Friday, Jan. 24

Today is Hubbie's and my thirty-third anniversary.

We were up at 7:30, and at breakfast I presented Hubbie with a card. He was puzzled. What was it for, he wondered? What did he think, I asked.

Uh-oh.

He rushed to another room and searched in vein for the card he was sure he'd bought for me. He didn't find it. But he swore he had not forgotten our anniversary. Only yesterday, he was talking with someone, and mentioned today's important date, he said. But he never found the card.

The first thing Hubbie did after we'd eaten was call and arrange to have a tow truck haul Sis's truck to the auto repair shop. Then he took the truck keys and went to the gas station where the truck was parked to leave the keys in it. Unfortunately, this was such a cold morning that the truck doors were frozen shut. so he put the keys on the antenna and returned home.

We also learned this morning that the pipe's were frozen at Mother's house. Later in the day, though, Sis said they thawed. So far, there appears to be none that are broken, since Sis can't hear running water under the house. With another hard freeze predicted for early next week, though, the pipes might freeze again.

I skipped my exercises, and showered and dressed so that Hubbie and I could go to another town about an hour and half away to shop and have lunch with his sister and ex-wife. I dare say not many men spend their anniversary celebrating with both their wife and ex-wife.

Before we met at the Italian restaurant, Hubbie and I went to a home improvement store, where he returned a humidifier that we bought at another of their stores in another town. Hubbie didn't like the unit, because it was too hard to maintain. The store didn't question his reason for returning humidifier, but simply refunded his money.

Then we went to lunch. Today, Hubbie's sister said she had good news regarding the spots on her kidney. Her doctor said the spots were small, and he plans to treat them with some sort of cryotherapy, in which she will be under anesthesia during the procedure. It involves going in and freezing the spots for five minutes, thawing them for five minutes, freezing them again for five minutes, and thawing them for five minutes.

Hubbie's sis was in a much better mood today, after hearing the encouraging news about her kidney treatment. Along with that positive news about treatment of her cancer, she also learned that the "angry ulcer" in her stomach can be treated with medication. And her colonoscopy came back clear. I hope that all of her treatments work and she mends quickly, because today she looked positively gaunt and pale.

After luch, we went to the mall, where I used a $10 coupon to buy five on-sale tubes of hand cream at a popular intimate apparel shop. Each year I receive a coupon from the store for my birthday. From there, we went to a department store, where I hoped to find new curtains for the upstairs bathroom. No dice.

I wasn't dressed appropriately to try on clothes, so I opted out of going to another department store, even though I have a generous gift card from there. Instead, we stopped for gasoline, and then went to the warehouse store to pick up several grocery item.

Headed home after that, and arrived around 5 p.m. Mother and Sis were enjoying a lasagna supper, but we didn't join them, since we planned to go out to eat in celebration of our anniversary. We went to a steak house, where we both ordered the combo steak and shrimp dinner.

I ordered a baked potato, and an extra side of okra, and Hubbie ordered French fries. When our orders arrived, there was no baked potato. I reminded the waitress that I had ordered one. She insisted that I did not. But did I want one anyway? Yes I did. Okay, she'd fetch it.

She moved to the booth behind us to take an order. While she stood there, I mentioned to Hubbie that I was sure I had ordered a baked potato. "Yes you did," Hubbie said. "I heard you order it, which was what prompted me to order French fries, since I haven't had any in a long time."

The waitress overheard us talking. "Did I get the order wrong," she asked. Hubbie agreed that she had. She whisked back to the kitchen and brought me a potato/ She would not add it to our bill, she said, as though she was doing us a giant favor.

This lady (middle aged) needs to learn how to better deal with customers. Has she never heard that the customer is always right? It would not have mattered if I'd ordered the potato or not...as soon as I said that I had, she should have apologized for misunderstanding, and hastened to satisfy me. Her manner toward me did not guarantee a tip, though we left on anyway.

Back home, Sis and Mother had gone to Mother's house. So Hubbie and I watched episodes of "The Tudors."

This was the most unusual anniversary I've experienced.