Briquettes or Propane that was the question....

RAVE

So I am turning 50 in a couple of days. My mother has been on me, wanting to know what I want for my birthday. I had no clue. At the beginning of this week I started the Couch to 5k running program. In doing so I decided a shiny new pair of running shoes and appropriate clothing for such a task was in order. I called my mom and told her that I wanted shoes and a sports bra for running. She had some weird idea about taking me to Jared Jewelers and having me pick out some trinket or another. I poop pooped that idea, just not my deal at all. So it was settled at the beginning of the week that we would meet up today for a birthday shopping trip.

Somewhere in the middle of the week my best friend about blew a gasket when she found out what I had proposed as a birthday gift from my mother. I was informed that 50 is a big deal and you don't get something you need, you get something you want. So I was directed to start a list, things I really wanted that could have a theme of somekind. Hmmm...well I have wanted these hanging wire lanterns for my patio, new dishes for my kitchen as well as new pans, a new camera and possibly a fancy BBQ Grill for some fun outdoor cooking. So there it was a birthday theme list....Now I just had to decide what I really wanted the most and what would make the most appropriate 50th birthday gift. I guess I was convinced to consede that allowing someone to get me and appropriate gift opposed to getting what I wanted in the first place was really the way to go. Alrighty then.

Mom arrived at 10:30 am this morning and the adventure began. Everything really hinged on the wire lanterns that were supposed to be at our local Crate and Barrel store. If they had the lanterns(which was something I was already planning on buying for myself) then I would go with the patio/BBQ theme. If no lanterns could be found then I would peruse CB looking for the pans and dishes I might want. And then if both of those were a wash then I would fall back on the camera idea (althought I had absolutely no idea what I was really after in a camera, I guess I would just know it when I saw it, at least that is what I default to).

A short drive across town landed us in front of Crate and Barrel. Things were looking up as we found the lanterns just a few steps into the store. Just for argument sake I looked around a few minutes at dishes and pans...nothing really grabbed me...so the lanterns were purchased...5 of them, as well as the chains to hang them from and the tea lights to fill them. I was happy.

Off we then ventured to Wal-Mart to check out the BBQ's. I have never owned anything other then a 18" by 18" table top BBQ, so an actually grill was a foreign object to me. What I had heard of and thought I might want was a grill that did both propane and charcoal. There was a very nice grill that did just that...however it was bigger than my apartment....so that would be a no go. I finally decided to go with what I knew to some degree...charcoal...and picked out a simple little grill that would do just that. Mom liked the other one. We went back and forth...sorting out the pro's and con's of each of the charcoal grills in question. Then I thought well maybe propane would be better. Again, it came down to two different grills...I liked one and mom liked the other one. We seemed to be at a stand off again so I decided to call it quites and figure out something else for my birthday. Mind you we had been going over these grills for almost 40 minutes by then. Mom started begging me to just let her buy me a BBQ. We were in hysterics by then. We were also entertaining the surround Wal-Mart staff that had been watching all our bantering back and forth.

Okay I would just pick one. Then it occurred to me that...wouldn't it just be the way that I finally pick and that would be the one they didn't have. So I started checking the BBQ'a acutally in boxes to see if any of them matched the ones we had been looking at. I spotted one that didn't look like any on display so we read the dimensions...that one seemed to be a bit bigger than I could facilitate. Then tucked under a tarp at the very back of a stack...I found the one I wanted. So I ended up with a two burner propane 60" hooded BBQ with a side burner. SWEET!

Grillmasters beware there is a new kid on the block.

Anyone for Shish Kabobs...the parties at my house.