The long weekend in a nutshell.

...is that like oysters on the half shell? Or Crab Louie? Yum.

Well, the weekend did not start off with a bang. In fact, it began with the fear of food poisoning or perhaps the Bubonic Plague. I actually left work early. I never go home sick, possibly not since the 11th grade has this occurred. (You see, our dinner plans for the night before had fallen through and it was getting on eight o'clock...and P.J. had this Buy One Get One coupon for Popeye's...NO! There's no excuse! I was lazy, I ate poorly, and for a short time I thought it would be a fatal (though cheap) mistake!)

I got better.

That night we watched movies and hung out with the cats. It would prove to be a theme for the weekend, and a novel one at that. The next day we decided to organize and get rid of stuff. You see, we have this delusion of someday holding a garage sale. We throw massive amounts of stuff into the dining room and proudly proclaim, "It's gonna be sold at the garage sale!" I don't know who we expect to buy our broken lamps and single sneakers for great quantities of cash in our backyard...but we hold to this productive notion. Well, productive for pile-making. We each went to our separate offices in the apartment to dig out and perhaps find more to sell! I hadn't been writing in my office for a good while (a point P.J. casually made as I sat on his lap and asked what he was doing for the third time during his viewing of The Wire, Season Three.) Turns out, there was too much stuff in there. Like furniture, fairy wings, cat toys, hoodies, a wine fridge (that needed to stay), a hotel mirror, stuffed animals, shelves full of albums and enough writing utensils to choke a horse (though I imagine all it would take was one.) SO. I got rid of all the furniture except for my writing desk, my bookshelves and a storage bench. Goodbye kitchen table(!) and stools, so long throw pillows and lounging cushions! (Who's lounging on my office floor, anyhow? If I'm not writing in there I'm certainly not gonna venture in to take a nap!) Turns out, that room is HUGE. And now exceptionally clean. I still haven't written in there yet but it's a much more likely possibility.

Got my hair did that afternoon because...I was going to the prom. Yes. Nat was taking Rachael to the prom (since she never went to hers) and invited us as well. We got all gussied up and had a lovely evening on the Odyssey at Navy Pier. Really, really good dinner (five courses!) and some superb drinks, plus dancing and fireworks. And the spectacle of a drunk lady (not me) who didn't need a partner to have a good dance experience, nor did she need to leave her seated position. (Later, as I entered the bathroom she came up to me and said, "I think the stalls is BROKEN!" I suggested that people might have locked them. "Well, they don't WORK!) Regardless of the riff raff (I'm sure some people on board thought the four of US were the riff raff) we had a spectacular time. And we looked darned good.

Sunday was just kind of incredible. We stayed in our house! And in our yard! Our house was clean, we had food in the fridge, movies on the television...and we got to be there for it. Huh? P.J. and I realized that we're gone for most holiday weekends. And that extra day? Travel. So Sunday felt like the biggest gift, especially knowing that we had the next day off. It was like the first day of summer vacation for an eight year old. Except we had ginger beer and vodkas. And watched Big Trouble in Little China, which, now that I think about it could be age appropriate.

Monday, whoo! We rode our bikes to the bank to deposit some money, rode to DSW to spend some money, and up to Baskin Robbins for a free ice cream cone (P.J.'s coupons are really starting to rule my life.) Back home for a backyard grill-out picnic on a blanket with a couple of Bud Light and Clamato cheladas. I know. You're asking how much it costs to live this well? Pennies, my friend. Except for the shoes.

And except...for the crazy ToysRUs run we made after dinner. To buy a Wii. And perhaps Mario Kart. Who goes to ToysRUs on a Monday night (holiday, no less) at 8:30pm to buy a game system? The Schoenys. Even though they were out of Mario Kart(!) we had a sweet time getting competitive with Wii Play and Sport. Our game of tennis got ugly. The best part was setting up our avatars, or Miis (hee!) to look just like us. I think mine has Soccer Mom hair but otherwise it's uncanny. Who wants to play?

The toddler twosome will awaken soon and I need to find a different ten minute YouTube workout before then. I'm thinking Pilates. Or that one called "Take a nap on the couch."

I love that one.