Sneaky...sneaky...sneaky

Last Friday, Josh's birthday present arrived (a month early - his birthday is June 18th); I got him a solid maple bookcase. :)

I'm still amazed that I was able to surprise him, considering what ended up happening. He had no clue that I had planned anything at all for his birthday. The day before it arrived, I said to him in the car "I don't know what to get you for your 40th birthday!", little did he know what was arriving the next morning.

About nine months ago Josh took me to Woodcraft to look at bookcases. We were in the 'just looking' mode and weren't serious at the time about actually getting one. Josh had no idea what I had up my sleeve...

I ordered the bookcase at the beginning of April and I was told that it would take about eight weeks to arrive, which was perfect (it should have arrived closer to his birthday - but that was fine). I chose the wood, the stain, the number of shelves, everything. Anyways, when they were making up the bill, I told the salesman (who I later found out was the VP of the company) that it was a surprise. He wrote on the bill "SURPRISE FOR HUSBAND!" at the top of the bill and I gave them my cell number so Josh wouldn't end up getting a call at home and the cover would be blown. It all seemed to be coming together.

About two weeks after I placed the order I received a note from the company (it had their name and address on the envelope) and wouldn't you know that Josh went to get the mail that day. He told me that I received a letter from the company and he was curious as to what it was. I took the letter from him, opened it and told him that they were having a sale and that's why they contacted me. Mmmm, sneaky.

In reality, it was a thank you note from the VP for my purchase. Granted it was a very nice gesture, but the surprise was almost blown. I ended up emailing the company and asked them not to send anything else. They apologized and as a gesture of good faith, ended up waiving the $75 delivery fee. :)

Last Thursday, I got a call on my cell phone that the bookcase was ready for delivery. They told me they could deliver it next day and I would be the first delivery of the day.

On Friday I was a little nervous and had my cell phone on (since it was their only mode of contacting me). Josh still had no clue what was going on.

The delivery truck rolled up to the house at 12:45 and I called to Josh to come up the stairs. He came and I told him to look out the window and said "Happy birthday!" At first, he thought that I was kidding and the truck was just backing into the driveway to turn around. HA!

Then the driver stopped the truck. Josh's mouth dropped open and he kept saying "No way. NO WAY! What did you do?! Oh my g-d!" over and over again. His reaction was really amusing (especially if you know him).

As soon as the delivery men left, he ran down to the basement to get books to fill the case.