Tin Cans and Austin's "Hurricane Ike"

What a Saturday. I was looking forward to rain and thunder and perhaps gusts of up to 50mph, but instead it was sunny all afternoon and terribly humid. Oh, weather.com - how you tease me. I've tried getting a hold of Wes a million times - mostly pre-hurricane to check his status. He lives in Houston - and Houston was just washed away by a hurricane. Silly Wes, answer your phone.

Today, since there weren't 50mph gusts of wind, Matt and I went on the great Tin Can Extravaganza of 2008. Natalie B. wants a watering can to water her garden with. Somewhat knowing Natalie's style, I decide to buy her a tin watering can. Her only requirement was that it had a shower spout (shouldn't every watering can have a shower spout...). So, off Matt and I go around 1:30p. We get semi-lost on the way to Shoal Creek Nursery (2 wrong turns) only to find their only tin watering can was huge and inappropriate for Natalie's needs. Next we go to Lowe's, then Big Lots, then Hobby Lobby (Matt wants to say, "Hobby Lobby is useless"), then Target. All during this time we are text messaging Google phone numbers to places we think would have a tin watering can. We called Home Depot, Michael's, Pier 1, Daisy Hill (we weren't sure what that was but it had the name Daisy in it), Wal-Mart and Jo-Ann's. By this time we were getting grouchy - so we went to Jamba Juice to refuel. It was about 3:00 by now. Next to Jamba Juice was an HEB so we stopped in to check their watering can supply, of course, no luck. Finally, post Jamba Juice I give up completely. I'm miserable because "Hurricane Ike" only made Austin think with humidity and I chose to wear jeans - like una mujer loca. So I say, "That's it! She'll have to find her own watering can because I don't see any cute ones! Let's just go to World Market and get her earrings!" Off to World Market, with a quick stop to Linen's and Things. We enter the store and I head for the earrings and purses. Matt wanders off and when I see him next - he is holding a tin watering can with a shower spout!!!!! But sadly, this also happens to be the ugliest tin watering can with a shower spout I have ever laid eyes upon. They took labels from baby diapers and other assorted print and pasted them onto the can. I could not buy this can for Natale with a clear conscience. So we continue to look around at their interesting display of... crap... and then, we stop. We blink. We hold our breath and inch ever so slowly towards the very object we had set our heart's desire on 3 hours before. There before us sat a small, quaint, painted white, tin watering can with a shower spout.

I nearly cried. I lunged upon the nearest World Market employee, tin can in hand, shaking it at his head, crying out with a voice of thanks to World Market and their vow to uphold customer satisfaction.

Walking out of the store half an hour later Matt said, "We just tangibly experienced God's goodness." Any man who can say that after 3 hours of running around through women dominated stores, moments away from returning home empty handed, must be a man with incredible character.