The dress

Last Friday I called Tom. He hadn't arrived home yet and I wanted to know what the plan for the evening was. Did I need to cook dinner for him? The boys can eat lots of things, but Tom only likes specific dishes. He likes me to make the effort, which I try to avoid.

He tells me he is already at the club. I invite myself up to join him. It has been a rough week for us. We have been "discussing" the stairs and our options on installing the new wood treads and risers. It took some negotiations and thought to come up with a plan that Tom liked. I was all for just ripping out the sub floor treads that the carpet wrapped around. Tom feared the stairs were structural and i could do some real damage to the house in removing them. Our compromise was laying the planks on top of the existing surface and building out the supporting riser past the sub floor nose to cover the sub floor from view. I bought some different height risers to see if I needed to tuck behind or on top of the tread so the length of each tread would match. It is not rocket science but takes a little forethought. It took Tom and I several days to work our way to a solution.

I have been staining the treads to match the upstairs floor. The treads are Oak and the upstairs floor is cherry color stained Maple. It took five coats of two different color stains to get the color just right for Tom's satisfaction. I now have to put on a glossy finish and install the stairs.

I didn't want to have any more "discussions" Friday night about anything. I had a dress I had picked up about two years ago while shopping with a friend. At the time, the dress was about ten pounds too tight. But I could see the potential. The dress screamed buy me. I have had it tucked away waiting for me to fit it.

It now fits like a glove. Molded to my figure. I put it on Friday night. I felt gorgeous in it. It is just a simple frock, not even expensive, but it does a number on me. Tom thought so too, when I arrived at the club. Every time a touchy subject came up I would lean in and Tom's eyes would drift and his thoughts would stray. He would reach for a grope, and the "discussion" would pass out of his mind. We had a lovely night. We danced and parties and just enjoyed each other's company, and the company of our friends. What a lovely time it was.

I am going to save that dress for evenings when Tom is more stressed than usual. I wouldn't want to over use the magic.