A Girl Named Timi

I don't care how it happens

as long as it happens!

The Hubs and I are getting ready to take The Mobile Estate on a little outing. We will be embarking on a weekend of adults only with WSU Laura and her WSU Husband and WSU Friends to the Land of WSU. Did I mention WSU?

The trip we're taking is going to require that we park The Mobile Estate in a parking lot with NO HOOK UP's. As you know from my past posts of The Camping Trip From Hell I'm not big on camping without hook ups, in the dirt, or out in the middle of no where. I'm a bit of a Camping Diva.

I was discussing with The Hubs about what we should take for food. The list we came up with would require cooking with some electric appliances when we arrived , which we won't have electricity for that. When dry camping (Boondocking is the official term) we only run off battery and propane. So there is no plugging anything in. Not even coffee!
The conversation went a little like this..............

Me: Well I could precook it all here this week, then we could just heat it up on our Cook All, since we aren't taking the BBQ.

The Hubs: Yeah, I guess that will work. What about putting it in a crock pot?
Me: That requires plugging in to an outlet. Which you know also means no coffee for you.

The Hubs: Oh yeah, shoot that's going to be a pain. What else can we do?

Me: I think there are a couple other people going who will have generators maybe we could plug in at their trailer when needed?

The Hubs: That sounds like it's going to be a big pain. Let's just skip that and figure something else out. Take something easier.

Me: OK, I'll think about it. In the mean time I need to run to the Navy Exchange and Commissary to get some stuff for the trip. I also want to buy a new teapot for the stove since I had to throw mine out the other day.
(I later found out that this was a stupid rookie mistake, I could have returned it)

There was a little himhawing by The Hubs, a little bitching about spending money and a lecture about how I don't have to feed everyone on this trip.

The Hubs: I'll go with you so you don't over spend and we only get what we need.

Me: OK, whatever. Let's go!
So off we went in my little VW to get a few groceries, beer, pop, and maybe a teapot.

Conversation at The Navy Exchange.

The Hubs is looking at Flat Screen TVs

Me: I'm going to get pop and beer

The Hubs: I'm going to go over here and look, I'll come find you

I go get what I need and JUST WHAT I NEED and then went looking for The Hubs......................no where to be found.............uhmmmmmm..........so I go over to the tool section and ............there he is!

The Hubs: Hey look at this, it's the Honda 2000 Generator. It's the same one WSU Laura's husband has. He said this is what we should get for our Mobile Estate. They have one and he said it works great. Just enough power to run all the electrical outlets, TV, and whatever else we need to use while dry camping.

OK, folks, this isn't the first time he has looked at this when we have been shopping here. This isn't a surprise to me, I knew when he volunteered to go grocery shopping with me something was up. But sometimes it's just better to play dumb. He's been looking at this off and on for months but hasn't bought it because it was a lot of money. Money that would be enough to redo a bathroom, buy carpet for downstairs, or retile the entry way.

Me: Is that something we really need right now?

The Hubs: Well it would be great for this weekend and it would be nice to have in case we ever got into another situation like this where there was no electrical hook up.

Because I love to dry camp! Just for the record.............The electrical isn't really my issue with no hook ups, it's the lack of water and as much water as I want to use. I NEED MY SHOWER!

Me: Is this something that would work if our power went out at home? Could we at least hook the fridge up to it?

Here in the Pacific Northwest we have had some pretty tough winters with windstorms and flooding the last couple years. The Hubs and I survived what we like to call Marriage Test 2006 where we were without power for 4 days straight, snowed and iced in, not able to go anywhere. No power here means NO NOTHING. No cooking, no hot water, no heat. It wasn't as bad last year when we were without power for days on end because we were a bit more prepared.

The Hubs: Oh sure! This would do that for sure !!!

A gleam now in his eyes

Me: Well do what you need to do. I don't care, it's totally up to you.

The Hubs: Well OK, let me think about it

Me: I'm going to see what they have for tea pots. I threw my old Le Creuset out the other day and I would really like to replace it but I didn't want to spend that much money.

No teapots at The Navy Exchange so I proceeded to the check out to get ONLY WHAT I NEEDED. Remember this was the issue in the beginning, that I buy too much, I buy more then we need, I spend too much money.

The Hubs: Did you get a teapot

Me: No, they didn't have what I wanted. I really want another Le Creuset and they don't have them here. Besides that I don't want to spend the money.

The Hubs: Oh, OK

We pay and The Hubs offers to take stuff to the car while I go start my grocery shopping at the Commissary next door. OK......isn't that nice of him?

So I go to the Commissary and start my shopping, The list isn't to long it shouldn't take very long to get everything. I go up and down every isle, shopping, looking, get what I need plus a little extra and still....................No Hubs.

I finish up and get in line to check out (the line is always long at the Commissary so you have to be prepared to wait) and here comes The Hubs. A huge grin on his face like he just got laid or found the Lord.

The Hubs: I bought it! I bought the generator.

Me: All right. That's great. It will make things easier this weekend, we won't have to borrow electric from others. I 'll go ahead and just make what I had planned on making.

This is where The Hubs goes in to a 10 minute conversation with me justifying his new expensive toy.

We check out, load everything in the car with what little room there was left in the car now and head home. *****Side note.....Not my first rodeo, I bought everything I needed for my original camping food menu before the generator was purchased. I had a feeling.

Wait? Where's he going? This isn't the way we go home?

The Hubs drove me straight to the Le Creuset Outlet Store. Where I got a brand new teapot!

Now call me The Master or call me lucky................I got electrical for our camping trip this weekend and a new teapot! The Hubs.............thinks he got a new Graduation Gift for himself and a teapot to make him feel less guilty.

Either way.....................I win!

GO DUCKS!