I'm Such a Good Wife! (A picnic dinner)

Hubs has 24 duty tonight. That means from 0700 today until 0700 he gets to hang out at the barracks and make sure the Marines of his company are not being complete idiots. That also means that I get a whole 24 hours to myself! What have I done with my 24 hours, you ask? Well, I cleaned some of the house (yay for motivation!), I lounged around watching TV, I made dinner, went on base, and went to the library. Sooo, yep typical day in the life of Mrs. P.

Something new I decided to incorporate into this day between the making of dinner and the going to base parts, is the purpose of the two - making dinner for hubs stuck on base. Aren't I nice? (Ok, I'm learning, remember?!) As husband is there all day, I figure a nice home cooked meal could definitely do him some good. After hearing from him that this is in fact allowed, and he wouldn't mind dinner around 6, I gussy up (gotta look pretty if I'm being a good wife!) and begin cooking at 1700 (that's 5pm - I'm getting good at this). I prepare steak tips which are cooked in brown beef gravy with white rice (Uncle Ben's quick ready - ready to eat in 90 seconds!), salads, and buttered bread. I pack all the ingredients for dinner into a brown paper bag - bowls, forks, knives, napkins, the salads, the bread, sodas, even salt and pepper. The main dish gets put into a styrofoam container (we're working on keeping things hot, here) and the rice bags (yes, they're cooked in bags) get wrapped in kitchen towels. As the gravy leaks from the styrofoam, I am left to hold it and watch it and drive more carefully than I ever have. Ever.

I, of course, get lost of the way to the duty hut. But it's ok because one speaker phone call later and I'm in the right area. Hubby heads over (in his cami's - ooooooo) and helps me carry the bag over to a little covered picnic table area. We unpack and hubs is surprised and delighted by the effort and full-course-ness put into his meal. We dine outside while watching Marines field day (clean their barracks - I guess I wasn't the only one on the cleaning bus today) and then it is time for me to go and him to get back to, well, duty-ing.

All-in-all it was a great dinner. I felt good for doing something nice and being able to get to see him (duty days are longer than they sound, ok?) and he enjoyed a good meal and saw that I really do appreciate him and enjoy doing things for him. Win-win for all involved.

After dinner, I headed over to the library and picked up a few books. I've got a full carton of chocolate ice cream calling my name for dessert and a long night ahead of me. I'll probably end up asleep early - go figure.