NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY!

It has been one of those weeks.  Not a week where everything has gone according to plan; nor a week where everything has failed to go according to plan, but a week where nothing of significance has occurred. 

When I say nothing of significance occurred, I do not mean that nothing out of the ordinary happened. On the contrary, my week was a little topsy turvy but I sat in the office while everyone else went out to 'play'.

The tornadoes hit Oklahoma as they usually do at this time of year, and those of us farther south experienced the backlash without the catastrophe.  I sat at the pool on Sunday afternoon, enjoying the sun, and the company, and instead of our usual 'stop at home' or 'take out' on a Sunday evening, Dana and I decided to dine at the French café, La Madeleine.  A salad and bowl of French onion soup satisfied my craving for something a little different, and we returned home at a reasonable hour for a 'school night'.

I had intended to ride my new bike at some stage during the week, but unfortunately the weather during the times when this would be possible, kept the two wheeled piece of machinery in pristine condition, and it could still be advertised as 'one owner, never been used'.  Much as I would like to alter that status, the meteorological outlook in Oklahoma deemed it almost impossible!  I took the advantage of the calm before the literal tempest, on Monday, and came home at lunchtime to swim.  The water, despite being a still pool, was slightly choppy and the waves made it a little more difficult to enjoy twenty minutes of leisurely lapping.  However, no one else had chosen that particular time to enjoy the water, and I was alone.  When I say alone, I am referring to being a solo swimmer.  Samantha took her lunch break and lay on the new lounge chairs, as the maintenance men, Russ and Raul, were adjusting the sprinklers.  They mentioned something about 'checking the pressure' as we walked down the stairs, and called out numbers to each other, presumably corresponding with the system they have to check the water jets.  The idea of remaining on the side lines and dry, was a little ambitious.  As the wind hit the spray that emitted from the nozzles, so Samantha experienced a few short, sharp showers!  When I had finished my daily workout, we both dripped our way back to the condo! 

The rain poured on Monday night, and I was pleased that I chose to cook dinner inside, rather than grill in the sun room.  I watched as the rain danced, and jumped each time the thunder roared overhead.  The lightening flashes gave little time to prepare for the deafening rumbles that seemed to shake the complex.  The lights, thankfully, stayed on, and the oven did not lose power, enabling us to eat in the safety of our house.  The television warned of storms, and the usual 'turn around, don't drown' messages ran across the bottom of the screen,  Dana's phone was buzzing constantly as he has not quite figured out how to turn off the 'emergency' warning signals, and I am afraid to attempt to do so, as I am not familiar with his particular version of cell, and am very much a 'one girl, one phone' type of person!  Although I may be able to work out the inner operations, any fault occurring following my adjustment would probably be attributed to my mismanagement! 

Dressing for the occasion, Dana was ready to leave at 2pm on Tuesday, to attend the committee hearing for his 'bill'.  The House of Representatives committees typically meet after adjournment on the House floor, upon completion of business listed on the daily calendar.  Many times, the House will adjourn around 2pm, but Tuesday saw a particularly busy schedule, and a lot of debating.  The Representatives did not leave the floor until rather late in the afternoon, bordering on evening, and that meant a very late night.  I had assumed, incorrectly, that the Committee would meet at around 3pm, hear the testimonies for and against by five, and Dana would return to the office in time to tidy up and close up shop and we would be home at seven-ish.  Oh those plans!  A phone call alerting him that there was probably about an hours worth of business left to attend to on the House floor, came at four thirty.  Knowing that there was no way I would be able to terminate operations at 5pm, when the rest of the internal staff  'clocked off', I thought this might be an opportunity to go and collect the bike, and ride back to the office, thus giving me transportation home when I had taken care of the closing ceremony.  The dark clouds, and distant flashes of light emitting therefrom caused me to decide against the open air option of transport, and Samantha took me home to get my car.  Before I had reached the office, the heavens opened, and the rain started to fall. 

Shortly before 6pm, I turned off the computers, lights and coffee machine, and ran out of the office, to my car that was alone in the lot.  I had prepared dinner earlier that day, and it was warming in the crockpot.  The rain continued as I watched Dana be supurb in front of the committee, and wondered how they could fail to pass the bill out of their jurisdiction after his outstanding performance.  However, as I have mentioned before, this is quite literally political and if his back scratcher does not reach the desired itch, then all is lost.  Without getting into a political wrangle, what is sensible and advantageous for the masses, does not necessarily suit those with a different agenda!  Enough said!

Dana arrived home a little after 9:30pm, looking like he had taken a shower and forgotten his towel!  Dripping was an understatement.  He looked more like he was a piece of ice melting in front of a furnace!  I sent him upstairs to get changed, and dished up his dinner, which he ate heartily.  We discussed the evenings events, and decided to wind down with a rather deep episode of a fictional spy drama, with an underlying portion of government gone array!  The words 'punishment' and 'gluttons for' come to mind!

As the week progressed, I found that any thought of using my bicycle would be impossible.  Thunder rumbled on a regular basis, and whilst the storms were short and sharp, they were prolific.  Outside invariably disagreed with the forecast on my phone, and whilst the Internet assured me that things would not get wet, the open air area either at my house or at the office, untruthfully showed the opposite!  "There is no rain in Texas, according to the radar", came the shout from Dana.  "What makes you think we are going to have any precipitation?" was the next question. I had thought about standing outside as the bullets of water splattered off the surface, but making that point may have resulted in injury! 

Friday morning arrived, with more rain, and Samantha had offered to collect an order of envelopes from the stationery store.  Fortunately, the place that were holding the envelopes, was also next to the store that advertised the release of a new movie, featuring various hues of a particular colour!  Half a century of the intermediate colour when mixing black and white, was not as popular as I had anticipated, and the crowds were non-existent, but my daughter was erring on the side of caution, and not taking any chances (quite the opposite, apparently, from the contents of the movie) by obtaining her copy before the rest of the 'central time zone' nation!  After both collections were made, we headed back to the office.  I enquired as to the route she wished to take, as the traffic was starting to jam and she replied.  I am not sure as to whether I was pre-occupied, or just hard of hearing on Friday, but the answer I heard was not, "I thought we would turn after Costco".  The retort was "Yes, mother, I am going to take the hypotenuse!  I don't even know what the hypotenuse is!"  I had wondered at her sudden use of the word, and while I started to explain Pythagoras'  theory, she further retorted with the fact that she was aware of what it was, but would not really think about using the word in a sentence, especially about driving directions! The journey back to the office was full of ideas on how I could improve my hearing!

Saturday morning started as Friday, and the rain pelted down the windows of my condo, as Dana left for the office.  By the time Samantha had arrived, apparently by the hypotenuse route, (I felt a surge of sarcasm emitting from my only daughter,) the sun was shining and all around was dry.  We drove to Costco, rather than by it, and completed our shopping.  With the afternoon looking to be an enigma on the weather front, we took ourselves down to the pool and sat out under the overcast skies.  The rain failed to show, and I fell asleep.

America celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May, and this Sunday was it!  "Done with surprises", was the sentence my daughter used when Dana asked if she had anything in store for the event!  She asked me to let her know "Where and when" we were meeting, for breakfast, brunch, lunch or all three!  The traditional trip to the Mexican restaurant that hands out t-shirts was decided, so as not to break with tradition, (as we have done so many times over the past year,) and we enjoyed a very nice repast al fresco. I received a beautiful vase of flowers, balloons, a special card, and a glass 'cutting board', featuring a picture of my lovely daughter and her husband.  Dana asked if the idea was to use it when I was upset with Edward, but we all agreed that I never get upset with Edward!  However, cutting on the hypotenuse may help relieve tension! 

I have almost come to the end of  'one of those weeks', and despite nothing too exciting happening, I think I probably had enough excitement for one week.  I had a couple of opportunities to face time with my grandson, and that is always a pleasure!  I am unsure as to what the impending week will bring, apart from storms, but as always, I try to look for the unusual!  Sometimes hum drum is just what the doctor ordered and sometimes the insignificant can be just as challenging as the remarkable.  With plans to do very little this afternoon, apart from swim a little and read a little, I see the insignificant continuing for the foreseeable future.  There was a slight highlight in the week that I did forget to mention but that, too, insignificant as it probably sounds to many, I taught myself to crochet!  With the help of 'on line' instruction, I have managed to partly make, unravel, and partly make again, (repeating several times,) a flower.  How about that, or not, for ............ another story!