As regular readers might have guessed, Bill and I didn’t end up going anywhere yesterday.  I hate staying in on the weekend, since those are precious days I can spend enjoying Germany with Bill.  But the weather was pretty dismal yesterday and neither of us felt like going out in the rain.  I sat around and watched iTunes all day, while Bill made another batch of homemade dog food for the boys in our Instant Pot.

iTunes is a funny thing.  I started using it when we lived at Fort Belvoir about ten years ago.  Bill was deployed and I was always alone, so I did things to try to fill my time.  I discovered a lot of music during those days.

When we moved to Germany the first time, I used iTunes to keep up with the few TV shows I got hooked on while he was in Iraq.  I discovered a few new shows that were offered free of charge.  Sometimes I’d get hooked on them and end up buying the whole series.  We never bothered to get AFN and, though we did have German cable, we didn’t watch much of anything on it outside of CNN.  Instead, I’d watch Netflix– at those days, I’d wait weeks for DVDs to arrive in the mail.  I’d buy my own DVDs, too; I still have many I bought at the Stuttgart PX ten years ago.  Or I’d watch iTunes.

Now that we’re in Germany again, I’ve found that entertainment possibilities are endless.  Netflix is streamable now and the German version is pretty good.  Although it doesn’t have the selection the American version has, I’ve found there’s enough stuff in English to occupy me.  And when there’s not, I can always watch iTunes.  Yes, I end up paying more, but that’s not really a concern to me.  This time, we have plenty of money.  I’m not as frugal as I once had to be.

Yesterday, we binge watched Snapped, which is a show about women who go off the deep end and commit murder.  After watching all the true crime stories I could stomach, I switched to Lifetime’s movie about the making of Melrose Place.  I was surprisingly entertained by that film, not just because I was in my 20s when that show aired, but also because it was genuinely a pretty decent film.  The casting was really good and there were some snarky lines in it that would really appeal to anyone who was young in the early 90s.

Unfortunately, I find that I pay a price when I don’t venture out on the weekends.  Because I’m kind of a recluse, if I don’t go out on Saturday or Sunday, I tend to get a touch of cabin fever.  I suppose I could go out on my own and I probably would if we didn’t have our dogs.  I have found that lonely excursions don’t always amount to much more than wasted gas and buying crap I don’t really need.

This is about right for me when I venture out alone…

Luckily, this week we have a holiday and Bill and I will be going to France with the dogs.  We are going back to Ribeauville, to an apartment we’ve stayed at before.  I don’t usually like to use precious time going back to places we’ve been, but we were short on planning time and needed a place somewhat close because we won’t have the whole day to get to our destination.  Bill has to work part of Thursday before we leave.

I know the place we’re going is dog friendly and super easy and convenient to access.  I know I like Ribeauville and even if we don’t do a lot of new stuff, there’s enough there that we can enjoy a change of scenery and different food.  We know the dogs will be okay alone for awhile in the apartment we’re renting while we scout out new wines and cuisine and perhaps do some shopping.  Maybe we’ll even try a French spa.  The price was also right.  Three nights in a three bedroom apartment for less than $500.  Can’t beat it.

I do hope 2018 will be somewhat better for seeing Europe.  I desperately need to get to Berlin sometime and there are other places I want to see, once Bill has leave saved up.  It’s not so easy when you have dogs and don’t trust a lot of folks.

Next week, we will also be celebrating our 15th anniversary.  This year, because Bill is building up vacation time, we are staying local.  Bill found a new restaurant in Stuttgart that looks promising.  If he can get us a reservation, I will be reviewing it soon.

But for now, all I can say is that we stayed in yesterday because it was just too icky to go anywhere yesterday.  It’s just that time of year.