Date #9: In Which Nothing of Much Note Happens; Plus: Random Updates

Last Friday night, Mr. Coffee finally got home from his latest two-week business trip. He checked in with me right away and confirmed what we had discussed before we left: a date for Sunday night. Since my mom was around to watch Maddie and Riley, I went over to Mr. Coffee's house for an early dinner. He was exhausted from his trip and was still adjusting to U.S. time, and I was exhausted from dealing with sick kids and being out late at a concert on Saturday night,* so it was a pretty low-key evening, which suited me just fine.

He usually has me call when I arrive at his place, and then he comes down to walk me up from the car. This time, he was watching for me, and as I pulled into my parking spot, the door to his building opened, and there he was. Very sweet.

He always serves awesome snacks. Every time I'm over, he has some new, delicious cheese I've never heard of, plus an array of other goodies.

He has a fireplace. I love fireplaces. I was very, very happy to sit in front of the fireplace, drink some good wine, eat some great snacks, and get caught up on an eventful two weeks.

He showed me pictures from this past trip, during which he celebrated his birthday and his company hosted a massive party for him. It was fun to put his travels in context.

He had downloaded a "virtual zoo" onto his iPhone thinking that Maddie and Riley would enjoy looking at the photos and touching the animals to hear what sound they make. I doubt he imagined how much fun the two of us would have quizzing each other on the animal sounds. I got hyena! I rule!

This is going to sound really odd, but he smells so good. Not like cologne or anything, just the way he smells is the best scent ever. I've had friends tell me that they love the way their significant other smells, but it's never really made sense to me until dating Mr. Coffee. Now it makes perfect sense. He smells divine. He probably thinks I'm nuts because I'm always sniffing him.

The last time I was over, I had teasingly given him a hard time about the fact that the water in his shower didn't get hot enough for my taste. Last night he told me that before he left on his trip, the building maintenance guys came and adjusted the water so that it would get hotter for me. I did not try it out last night, but maybe next time.

I was sent home with a big bag of chocolate for Maddie, Riley, and me. Yum.

We discussed seeing each other during the week this week; he'll know more about his schedule once he's back in the office today. I told him I was free on Tuesday or Thursday evenings. His ever-so-charming and totally-correct-but-just-so-slightly-off reply was, "I'll commit that to memory." I love how he says these things that are not wrong, but not exactly what a native English speaker would say. 

Here's hoping for a midweek rendez-vous.

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I reread my Brain Dump post this morning and realized that I'd made a massive mistake in the first line. For all you interpreters out there, this one would have been classified as a Major Meaning Error. In my first sentence, when I said that everything is crappy in the middle of the night when your children are sleeping, what I meant is that it's crappy when they AREN'T sleeping. 

Sorry for any confusion. I've corrected the post.

But speaking of that post, I love the idea of screaming and yelling in my car. Awesome. Will have to implement that, perhaps during my commute.

Also speaking of that post, the sleeping is getting better. Both kids are feeling much better, coughing less, sleeping more. As with last weekend when I was sick on the farm trip, I'm feeling both grateful that my mom has been here to help and a little bummed that there has been illness to deal with during her stay. 

We've made the most of things, though. Mom and I took the kids to IKEA yesterday morning, which was a hoot. We got there just at the cafeteria opened and had free breakfast. Yum! Maddie ate enough eggs to turn her into a chicken, and Riley enjoyed feeding himself applesauce with an oversized spoon, the only one we could find. Then we hit the children's area where Maddie discovered this chair:

She hopped right in and said, "I in my office! Riley, you see my office?" She loved it. She and Riley each got one for Christmas, along with some kid-size kitchen utensils and a little doll bed. Yay! We got an ice cream cone on the way out, too, which Riley ate with his usual unswavering concentration. Maddie and Riley have mentioned the glory of our IKEA trip too many times to count since we got home.

We've also done lots of playing and lots of eating. Other than the illness, we had a good weekend all around. Tonight we're going out for dinner, then tomorrow we have to say goodbye to my mom. Waaaa!

*My Favorite Anon.: Are you reading? Did you notice that I went out without the kids TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW! Quick, call Child Protective Services!