Keeping busy

Skeeter was out of town last night and today, and I always try to do something a little special with the children when he's not home. They miss him quite a lot, and I make an extra effort to keep their minds off of the "missing daddy" feelings.

This time, I hadn't really planned much though. He was only gone overnight, and I had originally thought that I would just take them to the YMCA for swimming as our outing. The children and I did our schoolwork as usual this morning, but before we could set the schedule for the afternoon our plans changed dramatically.

Spyder is rereading the Spy Gear series of books, and we discovered just before lunch that the latest book was released this week.

We immediately called the bookstore and -- shockingly! -- they had it. We did what any book lover would have done. We hopped in the car and zoomed off to get it.

I hadn't made lunch yet, so we decided to stop in at McAlister's for lunch before going into the bookstore. The bookstore is like a time warp for us. We can go in and three hours will pass by before we realize it. So we fortified ourselves with Chicken Tortilla soup and Cheddar Potato soup before heading over. (Yes, soups in 98 degree weather. We've had a break in the heat and we were feeling a bit chilly. Har.)

Because we are, well, us we had to stop into the dollar store. Spyder needed one of those little precision screwdriver kits, and I bought the things I always buy at the dollar store -- light bulbs and tissues and bathroom cleansers.

After the dollar store, we opted to check out the thrift store nearby. We're not in the area very often, and we always find good stuff there. Plus, the bookstore is a great place for an afternoon snack, and we weren't hungry at all because of the big lunch out.

The thrift store wasn't great today, not like some days I've had in the past. I did find a few notable things though, specifically a Naartjie two piece set and a Cornelloki dress, both in Sass's size. I also found a couple of CDs and a book for Sass and a You Might Be A Redneck . . . book for my dad. Not bad for all of $12.

We finally made it to the bookstore around 3, and, as predicted, we were there much longer than we should have been. We read a few books, wandered, picked up the book we had on hold, had a snack, and generally threw ourselves headlong into the bookstore time warp. It was most excellent.

By the time we got back home, everyone was tired. We're normally not out like that, and -- whew! -- we could all tell that we're not used to that kind of running around.

But all in all, it was a very happy day, doing nothing in particular except spending time with each other.