Oh what a night...

As there is opposition in all things on the Earth (good vs. evil, light vs. dark, you get the picture), it seems fair to blog about those days that just don't go as planned.

Bob works a lot. And serves on the village board. And is now the local scout master. We rarely see him for more than a few moments at a time. So, Friday is kind of our night. We either eat in, watch a movie, play games or we go have Chinese food and wander through the Tractor Supply store in Geneseo. Lame, we know, but that's how we roll. The point is it is our one night that doesn't usually get interrupted.

Which makes the events of this evening all the more galling.

I found a free picnic table on Freecycle. Freecycle is a great place to find things (I've found two pianos for people looking for them. And a couch. And a freezer.) More importantly for someone like me, it is a place to get rid of things without having to throw them in a landfill or drive to the Salvation Army. We just bought some land out in Allegany County and there is a tree with shade that would suit a picnic table quite well. Especially a free one that aside from needing some paint, the lady assured me, was in sound condition.

So the Friday plan: Mix it up. Drive to Pavilion. Pick up free picnic table. Drive to Warsaw. Try a different Chinese buffet. TWO friends told me the Ho Ho Chinese Buffet was fantastic. Tammy even rolled her eyes heavenward when she said it.

Excited, Bob and I both limited our eating for the day to save calories for Chinese. Perhaps we should have listened to Ellie who cried the entire way, "I don't want to go to new Chinese! I don't want to go to new Chinese!" times 40 minutes.

In Pavilion, in the snow, we trekked over to our new picnic table, which came apart in every place I tried to pick it up. I wanted to leave it there, and call it good. Bob's courtesy chip went off, and he insisted we take it. Why? It is BROKEN in three places...and not the kind you can fix easily. The wood rot kind of broken. Sigh. Waste of energy and gas money.

But dinner was on the horizon. I tried to cheer the kids up by telling them how good Ms. Tammy and Ms. Rachel said it was. It had the words "Ho Ho" in it. That had to be fun, right?

Actually, it's short for ho-ho-horrible. Honestly, it was terrible. The kids actually like Chinese food but they couldn't stomach it. Bob and I who have a far greater tolerance for weird both ate a mediocre buffet plate, bemoaning that we didn't just scrap this plan and go to Geneseo.

And it cost us $10 more than a night in Geneseo. Not to mention the consolation french fries from McDonalds since the kids couldn't eat any of that rotten food...and I couldn't begrudge them the treat. Not after all they'd endured. :)

To add a insult to injury, Here was my fortune...from a very tasteless, plastic-y fortune cookie:

To recap: We drove more than 50 miles through three counties wasting gas in two vehicles to pay twice as much as necessary for a crappy dinner to come home with a busted picnic table that we will likely just turn into bonfire fodder and wasted three hours doing it all.

Indeed, I am truly smart.