This Date In History

I will freely admit it - I am NOT a morning person. Never have been, never will be. I think something in my brain does not completely wake up until at least 10 am. Which is a freakin' nightmare when your body won't let you sleep that late. With all of the lovely hormonal issues we lucky ladies go through, one of my favorites is the sleep too hard/no sleep thing. I either sleep like someone hit me over the head with a cast iron skillet or I sleep fitfully, waking up every few hours and finally getting up at 3 or 4 or 5 a.m., wandering around the house like the sandman is hiding around the next corner. If I ever catch the little bastard, he is going to be one sorry sack of sand.

When our daughters were kids, they'd ask my husband, "What's wrong with Mom?" I suppose they were referring to my snarling at them as I staggered to the coffee pot. And Hubby, my sweet Hubby, IS a morning person. It's amazing we have been happily married for so long without any casualties. Not long after we were married, we were in the bathroom together getting ready for work. Hubby was in the shower and he was SINGING! Cheerfully, happily singing. I remember turning to glare at the shower curtain - of course, he couldn't see me - and asking, "WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

Dead silence. Then ... "What do you mean?"

"YOU ARE SINGING - AND IT'S MORNING!"

This conversation may have ended with me dumping a glass of cold water over the top of the shower curtain, but that's another story.

We will be married 25 years in July and our current morning ritual is more congenial. We each have a cup of coffee, sit on our respective corners of the couch and love seat and read "The Arizona Republic" together. A few years ago, he started a new little ritual, asking me, "Are you ready for your history lesson today?" And proceeded to read aloud the entire column from the paper entitled, "This Date in History." Which he still does.

For example, here is today's column. I usually don't have much to contribute to these history lessons, but you will note that the first item reads ...

In 1869, a golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

I perked right up and told him I had been there. I lived in Utah during my junior high school years and we actually went on a history class field trip to Promontory in celebration of the golden spike. This is the place where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads connected and the ceremonious golden spike was driven to mark the occasion.

I blabbed on for a few minutes, stopped and looked at Hubby, who then asked me if I was there in 1869. It's true that I am 2 years older than Hubby, but that kind of remark is just plain uncalled for. Especially when he knows he's dealing with NOT A MORNING PERSON!

I will say, though, that this morning was a lot more fun than usual because of one of my Mother's Day gifts. The fam all went in together and bought me several things. First, my oh so cool CushDesk, which is a laptop desk so I can comfortably sit on the couch with the laptop and not balance it precariously on a pillow. My lack of coordination probably made him nervous which probably led to the CushDesk gift idea. Best of all, I can use my mouse with the CushDesk - I am not so talented with the touch pad. It also helps keep the heat from the laptop off your lap. I noticed the other night I was having a really long hot flash, then realized it was the heat coming off the laptop that was the real culprit.

Other wonderful Mother's Day gifts I received ... "The Recipe Manager" software for my Mac. It not only includes over 1,000 recipes, I can input my own recipes, search for specific ingredients. create shopping lists, do meal planning with a scheduler, get nutritional information, measurement and substitution equivalents, and import recipes from the web. I can even create cookbooks and share them. I am really excited about this and plan to have a lot of fun with it!

Since my Youngest Daughter had to work on Mother's Day, she had taken me out last week for a special day of pampering. God, it was fantastic. I had no idea where we were going, but our first stop was at Scottsdale Nails for manicures and pedicures. I always feel a little more human after a pedicure. We laughed about the Nicolas Cage/Tea Leoni movie, "The Family Man," where he tries on a really expensive suit at the mall and tells his little girl he feels like a better man wearing it. Yes, I feel like a better woman with soft, uncalloused feet and pretty painted toenails!

We could have stopped right there and I'd have been blissfully happy, but off we went to lunch at The Green House at Kierland Commons. It was a beautiful day in the 90s and they had opened the full-size doors to the patio so even sitting inside it was like we were sitting outside. We started with this lovely pink lemonade ...

We split a Kobe burger and fries plate that was incredible. The fries were cooked with white truffle oil and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. I am sorry, I was so dazzled by the entree that I didn't remember to take a picture of it until I was licking my plate clean. However, I was able to control myself when dessert came long enough to snap this ...

Yes, that is a warm sugar doughnut, light as air, with vanilla cream and fruit to dip it in. OMG, it was completely sinful! If you ever get a chance, definitely try The Green House in Scottsdale ...

And then, sensory overload, we went shopping. Anthropologie and Target were a great finish to our outing. Thanks, YD, for the amazing day of pampering and girlie time. Loved it! Oh, and the tub of cotton candy that I snacked on all day Mother's Day was perfect, too!