For a few minutes this morning, I thought I was going to have to make an impromptu trip to Denver.
Tara has been away visiting family in Nevada and Arizona. Her flight from Las Vegas to Denver landed at 9:03 a.m. and I assumed all was well, until I received a text from her at 10:10.
[EXPLETIVE] hell. Have been walking the parking lot for half an hour and can’t find the truck.
Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on work when worst-case scenarios like stolen vehicles in towns six hours away start crowding the space inside your head?! I started plotting a way to get her back home, and neither option — having her rent a car and drive the 387.1 miles to Rapid City, or having me make a double-that roundtrip to pick her up and bring her back — were especially appealing. Also, perversely, I had a fleeting thought about how this might be a good thing because it would give Tara an excuse to buy a newer pickup like she’s been wanting to do.
Clearly, I am insane.
But not as insane as my wife, because after texting her a number she could call for help locating a misplaced vehicle in the DIA economy lot, she sheepishly replied, Guess it would help if I was in the right [EXPLETIVE] lot.
Tara loves those fucking EXPLETIVES, can you tell?
Anyway. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and resisted the urge to tease her mercilessly (for now, anyway). She’s been gone six days and I kinda just miss her. Besides, I once couldn’t find my car in a parking garage, so I’m well aware of how unfunny the situation is in the moment. Though, to my credit, I was at least in the correct garage! And I can’t really blame Tara, because I once spent 30 minutes searching an entire mall parking lot — in the pouring rain, at night, during an excruciatingly bad blind date with a woman I had zero desire of ever seeing again — for a car that, whoops, she realized long after we’d gotten soaked to the bone, was actually parked in a different lot.
The devil’s in the pesky little details.
In any case, Tara proceeded to the correct parking lot, found her truck, and is currently on the road headed home. ETA 8:30-ish, which means — glances at watch — any stalkers still have a few hours to come creep on me. Best make hay while the sun shines!
Speaking of stalkers, most of my free time alone was spent watching You. It’s a Lifetime-turned-Netflix psychological thriller series that sort of reminds me of Dexter. If Dexter were a millennial and his victims only kinda deserved to die. I binged my way through Season 1 and started in on Season 2, but my glowing reviews have inspired Tara to check it out, so I’m a-gonna hold off on any more episodes for now.
I also did some cooking. I’ve mentioned before how Tara’s out-of-town trips give me an opportunity to eat things she doesn’t care for. Normally, six dinners by myself would mean six from-scratch meals, but it’s hard to cook for one, so half those nights were devoted to leftovers. Which is nice, because that allowed me to kick back more.
One of the dishes I made were these Greek Lemon Potatoes that claimed to be “life-changing.” This food writer went on and on about how “very memorable” and “amazing” they were, so I was understandably intrigued. And because Tara doesn’t like potatoes, this was the perfect time to roast up a batch. I fully expected to be blown away based on the hyperbole…but sadly, I was not. The secret ingredient, mustard, dominated the dish — and I love mustard! It just didn’t really complement this particular recipe.
Another night, I did a Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup in the crockpot. Tara is fond of neither wild rice nor chicken cooked in crockpots, so again, I seized the opportunity. I added mushrooms, because why wouldn’t you?, and used half-and-half instead of heavy cream.
I was much more impressed with how this one turned out, though I probably should have added a little more liquid to compensate for the extra ingredient (and the fact that mushrooms tend to absorb liquid). Still, I liked it!
Gotta run. I actually have an after-hours telephone interview for a work story tonight. Not the first interview I’ve done in my pajamas, though it’s been a minute.
Mark My Words 
Just read the blind date story. … Wow. And, of course, it didn’t end on a happy note! How long were you stuck with the next woman before you realized she was crazy. And married? Glad you have Tara. And she found her truck.
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She and I were on and off for four years, if you can believe that. Mostly off, but still. Since you seem to revel in the cringeworthy (no judgment…I do too!), here’s another fun post that talks more about her, as well as the Australian woman who took a fake marriage proposal seriously. https://markpetruska.com/2015/03/03/my-bad-luck-with-women-a-brief-history/
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Alone in the house for 6 days?! You are living the dream, my friend.
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Spoken like a true mom-of-a-young-boy!
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I’m too anal not to write down exactly where I parked in situations like that. That’s the stuff of nightmares.
Ironically I’m making that type of soup tomorrow, though my recipe is stove top. I love it.
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I take pictures of the location and the big sign that says L3, 14 or something…lol
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Tara knew she was on L3 or whatever. But apparently, Denver has a west lot and an east lot with the same numbers. Or at least, that was her excuse!
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I’ve called home in a panic once that the car was stolen off a side street near shopping. He was just about to come when I noticed I was on the RIGHT street but the car was parked at least 5 spots further south. ? I thought I had memorized the landmarks on the front lawn of the house I parked in front of. I did. Except, all the houses were very similar to each other… 🙄
Anyway, glad Tara found her truck! 🙂
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I’ve had a few tense moments where I didn’t spot my car right away and immediately feared the worst. And that’s usually the case: it’s just a few spots away, ha!
Worse than that is finding your (almost brand-new) car in the parking garage easily…but then spotting a large scrape on the side of your door. That happened with my Mazda in Portland.
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ouch…
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Tara said, no worries…we’ll just buff it out.
Five years later, I traded the Mazda in for my Kona. Still had the scratch on the door!
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You know you can take a fast pic of where your car is in the lot. Then if you can’t find it later, you have a clue. It’s helped me in the past. I tried a Greek Lemon Potatoes recipe a few years ago and had the same *meh* experience. Not worth the bother.
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Even after losing my car once I don’t make that a habit. You’d think it would be second nature by now! Did your recipe also call for mustard as the secret ingredient?
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Yes, it had mustard in it which we like. Good idea in theory, but the dish didn’t charm us enough to make it again.
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“In theory” perfectly sums up that dish!
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Whoa….we are leading parallel lives. I lost my car Wed, because I was in the wrong parking deck! I was sweating, thinking I forgot to lock it and it was stolen. I had specifically remembered the exact spot in the garage. Who knew the decks were identical?
I read the book You and it was so disturbing, I only skimmed the last half. Would not want images imprinted in my brain if what happened.
I’ve made those lemon potatoes and was not impressed either!
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I didn’t even realize it was a book until after I started the series. I’ve learned that the Season 1 finale is very different than what happened in the book. I may have to read that sometime.
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I’m Team Mushroom, too! But I’m also Team Heavy Cream. Ah, well. You win some, you lose some. Not being able to find your car in a parking lot is classic. I know you know about the Seinfeld episode…
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Haha…of course. I mentioned that episode in the link I posted to my own lost-car tale. 🙂
Don’t get me wrong, I love heavy cream myself. I just happened to have a full carton of half-and-half and figured that would work, too. Would’ve been better with the cream!
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When my husband is out of town I kick up my heels and make Green Bean Casserole. I’ll eat it for 2-3 days until I’m good and sick of it. I love green beans, he can’t abide the smell, taste, texture of them. His mother told me he spit them out as a baby.
Marriage is a funny social construct. Once you’re good and hooked your idea of partying is doing all the minor things you don’t do when the love of your life isn’t around.
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Haha…you’re so right about marriage! And for the record, I wish I’d thought to make green bean casserole. Tara isn’t a fan either and I love it.
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