Happy B-Day to my mom!
Today was my mom's birthday! She doesn't read this blog, but I still want to say Happy B-Day to her! :D :)
Throughout the day, she got phone calls from family members and close friends who all remembered the date. After brunch, my dad and I gave her her birthday cards, along with a festively colored sticky note pad in the shape of an "L" (her initial), plus a giftcard to Kohl's, one of her fave department stores. The amusing thing about THAT is that for several days, she'd been talking about how she wanted to go to Kohl's to look at some toaster ovens they had on sale, which she'd noticed in their most recent ad. Little did she know that she'd be getting a giftcard to spend in that very store! ;)
For a few hours from late morning thru early afternoon, she and I went out and ran a bunch of errands, including going to Kohl's and finding a very nice Black & Decker toaster oven! :D Among other places, we also went to Hollywood Video, her fave movie rental place, and rented some movies -- and one was FREE! Not everyone knows this, but you can get one free movie rental on your B-Day; all you have to do is ask!! (Well, and you need to be a member, so they already know your birthday. Otherwise, I guess you could show your driver's license). OH, also among other places, we stopped at Bakers Square and picked up a PECAN PIE to have for dessert for the next few nights -- with vanilla ice cream, of course!
Back at home, we started watching one of the movies, Night at the Museum, starring Ben Stiller and Robin Williams. It was very whimsical, imaginative and amusing. :) I even cracked up laughing during one scene. It was when the toy train hits Larry's head (Stiller's character) and derails. I don't know why, but the sheer inaneity of it just CRACKED ME UP! It was also funny the way the train kept running even after it jumped the track. Anyhoo, we left to have dinner at John's 'Xlnt' Foods in Willow Glen, which I've mentioned here several times before. It's a restaurant I, my family, and longtime family friends have all been eating at for more than 30 years!! And I've never had a bad meal there yet! We were joined by my mom's best friend FR. Well, her friend Jackie in Chicago is her longest and original best friend (since 3rd grade), but FR is her next-longest best friend (since they were 30-somethings) and lives locally.
My folks both had their "usual" at John's: my dad had moussaka, and my mom had rack of lamb. I usually have chicken veggie stir fry with rice, filet of sole almondine, or the "half & half pasta" -- part spaghetti and part ravioli. HOWEVER, this time I had salmon instead, and it was great, as was the Greek lemon (avgolemono) soup we had preceeding the meal, and the spumoni ice cream we had afterwards. (Soup/salad and dessert are complementary). They even brought a chunk of homemade baklava with a candle in it, when they brought the ice cream, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to my mom. We all had a bite of the rich baklava, and it was delicious!
After dinner and back at home, we finished the movie, which was rather predictable but still VERY enjoyable and feel-good. :) We were too full for the pecan pie, though, so we'll dig into that tomorrow. heh OH!! I almost forgot to mention that Peanut, our fave neighbourhood squirrel, came by for a visit yesterday (Saturday). The cute and coincidental thing about that is that LAST year, she came by on my mom's birthday, only last year May 6 was on a Saturday. This year it was (duh) on a Sunday, but when sweet Pea showed up on Saturday, my mom and I joked that our furry friend was a little "mixed up" with the date/date. *giggle* Anyhoo, as always it was very nice to see Peanut again, especially since she is apparently incapable of hiding her excitement and joy whenever she sees us! ;D :) She literally crosses the grass and/or landscaping in LEAPS and BOUNDS when she notices us! It's sooooo cute!!
As usual, we rolled her an unshelled walnut, which she barely fit into her mouth and ran way with to hide/bury. Then we scattered some shelled peanut halves on the pavement and went back inside, due to the blurb (old news now) in the homeowners association newsletter the other month, requesting that no one feed the squirrels anymore. So we've drastically cut our "interaction" with Peanut and friends, but we still get food to them every once in a while. (Another reason yesterday was so happy was because we hadn't seen Pea for a week or two prior).
And that's it for tonight! *yawn* Hopefully tomorrow I can finally catch up on some of the PHOTOS I've been so itching to share! :)
Throughout the day, she got phone calls from family members and close friends who all remembered the date. After brunch, my dad and I gave her her birthday cards, along with a festively colored sticky note pad in the shape of an "L" (her initial), plus a giftcard to Kohl's, one of her fave department stores. The amusing thing about THAT is that for several days, she'd been talking about how she wanted to go to Kohl's to look at some toaster ovens they had on sale, which she'd noticed in their most recent ad. Little did she know that she'd be getting a giftcard to spend in that very store! ;)
For a few hours from late morning thru early afternoon, she and I went out and ran a bunch of errands, including going to Kohl's and finding a very nice Black & Decker toaster oven! :D Among other places, we also went to Hollywood Video, her fave movie rental place, and rented some movies -- and one was FREE! Not everyone knows this, but you can get one free movie rental on your B-Day; all you have to do is ask!! (Well, and you need to be a member, so they already know your birthday. Otherwise, I guess you could show your driver's license). OH, also among other places, we stopped at Bakers Square and picked up a PECAN PIE to have for dessert for the next few nights -- with vanilla ice cream, of course!
Back at home, we started watching one of the movies, Night at the Museum, starring Ben Stiller and Robin Williams. It was very whimsical, imaginative and amusing. :) I even cracked up laughing during one scene. It was when the toy train hits Larry's head (Stiller's character) and derails. I don't know why, but the sheer inaneity of it just CRACKED ME UP! It was also funny the way the train kept running even after it jumped the track. Anyhoo, we left to have dinner at John's 'Xlnt' Foods in Willow Glen, which I've mentioned here several times before. It's a restaurant I, my family, and longtime family friends have all been eating at for more than 30 years!! And I've never had a bad meal there yet! We were joined by my mom's best friend FR. Well, her friend Jackie in Chicago is her longest and original best friend (since 3rd grade), but FR is her next-longest best friend (since they were 30-somethings) and lives locally.
My folks both had their "usual" at John's: my dad had moussaka, and my mom had rack of lamb. I usually have chicken veggie stir fry with rice, filet of sole almondine, or the "half & half pasta" -- part spaghetti and part ravioli. HOWEVER, this time I had salmon instead, and it was great, as was the Greek lemon (avgolemono) soup we had preceeding the meal, and the spumoni ice cream we had afterwards. (Soup/salad and dessert are complementary). They even brought a chunk of homemade baklava with a candle in it, when they brought the ice cream, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to my mom. We all had a bite of the rich baklava, and it was delicious!
After dinner and back at home, we finished the movie, which was rather predictable but still VERY enjoyable and feel-good. :) We were too full for the pecan pie, though, so we'll dig into that tomorrow. heh OH!! I almost forgot to mention that Peanut, our fave neighbourhood squirrel, came by for a visit yesterday (Saturday). The cute and coincidental thing about that is that LAST year, she came by on my mom's birthday, only last year May 6 was on a Saturday. This year it was (duh) on a Sunday, but when sweet Pea showed up on Saturday, my mom and I joked that our furry friend was a little "mixed up" with the date/date. *giggle* Anyhoo, as always it was very nice to see Peanut again, especially since she is apparently incapable of hiding her excitement and joy whenever she sees us! ;D :) She literally crosses the grass and/or landscaping in LEAPS and BOUNDS when she notices us! It's sooooo cute!!
As usual, we rolled her an unshelled walnut, which she barely fit into her mouth and ran way with to hide/bury. Then we scattered some shelled peanut halves on the pavement and went back inside, due to the blurb (old news now) in the homeowners association newsletter the other month, requesting that no one feed the squirrels anymore. So we've drastically cut our "interaction" with Peanut and friends, but we still get food to them every once in a while. (Another reason yesterday was so happy was because we hadn't seen Pea for a week or two prior).
And that's it for tonight! *yawn* Hopefully tomorrow I can finally catch up on some of the PHOTOS I've been so itching to share! :)