I'm Taking It Back. Again

Brand new giveaway for Chicago peeps - The Emperor's New Clothes at the Shakespeare Theater here!

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Hmmm. I just realized that I'm posting about my husband two days in a row here, which is very unusual for me. I usually don't post about him at all. Don't read anything into this. Apparently with him home for the summer (he's a teacher), he's cracking me up a little more than normal!

So.

My husband - like many men these days - uses an electric razor to shave. It's easier, you don't need shaving cream, it works better, it doesn't require replacing...

Oh. Wait.

My husband's razor has been replaced. He somehow broke the one he'd bought for himself early in our marriage. With his birthday coming up soon after he broke it, I bought him a new one. A nicer one.

He broke that one a couple years later.

Father's Day was rapidly approaching, and I bought him another newer, nicer one. This one even had a little holder thingie that cleaned your razor for you, so you didn't even have to do that - just press a button and whir it went.

Fast forward another couple years, and that razor stopped holding a charge. Primarily because there was a little orange light that shone on it that drained the battery. Rapidly.

He would plug it in and leave it plugged in until the next morning (rather than simply plugging in it a minute or two before he needed to use it). Being the frugal cheap environmentally-conscious person that I am, I unplugged it every time I walked past it.

Magically, one day last spring, the orange light turned off, and once again, all was well with the world. I was even able to return the new razor I'd purchased for him for Father's Day.

Then came fall, where the light reappeared. Needless to say, we returned to our habits - my husband leaving it plugged in forever and me following behind to unplug it after he'd used it. Oh, and I bought him another new razor for Christmas.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, he went snooping in my car and found his gift hidden in my storage panel. Unlike his family, which tells people what to buy for them, I'm a big believer in gifts being a surprise. On the principle of it (and hoping that orange light would magically fix itself again), I returned the razor.

The light is still on today.

And with Father's Day having occurred less than a week ago, I once again bought him a new razor. This time, it wasn't nicer than the one he was using. Silly me, I bought him one that's identical to the one he had previously - we'll see how long before the orange light comes on. (And hey - if ANYone has a solution to the orange light on a Norelco electric razor, let me know!)

This time, I gave him the razor.

Upstairs in our bathroom, do you know what's on our counter today? Several days after Father's Day?

Yep, that's how I was able to take a picture of the orange light today. My husband is still using his mostly broken down razor. The new one remains in the box. I figure my husband has another two, maybe three, days before I decide to return the new razor. Again.

Happy Mother's Day!

Ok, so I've been very much MIA. Needless to say, I've been swamped with my preschool fundraiser and then I got sick. I'm still recovering and may actually head to bed as soon as I get this posted, but I figure I ought to write something again at some point!

Regardless, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Whether you're doing it on your own or in a great partnership, you're doing the best you can, and today is the day to celebrate the joy you bring to those little lives and the impact you make!

Around here, I was spoiled with the wee ones waking me up - Mister Man in particular - with a special present. He gave me a dollar bill from his piggy bank. Awwww.

He also created a lovely hat from a coffee filter for the Mother's Day tea at his school (and no, I will not be posting any pictures of me in it, thank you very much), which was oh so sweet, as well as a lovely nosegay. And the requisite marigolds. I now have six.

Little Miss provided me with the handprint lilies that she created on a laminated sheet of paper. She also "wrote" me a greeting on the back. While it's in her handwriting, I don't believe her claims that she spelled it out all by herself.

Yes, I will be putting it in her memory box to save forever.

My husband also provided me with presents. He sent me an Edible Arrangements basket, as he does regularly for major holidays. It was a cute little orange pail, and the wee ones were excited for the fruit I'd share with them.

My only disappointment? The strawberries in this bunch were way overripe. In fact, they've already started to mold, and I put it in the fridge immediately after receiving it. The fruit we've had before has always been perfect, and after a bit of dithering, I called to ask if there was a problem with the strawberries.

They claimed there were no issues and that I must have just gotten the last of the previous batch and offered to give me a free box of chocolate covered strawberries to make up for it. At least it was something.

I drove over to pick them up, and I received six chocolate covered strawberries to replace my ten chocolate covered strawberries on my arrangement. That was a disappointment. Even Mister Man didn't want to eat the chocolate covered strawberries on the plant, and he's not exactly a food connoisseur (yet).

I think we'll give them another shot, as this is a new franchise, but I may be at the end of receiving healthy (ok, relatively healthy) and unique presents from Edible Arrangements. And that's too bad.

Fortunately, my husband also picked up a gift certificate for massages, and those don't go stale. Now if I could just find some free time to schedule that appointment, I'd be all good!

Here's hoping you are properly spoiled on your Mother's Day.



PS I have a new giveaway up for a Family Pizza Party from Pillsbury on my other site.

The Best and Worst of Christmas

Ok, I have to get in one more post on Christmas. It's one that's been brewing for awhile, but I keep forgetting to write it down.

We all get gifts that we love, where we can't stop thinking about and playing with and looking at the magical item that we got that we didn't even know we wanted or never really expected even though we hoped against hope that maybe we'd find this piece of heaven under the tree.

Then there are the other gifts. The ones that we open, smile through gritted teeth and then surreptitiously check to see if there is a gift receipt, letting out a mental sigh of relief if we see one and calculating what we can do with it if there is no such receipt.

This year, hands down the best gift was the Vitamix. I can't wait to start making me some good whole food when I get back from San Antonio. I'm totally geeked about this gift. I've read through the cookbook and the directions. More than once.

The "worst" gift was easy, too. My husband sticking the Alamo Bowl tickets in my stocking - the tickets I bought that were addressed to me when they arrived earlier this week - shouldn't even count as a gift. He says he just didn't want to look bad in front of the wee ones.

Over the years, I've gotten many presents that have stuck out in both the positive and negative. Hands down, the best gift ever was one my husband thought up for me back when we were still dating. He knew I was always cold at night.

Now that I think about it, my top two gifts have to do with me being cold at night. An ex bought me a snuggly warm down comforter one year that I still use today when it gets too cold. That was totally unexpected, and a wonderful gift. Then again, that particular ex rocked with the gifts. The gifts he got me the first Valentine's we were together were by far the most thoughtful I've ever received. I'll be using him as an example of gift giving as the wee ones get older!

Anyway, my husband found something even better. It's not quite an electric blanket that warms the top of you but tends to get tangled up and around and doesn't work so well for me. Instead, he found a mattress warmer. Considering that he gives off the heat of a nuclear power plant, he did well in finding on that has two controls so we can each be comfortable.

Since it goes on under the sheets, it never slips around. We turn it on high when we start getting ready for bed, then I turn it down to two or three before slipping under the now fully warmed covers. On colder nights, I may leave it up a little higher, but I'm always comfortable. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Then there's my aunt. She's the queen of inappropriate gifts. For Mister Man's first Christmas (when he was two months old), she gave him a magnetic advent calendar tree. This year, he's finally really into the tree, but last year was the first year we even took it out of its box.

But she topped herself one year with a gift from me. Let's just say that this year I didn't get so much as a card from her, and I'm really ok with that. This particular gift arrived when I was 27 or so. I had owned my own home for a few years at that point and had lived on my own since heading to college at the age of 17 (I turned 18 shortly thereafter, don't worry).

Yep. She sent me a book that literally talks about how long you can keep produce in the fridge, how to dust, how to wash dishes, etc. The woman never made it to my house (they live in Minnesota), so it isn't like she had somehow seen (fabricated) evidence that I was a poor housekeeper. No, she just thought this would be a perfect fit for me. Or maybe she didn't think at all; I'm really not sure which. Regardless, I'm still insulted by it. I keep it only for laughs when I sometimes feel the need to page through it in utter disbelief.

So what are your all time best and worst gifts?