Spontaneity

As a parents, when the kids start getting older, you start rejoicing over the newfound pleasure of having your weekends a bit more free. This happens when all the kids are gone, stars align, the moon is in the right phase (whatever phase that might be), and nothing has been preplanned to the nth degree! So what do you do? You try to do something spontaneous...Honey, let's find a hotel somewhere, just to get away...and because you don't want to drive an hour or two and be told that there's no room at the inn...you start calling. And you call, and you call...are you seeing a pattern here? Yup, our moment of spontaneity...ruined by all the people who have to plan their weekends in advance!

So rather than spend a nice quiet evening in a hot tub, we go out for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Despite the economic downturn, it appears that it has not affected the restaurants in town. Yet another 50 min wait for a table. The great thing about the Outback is that while you wait, you get to sample tidbits from their menu. So, we had fried tilapia, coco berry smoothie, mahi mahi, ribs and one of the frozen alcoholic drinks. Hmmmm, I wonder if they would notice if you just walked in,sat down without putting your name on the list and just got the samples. How long would it take for them to notice that you didn't get seated...then just walk out....fat and happy for free! Ok, I would never condone that! But you have to admit, it would be funny...just saying! But if you get to Outback...don't do it!

Back to the spontaneity...we had an entire weekend! So what does any self-respecting wife do when that happens? You talk your hubby into driving 2 1/2 hours to IKEA! Surprisingly enough, he went along with it and didn't complain at all! I think he was just thankful that I didn't ask to walk across the parking lot to visit THE mall! In fact, I know in his mind, he was chanting "No mall, no mall, no mall"! When I talk about the THE mall, it isn't just any mall but it's the Mall of America. Yes, the mall where it would take a person 86 (!) hours to see the whole mall if you spent 10 minutes perusing each store. See, I know better than to haul his butt to the mall. I know he would have gone but it would have been miserable for both of us. I reserve those trips for a mother-daughter-other daughter weekends. Usually around opening of fishing and deer hunting seasons, of which I already have one of those planned for May. Seriously, in Minnesota...mom's get the short end of the stick every year...the opener of fishing season falls on that weekend. Me thinks there is a conspiracy! I am thinking there needs to be an Ikea opening day on Father's Day.

Sunday, we did go snowmobiling for a few hours before our son came home so it wasn't a weekend all about me! What it was, was a weekend where we didn't spend it doing chores or shopping for things we needed. It was a weekend just to spend time together without the taxi cab light saying "hired" to the kids. If you are married with kids, you know that's what it feels like. So, even though it wasn't totally spontaneous and our plans had to stay fluid...it was great and my wish for all you parents out there is that you get a few of these (or more if you are really lucky) each year.

Well, work is beckoning. But, remember I talked about the "doe eyes" and the "can you help me with my bags" thing? One of my readers got hit with that today...and being a nice person, fell for it. Kudos for them, but I still maintain that if you can't do it yourself, CHECK THE DARN THING! But then again, maybe I should start trying that look....maybe they are on to something...