Avoiding the Perfect Boredom Storm, Here’s What I Learned This Weekend

It was just me and the puppies this weekend. It's not that I mind being alone, but on Friday I knew I faced the Perfect Boredom Storm if I didn’t have a strategy.

Two things were converging Friday morning: I had no plans or deadlines; and although the ice and snow sheets in my backyard are melting like Arctic glaciers, it’s still *expletive* winter and I couldn’t spend copious amounts of time outside.

Thankfully, the Perfect Boredom Storm didn’t have a chance to form. I had lunch with Fabulous Friend Pam who brought me a VitaTop to try (I was a Vita Anything virgin) and invited me to a book signing Saturday in Pittsburgh.

Getting out of town was exactly what I needed to do. Saturday was a great day of books and friendship and lunch and Whole Foods and g-baby Claire (Luca was sleeping) and a new appreciation for the longer days and the spectacular sun on the drive home.

Breaking it down into the top few things I learned and made me happy, this weekend, here’s my list:

1. No matter how comfortable the couch is and how little energy I have to leap and retrieve, do NOT allow Dog #1 to eat Dog #2’s rawhide after she’s already eaten her own. What results is stinky and green and runny and not easy to pick up with plastic grocery bags while I’m wearing oversized gloves. (I grabbed the first available gloves on top of the bin. Obviously not a good choice.)

2. It’s really busy at Whole Foods on Saturday. For a place that attracts health-conscious people, an awful lot of folks hold up traffic driving around the parking lot or stop and wait for long periods of time while shoppers unload their carts just so they can get a close parking spot. There’s a two-story parking ramp at the end of the Whole Foods parking lot, but the Land Rovers and Smart Cars just circle and circle and circle…

3. Pittsburghers really like Shirataki Noodles. Every time I go to Whole Foods, the few packages left are crammed in the back of the shelf, like there was a mass run on noodles. While I was bent over (because they’re on the bottom shelf) and digging around for both the linguine and spaghetti style noodles, a woman stood patiently next to me, waiting for her turn to scavenge. (I’ve yet to encounter rudeness at Whole Foods. I’m pretty sure you’d be asked to leave if you were rude.) Because she was patient (and I didn’t want to be kicked out), I only took three of the five remaining linguine noodles and four of the seven spaghetti. (Yes, I was going to buy them all.)

4. I really (emphasis on really) like deep-chocolate VitaTops. “Heat it up,” was Pam’s instruction when she tossed the plastic wrapped chocolate chunk on the table before lunch. Today, I heated it up and threw a ¼ cup of Breyer’s fat-free double-churned strawberry ice cream on top. Oh my. I enjoyed it very much (emphasis on very). Maybe too much. I’ve concluded that, like Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies, Vita stuff cannot occupy space in my freezer. I’ll store them at my daughter’s house 60 miles away and portion them out top by top, muffin by muffin, under her supervision.

Potential boredom turned into a contented happy this weekend. The only almost sad thing to happen was that I almost hit a robin while driving to Pittsburgh. Luckily he cleared my windshield before I crossed his path traveling 70 miles an hour. I’m sure killing a robin would bring on six more weeks of winter.

The purple finches are back at my backyard feeders, it will be almost 50 degrees tomorrow, and Helen Mirren is absolutely gorgeous at 65 (I’m watching the Oscars as I type). It was a good weekend.