7:24 p.m. | 2003-05-31 Grumpy Old Men & Dreaded Chores. As usual, I slept in this morning and then headed to the Local Caf� for brunch. Seated at the table next to me were two grumpy old men. Neither could hear well, but one could hear better than the other. The one who couldn�t really hear was annoying the other one by saying the same thing over and over. I heard a lot of this. �Stop telling me that you drink a gallon of water everyday. You�ve ALREADY told me that FIVE times today. I KNOW you drink a gallon of water everyday. Just stop telling me that!� Of course, the other guy didn�t really hear that admonishment, so he kept repeating himself anyway. That�s a glimpse into the future that I don�t really want to know about. On the other side was a couple. Married, I presume. She was discussing something quite intently and in depth � analyzing as she went along � while he was staring off into space. She didn�t seem to notice his complete lack of interest, but I could tell he wasn�t listening at all. That�s a glimpse into everyday life that I don�t really want to see. Meanwhile, the Local Caf� was quite busy today. Maria was out but Donna was back. Donna was out last week because she severely strained her arm. She was out for 8 days and missed her 10-year anniversary of working at the Local Caf�. She�s my favorite waitress. While I was paying my bill, she said this to me. �You know, you�re a person who really likes to take their time and enjoy a meal. You like to relax. And, you actually chew your food.� Her comment reminded me of this guy I knew � who�s now deceased. He was one of 10 kids or something and grew up on a farm or ranch or something like that where they did a lot of chores. They were people of modest means and most of the kids were rapidly growing boys. Mealtime was kind of a �survival of the fittest� thing. I only saw him eat once and it was rather surprising. He was a mature adult at the time, but some habits die hard. The first thing he did was wrap one arm around his plate and then, with his face about 2� from his plate, he shoveled food into his mouth as fast as he could. I swear, he ate a full meal in like 3 minutes. He even apologized for his rather animalistic feeding instinct. If he�d been a dog, he would have been labeled as �food aggressive�. After brunch, I went grocery shopping. I�ve decided that I�m gonna start bringing my lunch to work in addition to my breakfast. You know, I love having lunch out everyday, but it really does cost a lot. And, now�s a good time anyway since I�ll be chained to my desk all day, every day next week. Boss has decided to also bring her lunch to work. I�ve lost count, over the years, of how many times I�ve vowed to start packing my lunch again, so who knows how long it�ll last. But, maybe I�ll surprise myself. Just as an aside, there were A LOT of men at the grocery store today. From young to old, short to tall, with kids or not, etc. Is this a new trend? Are more guys doing the grocery shopping or is it just that I haven�t noticed it before? After shopping, I watered the garden and then started to tackle Spring Cleaning Downstairs. The hardest part is getting started, I think. Good thing I made a list. I know, I know� it�s boring to hear about, talk about and do, but that�s where I�m focused at the moment. And, I feel better and better as I go along. I hope to finish up tomorrow and then I just have to stay up on it. I do love a sparkly clean house though. It lowers my stress level significantly. Well, I better get going. I have to prep some stuff for tomorrow�s cooking. Breakfast this week is, once again, beef stew (don�t know what�s up with that) and fruit, and lunches are BBQ chicken sandwiches and salad. your thoughts? seed flower