Tomorrow is my birthday. In honor of such, I bought myself a much-needed birthday present: 7 new DVDs of BTB episodes.

No, I don’t have a BTB fettish…but Button does. And we only have two. And we’ve been watching the same two over and over and over and I’ve got them both memorized and as much as I prefer BTB to some of the other wackos that people let their kids watch, if I have to see those same episodes any more my head is going to explode.

It’s tradition in my family to take the birthday girl/boy out for dinner at a restaurant of his/her choosing. My parents asked me where I wanted to go and I said something like, “I really want crab. I’d say Red Lobster, but I know Iris doesn’t like seafood and I don’t think they have much there besides seafood.”

Their immediate response was, “That’s irrelevant, it’s your birthday so if you want to pick Red Lobster, then pick Red Lobster.” I said, “Ok. I want to go to Red Lobster.”

Ever since that conversation, they’ve been trying to talk me out of going to Red Lobster. They’ve offered lots of other more expensive places, and my answer has always been the same: That’s fine if you guys really want to go there. But if it’s up to me, I’d rather go to Red Lobster.

They called me the other day and said, “You HAVE to give us SOME ideas for what you want for your birthday!” I can’t think of much this year in the way of gift ideas, but eventually I did come up with one idea.

The next day my mom tried to talk me out of it. “Are you sure you want that? What if they wrap you up too tight?”

What if they…huh???

Next time I should just send out invitations:

Please come to my Birthday Dinner, at __________________.

Gift ideas: _____________, ________________, and __________________.

Please fill in appropriate fields with what you were hoping I would say, because I probably wouldn’t get it right anyway.

I use AN Hosting and my server goes down EVERY. DAY.  It’s only for a few minutes at a time, but it’s still really frustrating, especially when I’ve just written a post or an email and click “Submit” or “Send” and get an error message.

So I’m thinking of switching hosts - any recommendations?

Also, today is my dad’s birthday and I have NO. IDEA. what to get him.  I haven’t been procrastinating - I just can’t think of anything.  He is so hard to buy for.  He’d be appreciative and gracious even if I gave him a cardboard box full of lint because that’s how he is, but I want to give him something thoughtful that shows I specifically picked it out for him.

He has money, so he can buy himself whatever he wants, and usually does.  Which means gift certificates are pretty meaningless.  I can’t get him something useful because he can afford to buy himself the bigger better model that he would like more anyway.

He likes to read and watch movies, but we stocked him up on books and DVDs for Christmas.

He doesn’t really have any hobbies other than work…and the Dallas Cowboys I suppose.  But he’s got all the desk accessories he could ever need, and I can’t get him a T-shirt or a jersey or anything because he’s not casual enough to wear that kind of thing.

So when it comes down to it, we’re usually left with trying to come up with the perfect creative “you would never think of this” random gift - like one year we got him a set of pool balls that were painted in the colors/logos of his 2 favorite baseball teams.

But there’s only so many of those kind of gifts.  This year…I’ve got nuthin.

And I’ve got approximately 5 hours to turn “nuthin” into “sumthin.”  Yikes…

As I mentioned a couple days ago, this month marks 2 years that I’ve been blogging. It’s interesting to look back and see how much has changed during that time.

For instance, This Post was written 2 years ago today. At that point, I was pregnant with Little Button but didn’t know it yet.

People I talk to on the phone are still stupid, though I must say I think our distributors have gotten a little better. As long as they’re not discussing websites.

That 12 pounds that I was inching away at? Two years and a baby later, it has become 15 pounds. Bummer. I’ve informed J that we cannot have another child until we have enough money in savings for me to get abdominal liposuction after the delivery. I am so not kidding about that.

My food allergy is still a mystery. It got me again Thursday night at JaI’s house. Spaghetti with non-cheese marinara and a soft drink - a meal that is practically a staple in my diet - and yet 10 minutes later I ended up in the bathroom emptying the contents of my body.

As much fun as having an “episode” at somebody else’s house is, it’s even better when there’s a stranger there (the Verizon guy was hooking up Fios in the room next to the bathroom).

And even better when you have to ask your hosts for a plunger. Do I know how to have a good time or what??? Just take my word on that one.

Whoopee.

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The in-laws are coming today and staying until January 5th. Which means I have approximately 4 hours to do 25 pounds of laundry.

Yes I weighed it, shaddup.

Am I the only person who has relatives stay for extended periods of time? Every time I tell somebody that my in-laws stay for 2+ weeks at a time each time they come down from Seattle, whoever I’m talking to invariably looks at me as though I’ve just grown a second head.

Having my mom ready and willing to care for Button on the 2 days every week that I work is great.

Unfortunately, it also comes with some downsides … such as when I have to remind her which of us is the parent.