I really enjoy having beautiful flowers in my bedroom. I keep trying to tell Luke how much I love them and I worry that I�m overtelling. I made the mistake of telling his parents about it on Sunday when we were there doing laundry and it turned into something of a minor argument between the two of them. Apparently, G bought M a rose every Friday for years and only stopped when she told him that he didn�t have to. Now, I know that saying such a thing isn�t exactly clear, but what she really meant was that she didn�t want them every Friday like clockwork; she wanted him to mix it up a little. I�ve been feeling a little guilty about having brought it up, but when I asked Luke he said that he was kind of surprised that they took his nice gesture and ran. He didn�t know that they were going to be insane about it.

We actually managed to throw both of our normal weekend obligations into one day, spending the laundry time with M&G and then going to Andy�s afterward. I spent most of the time with Andy grousing at him for being an ass, carrying a purse, etc. I actually have to bring him to the airport on Thursday so that he can go to a cousin�s wedding in Arizona. I guess he doesn�t really even want to go, but his parents are footing the bill for both ticket and apparel, so he�s going anyway. While we were at dinner that night, I couldn�t help but toss some remaining black beans from our nachos at him. Immature, yes, but most satisfying in the end.

Having done all of our other people weekend activities in one fell swoop left us with Monday to be together. Unfortunately, it was a rotten day but a nice night. I guess that I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and all it took was one thing to toss me off the deep end in terms of mood. What was that one thing? Pancakes and the fact that the first three I tossed into the pan stuck (to my nonstick pan!) and I had to toss them into the garbage disposal because they were unfit for creature consumption. I was so disgusted with them by the time I was done cooking them that I couldn�t even eat them. I ended up making myself eggs some time later when I had calmed down and was willing to return to the kitchen. I actually just had some for breakfast and they are tasty, but I am still mad at that damned pan. It�s stuck a couple of times in the past, but never like this. I guess I can only be Zen up to a certain point.

After spending the day in a relative funk, Luke having decided several days ago that there�s nothing we can do about being poor, so why be poor and deprived, we went out. Our main objective was to be able to have dinner at Dotty�s while the secondary was to get more birth control pills for me. We got the pills first and it took no time at all. I think we were sitting for less than five minutes when they called me up and I was out the door. I actually talked to the girl who helped me and asked if they had a new clinician. Yes was her response and when I uttered a sigh of relief, she asked why. I explained that I had been terribly displeased at my last exam and she told me that the evil hag clinician is only in on Thursdays so it was just my terrible luck that time around. However, knowing that she�s the Thursday NP means that if I have to go in before we leave Dodge, I can be aware that Thursday is not the day to go.

While we were going to park for Dotty�s, we noticed a great deal of traffic around the downtown area. I had watched the 5 news and suddenly realized that we had chosen the wrong night to go out, as the Eagles were playing at the Kohl Center. We spent probably 15 minutes trying to find a parking space, finally landing upon a metered spot. We were actually short for the meter, but decided we�d try our luck. Lo and behold, when we returned to the car, our windshield was free of tickets, so we didn�t even have to pump the meter in the first place. Dotty�s, after a 15 minute walk there, had an hour wait, so impatient folk that we are and finding that Ian�s was swamped too, we went to find food along State St. I was getting grumpier by the second, having left the house with a tummy ache and having to walk long distances only makes such a thing worse, when Luke asked me if I just wanted to go to Gino�s. In we went, having to wait while a table was cleared for us. The place was seriously packed with middle aged WASPs desperate to relive their teen years by going to see an ever aging band. I swear I have never seen so many polo shirts in one place in an evening in my entire life. The service was slow, our waitress a flaky sweetheart, and our food much better than average. Plus, we had a good time. As soon as the WASPs buzzed off to their concert, 8 tables of 12 clearing in five minutes, the waitresses took the place over, playing whatever they wanted on the jukebox and singing while they went about their duties.

That�s the nice thing about locally owned eateries. Instead of the droning wait staff trained to up-sell you, they have people with obvious character, actual people. I�m so tired of the zombified college students who work at Friday�s or Chili�s rattling off the same specials over and over and would I like a Presidente margarita. I want a waitress who will forget your silverware but refill your drink without even asking. I want a waitress who will ask how your food is and walk away singing along with Like a Prayer.

We went to Chocolate Coyote after dinner, Luke carrying our leftovers, and got shakes. His was his standard chocolate espresso with the grounds in and I decided on the new pumpkin cheesecake shake and watched in awe as she crammed an entire slice of cheesecake into the blender with some milk and a couple of scoops of pumpkin ice cream. We know the owner, so we chitchatted while she got our order and my shake was truly wonderful. Luke, feeling adventurous, actually tried it and liked it, noting that pumpkin cheesecake is more pumpkin than cheese. (He truly detests cheesecake.)

We came home, screwed around with the computers (yeah, I set the old one up again after trying to install a game that I love and had to download a 30 MB patch for it only to have it not work on this, better box), showered and went to bed. We had sex for the first time in almost a week and it was wonderful. Again, I sing the praises of Liquid Silk. He said that we wouldn�t have needed it, but still being a little sensitive, I wanted to err on the side of comfort. It worked like a dream.

This was a lot longer than I had intended, so I will stop now. Just know that despite having to return the digital camera for a bit, I still have pictures stockpiled.