Happy birthday to me, me, me

My birthday this year is all about ME. I am too old to wait around for the parties that aren't festive enough, and the piles of wrapped gifts I don't really want or need. After the childhood bereft of gifts--except for the cat puzzle-- toys, or parties, I can make my own parties the way I want them and find my own gifts. DH never gets the hints, has not presented me with a gift in years, so it is up to me to buy my own gift, wrap it, and then be pleasantly surprised to have received exactly what I wished for! This year I decided to go all out for me, me, me.

First I went shopping. Rather than waste my hard-earned money on lil' ol' me, I used the gift card DH's parents sent us for Christmas. I found a cool puzzle, well, the family can use it but it was mostly for me. It is a one-piece puzzle, so no pieces will be lost. Just what I need; we have nearly completed too many hundreds-pieced puzzles, only to find one or two of the pieces have gone permanently missing. This is a true gift for the family that can't keep track of all the puzzle pieces, a mazelike puzzle, all cut from one piece of fabric-covered rubber, so you can take it anywhere and not worry about lost pieces. I bought the 12 year old-and-up version, and it was challenging for me to fit all the intricate cuts all together, but Birdie, who is five, did all right. A fun birthday gift, and just what I wanted!

Then I planned the meals and took Dylan to the store. MMMM, salmon and cheesecake, the foods only I like or will eat in my family. It is MY birthday and the guys will have to fend for themselves. (Don't worry, this is the one weekly free day I have on my eating plan). Normally I would end up purchasing stuff the boys like. Dylan gravitated toward a coconut cake, but I explained, this year I get to choose my own birthday cake, just like he does on his birthday.

So Birdie ended up w a fast food happy meal, and guess what? The toy was an outdated holiday gift pack which contained gift cards, AND a coupon that said "good for one breakfast in bed." It took little effort to convice Birdie to fill out the coupon to Mom, and then we planned out what the breakfast would be (smoked salmon). This morning soon after I woke up, I was surrounded by plates Birdie had gathered and put foods on: a plate with an orange, one with a tomato, one with toast, and one with a package of smoked salmon. His proud smile was a bonus. He carefully carried a knife separately, since he knows he is too young to use the knife.

The only conflict, then, was that Dylan slept in, and when he found out I had already cashed in my breakfast in bed coupon, he cried because he wanted to help with the meal too. I was able to reassure him: "Don't worry kiddo, there is always lunch!"