Sitting down at midnight to write up a post for your blog. You know what's even more dumb than that? The reason for being up at midnight is Monopoly. You know what's even more dumb than that??? Playing Monopoly with James Horne. Good grief. I had forgotten. When we first got married and I was actually able to coax him into an occasional game (it's a major rarity anymore) I declared that I would never again play Monopoly with him. I hate playing Monopoly with him because he won't play the game. All of the property gets bought up and it's time to start making deals so everybody can get some monopolies going and put up houses and all that, but James refuses to deal. So unless you just get mad and quit, you end up spending the next 18 hours swapping petty cash back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, and then quitting. It's better to just quit right off the bad. Better yet, just don't start the dumb game! I kept wondering tonight why I used to love Monopoly so much. Played it all the time--even by myself (with myself?), if necessary. Crazy. I suppose it might be mildly fun if you were with the right crowd, but they didn't show up tonight. Sam and Tammy were here, but they aren't good Monopoly company either. Tammy hates Monopoly, so no matter what happens you feel somewhat guilty that you're even making her take part in the first place. And Sam is the absolute opposite of James--he'll give you anything for anything. "Hey, Sam--would you sell me your Pacific Avenue for $200 and this Get Out of Jail Free card? Thanks!!! Oh, consequently, that gives me a monopoly on the green properties that I am now going to put hotels on and will cost everybody $1400 a whack every time they take a stroll down the lane..." You know what's even more dumb than everything I just mentioned? We spent three hours being miserable doing it!!! And dumber still??? We could have spent those precious minutes playing a game that we truly enjoy, having fun!!! After all, isn't the the whole point of a game??????? Well, we blew it tonight. The only good thing that has come of it is a lesson well learned. Tomorrow morning our family is gathering in the backyard for a sacred Torching of the Monopoly Board ceremony. Maybe I'll keep the ashes in a little urn in the game cabinet to remind me to never again buy that stupid game. Ggrrrr. What a waste.

In other news (thank goodness!), several of our "regulars" were gone today, but we had two visitors in church! Praise the Lord!!! Two of the women who were at Bible Study on Wednesday came, and the only reason the other friend wasn't with them is because she was out of town. We had a really good service and they seemed to really, really, enjoy it. It's soooooooo exciting!!! God is just so very, very good to us and I can't thank Him enough for all He's doing in my life, my family, and our church here in little old Andrews, Texas. :-)

Yesterday was another spontanious day. I've had about as many of those as I can handle--I'm ready to find some rhyme and rhythm in my life so I can start making sense of things again! James wanted to take us out to Main Street Deli for lunch. It's the new Mom & Pop joint here in town and he hadn't had a chance to try it yet. It was mediocre at best, but in a small town it's just nice to have something different. It's just across the street from Aunt Sue's store, so we strolled on over there. Aunt Sue was out of town so the relief girl was working, but I was wanting to find a large sign for my wall to replace the "Sit Long, Talk Much" one that I've had for years and years and years--I had a different place for that one anyway. Well, one thing led to another and we walked out of there with the large sign I wanted, two shadowboxes, a tin star, and a bag bulging with miscellanious stuff. (I told the relief girl that she had a lot of holes to fill--she'd better get busy! Ha!) James just kept telling me to grab everything that I liked and thought I might have a place for and that we'd take it home, play around with it and see what I liked, then return the rest. (The privilege of being the niece of the owner!) Well, you know how that goes. I only picked things that I like, so naturally I found places for most of it! (I have a not-exactly-bulging bag of stuff to return to the store tomorrow.) I was feeling sooooooooooooo guilty over it all because house decor doesn't exactly fall into the category of "necessities" and there's no reason I had to buy all of it right now. (My plan had been to purchase one small thing at a time over the next year or so.) I was ready to start ripping it off the walls and shoving it back in the bag until James reminded my of my stash. Before we got married James received some amazing counsel from a very wise man (thanks, Dad!) to always give his wife a certain amount, no matter how tiny, from his paycheck. It gives her "her own" money and cuts down on fighting over finances. So I've had a continuous stash that we usually use to draw from in tight situations, then James will replace it when he can and add a little extra when possible. Anyway, we use it for our "reserve," but it's really supposed to be my play money to spend on anything I want. I got to thinking about it and I can't even remember the last time I used it to buy anything for me!!! So suddenly most of the guilt lifted (not all; I always feel guilty when spending money--it's part of my personality make-up, I guess!) and I dug out the stash and found enough to cover all of the stuff we got and I still have a little bit left over. --Thanks entirely to the sweet little "family discount" Aunt Sue allows me. None of this would ever be possible without that, I assure you! Ha! So anyway...

When we left Aunt Sue's store we drove down the street and stumbled upon a... Hhhhmmmm, how should I say? A parking lot with a whole slew of cardboard boxes full of "stuff" (each box had a price scribbled on the outside, from $1 to $3--or maybe up to $5) and a trailer with a dude sitting in it collecting money. You know, a moving junk sale. One box was full of baby plates, the next had tiny screwdriver sets, the next had packs of socks... You get the idea. Junk. The kids went nuts. They were diving head first into every box they passed like a bunch of scavengers--vultures swooping down on the prey. James was almost just as bad and I even found a thing or two amid the heaps. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all. We just came from Aunt Sue's very, very nice, classy anything-but-junk store... drove a few blocks and landed in junk sale city! Ha! I guess our family just doesn't fit into a category. Nothing is above or beneath us! Ha!

Good grief. I would pick a night when it's way past bedtime to ramble. Oh yeah--after church today I got the living room and bedrooms cleaned up, the bathroom scrubbed down, the kitchen floor mopped, and the whole house (minus my office and the kids' play room--they're kind of separated and will have to be worked on tomorrow, hopefully) vacuumed. It felt great!!! Still does! And James went out back and started to work on a miniature fence that's going to surround our soon-to-be-planted garden. What a productive day! Then Sam and Tammy came over and we had a nice visit... until somebody whipped out the Monopoly board, that is. It all went downhill from there. Ggrrr. What a waste. I could've spent those three hours playing Rummy!!! We have to fight to get James to play a game with us. Well, he sure showed us tonight. He is NOT invited next time. (He's the dope who chose the game and you can rest assured he knew exactly what he was doing. He knew he'd be off the hook and not asked to play again for months. Jerk.) Okay, I gotta get some sleep. Look Mom, I blogged!!! Aren't you proud?! No hands! (Well...)

G'Night!
~ Bec ~