Sedative.

We finally bought a dining room table this past weekend at this fantastic furniture store called Target. It's a beautiful dark wood, counter height table with ridiculously comfortable chairs. Since it's arrival, we've been enjoying dinners at it every night. We set the table, the salt and pepper is accessible, and we actually talk to each other, instead of staring at the television while we eat. There have been significantly less spills because, well, a table is actually meant to hold food and drink, unlike the arm of a futon, which virtually promises bi-weekly spills accompanied by unnecessary but obligatory cussing.

To celebrate the new table, we opened a bottle of wine, a yummy Shiraz. We've been each having a glass of wine and a glass of water with dinner. This makes us both very pleasant to be around... I'm not sure if the heavenly feeling in the apartment is the result of the table or the wine. In any case, there is a very significant side effect to this increased wine drinking. I have been falling dead asleep on the couch at 9pm every night. This is what a half a glass of wine with dinner is doing to me.

Meanwhile, it took an Ambien AND a Vicodin to put me to sleep in Holland, and only for six hours at that. I'm thinking I should start requesting a higher per diem when I travel internationally, solely to support the glass(es) of red wine I'm convinced I need to start ordering with dinner.