date day

because my jerry and i have been extremely busy of late, because money has been a bit tight, because we won't have lots of opportunity in the next month, because we haven't be alone, and because we're worth doing this; earlier in the week, we decided that today would be date day. we both slept in some, i more than he {naturally}. we got up and around and decided to go to town, stop at the bank, drop off some items at the palmer home thrift store, and go to a favorite place of ours for a leisurely lunch before heading to the movies.

Scheherazade's is a small middle eastern eatery near the college and a special place we like to go for a cup of tasty coffee, or hot sweet mint tea, or a shawarma pita, or kabobs, or a small feta pizza, or or or... a new family has taken over ownership {the old owners were getting burnt out, that happens in small business, where the owner is the manager and the chef and the bottlewasher and and and...}. provided the women are left to run, serve, and such, the place will do just fine. they were very nice, considerate, approachable, and we had the best time chatted with the new owner and her daughters as well as her visiting father. i wish them all the good fortune in the world, and i'm sure they will do just fine; provided the man of the family steers clear and allows his wife to actually do what she is doing without his heavy~handed interference.

the mood darkened as soon as he came in to the building and began throwing his weight around, brow~beating the working women, and adding to their workload. the mood lightened up immediately after he left. we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when his absence was palpably felt. whew.

my jerry and i engaged in a wonderfully informative conversation with the ladies there, the new owner and her daughters. she has seven children, the eldest will turn 18 in a few weeks and the youngest is just now three. today was the third day of them taking over the restaurant and her parents have come down from the nashville area to watch over the smallest children so that she and her older children can smooth the transition from old owner to new. her father came in, after her asinine husband took his presence elsewhere and blessed us all with his absence, and took a few pictures of his lovely granddaughters who doted on him the entire time he was there. jerry and i spoke with him for quite some time, eventually inviting him to sit with us so that we could continue a wonderfully delightful conversation.

by the time we left, all the negativity that amassed with the presence of her husband had dissipated and all of us were laughing, smiling, and feeling lots more light~hearted. we've every intention of returning, they're very pleasant and the atmosphere they created was just what my jerry and i needed and wanted for today. we highly recommend them for a unique experience!

after stopping by walgreens, we motored on down to the movies. my jerry expressed an interest in zombieland, and i was not averse, so we settled back to enjoy woody harrelson, with a cameo by bill murray. it was corny, but you'd expect that, right? and there were a few very funny moments, quips, and situations.

after that, we headed to walmart to get some needed groceries, and a few other items. among those items was a much~considered brazier. our fire~pit is very similar to this one pictured, without the additional six inch rim. the rest of it is identical to what you see here. the cost for the one online that i just viewed was four hundred and sixty dollars. *gasp* we bought ours right here in starkville, miss'ippi for about a tenth of that! ours cost forty~eight dollars.

hah~UUUUUge difference in dollars.

same difference in enjoyment!

after my jerry and i unloaded the car, and put away all the groceries, we assembled the fire~pit and set it up in the front yard. then we set a nice fire in there while the sun set and spent the evening on the wooden swing under the oak tree and chatted while watching the flames leaping and dancing and the dogs basically doing their own leap~dance. it was a great way to finish the wonderful day!