::Serendipity::

A Few Days in a Nutshell ________________________________________________________________

Dinner out with Michael on his birthday was lovely. It was a nice Italian place and we ate outside on a gorgeous summer night. *sigh* I gave him a gift certificate for some cigars (so he could chose the ones he wanted) and I had intended to get him a few DVD's he wanted, but think I could find the right ones in this town? His gifts were sadly lacking, but I think he enjoyed our dinner out. Hopefully I can make up for it on our anniversary this Friday!

We had an awesome date Friday. We had dinner at the steak house, and family of some friend's were visiting from Las Vegas and they were complaining about the heat! Cracked all of us up. I've always said that Alaska in 80 degrees is hotter then California or where ever in 80 degrees. I guess I was right after all!

Of course Las Vegas made me think about Lori. And Bill's mom was going to a conference in Reno, and she said I could come with her, but who would watch the kids all day and how would Lori feel if I dropped in on her? Hah! Ding dong. "Hey! It's your buddy from Alaska! Mind if I come in?"

After dinner and a movie (Stardust was phenomenal!) we sat out in the park downtown and he had a cigar and I smoked my first clove in months. Ummm, and it was good! My once a week treat is officially reinstated for a pack's worth anyway. It was after midnight and we just talked and held hands and watched the wayward teenagers make drug deals on their cell phones. Honestly! Where are their parents?!

Saturday, we spent a blistering hot day at the lake. It was in the 80's and could be the last night weekend of the summer. I know, I know. I said that last Saturday. But it's true! Bossman was planning on coming out with his jet ski's and he invited a few other people from work as a birthday thing for Michael. He was going to bring a ton of food and a cake. But he couldn't come. He couldn't get gas for the jet ski's and then he didn't want to come out. He can be a real horses patooty, but I wish he didn't think he has to bring stuff to make anyone want to hang out with him. So it was just us! No in laws. No neighbors. No friends. No body. It was awesome! I sat out and read in the sun. For as long as I could stand anyway... The kids were in the water the whole time. Daddy and Xander took a little nap together. As I sat on my towel reading, all I could think about was my Mom. How nice it would be if she were here and we could read, and enjoy the kids together. I missed her like crazy that day. Even more then the usual amount of missing.

Michael has been talking about building a house and moving out to the lake year round. It's pretty isolated, and there are pro's and con's with that plan. But on a day like Saturday, I could definitely see more pro's!

Yesterday, Riley and I had some Special Time. Her babysitting money was burning a big old hole in her pocket and she had plans for us! First was lunch, and we decided spur of the moment to drop by the new diner in North Pole. It's a Harley themed dinner (which made me think of Forty Plus right away!) and it's built out of a rail road car. It was so cool! You have no idea! It only seats 40, but the cook said yesterday they served 350 people that day. Insane. Completely insane. We sat at the counter, and the grill is right there, so we interacted with the two cooks. It was right out of Diner's Drive In's and Dives. Guy really needs to make a trip up here and check it out. The food was spectacular. I could only ate half of my Victory Burger and we took the left overs straight back to Michael while it was still warm. Sometimes, I'm a pretty good wife. Teehee.

Then we bought earrings and girly hair stuff at Icing. She was shocked at how much money adds up with all those "buy one get one for 50% off". Yeah, they sucker you in with that all right. We went to Hot Topic and she bought yet another Jack Sparrow shirt. I think she has 6 or 7 now. She cracks me up with those shirts. It's quite the collection. Then I spied an awesome belt buckle! It was silver with a heart in the middle and two revolvers on either side. She thought Daddy would love it, and we splurged and dipped into her savings a tiny bit, but I bought her a good leather belt to put it on that will last her. My bad for telling her to dip in her savings... Bad Mommy. No cookie. But she'll make up for it when she gets paid next time.

Then she helped me with the grocery shopping. We're trying to use cash for everything, so I had her add up what we were purchasing on her calculator. What an enlightening experience for a teenager to see that butter is $4.00 a pound, milk is $4.89, 3 pounds of 15% fat hamburger as $11.79 and bread is $3.79. Now she understands why I don't buy soda and chips. We're trying to keep them in real food that helps them grow up and not out. Hah!

It's really nice to see her grow up and realize a little bit of what living in the real world is like. Meanwhile, her friends have money thrown at them because their parents feel guilty for working so much. Their words, not mine! And they have no concept of what life is going to be like. Three or four short years and they will be in the thick of it. Blowing $300.00 at the state fair means nothing to those kids. Sakes. That's gas money. Grocery money. I hope they won't be in for a rude awakening.

I had such a great time with Riley. She's such a wonderful, thoughtful young lady. I love her sense of style and how she's always thinking about other people. I feel pretty darn fortunate that my almost 15 year old still wants to hang out with her mom!

posted by Terri at 8/20/2007 01:26:00 PM >2 comments

2 Comments:

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