Conclusionary.

Blatt is currently en route to Stockholm via Frankfurt (Germany, not Kentucky) now, so I guess life is about to return to normal. It honestly feels strange that he's not here. We've had a really good time.. we've stayed exceedingly busy and we've laughed an awful lot. We came home and started compiling our next to-do list and it's already pretty long, so I guess it's pretty much time for us to get back in the swing of life anyway.

We intended to go down to the lake yesterday and grill some hot dogs, play some horseshoes, relax and have a nice time. We found a nice spot and lugged all of our stuff to the table, but before we had a chance to get anything started, we were attacked by the flies. I've never seen anything quite like it--they were landing on us every three seconds, so we quickly decided that our porch was an excellent place to grill anyway. When we got home, the boys went down to look at the creek, and when they didn't return, I finally went to check on them. They had lost their shoes and were wading around in the creek, building a dam. Oh, I'm sorry, not a dam, because days ago I expressly forbid them to build a dam or set anything on fire. They were quick to point out that they were building a diversion for the water. And.. well.. I started helping them. It was quite fun, I must say. We christened it Shucks, and then went off to watch porn frogs. There were at least a couple of dozen in easy view of where we were standing, and they were.. well, busy. Poor Julio, though.. he hadn't quite come to terms with his homosexuality, and the other couples were quite upset with him for trying to poke in where he wasn't invited. I'm not sure what it says about us that we made up such an involved scenario regarding the lives of frogs. Anyway, after that, it was time to let the boys start up the grill, and we sat outside and ate for a while before we went in to play a rousing game of Monopoly (which I won handily.) M is still sulky about it, claiming that he will never ever again play with me. I think he will, but I'll have to give him a little time before he will agree to it.

Today, we slept a little late and then had lunch at the new Italian place (which has been open for almost a year, but they're still referred to as the new Italian place, of course) before taking him off to the airport. They had decided that we should be three hours early, which turned out to be ridiculously too much time. We refrained from doing the awkward, hang-around-the-airport-and-wait-for-the-flight thing, though, which I think relieved all three of us. There's something horrible about the final moments of a visit like this, when you know that you don't really have anything else to say because you've been talking for two weeks and anything you say now should be of a certain import because it's the last thing they'll remember you saying irl for months or possibly years, and then again, what else are you going to do besides stand there thinking of things to say, since you can't really leave, or make plans on what to do tomorrow.

Anyway, after we left, we stopped in Lexington to do a tiny bit of shopping and break up the driving a little bit--we bought an exercise bike, namely. We're going to try to be a little more healthy now, and exercise is supposed to be good for you and all. ;) Can't pick it up until Friday, though, which sucks. I'm sick of driving around all the time, and could do without a trip to Lexington, but I guess it'll be alright. We tried to get them to ship it to the Morehead store, but their computers claimed that the closest Sears is in Ashland. Uhh. Right. This is completely irrelevant. I feel like a babbling idiot tonight. I wasn't quite in the mood to write but then it all started rolling out in no particular order and now I'm just completely saying stupid things for no apparent reason. Sorry about that.

So anyway. That's what's been going on. Hope Beverly had a great birthday today, and happy birthday to Chickles (and my Mamaw) tomorrow. (I have a card for you, chick, but I haven't mailed it yet, given the whole visitor thing. Sorry it'll be a little bit late..)

Birthday ruminations

My birthday is exactly two weeks from now, and the husbandly one has been nagging me for a wish list for at least two weeks already. The only thing I've been able to come up with is.. well, for it to be Christmas. We had an exceptionally nice Christmas this year in the gift arena. It wasn't that we bought all that much more than previous Christmases. It was all just.. a lot of very thoughtful stuff. For example. I bought M some dish soap. (Keep with me here, I know that sounds like a horrible present.) The thing is.. it was one of those absolutely great gifts--not because I bought him dish soap but because I knew that he would love the shape of the container and the smell of the cucumber. Stuff like that--although that was the smallest, dinkiest present, the others were similarly well-planned on both of our parts, and we ended up with stuff that we actually wanted and we gave each other stuff that we were excited about finding. One of those years, you know. Anyway, he has assured me that my best chance of getting a birthday like Christmas is if I make a list of things I'd like to have so he has something to go on. One would think I would be looking forward to making said list, but I always find it hard to come up with things I'd like to have. I guess I could say that I'm content with non-material things.. although that's not strictly true either. (Nor is it strictly true for most people who claim it is..)

I don't even know if I have a point. Let's see. On the topic of daily life--where is the receipt from Sears? We took something back in January. They claimed that they would send us a gift card in the mail. (We didn't have a receipt, and it wasn't from this particular store.) Now it's April, and we haven't heard from them, but it's rather hard to go hassle them about it if we don't even have the receipt! I know it was hanging around here, but I don't know where I would have put it if not in the folder clearly marked "Receipts." Of course, I don't know why I'm even surprised that we didn't get the money from them. They also insisted on delivering the washer and dryer we bought three years ago. Free Delivery! (tiny disclaimer: with mail-in rebate.) It was almost impossible to get them to agree to let us pick it up, so finally we figured that we would pay the extra $35 and get the rebate. Still waiting.

I still don't think I have a point. Oh, yes. Sears sucks, and so do I when I find "clever" places to store things.