Day #616 - Friday Romance?

Things often times don’t work out exactly as planned. Today was an example of that.

Doc and I planned to be at the rental condo at 7 AM in order to get significant work done on the back yard fence before it got too hot outside. At noon we would break for lunch then head to Cal Poly Pomona to pack up more of my gear. By 4 PM we would take a load to the storage unit and be home by 5 PM to take care of things on the home front. Then by 8 PM we were to relax for a Friday evening together. I don’t think any of those things happened.

***************

At 7:05 AM we got out of bed. Then I started sending emails, then follow up phone calls and one thing led to another…

Doc and Sparky went for coffee. They collected a nickel and a penny (Coins #1&2).

We received a phone call from the head of the Homeowner’s Association saying our house plans had been stamped and were on his doorstep ready for pickup! Of course, we rushed out there to fetch those. By then it was after 11 AM.

***************

I told Doc we needed some excitement and romance in our marriage. We’d gotten into a rut with the same old shopping places every day. So today we went for lumber and supplies at a different Home Depot! We had a shopping cart full of stuff. It was 11:45 and we got a call from the realtor - she had potential renters for us to meet in 45 minutes -- and it was a 30 mile drive! We put it in high gear and made the appointment just in time. The couple seems really nice. We’ll see if they turn in an application or not.

I had promised Doc that we would have lunch around noon today, but that did not happen due to the meeting with the potential renters. When they left, Doc insisted upon his lunch date. We visited a Mongolian All-You-Can-Eat restaurant which we had been longing to try. That was fun. The food was great, healthy, inexpensive, plus Doc got to watch TV throughout the meal. A “hot and spicy” romantic lunch together?

***************

We spent the afternoon doing “just one more thing” at the condo (touch up paint, door knobs, cleaning). At one time we were getting silly and had a wrestling/giggle/tickle match on the kitchen floor while we were painting baseboards. I guess that is romance.

Doc was chiseling out the wood at the front door and doing a really great job. I told him how appealing that was. More romance.

We also pulled apart the sluggish kitchen sink drain to find a 1.5” diameter by 12” "log" which looked and smelled like …. (I’ll leave it to your imagination). That was really, really gross. Definitely no romance on that project.

Soon it was 6:45 PM. The tub glazing guy called and said he would be over within the hour. Doc had to have food, so he made a dinner run to El Pollo Loco while I cleaned and prepared for Fred. Doc collected a nickel, two pennies and a dime along with his dinner. (Coins #3-6).

Just as we sat down to eat, Fred arrived and said we needed to vacate the premises due to the toxic fumes. So Doc and I had a “romantic” Friday night date of fast food dinner as we were parked in the in the alleyway. Whoopeee!

***************

Once Doc had some nourishment, he was able to drive. Radio reports said the freeway was shut down due to a major accident, so we traveled on surface streets. We were passing a huge 99¢ store which we had not yet explored. Plus I did not have a coin find yet today. I looked at Doc, he looked at me ... Such desire in his eyes … “Sure. I will if you will” … We drove another ¼ mile to a spot where we could safely do a U-turn. The store was filled with thousands of items - plus one wayward penny just for me as we entered the store. Thank You Penny Angels for that “nudging”. (Coin #7).

Doc told me I could go on a shopping spree. So I got lightbulbs for the condo swag lamp and a plastic bucket for the cleaning gear. Such romantic items.

Next we did some grocery shopping. No coins there.

So much for my plans of being home by 5 PM and relaxing after 8 PM. At 9:15 we stopped at the architect’s office where she had left the latest set of plans on the doorstep for us to retrieve and review. More CPP.

Total: 7 Coins P (4), N (2), D (1), Q (0) = $0.24