He's how old? A recap!

Chris is 40. Thought I would share some of the highlights of the weekend.

My big surprise for Chris began with me at the doctor's office at 7:30am in hopes of missing the flood of Swine Flu victims. Unfortunately, there were already 4 people ahead of me and the clinic didn't open for another half hour. Doctor visit over and 4 prescriptions dropped off to Meijer and I am running home to turn on crock pots full of food.

Adrenaline kicked in at about 10:00am and I was off and running. Went to Party Supply store, then to Cubs, then to Great Harvest. Realized at the Sam's gas station that I didn't have my bank card and or/any other means of paying for gas. Unfortunately, my tank was on empty and wavering between 2 and 3 miles as I drove to Sam's.

(Oh yeah, and when I was in Cubs, I got a call from Vestor who was originally going to come and cater the big bash. But, when the weather looked bleak and the number was lingering around 50, I thought I could handle it. I called him 2 weeks ago, and told him I would go it alone. Told him I would buy the food if he had already purchased it and that we would definitely use him again. So he calls to tell me he is planning on coming to the house around 3pm to set up and get started. Oh my goodness. I felt awful. He said sometimes his phone doesn't forward messages when they come during a time he is at school. Huh? What? I felt soooo bad. But, I had already prepared and had cooking Italian Sausage, Meatballs, and Italian Beef for sandwiches. (And we had delicious veggie soup for our non-carnivore lovers out there.) I ended up going to his house and giving him money and picking up a couple of relish trays he had prepared.)

So back to no money and no gas. So I call Great Harvest. They are so friendly there. One of the young men went outside and found it on the sidewalk. Really? How distracted must I have been? Crazy! I called Chris and worked it out for him to get me cash and to borrow his card, then he would go get my card before a meeting he had. SO I waited in Sam's, couldn't even get a big drink because I had no money. Then I ran over to Vestor's. It's now 3:30pm. Party at 6, Chris home at 5. Still needed to make cheesy potatoes and convert our garage into party central. By the time Chris got home, he knew I was stressed and he figured I must have more on my plate than make dinner for neighbors. He pitched in and helped move the lawn mowers, set up tables and organize the food. He was a good sport, and very thankful. We had about 45 people come and lots of singing in his honor. It was fun to see his students so genuinely appreciative of Chris and his work. Lots of food was eaten, and many laughs had. So, at 4:30am, about the time I finally fell asleep, I was praying for more adrenaline to keep me going. And, I was trying to remember to pick up my 4 prescriptions that I had been prescribed that morning.

9am, brunch in the oven. 10am, neighbors and friends joined for brunch. French toast bake, sausage casserole, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and lots of coffee. 11am, Rachel the babysitter shows up. Chris was caught off guard and surprised again. I packed his bags in private and snuck them into the car. Told him we were just going to get the day to ourselves and thought we could go to the city for the day. Met his student Peter at his house which thrilled Chris' heart and mine. We really enjoyed spending time with him and meeting some of his performer friends. I felt so disgusting by the time we got to the hotel. I had convinced him that we were going to have to go to the Walgreens bathrooms to freshen up and for him to shave. He grabbed his shaving cream and razor, just in case. Still confused about that one. But we had a hotel, so it was a lot better than a Walgreens bathroom. Dinner at Bucca di Beppos, great Italian family style restaurant. Then we went dancing.I

love dancing. Chris put up with all my wild shenanigans. Including: when the attendant at the hotel offered to give us recommendations or directions for our 40th birthday celebration, I asked her if she could write me a recommendation. "What are you hungry for?" She asks. Rosie's reply, "No, I mean would you really write me a recommendation. I would really like to be the president of the free world. I could use a few recommendations." She thought I was crazy, and he agreed that was probably true. On the elevator we ran into an employee who must have been in charge of restocking the rooms with anything and everything. I told him it was Chris' birthday and we were collecting items to help us remember the weekend. He gave us a Mormon Bible. Seriously! At Bucca di Beppos, the server gave us an autographed plate with his signature and the chef's. He also became my newest facebook friend. In the cab ride to go dancing, I thanked the driver personally. "Thank you Mr. Nebuchadnezzarjuhaributablare" (Something like that). He laughed. So what time was it when we got back from dancing? 1:30am. Good times were had upon our arrival.

Breakfast at 9:30am where Peter challenged me to eat my oatmeal with a knife. Of course I did just that. A stop at the cupcake store then back on the road. WE took our time. We called the babysitter and reminded her to have the kids straighten up. We had done a pretty good job of cleaning up after the party, but there were a few things that were in the sink that I had asked our babysitter to help the kids get cleaned up. We paid her $150. I think it was a pretty good rate. My house was trashed. On top of the few items that weren't cleaned, there was added a pancake pan, a scrambled egg pan, diet drink cans throughout the house. Evidently the kids pulled one over on the babysitter and didn't do a single thing she asked. She had purchased for the kids. (Soda is a special occasion/lazy mom drink.) They had done s'mores over candles at the table and chocolate was under 2 of the chairs. My kitchen needed a good cleaning and I had just enough adrenaline to get that done. Did I mention that my neighbor Diane had actually called on Saturday night and offered to come over and help clean up. Our babysitter said, don't worry about it, she would take care of it. NOT! (Turns out maybe Colin made an executive decision and told Diane that they were on top of the house cleaning.) Obviously my children were safe, and they had fun.

So, about 5pm, I sit down, adrenaline, gone. Hurt all over. My legs hurt so bad. My throat was killing me, and everything caught up with me. So, I go to take my cough suppressent, 2 inhalers and my antibiotics. We did pick them up before we left town, and I got one dose in. Um...evidently they were thrown away at the hotel in an effort to clean the car out so the valet wouldn't realize we were total slobs. No drugs. Gone! Sad Rosie. Sad Chris. No worries. I didn't let it get to me and I reordered them today. No insurance this time. I guess that will teach us to be more responsible.

Chris said several times throughout the weekend how thankful, surprised, and grateful he was. He also said he felt pretty dumb for his behavior of late. Only time will tell if behaviors change. I am so glad that I was able to celebrate his birthday in a way that he would appreciate.I am tired. And, long winded. This novel is brought to you by...Rosie, wife superior! At least today. Please imagine my intonation and inflection. More adventures with Miss Rosie soon to come.