Birthdays, Laundry miss-haps, Romantic get-a-ways and Crutches

My friend Twanda politely suggested that it was time to get back to blogging.  And considering it has been a solid month, I would have to agree with her.  So much for a "daily" blog.  Hopefully I can still redeem myself. 

So what has happened in a month?  Well - I had my second fortieth birthday.  Unlike my first "Forty and Fabulous party" we spent a quiet night at home with little or no excitement.  Maybe a little excitement.  My husband comes in with my oldest daughter bearing gifts - a dancing Monkey, and chocolate.  Yes its what every 40+ woman wants for her birthday.  Seeing that my daughter picked out the monkey I was happy.  Later my husband surprised me with a weekend romance package at one of our local hotels.  Just some quality time for the hubby and me. 

Laundry - the unthinkable happens,  the knob on my washer breaks completely off.  I can't turn the thing on.  For me, this is a serious emergency.  And my husband knows I'm about to freak out.  He called a repair-man out the next day to look at it.  The news is not good.  This stupid knob will cost almost half of the cost of a new machine!! The repair-man tells us that its usually not worth fixing this kind of machine (that's repair-man speak for -  you have a cheap ass machine).  I go into washer buying mode.  I know I only have a couple of days before the clothes will take over the 2nd floor.  But then a solution comes to me.   If you are old enough you will recognize the trick.  Remember "back in the day" when TVs knobs would break (kids probably don't even know that TVs had knobs at one point)?  We didn't through the TV out, we pulled out good old trusty pliers.  So yes, I found a pair of pliers and it works.  Its not fancy or new, but it works and I don't have to spend money on an otherwise working machine.  So there -Mr Repair-guy! A small victory in my world of constant washing. 

This past weekend we decided to use our romantic get-a-way.  It was nice, we were both pretty  tired from a full day running around with the kids.  My cousin (thank you Cassandra) volunteered to watch the girls overnight.  Our plan was to go to dinner, then head back to the room for chocolate covered strawberries and champagne.  The only problem is that we choose the Saturday before Valentines day to go out - without reservations. Not really a good idea.  One hour wait minimum.  So for our romantic meal, I ended up with a Jimmy Johns sandwich, and for him General Goa's Chicken.  Fabulous!  It was fun still.  Just a little different than what I planned in my head. 

So now on to Crutches -  My husband and I decided to extend our Romantic get-a-way fun by having breakfast and then cleaning out the Mini-van.  (I know we are an exciting pair).  All I can say about our mini-van is that I'm always amazed at all the "treasure" you find when you take all the seats out - yuk!  Once we made it home, we started bringing in all the nick-knacks that belong in the house.  And I have to admit I was the one who ruined our fantastic weekend by starting to fuss at my husband.  But Karma is a B**** as they say.  As if on cue, I'm fussing and then my foot slips, my ankle turns and next thing I know I'm staring at the sky and screaming.  My ankle is badly sprained.  I thought it was broken, but thankfully its just a sprain.  The lesson that I learned instantly - don't ruin a good day over simple S***. Its not worth it. 

That is my month in fast forward.