Happy Birthday To Me! - and more about us than you want to know

Yippee!! I LOVE my birthday! I know I make a huge deal of it, (and I make sure everyone knows it's my b-day by reminding them several weeks in advance) and it's probably obnoxious to some. But guess what - I don't care. It's my birthday!! I'd rather let people know than have it pass and have friends feel bad that they didn't get to wish me a happy birthday:) So really, it's not selfish at all. I'm just looking out for all of you, don't want you to feel bad. Quite selfless if you ask me. haha. It's not even about the presents, it's just about feeling special on MY day, and feeling loved.
Jerry earned BIG TIME points towards hubby of the year this year. The week before my birthday he called me on his way home from work and told me that he had to confess that he'd been lying to me all week. (No, that's not the way to earn hubby of the year)

Backstory, and warning - I'm long winded: I get a little obsessive about things, like checking my email, facebook, and checking account several times a day. I do the budgeting in our family. I like to make sure there are no charges coming out that are unexpected - identity theft, I like to know when checks that I've written have cleared, etc. Basically one more thing I can be OCD about. We try to do most of our spending with cash so when it's gone, it's gone. (we've grown very fond of Dave Ramsey) At the beginning of each week we divide up our cash allotments into our different areas and one of those is Jerry's lunch money. So he gets his lunch money every Monday. Well on Tuesdsay I noticed an ATM withdrawl of $20. To me that's a huge red flag for an identity theft issue - however, I figure if they're going to take money it'd be more than just $20. Then I also noticed that he'd bought lunch with the card as well. So then I was just confused when I knew he had money. When Jerry got home I asked him if it was from him. He said,"Oh, I was going to call you and tell you about that." He explained that one of his drivers was filling up with gas and the driver's company card wouldn't work for some reason, so he had to give him all of his lunch money, then take out some money from the ATM to pay for the gas, and we'd get the money back from him soon. One lie down!
Wednesday and Thursday I noticed that his money that he was spending for lunch (with the card, since his cash was gone) was more than normal, but I didn't question too much because I figure he works long days, and a lunch splurge every now and then isn't too horrible I guess, even though two days in a row is a bit excessive. But I didn't say anything about it. (Do I sound like a control freak or what??) Two lies down!
So, more backstory - Jerry's work schedule changes daily. Sometimes he has to be there early to open, or for a meeting at 4:30 or 5 till 4 or 5. Sometimes he has to close and check in, so he goes in at 7:30 and could be there till 6:30 at night. It fluctuates weekly and because I'm OCD and I'm learning as I write this, I am a bit of a control freak, I just like to know what his schedule is. I'm normal right?? Validate me! On Tuesday night he was rescheduling all of his church meetings that he usually has on Thursday night to Wednesday night. I asked why, because I'm miss nosy wife. He said that on Thursday he had to close and it would most likely be a late night so he wouldn't be home in time for the meetings. Lie #3!
So in my mind I figured, good I'll get to see him in the morning before he goes to work, and even be able to wake up early that morning to go running outside before he goes to work. So then Wed. night he started heading to bed early so I double checked to see that he was going in later in the morning (so I could go run - I really wasn't checking up on him) and he said that his schedule changed again because he had to be at the meeting in the morning, so he wouldn't be checking in (staying late). Lie #4!!

So, back to my story - he called on his way home from work to confess his lies. He told me to pack a bag and get the kids ready to stay overnight at my friend Korina's house! He was taking me to a hotel for a night away from the kids to celebrate my birthday, and since the kids didn't have school Friday because of a teacher work day, it worked out perfectly. I guess he and Korina had been planning this all week. He knew he couldn't pay for the hotel online because I'm so fanatical about checking our money hourly :) that his friend from work paid for it and he gave him the lunch money, and ATM money, then paid for his friend's lunch Wed. and Thurs. to also pay him back. He had to change his meetings from Thursday night to Wed. since we'd be gone on Thursday night, and the only excuse he could think of was to say that he'd be closing at work. My poor hubby with a nosy, nosy wife.

He took me to the Aliante Hotel. It was beautiful. I loved it there. We saw "The Social Network" since I spend all too much of my day on Facebook anyway. We really liked it. I slept in till 9:30 the next morning!! I think I needed a good night sleep, don't you?! Thanks to Korina who had my kiddos so I could enjoy a good night out. And thanks to my wonderful husband for planning and lying all week to me, just so he could surprise me. Whenever he asks what I want for a present, I can't think of anything. I just want time with him. A planned night away from home with just him, without having to worry about arranging childcare is the perfect gift!

The next Thursday was my birthday! The big 34! Yip, gettin' up there, but I still love my birthday! I had a great day. Whenever it was my mom's birthday or Mother's day we'd ask what she wanted and she'd just say, "I want a clean house." That was not what a 10 year old wanted to hear. Now as a mom, that's exactly what I wanted. My kids are still too young to give it the deep clean I wanted so I gave myself the present of a clean home. Believe me, it needed it. (and unfortunately it needs it again) I spent several days, but it was so worth it to wake up to a sparkly clean home on my birthday. It also made it easier to take my birthday off from cleaning and dishes.

I had a very enjoyable day (with the exception of Rebecca getting sick on the way home from preschool and puking in the car. I think it was just motion sickness.) with lots of calls from loved ones wishing me a happy birthday. Then we went to dinner at IHOP as a family that night. (Did you know kids eat free with the purchase of an adult entree?! Just FYI) Then Jerry's mom came over for cake and ice cream after that.

It's been a great birthday month!