YOUR NEVER TO OLD FOR SURPRISES

To write this story, I was inspired by the following music. If played, I hope that you will feel what I am feeling and how much this story means to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4_wTI0TtXg

The Cake I made
 my honey this year.
"The Devils Black Forest Cake"

Now it is no secret that for many souls in the world, the thought of their birthday is worrisome. Why? I don't why, but I can speak for one person...myself.  For me, more than twenty years ago, my birthdays were something that I looked forward to, but then when the day came and ended it was like a significant loss. To me it was a loss of another year gone by. It was another year closer to old age and it was another year closer to my day of passing on. I was always sad when my birthday would fade into an evening sky to give birth to another day. Every birthday before my cancer, I would cry myself to sleep. I should have been grateful all those years and for my gift of life. It wasn't until I was diagnoses with stage 2A Hodgkin’s disease in May of 1992, that my perspective on my birthdays had changed. No more crying for the loss of another year. It was a time to celebrate another year that I had gotten to live in this mixed up wild and crazy adventure called life. I chose to embrace the gifts that I've been given and to love with every ounce of my heart and my soul.

For my husband, a dark time had fallen upon him when he began struggling within when it came time for his 40th birthday to come calling. For many this is a time in life that becomes a struggle that we all will probably face or maybe have already faced. The worst that many friends have told me, they feared the dreaded label of being called – Over the hill. That those words "Over the Hill" have this impact on the way one see that their life span is half over, well unless you live past 80 years of age. You start to wonder if the choices you have made in your life were the right ones. Some even face their own mental "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda," thoughts.

On my husbands 40th birthday, I wanted to do what I could to help him get past the thoughts that were wearing him down about growing old. It was on that day that I knew he needed to experience his past and what better way, then bringing an old military friend back into his life.  Someone who had the connection to a time in his life when my guy was without responsibilities or worries. A time when a single man could experience life and the joys within it and know he is only responsible for himself and the choices he makes. I believe in the saying, you have to love yourself before you can love anything else. People at one point or another will have their moment when they question who they are, what they are doing, and where they are in their life. I had planned a huge surprise party with over 50 of his closest friends and family members. my husband was unaware of what was being  planned. I decided that the biggest surprise, his long lost friend from 18 years ago would be a fantastic way to start the weekend off and so they arrived on the Friday to attend Saturday nights party. But the arrival of his long lost friend would be an early surprise and he arrived that Friday night.

I wish you could have all seen the look on his face when he opened the door and their stood his friend Fred. I was so happy that they arrived a day early, driving all the way from Michigan in the worst snow storm that fell upon the east coast in 2010.  It was great that he and his family could spend more time with his long lost friend. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room from any of us on that cold and snowy Friday evening. It was as if life had come full circle.  I was lost in the moment. There I stood, watching two men reconnect as if it had only been a day since they last had seen each other. To see my husband so filled with joy and happiness humbled me in so many ways. To see his smiles, that had been trapped away and would only come to the surface now and again, were free. I wanted to bottle this moment so that every year we could open it up and feel this love and joy all over again and again.  Since that birthday a few years ago, we have created a new tradition. It is called birthday hell week.

What it entails, is during the week of our birthdays, we surprise the birthday boy or girl, man or woman in our home by implementing but not limiting ourselves to various secret activites such as, playing jokes, decorate rooms, giving special gifts, cards, and streamer cars/trucks over the course of one week. On the actual birthday, we have a dinner that is chose by the birthday person. It could be dinner out or a nice dinner home, followed by homemade birthday cake, ice cream and being surrounded by friends and family. Sometimes the gatherings are big, and sometimes small. Either way, it is a celebration to share with the birthday person, and a special way to show them how much we appreciate them and how much we love them in our lives.

Since that 40th birthday, my boys and I have continued with our tradition and new way to celebrate our joy and happiness that my husband was brought into this world. He is a kind soul, with a very large and giving heart. Often times he has even sacrificed his own happiness to please others. He is a father that I could only wish that I had in my life. He is gentle and kind and honestly cares about others - as long as you do him no harm. He is our angel on earth and I can only pray as his wife that I am blessed with celebrating many birthdays with him. Below is a video of the final surprise that we gave him for this year’s birthday hell week. (His friends had not shown up yet, he was just getting home from work) The reason we did this for him is because he had mentioned that he didn't recall ever having a birthday that was a themed party when he was a child. He remembers having friends over and staying overnight, but never the extreme of matching decorations and even a pinata. So we decided to give him a "Hot Wheels" party. We even had party favors. Everyone got their own wet and wear "Hot Wheels" tattoos. This was his response when he came home on his birthday and the room was decorated. It was great to see that smile. We love you Dad. Happy Birthday sweetie and many many more. All my love to you - Stacey

MY SECRET RECIPE - CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ok, I have decided not to be so secretive when it comes to my kitchen creations. I do you hope you enjoy this cookie recipe and that you make them, you share them with others. I hope you like them.

CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES 

Oven should be heated to 350 degrees.

 

Ingredients:

2 Sticks salted butter softened. If you have them in the refrigerator, you can place them in a microwave for 40 seconds on 50% power.  (DO NOT MELT BUTTER) 

1 Cup Light Brown Sugar

¾ Cup white sugar 

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs (add eggs and mix one at a time) 

1 Teaspoon salt

1 Teaspoon soda 

1 ¼ Cup flour

1 jar maraschino cherries, drained (reserving 1 tablespoon of juice) 

1 tablespoon maraschino cherry juice

I used a Kitchen Aid mixer with the white single “J” shaped bread hook attachment to mix the dough. I also mix on a medium setting. (You can mix this recipe by hand; it just will take a little longer).

In a large bowl mix together, the butter, sugars, and vanilla until they are creamy. Then add one egg and blend into the creamy mix. But sure the egg is well blended. Add the second egg and mix again until blended.  

One you have your mix blended together, add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda, and salt. Mix again until blended. Add cherries, cherry juice, remaining flour and 2 cups of milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate bits, blending together one more time. Phew, bet your arm is tried if you hand mixed it. That is why I used to have my husband mix the batter for me. Then he got me a Kitchen Air mixer. (I’m lovin’ it)

Drop by rounded tablespoons on parchment paper covered metal cookie sheet.  

Ovens vary, so I start my first batch I cook for about 8 minutes, increasing the time as needed so that cookies are golden brown in color. Cookies may be thin with a crun-chewy texture. That is when they are the best. Enjoy!

"BAD TO THE BONE"

"A SMELL THAT WOULD GAG A MAGGOT"

Have you ever been plagued by a stench that was so rancid, that every time you walked into a particular room you felt nauseous? Now I’m not saying it has to be in your home, it can be anywhere…how about a woman’s public restroom at the beach on a humid day in the summer heat, or a pair of men’s wet over worked work boots that harbor the smell of fermented feet?  Well this gargantuan mystery smell that was consuming and taking over my fresh clean Pine Sol kitchen scent was getting old real fast and I knew that it was either the smell or me. Ok, don’t tell anyone, but yes I caught myself on numerous occasions hoping that the smell wasn’t from me.   

For the past three weeks this mystery smell was lurking somewhere in our kitchen, but was finding its way into our dining room and down the hallway. It wasn’t close enough to the bathroom, or I would have told friends and guest who stopped in, that it was the aftermath of something one of my kids or husband had eaten. Well, what do you want me to say…we don’t have a dog to blame it on. Now I love a great mystery and better yet…I like to solve them with quickness. I put together my plan of attack to conquer this smelly enemy to regain control over our castle.  Slowly, so that I don't overlook anything, I been removing and then replacing every item in our kitchen. I had even gone as far as pulling the dishwasher and the refrigerator out to make sure that we didn't have any water leak from the hoses or copper tubing.  How discouraging it was to discover that all was dry. So then what in the blazes was it coming from? I said over and over as I tried to find a reasonable solution to our problem.

 All that came to my mind was someone must have had spilt something and didn't clean it up completely. But there was no evidence that such a thing had happened. With each day that I attempted my many cleaning maneuvers, the room would smell clean and fresh.  The problem was I must have been getting used to it because as soon as you walked into the house, after going off for the day...the smell was there, it would grab you by the collar, slap you in the nose and then punch you in the stomach. It was so frustrating that at one point we felt we had lost our minds when each of us created our own description of the sinister smell. My husband pondered the idea that it was almost an earthy smell with a dash of brown/gray dust, a pinch of mold, and a splash of thick green pond water.  My kids believe the scent to be a bag of rotten baking potatoes in the panty. As for myself, I was under the belief it was some kind of abscessed, ooze covered, mystery meat that was hiding low and deep in the refrigerator just waiting for its attack on some late night fridge troll. Ok, yes, I consider myself a fridge troll, if you saw what I look like in the middle of the night, you’d agree with me big time.

 I know that is the last thing you want to hear, people describing rotten smells looming in a room that should be sanitize to do the daily cooking. In my kitchen you can eat off the counter, most of the time. But with this unknown suspect hiding somewhere in our kitchen, we were all put on our guard. No three second rules were allowed until said smell was located, captured and put to death. As we entered into our fourth week of this unknown stench, a familiar memory entered my mind. Chicken! That’s it…Chicken! I said with a smile and I looked at my husband and boys who were trying to wrinkle their faces past the point of prune.

Stand back fella's, she's going in!

With one last attempt I went back into the refrigerator to find this rancid fresh air wreaker. WHA LA! The evil had been discovered. It was strategically hidden in the meat drawer just under a large package of shredded cheese. It was no longer a pink fresh chicken tender, it was now a yellowed, gummy, stagnant growth that should be wrapped in a toxic waste red container and incinerated so that no trace could be smelt again. My family rejoiced, “Mom had saved the day! She found the toxic demon that plagued our kitchen for month. She destroyed it with her bare hands. Hip Hip Hooray!” Now you now I like to post pictures of my accomplishments in the clutter chaos, but it was even to grotesque and to smelly for me to get near again. Once was enough. Now we can walk into our home and no longer fear having to get fitted to environmental toxic waste suits and respirators. We now breathe healthier and cleaner air. Awwwwww.