Birthday present

I'm getting one of my birthday presents right now. My husband is taking the kids out shopping for my present. Since I am with at least one of my kids nearly every moment of the day, getting the chance to have the house to myself is a present itself. I'll probably mop the kitchen and bathroom floors; it's what I did last year.

This year we'll be celebrating my birthday a day early. My husband is leaving on the morning of my birthday for a business trip in Charleston, SC (assuming Hurricane Ophelia doesn't interfere with his plans). He is too grumpy in the morning to try to have a birthday party at breakfast. Besides, we'll be rushing around to get my son ready for school.

We haven't had rain in a long time. I think my husband is watering things with the sprinkler right now. I'm in the house, I hear the sound of running water, and I'm not doing laundry or running the dishwasher.

My dishwasher has lots of breaks in the white plastic stuff that covers the metal rack inside. A lot of my dishes are getting rust stains from the metal. They are also starting to get chipped. I'm thinking about dumping them (Corelle). I have a box of china in the attic bedroom I need to clean up so my son can move up there. It's Haviland Limoges. I got it three years ago when my grandma died. She had it on display but almost never used it. Years ago she gave me a small set of Spode, which I have on display in my china cabinet but never use. I don't even have anywhere to display the Haviland stuff. I'm thinking after I dump the Corelle, I should use the Haviland stuff. I'll just have to hand wash it so it doesn't get rusted on in the dishwasher (plus I don't think it's strong enough to survive the dishwasher. Anyway, in a few years, it will probably all be trashed since I'm hard on dishes, but at least it will have been used. I think I also have another box of Noritake stuff in that attic room I got when my great-Aunt died almost two decades ago. I used it when I was single, but it is a very small set. I broke some, so I don't think there is enough of it to use now. Maybe I should just mix all my dishes (but the Spode) and use them until they are all broken. Then I can go buy some unbreakble, microwavable dishes. (I tried Rubbermaid dishes after I was married. My husband broke some, and I melted some in the microwave. They were very disappointing.)