On Friday, I had a math test. As our good friend Liz Lemon
from 30 Rock would say, “Blergh.” The positive side of it was that my class is
at 8:55. Yes, that is the upside. I left right after the test to go home for the
weekend. My afternoon history class was canceled so everything worked out
perfectly.
My dad’s
birthday was the 4th. I ran some birthday errands so my mom didn’t
have to do them. No number exists for the number of times it has been necessary
for her to remind me that her love language is “Acts of service, baby!” so I
got the cake, a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling and chocolate
icing, a Mylar birthday balloon, and birthday candles printed with zebra
stripes, cheetah spots, or tiger stripes because we are party animals, of
course.
We always
get our birthday cakes from Lovin’ Oven. If you live in Round Lake or
Libertyville or can get yourself to those towns, you should do that. When we
lived in Grayslake, the cakery (that’s what they print on their business cards)
was close and the tradition stuck. After moving to Libertyville, we still drove
to Round Lake to get the cakes for birthdays. My birthday is just a week and a
half away from my dad’s, but my mom’s birthday is on October and Kayla’s is on
August, so they’re spread far enough apart to be okay. A few years ago, another
Lovin’ Oven was opened in Libertyville and the trip to Round Lake was no longer
necessary.
On Friday
night, we went to Famous Dave’s for dinner. They have excellent ribs and corn
muffins you could write songs about if you’re into that kind of thing. Saturday
I slept in and took a nap and I have no regrets about that. We had Chicago
style pizza and birthday cake and then Dad opened his presents and cards. Mom
found a really cool Chicago Blackhawks jacket that’s almost like a Letterman
style and she found it at TJMaxx. Perfect!
I didn’t
know I was coming home until the last minute, so my parents already had plans
to go to a Groundhog’s Day party at their friend’s house. That worked out well
because I wanted to spend some time with Kate. We hit Target, the mall, and
Starbucks. I do love McConn, but there’s something about the Starbucks
atmosphere. While we were at Target,
we decided to go see “The Woman in Black” which is a new movie that Daniel
Radcliff is in. He did a play in England and was on Broadway, but this is his
first movie role since the Harry Potter series ended. I like him as an actor
and want to support his career, as well as the other stars of those movies, so
we made plans to go see it. It’s rated PG-13 but I knew it was a horror movie.
I had never seen a horror movie ever in my whole life. Not in theatres, not at
anyone’s house. We drove around town (did I already mention that my new car’s
name is Lars? He’s perfect) and rocked out a little bit because Lars is great
at that.
Before the
movie started, Kate told me that if I was too freaked out, we could totally
leave and it wouldn’t matter. She loves horror movies so we both knew I would
be the one to be too scared.
Let me tell
you, that movie was SO. SCARY. Obviously I haven’t been exposed to that much
freakiness in movies, but I was flipping out. First of all, it’s set in England
in the Victorian era so there’s like peasant children, scary big houses lit
with candles, creepy dolls and wind up toys, and other weird stuff. The story
line was easy enough to follow but it wasn’t spoon-fed to you. There was hardly
ever downtime to relax because the movie was freaky all the time! I read online
that some people were unhappy with the ending, but I really liked it! I
couldn’t have come up with something better, so I thought it was decent. Daniel
Radcliff was great in his role, but it was a little tough to remember he was
supposed to be an adult and the father of a 4-year-old boy.
The movie
even scared Kate, so I didn’t feel like a baby for being freaked out by it.
Afterwards, we both needed to decompress a little bit so we stood in her
kitchen and talked with Maggie. It was great to see her too. I miss that girl.
Final
verdict, I don’t think I’ll be seeing another horror movie in theatres any time
soon. It’s so expensive and I don’t like being scared that much. I’ll wait
until someone’s playing it at their house and then when I get freaked out, I’ll
leave the room so I can remind myself it’s not real. The one thing about this
movie being set in a Victorian era was that I wasn’t scared in my car or
anything like that because the Woman in Black was never around modern
conveniences like other horror movies set in present day.
Sunday we
went to church, got more coffee, and went to Panera. Dad and I took Max on a
walk and then I headed back to IWU. Max is another reason I really like to come
home. I love that goober! He’s historically bad at being on a leash, but Dad
has really been working with him so he’s a lot better. A middle-age dog can be
taught new tricks!
This
morning was back to the typical grind- math class, chapel, BMI testing in PHE,
which we did in high school, and then history class. McConn and I have reunited and it was
beautiful.
Here are
some photos of my dad when he was a kiddo. My Aunt Connie is his twin and, aww cute, they match! On the right is "the twins" as everyone called them with my grandma and a snazzy vehicle.
Happy birthday, Daddio!
Ps- I almost had them write that on the cake, but then opted
for “Happy birthday Curtis”.
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