Monday, November 24, 2008

Birthday Recap

So yay today is my birthday. I had to work and go into the office, so it was an extra early day. Hmm, maybe that just means I get to enjoy more hours in my birthday?

When I go into the office, I get there by 7, usually work through lunch and leave by 3:30 or 4. Usually. When you work in a job like I do, you don't go by the clock but by how much needs to get done before you leave.

I had a few things that were burning that absolutely had to get out today before Thanksgiving, especially since I won't be reachable at all for work for most of tomorrow (more on that in tomorrow's post). It was almost five before I sent out the last of the emails that I needed to. Right before I hit send, my cell rang.

I missed the call but could see it was my husband. I tried him back but got his voicemail. Then I tried my mom, but it went straight to her voicemail (she was watching the wee ones after picking them up from daycare and preschool). I tried my dad. After five rings, he picked up. Phew! They aren't all avoiding me.

I reassure my dad that it's been a long day but that I'm finally on my way home when my husband beeps back in. I grab that call and find out that he's almost home (yay!) with pizza (what!?). He'd decided that we would get Chicago-style pizza tonight and picked it up without checking to see whether I'd left for home yet. You know, because he always gets home around five on Mondays. I know, that didn't make sense to me either, but whatever. Whoo, my birthday dinner is cold pizza! Gotta love that hour plus commute in rush hour.

And my presents? My husband gave me one last night. It's a new heart rate monitor. I'm really curious about how hard I'm actually working, and I know the ones at the gym are notoriously off on the treadmills. Plus, I want to see how hard my yoga and belly dancing (shut up, don't laugh) classes really are. And tonight I got my second present. It's a new lid to the Cuisinart. The old one cracked right through from grating too much good, hard cheese.

Yep. I got two presents. Both are items I mentioned last week when my husband finally started thinking about my birthday. His excuse? I don't want to go overseas because of the dollar right now, so he didn't want to plan a trip somewhere. Oh, and he didn't have a chance to go to the new pilates studio yet to get me a few passes to use the new Cadillac machines (or whatever they're called). Oh, and I only gave him like five things off the top of my head last week, and he needs to save some for Christmas. OH! And he doesn't know what a BPA-free bottle means, so he can't find one.

Next time? I'm telling my husband I want these for my birthday. Go check 'em out -- Mama Kat's giving them away even! The blogger who makes these has some real talent in her jewelry making!

So let's sum up the yuck to get it out of my system: really early morning, 10 hours of work, 2 nonpersonal presents, and cold pizza for dinner. Wheee!

Now for the cool things:

When I got home, there was something wedged between the screen door and the main door. It was a package of chocolates with a handmade card from a friend of mine who lives FORTY-FIVE minutes away and her daughter. I almost cried. How sweet was that?

My dad made his very first cake EVER today. For me. Apparently no one else could find the time to do anything about a cake, so he sucked it up. Granted, it was a white cake from a box, but he made homemade frosting. And he wrote "Happy Birthday Mom" (as in from the wee ones) on the cake in chocolate chips. And he filled it with raspberry jelly. How sweet was that?

Ok ok ok, so I have to share his frosting making story:

He tried to mix the butter and milk, but they wouldn't mix together no matter how hard he tried. My mom was at bridge, so when he called, no one was answering the phone. He was on his own. He finally figured out that you had to mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Whoops, he didn't have enough powdered sugar (which he called confectioner's sugar because that's what the recipe called it, and he got all confused when I said something about powdered sugar). He made a trip to the store and finally found the powdered sugar. He also made a discovery. Did you know they sell premade frosting in little cans? What a concept. He was tempted to scrap the whole idea and just buy some frosting, but then he remembered that he had ingredients sitting in a bowl and manned up.

Well, the frosting called for a lot of sugar, so he added a little more milk. Huh. And now he discovered that the frosting was a little runny. He poured it over the cake anyway, and enough of it stuck to the cake that it looked frosted.

I really wish that I would have taken a picture, but between my dad and my husband, there's less than a quarter of it left now. The part I'm most impressed by though is that he absolutely didn't burn the cake at all. It was perfectly done! Yay, Dad!

Oh, and the best part of my day? On my way to work, Mister Man woke up and asked Daddy if he could call me to wish me a happy birthday. Just before I arrived at work, I had a very enthusiastic little boy calling to tell me how much he loved me and wishing me the bestest birthday ever. That and telling me that he's really sorry Daddy didn't take him to go shopping for me yet. At least he tossed in the yet! Of course, his perfect present is a toy dinosaur. If you recall, Daddy, Little Miss and my dad all got toy dinosaurs for their birthdays this summer.

Yeah, I may end up deleting this post, but I'll leave it up for a bit!

13 comments:

Keys to the Magic Travel November 24, 2008 at 10:39 PM  

I LOVE the story of your dad making frosting. That is sooo sweet! And I cannot believe he didn't know you could buy canned frosting.

And why would you take this post down???

Keys to the Magic Travel November 24, 2008 at 10:39 PM  

OH...and Happy, Happy birthday!

Michelle November 24, 2008 at 11:04 PM  

Thanks, Kat! :) My dad doesn't exactly cook. EVER. He's sort of traditional in his meat and potatoes men do man work thing. I'm actually sort of surprised he knew how to turn on the stove. I just thought it was sorta whiny and kvetching -- more meant to vent a bit about a birthday that didn't exaclty go as I'd hoped :) Maybe the frosting story saved it!

Kellan November 24, 2008 at 11:07 PM  

Well, Happy Birthday - I got in just under the wire! I'm sorry about the cold pizza and sub-standard gifts (tee hee), but the call from your son and cake from your dad was wonderful!! Happy Birthday, girl - I hope you have a great week - Kellan

illahee November 25, 2008 at 1:25 AM  

happy birthday!! my husband doesn't believe in presents at all, but this year he decided to get me a bread machine (what he wanted) and while at the electronics store he bought me a DSLR! i nearly fainted (we got the bread machine, too.)

but then i was told no presents for christmas or b-days for a while. *sigh*

i love the frosting story, what a sweet dad you have!

Jen November 25, 2008 at 7:31 AM  

Well, if nothing else this is a birthday you'll remember, right? :) It was VERY sweet of your dad to make you a cake and frosting! That's such a sweet story. And what a nice surprise from your friend! I hope you enjoyed your day despite it all and remember it fondly.

Karen November 25, 2008 at 7:38 AM  

Happy (belated now) Birthday!

Sydney November 25, 2008 at 1:13 PM  

Happy belated birthday!

Michelle November 25, 2008 at 3:04 PM  

Kellan - Thanks! It's all about managing the expectations, right? The call and the cake were definitely the right kind of toppers to the day though.

ilahee - Thanks! Wow, your husband and I would have some words ;) And as much as I want a better camera, I know I need to learn a lot more about them first. This really struck home when it took me several readings of that to figure out DSLR!!

Jen - Yes, I will remember it. Just like I'll remember my 30th birthday when it passed with just a very small happy birthday from my husband and that was it.

Karen - Thanks! :)

Sydney - Thank you! :) The wishes are definitely appreciated.

WeaselMomma November 26, 2008 at 8:18 AM  

OH, soooo don't delete this post. Happy Belated Birthday! Sorry is was kind of lousy, but your Dad sounds so cute and sweet. Hubby was kind of trying even if it was a birthday gift fail. And how cute is your son?????
What a wonderful you they have!

Michelle November 26, 2008 at 9:48 PM  

Weaselmomma - Yeah... my dad is sweet and cute. Which is funny because he was TOTALLY an absentee father when I was growing up (always ALWAYS at work, even when we were on vacation). And Mister Man? Today he insisted that Daddy take him shopping so he could buy me a present -- a purple sweater because purple is my favorite color. Awwwww!

angela | the painted house December 5, 2008 at 7:55 PM  

I'm catching up here...so happy belated birthday, Michelle! I totally understand getting all grumpy pants around birthdays. Mine is five days away and I'm already grouchy because it's not all fireworks and flowers and surprises like I hope. I'm so selfish. Ugh. A cake from your dad: one of the sweetest things I've heard of in a long time.

Michelle December 5, 2008 at 9:05 PM  

Angela - Thanks! And I'll try to remember to wish you a happy birthday, as well. And yes, my dad can be sweet. CAN being the operative word ;)

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