April Blog Challenge: B is for Birthdays

This weekend I came home for three things: My parent's birthdays, to hang out with my BFF, and to see the Hunger Games. As I write this, two of those items have been checked off my list. I will be seeing the movie tomorrow.

I had dinner with my BFF Saturday night, and she was finally able to give me my birthday present - two months late. We were out for about 4 hours, just chatting and having lots of great laughs.

Dad's birthday was Thursday, and Mom's is today (Sunday). While Dad did some fence work after breakfast, Mom and I went to Costco to try to return my TV - which made a loud POP! about a week or so ago and promptly dropped dead on me. I got it three months ago for Christmas. That's exactly what I was thinking.

So, off to Costco we went. What a way to spend your mother's birthday to drag her to town when she wants to stay at home in her pj's, right? Especially at the first of the month when everyone goes to Costco.

We go up to the "member's counter" and hand the receipt to the lady, and she proceeds to shake her head. She looks it up on the computer and says it's past the 90 day return policy and they can't take it back. Hands us a Costco Concierge card to call and figure out the next step. 

Next we ran to WinCo for horseradish. I know . . . what odd errands we run in this family. But it was for a good cause - my deviled eggs I made. Adds a nice little kick. You should totally try it. After that, I activated a $50 pre-paid Visa I received from my bank for completing a goal that I never knew about. But why would I turn down a free Visa? Exactly.

We decide to run over to Barnes & Noble so I can find the next two books in the Hunger Games Trilogy. As we're pulling into the parking lot, a song came on the radio by The Tractors - something I hadn't heard in years. I turn it up and say, "Oh my God, it's The Tractors!" We start singing and dancing in the car until the song is over. In the end, I got my two Hunger Games books, a new Kathy Reichs book, a new bookmark, and bought Mom a book.

After that, we hit Kohl's, where she bought me shirt with her $10 off coupon she received from them for her birthday. And a few other shirts.

After that, it was homeward bound where I called the Costco Concierge number and wasted about 20 minutes of my time. In the morning I'll be calling Hanspree directly to figure something out. During that time the three of us were snacking on chips and deviled eggs while Dad started prepping the chick for the BBQ.

So really, I gave Mom the best present for her birthday: hanging out with her kid. We don't have much time for that anymore, just me and her, since I moved to Sticksville and my time in Redding is usually limited. But for a few hours, it was just us chickens, hanging out and singing in the car in front of Barnes & Noble.  <3