Last Weekend of the Summer!

It was a GREAT weekend! It was our weekend withOUT the kids and it was my last free weekend before I start my new weekend retail job. I got to enjoy all my favorite things. Friday night we had an official date night. We went to a new restaurant that Sheldon has been dying to try. He loves brew pubs and had tasted Dogfish Head Ale at two different beer festivals. We were planning on going to the local Dogfish Head Ale House (I call it Dog Breath, cause that name is just a tongue twister!) in Seven Corners but when he went online to get directions he discovered that there was a newer one in Chantilly. We jumped in the car and headed over there. There was a wait but it was well worth it! The food was absolutely delicious! I had a burger and he had a steak sandwich and they just hit the spot. He was drinking the Chicory Stout which is coffee flavored. He loved it. I thought it was nasty, but I don't like beer that much to begin with, so don't ask me. That being said I drank the Festiva Peche because I discovered in Oregon that I like fruit beers. The peach beer was good, it had a sour taste, like lemonade but different. Kind of indescribable, but good and I drank the whole thing which is VERY unusual for me.

On the back of the menu was an invitation to visit the brewery in Millford, Delaware. Sheldon's eyes lit up and he crowed "ROAD TRIP!" as soon as he read that. We made a plan to hit the road by 8am on Saturday. We headed home and hit the bed.

Saturday I got up extra early to research the hours and directions to the brewery and to find some letterboxes in the area. The bad news was that the brewery was closed to tours for the weekend due to construction, but we decided to go anyway. We drove to Lewes, DE and walked around the lovely town. We found a really clever letterbox and then headed to the beach so that I could dip my toes in the ocean and watch the waves for a few minutes. Then (I know you'll be shocked) we found the Rehobeth Beach Dog Breath Alehouse. This time we ate corn and crab chowder and crab dip with french bread. It was also yummy and Sheldon was able to buy a t-shirt and a beer glass for our bar so he was thrilled. Shortly after that we headed home.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny and Sheldon headed off to work for a few hours so I enjoyed a lovely quiet morning of crocheting and catching up on my DVR shows and taking care of laundry and chores. I had started a baby afghan on drive the day before and I managed to almost finish it by the end of the day! I also did several loads of laundry, dusted, made pasta salad for work lunches and taco casserole for dinner. Late in the afternoon Sheldon and I were both working on our homework for our respective classes. I ended up SOBBING over my statistics class because I just hate it and the professor. Sheldon sat me down and went over percentages which have always stumped me and once I understood them I felt better. I still hate the class and the professor though!

We ended the night with me climbing onto Sheldon's lap while he was playing on Facebook and having a nice long talk about life and love and chores and all the important things in life.

So overall it was a fabulous weekend. I got to do all my favorite things!

Brick on the Forehead for the Men in Your Life

Several jobs ago I worked with the sweetest man. I say that because he had a weekly ritual which I thought was the sweetest thing I had ever heard. Every Sunday evening he would drive each car in his driveway to a nearby gas station and fill up all the tanks. He was filling his own tank of course, but the sweet part was that he filled the tanks of his wife and daughter as well. I don’t remember how he came to tell me this story, but I asked him why he did it and he said it was just his way of letting his wife and daughter know that he loved them and wanted them to feel safe and protected and cherished. I honestly thought that this was the sweetest gesture I had ever heard. How simple. Not flowers, not a card, not money or time wasted, just taking care of an errand that all of us have to cope with. As women we do this kind of thing for our families all the time. We fold the laundry the way our loved ones prefer, or we set our daughter’s place at the table with her favorite pink plate, or we buy the snacks or sodas that our kids prefer at the grocery store. Nothing major, they don’t even realize it most of the time. It was so nice to hear of a man going out of his way for the women in his life in such a practical way. Maybe I’m too practical for my own good. I couldn’t care less about cards. I mean don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the thought but I would prefer a tank full of gas and a clean windshield that shows you love me over a $5 piece of cardboard from Hallmark that says you love me any day of the week!

If you don’t share a home or a bank account for the woman you love perhaps you could drop off her mail at the post office or pick up her dry cleaning. Before Sheldon and I moved in together he would always buy me a 12-pack of soda when he bought one for his house. This was thoughtful because soda was not something I kept in the house, but he liked to have one and my son loved having it available as well.

When I was little my mama always drank hot tea. Always. We also always had iced tea with dinner. Tea was definitely the drink in my house. But every now and then my dad would make mama a gin and tonic. I never knew why he did it but she was always grateful and she always drank it with relish (the emotion, not the condiment). I was grown before I realized that those gin and tonics came once a month. Duh.

My point? Well, be nice. Be appreciative. Show your love in real concrete ways and not just on holidays. There are many nice things you can do and you shouldn’t need me to list them for you. Look around. Pay attention. See what frustrates her or wears her out and then do what you can to ease that burden. Women as a whole knock ourselves out to take care of those we love, and often we don’t stop to ask for help.

Be sweet to her!! The rewards will be fabulous!!