You're too nice

And I don't deserve any of you! Thanks for the support and understanding.

This has been a very busy weekend. Al's birthday was Saturday, and he turned the big 4-0. I was loving and supportive because I had already been there done that. Ah hell, no I wasn't. I think my first words to him that day were something like, "So, do you feel old?" I almost commented on all the gray hair, but I had already told him I find that sexy, so it wouldn't have worked to tease him with that. However, the groaning voices when he gets out of the recliner were fair game. When did that start? When did we have to grunt and sigh as we got out of a comfy chair?

It's not really a birth"day" for Al, it's more like an extended celebration. Last Thursday we went to a "mega scotch tasting" at our favorite pub, The Dell, and this coming weekend we're having his actual birthday party. I had been trying to plan a surprise party for him at the Dell, but the guys at work told Al they were ready for another scotch tasting party at the house, so Al came home and announced we were having a party. Apparently, in addition to wanting to try some of the various alcohol offerings, they also requested their favorite foods from previous gatherings. Cheeky bastards. But of course, it's a compliment, and that works for me.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

We've had so much rain; we get heavy thunderstorms every couple of days.






The Mega Tasting at the Dell is a yearly party they have where for $100 you can taste the expensive stuff they hide in the back. It's very generous because there wasn't a bottle there that cost less than $200, and several were rare or really really really hard to get. Al tasted 12 single malts that night (I'm the designated driver, so I was swimming in Diet Coke). I think his favorite was the 35-year-old Glenfarclass, but I don't remember for sure. Plus, they have a new chef, so the "cleansing palate" platters were full of really good olives, chocolates, and cheese. Eating is a good thing at a tasting. I took a couple of pictures to give you an idea what it's like.





In the meantime, I'm reading Poltergeist by Kat Richardson. It's pretty good, good enough that I don't want to put it down. It's the second in the series, but I didn't read the first one and I think it would have helped a little. The book is about a private detective who died for 2 minutes and when she came back she was able to see "the grey" or that area between life and death, so it took me a little bit to understand what was going on since all of that was set up and created in the first book. In this one she is investigating a research group who has created a ghost, but when one of the team members dies, she has to find out if it was the ghost or a human being. Oh, and it's set in Seattle, so I'm enjoying descriptions of the area.

Red Letter Day

I have a cycle to my psyche: restless, apathy, grateful. I’m in the grateful stage right now, which is the stage I like best. It’s a time to count and enjoy my blessings. Some of this feeling may be because I’m finally recovered from the steroids and my emotions are back to an even keel. Al said I went through “’roid rage.” All I know is that unless I am paralyzed and/or passed out from pain, I’m not doing that again.

So, it’s Valentine’s Day, and I made one of Al’s favorite dishes, Beef ‘n Burgundy, and chocolate chip cookies. Al isn’t a big candy guy, but he loves chocolate chip cookies. I had an afternoon in the kitchen and loved just the normalness of it. And during those “restless” cycles when I lament what I haven’t achieved, I need to remember these grateful moments. It’s kind of like that journal I used to keep—I only wrote in it when I was depressed because when everything was great, I didn’t take time to write.

Al is really good at Valentine’s Day. He didn’t used to be (used to call it a Hallmark holiday), but in the last few years, he’s become down right romantic. I get a card every day for a week leading up to Valentine’s Day, and usually those cards have a Dove dark chocolate heart with them. And these aren’t the little multi-pack cards you give other kids at school, they are full-size, Hallmark cards. And he put them in different places around the house to find them—under the laptop, on the bathroom sink, on top of the newspaper. He’s cute, isn’t he?



But that wasn’t all this year. He had a much bigger surprise planned:



Yep. A red iPod Nano. And not only that, he had his pet name for me and my initials engraved on the back, so it says “Sweetness KP.” I was pretty overwhelmed and surprised. I was also doing a happy dance around the kitchen “I have a Nano, I have a Nano.” I didn’t scold him for spending that money because he’s just so proud of himself, and besides I love it and had wanted one for a long time, I just never said anything. Oh, and it’s the red Nano, so it’s part of (Product) Red, a charity for the fight against AIDS in Africa. Pretty cool, huh?

BTW, speaking of Apple, have you seen iPhone? Holy Cow I want one of those! Yeah, I know I’m a bit of a technophobe and I hate cell phones, but it’s just so damn cool.

Anyway, I’m off to buy some more songs on iTunes and download them to my new Nano. I think this “grateful” cycle is going to last a while.