Birthdays
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Yesterday, L turned 14 years old. Wow.
And he had "a really sucky birthday". Poor kid. Only one person at school remembered his birthday. His grandma came with me to pick him up, and she spent the ride home retelling her version of his birth. Not exactly what a 14 year old wants to hear. He didn't get piles of presents, either. ('Cause, you know...the bills are paid, but there was nothing left over)
So his birthday was a bummer. However. His birthafternoon was much better. I took him to Hollywood Video and let him rent a game and the movie Alien Vs. Predator. He's really getting into the sci-fi monster movies now. I also had him choose what he wanted for dinner. He chose White Castles. (bleah)
Later that night, we put together all the pieces of the Van DeGraaf generator. And it looks good. So his birthday ended on an up note. And today, we might get snow! Natures' belated gift to my son.

On a side birthday note; My hubby's b-day is later this month. He didn't want me to spend money on a gift. And I didn't. I found him gifts for free!
My mom is a real estate agent, and her broker just bought a house to fix up. It still holds a lot of items from the previous owner. So mom's broker asked the agents in the office to go to the house and take anything they wanted.
Knowing how my hubby loves kitsch, mom invited me to come too. I found a great sunburst clock, and a radio that's so old it uses vacuum tubes! And it still works!
I put the gifts in a box, tied it shut with yarn, and gave it to my hubby last night.
He said, in a happy/sad sort of way, "I didn't want you to spend anything on my birthday."
I didn't say anything, so then he said, "Did you not spend money?..."
So I laughed and said, "No. I didn't buy what's in the box. Just open it so I can get the box out of the living room."
He opened the box and said, "You got me a blanket!" (because I'd wrapped the radio in a blanket)And we both laughed. He then pulled off the blanket and tried to sound impressed about the radio. "Wooow... It's a radio..." I knew he was wondering why I'd gotten him a retro radio that was missing a knob. (because the radio looks practically new)
He realized there was more, so he dug through the packaging in the box and exclaimed, "WOW!"
He yanked the clock out of the box, said "COOL!" and proceeded to look for a place to hang it. And then he paused and looked closely at it. I said, "It doesn't have the key to wind it anymore, but..." Just as he figured out how to flip open the glass cover and wind the clock. I love gifts like that.
I didn't want to spoil his fun, so I held my tongue while he examined it and told me all the neat features of his new (old) clock. When he was all done there, he picked up the radio again. I'd chosen so well with the clock, maybe there was something interesting about the radio?
I burst out, "Lookit the back! It's got tubes!"
Then he understood. I didn't get him a radio because he could use another radio. I got it because it's old electronics, and old electronics make him happy.
All in all, it was a good day.