14 May 2007

So I've decided to make a new "rule" for my weekends. I put the word rule in quotation marks because I'm sure that "rule" will be broken at some point if there's some sort of bribery involved--or if the girl makes her puppy dog eyes. The "rule:" no more 4+hour shopping excursions on BOTH weekend days.

This past weekend couldn't really be helped, since we are out of town this coming weekend and we really did need to accomplish a lot of tasks. But being cooped in Tyson's Corner Center on a beautiful, sunny spring day when I could be a) riding my bike, b)sitting on the couch reading the New York Times, c) doing yard work, d) watching Food Channel reruns, or d) pretty much doing ANYTHING else ...is pretty difficult for me. I was good for awhile (I even helped pick out jewelry for the girl), but then I just hit the wall. (I didn't have a full-blown tantrum like you see with toddlers who all of a sudden just drop to the floor and start screaming. But I thought about it.)


We did enjoy a great night with friends Saturday night (BBQ, margaritas, and movie)--until a severe electrial storm moved through and knocked out our power. Believe it or not--it was kind of nice. After our guests left, we opened up the windows (the storm cooled things off considerably), lit some candles, made some drinks, and played cards. We had a BALL. (Of course neither of us could remember how to play even one card game --even Crazy 8s--so thank God for my blackberry. I looked up on the internet how to play Spit.) The lights came on a couple of hours later, but I must admit the quiet and simplicity of those two hours--with no computers, TVs, etc--was quite pleasurable.

On another note...the girl and I "adopted" a soldier serving in Iraq. We got the idea on a recent trip to Colorado Kitchen where the owner/chef adopted a soldier through a group called Soldiers Angels. They basically put you in touch with soldier serving in the war and you can send him/her notes, packages, etc, anything to support them and lift their spirits. The idea is not to become pen pals per se (they caution you not to expect any kind of return note), but to show your support/gratitude for what these soldiers are doing--NO MATTER how you feel about the war. The people over there (many on their 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th deployment) who are in harm's way--thousands of miles away from their loved ones while this awful political debate rages here in the U.S.-- must be unspeakably difficult. Words from a complete stranger seem so inadequate, but we're going to take a crack at it.