The weekend he came was also the weekend before his birthday, so we made a celebration out of his stay, complete with two of Curtis' favorite things: apple pie and spaghetti.
He's easy to please.
The most exciting part of Curtis' trip was probably the 45 minutes the three of us spent in the car in the Costco parking lot trying to convince me to invest in a ridiculously large TV. See, we had been out all afternoon in search of a new couch; we'd just received our tax return, and all Justin had done for the last week is curse the couch's name. After resting our rumps on a few, we decided to take advantage of Costco-card toting Curtis to help us decide whether or not it's time for Team Thompson to invest in a Costco membership.
Dear Costco executives and merchandising specialists: if you're reading this, consider this my plea. Please rearrange your stores so that the big screen TVs are in the back, not the front. I'm sure I'm not the only woman you've heard from regarding this matter. Thank you.
Anyway...we walked into Costco and I -- literally -- heard Justin's breath be taken away by the majesty of the large flat screen TV. There were stars in his eyes, his chest was puffed out, there was a hop in his step and there was a lovely ringing to his voice when he found me browsing the furniture section. Then...it began.
"It's either a couch or a TV," I said.
"TV!" said Justin.
Suddenly, I saw all control fly out the window. I'd said too much. Spoken too quickly. Given him slack without thinking it through. Justin was supposed to have hated our couch! Apparently the hatred didn't run deep. This hatred, I was quickly informed, is only severe during the two weeks prior to and following a move.
I was trapped.
After a quick walk through the store to see what there was to see, and to try the freshly toasted bagel samples, we stood in front of the TV section for a good half hour. While Curtis and Justin discussed the pros and cons of various models, I watched some program about the lives of deep sea creatures and tried not to pay attention to their discussion.
Then we went to the car. We sat in the car discussing the pros and cons of investing in the monstrosity as politely as possible, considering Curtis was a spectator. The boys even said they'd let me watch my new Twilight movie Eclipse that night if we got the TV... Then I said ok, so the boys ran inside. But...because I am who I am, I changed my mind and called Justin from the car and told him I'd changed my mind. I told him I thought we needed to think about it more because we'd just moved, etc. Yes, yes...it was a down right mean and cold-hearted thing to do. Especially after I'd said ok.
The drive home from Costco was a quiet one.
The next morning I decided to tell Justin that if he thought it was a wise decision then he could go get the TV. I did, however, make sure to highlight all the important points to consider: Do you really want a TV over a couch? Is this TV going to keep you happy for a LONG time? Do you realize that our future children will have to have graduated from college before I'm a pushover like this and let you get another TV? Do you remember you said we can watch Eclipse if we get it?
Then I left for church because I was signed up to help in the toddler room.
When I came back, there was a new TV in the house. A big [dumb] TV.
We did watch Eclipse that night, though, and it was pretty awesome. Then, this happened:
That's all I have to say about the TV.
