The Next Big Thing

The weather yesterday was absolutely gorgeous. It was so spring-like and inspired many outdoor activities. (Most of them involved shoveling poop.) I so wanted to light a fire in the pit and just sit and watch it burn, soaking up the sun and enjoying the warm breeze, but I may as well join the fire department and call myself Smokey. I couldn't get a fire going to save my life. I blame it on the semi-damp wood, but in reality I'm not a boy scout. (Mental note to self: never attempt arson.) I did get some junk mail torched in the process and that made me feel good.

We even had dinner on the patio. And get this - I grilled pizza! For you long-time semi-professional pizza grillers, please don't laugh at me. I used my Pampered Chef baking stones and put them right on the grill. I was fortunate in that they did not crack. I may or may not try this again. But they burned the crust. I thought they weren't supposed to burn! I think I should write the company about this and demand that they send me coupons for Pizza Hut in retribution.

You've no idea how fun an outdoor pizza oven sounds to me. I saw one in a book. Those darn books, always putting ideas in my head. Now my extra-huge patio isn't good enough. No, now I need a built-in outdoor kitchen. I'm wondering how I'm going to pull this one off. We have the stone (check!), we have a top of the line grill (check!) and I'm willing to do the labor (check!). Here's the catch. I have a husband. We usually argue sorely over things like this. He says there are rules you've gotta follow, like pouring a footer and leveling things. You know, trivial things like that. And usually when we follow his rules we run into a lot of money, which seriously puts a damper on things.


Like the fish pond. That was our big project last summer. We have a backhoe to dig the hole, we have a pool liner to lay in the bottom, and we have a well to fill the pond with. This translated into money spent on pond plants and fish and the big expense of a pump. But we could do that. Until we talked to professionals about it. Those darn professionals, they're the ones that write the books that put all the ideas in my head. And they have rules. Like, you shouldn't use a pool liner to line the pond. All their rules equaled to too much money and lots of "you'll appreciate doing it right the first time" and they convinced my husband it was better to wait until we could afford to do it than just put it in and re-do it later. (Which does sound like a better way, but doesn't do much for instant gratification.) So we are pondless still.

So here's what I'll be doing this winter. I'll be conniving ways to get my outdoor built-in kitchen. I'll be dreaming of this great thing that I need and will set my heart on it, only to have my husband decide that we've gotta follow the rules and I will not only be pondless but built-in kitchen-less next year this time. But you've gotta have dreams.



**Because wonderful people ask, Josh is doing VERY well. He was outside running yesterday. He only has a handful of new pox and may even be able to go back to school tomorrow. I probably could have sent him today but I want to be completely sure he's not contagious. So far, no new outbreaks. But there's a 2 week incubation period and obviously the others weren't exposed to whoever he got it off of. We may have 3 new outbreaks next week, and we may not. Here's hoping it's not!**