Mini-Mini Vacation

I didn't know I was going to get to go on a mini-mini vacation over the weekend. We never go anywhere anymore. Been married a long time and we're both happy pottering around the house. We hadn't planned on it.

I didn't know when I told J (hubby) Friday morning that the storm door to the kitchen was sticking and wouldn't close without pushing it to hard. This is where everybody goes in and out of the house, so the door was getting left almost closed a lot. This was the second time I'd mentioned it in as many days. J accused me of griping about the door. I wasn't. I just mentioned it, sort of thinking out loud. I told him to forget it, that I could use a screwdriver. I had tightened it up before and fixed it.

I was already in the dog house, so I went to take a nap after lunch.

I heard him beating and banging, but I thought he was fixing the door. Little did I know, until I woke up, that he had taken the old door down, cut off the new storm door, which we had bought three years ago, and discovered that the handle was on the wrong side to open. Since we couldn't use it on the kitchen, he had put it up on the outside door going to my studio, only to discover that it couldn't open all the way back without hitting the gutter on the very small back porch roof. It won't work without having to redo the porch top.

It was extremely hot outside, and inside too, because he had let all the cool air out. To say he was upset was an understatement. Of course, this was all my fault.

Anyway, we got up Saturday morning and nothing would do but to go to Florence, AL to Loew's to get another storm door. It's an hour and a half away without side trips, and it was noon before we got started. We got four miles up the road and J discovered that he'd left his wallet at home. We had to go back and get it. Then he had to make a side trip to pick up some medicine.

Now the mini-mini vacation starts. We stopped on the way to Florence at a Sonic and got ice cream, which was very tasty I must say. We were lapping those ice cream cones and laughing like two little kids riding down the road.

Our first stop in Florence was Hobby Lobby, an art and craft supply store. It was really hot outside and not much cooler inside. I have anxiety attacks when I get in a store, or anyplace, with lots of people milling around. They were having a sale and there were lots of people. It was a Saturday after all.

I was doing okay for a while, then I got so hot I was about to be sick so I went to the front. I didn't see J anywhere and had them page him. He was happily shopping for beads to make jewelrybefore the page scared him half to death. We paid and left. I had to get to a seat and an AC.

I did purchase a new sketch book that lays flat, gel medium, spray sealer, a few packages of small feathers and gorgeous beads, a gorgeous face stamp, two sets of alphabet antique typewriter stamps (upper and lower case), a new varigated stamp pad, and I finally found some copper glitter. Oh, and I got 5 small sheets of decorative art papers. J got several packages of beads (we have different tastes) and necklace makings.

We then went to Loew's and I sat in the car with the AC while J went in and got the storm door. Our other storm doors are silver. They didn't have any silver, so he got brown....and a wireless door bell.

He got it on top of the SUV luggage rack. I got out to help tie it. The heat coming off the pavement was stifling. He was worried about the rope holding it good enough to keep it from flying off on the way home. I suggested we try it on the inside by letting the back set lay flat and laying it over the passenger seat, which wouldn't fold forward. It was rubbing the ceiling and he was afraid it would rub a hole in it, so he took it back out and got it back onto the top of the SUV.

We got one end tied. He didn't have enough rope and was going to have to go back in and buy more. We were both boiling hot and cars were constantly pulling in and out on both sides of the vehicle, nearly taking our backsides off. I wouldn't have minded losing part of mine, but J doesn't have any to spare. :) I happened to think of taking the head rest off the front seat and scooting the seat all the way forward and trying it inside again. So we finally got it untied and off the luggage rack...again. We have a mid-sized SUV and if the door had been any longer it wouldn't have fit, but it did work. I crawled into the back seat behind J. We were both drenched in sweat, but we went to the Cracker Barrel and ate, cooled off, and relaxed a while.

The next stop was Krispy Kreme Donuts for a dozen plain donuts and two creme filled ones, then on to Books-A-Million, which we both love. It, too, was hot and crowded and having a sale. We didn't stay long. J didn't find anything he wanted. I, however, bought the Cloth,Paper, Scissors and The Writer's magazines and four books on sale. I found a cat mystery book, The Cat Who Dropped A Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun, on a table of hardbacks for $3. The others were paperbacks on a table where you buy two and get one free. I got Blood Orange by Drusilla Campbell, Child of My Heart by Alice McDermott, and Having A Mary Spirit by Joanna Weaver. I've never read any of these authors, but the descriptions sounded like they would be good. Will let you know when I've read them, but first I have to finish Tara Road by Maeve Binchey, which is a very good book. I just got sidetracked off it for a couple of weeks.

I had meant to go to Best Buy and get the Photoshop software, but we were hot, tired, and I had already spent too much, so we headed home. I felt like I was being chauffeured by J as I rode behind him. We got into the donuts on the way home. No wonder I've gained weight during the past few weeks, which I certainly don't need.

We got home around eight p.m., tired, but happy. It was a good evening, we had some laughs, went to two of our favorite stores, ate out (that was the vacation part :)), and I treated the artist, the writer, and the reader in me. My spirits were lifted immensely.

Later just as I was about to doze off to sleep, my eyes flew open and I said, "You know what? The front seat wouldn't fold flat forward, but it would have lain almost flat backward. The storm door could have lain almost flat instead of being propped up on the seat back."

J said, "Yeah, we could have." We're smart that way. One more thing to laugh about. :) Oh well, we learn something new every day if we pay attention. Saturday we learned how to haul a door inside the SUV, the hard way, in case we ever need to again.

It was good to get away for a while, even on a mini-mini vacation. We've already been playing with our new "toys". Love em! And the new storm door is up and working, so it's all good. :)