Happy Birthday, the Big 50!

I decided some time last year that I wanted a big deal made out of my birthday. I wanted a party and I didn't want to plan it myself. I didn't want a surprise party, I just wanted someone to do it for me, like Rob.
I love Rob, but he isn't the most creative sort so I know that throwing a party would be trying for him. I didn't think he could do it. So I hinted to my friends to help him out. Basically I said, don't let Rob screw this up! Take it over and make it good. So Mary and Amy did just that, along with help from a few others. They decided to make it a surprise. Of course I've got to know if anything is happening as I don't trust Rob to do anything or to just have a cake and my sisters over. I had given him specifics that I wanted all my friends to come, to have good food and drinks. So I asked him, if I needed to do anything - like plan it myself, which I would have done if needed. He kind of looked uncomfortable and said I didn't need to do anything.
Soon there was a news blackout. None of my friends are communicating with me. Especially Mary, which is weird as we spend half our day talking or emailing. So this makes be suspicious and relieved. So I start making Mary's life miserable. I keep calling her and emailing and she keeps trying to avoid me. I whine to her that I'm sure I can't count on Rob to do a party so I'm going to plan one for the 12th, knowing that she is going to be gone that weekend.
She finally breaks down and invites me to go out to dinner with her on the 5th, and bring Rob and my sister Caroline who is visiting. Next thing I get is some weird invitation from Amy to come to her house that same night for a couples dinner to celebrate good friends. Mary says that that sounds like more fun than dinner out. I'm like, "but I doubt Caroline will want to go and hang with strangers". So I try and drive everyone nuts knowing now that there will be a party and it will be either at Mary's or Amy's. So come Saturday morning, I send Mary and email that I'm really tired and not feeling great, so we might not be able to get together. And I tell this to Rob too, who starts to look sick himself.
Its now time to go to "pick up Mary" and I get changed and put on makeup - gotta look nice! And we head over to Mary's whose driveway is packed with cars. "Gee", I say, "what could be going on!?!" Surprise!! And it was a great party, the surprise was that they did invite all my friends. I had a wonderful time, the best party I have ever had. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends and I will have to do the same for them when the time comes.

Happy New Year

It's been way too long since I last wrote. I got caught up in the holidays and didn't have time for much else. The weekend before Christmas I had a melt down. I was getting stressed out about the holiday as I was the only one doing anything to prepare. I did the decorating, I did the shopping, I did the baking, I did the wrapping, I did the cleaning and I was still doing all the driving as Rob was still in a cast. We were also preparing for my in-laws 5oth anniversary and the Von Trapp singer, er, my husband's family, were going to sing at the party a medley of 40's tunes. I am tone deaf. Nails on a chalk board sound better than me. So I politely declined to sing with these people who understand music, they read it, breathe it, live it. My daughters are both musical so with Rob, we were well represented. We were having to drive to Seattle or further for rehearsals and it was getting tiring for me, as I was just observing and could have been using my time to get other things done.

So on Sunday, before we had to drive to Seattle for rehearsal, I decided to head out early to the grocery store and get my holiday food shopping done. As I go to back out, I realize I have a flat tire. Now I have never changed a flat, I've always been with a man who happy to do it. Now my man was laid up with a broken arm, so I figured I better do it. I managed to get the jack out and get the hub cap off. I figured out where the spare was (under the middle seats row!!). I tried to loosen the lug nuts and I couldn't get them off. I tried and tried and now its raining, hard. I went inside and asked Rob to help, although I was worried on what it would do to his arm. As he was getting dressed, I decided to try again. I thought, hey, what if I jumped on the wrench. So I did and I got them loose. I knew this weight was good for something! I got the car jacked up just as Rob got out. He did help with getting the spare out from under the car. And he helped with the lug nuts, but I did help. I then checked to see if I could get the tire fixed as it was under warranty. Turns out tire stores are not open on Sundays. This was the last straw as I was very tense and stressed out. I sat in the car and cried and cried. Rob watched from the porch as I drove away. I think I worried him, that he was afraid I was really going to lose it.

So I had to drive to Seattle on that donut tire. I didn't care much for that. The next morning I went out at 8am to get the tire repaired, good thing to, as it was Christmas Eve and they closed at 1pm and we were due in Redmond later that morning. It was done in no time and off we went.

Rob got his cast off on Christmas Eve. His arm was all small and weak. He can't move his wrist very well and is in physical therapy but it's getting better. But the best thing was, he can drive again!

Christmas morning was loud at our house, with screaming kids and barking dogs. It was nice to go to Rob's parents for dinner, they are so quiet compared to my family.

My sister Caroline came in the weekend before New Years from Norway. It's so good to see her. We had a quiet NY Eve and didn't drink much at all.