“When she opened the door she was overwhelmed by the sight before her…”

Cheryl’s birthday falls pretty near the Long Beach Polar Bear Splash and I was very busy with the latter capturing and vetting the photos for my blog video. I did finish and publish the blog and video and if you haven’t seen it you can see the results here:http://tinyurl.com/Polar-Brrr17

It was hard to deal with the coming birthday at the same time but I did manage to get some Amazon Prime shopping done for her. Hey, Brothers-in-search-of-easy-bliss, Amazon Prime, if you don’t know, pretty damn much knocks the hell out of boots-on-the-ground shopping.

Now as to the card:

You have to factor in that I’m retired and have more time than you younger studs but instead of buying a card for Cheryl I sometimes like make a birthday card using Print Shop.

Last year’s card:

But in all the busyness described above I never was able to make the card this year.

I did end up with two Amazon purchases, and another from a local store, Rose and Eye, in the West End of Long Beach. I came upon it one day after a visit to the nearby Top Hat Barber.  It’s so easy to shop at Rose and Eye, no lines, cool stuff for the ladies. And they gift wrap without even asking…free!. I even yelped about it here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rose-and-eye-long-beach-2,

Yeah, there I was three gifts but no card and it was blizzarding outside. But because of the blizzard, we couldn’t really go out for a birthday breakfast or lunch. I stalled for time and only gave Cheryl one of my three gifts, hoping to generate the card while she went to her art studio nearby.

I sat at my computer about to work on a card. But I hate to work under pressure…it shows in the finished product. So then I had…in my opinion…a bright idea: In lieu of a card, I’d clean the fridge. WTF you might ask? Are you sober man? Yes, it’s Mt. Fridgin’ Everest, I know. But hey, it’s snowing and blowing, I can’t get out anyway…soooo.

I was trying to get the immense task done before Cheryl came back, for the surprise effect, at the same time trying not to have a chaotic moment. After all, the whole endeavor was a gift thing. Stress can cancel out the gift deal significantly if I’m standing there pissed when she gets back. The whole time Bailey is underfoot, of course, because if there’s action in her favorite room, Bailey knows…in kitchen action… there is opportunity.

Now it’s all drudge work obviously, no need to plumb the depths of the creative soul to achieve artful expression, as in card creation. It’s just empty and clean, drag and discard, repeat and repeat and repeat.

So I’m humping along from fridge to countertop, to sink, taking out sticky-bottomed containers and jars, opened cheese packs and fuzzy sauce.  Then removing and washing onion peels out of drawers, syrupy something from shelves, and then, after way, way, too much time…I finished.

About lunch time Cheryl came in, started the coffee and went to the fridge.

Then, the sound of harps, violins and French horns replaced her voice: “Oh man, what did you do here?” Yes Mozart’s symphony of appreciation in A major filled the air, she was so surprised, no…enthralled.

When she opened the door she was overwhelmed by the sight before her…a clean fridge.

No birthday or Valentine card…however heartfelt…however Hallmarked…could have worked better magic.

You might have gathered that I’m not the kind of guy who sits back anyway and lets the lady do all the chores. I’ve done some vacuuming…and the truth is…it sucks. But it’s an easier task if one keeps in mind…it’s all floorplay.

Now, I’m not saying a shiny trinket, a box of candy, or wine and dinner aren’t good ideas but maybe the best way to show some creative expression is get some drudge work done for your Babe.

Days have passed since that memorable fridge card but, the appreciation? Well…it keeps on a-coming.

Be well,
Leebythesea

See my sister blog: https://wherethesundontshine.net