Happy Birthday

Today was Elizabeth’s birthday, and I spent most of the day scrambling around trying to juggle a couple of projects with spoiling her rotten. So here are some things that happened:

1. I got her a Shuffle, which is the cutest little thing. It’s for the gym. She laughed and said her last music player was a cassette Walkman that hung on a strap. I hooked Lil’ Shuffle up, put some songs on it, and she casually mentioned that sometimes she listens to Starbase 66, which made me very happy.
2. I also bought her a dozen roses, which I arranged beautifully as a centrepiece for the great dinner I was making. A few minutes before she got home, the doorbell rang; her father had sent her a dozen roses. Bigger and better than mine. I felt a little diminished but she said “You can never have too many red roses,” and she was right.
3. It hailed while I was out buying flowers, which meant the florist told me “You might want to wait before you take these home.”
4. While I was waiting, I saw a guy I used to work with. He was wearing an orange jacket.
5. Pizza Pops were on for $2 a pack, but they were sold out of the kind I like, so I didn’t buy any.
6. When I got home, I finished a piece that was due, made several phone calls to people I didn’t necessarily want to talk to, and I answered thousands of emails from fans.
7. The dinner was to be chicken curry, but I misread the recipe and it became atomic super-nuclear solar chicken curry inferno, with extra heat. She was very polite about it. I like recipes that say “Open the box, press “3 minutes” on the microwave.”
8. I started wishing I had Pizza Pops in the freezer. This is the kind of emergency they’re meant for.
9. I did buy a cake, and it was a hit. It was a good cake. I put just six candles on it, because I know what I’m doing when it comes to chicks.
10. We went to rent a movie, and it was her choice. She was holding Twilight for a while, but ended up choosing Stone of Destiny, which you should all watch.
11. After we got back from Blockbuster, she said she wanted to tidy up for a moment, and she spent an hour cleaning. This included vacuuming. I said “You shouldn’t have to clean on your birthday,” and she said “It makes me happy.” Hey, she can bake, too, folks. While she was doing that, I set the VCR to record the V pilot. I never stop being a geek, even on birthdays.
12. The hamster came out and wished her a happy birthday, and then ate cake crumbs.
13. We watched the flick, then talked about Scottish history for about an hour. Somehow it got into a conversation about The Da Vinci Code.
14. She went to bed. I watched V. It was pretty good.
15. The kids are back this weekend, and she’ll have a gala party with them. It will feel more like a bash than my horrible meal and non-stop references to V.
16. I just went upstairs for a sec and she had The Da Vinci Code on the bedside table.

Most importantly, she had a great day at work, she came home looking fantastic, and we had a great night, despite the fact that the dinner I cooked burned through the plates before we could finish eating. I like stretching her birthday out over a few days, too, because she deserves it.