Last week was spent savoring a nice, tidy, peaceful house since Mike was enjoying himself in Arizona with his brothers. Each night upon coming home from work, I immediately went through the mail -- discarding junk mail before Mike could get his hands on it to open and spread everywhere. I sorted the farm publications and bills and took care of any mail that pertained to me...usually in the garbage. I even got to use my Scentsy burners (I turn them on, he turns them off)! I also got to use the green bamboo towels that are "Mike's towels" AND my hands never had to put the toilet seat down when I went to the bathroom! Reed and I peacefully co-existed and figured out meals from what we had in the fridge, kept up on laundry and went about with our daily lives.

Wednesday came and I decided to go ahead and weight in after work. Afterwards, I called Reed and we met in Garner and headed off to Mason City together. I had ordered pictures online from Wal-mart and they were ready to pick up. I let Reed pick out where he wanted to eat supper. He picked...Subway at Wal-mart. Just in case there is anyone out there who doesn't know this -- I ABSOLUTELY HATE going to Walmart!!!! So, we braved it and not only went in the store but also ate our supper there. While we were there, we picked up a few groceries and headed back home -- on fumes. I had forgotten to have Reed put gas in the car Tuesday night and the computer on the car said I could still drive 91 miles so I figured the trip to Mason City would be fine. Pumping gas...there's another thing I hate doing. Here's a confession -- we have had this car over a year and to this day I have not pumped gas into it. Yep, that's why I gave birth
to sons -- to carry in groceries and pump my gas! I must get it from my mother -- at age 84 she has never pumped gas in her life! She can charm the Kum and Go employees into coming out and pumping the gas for her -- my heroine!

Thursday came and Mike returned late that night. As you can see from the picture, everything suddenly returns back to normal. My island, tables and countertops were almost totally free from clutter while he was away. Laundry is caught up from his trip and I have heard a few golf stories. I've gotta admit, golf stories are not nearly as interesting as snowmobile stories. There is just something about the game of golf that just puts me to sleep, be it watching it on TV or listening to stories about it being played. Hmmm.

The weekend finally came and I was bound and determined to do NOTHING. Success! Saturday, Mike went to a funeral as he was a distributor (Gladys Kudej's funeral) so he was gone for lunch. Reed and I had bacon cheese pork burgers for lunch. After lunch, I watched a couple of movies, Zookeeper and Oklahoma. I did actually get a couple of things accomplished. I dusted the tv and tv stand and I pulled my music for Sunday mass. Whew! It really was nice to have absolutely no goals for one day. I can't say that I could do that EVERY day, but it is nice for a change.

Valentine's Day started out not so promising. I won't tell the whole story on my blog since Mike probably would have a cow, I'll save it for my stand up comedy routine -- next time you see me and I'm standing up ask me to tell you the story! I went to work and announced, "Well, the way this day started out, I'm thinkin' I won't be watching for any Valentine's gift today!" Later in the morning, the flower deliveries came and, low and behold, a beautiful arrangement of flowers for moi! The girls are always impressed that Mike actually signs his own card and doesn't just call in and have the Flower Cart employees sign his name. I didn't take a picture yet as I left them at work for the week -- I seem to spend more time there than I do at home so will enjoy them that much more.

This week Mike is on ambulance call at night so his presence at home is off and on. Tonight I am pretty sure he went to either the Farm Bureau meeting or the girls' basketball game versus Garner. I see according to Facebook that we won the game and he is not home yet so I am assuming he is at the meeting.

Reed and I have a goal to accomplish this week -- to get his room painted. He has picked the color so now we have to patch the walls and tackle the painting. It all sounds so easy but am pretty sure my body will be screaming by the time we're through. Hopefully the next time I update, I can have some pictures of a freshly painted room!