Mandy, you’ll appreciate this the most…

So Squid’s doing the 13 thing today…she’s got some very lightweight chores to do before she heads to her dad’s, and as you can imagine, they’re horribly inconvenient for her, especially since she slept until about 12:30pm. And because she knows I’m working on some work projects requiring my attention rather than hanging with her, she’s dragging her feet, semi-secretly talking on her cellphone, etc, with just enough slippage to try my patience, thus really tempting fate and rapidly approaching a near death experience.

I had delicate undergarments drying on a rack downstairs which she moved while vacuuming.  Keeping in mind that today’s the day where she’s only partially cleaning up after herself, putting things away/back or anything else… I came around the corner to find the aforementioned rack sitting in the front doorway, underwear flapping in the breeze in full view of anyone approaching the house… !!!

Keven had this great idea I think I’m going to incorporate into my PEE (parenting experience enhancement) and definitely the Mother’s Manual. For those without kids, it’s the feel good revenge punishment for parents, because they sometimes make us that damn mad.  He called it a “swirly” and involves a toilet, you probably have the visual already.  I may be posting pictures shortly.  The beautiful thing was that she actually believed he’d do it…or at least asked if he really would. She knows I would!!

I was suffering a touch from cabin fever a couple weeks back and was looking for something different to do with Keven rather than hit what have become our usual hotspots and activities.  So I started looking online, picking the brains of friends, and happened upon something right up his alley.

While I love planning surprises, keeping the secret for an extended period of time and clever hint dropping without giving it away is the challenging part!

So Thursday rolled around and after our regular lunch with Anthony & Sabrina, I left him with what I jokingly called my “Dear Keven” letter, to be read when he got back to work.  It was really his cryptic itinerary for the following evening. 

I’d booked tickets to Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” which was performed at the Rep at Seattle Center.  I’d told Keven where to meet me, and when, as well as what he needed to bring, but that was about it. As it turned out, things were going to be a bit trickier to pull off than I thought.

The first unexpected item what that Keven’s schedule for Friday was atypical and so not only was he unable to get out early, but it was more like later than normal. Then I found out that not only was the “Bite of Seattle” starting the same day, also at the Center, but there was a Mariner’s game as well. It also happened to be a scorching hot 97 degree day and about 500% humiditity.  So basically, we had to make it across the 520 bridge from bellevue to seattle in rush hour traffic, find parking, pick up the tickets and be seated by 7:30.  Talk about tempting the fates just a bit!

So as it turned out, he was running a bit behind schedule, we ate a quick bite and hit the ground running.  Would you believe that not only did we make it on time, but we were like 10 or 15 minutes early…unbelievable!!

The show is a musical comedy and performed by amateur actors/actresses, but honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference. And I think the people seated around us were almost as entertaining as the show itself.

Afterward, we went to an Irish bar down the street, which had no air conditioning and their taps weren’t calibrated properly so even the Guinness tasted horrible!  So after all that, we still ended up at our regular watering hole! Go figure…

All in all though, it was a fun evening, I managed to keep the secret and reveal it almost as planned, and most importantly, Keven was surprised and seemed to enjoy the adventure as well!  Mission accomplished!!

I was asked today if hypothetically I were to write a story about my life, what it would be called and what the most important time of my life would be.

Mine would be called “Bordering on Brilliance”.  One of these days I will be. Brilliant, that is. Although admittedly, I do have days when miraculously I have clarity, and I feel, even if for just a brief moment, like a genius.

It’s usually shortly thereafter that I realize I was walking around with my fly open or a piece of toilet paper stuck to the back of my pants. What can I say? If nothing else, I am THAT smooth.

What would yours be?