The people that got us through

For my birthday I received a $50 gift certificate to Toys R Us. I am sure you are wondering why anyone would give a 30 year old woman a gift certificate to a toy store for her birthday. Well it came from so very dear friends of ours and they know my personality very well. We used to go to the Long Beach Kite Festival every year with them, we have spent many an evening playing games and having a few too many to drink. This is the couple that, in our younger years, we invented random drinking games. Drinking Uno anyone? (I only recommend that game if all players are drinking the same drink) Anyway, Sam and Cari are just big kids and they bring out the very big kid in me. Not that she doesn't appear at the sight of a shiny object, a fluffy bunny, or on a daily basis for that matter. Thus the gift certificate.

Ok, the gift certificate is dual purpose. It is partly for me and partly for Pickle. Man I have to start sharing my stuff with that kid already. I digress.

The weather has been nice and warm around here and living in the northwest having an air conditioner in your home is practically unheard of. The front of our house faces south and is full of windows. Great in the dreary winter, but makes for a greenhouse effect in the summer. The only solace from the heat is our back patio. On the north side of the house. Right around evening it is a great place. I thought I would take advantage of my gigantic patio and purchase myself a little pool.

Ahh Ha! I have a gift certificate for a place that sells little pools. Perfect. So armed with a plan I head out the door from work and tell one of the Pastors that I am off to Toys R Us to buy a kiddie pool. After a strange look and a little chuckle I tell him I am going to tell people it is for Pickle, but secretly it is for me. He replies, "your own little hot tub... only not so hot. Good luck with that."

I tell CS my plan and he says it's my gift certificate and I can buy whatever I want. We head off to TRU to purchase the "hot tub" of my dreams. Actually I want an above ground swimming pool that I can actually swim in, but they are too expensive, the upkeep is a pain and it would require more work than I am willing to put in at this point.

We arrived at TRU to find that there was only 1 pool left in the size that would fit into CS's car. We couldn't leave it in the pool section for fear of someone else snagging it and I would be out of luck. So CS grabs the pool and proceeds to roll it around the store while I look for something else to buy. What a sight. Two grown adults rolling a 46" kiddie pool around Toys R Us with no child of their own in sight.

As always I couldn't find anything else in the store to purchase so we decided to just go with the pool and spend the rest of the gift card over at Breeders R Us. A whole $7.99 later we arrive home with my schmancy new pool. I filled it up this morning and took my feet for a test swim. Best hot tub ever!

CS said he expects someday to come home to see me sitting in it with the 70 year old neighbor behind us laughing at me. If it gets hot enough I just might. Better go blow up my water wings.

Just so you can ooh and aah over my new pool, here is a photo for your viewing pleasure...