Long weekend bliss

I tell ya, after all the pre-birthday running around, that goodness we're sliding into a long weekend.

Yes, I spent most of my night in pursuit of slippers. Fucking slippers. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find decent looking slippers in May? Dang near impossible!

Doesn't help that the place I vaguely referenced in yesterday's post closed at 7 tonight. Stupid me pulled into the parking lot at 7:17.

Foiled again.

So I caved, went to Best Buy and got him a freaking gift card. I figure that, the games, the dvd's, the belt and the freakin slippers I finally managed to procure at my neighbourhood Globo should do the trick. Even managed to pop into Dollarama for some gift bags and wrap. Yep, the diva loves her Dollarama finds, and I simply refuse to pay more for gift bags and tissue, for pete's sake. So that's all done.

Now I just have to wrap everything and determine how to give it to him tomorrow. The fun part!

Since it's a long weekend, I finish work at noon tomorrow. Very exciting! Hubs decided he needed a five day weekend so he took Thursday and Friday off as well. My man's quite the workhorse - today alone he got the laundry done, cut the grass and weeded both laws as well.

Sidebar - are you infested with dandelions too? Sweet holy crap, they're everywhere!! What a mess! A veritable sea of yellow. And of course, they've all popped their heads so it actually looks like it's snowing here, there's so much in the air. But I digress..

After the birthday festivities, we have nothing on our plates. Nothing. SFA - sweet fuck all. Waaaa hooo!

I want to sleep in and go to the gym and continue the work on our lawn and clean the windows and put away the winter clothes and pull out and wash my summer ones and sleep in...

Hang on. That doesn't sound much like nothing, does it? Oh well, I suppose in the grand scheme of things we have no specific place we have to be at any specific time, and if nothing on the above list gets done no one gets hurt...so it isn't all bad.

Now to just get through my half day tomorrow so the aforementioned long weekend bliss can begin in earnest!

Hope you all have a fantastic long weekend whatever you're doing. And celtic_kitten, hope you have an absolutely incredible Alaskan cruise!!!!!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

The quest for the elusive perfect gift...

So yes, apologies for my absence. No real excuse, truthfully. Just tired. Woefully tired. As soon as American Idol is done these days, I'm ready for beddy. Sigh.

Tonight is really no exception, but since I've been egged on to post by a bored, blonde ex-pat living in Aussieland, here we go!

Friday is Hubs' birthday. Yay Hubs! Disaster for me.

He's unbelievably hard to buy for. Not to mention that we're at that crucial point in our relationship where we've had enough birthdays, anniversaries, Christmases, and Valentine's Days to have made our way throughout the standard gift roster. In the past I've given him box sets, die cast cars, a beautiful pen and pencil set, a wallet, photo books, calendars, Porsche books, video games, clothes...hell, I've even given him a new tank to put his freakin snake in!

And now I'm back at square one with nary an idea of what to do for him.

You see, I like my birthday gifts to be meaningful. Something I know the other person is going to really like if not love (and yes, stop snickering, snake tank was actually on that list - really). I am hooked on that high that comes from securing the perfect gift. Yet here I am, two days away from his birthday, and I'm still lookin to score.

When I asked him many weeks ago what he wanted, here's what I got:

a belt (black or brown, I need both)

slippers

Toca 2 for XBOX

Goodfellas and Shaun of the Dead on DVD

Seriously, that was his entire list. Oh, he wants Best Buy gift cards too so he can buy his Bose Companion 3 speakers for his computer.

A wild man, my husband.

I ask you, how does one find anything meaningful in any of those suggestions? Yeesh.

So while on my quest for the elusive meaningful present, I start to pick up the smaller pieces to have them on hand just in case. I find him a great leather belt that's actually reversable - black on one side, brown on the other. And better yet - it's not one of those tacky reversable belts either! Seriously! The non-tacky versions do exist out there, and in two days, Hubs will have one of his very own.

I went to the Eaton's Centre today during my lunch hour and picked up the DVD's he wanted. I got him an extra one too, just 'cause their sales are absolutely insane. I got 7 DVD's for $42. And that included tax. Well done, HMV. Well done.

I also managed to score a used version of Toca 2 since they don't make new ones anymore (sigh) for $5 at the EB Games. And not to be outdone, I also grabbed Toca 3 for his gaming pleasure. I figure the more games he has (and actually likes to play) the less he'll razz me for being on my computer. :)

A diva can dream.

I'm still on the hunt for good slippers though. He loves his slippers, my man. Jealous, girls? I know you are. Back off.

He does need a new pair though, 'cause his last ones pretty much disintegrated. He got so sick of them he threw them out. Which means he's pretty confident he's getting some from me. Awesome.

If you haven't gone male slipper shopping lately, I suggest you give it a whirl, just for shits and giggles, so you can better comprehend my pain. No one makes a decent, manly slipper anymore! I tried the SprawlMart - nope. Joe Fresh let me down... I'm running out of time here, people!

Oooh...I have an idea. There's a neat outlet place near here that has a wall of slippers. Now if I could only find an excuse for needing the car and slipping away tomorrow night. Must ponder that some more.

I had all sorts of other ideas, but they went over like the proverbial lead balloon. I thought I'd finally hit pay dirt when I saw that Chris Rock was playing Casino Rama in July. We both love and quote on a regular basis Bigger and Blacker, so I was SURE this would be a hit.

BUT...knowing how he'd waffled on so many other things, I decided to suck it up and ask him about it before I went out and committed those tickets to plastic. Good thing, 'cause he meh'ed right over Chris Rock! Shock of shocks! What has become of my husband?

The other challenge of course is that I don't have a wack of cash to spend, as much as I'd like to have anyway. If I had my way, I'd buy him the big screen tv he so desperately wants or a digital SLR camera. But alas, 'tis not in the cards this year. Unless, of course, we win that $25 million on Friday...then all bets are off.

What are some of the pressies you've bought your beloved in the past? Methinks this birthday is a write off in the meaningful department, but our second wedding anniversary is less than two months away, and all this turmoil will begin anew! I'd love to hear your suggestions!!!!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?

The day after

Well, I survived.

Barely.

I got through Mother's Day, somewhat unscathed.

But for once in my life, I was pretty happy to see Monday roll around. Wacked, I know, but there it is.

Had a pretty good weekend though. Went down to Waterloo to see my sister and CJ, and it was great to get caught up with everyone. We went to some garage sales, the farmer's market, the Jones New York outlet (where I procured a lovely new pair of pink linen pants - an early birthday present from my sister), and the local Sobey's. Then we hooked up with CJ and her bf to see their pad and do a drive by of their new home. Very exciting!!

We then all congregated back at my sister's home for a superbly yummy bbq - great way to top off a fantastic day. Beautiful weather, great food, awesome friends and family, and a Bacardi Breezer or two. We even brought out a cake for Hubs' birthday (coming up this Friday). All was right with the world.

Sunday morning we got up relatively early so we could hit the road and make it to our local Mandarin in time for our 11:30 am reservation.

Mother's Day had officially arrived.

I steeled myself for the onslaught to come. I called my own mom who wasn't there at the time so I left her a message. I'd sent flowers and a card earlier.

I finished writing the message in my mother in law's card, so as to be ready for presentation during our buffet feasting.

I put my game face on as we walked through the hordes of smiling families, kids in their Mandarin Sunday best, moms everywhere with flowers and cards and gift bags. I even managed to hold it together despite the fact that directly in my line of sight was a family of six...mom, dad, and four daughters, one still in her car seat. She was adorable. She was facing me. She was heartbreaking.

The straw before the straw that broke the camel's back came with the bill. The waiter arrived with said bill and a handful of flowers, which he started dishing out to the mothers.

Ugh.

He thrusts one at me and instantly, everyone at the table goes into semi-shocked mode. I keep saying no, but they encourage me to take one. Hubs tells me later he was paralyzed and had no idea what to do. I took the flower, and gave it to DeeDee later on.

And off we went.

We dropped DeeDee off (Sludge was working until 2 and though it was our weekend we all agreed that she should be with her mom as much as she could be on Mother's Day) and headed home...frenetic weekend over, the relief of retreating to my cave and feeling sorry for myself in private almost palpable in our wee Kia.

I was happy to be home.

And I'm extra happy to the thought of wearing my pink linen pants to work later this week. Whatever shall I pair them with?

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

And that's your daily dash. How's your diva doin'?