~The Speth Family~: How old am I? I can never remember.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

How old am I? I can never remember.

My birthday was fun! I had been horribly sick for almost a WEEK! I even wrote an entire post about it. But then I decided that I am kind of cranky when I'm sick so I erased it. Nobody wants to read about THAT. First John was sick. Then Ammon, then the girls, and then me.

I didn't even get a stay-in-bed day because the little ones were feeling all energetic, but my mom did bring me soup and Sprite so that made it OK. And I washed my phone (yes AGAIN), but John fixed the problem and I don't really want to talk about the phone washing.

So on the morning of my birthday I was still feeling yucky-gross. But John had offered to take me out - like ON A DATE (not that he wouldn't normally do that, but we just haven't really had time lately). I couldn't miss THAT and luckily I started to feel some relief about three hours before he got home so we went out! First he took me to eat my favorite thing on earth - a Costa Vida sweet pork salad - mmmmmm!!!!!!!

He told me I could pick ANY restaurant and so I did! Its the only thing I even come close to craving these days. So then we went to a movie. Yes, I said MOVIE. I can't remember the last time we did that. We just don't watch movies on account of there is always something completely unecessary and gross in them. So I made him watch Tangled. LOVE IT. I think he liked it too :)

Then on Sunday he invited our families over and we had a grand "Thanksgiving" feast! WOW. Our families can cook! Except me because he wouldn't let me near the kitchen - including clean-up.... BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! We don't do presents anymore with the adult sibling (on either side), but they brought sweet, thoughtful treats and cards - all of my favorites! And I got a movie I have loved for centuries, but didn't know you could actually BUY it. It was made in 1962! WOW.

My present from John and the kids (the one I was going to be SOOOO excited for) turned out to be a big "oh stink, how am I going to fix this?" See, John went to the store where I had picked out the pillows and brought home the ones I wanted the day before my birthday! I added a new one at the last minute, which originally I had nixed due to the price, but decided it WAS my birthday and since the silly thing was, in fact, MADE FOR ME and all, I should have to have it.

I should start farther back. I have been looking for couch pillows for two or three years. I have talked to my poor sister about them a gazillion times - basically every time I had a new idea. And as of late I have been racking the brain of my sister-in-law as well. But when it came down to it, I never LOVED any of them and just couldn't comit to anything long term. But the lack of committment meant wasting my money (or lack thereof) on something mediocre, at best.

Anway no one cares about all of this. I ordered four more pillows online and when they came, they matched the original pillows I picked out, but not the NEW one (the one made with me in mind). They were BEAUTIFUL, but ALL WRONG. Except I LOVED each of them individually, and so you see my predicament. I couldn't part with any of them and I DID NOT want to admit my mistake. So I put them on the inserts and voila - a mess. the next morning when I woke up they were still a mess and that is where the, "Oh, stink, how am I going to fix this?" comes in.

After all, I had made the decision to INVEST. My sister says her friend (Vicki, maybe? or Annika?) said you can invest a little more if something is going to last you twice as long. Years ago I invested in bedding for our room. Five years later I still LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that bedding and have no intention on changing it. See, that's an investment. I have a constant blessings vs. hard earned vs. materialism fight going on in my head. President Uchdorf has talked a couple of times about beautifying the area around you, but I struggle to find the balance between beautifying and wasting money....blah, blah, blah. So this was a MAJOR decision, this decision to invest. And I didn't want to invest on something that went wrong.

I called my sister, but she was sick, how can she be sick when I am in a mess? And there I sat, staring at two couches full of pillows that didn't match, but that I INVESTED in. Pbbbbt. and Hmmmf. After talking through it with John, the customer service representative, and a sales lady, I finally packaged up those pretty pillows and took them back. Sigh. Then I drove another sales associate batty as she helped me find the perfect mix of color, shape, and texture that I could LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for very long time. What a patient (and brilliant - or lucky) lady! All the while John was PATIENTLY attending to the four children I had brought with me - WOW. And I ended up with this:

Notice the wall in the dining room. John painted it to match the pillows!

I have been wanting to warm up this room for SO LONG that I can hardly bring myself to stop sitting and staring at it. I love it so much! It was WELL WORTH the wait! Happy, happy birthday to me!

3 comments:

JulieFebruary 3, 2011 at 2:25 PM
Happy late-birthday Suzi! It looks like it was wonderful!
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Tyler & LauraFebruary 3, 2011 at 7:41 PM
You have GREAT TASTE!!! And I totally understand what you mean...when you're home all day, you want to LOVE what you see every. Single. Day! The colors are gorgeous together. You've always had a beautiful home, but a new change is always so fun! And they are very classy and won't go out of style. Good choice!! So glad you had a happy birthday. No one deserves that more than YOU!
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wanderlustfamFebruary 4, 2011 at 6:51 AM
It's called cost per use. It works especially well with the rationalization of a new dress! :O)

love you
Tami
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