For the third time in four days, LO, J and I will be heading down to Indianapolis this afternoon.

You may be wondering why we would make an hour and fifteen minute drive so often in one week--and it is because our brains have been hijacked by Groupon. 

Not to worry, I will blog all about the Groupon hijacking tomorrow.  Today, though, I want to discuss the futility of trying to keep a nearly 2-year-old from whining about being bored on a drive when his parents ask each other "Are we there yet?" approximately once every 2.78 minutes.  (By the way, the correct response when an adult asks this question is "I know, seriously!"  The correct response when hearing this question--or the toddler version of "Eh?" spoken with a questioning whine--from a child is to offer a pita chip, a sippy cup, or a toy car.  Neither classification of response is particularly satisfying).

I have always known that I have a fairly short driving attention span.  I can have fun driving for about two hours, provided I have some kind of music/audio book to entertain me.  Add to the length of the drive, or add to the frustration of the drive (like when we ran into an accident on the way home yesterday), and I start considering abandoning the car to complete the rest of the journey on foot.  At least then I wouldn't be bored.

J used to have a much better driving tolerance than I do, but I've worn him down.  Sometimes marriage means you take on each other's best qualities, and sometimes it means you turn your spouse into someone with your same bad habits.  Guess which one seems to have happened more often in my case.

Unlike yesterday, when we drove to Indy to drop off J's car (because it was a deal on detailing his car that helped Groupon to hijack our brains) and then turned around and came right back, today we will actually have some fun in Circle City.  We'll be having dinner in the Broad Ripple area, which is one of our favorite parts of Indy.  We plan to enjoy the lovely May evening on the porch of a brew pub, and then head back to Lafayette with J's newly detailed '93 Volvo 240 and my dirty hoopty caravaning up I-65 together.

I'm a little concerned, though, because this setup means I'll be alone in my car with no one but LO to ask about the relative thereness of our yet. Somehow, I doubt he'll be willing to hand over his chips, sippy cup, or cars.

Amazon Card Giveaway Update:

Have you entered my giveaway yet?   I will be giving away an Amazon gift card to one lucky reader who comments on this post by noon on May 31.  The randomly chosen winner will receive a gift card--and the denomination will depend on the number of miles I run between now and 5/31!  I will load $0.50 per mile on the gift card.  Here are the numbers so far:

Miles Run Today: 5

Total Mileage for Giveaway: 9

Gift Card Amount: $4.5

Goal: 40 more miles

Mileage for the year: 150

What young people love about their iPhone and iPad is the fact that these devices serve more than one purpose. In fact, in this day and age we have come to expect that every piece of technology we own serve more than one purpose. Why should our furniture be any different?

Image from Apartment Therapy

If you are living in a small space, you know that putting every nook and corner to work is important. The dining room will need to become an office when it is not in use. A table purchased from a second hand store can be reconfigured to serve both of these purposes. A little sanding and a few cans of spray paint will make what might have looked like junk into something very useful. Here we see a desk that uses sawhorses with a glass top. Furniture of this type can be purchased, or if you are creative, made in your garage.

There is no need to sacrifice beauty to usefulness and function. Whether you chose to live with antiques or very modern furniture, every piece should be stylish as well a functional. Resources available to the consumer today have made living this lifestyle very affordable. Storage units and desks convert into beds at night. The area by a window can be a dining area or a desk/art workspace.

College bound students get ready to live in one room but they do it in style anymore. Beds are elevated so a desk area can be situated underneath. Lighting is portable and multifunctional. When retirees begin to think about downsizing, they are doing the same thing again. Making the small rooms they move to cheerful and homelike becomes important again.

Barbara Torris is a retired educator turned freelance writer. She spends her winters in a very small space with her husband and a cat named RV. Her Retire in Style Blog tells about the daily life of a retiree as she and her husband live it. Check out her Retire In Style Blog.