After A Bleak Start It Was A Nice Day After All

All righty then, so yesterday, the day after The Email, Carlos was not working. he has been doing presentations on at least one weekend day for the last several weeks, and this past weekend he worked both Saturday and Sunday doing HIV education-counseling-testing. He was ready for a day off, and i was ready to spend the day with him, so I, too, was not working.

First thing, we talked about the friend's email; he was hurt, too, and couldn't understand it. I told him that i expected her to call, but that I just couldn't speak to her that day...maybe someday...but not that day.

So, we had pancakes! Carlos Pancakes are dee-lish!

Then the phone rang. It was her. I said I wouldn't talk. Carlos put her on speaker phone and she talked, and apologized and so on. I listened from another room, and I felt bad for her, but there is always, and will always be, that lingering doubt that "Is she sorry for what she said or sorry that I found out."

But it was over in a flash.

So, we headed out. We have been talking for months, or years even, about joining the 21st century and getting a flatscreen TV. We've looked, researched, questioned, priced, touched, watched, smiled, talked, and come home empty handed. Not so yesterday. We finally broke down and replaced our old TV, thereby retiring the tiny squirrel who lived inside it and ran on the treadmill that powered the set. it was sad to see the little guy at the door, tiny suitcase in hand, a small tear in the corner of one of his squirrel eyes.

Screw that! Flatscreen baby! And, we're moving on.

We've been looking for an umbrella for the outside table. We like to eat out there, but breakfast and lunch in the summertime get a bit too heated--and not because of our discussions--because of the actual sun. Then, as if by magic, a brochure from Bed Bath and Beyond came in the mail, and they were having a sale on patio umbrellas. Then, the postman delivered a 20% off coupon from, wait for it, Bed. Bath. And. Beyond!

We headed over there instantly because, next to Free, Twenty-Percent Off is one of my favorite things. We made a pit stop at Home Depot first because Carlos, my sweet butch Carlos, wanted to check out chain saws. Lumberjack, he ain't, but he does love his yard tools.

While in the HD, we spotted umbrellas, and decided to do a simple price comparison. They had one we liked. You know, self-cranking, like me; I tend to self-crank.

Where was I?

It was also tilt-able. Again, like me. But it also had teeny tiny solar lights inside the umbrella, and a tiny solar panel on the top. So Carlos, my bartering baby, had a Light Bulb moment, a solar light bulb moment, if you will. He asked the Home Depot is they would honor a 20% off coupon from The Beyond....not beyond like, you know, from the grave, but Bed Bath And....

And the HD said they would!

Huh? What? Huh?

So we bought the solar lighted, crankable, tilting umbrella for the 20% off. As we left the store, I was carrying the umbrella-in-a-box and Carlos asked if I needed help. Because I am sarcastic and childish and will say and do just about anything, I answered, "No thanks. i may not be good enough for you, but I can carry an umbrella."

He chased me around the parking lot and then made me buy him lunch.

All in all, a good day.