Relaxation

Yesterday I kept the Tater kids all day. Paul got off work around 4 and was home a little after 4:30. When I asked him what he wanted to do that night I got his typical answer, "I don't know. What do you want to do?" GRRRRRRRRR! It was finally decided that we'd go eat and go to the casino. See? I told you.

I kind of wanted to eat a nice dinner, hit the only steakhouse in town, and have a nice non-fast-food dinner. I told him that after he repeatedly said, "I don't care where we eat. Where do you want to eat?" I suggested the nice non-fast-food Mexican restaurant or the steakhouse. He picked Long John Silver's. The steakhouse was crowded, what with it being the weekend before VD and all, but I expected that. As we drove past, me looking longingly out the window at it, drool running down the window, he said, "Boy, I'm glad we decided not to eat there." Yeah. Me, too, honey. I'm glad we decided.

So after an enchantingly romantic dinner of fish and chicken, where he even let me add three pieces of shrimp for $1.09, we were stuffed to the gills and amorous as all get out. I'm kidding. I was belching fishy grease before we even left and about as far from amorous as you could get, but I digress. We went to the bank to make a night deposit and from there drove out to Quapaw Casino, where Paul had had the best lunch hour ever last week. I had $7 of my own and plugged it into a Royal Reels machine. I was down to $2.25 when he handed me a $20 over my shoulder and disappeared again. Yep, he's a romantic, that man of mine. I played it up and down and cashed out with $30. I was three whole dollars to the good! Paul appeared out of nowhere, sat down dejectedly and said, "I hope you're doing better than I am. I just lost $80."

We had only brought $100 to play on all night. Yes, you are correct. I got $20 and he blew $80 of our nightly alottment. GRRRRRRRRR! again. We drove out to the Buffalo, even though he was ready to come home. By golly, I still had $30 and I wasn't ready to go home. So to the Buffalo we went. Even though he claimed to be out of money, I knew he wasn't. He had some rat holed for a tattoo. I know him well. I played here and there and ended up cashing out busted. He was still claiming to be broke, but I knew that if I used my womanly wiles correctly I could get some out of him. He owed me. Sure enough, he ended up shelling out more money. Am I good or what? You know, I carried around the art for my tattoo for 2 years before I got it. Any time I had the money, there was always a bill to pay or a kid who needed something or we needed, like, food or something. So you know, it won't kill him to wait awhile, too. Yes, I'm selfish sometimes.

I put the last $20 he gave me in a RedBall machine and got it up to $60. I cashed it out and gave him half. He played it and got his up to $50, cashed out and gave me half. When he shares, I'm happier. If he holds out, I get really cranky. We left there shortly after 1am.

When we got home, I curled up on the couch with a blanket and started reading my Valentine's Day present from him - Stephen King's new book Cell. There's nothing like a little light horror reading after your Valentine's Day date. He fell asleep in his recliner. The next thing I knew it was 3:45am. I tried valiantly to wake him up, but waking was just not happening. I really did try to wake him up this time, too. Usually I whisper his name from across the room then sneak off to bed before he wakes up. From 4am till 5am I would wake him up, go to bed, wait on him, realize he wasn't coming back there, go back up and wake him again, go back to bed, wait on him, realize he wasn't coming back.......ad nauseum. At 5am I turned off the light and went to sleep. He came in and woke me up at 9:30 this morning, "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP? I nearly FROZE to DEATH up there!"

I got up, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, started some laundry, checked my email, straightened the kitchen, called Mom, did more laundry, called Tater and checked on the kids, did more laundry and he slept. I made lunch, he slept. I curled up in the recliner with a blanket, turned on Food Network and read until 3, when Sleeping Redneck woke up.

All in all it's been a pretty relaxing day. I should've done more housework, but I didn't. I should've rearranged some furniture, but I didn't. I should've cleaned my bathroom, but I didn't. I really should've gotten the living room and dining room ready for the arrival of The 1300 Boxes of Girl Scout Cookies Invasion from Hell tomorrow, but I didn't. I did put in a pan of pork ribs, though, and hoooooooooo do they smell good now! Paul went down to Tater's and picked up the kids, his nephew brought over 3 rick of wood and now all my little monkeys are back in the roost. The house is warm and smelling of ribs and wood smoke, Abby's at her desk doing her homework, Kady's cleaning her room, Sam's whining that he's bored, Paul is griping at the whining son . . . ahhhh, life is good.