I never should have gone out last night.  By about 8:00PM I was a mess: barking, coughing, blowing my nose, not being able to breath through my nose, sinus pressure in places you never even knew you had sinuses and better yet, not being able to concentrate on anything.  I think I used enough sanitizing gel to be considered an accelerant (and boy howdy did that dry out my cuticles).  I pretty much came home and crashed.

I am feeling a bit better today though.  Well, better when yesterday at least.  I’m still crappy enough that dammit, I’m taking today off as a sick day.  I’m going to zero out my Reader – no blogs for me today.  I won’t be checking my email (much).  I won’t be answering my phone.  Nope, I’m just going to lie around and either finish up Friday Night Knitting Club or watch some DVDs that I have laying about.

Today is actually my hubster’s birthday.  Since I’m sick, he’s decided to do a work meeting with Herbie’s sound engineer to talk about some of Herbie’s web stuff.  He leaves on Wednesday so really, tonight was all he had available.    So we’ll celebrate with the birthday dinner tomorrow instead – plus I’m sure I’ll feel much better by then.  Maybe I’ll stop by somewhere and pick him up a fruit or lemon tartlet for dessert or something.

I wonder though, does anyone else have challenges coming up with birthday, Christmas or anniversary gifts for their significant others?  For anniversaries I tend to request a house-ish gift or we go on a vacation.  But this year I never got anything for Christmas, but I got the hubs some cool camera gear.

I really can’t think of anything to get him though.  First, he’s the kind of guy that buys what he wants or needs when he wants or needs it (or after the necessary research) and I pretty much buy all his clothes as he needs it.  Second, he pretty much feels that gift giving on any particular holiday because it’s expected is just kind of silly.  And thirdly, he’s never really all that excited by gifts, so unless it really wows him, well, it won’t necessarily be all that appreciated and might even sit around unused – therefore a waste of money.

So I figured that I’d just get out of bed before him and head out to the car wash since he’d been complaining that his car was dirty.  I just feel like that’s such a let down of a “gift”.  Especially since we’re not even celebrating today.  Heck, even the cat got a gift for his birthday yesterday (a pouch of pink salmon and some tilapia jerky).

Okay, I’m off to veg.  See you guys in a day or two.

And now I regret not decorating for Christmas *sigh* Not enough to go pull out all those decorations now, mind you. But enough to wish I had actually put up the tree and hung up our holiday cards.  I kind of miss just that little bit of the sights and smells of the season.

Of course, this was all brought on because we had a sweet and mellow (read: inexpensive) date night last night.  First we went out to for a late lunch/early dinner.  From there, after indulging in the world’s best tapioca pudding (Brent’s in Northridge – get the large and bring home the leftovers, you won’t be disappointed) we headed on over to Galco’s Soda Pop Shop to check out all the off beat names and brands of soda from around the US (and some international brands as well).  I picked up a CheerWine (made with cane sugar – even better still!) since I love that stuff and it didn’t let me down – though I do wish I’d picked up two.

We ended the night doing my favorite Christmas event…checking out the Upper Hastings Ranch neighborhood to look at their holiday light displays.  I love driving around, with the widows down, sipping on the requisite hot cocoa admiring the decorations.  If I was a kid, I’d think I’d have died and ended up at the North Pole.  Some folks do a really great job (and yes, some are totally lame as well).  Before heading back home, we drove by what I refer to as the “Ice Cream House” (the Balian house)where they go crazy insane with their decorations.  They even end up with street vendors!  I have to say, this is the first year since I’ve been doing this that there wasn’t a pro-Bush banner hanging front and center. Interesting.

So now you can see why I’m regretting not decorating this year.  It took a while, but I do believe that I might finally be getting into the holiday spirit.  In fact, I think I need a Peppermint Mocha and a Cranberrry Bliss Bar to celebrate!  And yes, as a matter of fact, I did run out without my camera.

I tend to do all of the holiday shopping for us.  Even for the gifts my hubby buys me,  I usually have to create a very precise online list (or give him a slew of options for something specific, like a watch, through Amazon).  So while I’m out and about shopping for others, I often find things that I’d like for myself.

Sometimes, like today, I just buy it (new PJs from Old Navy – 50% off, very cute and quite comfy).  But it’s got me thinking…should I just wrap it and put it under the tree and you know, pretend it’s a gift?  When you think about it, since it comes from First National Bank of Husband it’s as if he’s buying it anyway, right?

Or is that just too goofy?