Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is the mother's birthday. There are so many things that a daughter could get for her mother as a gift to show how much she really cares.

One could purchase a cute outfit from the mother's favorite store. But one would need to guess at what is really the mother's taste. Although as I get older, I think our tastes are becoming more similar. Like today, the mother had on a cute pair of capris that are exactly the same as a pair I bought a few weeks ago. I guess the mother and I share the love of a good bargain and a keen fashion sense.

One could buy a fine piece of jewelry or craft one from the ever growing bead collection that is amassing in my craft room. But my mother can create the most exquisite bejeweled creation from her own collection. And she is much faster than I am at it! I have witnessed the creation of a new jeweled masterpiece in the few waking moments before work when she can't find just the right thing to wear with a particular outfit. How do you compete with that?

One could buy some fancy perfume or scented candles for their mother. However, my mother never has been one for fancy perfumes or foofy scented candles. She really is a practical mom. She doesn't need designer stuff - well, until I got her hooked on the lovelies at the Coach factory store - hey, a girl needs to have some addiction right? (ok, I know I have more than one - back off and no shoes will get hurt!!)

So what do you buy for the best mom in the whole entire world? You buy her the finest 20 pack of toilet paper that you can find to go along with her brand new toilets. Seriously! I am so lucky that my mom has an awesome sense of humor. First, she really did ask for toilet paper on her birthday list. Second, I am just crazy enough to purchase it for her! She got the biggest kick out of the gift but I think my poor uncle thought we had gone completely mad. I'm sure that will be a topic of conversation later in the week between the two.

Happy Birthday Mom - I hope you have may more years to enjoy your new toilets!

I've been spotted

The rumors that MonkeyGirl packed her bags and ran away from home are partially true. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been traveling a lot. First stop, Tampa for 4 days then home for a couple of days, then off to San Francisco/Sacramento for 4 days followed by a quick getaway to the lake with Mr. Monkeygirl and some friends for some much needed R&R. It sounds glamorous and like fun, but I have to tell you this - traveling constantly S-U-C-K-S! Don't get me wrong, checking your e-mail from the beach or eating dinner at Fisherman's Wharf is fun, but after a while it gets old. The conversations generally revert back to work, the people you really want to talk to are in some different time zone, and you rarely get any puppy nuzzles while on the road.

In between my coastal trips, I decided that it was time for new luggage. My bags have seen better days and after years of travel, vital pieces - like the zipper pulls - where falling off or just plain missing. I don't know if any one travels much but have you noticed that everyone has a 25" black roller bag? It makes finding your bag on the luggage carousel a little challenging. Mr. M and I headed out one day on a quest for new luggage. The weekend ads promised 60-75% off luggage at one store so we had hope. I guess everyone else saw that this was a good deal so the selection was pretty picked over when we got there. My criteria was simple - sturdy wheels and something not black. We had no luck at stop one. So we headed over to the "butterfly" mall (a local 'outlet' mall that has a huge butterfly in one section so the M&M's dubbed it the butterfly mall). We looked at every possible store for a deal and we found some interesting selections but I couldn't decide. We got in the car and then I decided that I found something that I could live with and wasn't ungodly expensive.

I have to say that this luggage rolls much better than my old set. Spotting my bag on the carousel was easy-peasy-rice-and-cheesy. And the bonus - it is huge! I was able to pack all of my clothes for a 4 day business trip + 3 pairs of shoes with plenty of room to spare. On the way home, I was also able to stash my souvenirs for the boys, plus 2 new pairs of shoes (still in the boxes) in addition to everything I brought out with me. I have to say I was impressed with the space. So let me know what you think of my new bags! And yes, they are very me - aren't they?

The Divine Miss M

Tonight was an oddity for Aunt Monkeygirl. My little Miss M was my only charge for the evening. Boy M is starting Kindergarden on Thursday (eek!) so he and Mommy went to meet his teachers. That just left Miss M and me to our own devices.

She was so excited when I pulled up. Partly because I was there but most importantly because she had to show me a "surprise". Grandma bought her a new "lead-i-tard" for gymnastics. Even better, it is one of her favorite colors - purple! I think she talked about it almost the entire ride home.

Normally, we have to rush to get home, eat dinner and get to gymnastics on time. Without the distraction of her big brother, Miss M ate her dinner quickly (ugh, Burger King again!!) and then we went to change. Once she put on her new duds she advised me very seriously "It's not a leaditard, it is my dress up outfit!". She even sat still long enough for me to put her strawberry blond hair in pig tails. She stopped in front of every mirror in the house and posed. She stroked the velvety soft, royal purple ensemble whenever she got a chance. She was so proud of her $3 bargain Grandma found for her (yeah Grandma!!).

She pointed out her new outfit to every person that she ran into after she changed and they all showed the appropriate awe for Miss M's new duds! The funny part was that tonight was "Cardinal" day and they were supposed to wear their favorite Cardinal's stuff. The Pujols t-shirt she was sporting was so big on her that you could only see the tips of the sleeves, but little Miss M knew what she had on underneath and was so happy!

Rock on, Little Miss M - you look mah-velous!

Someone is watching out for me

Someone has my back today. I put off getting my car inspected until the last minute. This means a long wait at the DMV to get the plates but I have no one to blame but myself. But today, some one was looking out for me.

In order to get the car inspected and still go into the office, took a tad bit of coordination. Skaterboy uses my car for his driving Mr. Daisy gig in the morning. In his defense, I agree that his 80+ yr old charge might have a bit of trouble getting in and out of SB's car. A friend offered to pick me up so I picked the repair shop close to his house. Luckily, it is also one block from Mr. Daisy's abode so I made a deal with SB.

• SB drives Mr. Daisy to the donut shop in my car and then takes him home.
• Instead of coming back to the house, I drive SB's car to the repair shop and leave it in the parking lot.
• SB drops my car and keys off at the repair shop and drives his car home or wherever he wants to go.
• My friend picks me up at the repair shop and then drops me back off on his way home.

The plan worked out perfectly. The car passed with flying colors (it better have - it is fairly new) and I got to squeeze in an oil change to boot. I remembered to bring all the necessary paperwork with me so I could just run by the DMV on my way home.

I walk into the DMV and there are people everywhere. I take my number and find a seat. I'm 044 - not bad right? Oh, they are calling 987 - this is going to take longer than I thought. Again, I can't complain because this is my fault for procrastinating. Figuring that I have a long wait ahead of me, I pull out my phone to play a game or something. I see a woman walking up and down the aisles asking people questions. She approaches me and asks if I have a high number. I'm not sure if I classify 044 as high, but I show her my number. Apparently she took a number for the wrong line and she offered me her old number - 005! Sweet - this is making my day much better!

Due to the kindness of a stranger, I was on my way home from the DMV exactly one hour after I walked out the door from work. On the last day of the month. Late in the afternoon. I think I need to go out and buy a lottery ticket because I am having an excellent day!

Note: I paid it forward by offering my line ticket to a lady who came in and sat down next to me. It wasn't as dramatic of a jump for her, but she had to wait for 12 less people because of the new ticket!

Yipee!

After a few failed attempts to connect, I finally got to talk to the Orthopedic surgeon's office this afternoon. The MRI shows no broken bones. It also confirmed that there are no torn ligaments in Skaterboy's wrist (yeah, no surgery!!). They did see that he strained the ligaments and he has some fluid build up but that is to be expected with this type of injury. Woohoo!

I'm not sure SB is convinced that the results are right but I know I feel much better!

The fine art of Procrastination

Ask anyone who knows me well. I am notorious for putting things off until the last minute. I get them done and everything is good, but I am really bad about stalling. I swear I'm going to change. I promise never to do it again. And yet, I find myself scrambling at the last minute to get something done.

The plates on my car expire on Friday. When I got the notice 2 months ago, I made a mental note to get right on the inspection and get it over with. Everytime I paid a bill or walked into my office, I told myself to make the appointment at the dealer near work. I put the coupons for that dealer in my purse weeks ago. I laid the coupons next to my phone at work for days. So when did I get my car inspected? I didn't. But it will be inspected on Friday. And the plates expire on Friday. And I am working all day on Friday. Hmmm, me thinks me might have a small problem....

Somehow I will try to get the car back from the shop, run over to the DMV, stand in line for hours and still make the deadline. If not, I guess I will be paying a late fee and running around on Saturday morning. Wish me luck!!

Update: I just figured out why I was putting this off for so long. Our great state decided to change the design of the plates. I absolutely despise the new design and think it is hideous. So deep down, psychologically, I am rebelling against some one's horrible idea of a great graphic design.

Woo Hoo!

The good news from the Orthopedic Surgeon today - no sign of any broken bones in Skaterboy's hand! Whew, that is good news for sure. Skaterboy has a lot of pain in his wrist so the Doctor sent him for an MRI to check for ligament or tissue damage.

The bad news? Skaterboy hated the MRI with a passion. For someone who is probably borderline ADHD, laying completely still in a giant tube for 50 minutes is pure torture. He said his back really hurt after his ordeal and it was obvious that he was ready to go home.

Keep your fingers crossed for more good news. We should get the results of the MRI later this week.