Birday birday to you

Yesterday was my birthday. I started out a little annoyed but I tried very hard to stay positive and not declare my day a wash. I was on solo kid duty with the kids until 10:30, which wasn’t ideal for my birthday when I’m convinced I shouldn’t have to do anything but sit here, but reality isn’t like that so it is what it is. I spent the morning thanking everyone that sent me a Facebook birthday wish (over 70 by last night so more than half of my list)

After hubby got up, we ran to the grocery store so I could get brussels sprouts for my traditional birthday dinner. Every year, I have pork chops, potatoes, and brussels sprouts. Then we stopped at the cafe down the street and had all you can eat tacos for lunch. I ate three.

Hubby messed up his shoulder somehow so we couldn’t really do anything else. We came back home and he rested on the couch for a while before work. He left around 3:00 like he usually does and kids started coming in after school. Kid 2 had gotten bullied at school and Kid 1 told me there were kids waiting at the park for him so they could finish the job but when I stomped over there, they took off. I wonder if it was the rage on my face or the phone in my hand that was ready to call the cops on the little jackasses. Either way, problem solved temporarily. We’ll see what happens Monday.

Kid 2 left after that to go stay at a friend’s for the weekend. Someone that lives close to us made the trip to the old pastor’s house, which is about two hours away, and she took kid 2 with her. Not before he cleaned the bathroom upstairs, though. One less thing I had to do.

I made dinner around 5:00, and then caught wind of a deal on Zoya nail polish where I could get two bottles for the cost of shipping. I picked out two and threw in a third that I paid for myself. I’m getting Kym, Charla, and Tanzy. Or at least I think I am. More on that later.

I called my friend for the first time in over 3 years (the last time we actually talked on the phone, versus texts or internet forums, was when kid 4 was born) and told her it was too important not to call about. I scared her at first because she thought it was about her sister that was traveling, and then when I told her about the nail polish code, she got really excited. Anyone else would have been really annoyed by me making it seem like an emergency but she’s my co-addict nail polish junkie and she considered it just as important as I did.

Funny that she thought it was her sister, because probably a half hour later, my doorbell rang, and surprise, it was her sister! She and another friend were on their way to Chicago to go to a concert but they dropped in to say happy birthday and give me birthday gifts. I got some really comfy, soft, warm pajamas that I’d have worn around the clock if I didn’t have to go back to the store earlier today. It’s a blue tank top and I guess you’d call the pants minky, with words all over them about snow and such. Super cute! I also got a framed copy of a photo that our friend took of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis. The photo was taken at night and (I know nothing about photography so bear with my description) the lights on the cars look like neon because he slowed the speed down. I absolutely love that shot, and they remembered. That meant a lot to me. The I-35 doesn’t have any significance to me personally, but it is the bridge that collapsed a few years ago, if you followed that story. It has been rebuilt and, well, looks really cool at night.

It wasn’t long once they left that kid 1’s best friend came by with her mom to pick up my kid and take her for the night but when she came in, she brought me a cake and she not only made a cake that’s edible (the first of three that she has made that I can say that about) but she used fondant, and she did it perfectly. The cake looks like a little pillow with pink edging, and then she put a cupcake on top of it with a fondant 33. She really did an amazing job, and especially for someone that’s going to be 15 next month.

I ate cake and ice cream for dessert, then got the kids showers (because they ate it too) and put on my pajamas. I decided on a whim to check my bank account, and noticed that vonage charged me over $100, even though they said my account was suspended and they weren’t going to charge me until I gave them new card info. I knew I had to pay it eventually but I was told I had a contract and that I’d have to pay the balance until the end of the contract, so I just let it be disconnected (or so I thought) and was planning to pay it all off when they had a final bill. Nope, didn’t work that way. Not only did they charge once for the back-bill but they charged a second time for this coming month. When I called to cancel because I’m not falling for this again, I was told that I didn’t have a contract after all, that I couldn’t get anything refunded for this month, and that I could pro-rate it if I decided to take a $9.99 a month for life phone bill. I don’t want that. With my phone and internet bundled, I pay $15 a month less for the whole bill than I paid just for internet, and then I’d have to still pay Vonage on top of it, and their customer service is absolutely awful. So… no. I hate being sold to when I’m pissed and trying to cancel something. So then the guy was like “Well I’m just trying to help you.” No, you’re trying to get a commission, fucker. Your company got enough money for something I’d have canceled months ago if I had been told the truth about the contract from the start.

So that put a damper on my night but I tried really hard to get over it. The only thing is that now I don’t know for sure that the nail polish order went through. I never got anything saying it didn’t, and I got an order confirmation email, but there’s only $3 in the account that I use for online stuff now. So I have no idea.

Outside of that and the bullying against my kid earlier in the day, I really did have a great day. I absolutely love my birthday. It’s probably my favorite holiday, and in my mind, it is a holiday.