Food – Page 20 – Not Content to Crawl

Weekend Recap

Posted onFebruary 20, 2017February 20, 2017

Friday 2/17

While Wookie was at the groomer I stopped by Dollar Tree to find a container to keep her toys in. They had had their Easter stuff out which included containers of all shapes and sizes in my favorite color – purple! Needless to say I picked up more than a few, but here’s the one I got for her toys:

Then I went to Bath & Body Works to use my coupon for a free small lotion. I’m glad they had Warm Vanilla Sugar in stock because I’m not a fan of most of the scents.

Later that evening we stopped by Panda Express for dinner since we had coupons for free Fire Cracker Chicken breast and a drink.

Saturday 2/18

My Jetta had what should be its last oil change at the dealership because I plan on getting a new car soon. I know I keep saying that but now that Joe is working again it’s time.

The dealer moved to a new location on the same street just further away and it’s really nice. What’s not nice is the price of an oil change – $70!!! We paid a little less than that thanks to a coupon but seriously? Joe will be changing the oil himself on my next car. It just wasn’t very cost-saving on the Jetta because the oil filter price is ridiculous.

That’s just one of the reasons Volkswagen wasn’t in the running when I was thinking about which car I might want. The other reason is they are way behind in technology. I’m more than likely going to be getting a Subaru which has a huge LCD screen and syncs with my phone. Plus it comes standard with a backup camera and I can add on heated seats which is a must have for me. Once it gets warmer out I’ll be doing a second test drive of the Impreza as well as the Crosstrek. I might even check out the Ford Focus five door once more although for the price, safety, and resale value, I’m definitely leaning toward Subaru.

As noted in my other entry we spent the afternoon at Petsmart with Wookie and then came home and opened up all the windows because it was uncharacteristically warm outside. It’s been in the 60’s now for a few days which is just wild in February. Wookie was acting a bit odd later in the evening and I don’t know if it’s because she smelled something outside like a coyote, but she was shivering (it wasn’t cold inside) and walking around with her tail between her legs. It could be that she’s teething too, so we’ve just been keeping a close watch over her.

We were supposed to go to my parents’ for Brother B’s birthday party, but Brother J is sick so that was cancelled.

Sunday 2/19

Savers was having a pre-Presidents Day sale so everything was 50% off. Of course despite taking 7 tops into the dressing room none of them fit well but Joe found three t-shirts he didn’t need. LOL We did get a game called Logo Board Game for only $4. Technically it should have been $2 but for some reason it didn’t ring up as 50% off. I emailed Savers this morning to ask why.

Still not a bad price for a game that sells for nearly $30 on Amazon and was in great condition. We plan on taking it to my parents’ house the next time we visit.

After lunch we decided to take Wookie on a walk at Northside Park in Wheaton. She really sucks on a leash right now so that is the next major thing I need to tackle. She just pulls and weaves back and forth and you practically trip over her. But we wanted to give her the exposure to all the people and dogs that we knew would be there due to the nice weather. It was very crowded and we spent about an hour there.

That afternoon Joe also installed a child lock on cabinet under sink so now I don’t need to move the garbage can in front of it when I let Wookie run around the kitchen. I can rest easy knowing she can’t get into any cleaning products. I’m going to have him put the lock on the cabinet where we store the saran wrap and baggies too.

Monday 2/20

Right now I have stuffed cabbage cooking in the crockpot. I really hate the prep because even with Joe coring the cabbage last night it was still a bitch to tear off the leaves without ripping them which makes rolling up the meat mixture inside a bit difficult. I might make this cabbage casserole I found online next time instead. It’s basically the same thing without worrying about the size of the cabbage pieces.

Speaking of a the crockpot, I had a total fail a couple of weeks ago. I tried making the stoup in it vs on the stove and I will never do that again because the taste was completely different and not good at all. Lesson learned.

This day has flown by because I slept in until 7 am, had to deal with the cabbage, which included a trip to Walmart to buy lemon juice since ours was expired (but I was smart – I froze the new stuff using the ice cube tray my brother got me for my birthday), clean the house, and run to my doctor’s office to pick up my blood work order they had forgotten to give me before.

Weekly Recap – Internet Outage & Left Eye Issues

Posted onJanuary 13, 2017

My weekly recaps only cover three days because those are the days I work whereas my weekend recaps will be four days.

Tuesday 1/10 – Went to Buona Beef to pick up dinner since I had a birthday coupon for a free sandwich. Didn’t work, however, because I think the emails I get and my app are two different accounts on their site. But the manager gave me the free sandwich anyway and I will need to figure out how to tie the two accounts together. I got the chicken artichoke panini since I wasn’t in the mood for a burger. I didn’t care for it as much as I had hoped. It was way better cold the next day (I only ate half for dinner), though. So if I get it again I’ll have to get it a day before I actually want to eat it. LOL Joe got the avocado jack burger which I tasted and it was really good.

Wednesday 1/11 – My left eye was bugging the crap out of me all morning (dry and blurry even though I had put in a fresh pair of contacts that morning) so when I went home for lunch I switched to my glasses for some relief. Back at work around 2 pm I went to check on Wookie via the webcam we have set up in the kitchen and it was offline. Came home to learn the internet was down and it was a known area outage Comcast was working to resolve. Estimated time to restore service was 8:30 pm and since all our entertainment is internet-based, we watched Lilo & Stitch on DVD. When we went to bed the internet was still down.

Thursday 1/12 – Internet still wasn’t working when we got up so I called Comcast while I got ready for work. They “sent a signal” to the modem and if we hooked it up directly to the computer we’d get service but our router wasn’t giving us any WiFi. The rep gave us a $10 credit for the outage. Tried some more stuff that evening but nothing was working. What was weird was we couldn’t access the router page from the computer, but Joe could get it on his iPad. Eventually he just reset it to the factory default settings but that seemed to do nothing. Then about 15-20 minutes later it spontaneously started working again. I’m relieved the router wasn’t fried but perplexed what was wrong to begin with. I hope it doesn’t happen again! It’s just weird the outage triggered it to stop working. Also, I ended up wearing my glasses all day to give my eye a rest and we went to Qdoba to pick up dinner since I had a BOGO coupon for my birthday.

Visiting My Uncle

Posted onDecember 12, 2016

Friday we decided to celebrate Joe getting a job by going out to lunch at Lonestar Steakhouse. On the expressway I pulled up their website to check the menu and that’s when we learned they are no longer open for lunch. Doh! We then decided to check out Texas Roadhouse instead but when I pulled up their website it was the same story – they don’t open until 4 pm. Clearly the lunch crowd must not be what it used to be with all these places opening for dinner only. I wonder whether our local Lonestar would have stayed in business had they changed their hours years ago. Anyway, we ended up at The Pit Ribhouse in our old neighborhood which was good as always. We can always get steak another time.

After lunch we headed over to my uncle’s house as previously arranged and were there for about two hours. It’s been many years since we’ve been to his place so he has a whole new group of animals verses last time. His late wife worked at a shelter so they’ve always had their own small zoo. His house is on a huge lot complete with a barn (with a horse). He used to have two but one passed away earlier this year. He also has a parrot who has the whole loft to herself, four dogs (a pit bull, pit/Shephard mix, mastiff, and a Pomeranian chihuahua mix) in the main level of the house and three cats, a cockatiel, two finches, and an African Grey parrot in the basement. He also had a squirrel but he passed away recently.

The amount of animals he has would overwhelm the hell out of me, not to mention he is a self-confessed hoarder so even though his house is pretty big it felt crowded which made me feel anxious. I’m glad I’ve reached the point where I’d rather spend money on experiences than just stuff. That’s not to say I don’t buy anything, but the number of knicknacks in that house was off the charts. If you need multiple curio cabinets to hold it then for me it’s too much. Some people love collecting things, however, and as long as they’re happy that’s all that matters but for me personally I couldn’t do it. I’m trying to get rid of some of our possessions as it is.

Anywho, before we took off my uncle gave us some outfits for the puppy. At some point I will torture her by making her wear them.

Once we got home and checked on the puppy we ran back out to run some errands. We ended up at Dairy Queen so I could use my BOGO Blizzard coupon. I got the peppermint Oreo which is awesome! I’ve been nursing it ever since so essentially I’ve gotten four desserts out of one large Blizzard. We also tried the new Mexican place next door to DQ. Their cheese enchiladas with green sauce are very good but it irked me that they only way to get them was by ordering the $11.99 dinner. Since I don’t care for refried beans and could do without the rice it’s like I paid $4 per enchilada. So even though the food was good and the guy who took care of us was very nice I can’t say we’d go there again.

Arizona – Thursday, November 17

Posted onNovember 18, 2016April 1, 2025

Thursday morning Joe’s parents took us out to breakfast at another one of their favorite places called Mickey D’s Cafe. The food was ok, although I only ordered potatoes and a cup of fruit since by the time they asked I had eaten my BBQ leftovers from Wednesday as my breakfast.

Later that afternoon we met up with M and her daughter at TopGolf where M’s husband works as the executive chef. We got a nice 2nd floor stall where we were able to hit some golf balls. I actually did better than the last time I tried many years ago. They have nice couches in the area and a TV. It’s pretty sweet – I can certainly understand the appeal. Everything was really clean and new looking; I think the location is only a couple of years old.

We didn’t order any food at TopGolf, although we did snack on the chips and guacamole M had them bring out. We wanted to stay hungry since we had lunch plans to revisit this Thai place we discovered and loved on our last trip. So around 2 pm we did just that and it was the most disappointing meal of our vacation. I don’t know if they changed chefs since our visit seven years ago, or we just happened to pick all the right dishes last time, but my Pad Se Ew was nothing special at all and Joe wasn’t impressed with his Pad Thai. I briefly considered ordering the Thai fried rice I enjoyed so much last time but was afraid to spend any more money there, so we just left. What a bummer! I was literally excited for days to go back too.

That evening Joe’s mom treated us to BINGO at Lone Butte Casino. I hate casinos, and this one was no different – loud and full of cigarette smoke. The BINGO hall was much quieter and we sat in the non-smoking section so it wasn’t too bad. We sat across from the restrooms so that Joe’s mom and sister could smoke when they wanted. We got the electronic BINGO devices which, while expensive at $39 (!!!) each, are pretty cool.

The machine keeps up with the game for you and even lets you know when you’re close to getting BINGO. They allow outside food and drinks which is cool too, although we purchased some food there and took advantage of the free (non-alcoholic) drinks in the BINGO hall. We got there so early, and we had a free $15 for joining their casino program, so we played on the Poker machines for a bit but cashed out before we lost any real money. They make you put at least $5 of your own money into the machine before you can access the $15 they give you. I hate gambling so it was just something to pass the time before BINGO begin.

M and her mom (Joe’s sister) got into it less than halfway through the evening so that put a damper on things. Plus none of us won even though a woman two tables away won twice! THAT is why I could do without casinos altogether. I don’t get the appeal but old people really seem to love going there. Most of them look miserable, however.

Arizona – Wednesday, November 16

Posted onNovember 17, 2016April 1, 2025

Wednesday we got up early to heard to Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park, Arizona. The drive is about an hour from Joe’s parents’ but wasn’t too bad thanks to the awesome HOV lanes – we flew past the traffic! I love the expressways in Arizona because they are all in fantastic shape thanks to the lack of snow and ice. Plus they are all absolutely free; no tolls whatsoever. Gotta like that!

We were meeting M, J, and O so we had time to stop at the nearby McDonald’s for a quick breakfast since we were due to arrive at the zoo ahead of them by at least twenty minutes. We arrived at the zoo about fifteen minutes after they opened and they were already there. Doh! Turns out their GPS overestimated how long it would take them to get there.

It was a rare cloudy/overcast day – our first one since arriving – which turned out to be perfect since it got into the mid 80’s throughout the day but without the sun beating down on us it felt very comfortable.

The zoo didn’t seem that large at first glance but it turns out they have a ton of animals. The highlights included the zoo show where they introduced some of the more intelligent animals such as Ollie the Otter and an African Grey Parrot. The baby animal nursery was awesome too – they had a white tiger cub, a leopard cub, and two lion cubs.

Included in the admission price was the chance to feed the lorikeets.

They only allow the feeding at certain times but we were able to attend the first feeding. Before going into the enclosure it was explained to us that the green bucket of apple pieces were to feed the birds and the red bucket was for any pieces eaten or that have fallen to the ground. We were also warned that anything that went into the birds would be coming back out within fifteen minutes and that we’d get a two minute warning so we could clear the enclosure in time. Feeding the birds was fun although a bit stressful when you have three of them digging their claws into your arm while picking apart a quartered apple in the palm of your hand.

I also got some great photos of the resident leopard which was exciting since most of the time they are sleeping.

Oh, and for 50 cents (per handful of food) you can feed the giraffes. You can’t get as close to them as at the Phoenix zoo, however.

I finally got a sharp photo of a meerkat too!

Around 2 pm we were super hungry so we decided to take a break and eat at the on-site restaurant, Dillions KC BBQ. I had the half chicken and Joe had the beef brisket, both of which were good. Their $2 onion rings were awesome as well.

After lunch M and crew decided to leave while Joe and I stuck around to look at the aquarium portion of the zoo which was the only section we hadn’t seen yet. I toured the majority of it alone, however, since Joe had a phone interview (his second of the week; he had one on Monday for a different company while we were at the Botanical Garden).

We left the zoo around 4 pm and made a pit stop at Walmart for a couple of things.

Later that evening everyone met up at Joe’s parents, including M and crew, who bought a Nothing Bundt Cake for Joe’s mom’s birthday. M had asked for lemon but apparently someone screwed up because we ended up with white chocolate raspberry. Luckily it was delicious anyway!