This, among other reasons is why I have the BEST daughter-in-law....ever.
It has been a long emotional week.
Yesterday after my Fall company left, I made the decision to pretty much "hermit" for the entire Weekend. I let everyone know that I was "Closed" until Monday. Unavailable. Sleeping in. Staying in pajamas and eating Chinese Delivery. Taking a two hour bubble bath in the middle of the day. Reading or watching a film with no interruptions.
"Hermiting".
So this morning early Nicole pulled a "Ding-Dong, Ditch", and outside the door was a bag filled with home-made treats (peanut butter and butterscotch fudge and the above pictured Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter M&M Balls) and a lovely note!
OMG.
It made the day perfect!
The Fall Colours pretty much at their peak now...and many of the trees are quickly losing their leaves.
Fall in my Corner of the World.
And Tucker and I hanging out together on the patio until the rain came in...
...and you have to love that "resting BITCH face"...
So it has been a really relaxing day full of reading and writing and "hermiting" and Chinese Food and Chocolate Dipped M&M Peanut Butter Balls!
Because tomorrow I have been challenged to an Impromptu Adventure, of sorts.
Back in touch with a girlfriend I had not seen since my 20's. Laura was always great. Could talk me into...well...anything. We moved a cop car once. Seriously. Just to the other side of the City County Building. It was left running. I don't think they would have accepted that as a "good reason". It seemed funny as hell at the time. These days, I realize it is called a "felony".
Back "in the day" (as the kids would say) we also had much the same dream. We were going to have the cabin in the woods, no electricity or running water, oil lamps, candles and a well. A kitchen garden, rabbit hutch, chickens, goats and a milk cow.
Nowadays, of course, the cabin would have to have WIFI and a Hot Tub. And, if you hear Laura talk, a dishwasher.
Will he do?
And it was that line of conversation that spawned The Challenge.
Today in the era of constant connectivity if I miss FB for one morning, I have 6 calls waiting for me by afternoon. And Chris or James and Nicole are stopping by to make sure I am okay. Yeah,I know...pathetic...right?
To make matters worse FB has just came out with a widget that will tell you exactly how many hours you have spent on the site to date this year.
Trust me...you really don't want to know.
So it was in this spirit that Laura and I were discussing
"Just how long has it been since either of us have had a completely technology free day?"
I don't know. When did they INVENT cell phones and the internet, again?
Yes...once again...pathetic.
And I so wish that Angie was home this weekend...because we would drag her into The Challenge, as well.
At first we said
"Completely Technology Free Sunday"
(yeah...right)
Then we started the barter process...which sounded a lot like The Kubler Ross' Death and Dying Process, actually.
Her: Well, I HAVE to be able to answer my cell...but I can do without the kitchen stuff.
Me: I have no problem ditching the Cell and the Internet...but no way I am giving up the Stove and my Keurig for the day.
Her: How the hell am I suppose to do the dishes? (...dishwasher queen...)
Me: By HAND...like you were always suppose to...
Her: Luddite.
(...this from the woman who loaded my dishwasher once...a lifetime ago...then noticed we were out of dish powder so she filled the little square with liquid dish soap...which filled my apartment with overflowing bubbles...we laughed until we cried...)
After 30 minutes of bartering she gets her Cell and Dishwasher.
I got my Keurig and Stove.
Elizabeth referred to these stage as "Bartering" and "Acceptance" (and I am thinking that Denial, Grief and Anger will probably show up tomorrow)
The Challenge runs from Midnight tonight until Midnight tomorrow night.
Absolutely no other electronic devices of any kind.
It should be interesting.
Or impossible...
Hard to say.
Full Report on Monday.
