First Up...

Okay, kids, sorry for my absence, but I had some very good excuses...now where did I put them?....Oh yes, here we are. I decided to take the day off on Sunday because it was a) my birthday, b) Mother's Day, c) all about ME and I decided I'd rather nap than post. Then on Monday, the day was absolutely surreal, what with the police officer ringing the doorbell at 8:00 and all...a story I will get back to later...and I didn't get a chance to do any writing. And then yesterday, I spent most of the day running errands and doing work around the house that absolutely HAD to get done. But today, I'm ready to get caught up. Are you with me? Okay, good...let's go.

So I found out Oscar was throwing me a birthday party when I was up in New Jersey and McMama called to vent. She was having a particularly trying day with her kids, and was feeling like a pretty crappy mom all the way around (which, by the way, is impossible, as she is one of the best moms I know.) So of course, it just made me laugh when she said, "The only way this day could get worse is if I started talking to you about your birthday party only to find out that it was supposed to be a surprise and I'd completely ruined it!" and I said, "Party?" The groan that was emitted after that innocent inquiry was pretty heart-wrenching, to be honest, but I still found the whole conversation vastly entertaining. In any event, she made me promise to keep my big mouth shut and pretend to be surprised anyway, which was fine by me.

Luckily, that ended up not being an issue, because as soon as I got home from New Jersey, Oscar let me know that he was planning a party in honor of my birthday because, as he put it, "You only turn 30 once!" He wouldn't give me any details...THAT part of it WAS a surprise. But he did dangle it in front of my nose from time to time. "Do you know what's happening yet?" he would ask. And every time I would answer in the negative, he would practically rub his hands together with glee and twirl his imaginary mustache. It got pretty annoying pretty fast. But finally, we got down to Birthday Week and Oscar let me know that Saturday was D-Day.

So after a day of lazing around the house and writing a post for McMama, we all piled in the car and set out for the party. I had a couple theories running on where we would be going and what my birthday present from Oscar would be, but I sat back and enjoyed the ride. It wasn't long before I figured out that my venue theories were completely off the mark. Instead of ending up at a restaurant, which was what I had expected, we ended up at Gameworks, which is this very large arcade in Tempe, except that it's more than just an arcade. It's two stories, and in addition to hosting all sorts of video games, they have skee-ball and air hockey, and the upstairs has a large bar/restaurant area with billiards and lots of televisions for your sports-watching pleasure. And then, of course, they have rooms in which you can host private parties.....which is what Oscar had booked for us.

It was So. Frickin'. Cool. One big screen television and two smaller televisions lay before an arrangement of plush leather chairs, with a sprinkling of bar stools and tall tables in the back. The requisite video game graced a back corner of the room and the table featuring our catered meal was up in front next to the tv. The lighting was subdued and the drapes were pulled back, giving us a bird's eye view of the games being played. And my closest friends and family were all there to celebrate with us. It was outstanding. So we ate a little, and talked a little, and watched tv a little. And then, one by one, our guests trickled out to start using up their game cards...and Snark's Mistress and I were left in our private party room, holding our baby nephews and wondering how, at a party in honor of us, we ended up being the ones left in the room with the kids?

To be honest, though, that situation worked to our favor, because when it was time for the kids (and their grandparents) to go home, Snark's Mistress and I were left with everyone's leftover game cards, and uninterrupted time we could use to blow shit up. And blow shit up we did. After taking everything down to the car, we sauntered back into Gameworks and set up shop in front of House of the Dead II, our blow shit up game of choice. There is nothing like shooting a bunch of zombies until their guts spill out to make you feel like you've had the BEST. BIRTHDAY. EVER!

But we could only shoot so many zombies before we decided to head upstairs to where the old-school games are located. Snark's Mistress parked herself at Centipede, while I sat down at Frogger. Before long, we both ended up at Tetris. I am saddened and ashamed to admit that Snark's Mistress kicked my ass in a head-to-head competition. But we did end up with the 4th and 5th spots on the Best Score list.

All in all, it was an excellent evening. Oscar did such a great job of giving me...well, both of us really....a great birthday party. And we both carted home some excellent swag. My theory on my birthday gift from Oscar turned out to be 100% on the mark, as I ended up with a digital camera small enough to fit in my purse, so I can take all sorts of pictures when Turtle decides to be spontaneously adorable. I got a beautiful blue topaz ring from my parents, which features a Celtic knot design and which matches nicely with a necklace they bought me years ago. And the birthday package from McMama? Well, that's a whole other story. With pictures. But we'll get to that later.

Until then, I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped make my 30th birthday so very special. And even if you think you didn't have anything to do with it, honestly, just the fact that you're here and you read the randomness that comes out of my brain every week is such a gift. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I promise I'll get back to posting regularly again....I SWEAR!