The Number Field

Elena is safely and soundly in bed, and Jenny and I are enjoying one of her birthday presents: a DVD of Pete's Dragon from Jenny's mom. Jenny is singing along with the songs, but I don't know them well enough to join in. In all, I think that Jenny had a very nice birthday week. Our only regret is that we took hardly any pictures to commemorate the events.

As I previously indicated, I prepared a whole week of gifts, starting with homemade candy last Sunday. She also chanced into a sneak preview of her Monday present: while she was away, I fixed two of her lamps, and on Sunday evening she discovered that one of them had the socket mechanism had changed--on Monday, I gave her a lightbulb with a tag asking her to install it.

On Tuesday I brought her roses; she always likes flowers. I got them early in the week so that they would be around for the whole week, especially for her actual birthday the next day. On Wednesday, she opened up the presents and cards from everyone, along with my biggest, riskiest present: a purple blouse. I'll be sure to have a picture soon, but she likes it and I think she looks great wearing it. I tried to buy it to match a particular skirt of hers, but Jenny says it doesn't quite go right--the color is fine, but the textures and patterns don't match. On hearing that, my mother suggested that we go skirt shopping! I didn't have any birthday treats for her, so in the evening, after running some errands, we stopped by the grocery store to get ice cream and a big slice of cake from the bakery.

Thursday's gift was all about bedtime--new pajamas and massage oil. Jenny went out for ice cream with her visiting teachers in the evening, which gave Elena and me time to retrieve the presents from their hiding place and prepare Friday's present. I also managed to give Elena a bath and put her to bed. Jenny was having such a good time that she stayed out a little longer than I had expected.

I could hardly wait for Friday's present, so I gave it to Jenny in the morning. We've been married for three and a half years, and I'm finally almost done with a slideshow of pictures from our wedding. I just have to finish the titles and clean up some of the transitions, but it was good enough for a first viewing. When I do finish it, I'll post it online.

Finally, on Saturday evening we dropped Elena off with Jenny's brother John and family, and headed out for dinner. Jenny wanted Indian , and the restaurant we chose was a nice one. We ordered a combo dinner for two, and it was all good. However, the highlights were probably the naan bread and the assorted Tandoori--chicken, shrimp, and salmon. We capped the night off with a little bit of shopping: first at the brand-new Nordstrom Rack, then at CVS, where Jenny worked her coupon magic to get a lot of Halloween candy for very little money. That was a perfect way to end a wonderful evening and wonderful week.