FAIRY GARDEN

“Oh my gosh! These are so cute!” I came into the kitchen where my husband, Steven was busy making a salad and held up my phone for him to see.

“Fairy doors?” Steven seemed confused as he continued to cut up the romaine.

“I just ordered them!” I looked back at my phone. “They should be here in a few days!” I couldn't help but smile.

Our son Alex walked into the room. “You sure look happy.” He went over to the refrigerator and looked inside.

“I just ordered these!” I held the phone up for him to see.

“Fairy doors?” he looked over at Steven. “Did you see these?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders as he scraped the romaine off the cutting board and into a bowl. “Hey, if it makes your Mom happy...”

“They're fun!” I cried as I looked back at Alex. “You know how much I love the one that's at the little house on the corner!” I looked over at Steven. “Every time I go by that tree, and see that little door, I can't help thinking, 'Who lives in there!'”

Alex was moving things around in the refrigerator, clearly not finding what he was looking for. “She doesn't just think it.” he called over his shoulder. “She actually says it every time we go past that house.”

“Of course I do!” I looked over at Steven who was cutting up cherry tomatoes. “It's a tiny door at the base of a tree! What's not to love!” I looked out the front window. “Now I just have to decide which trees to put them on!”

“Wait a minute!” Alex closed the refrigerator door and looked at me. “What do you mean when you say trees?”

I held up my phone again for him to see my order. “They come four to a package.”

“FOUR!” Alex looked over at Steven who just shook his head.

“Well I'm not going to use all four.” I quickly explained. “That really is too many.” I was looking out the front window again. “But I might do two. One in the front yard and one in the back.”

“What if we skip the front yard and just keep them in the back.” Alex looked to Steven for some backup.

“But then no one will be able to drive by our house, see it and say, 'Who lives in there?'” I looked back at my phone trying to decide which doors I was going to use.

“Exactly!” Alex started to laugh.

“You know, you should be glad I'm just doing the door.” I looked out the back window to see where my new purchase was going to go. “Some people are doing whole fairly gardens!”

Now Alex looked confused. “What's a fairy garden?”

“Along with the doors you can get little stepping stones that lead to the tree, maybe a sign that you can hang next to the door, they even have the fairies themselves! The accessories are endless!” I cried.

Steven tossed the tomatoes in the bowl. “You're just sticking with the door right?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Well, yeah. The door is plenty for me.” I looked over at Alex, trying to reassure him. “I think the rest of the stuff might seem a bit much.”

Steven looked over at Alex. “Now aren't you grateful she only wants the door?”

“I guess.” Alex didn't seem convinced yet.

Steven pointed to the salad. “You want some?”

“Sure.” Alex sighed as he reached in the cabinet and took out some bowls. “But can we at least agree to keep it in the back yard?”

Steven and Alex both turned to look at me.

I thought about it for a moment. “Okay. Fine. Just the backyard.” I sighed.

REMOTE CONTROL HOARDER

“Okay, this is ridiculous!” I cried as I dumped several remote controls on the dining room table.

Steven was sitting at the table returning some e-mails on his phone. “Where did they come from?” He asked, looking at the pile I'd just put in front of him.

“I decided to clean out some drawers today and this is what I found!”

“Okay, so you found some old remotes.” He didn't seem impressed.

“Oh, I'm not done!” I cried as I went into the front hall and opened the drawer of the foyer table. “There's more in here!” I brought back several more to add to the pile.

Steven didn't even look up from his phone.

“I'm still not done.” I called as I headed into our bedroom. Opening the bedside table I pulled out even more then went back to dining room, adding them to the pile. “Why do we have all of these?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “We've owned a lot of electronics over the years.”

“That's your answer?” I was completely baffled. “So when we got rid of the old stuff, why didn't we throw out the remotes?”

Steven glanced at the pile. “Because I'm not sure which ones we've thrown away and what's up in the attic. It's just easier to keep them all in case we need one of them some day.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “You do know that's the mantra of every hoarder in the world.”

“We're not hoarders!” Steven seemed annoyed by the suggestion.

“Well, clearly we are when it comes to remotes.” I waved my hand over the pile I'd collected.

“Can we worry about this another time?” he asked looking back at his phone. “I really need to return this text.”

While he was busy with his text I was picking through the pile. “I don't even remember some of these.” I picked up a small one with the word Bose on it. “Did we ever have any Bose equipment?”

“That might have been your Mom's.” Steven said offhandedly. “I think she had a Bose radio.”

“So how did we wind up with it?”

Steven shrugged his shoulders. “Got me.”

I just shook my head. “So what do you want to do with all of these?”

“I don't have the time to go through them right now.” Steven put down his phone and looked at the pile I was picking through. “Maybe you could put them back and I'll check them out when I have more time.”

I had to laugh. “You just finished telling me you haven't had time in the past thirty years to go though them. I've finally cleaned out all the drawer in the house. I don't want to put them back.”

“Okay, well do you have a box or something you can put them in?”

“How about a garbage bag?” I asked.

“Sure.” Steven went back to his phone while I went and got a garbage bag and began tossing them in.

“Wait!” Steven put his phone down. “You're not throwing them away, are you?”

“Well, I was.” I admitted.

“I told you I'm not sure which ones we need.”

“Okay, fine.” I sighed. “I'll put the bag up in the attic.” I went over to the kitchen junk drawer and pulled out a marker and wrote: Dad's Collection on the bag. I smiled as I held it up for Steven to see. “Just to make sure everyone knows who the remote hoarder is in this house.”

NAPTIME

I was laying on the couch, eyes closed, when I heard Steven quietly walk past me. “I'm up.” I said as I stretched and looked out the window. I could see it was already late in the afternoon. “How long have I been napping?” I asked as I tried to see the clock on the side table.

“You've been out for at least two hours.” Steven said as he sat next to me on the couch and looked for the television remote.

“Oh, that's way too long.” I complained. “I'm going to have to work on my napping skills.”

Steven started to laugh. “What kind of skills does it take to nap?”

“Oh, you'd be surprised.” I folded the afghan and put it back on the arm of the couch. “Power naps are only supposed to be 20 or 30 minutes. Two hours is going to mess up my sleep tonight.” I settled back down on the couch. “So what were you doing while I was napping?” I asked.

Steven plugged in the heating pad and put it on his shoulder. “I cleaned out the gutters and straightened out the shed.”

“Wow! It sounds like you got a lot accomplished too!”

“Too?” Steven looked surprised. “Since when is napping getting something accomplished?”

I put my feet up on the coffee table. “It seems you don't want to understand the importance of napping.” I cleared my throat, ready to recite all the benefits I'd been reading about. “Universities have done a lot of studies, and not only does it keep my stress hormones down, it also helps with my creativity.” I looked over at him and smiled. “So you see I'm working hard on becoming smarter, saner and healthier all through the art of napping!”

“So now napping is an art?” I could see Steven wasn't impressed with my napping facts as he adjusted his heating pad.

So, I decided to continue with my facts. “You know, we're one of the few countries who don't promote naps.” I was nodding my head hoping Steven would join me in agreeing with these facts. “Did you know Spain, Germany and Japan all believe naps help their citizens to be more productive.”

There was still no reaction from Steven.

I finally just shrugged my shoulders and gave it one last try. “It also helps me keep my weight down.”

Now Steven looked interested. “They have research on that?”

“Well, no.” I admitted. “But I've noticed that in the late afternoon when I'm craving a candy bar or a cup of tea, to get me going, a short nap makes the cravings go away!”

Steven shook his head and laughed. “So you're answer to hunger is to take a nap?” He didn't sound very impressed.

I pulled the afghan off the arm of the couch. “You seem to be a little cranky right now.” I tucked the afghan around his legs. “I've found a nap helps with that too.” I gave him a quick kiss on his forehead. “I'll come back in 30 minutes to wake you up.”

SNOW DAY

“It sure smells good in here.” Steven said as he came into the kitchen.

I was just taking the banana bread out of the oven. “It should be ready for me to make it into French toast as soon as it cools.” I flipped it out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. “While we're waiting for that to happen would you like some soup and a grilled cheese?”

Steven looked surprised. “Sure! That sounds great!”

I began pulling all the things I needed out of the refrigerator and cabinets. While I was pulling the frying pan out of the drawer Steven was looking out our kitchen window. “I can't believe how hard it's snowing. It really is a blizzard!”

I turned around to see for myself. “I'm sure glad I filled the bird feeders yesterday.” I could see through the blowing snow that dozens of birds were frantic waiting for their turn to get food. “I don't want anyone going hungry in this weather.”

“That's good news for me!” Steven got the silverware out of the drawer and grabbed some napkins to set the table.

“I'm going to make a pork tenderloin and scalloped potatoes for dinner.” I put the grilled cheese in the pan and turned the heat up under the soup.

“That sounds good.”

I went back to the cabinet. “Maybe I should make some brownies for dessert.” I pulled the box from the shelf. “Or maybe oatmeal cookies.” I was holding both packages, showing them to Steven for his vote.

Steven shrugged his shoulder. “They both sound good to me. Whichever one you feel like making.”

I put both boxes down on the counter top, grabbed the spatula and flipped the sandwiches. “Why is it that every time it snows, all I want to do is cook?” I ladled the soup into bowls and took them over to the table.

Steven shook his head as he picked up his spoon. “I have no idea, but I have to say I'm not complaining.”

I brought the sandwiches to the table. “I also got chips and salsa in case you want a little snack before we go out and start to dig out.”

“Thanks.” Steven took his sandwich and dipped it in his soup. “But it doesn't look like it's going to stop snowing anytime soon.”

We both looked out the window, we could barely see the bird feeder it was snowing so hard.

“I think you're right.” I was waiting for my soup to cool so I got up and went to the cabinet to pull the crock pot out. “Maybe I'll start a pot of sauce.” I looked in the refrigerator and saw we had hamburger meat. “Maybe a bolognese sauce?” I looked over at Steven to see what he thought.

“I thought you were making a pork tenderloin for dinner?”

I put the crock pot on the counter and went over to eat. “I am but I like the way the house smells when I have a pot of sauce on.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I'll just freeze it for another day.”

Steven shook his head and laughed.

“You know I get this way on a snow day!” I laughed as I took a bite of my sandwich.

Alex walked into the room. “Is that banana bread?” He was looking at the bread cooling on the rack.

“It sure is!” I jumped up and went to get a pan. “Do you want your banana bread French toast now?”

Alex looked at Steven eating his soup and sandwich then at my uneaten meal. “Don't you want to finish your lunch first?” he asked me.

“I'm not really hungry.” I pulled a knife from the drawer. “I just feel like cooking.” I grabbed the banana bread and began slicing it. “Do you want some almond extract in the egg batter?”

Alex sat down at the table where I'd been sitting. “Sure if you want.”

Steven looked at Alex and smiled. “Don't you just love this part of snow days?”