Thursday was, perhaps, our cheapest day, but only because it was prepaid three months ago.

The day started out with a tour of the local garage sales. Garage sale-ing in the suburbs is quite an experience in a place like St. Paul. Julianne said the day was a poor-day for it, but we still went to at least 5 or 6 within an hour or two. Amanda spent a quarter on a much needed pitcher, and I bought two binders for fifty cents.

That afternoon, after mac-‘n-cheese and chit-chat, Amanda ditched me to go grocery shopping with my sister, leaving me at home with the kids because Michael was teaching summer school! A couple minor catastrophes, including a shattered dolphin necklace and a piano running out of water (them Minnesotan musicians are strange!) kept me on my toes until they got home.

Then we had the bright idea to think we could get across the city to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre in an hour at 5:00. Mistake. Actually, we did make it by 6:10, with plenty of time to enjoy the meal before the 8:00 show of Annie. The Chanhassen idea came to us a couple of months ago, so when I ordered the tickets, I was able to get one of the very few two-person tables. And the one in the very center of the front! We could reach out and touch the center of the stage from our table. We only felt “too” close once or twice during the musical. But the food was excellent, and the show was so great, it didn’t bother us at all. Although, seven little kids singing Hardknock Life at the top of their lungs 6 feet from you does get kindof loud! Somehow someone thought we were in the birthday/anniversary club so we got a collectible glass and some flavored coffee. Our souveniers also included a big, heavy-duty collectible soda cup and some beads from Mrs. Hannigan’s necklace when it shattered during “Easy Street.”