Oooh, Shiny!

Yesterday was Xena's birthday.

She turned... ahem...a year older than she was.

She has worried about this birthday. She says that she is getting too old.

I think that she has barely gotten grown. As far as I'm concerned, she's just right. If she were any younger she wouldn't have dated me because I would have been too old for her, and if she were any older, she would have been looking for a whole lot more stable and successful man than me.

I managed to catch her right in that perfect phase that women go through between gullible and driven, and I managed to fool her into marrying me.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to decide what to give her for her birthday. That has been harder than I thought it would be. (You see, I normally take such good care of her that she never wants for anything anyway.) ( Ha! You believe that too, don't you?)

She said she wanted a new dishwasher (I don't know why, though...the one we've got works fine...), a new gas grille, a set of pots and pans, or a necklace that I picked out.

Well, I want a new gas grille too, so I can't get her that. If I tried to buy her pots and pans, you can rest assured that I would buy the wrong ones. (Don't ask.)

That leaves the necklace.

So friday night after work, I stopped off at the fine jeweler Jean Claude Penne', and went shopping.

Me: "Ma'am, how much for that little chain with the three stones in the top corner over there?"

Jewelery sales lady: "Well the normal price on that piece is ( ludicrously expensive), but right now it is on sale, and has been marked down to (ridiculously expensive)."

Me: "Cough, Cough, Gag!...I'm sorry, Ma'am... I wasn't looking to buy her a football stadium, I just wanted to get her a necklace. What do you have that is a little more conservatively priced?"

Sales lady: "Well we have this set over here which is the new spider web sized chain with two microscopic stones, and matching imaginary earrings, normally (ridiculously expensive), now marked down to (prohibitively expensive)."

Me: "Where?"

Sales lady: "Right here. Beneath this price tag."

I have always had trouble picking out jewelery. It is tough for me to get okay with spending thousands of dollars for something that doesn't DO anything.

I wound up buying her a 22" Glitter Cut gold rope chain. Plain, simple, elegant (according to the sales lady), and beautiful.

I gave it to my Wife for her birthday on friday night.

And I found out what jewelery DOES.

And I do not regret spending the money on the chain in any way.

It's been a good weekend.

Happy Birthday, Baby!