Errrrr...Happy Birthday?

I’m really bad at keeping secrets from Michele. Maybe it’s my goofy smile or the incessant fidgeting, but she seems to know everything.

Case and point: The other night, I decided to go get Michele some of her favorite ice-cream – extra dark chocolate peppermint with fudge, brownies and oreos. Most chocolate ice-cream is kinda brownish; but this stuff is black, like middle of the Congo black, (not to sound racist or anything.) The only downside is that Coldstone only carries it in December. With a few days left, I thought I would win a few brownie points.

“Michele, I think I’m gonna go ride my bike for a little while.”

“Why? It’s 10 pm. You should stay here.”

“I need a little more exercise.”

“You’re going to Walmart to get some chips aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not!!!”

“You should get me some dark chocolate peppermint ice-cream from Coldstone.”

(Momentary smirk.)

“You are!!!” (Michele jumps into my arms.) “You’re so sweet.”

“Arrrggh!!! I can NEVER surprise you!”

Isn't that ice cream dark or what?

On Tuesday, I was thinking about what to get Michele for her birthday which is coming up pretty soon. I’d toyed around with several ideas, but then I got this brainwave! It was perfect!

The next morning, I told Michele I was going to work (I did! just a few hours later) and biked up to Joann’s. Next thing I know, Michele calls me up to tell me that she’s bored and that she’s going up  to her parents house for the day to use the very apparatus I was currently browsing for!

I guess it was a sign, and it also meant Michele was out of the house so I had some hope of sneaking it in. I left the store carrying a 25 pound box balanced on my bicycle and maneuvered towards the bus stop. I was intercepted by some lady horrified that I was going to break the thing, and her husband drove me home in the end. After stealing a bunch of free newspapers for wrapping paper, I tried to find where I could hide something roughly the size of a mini refrigerator in a 500 sq. ft. apartment. Impossible!

Michele got home with three new pillows (I couldn’t believe she’d made them in four hours) and then went on facebook to find that one of her friends had just received the same item and how she’d really like one. The next thing I knew I was just dying, aching to tell her (how awesome of a husband I was.) 

Our new pillows

I made it about two days and finally decided that on her birthday she would be so immersed in schoolwork that I should just gift it to her now. And so I did! She was surprised, partly because her birthday isn’t for another month, (heck, I even got the wrong year)… so now I have a new record of keeping a surprise for 53 hours!!! Woot!

Michele's new sewing machine