patio furniture, panhandlers, purses, and pork products
April 03, 2006, 6:06 P.M.

I had a short phone call to my mom on Saturday--a mere two hours.
I couldn't get her on Friday, her actual birthday. She was out running the roads, I guess. But we had a nice talk and she was pleased that I didn't forget her.
She liked the gift, and it seems that candles were the thing to give this year, as she got candles from me, and from each of my three brothers!

She said the foot cream was what really made her day, though. And I'm glad it made her happy, despite being a rather unconventional birthday gift.

Late on Saturday morning, Spouse and I headed to Milwaukee (well, actually it was Greenfield and Hales Corners) to get him a pair of steel-toed work shoes that fit properly. We succeeded, ending up with a pair of Worx by Red Wing, in a 14 wide. And when we were done, it being approximately lunch time, I suggested we run over to Hales Corners, and eat at Open Flame--a rotisserie/grill restaurant we both love.

He was amenable, and so we both had a marvelous lunch. I had the prime rib soup, rotisserie roast pork with pine nut stuffing (heaven!), mashed potatoes, and steamed vegetables. Spouse had French Onion, and a steak with the same mashed and veg. Most enjoyable--and quite filling, I might add.

As we headed back towards home, we had just decided to stop in Sturtevant and put new lawn furniture on layaway, when I happened to glance out the driver's window and see a certain sign. One that read "Beads".

All it took was my offhand remark of "oh, look--a new bead store" to have Spouse in the turn lane and signalling left.

He's so sweet sometimes.

The place is called Bead Needs, and is run by a woman who works at Beadstyle Magazine. I spent quite a while in there, chatting, swapping ideas, and checking out the merchandise. She's just opened, so the stock is a little light, but I was still able to go through fifty-five bucks. I got some findings, a bunch of new nymo colors, a few beads, and some tools. And a pattern book of bead chains--one of the Easy Does It series from Kalmbach. I've wanted that one for a while, because bead chains are my favorite thing to do.

Spouse sat patiently in the car and waited for me, playing games on his cell and sending obscene text messages to his friends. Honestly, the man is 47, and he's sending obscene text messages to his friends. I can't tell if that's cute or infuriating.

Once the bead interlude was over, we went to Wal-mart to do the lawn furniture. thing. In spite of the date (first-of-the-month), in spite of my actual, verbalized warning about trying to shop this weeked, because it was the first of the month. You cannot tell the man anything once he's made up his mind.

Annnnd...it was chaotic. But since the weather was ultra-suck, Lawn & Garden was quiet. We decided that there is still plenty of life in our patio table, but we needed to replace the chairs and the umbrella. So we picked out four nice chairs--padded, oversized, but foldable--and a suitable umbrella. And then we headed back to the nightmare that is layaway. Gaah! Of all the days to teach some, poor, half-witted new girl the ins and outs of the layaway desk, why in the name of all that is good and right would you pick THE FIRST?!

We eventually managed to get the transaction completed, and did a quick run-around to pick up some necessary household items. After one more ordeal at the checkout, we fled the insanity and headed home.

Where he took a nap, I watched "Rent" with the commentary track on, and eventually, we grazed lightly and went to sleep early.

Which I regretted about eleven. When I was wide-awake and non-too-happy about it. I stayed up till about two, watching more of "Rent", doing a crossword, reading, and wishing to fuck I could get back to sleep. At least, I told myself, Spouse had to go to work in the morning, and I could sleep in.

Well. Here's the thing. There was supposed to be a time change. And we forgot.

Of course, his high-decibel freakout had me up and on my feet in a heart-pounding, adrenaline-fueled panic of my own. As he got on the phone to his boss, I ran to the kitchen and made him some coffee to drink on the way. Like the exemplary wife I am.

Except there was no "on the way". He got in touch with his boss, who told him the whole thing would be a lot simpler to deal with if he just skipped it. If he came in late, it would be a huge deal, but if he didn't come in at all, the boss would just pretend like Spouse wasn't scheduled.

So he didn't have to work on Sunday. And obviously, I didn't get to sleep in.

I was well and truly up, so I made more coffee, and we both sat and drank our eye opener. Then he decided he wanted to go out for breakfast, so he got cleaned up and dressed. I made him walk the dog, while I did the same. Then we headed down to the diner for lovely, puffy omelets and crisp hash browns. And oh, yeah. More coffee. Hell yes.

The diner being a bit of a squeeze, I paid and exited while he made a pit stop, and I stood out on the sidewalk waiting for him and observing the local cops in what looked like a B&E investigation at the American Legion hall next door.

And I got panhandled! It's been a while, but this does occasionally happen down by the diner. It's a rather seedy neighborhood. Older gentleman, very polite, and only asked for a quarter.

Since it takes quite a set of balls to panhandle right in front of a cop, I slid him a buck. What the hell good is a quarter? Might as well give him enough for coffee.

I'm glad we did, though, because my pink purse has been looking so grubby, I've been dying to replace it. Well, I found an adorable summer purse in bright coral canvas, and it was only $5.59! And we got a case of peanut butter for the food pantry, because it was only 90 cents a jar. I also picked up another of their wonderful dish towels, and lucked into finding two sets of sheets, one queen and one full, marked down from $49.95 to $21.90, and from $39.95 to $12.64, respectively. The full set is white percale, and the queen set is a yarn-dyed green plaid that will be great on the big bed. I've had my eye peeled for some new sheets for a while, and just happened to luck out.

Long story short--I spent $111.00. Good thing I didn't actually need anything from the store, huh?

After we got home, I changed my purse out and was getting ready to throw a load of towels in the wash when a thought struck me. My pink purse was looking sad, it's true--but it is fabric and vinyl, so what was to stop me from throwing it in the wash? So I pre-treated it with Shout, and threw it in with the towels.

And it looks brand-freakin'-new. So yeah, it's not terribly expensive. But try pulling off that trick with an expensive bag. That thing's ready to do another year's duty, at least!

After I put the wash in, I stretched out on the big bed and promptly conked out for a long nap. I slept for two hours, and could have easily done more, but for good old Spouse waking me up again because he didn't know what pan to cook the ham in. (Hams were a buck a pound at Meijer, so ham was the plan for dinner.)

Once I got him set up, I fiddled around on the computer, cleaned out the fridge a bit, and then made mashed potatoes and a corn casserole to go with the ham.
A very respectable meal, with dessert. We finished off the last of the pound cake I'd baked Friday afternoon.

I decided to start taking my Lexapro later, since it seems to knock me out about two hours after I take it. I took it about 7:30, so I'd get a good bedtime out of it. That worked nicely, but unfortunately, the time change made no difference in the three o'clock waking. Or the tossing and turning and misery all night long. Is this ever going to get any better?

I'm about ready to go back and demand some good old-fashioned sleeping pills. Which he wouldn't give me, because they don't give sleeping pills to depressed people. But gah! I'm so starved for quality sleep, I've been waxing nostalgic for surgery. Yeah, they had to operate on my hands, but oh, did it feel good to get knocked out and sleep like a baby!

No bears.

Bummer. But he actually had a character toward the end of the book whose ear was bitten off by a dog! I've turned a lot of blind eyes over the years, but at this point, the self-plagiarism can no longer be overlooked.

But at least I have Spouse out of my hair. He started second shift today, and I've got my evenings back.