There’s a reason why I shouldn’t wait to blog until the end of the day.

The reason is that, after making dinner, feeding Joe, putting him to bed, cleaning up the kitchen, putting away the toys, adding the day’s expenses and earnings into the budget spreadsheet, answering and sending emails, and any other things that remain, I find myself falling into the couch with an “oomph” and not wanting to do anything but read a book or watch part of an episode of the “The Closer” on DVD.

Yes, I have the “The Closer” on DVD.  I rented and watched more DVDs during those first 6 weeks of Joe’s life than I’ve ever watched before.  Thank you, breastfeeding.  “The Closer” was one of the shows that grew on me.

There’s a funny story about those DVDs.  Chris bought me season 2 over Christmas.  I thanked him, and then a few days (or weeks?) later pointed out that I didn’t actually have season 1, and was there a special reason why he bought me the 2nd season as opposed to the 1st season?  Perhaps he liked the 2nd season more, or couldn’t stand the 1st season?  Nope – nothing like that.  He just bought me the 2nd season because, well, he didn’t realize that I didn’t have the 1st season.

That’s not the funny part.

Last Tuesday, Chris asked me what I was doing that evening.  I sat there in my jeans and slippers, facing Joe with a spoonful of dinner in one hand and a washcloth in the other, ready and able to fend off any flying food particles that might come my way while Joe practice using a spoon.  I glanced over at Chris and said, “Uh, well, I hadn’t really thought about it – I guess finish feeding Joe, clean him up, put him to bed, clean up the kitchen, do some stuff on email, maybe read a book, and then go to sleep.  Why?”

“No reason,” said Chris, “except that I thought you might want to watch something on TV.”

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Yeah, sure – whatever you want to watch is fine.”

Later that night as I washed the counters, I heard the familiar theme music of “The Closer”.  I looked up and saw that Chris had put it in, which struck me as odd since he doesn’t like police/investigation TV shows.  He turned to me, all smiles and said, “I got season 1 for you!”  He had been to the library earlier that day and I thought it was sweet of him to pick that up for me, but I wasn’t all that interested in watching it and told him so.  I’ve got a stack of documentaries to get through and if I’m going to watch something “for me”, then it will be one of those.  I thanked him but told him to put on something that he wanted to watch.  He looked a bit dejected but didn’t comment.

The next day, Wednesday, I was going to the library to return some books.  I saw the DVD case of “The Closer”, deliberated for half a second, and decided to return it, too.  Chris wasn’t going to watch it on his own and those documentaries were giving me the evil eye.  I scooped it up, tossed it in my bag with the rest of the books, and headed out.

Fast-forward to Sunday.  I was nursing Joe and Chris did his typical, “close your eyes and hold out your hands” gift delivery (the man hates to wrap presents).  I did and was surprised to open my eyes and see season 3 of “The Closer”.  I thought, “This makes no sense.  Why would he buy me season 2 for Christmas, rent me season 1 from the library, and then get me season 3 for Mother’s Day?  I do not understand men.”  What I said was, “Oh, that’s so sweet of you!  I definitely want to watch this one, since I haven’t seen it in awhile.”  Chris was pleased and made the offhand comment as he walked away that he’d “gotten them both” on Amazon.

Both.

Wait a minute.

I looked over at Chris and said, “Both?  I returned season 1 to the library!”

Chris nearly choked on his morning cup of coffee.  Shipping from the US to NZ isn’t cheap, and I can just imagine what was running through his mind when I told him that (I’ll give you a hint: I’m guessing it was green and had a $ sign on it somewhere).

A not-quite-heated and very humorous discussion ensued.  I may have said something like, “How was I supposed to know that was a Mother’s Day gift?  You gave it to me on Tuesday, for cryin’ out loud!  And like usual, it wasn’t wrapped!”.  Chris may have said something like, “I never said it came from the library.  Why did you assume that?  Why didn’t you tell me you’d returned it?”

Side Note: Chris also bought me some “Mother’s Day” flowers on Friday.  At the time, he said something about them and the DVD being my “Mother’s Day” gift.  I thought, “Really?  A $2 DVD rental from the library was my Mother’s Day gift?  Sweet, but a little cheap!”  What I said was, “Really?  The DVD was part of my Mother’s Day gift?”  Chris affirmed that yes, it was part of the gift, and gave me a look that said, “Sheesh – are you hard to please or what?”

The good news is that, after church, Chris was able to stop by the library.  He inquired about the DVD and guess what?  They’d put it aside!  Chris was able to identify the day that it was “returned” and they gave it to him without any trouble.

So, my lovely readers, I now own seasons 1, 2, and 3 of “The Closer”.  And I had a fabulous Mother’s Day 🙂