Spicy -- and not so Spicy Date Nights

Connor got his driver's license in June.  It was a bittersweet moment for me.  On one hand, I was a nervous wreck watching him back out of the driveway by himself and head down the road.  On the other hand, it definitely freed up my schedule!

Both boys have practice on Monday nights at the same facility.  Therefore, Connor takes Colby and I get to stay home!!

Chris and I went to Las Vegas this summer and one of our favorite parts of each day was getting all dressed up and going to a nice restaurant for dinner.  Because of baseball and school, we didn't have a chance to do that much in our "real lives".  Well, now both boys are gone on Monday nights AND I don't have to be the taxi!  We came up with a plan...We would take turns choosing a place for dinner -- however, it had to be a place that neither of us had been to before.

We began this back in October and have stumbled upon some great food:
The first week was Chris's pick and we went to Thai Cottage.  Good food, good service, only two tables of people...hmmm.

The second week, I chose Yucatan Taco Stand.  It is on the Waterway and has awesome fish tacos -- which I didn't know I like until that night.

The third week, Chris enlisted the help of a friend from work.  We had met at the previous restaurants, but he decided to surprise me with this pick.  He came to pick me up and we drove and drove.  As he pulls up to Wunsche Bros. I am having a total dilemma in my head..."Do I lie to him?  Do I tell him I've been here several times before???"  I know that I can't keep anything from him, so I told him the truth. He was so upset but it was still an amazing Chicken Fried Steak!!

The fourth week, I chose Pallottas.  A great Italian restaurant - or so I was told.  We order and get our salad and bread.  When my entree comes out, it has shrimp and not chicken on it.  The waitress takes it back to redo while Chris waits patiently for me to get my plate back.  I'm sure his is cold by the time I get it, but he is too sweet to complain.  When I get my plate, we both dig in.  I'm eating and eating.  I twirl pasta around my fork and a long hair twirls right in with it!  Back it goes.  Chris waits.  The manager comes out to apologize and made mine and Chris's plates over again.  Third time was a charm!  Not sure if this place will be a repeat or not...

The fifth week Chris totally surprised me with Indian food at Bombay Sizzler.  It was amazing!  Since Chris travels a lot, he eats a variety of food but does enjoy Indian food.  One year I went with him to England and it was in Cheltenham that I had my first Indian food.  Bombay Sizzler was a sweet walk down memory lane.
I decided that night that I should be taking photos every Monday to commemorate our outings...

Week six was my turn and I had to makeup for my last choice.  I chose a Tapas bar.  I was all dressed up and Connor walked into the room and said, "Wow, mom.  Where are you going?"  I told him a tapas bar.  He thought I said a topless bar.  He turned and walked out of the room.  Once we both cleared it all up we had a huge laugh!  But, hey, if we start running out of restaurants to go to, we may have to go to a topless bar!  Hee!!

On week seven, we went out of our norm and had sushi at a place other than Uni.  Great soup.  Sushi wasn't bad either.  Company was awesome!

Thanksgiving came and went and we both were tired of eating.  Sad situation.  So for week eight we chose to go to Salata and eat a salad.  I couldn't even bear to take a photo.  :(  Not that the salads aren't good; but nothing about that Monday fit the rules.

Since our salad, we have been on a hiatus.  "Real life" has gotten the better of our Monday nights.  But I am really looking forward to January and continuing our new tradition!

Ducks!

My boys started watching Duck Dynasty when it premiered.  They would come down and tell me something that happened on an episode and I would think, "That sounds like the stupidest show!"

Some mornings, when he gets up in time, Colby watches TV while eating breakfast.  Last week, he put on a recorded episode of Duck Dynasty.  Five minutes in and I was hooked!  In fact, I left the kitchen and sat in front of the TV and pretty much forgot about getting Colby ready for school!

Chris came home that night and I made him watch four episodes with me.  I can't say he's truly a Duck lover; but I do know he laughs a lot while watching it!

I've also noticed that a handful of my Facebook friends are fans -- and these are classy ladies.  Not your backwoods rednecks.  This make me feel even more secure in my love of this show.

I wasn't sure why I liked it so much.  It is 30-minutes of silliness.  But, today, I found my answer in another bloggers blog.

It truly is 30-minutes of clean, wholesome TV.  That is rare!  There is no cheating, cussing, or killing.  Phil and Miss Kay are frisky and patient with each other after years of marriage.  The wives support their husbands and love their in-laws and are raising what seem to be great kids.  And then there's Uncle Si... It is a family that has strong values and beliefs -- a much needed example for our kids and ourselves!

If you don't believe me, grab you a glass of sweet tea, put on some camo and read this man's blog!

http://truthmattersblog.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/5-reasons-america-needs-duck-dynasty/

Parental Failure

It seems I'm not only a failure at blogging, but also parenting...

On a side note, I did spend a while last night reading up on some of the blogs that I used to read daily and haven't in probably a year.  One lady I followed only had a few postings throughout the year.  I was happy to see that until I saw the reason why...she'd had a 4th baby!  Thank goodness my reason is just that I have been lazy!!

Chris and I have done more ordering online for Christmas than actual in-store shopping.  A box came yesterday and I wasn't sure if it was a present for me or a present for Chris because I couldn't think of any other gifts we had ordered the boys that hadn't come.

When Chris got home we both shook it and looked at the return address.  Neither of us was certain who it was for so we decided to enlist Colby's help.  We told him to open the box and then Chris whispered what he would find if it was in fact a present for me.  Colby opened it, looked inside and said "Nope".  So, I whispered in Colby's ear what he would find if it was in fact a present for Chris.  He looked at me and said, "Nope."  Then he grabbed the box and said, "It for me!"  And, yes, it was!!  We all got a huge laugh out of mom and dad's craziness!

Apparently, we need to be more organized when we shop!

Am I OK??

I'm thinking that there may be something seriously wrong with me.

Today is the first day of school.  Normally, I would be counting the days (from way back in July) until school starts.  I would be packing backpacks a couple of days before.  I would be itching to see that yellow bus.  But, not this year.  For some reason, I just was not ready for school to start!

It may have a lot to do with the fact that now that Connor is driving, I really didn't have a busy summer.  I took Colby to his lessons or practices; but, not having to shuttle Connor around made my summer SO easy!  He even worked this summer -- a lot -- so he was rarely around.  That really helped on the whole brother's fighting thing!  Plus, Colby is a huge helper.  He washed my car, helped me clean the house and put away laundry.  He was even my lunch date on many days.

Yep, I didn't want school to start!  But it did.

Today is my normal "domestic" day, as I call it -- cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping.  Today also confirmed for me that something may be amiss with me...  As I called several friends to see how their mornings went, no one was home to talk...  As I walked around Walmart getting groceries, there were only moms with toddlers...

Where were all the moms today???  Apparently I did not celebrate appropriately!

However, there is always tomorrow.  :0)


My 6th grader:

My Junior:

How Old Am I??

It has been SO long since I blogged that I forgot my password!  A few days ago I had something that I thought would make a great blog and decided I should get back into it.  I went to log in and my mind was blank!  Couldn't think of it to save my life.  I've spent about a week trying to remember it -- nope!  So, today I went and reset it to something new and edgy and, hopefully, one I'll remember.  But, just in case, I wrote it down!

In the months that I have been away from blogging-land, the blogger I use has totally renovated itself.  I feel like technology has taken off without me!  There are videos to watch and new things I can do!  Ugh!!  I don't want to relearn!!

Now that I can access my blog, I can't seem to remember what I was going to blog about last week...

I think the theme to this blog is "I Am Old"!!

Saran Wrap and Memories

I walked upstairs this morning to see Saran Wrap and tape strewn all over the hallway. Wondering what in the world happened after I went to bed last night, I started looking for the only two culprits that could have created this mess...Connor or Colby.

Being that it is a holiday, I knew where Connor was -- still in bed! Colby was up; so, I asked him what this mess was. Apparently, after Colby went to bed, Connor Saran-wrapped his door. Colby said, "He did an awful job Mom."

About 28 years ago (yikes!!), my church youth group used to have lock-ins. For some reason, the girls decided it would be fun to play a prank on the boys. One of the girls -- I know it WASN'T me -- baked brownies with Ex-lax in them! We fed them to the boys after we had saran-wrapped all the men's bathroom toilets!! (I DID help Saran-wrap the toilets!) We obviously had not thought this whole thing through because as the brownies were eaten and the night wore on the guys just went and used the women's bathrooms!! UGH!

I will say that we did get into a lot of trouble. But it has provided a lot of laughs in my family as we remember my attempt at being "bad"!!

I guess when Connor gets up, I will let him off the hook for this stunt! :)