So much running around and so many good blessings flowing this weekend, it’s impossible to keep it all straight. If I didn’t use that camera, I’d forget even more.
Friday afternoon we finished school early for the day, and took a spin down to Avondale to visit the a few stores. We ended up only getting through Costco because that was where most of our shopping prep for the big birthday party was. I have to say, although this weekend was Paul’s birthday, I feel like I’m the one who got all the presents. Spending insurance money is just the biggest fun thing of 2012, and I pretty much finished off my indoor allotment in the past two days. As we boogied through the entertaining aisles, looking for a good deal on flatware, (which I did find, and I did love in all its simplicity and sturdiness) I happened to look across the row and discovered something I had not dreamed to exist – heavy duty melamine dinnerware, in a gorgeous design, for a fraction of anything I could find online or through the restaurant stores. And right next to THAT, drinkware of a sufficiently excellent price to delight my sense of frugality. And right after THAT I passed a huge display of indoor/outdoor floor cushions that are a terribly practical idea for our living room with its tile floor. I found two in a pretty blue and green medallion print and snagged them. With all the boxes that this entailed I ended up needing something like three carts by the time I was ready to queue up for checkout.
When we got home, I was surprised to walk in the front door and be greeted by the sumptuous scents of cookery from the kitchen. I had forgotten my husband had planned to put together a stew when he got home from work, and there he was, busily cooking away, with his ultra-awesome-industrial-strength-multi-purpose-garage-boom-box beside him on the counter, bringing the tunes.
We all got busy, unloading our purchases, and then some of the girls lent a hand to their dad with peeling and chopping and shredding, while another helped me put away all the new kitchen supplies.
After we got the stew all in the pot, and the dishes all put away, we needed to head back down to the Costco because I had also been pricing some trees there for both indoors and the back yard, and had high hopes of bringing them home. But I couldn’t fit them in the mini-van earlier, hence the second trip, with the trailer, by way of Jack in the Box for a spot of supper. When we go there, in the cold light of my husband’s critical eye, it was apparent to all that the Queen Palms were simply not going to fit in my living room without raising the roof half a storey. Further, though I dearly wanted to try putting a few of them in the back yard (and at $25 apiece, price was not an issue), the more we looked at their flimsy trunks and thought about straight line winds and haboobs, the less inclined either of us were to continuing down that particular garden path. However, there were some absolutely adorable pygmy date palms that I envisioned filling in some spaces in my living room rather beautifully. We got them home, and re-potted and put in place before collapsing for the night.
Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and we were all up and attem with much to do before 10am. There was sweeping and mopping to be done, and more kitchen cleaning, and as it was Paul’s birthday, there was music and there was dancing to one of the current family faves, and it was such a very peppy, “Heidmann” start to the day! 😀
Shortly after all that, Paul and I made a mad dashing trip back down to Costco (this time without the trailer), where we needed to pick up chairs for our epic birthday party.
Then on the way back, we stopped in at Lowes, and I was able to buy two more plants, and the lamps for the dark spots in my living room and piano-side.
I spent some time in the afternoon getting my fingers into some rich soil and repotting my new plants, and putting the lamps together. After all our cleaning tasks were done, Paul and I went out for a little birthday supper with Jeff and Mom to Boston Market, one of Paul’s favorites. I left the girls in charge of the remaining food prep for our after-church party, and they did a fantastic job.
On our way home, we stopped by Best Buy, where Paul picked up his birthday present – season 1 of Blue Bloods. We watched the first episode and gave Mom the proverbial thumbs up for telling us how great it was. And that was the end of the actual birthday… but not of the celebrations!
