Photostory Friday - Numero Uno Para Mi

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This is my first foray into Photostory Friday. A place where you post a photo that you took and tell the accompanying story.

Any thoughts?

Lest you think the romance has faded in over 21 years of marriage, I'll have you know that's not even remotely true. This was our dinner out last week. At closing time. At the big red bulls-eye store. Well, not really. We ate the actual meal in the van. Cause you know, we're so wild and crazy like that.

The menu, more specifically:

Salami sticks (for mi amore)
Triscuits with Rosemary & Olive Oil (tre bien)
Dr Pepper (not mine, amazingly)
Fruit snacks (for dessert)
Dry roasted sesame seeds (for protein's sake)
Cheese sticks (dairy and protein, all in one conveniently edible stick)
Vitamin water (yes, for me, complete with antioxidants - blueberry, pomegranate, and acai, whatever that is)

Don't you like how I put my exceptional mediocre photography skills to use in this unfocused, poorly staged, and badly lit photo of our exquisite meal?


The rest of the story . . .

Well, Carrie, the Gremlin Wrangler, and I have been talking about her wranglings with the HD converter box and the tv antenna. Since hubby's a very handy and technically minded guy, I've been trying to provide her with some of his wisdom to get it up and running out in the land of eternal flatness.

You know how it goes . . . you're talking with a friend about a thing and then pretty soon you go get the thing. In this case, the thing being the HD converter boxes that the government commands us to purchase before February of 2009 or else lose all ability to watch any television whatsoever. Unless, of course, we cave to the cable and satellite tv movement. Which we won't. So back to the HD box.

Because hubby works on RVs (recreational vehicles, not real vats, or red vapors, or any other silly thing like that), he's been dealing with HD converter boxes. Imagine our surprise when he found out that there are EXTRA channels available - for FREE - when you have an HD converter box attached to your boring, old, analog tv! RTN, for example, where you can watch all these cool, retro tv shows like Hawaii Five-O, Magnum P.I., A-Team, Hardy Boys, and Rawhide.

I just assumed we'd procrastinate wait until a little later to get our handy dandy little HD converter boxes - well, before the expiration date of the government-issued cards (called coupons) for $40 off each box. However, we decided that it was time to go ahead and make the jump. After all, if the gremlin family out in the land of eternal flatness was going for it, so would we.

Hubby called around to locate a couple of cheap reasonably priced boxes in stock. He was able to track down the last two of the model we wanted at Super Target. On the other side of town. Of course. So off we went, to purchase two black, plastic boxes that would bring us retro television and HD quality. The offspring stayed home, because 1) ClayGuy has a sinus infection, and 2) They didn't want to intrude upon our highly romantic evening out.

Well, we didn't exactly just jet off right away. We sort of hung out a little while, and then we left. So it was well past dinner by the time we arrived at Super Target. We hightailed it to the electronics department only to learn from the sweet, kind, and helpful ST electronics department employee that the two coveted boxes she had placed carefully on the counter inside the special employees only zone were gone. GONE!! She even had a little note (which was still on the zone counter) there with some words on it.

Apparently, she had gone on break while we rushed dilly-dallied out the door. Ten little minutes. I mean, really, how hard is it for those two little boxes to just sit there, patiently awaiting our arrival? Harder than I thought. While our helpful and kind employee was at her break, an annoying and snarky employee filled in for her. And promptly sold OUR BOXES to a couple of ladies who came in and claimed to have had some manager call over about these very boxes. OUR BOXES! The boxes we already drove all the way across town to purchase, leaving our sick child and his sibling at home. Hmph!

Annoying and snarky employee kept trying to . . . I don't even know what to call it. I guess pacify the situation or something. He was sooo irritating!! I just wanted him to go away. But no, he had to keep running on at the mouth. "It's no one's fault. Things happen. I didn't know. Blah. Blah. Blah. I take the blame for this. Blah."

Poor sweet, kind, and helpful employee. She just felt so terrible. She understood that we drove all the way across town, on an empty stomach at dinner time, leaving our sick and possibly dying child at home with his little brother. So she called the other Super Duper Target even further across town to the north. Their records showed that SDT had plenty of the highly sought-after boxes. We really had no desire to drive further out to another store, but we'd already come this far in the journey, we might as well accomplish our mission. She spoke with a fellow electronics employee at SDT and he personally pulled the boxes from the shelf, and placed an even larger note upon them. He then set four gargoyle guards upon the boxes, with strict instructions to use their laser beam eyes to shoot anyone who dared venture near our boxes. If that didn't work, they were to beat them severly about the head and neck with their wickedly sharp wings.

Back to the van and off to SDT. Along with a call to check in on the mostly dead, feverish child at home. Fortunately, he was holding up. I think it was Super Mario Smash Bros that really helped sustain him. And his dear, loving brother was gracious enough to play alongside him, knowing how much Super Mario Smash Bros benefitted his elder sibling.

Now we were really getting hungry, as we drove into the night, in pursuit of our HD converter boxes. We hadn't eaten for days hours at this point, and were nearly famished. But we were on a mission. There would be no stops for such frivolous things as food.

We arrived at SDT, and behold, there was a beautiful and glorious sunset, illuminating the clouds with lovely pastel shades. A photo op if ever there was one. Quick bunny trail to the side of the building, a couple shots, and we're on our way in the automatic doors to the world of Super Duper Target. Across the store to the electronics department which is in an entirely different location than the previous Super Target. Fortunately, the gargoyles worked. The two boxes were there - in their cardboard glory, upon the counter of the special, employee-only area, guarded carefully by gargoyles pretty much no one. Although there was a store security guy there. I suspect sweet, kind, and helpful employee from the other store gave him a heads-up after we departed her store. I don't think she could've taken it, had she known we went to yet another store only to leave empty-handed.

We whipped out the nifty government-issued cards (aka coupons) and paid the balance on our highly prized HD converter boxes. Whew! That was quite the endeavor. Now we were really, really hungry.

Seeing how we were in a Super Duper Target, where they sell things like food, we bee-lined it for the other side of the store to locate some sustenance for our withering selves. Turns out they close at 9:00 on Sunday evenings, and we weren't too far away from being locked into a dark store, far, far away from our progeny. So we scrambled for something we could eat en route with no cooking or preparation on our parts.

I think you can figure out the rest of the story for yourself. From the picture. You know, the one you could see if you scrolled and scrolled and scrolled waaaaaayyyyyyy back up at the top of this ridiculously long story. Maybe I should stay away from Photostory Fridays in the future. Apparently, there's far too much story attached to my photos.

Who knew?