Hubby Got Me Good

Last Tuesday was my Birthday. I typically start celebrating my Birthday on October 1st. This year, I didn't realize it was even close to my Birthday until the middle of the month. [sad, sad face] I never once did my Birthday Dance all month long! For the first time. Amazing Grace is usually the first to tell me to stop when I do it, and oddly enough, she was the one to say to me, "Mom, your Birthday is in 2 days and you haven't done your dance even once." 

You know I'm kept way too busy when I don't remember to do my Birthday Dance. 

My parents and brother sent me gifts early and I am so excited with what they got me! They gave me exactly what I'd been wanting--a purple nursing bag that had to have been designed by a nursing student. I'd been wanting it for about a year but felt I couldn't justify buying it since I had a backpack, even though the backpack killed my Evil Back and I had stopped using it several months ago. It has compartments perfectly sized for every single thing I need & we all know how much I love organizing. I also got 3 pairs of cute nursing socks and the most awesome I Love Lucy watch with a picture of Lucy from my favorite episode. 

Sent my Mom pics of
me wearing my gifts.

And using my other gift. 

On my Birthday, I got a text from Amazing Grace telling me that I was to be ready to leave the house as soon as she got home from school. No other information. Hmm...

I messaged hubby and said I had just been kidnapped and my child wouldn't tell me where I was being taken to. He didn't respond. 

This is where she
took me.

Amazing Grace 

Hubby had set up pedicures for us at my nail salon. 

So awesome!

"Hey, my hair is the
same color as this
chair."

Toe Drying Time.

When we got home, there was a huge banner on the garage door and the house was all decorated. There were candles lit, balloons in a couple rooms (non-latex, thank you very much, no one tried to kill me on my Birthday), and decorations everywhere. 

Hubby had left work early to go to his parents' house to make Birthday cake--his Mom's recipe that I love--and come home early to surprise me. He made me a steak, lobster, and shrimp dinner, and I got a surprise party with my family. I was definitely surprised. Amazing Grace had even taken the night off from work. Aw!

Ginger Girl
made me a unicorn.

Rockin' it!

With my Ginger Girl.

2 Gingers.

With Blondie & Amazing Grace.

Boy Teenager was
being goofy with singing
& Blondie caught the
look I gave him.

Then Boy Teenager said
Happy Birthday to me &
this is apparently my
"he's so adorable" look.

Hubby was ready to dive into
the 2 types of cake--1 my
Mom ordered & 1 is
Mom2's recipe.

Wizard of Oz necklace from hubby!
I may be a wee bit slightly obsessed with the movie.

It was great taking several hours to just be with my family, relax, and have fun. I was so surprised that hubby had taken the afternoon off and gone to so much work just for me. 

Friday I got home from dealing with idiots at school, driving on iced-over, snow-covered highways with idiots causing accidents the last half of my 1.5 hour drive, & after a week of more information than my brain wants to hold. I was tired and desperately wanting time off from everything. 

I got home about 10 minutes before the kids would get home from school and went straight into the bathroom. As I was in there, Watson was crying at the bathroom door to come in. I opened it for him to find hubby standing on the other side. I screamed. I slammed the door. I locked the door. After my heart stopped jumping out of my chest, I opened the door and yelled at him for scaring me to death. 

Then I asked why he was home early. He was very vague and annoying me. 

As I was getting the makeup and hair stuff to do Ginger Girl's Halloween costume, hubby told me that Ginger Girl would be going trick or treating with her father because we were going out to eat. Everyone was acting very shady. No one would tell me what was going on. Why were we going out to eat & I didn't know about it ahead of time? Why did he let me change into my comfy clothes if we were going out? Where was everyone else going? Amazing Grace said, "Mom, just go with it. Do her makeup and get ready to go." 

I sat on the floor and said, "If you guys don't tell me what is going on, I'm not doing you [pointing at Ginger Girl] & I'm not doing you [pointing at hubby]." Hubby was sad. 

I did get off the floor & I did change. Not without crying. Stress + exhaustion = Emotional Eddi. Thankfully hubby is no longer scared when I cry over things that aren't really that concerning. He's heard such things as, "I feel so bad for Watson. [sob] He doesn't understand that I'll come back when I'm gone all day. [sob]" & "[sob, gasp for breath, sob] I can't find [sob] my purple cup! [sob] I don't want to [sob, gasp] drink out of a [sob] glass! Who would [gasp, sob] hide my purple cup? [sob]"

I cried that I wanted to go to dinner next weekend because what I really wanted to do this weekend was go to a haunted house. "Why can't we go next weekend? I really just wanted to go to that haunted house. [sob]" Normally I wouldn't cry over my plans not being the ones that happened, but emotional roller coasters aren't rational. Not at all. 

Turns out I wasn't just going out to dinner with hubby. When Half Brain & her fiance walked in, I was actually speechless while trying to figure out what was going on. As more friends walked into the restaurant, I was completely shocked. I have no idea how he pulled it off, but he sure surprised me with this party. 

My sweet friend Shorty even brought
me this get-up.  Sash & tiara, yes!

I also got all of these items from Shorty. 'Cause I'm old now...

I guess you're flipping your head upside
down to view this pic because no matter what I
do, it does not want to load properly. Have fun. 

I'm thinking the adult diapers will come in real handy when I'm studying--I no longer have to schedule pee breaks. Or I can wear them when I'm taking one of the many proctored test that I'm not allowed to get up from. 

It was pretty funny when I later looked in the back seat of the car to find adult diapers next to a bottle of wine I had gotten as a gift from someone else. That's how old people party. Don't have to stop drinking just to pee. Yeehaw! 

The surprise party didn't end at the amazing dinner where I had prime rib & garlic mashed potatoes. Oh, no, he didn't stop there. No one would tell me where we were all going afterward, so imagine my surprise when we pulled up to the haunted house that I had wanted to go to. Everyone had tickets, so I know hubby didn't just take everyone aside at the party & say, "Hey, she cried about going to that big haunted house. Play along with me & pretend that was part of the party."

My favorite monster. She has the most
awesome skull on a stick that I've ever seen!
I love her makeup too.

The haunted house is made up of 4 attractions so that you go through different themes for different kinds of scared. It was so much fun! In one of them, hubby & I were in the middle of the group, in a dark hallway of course, when train lights suddenly came on & a train came through the wall at us. AT US! What is the first thing you do when a train is barreling through a wall at you? First, let me tell you that there is a real, live train that goes past this haunted house. While we were in line, it went past behind us, so I'd already seen a train. So now, let me ask you, if you had already seen a train chug-a-lug past the building you were just about to go into and then 2 hours later a train comes charging at you, what is the first thing you would do?

I know for a fact you would do the same exact thing I did, even if everyone else in my party thought it was hysterical. I know I did the only thing any rational, thinking human being would do. I placed my hands ever so lovingly on hubby's back and pushed with every ounce of my being. As I pushed, I screamed as if I was about to die...because I was...& ran. I ran like I was about to die from a train driving right into me. I ran right through hubby's coat, through his clothes, and through the man himself. I didn't ran. I charged. While screaming. And he ended up plastered against the wall at the end of the hall, arms up and over his head, like he was about to get searched by an officer. Behind me I heard, "Classic!" All around me I heard laughter. 

The thing is, I know that everyone's laughter was actually them masking their own fear. It's a coping mechanism. 

And I know they were all masking a whole ton of fear because they used their coping mechanism for 10 minutes & again later while talking about it. 

Hubby got me back for it, though, when we were walking through the next house. It was pitch black and there were clowns everywhere. Have I mentioned that clowns are as scary as birds? Seriously, the worst monster ever created. Except for Insane Clown Posse--those clowns are just genuis. So we're walking along in a straight line, I'm ahead of hubby this time, behind Half Brain. I was holding onto Half Brain's coat so that I didn't lose her in the dark & holding hubby's hand, like a very cute human chain. We're walking, walking, walking. Hubby switches hands, which he does 'cause I tend to squeeze the life out of his hand when I'm around clowns and birds, and we keep walking, walking, walking for quite a while. There's a whisper in my ear & for the life of me I cannot remember what was said but I remember part of it was to turn around. I turned around. A frickin' clown was right in my face AND I WAS HOLDING ITS HAND!! 

I...was...holding...a...clown's...hand. Well, he was more of like, a joker/clown so not as scary but more just creepy. But, dude, hubby was behind him laughing his freakin' butt off. Seriously. 

I screamed. I jumped. The guy dodged cuz he was scared I'd punch him (rightfully so). I called hubby a lovely name. 

What sucks is that I never noticed it was a different hand because they both had identical gloves on and had the same shape & thickness of hand. That creepy joker/clown was good. I bet he stood there watching every guy that passed, waiting until he found his hand twin that was holding the hand of another person that would just hate touching him. Naughty. Naughty. 

The surprise didn't end there. Hubby had gotten us a room at a very nice hotel. Amazing Grace had packed my bag & hubby had put Comfy Blanket in the car without me knowing. The kids all knew what was going on & were taking care of the pets. I was at first upset that I had to take time off from studying & wasn't sure if I could do it, but I'll tell ya, I needed it. Not having any reason to not sleep, I slept the entire night through--9 whole hours!--for the first time in over a month. Hubby made sure they had a hot tub & that definitely helped with the relaxation. 

When we got home Saturday afternoon, Watson was so happy to see me that he tried to climb into my body. Sitting on me wasn't enough. He also left a trail of socks all over the laundry room & put nylons on hubby's desk. 

And socks in his food bowl.

I really don't question what he does anymore. You'd think I'd be surprised by him opening a sock drawer that was definitely closed, carrying various sock bundles in his mouth, & depositing them places, but I'm really not. If he was a normal cat...but he's Watson. And I'm guessing that is how he shows he missed me. 

From the Birthday cards I received in the mail, the gifts I got from family & friends, the Birthday messages on The Facebook & in texts, to the parties my hubby surprised me with & the people who kept it secret & loved me enough to spend the night with me, it was the best Birthday ever. 

35 is starting out lookin' pretty good.