) - she's actually Two's age, but she and MiniPlu get along great, and MiniPlu wanted to hang out with her for her birthday. Anyway, I was supposed to go over the proposed plan with the dad to make sure he was ok and so we wouldn't be relying on unreliable preteen communication.
It was our plan to get ice cream at a local (non-chain) place after tumbling, but MiniPlu came out of tumbling having - what we suspect, based on her symptoms - pinched her sciatica nerve during class. She was absolutely miserable, but she did come along for ice cream, although she only picked at hers and we ended up freezing it for later. I ran her a hot bath, gave her some Advil and tucked her into bed with a heating pad.
So, that was my birthday. When people asked me how my day went, I said, "Mixed." Now that it's today, I'm more able to brush off the annoyances and feel like the day went well overall, but last night I was feeling rather let down, wishing I'd been able to think of something special to do as a family, and frustrated by the stuff that had been, well, frustrating. But, really, I had family members and friends call and/or email, I had some LJ texts and comments from you guys, I had one snail-mail card (a second came today) and I was definitely loved. And that's what matters. ♥
I had asked to sleep in until 9am; Two did come in right on cue. I noticed he was chewing gum at that hour and he said it was because he was hungry but that "Dad said we're going out to breakfast so I'm waiting." This, of course, was news to me. I thought maybe Will had planned something as a surprise that I didn't know about. But I wasn't going to complain, even though we were already going out to dinner. I went downstairs, Two in tow, to where Will was on the bike in the basement, and asked him about it. Turns out, he'd prevented Two from making me breakfast (not knowing that Two had already asked, like, a week before, what I'd want - I told him my usual breakfast would be fine) by saying, "What if Mom wants to go out to breakfast?" And Two had misunderstood that to mean that we WERE going out. So, ok, issue cleared up, although I was faintly let down, having thought maybe Will had something up his sleeve, like breakfast at the college cafeteria (inexpensive).
I grabbed a banana instead of my usual fruit salad with plain yogurt, in the interest of saving time, because I needed to get on the treadmill. And let the puppy out. And start laundry (changing our sheets, guest bed and, because Two yanked them off before I could protest, his sheets, plus regular laundry). And Two was proudly showing off all the signs and banners (even using window markers for our big living room window) he'd made to decorate the house, proclaiming HAPPY BIRTHDAY with "43" everywhere. Except that I was turning 44. (And, if you go back and look at the survey in the previous post, he knew my age, so I was baffled by this. Both kids later swore that, when they had double-checked my age with Will before decorating cards, banners, etc, he had said "43" even though he remembers saying "44". So, who knows? I was mildly miffed that nobody seemed to know my right age, but, as a friend later pointed out, at least they erred on the younger side. ;-) )
Anyway, it was about 9:45a when I finally got on the treadmill, and, seven minutes later, my mother called to wish me happy birthday, so Two brought the phone down to me. She offered to call back, but it was honestly easier to just get off the treadmill, go upstairs to open her gifts (it's tradition: we open gifts by phone on birthdays), talk to her, have the kids talk to her, throw the next load into the wash and then go back to finish my 3-mile treadmill run. Gifts from mom: the travel skirt I took to Europe, this tshirt that had been on my Amazon wishlist (it turned out to be cut a little on the small side, but it'll have to do because the tag popped off when I first put it on), a zippered tote bag that she'd decorated with a photo iron-on print of Jade's "orphanage" photo, when she was wee, and a pair of Celtic spiral earrings. I have absolutely no need for any more tote bags, adorable or otherwise, but it was a sweet gesture, and I definitely liked the other things.
After I finished running and Will finished biking, I threw the final load into the wash. I wanted a shower, but the kids were dying to have me open their gifts, so I just got dressed and went down to do that. MiniPlu gave me a Disneyland Paris photo frame, with a family portrait we'd had taken with Mickey and Minnie (which Will printed out at the drugstore across the way). Two gave me homemade "coupons," a homemade shopping notepad, and artwork he'd made. Will gave me this t-shirt which I'd actually bought a couple of months ago and then handed to him, saying, "Here's a birthday gift idea." Conveniently enough, I then totally forgot about it, and was very pleased to see it again. We had already agreed that gifts would be simple, since we'd already splurged on Europe, and that was okay with me. He gave me a very nice card, too, as did Two. MiniPlu had colored a mandala and then written all kinds of really amazingly lovely things around the perimeter as her card. ♥
While I was opening their stuff, my dad called to wish me happy birthday. He normally would have sent a simple card (possibly not even a birthday card, just a note, which would be fine) but this year he said the call would have to do. Okay, that's all right. But when I asked if he had sent me his bank teller's info, so I could write the requested thank you note, he did not initially remember what I was talking about. He then offered to get the info and give it to me over the phone, even though on Sun he said he would mail it (his usual preferred means of getting info to me). He was gone from the phone for quite some time, and in the end had to say he couldn't put his hand on the info, and would mail it later. He denied having troubles with anything else (I did get him to tell me it was, indeed, the math that was throwing him wrt his bank statements), and didn't want me to worry, to come out, etc. I'm trying to decide how forceful to be with this. Sigh.
Two had been chomping at the bit to get to the grocery store (he loves coming with me) but by this time it was nearly noon - I was hungry and also wanted to get the laundry hung outside. And I still hadn't had a shower. I had expressed a willingness to take the kids to the pool if they really wanted to go, but then somehow this turned into something that felt more expected than anything, I'm not sure why - maybe their eagerness to go RIGHT NOW THIS VERY MINUTE? When I planned to get my shower before the grocery store, Will pointed out that if we were going to the pool, it would probably make more sense to shower afterwards - and he did have a point. So, sigh, I decided to take them to the pool and hit the shower and the grocery store afterwards. But I was grumbling a bit while getting sunblock on.
So, we get to the pool. Oh, look - two girls in MiniPlu's grade (and went to our elementary school) are there with their families. MiniPlu isn't as close to them as she used to be, but they normally get along fine. However, they're hanging out in the pool with a third girl who apparently no longer gets along with MiniPlu, and when MiniPlu started wading out to them ... they turned their backs on her. I don't know what the real story is behind that: it's not really in the nature of the two friend-ish girls to do that sort of crap, so I don't know if L turned her back and the other two turned the same direction automatically, if they felt momentary peer pressure to follow L's lead, or what. But whatever the reason, MiniPlu was, unsurprisingly, very hurt by this. She immediately got out of the water, plonked on the bench next to my chair, and proceeded to sulk behind her cell phone. I offered to take her home, but she refused (I later found out she hadn't registered this offer at all), and I found it very off-putting to try to read with her radiating sulk next to me. I tried to get her to find something else to do, acknowledging that she had a right to be annoyed but that she could also essentially say "Screw you" to the shunners and go frolic and do whatever she normally would do in the water. But she wouldn't. After about 45 mins, Two got out of the water - he'd been playing with random kids, but I think he felt a little abandoned without MiniPlu - and declared he was done. So we went home. MiniPlu was mad at me for not being more understanding, I was annoyed that I'd delayed my shower yet again to take them to the pool and then MiniPlu had refused to swim.
I went upstairs to put the clean sheets on our bed, thinking I might take a short nap, but Will came in to talk to me a bit, and then went to talk to MiniPlu since I figured she'd probably shoot me on sight if I tried, and I took the puppy out. And then, finally, at last, Will and I got a shower, and Two and I walked across the street to hit the grocery store, pharmacy and Staples (to drop off a UPS return). When we came back, Will had the dogs outside - unattended - which is normally something to do for only a couple of minutes. I prodded him to go retrieve them, went to put stuff away and deal with other things, and when I came back, the kids and Will were in a huge frenzy, because Jade had found a nest of baby rabbits. Which was ironic because MiniPlu and I had JUST been talking the previous day or two about how we hadn't had any baby bunnies this year. Be careful what you wish for. :-P Anyway, when Will had gone to get the dogs, Jade had actually taken a baby and had ... torn into it, and was trying to gulp it down. :-( Will managed to get it away from her and dispose of it, and the kids dragged me out to see the nest. There were three others still in it, in a little hole in our lawn, so we covered it back up with the fluff and grass mats, and now we have to take Jade out on a leash whenever she goes out, because she'd otherwise go straight for the bunnies.
We were getting ready to go out to eat, so Will and I went to bring the laundry in, at which point S&S called to wish me happy birthday - which was great, because I miss them - but it delayed our departure. We went to a favorite family restaurant we hadn't been to in awhile, because I was feeling like my previous choice of an Italian place was feeling kind of predictable. The food was good but took longer than usual to arrive (the waitress apologized) and we were trying to eat before MiniPlu had to go to tumbling class at 7p. One of the ceiling lamps nearby was vibrating off the ceiling in what appeared to be its natural frequency, for no reason we could see, but we were assured it's been doing that for awhile and wouldn't fall down at any moment.
We dropped MiniPlu off at tumbling, went home, Two and I walked the dogs, then my SIL K called to wish me happy birthday and then launched into an update on our niece, who was recovering from a concussion and back pain related to a car accident (not her fault), and she talks 100mph so I couldn't even get in a word edgewise that we had to leave to pick up MiniPlu for awhile, and only got there with 5 mins to spare. I needed to be there early to talk to the dad of one of MiniPlu's tumbling friends (a girl we actually knew from TKD way back when she was tiny) - she's actually Two's age, but she and MiniPlu get along great, and MiniPlu wanted to hang out with her for her birthday. Anyway, I was supposed to go over the proposed plan with the dad to make sure he was ok and so we wouldn't be relying on unreliable preteen communication.
It was our plan to get ice cream at a local (non-chain) place after tumbling, but MiniPlu came out of tumbling having - what we suspect, based on her symptoms - pinched her sciatica nerve during class. She was absolutely miserable, but she did come along for ice cream, although she only picked at hers and we ended up freezing it for later. I ran her a hot bath, gave her some Advil and tucked her into bed with a heating pad.
So, that was my birthday. When people asked me how my day went, I said, "Mixed." Now that it's today, I'm more able to brush off the annoyances and feel like the day went well overall, but last night I was feeling rather let down, wishing I'd been able to think of something special to do as a family, and frustrated by the stuff that had been, well, frustrating. But, really, I had family members and friends call and/or email, I had some LJ texts and comments from you guys, I had one snail-mail card (a second came today) and I was definitely loved. And that's what matters. ♥