Call me crazy, but I do find great pleasure in the simple things in life. Things like taking the money out of my Jack Daniels can to purchase a luxury item, waking to sunshine after a long cold Cleveland winter, having lunch with people I adore, and simplifying my life and my budget by eliminating products and services which civilization has told us we can not live without. These are the things that, in my opinion, make for a perfect weekend. Based on that criteria, this past weekend was one in a million.
With the help of my techno tool man, Rudy, and the enthusiasm of my purse and shoe loving daughter in law, Michelle, I was able to accomplish some amazing things Saturday. Waking to sunshine pouring through my bedroom window, I began the day with nothing less than pure energy. Then, as I tried to keep out of his way, Rudy began to work his magic by tearing down my Dish satellite system and reprogramming my TVs to a simple antenna/rabbit ear input. I did try to help, but after I knocked a tool out of his hand one too many times, he drew a line in the carpet and said "Please stop helping". With little or no effort on my part, I traded my 200 channel $65 a month satellite service for a free (that's right free) twelve station basic antenna reception. This will soon be supported with a converter box to be purchased with the government issued coupon which I sent for. (A future project for poor Rudy)
After re doing the TVs, we planned to meet Michelle at TGIF for lunch. We were both packing gift cards and looking forward to treating her. We met at the Parma Town TGIF and discovered it no longer existed. Who knew? Just another sign of our crumbling economy. So, we tucked away our gift cards and headed for the Olive Gardens instead. Plans for the April baby shower were discussed over salads. Between the three of us, we seemed to have most details worked out, so we put our planners away, payed the lunch bill, and headed for the apartment for the main event of the day.
The main event, was the assembly of my new porch swing, complete with canopy, which promised to offer much needed shade to my balcony. I had purchased the swing from Target with money I'd saved in my Jack Daniels "wish can". Michelle agreed to help Rudy put it together, since I still wasn't allowed to cross the line in the carpet. I did put one toe over, but the look Rudy gave me said "Hell No!" so I retreated to the kitchen.
With much groaning and complaining regarding the insufficient, bilingual, convoluted
%$#@*&# instruction manual, they began by trial and error to assemble my treasure. I helped by cooking in the kitchen and staying out of the way. Snapping an occasional photo along the way. Michelle even had to remove her three inch blood red patent leather heels to work on the project. I was a little worried when the completed swing seemed to have an awkward seating configuration. However re-doing the steel frame (which had been assembled backwards due to poor instructions) corrected the problem, and we had a new toy for the balcony.
In celebration, I opened a bottle of my favorite Chardonnay, Kendal Jackson, and poured us each a glass. With sun shining down warmly on the balcony, we toasted the success of the afternoons project. Now that's what I call a perfect day!
