Thirteen days into the holiday, and still no sign of a stetson...



But I do have a very fetching pair of Mickey Mouse ears.

Anyhoo, mine and Lisa's anniversary-of-meeting celebratory meal was a complete success. Big Sis had recommended a fine Italian restaurant called Cici's on the other side of town, and gave us a lift there at 7pm. As we drew into the parking lot, I helpfully pointed out to Sis that the restaurant appeared to be called Bella's, to which she responded "Oh yeah. Cici's must be somewhere else. But this one's cheap."

With such a glowing recommendation we'd have been fools to argue, so we made our way inside as Sis floored the accelerator in search of a safer part of town. Once inside, we waited to be seated, realised it wasn't that kind of establishment, and seated ourselves. Whereupon the waitress arrived, asked us what we'd like to drink, and Lisa ordered a glass of wine. At which point we found out they don't serve alcohol.

So like I say, it was a complete success. It turns out that the cute little bar by the door, with all the pretty wine glasses hanging up, is for decorative purposes only, and doesn't mean they were successful in their application for a liquor licence. But they were more than happy to bring us a couple of Diet Cokes in plastic cups.

Undeterred, we ordered pizzas, which arrived just as I'd finished filling myself up on free bread. To be honest, I preferred the 79 cent frozen pizza we got from Wal-Mart, but it was suposed to be a romantic anniversary meal, so I didn't say anything. Much.

Sis picked us up at 8:30pm, by which time she'd got a cross-head screw stuck in her front right tyre, and was fighting a constant battle against deflation. So the restaurant wasn't the only let-down of the evening.

We made it home, and decided to cheer ourselves up by checking the details of the baseball game we're going to tonight. Big Sis had kindly booked us three tickets for a Texas Rangers pre-season game against the Kansas City Royals. She'd been very careful to buy us tickets for a home game - after all, we wouldn't want to go all the way to Kansas just to see a bit of baseball. That would be ridiculous. It's over 500 miles.

So like I say, we have tickets to a Texas Rangers home game. A 'spring training' home game. And where is the Texas Rangers' official spring training home? Dallas? Houston? Austin? Nope.

Arizona. About a thousand miles away.

So if anyone wants three tickets to a baseball game in Phoenix tonight, just let me know.

Oh, and the name of the stadium where it's being played..?

Surprise Stadium.

I hate surprises.