I officially have the "Best Wife In The World" prize wrapped up and in the bag. Yessiree. You see, on a whim Jon and I decided to cancel our television for the summer... to give us more time for the little things. So, TV is gone. Whatever shall we do?
"Well, sweetie, let's build a fort!"
No, I was the one who said that. We'd been remembering how much fun fort building had been when we were little. Not together, of course. But on opposite sides of the bay area we were in our own houses constructing fabulous forts out of blankets and chairs and couch cushions.
Jon jumped at the chance to recapture a part of his youth and enjoy it with me. First we gathered all our blankets and sheets together, brought chairs upstairs and out from the guest room, office and bedroom. Then... I got a glimpse into my engineer-husband's psyche. Apparently there are certain unalterable criteria when it comes to what makes a "good fort".
1. No part of the fort may include features of the actual room it's in. (That includes walls.)
2. If furniture from the actual room is utilized in construction process, the couch or chair must be completely covered with sheets, etc.
3. This includes the floor. A sheet must be put down to cover the floor entirely. (Don't even attempt to mess with this one!)
4. One staple in the fort-building world is couch cushions... (We don't have couch cushions. This is a problem.)
5. The resulting fort must be structurally sound. A ceiling that collapses under the weight of a bounding kitten is not acceptable.
6. No natural light is allowed in the fort. Instead we must craft some alternative light source involving a lightbulb/lamp surrounded by white sheets.
7. Did I mention that any "real" fort must include couch cushions?
8. There must be an actual entrance included in the building. (This means no removing of parts in order to step inside...)
There are probably more, but I think I blotted them out. He took forever figuring out his different steps and priorities! Finally I took matters into my own hands. While Jon took a little break, I stepped in and threw the rest of the fort together, ignoring some of the rules, too. Amazingly he was pleased with the results (I had left up the guest room mattress as the main ceiling... vaulted of course).
It remains to be a great fort! We'll keep it up until other people come over... our childish joy is something others may simply not understand. That, and we don't wanna share!
Anyway, I've been a little sick recently, so when Jon went climbing I had to stay home. But I thought that everything would be great as I hung out in my cool new fort! And it would have been great... until I thought of The Sixth Sense. I don't think I've ever left anywhere that fast!