Birthday Week!!!

Birthday week is one of my favorite times of year. There's just something about walking to a cashier and hearing, "And your total is.... nothing....". It makes me smile just thinking about it.

For those of you who might be new to our blog, Birthday Week in our little family involves eating as many free things as possible. (most companies give you 1-2 weeks to redeem your bday coupon, thus the birthday week) It's not a very healthy week. It's really not convenient. But it is most certainly very free.

Every year I try to take a picture of everything we got for free, but every year I forget after the first few, so here's some pictures of the first few free things we got. I was too sick to go out for all the coupons we had this year. I'm going to have to start training so that by Doug's birthday we won't have to cut anything out :)

Each year I add a few more freebies to our list. Here are a few great finds I've added to our Birthday Week list this year. All of these come completely free (companies who just give you a buy one get one free coupon don't cut it for me) all you have to do is sign up on their website.

-$5 gift card to magazine.com
-free hamburger at Fudruckers
-free hamburger at Ruby Tuesday
-free smoothie at Orange Julius
-free smoothie at Smoothie King
-Free cream slush at Sonic
-free cone at Ben & Jerry's
-free meal at Noodle's & Co
-free all you can eat meal at Souper Salad

Happy Birthday To Me

You know it's going to be a good day when it starts with your kitchen looking like this.


Last year Doug made me an amazing birthday dinner and we got all dressed up to eat it. It was so fun we decided to make it a tradition. I was sick for most the day (a fact that should not be surprising) so Doug took our new, comfy leather chair and ottoman (on a side note, can I just say that I LOVE shopping on Craigslist?) and brought it up to the kitchen so I could lie right by him while he cooked. It was fun to watch him at work.

This year's birthday meal consisted of homemade pasta with a tomato cream sauce (yep, he rolled out the dough for the noodles and chopped the tomatoes for the sauce all himself) accompanied by eggplant Parmesan made from scratch. It was incredible. I'm pretty sure I will be dreaming of that meal for years to come.





Oh, and yes, we all had to dress for the occasion. Even Georgie.

Side Effects

Being sick for months on end doesn't exactly lead to very many interesting stories. But every once in a while the medical world throws you a little treat just to spice up your life.

The 'treats' I get typically come in the form of a side effect from pills. Like the time when my gag reflex was constantly active for hours after I took my daily dose (you know that feeling in your throat that you get right before you throw up? Well, imagine how fun it is to have that feeling constantly for 8-12 hours at a time) or when my chest hurt bad enough that I almost drove to the emergency room thinking I was having a minor heart attack. (don't worry, I called my doctor and found it's a common, harmless side effect) Or when my body reacted to a pill like poison and violently got rid of EVERYTHING in my stomach and made sure I wouldn't put anything else inside it for days after I took my last pill.

But then there were the past 10 days. Oh Matronidazol, Ciprofloxacin and Fluconazole, I don't know what it is about the combination of you three but boy will I miss our 10 days together.

It all started with a Taco soup at Rumbi Island Grill. It was the BEST soup I'd EVER had. So good! I mean, have you tried the grilled chicken in that thing? I just couldn't stop talking about it! (just ask Doug- I seriously talked about that soup for HOURS)

Then the next day I had the BEST Western Family Cookies and Cream ice cream. I mean, it was SO good. Who knew that a generic brand could be THAT good?

And then the next day there was this Caesar Salad Dressing. And the next some of the best Cream Soda on the planet. And then potato salad...

What was my side effect? Complete, pure, delightful deliciousness. I have no idea why, but a few hours after I'd take my pills, whatever I ate tasted like the MOST delicious thing I have EVER had.

Yep, I'm definitely going to miss taking those pills.