Mother’s Day Weekend

I feel like we didn’t even have a weekend. My husband and I had so much going on that both days flew by, dragging us to Monday morning before we could blink.

On Saturday, my older stepdaughter and her fiancé moved from one apartment to another, so we got up insanely early to help them out. My husband and I have moved so many times that we have it down to a science, plus it was supposed to storm that afternoon, so we hit the ground running. I met my steps goal for the step challenge in no time! In about two hours, we had everything moved into the new apartment, but our work wasn’t done yet: my husband had to head back to the old apartment to do some repair work, like fix up doors and blinds damaged by the dog, who is a sweetheart but had some adjustment issues when she finally got to move in with my stepdaughter and enjoy her first real home.

While he made those repairs, I swept the floors really well, hoping to make their final cleaning a bit easier. As I swept, I asked my husband, “How many times have we done this?” We moved our older stepson into his first place many years ago, and it was much the same, my husband fixing things while I cleaned. I’m sure there are several more moves coming up, too.

At the new apartment, my husband helped with a few things there too, so we didn’t get home until dinner time. In front of our door was a vase with red roses and a small card, and I could tell by the way my husband said, “Now, what is that?”, with a little smile on his face, that he knew exactly what it was.

I opened the card, expecting it to be from him, but it was actually from the kids! It was an early Mother’s Day bouquet. I was surprised and happy. My husband said they had asked him to help with the flower delivery. The bouquet is beautiful and means a lot to me.

My husband and I were tired, sweaty, and dirty after a long day, so we hit the shower together, then got comfy and relaxed for a bit before getting up early again on Sunday for a church event our younger stepdaughter had asked us to attend.

My younger stepson brought flowers to church for me for Mother’s Day–purple flowers, my favorite color–so I got another surprise! Later, my husband made dinner for me. He had offered to take me out to dinner, but he’s a damn good cook, so I asked if he minded cooking at home instead.

Yesterday after work, I received my third Mother’s Day surprise: my oldest stepson came by to visit, along with his wife and baby. My husband met me at the door, holding our grandbaby, both of them smiling to see me. We had a great visit and went to dinner with our son and his family, and we already have plans to get together again soon.

My Mother’s Day weekend was wonderful, just extremely busy and over much too quickly. We have another busy weekend coming up, but I am looking forward to it…once I catch my breath!

Date Night

This was a long and very busy work week. I practically ran to the door at quitting time, sneaking out before anyone else could ask me a question, send me an email, or bring anything to my desk. I was more than ready to get our weekend started!

We have a lot to do this weekend, too, but something we always make time for is our Saturday night date night. It’s been a tradition for as long as I can remember. When the kids were little, it was our family evening out. As they all grew up, it became just me-and-him time. It’s nice to look forward to it all week, talking about where we will go, and whose turn it is to pick.

I was curious, and I am a data person, so I looked it up: less than half of married couples go on regular date nights. The couples that do have date nights enjoy significantly happier marriages, better communication, more commitment, and greater sexual satisfaction. No argument here!

Everything

I had a lot of plans for my blog after the new year: a recap of last year, goals for this year, catching everyone up on my little world. But my workplace has had other plans for me.

I am known at work for being very detail-oriented, thorough, reliable. Great, right? Well, sure, until the number of people who depend on me, ask me questions, and send me documents to review became a bit overwhelming.

Yesterday I stayed late to finish reviewing a 60+ page budget for someone else in my department. I stared at numbers, followed table rows, and corrected adding errors until I was damn near cross-eyed. Meanwhile, my own work sat, untouched, because I was interrupted all day long with questions and requests for help. I am flattered that I am considered so reliable and helpful, but I really need a breather and time to handle my own work, too.

I want to think a bit about how to make this blog serve me best this year: how to use it more for accountability, for just getting thoughts out of my head, for recording snippets of my life. I haven’t had much time to ponder that since coming back to work, but it’s churning in the back of my head.

Today is officially one full week into the new year already. I know I can’t make time slow down, but I want to take some time each day to really focus on what is happening around me, from the scattering of clouds in the sky to the feel of the breeze as I sit outside at night, to a new bud on one of our roses, to the sound of my husband laughing at something I said, the way his eyes shine when he is happy, all of it…the small things that are actually everything to me.

Six Days to Go

Less than a week to go to Christmas! I spent a few hours the other evening drowning in wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, and tape, but all of my gifts are now wrapped and dressed up in their colorful decorations, except for the few stragglers that haven’t been delivered by Amazon or UPS yet.

Last night, my husband and I scattered my glitter glue tubes onto the kitchen counter and got to work, painting names onto Christmas stockings. One of them is for our youngest grandson, and I had to smile to myself as I watched my husband lean over that stocking, slowly and carefully placing the letters of our grandson’s name, making sure it was just right. We are excited about many things this year, and being a part of this little fellow’s very first Christmas is a huge one.

We did some shopping last night, too, and I picked up the ingredients for some baking over the weekend and next week. I keep running down my long, ever-growing mental checklist, making sure I am not missing anything before Christmas Day.

It’s been a busy holiday season, with a few more events still on the calendar. When I feel overwhelmed or aggravated, I stop and remind myself that there are certainly worse things in the world than Christmas parties, holiday celebrations, or preparing for loved ones to stop by. I like things orderly, organized, planned out to the tiniest detail, but if things don’t line up perfectly, guess what? It’s going to be just fine. It’s supposed to be about celebrating, having fun, enjoying each other, sharing time together. Loving each other. Making memories.

Birthday Surprise

When we went to bed last night, I pretended I forgot something so I could get back up while my husband was in bed. I sneaked out to the kitchen, where I had stashed some birthday decorations, and I hung a birthday banner on our fireplace mantel, slipped birthday covers over the chairs at the dining room table, and moved his wrapped presents from the guest bedroom closet to the table.

If he noticed all this activity, he was a good sport and pretended he didn’t. This morning, as soon as the alarm went off, I sang “Happy birthday” to him. Given my questionable singing skills, that was possibly not much of a gift, but he smiled and kissed me and said “Thank you” anyway.

I baked caramel-filled cupcakes with salted caramel frosting over the weekend, but for this evening’s celebration, I will stop after work and pick up a cake and some ice cream. I wish we had both taken the day off. Definitely something to consider for next year!

My husband always says that his birthday is not a big deal, and that it’s just another day. I don’t agree. He loves to make me feel special on my birthday, and I want him to feel the same way. I hope all the moving parts come together this evening to celebrate him, make him smile, and help him feel as loved and treasured as he truly is.

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