This month is stupid. Just full of stupidness. I think it started when I slightly dented our car on a tree. That in itself was stupid. Then I had to do the whole insurance thing and make appointments to get the car fixed and all that. Stupid.

small dent

This led of course to getting a rental car. I was thinking like, “Oooh, I can get a cool Mustang or a Charger.” No! I get this.

Ok. Fine. It’s more practical. Wait. No it’s not. It only gets 16 mpg. What the hell?  Even the Mustang and Charger get better gas milage than that (19 mpg for mustang and 18 mpg for the Charger). Crap. Oh well. Gavin likes it anyway because it has automatic side doors. Ooooh.

So now that the car badness is all out of the way…. Ummm no. What do I do next? I take the rented minivan and back out of the driveway. Doesn’t sound bad right? Well, it is. Because right as I was backing out, the wind blew our gate (a metal cattle gate for the cattle we don’t have) closed. Not all the way mind you. Just enough for me to ram it straight back into the post that holds it on. The gate nearly folded in half. 🙁

It was slightly funny only because there were no scratches on the car. But not funny, because now our gate doesn’t close. I’ll have to figure out if I can fix it enough to still be useful. Otherwise, I guess we’re buying a new one.

Ok. Yes. So now done with car stupidness. Sigh. No. Not yet. As she was leaving for work two days ago, Holly sideswiped the wood post that usually latches the now useless gate closed. There is now a 5 inch scrape by the rear passenger side wheel well.

Still not done. Yesterday morning when Holly was getting ready to go to work, she noticed that one of the back tires was completely flat. Dang. This sucks. I looked in the car manual to see if there was a spare tire and there was. In the stupidest place ever. You have to take some special tool out of the back storage compartment and stick it in a hole in the center of the car and turn it to drop the spare tire out from under the center of the car. Whaaaaat?

How stupid is that. Anyway, it took me a bit, but I finally figured the whole thing out and was able to change the tire. Needless to say, Holly was late for work.

Other than having days where we were in bad moods or the kids driving us crazy or work related crazyness, I think that about completes our stupidness. Good times right?

What an awesome weekend. I haven’t been able to dance much being on a secluded island and all. But this was perfect. We missed the Friday night social shopping for Saturday’s breakfast and brunch. But Saturday came and it was time to dance.

The guest instructor, Alan Twhigg, was great. He really had a way about him that made learning dances and technique quite easy. We had live music provided by the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a & Strathspey Society Band. They are a great band and have played for our Weekends for quite a few years now.

We danced until early Saturday afternoon. That gave us 3 or so hours to get ready for the Saturday evening ball, an evening filled with fancy dresses, kilts, beautiful foods, and lots of great Scottish dancing. I don’t think we got home until almost midnight, by which time every muscle and joint in my body was crying out for the soft cushy futon mattress. Oh what bliss.

This only lasted a few hours though. We were awake again bright and early to start the second day of activities. We had to be at the palladium at 7:30am, which meant showering, dressing, loading the car with coolers of food and bags of dancing gear, and leaving the house by 6:30am.

Sunday’s dance class was not as intense as Saturday’s, but it consisted of some great dances with beautiful and fun formations. For example, the first dance was a relatively short dance with pretty simple formations, but after each round, the entire set was rotated 1/4 way around clockwise ready to start again from your new position. It really made you think about your position in the set as well as the other dancers positions. It was a fun little dance to start with.

With the end of the classes came the end-of-the-weekend ceilidh. We arrived a little late due to the necessity to repair Mary’s brakes. Unfortunately, this meant missing out on some of the foods, but there was a giant pan of delicious meaty Fettucini Alfredo, which I am a sucker for. I wasn’t really prepared with any sort of act for the ceilidh, but I did bring Mary’s guitar as a backup plan. I ended up taking part in a silly hula skit with a few other dancers. This was not really sufficient though since it wasn’t really my skit. The band brought a nice little acoustic guitar that was nicer than what I had, so I borrowed theres and performed a very unpracticed song. Worked out well though. Just threw in some humor and all is forgiven.

Sadly the weekend came to an end. It was so wonderful meeting all the new visitors as well as the ones who have faithfully returned year after year from afar. It was a really good turnout with really good food, dancing, fun, entertainment and friends. I look forward to the workshop again next year.

It’s Friday again. I love Fridays. But not just because it means the weekend is here. It’s all the other things that come with it. Events and surroundings strung together to make up a wonderful day every week.

So what does a typical Friday hold for me? Take a look for yourself.

A beautiful sunrise viewed from our living room:

An ocean view of Gavin’s Tae Kwon Do class:

Tae Kwon Do:

Mowing half the lawn:

Enjoying the company of our cats:

Rockin’ out with the kids:

Taking some pre-bedtime downtime:

Oh, and sneaking in a kiss or two from my sweet heart:

Hey! That’s my kiss!

On Friday I discovered an irresistible chocolate product that is offered by a company called Truffle Truffle. Can you guess what it is? You’re right! They are beer flavored marshmallows. I mean how can one pass those up? Especially with Valentine’s Day only a few days away.

I ordered me a little box of 4 of these delectable sounding treats. They wouldn’t arrive until today, 3 days after Valentine’s Day, but hey, totally worth it. Those things are awesome. I also ordered a small assortment box of four truffles ( keylime pie, double chocolate, lavender, and beer flavored). These too were quite amazing. Yes, I said were.

We started Valentine’s day with a simple exchange of chocolates, gifts and kisses. To Holly, some chocolates, a nice pair of sewing scissors, and a cinnamon-nutmeg scented diffuser. For the kids, various chocolates and kisses. For me, some chocolate and a canvas print of a sloth holding a glass of Hefeweizen. Awesome.

The middle of the day went as normal. Filled with work and a naked playing child. The daily routine didn’t change much until the return of Gavin from school. That’s when it became time to prepare for our evening’s dinner. The shrimp was thawed and the beer and wine was chilled. Do some slight clean up, throw a nice table cloth and candle on the table, and voiala, the house is set for dinner. Ok, it wasn’t set to be a 5 star restaurant, but it was nicer than average.

For dinner, I served up a delicious Shrimp Scampi over pasta with a glass of French Rose wine. It was a hit. Gavin ate two servings and Holly made yum yum noises. The bottle of wine now sits empty. A delicious dinner. A delicious Valentine’s day. I hope everyone has as lovely a day as mine.