Friday: Swim, a Consult, the Mall and Dinner Disaster

So today, Ivan and I were reasonably on time for swim and Steven had a pretty good workout for us. I will try to recount it, but it was quite varied, so I will leave a lot out:

• 200 warm up
• 8 x 50 kick
• 400 swim
• 300 swim
• 200 swim
• 100 swim
• 4 x 100 swim withe paddles
• 3 x 100 IM with fins
• 6 x 75 alternate breath by 25's (3/5/7)

It was a great swim, though I felt rather silly when I dove in because the pool lanes were turned so that we were swimming from an alternated end of the pool and their was no ledge under the edge of the pool. It looked so high when I dove in and I kind of freaked out and stood in my dive position like a five-year-old paralyzed by fear. I managed to dive in, but I am really going to have to start diving off the blocks, because this diving fear is just ridiculous.

After I got home, my great friend Anne Rice came by the house to give me some advice on paint colors for my kitchen and drapes for my dining room. I was thrilled with the info and it made me feel that Sloan manor may be moving up to snuff.

When Ivan woke up from his nap, we loaded up to meet my mom and sister at the mall. Now today was a rather successful mall trip. I took both Ivan's leash and his stroller. Ivan did pretty well on the leash as he could run around, and I had my mom to help with damage control. When Ivan got really worn out, I locked him down in the stroller. It was the perfect plan. Also, I dressed Ivan in an over-the-top cute outfit, so that no matter the behavior, surely the mall population could not completely hate him.

Now after the mall, I was feeling pretty confident, so we took Ivan to dinner at Chef Paul's. It is a restaurant in Franklin, and it was crazy delicious. They bring hush puppies to the table as soon as you sit down, and I have a love affair with hush puppies. I ordered salmon on a bed of wilted spinach flavored with grapefruit and pecans. It was perfect and the salmon was wild. I can't say enough good things.

Ivan, however, was like a man possessed. He tried to leap over the seat, he threw his dog, he stabbed a hush puppy with a table knife he somehow got within reach of. It was really a drama. I finally gave up on eating, and I followed Ivan as he danced and hopped and played with the door lock. He shook hands with multiple restaurant patrons who were innocently trying to enjoy a a Friday night meal.

You know, I am not sure what happens to me. I don't know if I have amnesia or I block out our terrible dining experiences OR if I am just a gambler. I keep betting that the next meal will be a good experience, because odds are they can't all be bad. BUT, they are all bad, and we just keep taking Ivan to dinner in situations where he will ruin dinner for myself and others. I would totally understand if I restauranteur came to us when we walked into his establishment and said, "You know, let's just call a spade a spade and admit that this isn't going to work for any of us. Why don't you just peruse the takeout menu, while someone walks the tazmanian devil outside away from the peaceful diners". All night a child sat next to us in his high chair like a small saint. I wanted to park myself at their table and ask for a full criticism from his parents of what I was doing wrong. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? I am clearly doing something wrong.

Pic is of Ivans super cute mall outfit and me doing the butterfly today.