Lessons Learned from Birthday Shopping

Bethany's birthday is on New Years Day. It was a great birthday and having her birthday fall on this holiday has been fun. If not for a birthday celebration we would just be sitting around watching football and eating leftovers and never getting out of our pajamas. OK, we still don't get out of our pajamas.

The problem, however, is shopping for this birthday. I don't like to pick things up during Christmas because, well.......I feel guilty. I would feel like she was just receiving left-over Christmas presents. So, that leaves me with shopping the week after Christmas. Which is fine, unless a major obstacle comes up during that week. And this birthday........it did.

I, purchaser of most gifts for the family, came down with the stomach flu. By the time New Years Eve got here, I was able to stand up and walk but I had to enlist my parents to chauffeur me around. I felt like a baby asking my children's grandparents to crate me around but they were also needed because they hold the membership card to the most important store I needed to go to - Costco. And this is where the lesson in life comes in....

Don't Go To Costco on New Years Eve if You Are Recovering From the Stomach Flu!!

All the sample ladies were out in full force on this day and they must receive commission on items sold because they were Relentless!! It just wasn't enough that my poor pitiful almost throwing up self had to deal with the SMELL of the food; I had to listen to every little sample lady's plea to try HER delicacy......Asian salmon, barbecue beef, guacamole, fried dumplings, granola, chocolate cake, so much more and the topper........Three Bean Salad. (I get squeamish even now as I type that one). One thing I learned about these women - they are hard core. I just wanted to scream out, "Leave me alone or there will be a clean up in aisle 4."

Fortunately, that wasn't needed. With Grams and Gramps help we found Bethany's Pyrex and movie, a couple of other things and skedaddled out of there. I think my parents saw that I was turning green and wanted to avoid a scene. Because that would have been more than they signed up for.

The opening picture......the Pyrex. It was very much appreciated.