Operation "Dinner-Out"

Cristina and Bel - Vacation July 2005

August 12th 2007 - Father's Day in Brazil - but it all started....

yesterday, when I went to get groceries at 10am. I needed to go downtown afterwards, so we hurried. Managed to make it home by 11, feed everyone sandwiches (so we wouldn't leave on an empty stomach) and then the girls and I went downtown hunting for Ken's secret Father's Day present, a denim shirt. He had bought one a long time ago, but something had eaten tiny little holes in it and they were no longer so tiny any more. He had been super bummed about it, so while ironing it the other day, I thought it would be fun to surprise him with a new one. What do you know...we found what we were looking for after scouring practically all the stores in Mossoró. Mission accomplished, we each had a soft icecream cone and headed home to hide our treasure till the next day.

In the meantime, Ken, who was back home, got a phone call at about 12:30pm. It was our school secretary/neighbor/church member. She was just wondering where we were. Ummmm... That is when Ken suddenly remembered that we had been invited over to her place for lunch! We had forgotten. How humiliating. It took me all afternoon to get up the nerve (and for the weather to cool off) to go over and beg forgiveness. She and her sister were so gracious that they invited us over after church to eat the dessert that they had made. I had been warned that it had been decorated kind of "different". When we got over to their place, the dessert was taken out of the fridge, bowls put on the table and spoons pulled out of the drawer. That was when I noticed what was on the dessert..."STUCKY" written in raisins. Now I was even more embarassed for forgetting their lunch invitation!

Later that evening, Ken and I were winding down while watching one of Ken's favorite videos, SPY GAMES. In the movie, Robert Redford works for the CIA with his protogé, Brad Pitt. Pitt falls for a British girl and Redford believes the operation was compromised because their relationship. Pitt goes AWOL and Redford heads back to headquarters to be debriefed and to his long-awaited retirement. He has one last mission, though, before he throws in his badge...rescue Pitt, who had gone looking for the girl and found her in a Chinese prison, where he was also captured. The rescue mission was called...what else...

"Operation Dinner-Out".

Fitting end to the day. I don't think I am ever going to live this one down!