Rocky Road

Our place sits on a hill and we're on the fourth floor so we get a nice breeze. With a nice breeze comes slamming doors that scare the bejeezus out of you if you don't see it coming. Throughout the day you can hear doors slamming in the other units.

Since we moved in I've wanted some kind of decorative door stop. For the past nine months we've used a red brick for the patio door, a chair for the guest room, and the battery from Ibis' drill for our bedroom. The front door is a crap-shoot. Recently I discovered the lower half of our beach umbrella wedges quite nicely between the door and entertainment center so that's become a permanent fixture.

I haven't been able to convince Ibis that it's worth buying something just to hold the door open, but we recently found a solution we both like. My friend uses large rocks. You know, the kind you find outdoors, for free. We run along the ocean most mornings and there are LOTS of rocks there so I got the brilliant idea that we could look for the perfect rocks during our run.

This morning was the first time I actually remembered the plan while we were still near the water and I forced Ibis to climb over the railing to get the one I spotted. "How many can you carry?" he asked.

I looked at the water bottle in my hand. "One. Can you carry one, too?"

He looked at the iPod in one hand and house keys in the other. "No, but I'll carry one if I see one I like." He searched for a few more minutes but didn't see anything that caught his eye. We continued running.

Have you ever run with a large rock in your hand? It's one thing to walk with it cradled against your side but you can't run like that. It's only six inches in diameter (about the width of my hand) but it got heavy fast. Fortunately my hubby was nice and traded the keys for the rock when we were halfway home.

Only two more to go!