Gift Lover

Sometimes I feel the need to come to this space and confess all the not so great parts of my personality. I am not sure why this is. But here I go with my latest confession. I really like gifts. Ugh. I am sure you would like me more if I said that I like to give gifts. I do. I am not that great at it but I do like picking out gifts for people. But the truth is that I really like receiving gifts. A lot of people in my family are really good at giving gifts. I seem to have inherited the gene that makes me really good at receiving gifts. My sister got the gift giving gene. For Christmas last year, one of the things she gave me was a safe delivery for a woman in a developing country. She purchased the gift from the International Rescue Committee. She knows me well and knows what matters to me. I was touched. She also gave D several pint glasses. D brews his own beer and it's quite tasty. She had them personalized to say "Buster Brewing Co." and had the lion of Judah etched on the glasses as well. So amazing and thoughtful!! My sister also had a bag made especially for me. I always told her how I much I loved her bag. It was very unique and her friend got it for her in California. I wasn't likely to find it anywhere in Ohio. My sister doesn't sew but has a good friend that does. She bought the fabric and asked her friend if she could replicate the bag. Her friend did a great job and every time I wear it out I always get compliments. What's even more wonderful is that I have now become internet friends with her friend who made the bag. Double gift!

My sister clearly inherited the gift giving gene from my mom. She is also excellent at giving gifts. My mom is really good at making notes of little comments that you make and then a few weeks later something shows up at your door step. She is the queen of that tactic. The last time we were in Tulsa, I complimented her bag. Are you noticing my love of bags? Well, of course, for Mother's Day this year my mom bought the bag for me in a different color. I love it. She is also really good at sending little gifts in the mail as encouragement. I remember receiving many a Starbucks gift card from her when we were going through infertility. They were always accompanied with a sweet note telling me to treat myself. As a side note, my mom also sends me coupons in the mail. It makes me smile every time. She is a thoughtful one. And thrifty.

It's no shock that the man I married also has the gift giving gene. Even though his cousin teased him at our rehearsal dinner for something D said about "not giving a woman flowers very often or they'll start to expect it" he is very good at giving gifts. D also times his gifts very well. The ring I wear on my right hand was a gift from D at the end of 2008. That was an incredibly tough year and he said it symbolized the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. A few months later we were filling out paperwork to adopt from Ethiopia. Like my mom, occasionally little packages, like a movie I wanted, will show up at our doorstep. And while it is true that he doesn't do the flower thing very often when he does it is very well timed and always unexpected. This Mother's Day he really surprised me. I have been making it known that I wanted a new, high tech blender. My plan was to sell a few things that I never use anymore and put that money towards a new blender. We had a working blender and it seemed silly to spend the money. But the one we had didn't chop stuff up that great and I have been working on hiding veggies into LB's fruit smoothies. I did some reading and it seemed like the Vitamix and Blendtec were the creme de la creme of blending. But they were pricey! One night I was using our old blender to puree some beans and something went terribly wrong. It's possible I didn't screw it on tight enough but as the beans were swirling around the base started spinning off the actual blender and beans started going all over the countertop and floor. I screamed. D came running and we managed to stop it but the damage had been done. LB came into the kitchen and said, "whoa dudes." All we could do was laugh. I told D I was done with that blender and was going to get serious about selling my bike. Little did I know he was already doing some blender research of his own. A few days later, which was a couple days before Mother's Day, I was taking out the trash and D told me he left something in his trunk and asked if I could bring it in. I got out to the garage and opened his trunk and there was a Blendtec box. I turned to look back at the house and he was standing in the door holding LB with a big grin on his face. He had taught LB to say "Happy Mother's Day." (I think LB thought it was my birthday.) I cried.

I'm working on perfecting a few smoothie recipes. Some have been downright nasty. My fault. Not the blender's. And yesterday I used it to make super delicious black bean burgers. I'm in love with it. Isn't that terrible. Here she is.

Hopefully D's ability to give gifts will rub off on LB. Considering that LB scolded me the other day for not putting my shoes away it is safe to say that he is picking up on more of D's tendencies than mine. That's a good thing. Mostly.