It was Teri's birthday on Thursday.

It was Teri's birthday on Thursday. Teri hates it how I plan. Sometimes it is a disaster, other times like Thursday it works out really nice.
At the beginning of the week I stop in ShopRite to get a few items for her birthday cake. It is a recipe she gave me a year ago I didn't make. So I thought it would be a belated, but nice surprise cake. I get the ingredients and a purchase a bottle of rum. I go over to ShopRite to buy  cards. One for her birthday, the second for our anniversary. I buy one other thing and the bill is almost twenty dollars. I look at the receipt and the cards were eight and nine dollars each, And Hallmark lais off my mother a dozen years ago charging that kind of money for a piece of paper. So of course when it is time for presents, I forget about the card in my door of my car. 
My mom has offered to make the cake. Lately I've been burning or ruining everything I cook, so I took her up on it. Everything is falling into place nicely.
Sometime last week or earlier this week Teri says she is in the mood for Paella. With the COVID-19 virus restaurants are only doing take out. So I get this marvelous idea to buy paella from the restaurant call Sangria's that she loves. I stop into the restaurant the day before and ask them about Paella. They say it will feed about two people and each dish is $25,00 plus tax. I order two, but the next morning Teri's training kicks in and I order a third one. It is better to have too much then not enough. I was afraid people would stop eating if it looked like there wasn't enough. It didn't happen. We didn't even

open the third.
During the day I get texts of offers of help from the girls. Elena is chosen to pick up her Aunt from work, so she will be here on time. Nastia offers to come with me to pick up the food. I pull up to the house and Nastia gets in. We get to my mom's to get the cake first. Nastia is told to stay a good ten feet away from her grammy and no hugging. We get the cake and head for Sangria's. Nancy was told to be at the house at 6:15. Nastia and I go into the restaurant, it is empty. Several tables where people should be seated have bags of food on them. I tell them we are here to pick up our food. A few minutes after they bring the food out to us.It is about 6:25. I text Elena so she can meet us outside to help with the food. The paella is fresh off the heat and the bottoms of the bag of food are so hot it burns our hand as we place it in the trunk. I think if I don't hurry Nastia will drop the food because it is so hot. She is a trooper and deals with the heat putting the food in the trunk.  NY State has relaxed alcohol purchasing for restaurants so I was also able to buy a quart of sangria. I almost bought two quarts. Elena and Nancy are outside and pitch in to bring the food inside. The

Elena's gift to her Mom

aroma of paella fills the dining room. Teri doesn't know what is for dinner she smells the aroma and tells us how good it smells. It is going to be a good meal. Two trays are put on the table and the third is put in the oven on a low temperature to keep warm. It becomes quickly apparent that we will not need the third one. Everyone fills there dishes before the food gets cold. There is chicken, shrimp, mussels, clams and a mound of rice. Nastia digs into the mussels with Teri and Nancy. I take several spoonfuls of rice with chicken and shrimp. It becomes quickly apparent that Elena is not enjoying the food. I warm up a leftover steak for her. It is very thick (those COSTCO steaks) that the middle is cold. She doesn't care and eats it. The sangria doesn't go as quickly as I thought it would. Nancy has a glass, Nastia a taste and maybe Elena did too. I stayed with beer and Teri only had two glasses. I guess stories of her eating chips off the table after drinking Sangria on an empty stomach several years ago put a damper on her drinking. With all this COVID-19 going around what else is there to do. We bring out the cake and I forget to turn on the camera and there is only a ten second video of it. Then presents are opened and thoughts of Dairy Queen ice cream are never bought up. The night ends early when Elena brings Nancy home. Clear up is quick with most dishes going in the dishwasher. Food tins going into the recycle bins. It was a nice night and Teri thanked me several times that night. It was fun.





















          




















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