We've Decided We Like To Date

As you may or may not know, Dear Husband has been working out of town constantly since mid November. We don't see much of each other, which has been the norm for the past 4+ years but not quite to this extent.

When Honey is gone I crawl into bed pretty early and watch tv while I surf the net, stalk blogs and play solitaire. Yes I could use my time more constructively, and do at times, but most times it me, the bed, the bubby, the computer and the tv. Anyway, early last week I saw that the new Clint Eastwood movie was coming out on Friday December 9. Personally, I think ol' Clint is hot. Yes, I know, he's an old guy, but he is SO Sexy!

Because I HAD been doing constructive things a few days prior to seeing this movie advertisement I knew that we had some gift cards to some yummy yummy resturants in the junk drawer. We're bad about going out and forgetting our gift cards or just not planning. So I went through the drawer and found a $50 card to this place. We had made one attempt in the year that we'd had the card to dine here but this is one place that you MUST have a reservation and get it several days in advance. Dear Husband had been here but I never had, so I was excited.

I then called Dear Husband and asked him if he would like to go on a date with me the following Saturday night. He was thrilled at the idea of dinner and a movie and encouraged me to set the stage for a romantic evening!

On Thursday before our date I looked up movie times, made dinner reservations for an hour or so before, pulled out some gift certificates for movies that I had from who knows when and drove to the theater and bought the tickets. I was going to be totally organized for this date.

Dear Honey was coming home on Friday night, but I didn't want him to be too tired etc for our date. Saturday morning started out rough, as it sometimes does when poor Dear Husband comes home to a lot of un-finished projects. Yes, although I had gotten the house mostly back in order, there were areas I had ignored. Dear Husband was nice about it but I could tell he was annoyed. I have to admit that it did get him to go through some "Stuff" that he needed to go through and resulted in a very full outside trash bin. Yippee!

Anyway, early in the day my BFF called and invited us to her house for a birthday bash. I told her we'd come for a while but that we had a date. Cool. Later, while I worked in the office, honey enjoyed a nap. I woke him with about 20 minutes to spare before we needed to be at my BFF house for a short visit before leaving for our date. He dozed a little longer, changed into nicer clothes and we were out the door.

Once at BFF's house we enjoyed a VERY rousing game of dice. The game calls for chips but we play with one dollar bills. We each had to buy in 3 times and the pot (center) was up to $108 to the winner. The birthday girl won the pot and we had to run out the door and drive a little quicker then we should have in order to make our reservation. It was a blast though and we almost wished we didn't already have plans.

Dinner was wonderful. We sat next to each other and talked about things other then work and kids, which was nice for a change. We enjoyed watching the people in the resturant and chuckled at the youngsters who were all dressed up for prom/winter formal. We enjoyed ourselves, got cute little chinese to go boxes for our food and wandered to our car pleasantly full without being stuffed.

As we arrived at the theater parking lot it was really full, but we had our tickets so we sat in the car (at my urging) and enjoyed the heated seats for a few more minutes. We continuted to talk until the seats cooled down a bit. We got halfway to the front doors when I remembered the tickets. In my wallet. In the glove box. Waaaaay out in the parking lot. No worries. We'll just be warmed up when we finally get in to the movie.

We waltzed past the long lines that went on forever. WOW, we ususally come on Sunday afternoons to movies. We're not used to crowds like this. We were so smart for getting our tickets ahead of time! Once inside we bypassed the snack bar, hit the restrooms and entered theater 7. We stood at the bottom of the top seats and our jaws dropped. We were in plenty of time for the movie and yet there were no seats. What!? We looked again hoping that we wouldn't have to sit in one of the two front rows at the base of the screen that were remaining. Oh pooh. WHY did we sit and linger over dinner and over the nice heated seats in the car? Wait! There are 2 seats. We climb to the top of the stadium and sure enough the seats are NOT saved. Sure they're the only two seats next to the wall but they're together and not at the base of the screen. Woo Hoo! Wait. There is a BAR across the front of them right at eye level? What the heck!?! Oh well. No worries.

This movie was awesome. Seriously. Even if we had to look "through" a bar, it was worth it. Yes there was cussing in it so I wouldn't recommend it for children, but OMG it was a wonderful movie. We laughed, we teared up, we were nervous and in the end, as the lights came up, we along with a good majority of the audience applauded. There were no high speed chase scenes, really no crazy fight scenes, no sex scenes, only a well written touch your heart amazing piece of art.

My Dear Husband and I left the theater holding hands and discussing how much we enjoyed the movie, how we wish more movies left you feeling this way. We drove home having a wonderful conversation about anything, everything and nothing. We visited while we got ready for bed, crawled under the covers, curled up and both fell asleep. Yes we had other expectations, but admittedly it was a perfect ending to a wonderful day.

An Early Christmas for Me!

I try to be a good "Pit Wife" and take great photos of my husband as he is putting his life on the line racing at dangerous speeds down the quarter mile track. I stand near the wall, my body vibrating from the power of the combined engines, feeling as if my ears will begin bleeding any second from the intense noise from two 500 plus horsepower engines reving up less then 10 feet from me and I wait for just the right moment. The light turns green for Don and I snap the shot as he shoots away from the starting line and races down the track. I watch as he finishes the race and then look at my photo display only to see nothing but track. Where's Don? Where's the guy in the other car? Why are there no cars in my photo?! Oh, it's because they were half way down the track before my little point and shoot actually recorded the moment I was trying to capture. No the perfect light isn't there. The little wheelie that made me cringe isn't visable. There is nothing but blacktop and wall to prove that there had been a race. What a dissapointment.

I love taking photos of our sweet grandson Sammy. He is starting to get into things he shouldn't and it's usually something that is too cute to pull him away from before taking a photo of it. The last great attempt was when he had somehow worked himself under my bed feet first. He was trying desperately to wiggle OUT from under the bed and didn't know that anybody was watching him. I quietly told Uncle Jerry to grab my camera off the counter and bring it to me. There was still time, although Sam was nearly out, he was still struggling and it was getting funnier. I turn on the camera, I point, I shoot.... Certainly I got it!!!! Nope, Sam is walking away from the bed proud that he had escaped without harm and my camera recorded his back as he walked out of the frame. Another photo oppurtunity foiled by a slow camera.

We took a wonderful trip to Tennessee in October and I was complaining to my dear sweet husband that the camera was having issues. Of course it picked a perfect photo moment to again act up by the lense not opening up all the way as I tried to shoot some wildlife during our side trip to the grand canyon.

Fast forward to mid November. I get a pre-recorded call from UPS saying they have a red label delivery for me and that an adult must be present to sign for it. Hmmmm, I hadn't ordered a thing but..... Christmas IS just around the corner. It's probably just material for a customer so no need to get excited. The day drags on and I'm forced to stay home waiting for the package. What a drag. If I didn't have a package to sign for I would have WANTED to stay home, but since I couldn't leave I wanted to! You know you've been there too. :-)

Anyway, half way through the day my DH (Dear Husband) calls to say hello. Before I hang up I ask him if he has any idea what is coming red label that I need to sign for. He pauses for a long time and then says "I'm sorry. This is going to ruin your Christmas suprise. It's something for you but the order got messed up and I need you to fix it." (The fix it story is long and boring so I won't go there but I fixed it.) So, my DH proceeds to "Ruin my Christmas suprise" by telling me that he purchased me a wonderful new camera. I have to send it back and get the order fixed so when UPS arrives I refuse the package. Bummer.

A few days later I go visit him for the weekend where he is working out of town. We grab a bite to eat at a fast food place as he is working sun up to sun down and hit the hotel. As soon as we finish dinner he brings me a BIG bag and tells me that he hates to ruin my Christmas but wants me to have my present since I sort of know about it anyway. This is where I grin like crazy and clap my hands together in anticipation for my new toy. Just like my daughter I can't always control this little quirk.

It's WAY better then I imagined!!!!!!!! We had glanced at Canon D40's while shopping for a replacement stereo for the broken one in his work truck but this was WAY WAY WAY BETTER!!!! My amazing husband purchased me this little baby along with lots of do-dads to go with it.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/canon-makes-eos.html

Now, keep in mind that I have NO CLUE how to work this thing. There are SO many settings and things to learn. It's really complex and I have my doubts about my ability to absorb it all but I assure you I am going to give it the Ol' Navy Try. I've taken a gazillion shots, mostly of Turbo the Wonder Dog because he will usually stand still or at the very least not run away like Sam does. I have a funny little sequence of him (Turbo) rolling around scratching his back. Since the camera takes 6.5 frames per second its a cute little "Movie" of him. Anyway, I'm learning and will be looking for a photography class where you can use a digital camera in the very near future.

Can you imagine the amazing racing shots I can take with 6.5 frames per second?!!?

Hopefully I'll find the time in the next week to download the better photos off the memory card and then a few more minutes to figure out how to upload a few of them to my blog.