Another one I have to tell on myself...

The Idaho panhandle was hit with the first major winter storm of the season night-before-last. I had a couple of errands to run yesterday evening, and Lyle very kindly agreed to drive for me. We stopped at Papa Murphy's to pick up a take-and-bake pizza for supper. Just before I got out I asked him what kind of pizza he was in the mood for.

"Oh... pepperoni, I guess. Can you get one that's half pepperoni and half chicken or something?" Pepperoni's his favorite, but he knows I like garlic chicken better.

"I think so. I'll see," I told him. As I went in I noticed that the special was for a 5-meat stuffed pizza for the same price as their regular pizzas. The stuffed pizzas are bigger, so I made the executive decision to get that instead. I knew he wouldn't care.

Before long they called my name, so I picked up my pizza and went sashaying out the door into the blizzard. (Okay, it was just more of a flurry at the moment, but maybe it won't make me look quite so air-headed if we say it was snowing and blowing. Oh, and dark. Did I mention it was dark? It gets dark around 4:00 p.m. these days. So it was dark.)

I dashed over to the Dodge Ram that was idling in the parking lot and pulled open the door on the passenger side. I took a breath to start my spiel about how the stuffed pizza was on special and so that's why I didn't get pepperoni and all that. Then I noticed the driver had on a stocking cap. Lyle never wears stocking caps. Whoa! He was also smoking a cigarette! Um. Lyle definitely does not smoke. What happened to my husband?? And why is this stranger in our truck?? [Maybe it was Joe!] Then I realized-- this was not our truck. "Whoops!" I said, as I quickly shut the door and backed away. The weird thing was all these thoughts went through my head in a split second because the stranger/driver never even noticed that I opened the door. Maybe he noticed me closing it. I don't know because I was gone.

Lyle was sitting in the RAV4 which was parked next to the Dodge Ram. I had forgotten that we had traded rigs last week. I still have to think about what vehicle to look for in a parking lot, and obviously I wasn't thinking at the time! So instead of telling him about the pizza deal, I had to tell him how I almost got in the truck with the wrong man. Oh, dear!

What makes it really bad is that a Dodge Ram was our vehicle-before-last. It's been almost 2 years since we had it. But still, a Toyota Tundra is pretty close. At least in my mind, a big ol' truck is a big ol' truck.

But this:

This is what we drive now.

Must remember.

I'm such a ditz sometimes!

Celebrating

The day of our anniversary last week was too full of scheduled activities for much celebrating. That's the way it happens sometimes, so Lyle and I were tentatively planning to "do something" together on Saturday if he didn't have to work.

On Thursday morning he IMed me: "I don't suppose you want to go to the Seattle car show?" The man dearly loves looking at cars. Me? Not so much. But... it's 4-and-a-half hours to Seattle, and I do love going on road-trips with the man. So we decided we would do it as a day trip to save the cost of a hotel bill, and because we're not quite comfortable leaving the kids alone overnight yet.

We left at 5:00 a.m. and spent two hours driving and visiting in the dark before the sun came up. Much to our delight, it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. Rare for November. Also rare for Seattle any time.

 

We enjoyed the beautiful fall foliage as we crossed the Cascades. (Lyle had his phone mounted on the dash to use the GPS and was able to snap a few pictures of the scenery as we drove.)

The auto show was big and exciting (to him, at least). We spent about 3 hours there, talking about what our next car might be and looking at all the different options. Oh, yes, and collecting freebie shopping bags.

When we finished there, I asked if we might take a few minutes to run in the nearby Half Price Books store. It was 2 miles away through downtown Seattle. We could see the Space Needle and the Sound down the street. We wished we had more time to spend because we had so much fun in Seattle for our 25th anniversary last year.

I found a couple of cool vintage crochet pattern books at the bookstore.

And then we headed home.

Nine hours in the car... four hours in the city. I suppose some people would call that crazy. But, hey, he loves to drive... and I'm always happy to occupy the passenger seat of whatever he is driving.

Besides, he brings me flowers.

Love that man!

26 Years

We were so young. And clueless.

We had no idea what we were getting into.

We just knew we wanted God's will for our lives.

That is still our desire today, 26 years later.

We are so grateful that He brought us together.

We are blessed beyond measure.

I have to tell this one on myself...

Yeah, I know. I've been horridly neglecting my blog lately, with the exception of product reviews, which I was obliged to post. And yes, I admit, I seem to have overbooked them for the past month or so. Sorry about that. I really am almost caught up, so maybe I can get back to blogging about real life again soon.

In the meantime, I thought I'd throw this stupid little incident out there for your amusement. I have no pictures to go with it, but it made me laugh. At myself. So I thought you might enjoy it, too.

Cookie (the dog) and I went with Lyle to the print shop this morning. He needed to work half a day, and I had some copies I needed to make. Cookie? She just likes to hang out with us.

Along about mid-morning Miss Cookie indicated that she needed to go outside. Figuring it wouldn't take long, I darted out with her without taking time to put my jacket on. It wasn't freezing cold, I noticed as I stepped outside, but it was a nippy late-October morning.

Cookie quickly took care of business, so we turned to go back in. That's when I realized that the door had locked behind me. And Lyle was working in the back. So he didn't hear me pounding on the door. And pounding. And pounding. For about five minutes.

Man, I wish I had put my jacket on. And picked up my phone. Now what?

I considered my options. There were no open businesses in the neighborhood who might have a phone I could use. I could sit down and wait for Lyle to notice I wasn't inside. No telling how long that would take. I could walk home. But it's 2 miles. And I had no jacket. And no leash for the dog.

I wonder if he would hear me if I banged on the back door? Probably not. He was kinda in the middle of the building. But I couldn't think of any other options, so I decided to wade through the tallish wet grass to go around the building and give it a try.

Ah. The back door pounds louder than the front door. That's helpful. Maybe he will hear it. I hope so, because by now I'm needing to go to the bathroom, besides getting chilled.

What a relief! He did hear it, and came to let us in. He was a little concerned at the loud knocking because he hadn't even realized the dog and I were outside.

I explained, "I took Cookie out. And the door locked behind me. And I didn't have my phone. Or my jacket. And I gotta go to the bathroom!" And I headed there first.

As I was washing my hands, my pocket started ringing.

Um. Yeah.

The phone had been in my pocket the entire time. If I had waited just a few more minutes it would have rung while I was outside. Then I would have realized I had a way to call Lyle to let me in.

I'm such a ditz sometimes!

Life Experience and Literature

I'm posting on the Sonlight Blog today about "Life Experience and Literature." Pop in over there and leave me a comment, if you would. I'd love to hear from you!