It had been a long week and I had just scrubbed and put away the last pan from dinner when my son Alex came out into the kitchen and began opening cabinets.

“Are you going grocery shopping anytime soon?” he asked as he closed one cabinet and opened another.

“Maybe tomorrow.” I said as I headed for the living room to finally kick off my shoes and lay down on the couch.

“There’s nothing to eat in here.” He complained as I heard the microwave start up.

“There’s leftover chicken and rice from dinner.” I called as I grabbed the television remote and began scrolling though the listings to see what mind numbing, non-thought provoking show I was going to pretend to watch while I closed my eyes for a few minutes.

“I just ate that for dinner.” he said. “I’m looking for something else.”

“So make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” I suggested.

“We’re out of bread.”

“Make it with waffles.” I called. “You like that.”

“Maybe later.” The microwave beeped and I heard him open the door.

“So what did you make.” I asked.

“I found a frozen chicken taquito in the back of the freezer.” He walked into the living room holding his plate as he took a bite of his snack. “This doesn’t taste right.” he complained. “How long have this been in the freezer?”

“Honestly, I don’t even remember buying them.” I admitted. “Maybe your Dad picked them up on one of his shopping trips.”

Alex dropped his snack back on his plate. “So this could be months old?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe.”

I’m not eating this then.” He looked at me with sad eyes. “So, we’re back to nothing to eat in this house.”

“Do I have to remind you that we just finished dinner about ten minutes ago?” I wasn’t feeling sorry for him no matter how pathetic he tried to look.

“That was First Dinner.” He said. “You know we always have Second Dinner right after you clean the kitchen.”

Just then Steven walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. “Are you going grocery shopping soon?” he asked.

“Are you kidding me!” I cried.

Steven looked confused. “What?” He looked at Alex for help. “I was just in the kitchen and there’s nothing to eat.”

“WE JUST ATE DINNER!” I reminded them.

“And it was good.” Steven assured me. “But now it’s time for snacks and there’s nothing to eat.”

“There’s leftover chicken and rice.” I said. “Try heating that up.”

Steven looked at Alex again. Alex shrugged his shoulders. “We just ate that.” Steven said. “We want something else now.”

“I tried telling her that.” Alex said to him. “She doesn’t seem to get it.”

“Oh I get it.” I said as I adjusted the pillow under my head and looked back at the television. “You two are trying to guilt me into going grocery shopping tonight and I’m not doing it. There’s plenty to eat out there. Go find something.”

The two of them turned around and headed back into the kitchen. I smiled as I drifted off to sleep with the sound of cabinet doors opening and closing.

I was showered, dressed and ready for another hectic day at work. My lunch was packed, my car was warming up and I was just smoothing out the comforter on my bed when I patted my pillow and said, “I’m going to miss you.” I sighed as I took one last wrinkle out of the covers. “I’ll be counting the minutes until we’re together again.”

Just then Steven came out of the bathroom. “Ah.” he said. “That’s so sweet. I’m going to miss you too!”

He’d startled me. “I didn’t know you were in there.” I said.

Now Steven looked confused. “You didn’t?” He looked around the room. “Then who were you talking to when you said you were going to miss them and that you’d be counting the minutes until you were together again?” I could hear a slight annoyance in his voice.

I patted the bed. “I was talking to my side of the bed.” I smiled but I felt a little silly getting caught talking to a mattress.

“You were talking to the bed?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “What can I say…you know how much I love to sleep.”

Steven laughed. “I sure do. You can do ten hours on a weekend without a problem.”

“It’s not ten hours.” I corrected. “I might be in bed for ten hours but I’m up and down so many times during the night that I’m really only getting six or seven hours of actual sleep.”

Steven didn’t look convinced. He looked back at the bed. “I know how much you love to sleep but I didn’t know you talked to the bed like that.” He looked a bit hurt. “When you say good-by to me in the morning it’s usually with a quick kiss and you asking if I’m going to be home for dinner.”

“I’m sorry.” I said, I felt so guilty. I looked at the clock and could see I was now running late. I went over to him to give him a quick kiss. “I’m going to miss you.” I said. “I’ll be counting the minutes until we’re together again.” I smiled at him. “Does that make you feel better?”

Steven shook his head as he looked at me. “Not when I know you said it to the bed first.”

I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it up to him. “What if I stopped at the store after work and got whatever you wanted for dinner tonight?”

“Whatever I want?” Now he seemed interested.

“Sure.” I said. “You’ll beat me home so you can already be in your sweats relaxing on the couch and have full control of the channel changer when I get in.”

“That sounds nice.” he said.

“So we’re good?” I asked, as I glanced at the clock one more time. “No more hurt feelings?”

“That depends.” he said.

“Depends on what?” I asked.

“What I decide I’d like for dinner tonight.” he said. “I’m going to have to give this some thought.”

“Seriously?”

“Hey, I don’t get to choose the dinner menu very often.”

I looked at the clock one more time. “I’m going to be late.” I said grabbing my purse and heading for the door. “Text me when you decide.”

“I will.” he called as I closed and locked the front door.

As I walked to the car, thinking about the hours I’d just added to the already long day I had ahead of me, I made a very important decision. That was the very last time I was going let him catch me talking to the bed.

I was busy loading the dishwasher while Steven cleared off the table. As he handed me a pile of dirty plates it seemed to trigger a romantic thought for him.

“Is there anything special you want for Valentine’s Day this year?” he asked.

I began scraping bits of leftover pork chops into the trash. “I don’t know.” I said. “Why don’t you surprise me?”

Steven groaned. “I hate when you ask me to surprise me. You never like what I come up with.”

“That’s not true,” I argued. “I love your gifts.”

“See, that’s what I mean.” he said. “You just said gifts. So, if I took you out to dinner, you’d be disappointed because what you were really looking for was a new pair of earrings.”

“I don’t want a pair of earrings.” I said as I rinsed the plates before putting them in the dishwasher.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” Steven complained. “If you were looking to go out to dinner, I’d make the mistake of bringing you a box of candy. If you wanted candy this year, I’d think it could all be said in a card.”

I had to smile as I made room in the bottom rack for the serving bowls. I loved the fact that he was worried about coming up with the right gift. I closed the dishwasher door and pushed the start button. Leaning against the counter, I watched as Steven put the salad dressing away. “Whatever you come up with will be perfect.” I said.

That’s when Steven had another idea. “Why don’t you tell me your favorite Valentine’s gift I’ve given you and maybe that will help me pick something out for you this year?”

I didn’t have to think very long.

“Remember a few years back when we had a really heavy snow? You took the boys outside and after a few minutes you called me on the phone and told me to go upstairs and look out the window.” I smiled as I remembered the day. “When I looked out the window there were all of my guys standing in the front yard, pointing to the heart shapes you’d made in the snow with your boots.”

I went over and gave Steven a kiss on the cheek. “That was my favorite Valentine’s Day present.” I said.

Steven looked out the window where all the snow from last week had melted. Only a few piles of dirty snow were left. Steven turned back to me. “Okay, so what was your second favorite present?”

Steven walked by my office and stopped when he saw that I was bent over with my hands wrapped about my ankles while I unsuccessfully tired to press my head somewhere close to my knees.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I was reading an article on how to cut back on my caffeine intake.” I wheezed. “It says that any inverted yoga pose is just as energizing as a cup of coffee or tea.” I was really hoping it was true because right at that particular moment it felt like my head was about to explode and I was pretty sure it wasn’t from the lack of caffeine in my system.

“How long do you have to do that?” he asked.

“It said only about two minutes.” I felt like my two minutes were up so I stood and quickly sat back down in my desk chair.

“How do you feel” Steven asked.

“Dizzy.” My eyes were busy following the burst of little stars as they floated around in front of me. “Maybe I got up too fast.”

“Well, as long as you’re feeling energized.” Steven laughed.

“It’s not working yet.” I complained. I gave myself a few seconds then got back down on my hands and knees, I pushed my legs up straight so that my knees were locked and my rear end was sticking up in the air. “I’m going to try some downward facing dog instead.”

“How is that going to be any different that what you just did?” he asked.

“This one involves the pose and my breathing.” I told him.

“You weren’t breathing with the last one?”

“You trying taking a deep breath while your head is smashed up against your knees.” I argued.

“I guess that’s true.” Steven took a sip of his coffee. “So how long do you have to hold this pose?”

“Can you wait a minute?” I asked. I pulled a deep breath in through my nose and slowly released it through my mouth. “I shouldn’t be talking right now. I’m supposed to be concentrating on my breathing.”

Steven leaned against the door frame to wait. After a few more deep breaths I got up from my pose and looked at Steven.

“So, did that one work?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “At least I’m not as dizzy anymore. But I’m not sure I’m feeling energized with either one of them.”

Steven held out his mug for me to see. “Have you thought about skipping the torture and just having a little caffeine?”

“I know.” I sighed. I missed the several cups of tea I’d usually be drinking throughout my day. “But it was too much. It’s time for me to find something else that’s going to wake me up in the morning.” I went to grab a towel and headed for our bathroom. “The article also said that if I end my shower with a quick burst of cold water it would perk me up and get me ready to start my day.”

Steven laughed again. “I know that’s how I’d want to start my days.” He called as he took another sip of his coffee. “Dizzy, cold and still tired.”.

I have to admit, he was beginning to get me to rethink my caffeine-free morning

I’d gone to the grocery store and I guess I was running a bit late because Steven met me at the door.

“What happened to you?” he asked.

“I got a little side-tracked by a phone call.” I replied. I handed him a few bags to put on the counter.

“Who called you?” he asked.

“No one.”

Steven looked confused so I went on to explain. “I was in the store when a woman behind me was on her cell phone and she was a cell yeller.”

We’d both had experiences with cell yellers. Those annoying people who don’t seem to know how loud they’re talking.

“This woman says, ‘I usually never do that on a first date, but I couldn’t help myself this time.’ I looked at Steven and shrugged my shoulders. “What was I supposed to do after she said that?” I asked.

Steven looked at me. “What doesn’t she do on the first date?”

“That’s what I mean! There’s no way I could walk away from that opening. So I had to follow her for three aisles before I found out it was eating spaghetti.”

“She doesn’t eat spaghetti on the first date?”

“Nope, it turns out that she thinks it’s too messy. She also can’t figure out how much to put on her fork or if she should twirl it with a spoon or shove it against a piece of bread. But for some reason she decided to go for it on this date and gave it a try.”

Steven started to laugh. “But I still don’t see how that would make you so late.”

“Are you kidding?” I opened the freezer to put the frozen food away. “By the time she got the whole story out I’d done all of her shopping with her. I was so busy pretending to shop for things I didn’t need that I didn’t get any real shopping done.

I put the oranges in the fruit bowl. “When I found out she wasn’t going to have a very interesting conversation I had to put away all of my pretend shopping and start all over again!”

I began stacking the canned goods in the pantry. “You can see how time consuming that can be.”

“So what you’re telling me is that you’re late because you were too busy pretend shopping so you could eavesdrop on someone’s conversation?”

“I was not eavesdropping!” I was insulted that he would even think that about me.

“So what do you call listening in on someone’s personal call?”

“We’ve had this discussion before. “I reminded him. I was beginning to get annoyed. “It’s not a personal call when you’re shouting for everyone to hear.”

Steven didn’t look convinced.

“Well, I wasn’t the only one following her to listen to her conversation.” I reasoned.

“How do you know that?”

“Because when I got bored and started putting back my pretend shopping there were a few other people doing the same thing.”

“But how do you know they were listening to her conversation too?” he asked.

“Because I could hear them muttering about spaghetti and first dates.”

“You could hear them muttering?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “What can I say, Steven? I have excellent hearing.”

Steven, Alex and I were sitting in our living room watching a movie. I got up from the couch and hadn’t even taken a step when both of them said in unison. “Are you getting something to eat?”

“We just finished dinner ten minutes ago!” I said as I moved over to the window to look out in our backyard. “I’m checking to see how hard it’s snowing out.” I didn’t even have to switch on the outside light to see that it was coming down. “I wonder how many inches this one’s going to be?” I asked.

Steven put the movie on pause and switched over to the weather channel. “It’s still saying over twelve inches by the end of tomorrow night.” he said before changing back to the movie.

I turned around to look at them. Both of them had their feet up on the coffee table, their heads on pillows and comforters wrapped around them. “I wasn’t talking about inches of snow.” I complained. “I’m talking about inches around my waist!”

Alex looked over at me. “You promised me you’d make brownies tomorrow.” he said. “Are you trying to back out of that?”

“No.” I sighed.

“You also promised me you’d make French toast for breakfast.” Alex added.

“I know.” I could already feel the extra inches on my hips and I hadn’t even started my-stuck-in-the-house-eating.

“You’re still making the pot of chili for tomorrow nights dinner, aren’t you?” Steven asked. “I was looking forward to that.”

“Listen to us!” I cried. “All we talk about is food!”

“What else is there to do?” Steven asked.

“I don’t know, maybe we could all take a walk in the snow?” I suggested. “Build a snowman, maybe take up a winter sport?”

Steven and Alex turned around to stare at me. “It’s going to be a blizzard.” Steven said.

“Besides.” Alex added then started to laugh. “You hate the snow!”

“I don’t hate it.” I corrected him. “I don’t mind looking at it through the window.”

“Even when the kids were little you wouldn’t go out in it.” Steven reminded me. “You’d send me out to fight the snow battles and build the snow forts.”

“Yeah, you’d wave to us from the kitchen window!” Alex said.

“I didn’t have time to go outside and play.” I argued. “I was too busy in the kitchen baking cookies and getting the hot chocolate ready for when you guys came in!”

“Oh…” Alex said. “That reminds me. Do we have any hot chocolate?”

“I’m sure there’s some in the pantry.”

“Can you make us some?” he asked. “We’ll stop the movie until you get back.”

Steven had already hit the pause button again.

“I suppose I could make some.” I said as I headed for the kitchen.

“Is there any more coffee cake left?” Alex called to me.

“Yes.” I said.

“I’ll have some of that too!” he called back.

“Me too!” Steven said.

As I loaded another try with food I was beginning to wonder if maybe I should just trade my jeans in for a pair of sweat pants…at least until the snow stops.

I’d been complaining for a very long time that I never seemed to have anything to wear, even though my closet was jammed with clothes. So…it was finally time. I opened the closet and began pulling out the unwanted, unloved, and let’s face it unwearable.

The first thing I pulled out was a maxi dress I’d loved. “I’m going to miss you.” I said as I dropped it on the floor making it my first on the give-away pile. No one had worn that style dress for a few years, but I’d been holding on because, well, it had looked good on me and I was hoping against hope that it would come back into fashion. “I’m sure you’ll find a good home somewhere else.” I assured it as I turned back to my closet.

The next item I grabbed was a beautiful black blazer. “Why haven’t I worn you?” I asked as I held it up to admire the cut. “You’re a classic!” I checked the size. “Perfect!” I was excited.

That’s when my husband Steven walked in. “What are you up to?” he asked as I held up the blazer for him to see. “This is the reason I decided it was time to clean out the closet! Look what I just found!” I cried as I slipped it off the hanger and put it on. “It’s still fits!” I said as I spun around to show him.

“Wow! I haven’t seen shoulder pads that big in years!” he said.

I turned to face the mirror to see what he was talking about. I sighed, feeling the disappointment of losing a perfectly good piece of clothing. “I look like I should be playing football.” I said as I tried pushing the shoulder pads down, somehow trying to crush them.

Steven shook his head. “There’s no way you’re going to make them any smaller.” he said.

I took it off and threw it in the pile.

Now I felt like I was on a roll. Shirts I hadn’t worn in years were thrown on the pile, no need to even try them on.

“I heard one way to check that you haven’t worn something for a while is to turn the hangers backwards. Then in six months, with just a quick glance, you can tell what you haven’t worn.” I began turning the hangers.

“You can’t just look at something and tell you haven’t worn it?” Steven asked.

“Well, yeah.” I said as I shrugged my shoulders. “But I read about this in a magazine and I thought it was worth a try.”

Steven just laughed and shook his head as he watched me throw a pair of jeans on the pile. “What’s wrong with those?” he asked.

“I don’t like them.” I said as I turned back to my closet.

Steven picked them up and looked at them. “There’s nothing wrong with these.” he said as he held them up. “Aren’t you going to try them on?”

“Nope.” I was busy pushing hangers around trying to find more that would go on the giveaway pile.

“Why not?”

I took the jeans out of him hands and dropped them back on the pile. Then I looked deep into his eyes and slowly said. “Because I don’t want to try them on.”

Steven looked confused for a moment then seemed to snap out of it. “Oh, sorry. I guess they don’t fit anymore, huh?”

We stared at each other for a moment until Steven turned to leave. “Maybe I’ll leave you alone while you finish up.” he said as he headed for the bedroom door.

“That would be a real good idea.” I said, as I sadly pulled more things out that were the wrong size.

Steven stopped in the doorway. “Would it make you feel any better if I made you a cup of tea?”

“You know, I think it would.” I had to smile.

 I was visiting with my sister Donna a few months ago when she asked if I wanted to see a program she’d taped.

“Sure.” I said as I made myself comfortable on her couch.

While she was busy selecting the program she handed me a coloring book and a packet of colored pencils.

“I like to color while I watch.” she said. She settled in her comfy chair with her own coloring book resting in her lap. There was a packet of freshly sharpened colored pencils on the arm of the chair. “It’s very relaxing.” she insisted.

I wasn’t convinced. “I’m not big on coloring.” I said as I opened the book and saw page after page of line designs of flowers. “They’re pretty.” I admitted. “But I didn’t even like to color when I was a kid.”

“Just try it.” She said as the show came on and she selected her first color and began working on her picture.

I shrugged my shoulders, found a page I liked and began coloring.

I knew a lot of adults loved to color. I just felt like I wasn’t going to be one of them. But, I was willing to give it a try. I’d heard about the studies from psychologists who claimed that coloring wis suppose to be the alternative to meditation. It is suppose to unlock your creative potential and relieve tension and anxiety. While I concentrated on not going out of the lines, I wasn’t feeling like my anxiety level was lowering. In fact I was feeling annoyed as I slipped out of the lines and grabbed another color to try and fix my first mistake.

Now, I’d also heard coloring was also suppose to unlock memories of your childhood. Well, that one I was in complete agreement with!

I quickly had flashbacks of when I was a kid and had gotten my first paint on velvet kit. I was so excited! I’d set myself up in the kitchen, where I thought the best light was. Then I took out the velvet picture of the puppy and began my creative journey. It didn’t take me long to find out that my painting was turning into a disaster! I couldn’t seem to stay in the lines so as the picture progressed it slowly transformed from a picture of a cute puppy into more of a Rorschach ink blot test!

So now as I once again was trying to unlock my creative side I found myself wandering outside the lines. “Oh Come On!” I cried as I grabbed another colored pencil and tried to fix another mistake.

“You can’t make a mistake in coloring!” Donna tried to remind me.

Easy for her to say, as I looked at her picture where all the colors were blending beautifully together and her shading was perfection!

“Mine looks like a five year old did it.” I complained, colored pencil in hand as I tried desperately to keep my tongue from sticking out of the corner of my mouth as I was fixing yet another mistake. I looked at my half finished picture, knowing it was never going to be refrigerator hanging worthy and decided to give up.

By now I realized I’d missed most of the show. “Can you rewind this?” I asked as I put my coloring book next to me. “I’ll finish my picture later.” I said.

“Sure.” she said. I was pretty sure she knew I was lying, I was never going to finish the picture. But she never said a word as she picked up the remote and hit the rewind button.

 It was turning out to be one of those days. I was sitting on the couch, playing games on my phone, when my son Alex came by and sat down next to me.

“What are you playing?” asked me.

“I just downloaded a new game called Blossom Blast.” I said as my finger dragged across the screen, matching flowers.

“How do you play?” he asked.

“I’m not really sure yet.” I said but I’d just connected eight roses and now flowers were blooming and exploding all over the screen. “But I seem to be really good at it because in a minute a little bee will come out and tell me I’m doing a great job!”

Alex just laughed. “Don’t you have any real games on your phone?”

“This is a real game!” I said.

“I mean ones that don’t have cartoon flowers or bees.” he asked.

“I play other games.” I laughed as I closed my flower game and held up my phone for him to see all the other apps on my phone. “See. Plenty of other games.”

Alex looked at the screen. “Candy Crush, Bejeweled and Solitaire are they only games I see.”

“I have more.” I flicked my finger across the screen showing more of my apps.

Alex pointed to one. “What’s 7 minutes?”

“Oh, that’s not a game that an exercise app I downloaded.” I opened it up to show him the list of exercises. “You can do all these in just seven minutes!”

“Did you download this as your New Years Resolution? He asked.

I started to laugh. “I downloaded that months ago!” I said.

“So how do you like it?”

“I haven’t really tried it yet.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I can’t seem to find the time.” I admitted.

Now it was time for Alex to laugh. “It only takes 7 minutes! You can’t find seven minutes?” he asked.

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong.” I took back my phone and showed him the different sections. “They have a tutorial on how they want you to do each exercise.” I explained. “That’s twenty minutes right there.” I pointed to the seventh step, triceps dips on a chair. “ I have to get a kitchen chair for this one.” I looked back on my phone. “And this one needs a low table I can step up on.” I closed the app and looked back at Alex. “I have to get all those things together and change into my workout clothes before I can even think about starting. That’s more than seven minutes!” I complained.

“So why don’t you get rid of the app?” he asked.

“Because I’m going to do it some day.” I argued. “Everyone says it’s a great program!”

That’s when the toaster dinged. “Yeah! My Pop Tart’s ready!” I cried. I laid my phone down next to Alex as I got up from the couch. “I made two, do you want one?” I asked him.

He laughed as he picked up my phone. “Sure you can eat yours while you watch the exercise tutorials.” he said.

The holiday rush was behind me and I was finally getting a chance to sit back and enjoy my tree. As I looked at all the different decorations hanging from it’s branches, I couldn’t help but notice my vacation ornaments. We’d been so busy the last few years, with one away at school and the rest of us busy working, we weren’t traveling as much as we used to.

I pulled one of my favorite ones off the tree. I held it up so my husband Steven, who was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper, could see it. “Do you remember when Alex had to have a real cowboy hat?” I asked him as I showed him the cactus wearing a Santa hat with the word “Arizona” written across it.

Steven looked over and smiled. “I think he still has it in his room.”

“I hope so. I loved him in that hat!” It was the first time the boys or I had ever been out west and we’d all fallen in love with the desert. I hung the ornament back on the tree and began looking at all the others.

“How many times did we take the boys to Florida?” I asked as I gently touched the Disney Mickey waving his magic wand.

“A few.” Seven said as he turned the page of his newspaper.

I looked at several more Disney ornaments. “I guess I must have picked up a few of these on each of the trips.” I said as I noticed more than just a few Disney decorations.

I looked over at the miniature lobster pot from our trip to Maine. “Remember the boat ride for the whale watch?” I asked.

“How could I forget?” Steven said, then laughed. “When you found out we’d have to ride out a few miles to see them, you asked the Captain if there was some way he could get the whales to come closer to shore so we didn’t have to go out so far!”

“I was kidding!”

“No you weren’t.”

“Alright.” I admitted. “I wasn’t. But we were out so far you couldn’t see the shore! You know how much I hate being that far out in the ocean.”

“Oh I know, and so did the entire boatload of whale watchers.” Steven said.

“But then we saw three or maybe it was four whales that day.” I smiled at the memory. “They were so beautiful.”

I looked at the sand dollar from our trip to the Outer Banks next to the pewter ornament of the Capital building in Washington. “I can’t believe we timed that trip right when the cherry trees were in full bloom!”

“They boys like that trip.”

“They liked all our trips.” I said as my eyes fell on the little black buggy from our trip to the Amish Country. “Well, maybe not this one.” I held the buggy up for him to see.

“Yeah, making the boys stay at a diary farm and having them get up to milk the cows wasn’t so much fun for any of us.” he said.

“I thought they might like to see what it was like to live on a working farm.”

“They found out that neither of them would ever want to do that for a living.” Steven said, then laughed.

“So it was a good thing!”

I hung it back on a branch then stood back and looked at all our other travel ornaments. “You know there’s still some room on this tree for a few more trip ornaments.” I said.

Just then both boys walked into the room.

“Are we planning a trip?” Alex asked.

“That sounds like a great idea!” Max said.

Steven looked at me. “That sure was a subtle hint.”

I shrugged my shoulders. I really hadn’t planned it that way but…I had to smile as I began thinking about where our next destination could be.