So, let me tell you about our five year anniversary. It was overall pretty great. Mostly.
Part I: The Burst Pipe
We spent the earlier part of the day running errands. I got to do a little shopping, since I needed to dress up for dinner and the "surprise", and I just don't have a lot of nice clothes to fit my new mommy body. Before we left, I watered some plants that I'd brough home from my sister's house, and forgot to turn off the hose.
We got home two hours later, with plans clean up for our evening. WRONG. Immediately upon entering the house, my husband, Terry, noticed an odd sound. He couldn't figure it out. Was someone running something out back? No. What WAS that sound. So, he went down to the basement, and then I hear "OH MY GOD!!!" A pipe had burst. And was spraying water everywhere, directly over the cat litter (but we have those cover things, so it could have been worse). While Terry tried to figure out how to turn it off, I called the landlord and explained the situation in my most panicky voice. Then I went down to see if I could help, because Terry still hadn't been able to find the valve.
As soon as I saw were the water was coming from, I knew. I yelled, "It's from the hose! It's the hose!!" So Terry ran upstairs and outside to turn it off. By then we had a seriously soggy basement. The pipe must have burst over the winter, and this was the first time I'd turned it on this summer. So, we spent two hours doing what we could, borrowed a wet vac from a neighbor and vacuumed up some of the water...but jeeze-louize, what a mess.
The landlord sent over his nephew (aka rental mangager) to check it out, and they are getting it fixed (of course) and also getting the carpet cleaned, as well. Hopefully today. We shall see.
Part II: A One-Man Concert
Finally, I had a chance to clean up, and Terry called the baby-sitter and had her come early so we could clean up without worrying about The Boy. At six, he drove me to an undisclosed location that turned out to be the brand-new auditorium at the school where he teaches (he pulled strings). There, he brought me to the stage and offered me a seat, and then proceeded to play and sing several love songs to me. I admit it, I cried. How much does this guy love me that he's spent the last month planning and practicing all this? He finished off with "She's Got a Way" by Billy Joel, which has been a favorite of mine since he sang it to me years ago. One of the other songs he sang to me was "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge. It has become a new favorite for me. All of it was very sweet and touching. I know beyong a shadow of a doubt that this man loves me. So when I hear women talking about how no-good men are, I talk about me good-for-everything husband.
Part III: The Best Meal of My Life
Really, I'm not exaggerating, it was, by far, the most wonderful meal of my life. I don't think we've ever taken ourselves out to a "fancy" place like this before, and I'm not one to dwell on a meal, but this was great! So, we started out with some nice wine. I had a sweet white wine (can't remember the name), Terry had a sweet red.
Then we had Tequila-Lime Steak tips for an appetizer. Basically, it was grilled onions, bell peppers and steak tips, doused with tequilla, lit on fire, and then extinguished with lime. With some pita pread. VERY TASTY.
For our main course, I had Michigan Perch (ooh, I love me some fresh-water perch!) and Terry had fried blue crab. This is sort of interesting: they actually catch the poor crabs after they shed their shells and before they grow new ones, so they are completely soft and shell-less, then deep-fried. All I could think of were these poor crabs, running naked along the sea bottom, crying to just be left alone. But, Terry said they were excellent, so who am I to complain?
Dessert consisted of this huge stack of Oreo cakes with ice cream in-between, three layers of Oreo, with two layers of ice-cream, and completely covered with real whipped cream and pecans. WOW.
To drink, our waitress made us our own rasperry lemonade. Ah...perfection in a meal.
Conclusion: Cleaning Up the Mess We Ignored Last Night
Today, we have most of our basement items sitting out under our car-port in our drive-way (can you say White Trash?) so that they can dry and also so we can clean the carpeting in our basement. The repair man is here to fix the pipe, and since proffesional carpet cleaners couldn't be brought in on such short notice, Terry is going to rent a cleaner and the land lord will reimburse us. yipee.
And with that, my son is crying, so I have to say bye-bye!! It's nice to be back!
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