Surprises

When I got up this morning, I was grumpy. I was itchy (note to self: update blog on the flea wars), I was over-tired (poor sleep patterns lately), and I did NOT want to go to work. I dragged myself out of bed and grumbled my way to the shower, where I stood under the hot water and hoped that it would somehow magically turn me into steam or provide time for someone to accidentally drive a vehicle into the store or set off a plague of locusts, so I could have a viable reason for missing work.

Hot water always makes me feel a little better, so I grouched a little quieter on the way down the stairs to get breakfast... got distracted by the siren-song of my computer and went to turn it on when I realized there was a new book sitting in my chair. A gardening book. Where did it come from? Who cared? Books are a good surprise!

So I read a few pages, reveling in the break from routine, and then went to the kitchen... where a tarnished pair of gold-colored metal goblets was sitting on the counter, with little bits of masking tape stuck to them. '13-' read the tape strips, in blue sharpie, and I thought "AHA! A YARD SALE!". ...when did Rick go to a yard sale?

 And then it hit me. Last night, in conversation before I went to bed, he asked casually if he could put bull horns on the jeep. I thought he'd seen a stupid picture somewhere and gotten the idea, told him 'no' and went to sleep. This morning after finding the goblets I got suspicious. Sure enough, on the writing desk in the entry was a huge mounted set of horns, the kind with the curved tips that you see on Spanish fighting bulls and Texas Longhorns fans. They too had a yard-sale masking tape sticker.

I think I started grinning about the time I saw them on the table. Even in a bad mood a mounted set of bull horns is ridiculous, and it's just like Rick to come home and leave them there for me to find, saying nothing about it. He was already in bed when I got out of the shower, so I hauled them up the stairs (they're surprisingly light) and demanded through giggles to know where he found a yard sale. I didn't get a straight answer, but he giggled too, and then we both kind of fell over laughing when the dog came up wide-eyed, sniffed one of the horns, and licked it veeeery carefully. You could just see her confusion.

The horns are currently residing on the top of my wardrobe, where they look rather out of place among the blankets and stuffed animals. The dog has already forgotten the horns (or is biding her time) and has moved on to the next order of business: sleeping in funny positions. I still don't really want to go to work but at least I feel a lot less grumpy.