A Day Off

I made beef stew today. It's so easy: brown the beef with onion, dump it in the slow cooker with carrots, celery, potatoes, a can of tomatoes and seasoning and forget about it until dinner time. Today this mindless dinner was necessary because I was taking the day off.

The day started with a visit to a local coffee shop with my Dear Tim. It was just us, which meant it was peaceful and rare. We sat in the glassed-in part of the shop and looked out on the field that was inhabited by wildlife such as geese and wild rabbits. We talked about anything and nothing and shared sips of tea and coffee and bites of scone and cake. It was the perfect beginning to the day.

A quick trip home to feed the troops, and I was off to base. Tim agreed to take Ian to school in the afternoon and pick both him and Zach up after school. It's a ridiculous schedule for us: Zach to school in the morning, Ian to school in the afternoon and both picked up after 3:15. That makes for 3 trips a day to the school for me, with no more than 3 hours, 50 minutes between trips. At least we live close by. Still, it's begun to wear on me. So today it was Tim's day. I took off to base and he did the ferrying between home and school.

I did a little shopping, sipped a coffee leisurely at the base coffee shop while I skimmed through a newspaper, then browsed the book store for an hour. I managed to buy a bottle of cinnamon syrup for coffee and hot chocolate at home, which I've been trying to do for about a year (they were always out!). I got some baby hair clips for my baby-fine hair and splurged on one of my favorite guilty pleasures: French onion dip with baked Lay's.

Then a trip back home where dinner was bubbling and waiting to be scooped into bowls. Does it get any easier than that?

And tonight I'm starting my new book, The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett. I'm giddy with excitement. I finally finished up Extreme Measures last night, and let me tell you, it was a hard read for me. It felt shallow even though the topic was heavy. I think it was a man's book, with no offense meant to our male counterparts. It was about torture and brawny, testosterone-charged secret operatives and how they go about their business. I found it very, very boring, unlike the lives of the real CIA "spooks" who do the tough stuff every day with little acknowledgment. God bless 'em.