Friday (3/10) evening we decided to finally use the gift cards my mom had given to us (one almost a year ago and the other last month) and went to Red Lobster for dinner for a nice date night. It’s a good thing we got there just after 5 pm because we had totally forgotten it’s Lent so the restaurant got packed quickly; there was a line out the door when we left.
We used to love Red Lobster but not so much anymore. I feel like the best items on the menu were removed and most of food is bland/mediocre with the exception of the sweet chili shrimp appetizer which we love. Compared to the wood grilled shrimp tacos I ordered which were meh (although they did taste better cold the following day). Although I will say the strawberry lemonade is pretty awesome. Joe accidentally ordered it thinking it was what he usually gets (nope, it’s the raspberry lemonade) but it turns out the strawberry lemonade is considered a premium drink so they charge $3 for it and there’s no free refills. I had a couple of sips and could see seeds in it so it’s probably not a powdered mix like the bottomless lemonades. Our bill after tip was around $56 – thank goodness we had $75 in gift cards. Overall I think I’d rather go there for lunch and just share two appetizers and some drinks. With what was left over from our cards and the balance from a different Darden card we’d probably have enough to do that one lazy afternoon.
Saturday (3/11) was Wookie’s 3rd puppy training class. Two of the people in our first class have seemed to permanently drop out since neither were there again (the golden retriever and shi tzu mix). Bums me out there aren’t more dogs for Wookie to socialize with, although we also had a 3 pm puppy orientation so she got to meet a small shi-poo named Abby whose poor owner really needed that class. She was letting the 10 week old dog just run around the house freely. Between myself and the trainer I think she walked away with some good information. The dog was just adorable but Wookie seemed scared of her which is hilarious since she’s a third of Wookie’s size. Wookie did have fun being chased by the lady’s two year old daughter, however. When we got home she passed out in her crate for over an hour due to all the excitement.
Sunday (3/12) we visited a new to us grocery store called Butera. It’s a little drive but not bad considering it was close to Meijer which we planned on visiting anyway. I had seen Butera’s sales ad on an app called Flipp and they had corned beef and cabbage on sale for a great price – $1.99 lb for the beef and $0.14 lb for the cabbage. We had to get some for St. Patrick’s day since I love making it in the crockpot. They had a bunch of produce on sale as well as beer so we got a lot of stuff there and then went to Meijer for the rest of stuff we needed. I bought supplies to make Wookie some homemade dog biscuits. I even got a $0.79 cookie cutter in the shape of a bone. Isn’t that adorable?
The rest of the day we lounged around watching tv and reading. Wookie took turns running around the living room and playing with her toys and napping in the crate we have in there for her. Also, Joe installed the new gate I ordered from Woot! for the kitchen. It was $36 with shipping.
We had been standing up part of the second playpen we had purchased and separated into two fences. The problem with that is we had to push stuff against either side to prevent her from getting out of the kitchen. Plus we tripped trying to get over it, so this is a much safer option for everyone.
Today (3/13) I slept in until 7 am and then made Wookie’s treats. Here’s a photo of them before going into the oven.
I think I cut most of them too thick but it’s kind of a pain in the ass rolling out dough! I don’t really do it often and believe it or not my arms are sore! That being said, they are a hit. Wookie liked the sample I gave her and started whining for more.
While the biscuits were cooling I emailed the vet to ask if I can take Wookie there for pre-surgery bloodwork before her spay in two weeks. After doing further research I decided it would be prudent to have it done even though the guy at the animal welfare league said it wasn’t necessary. Better to be safe than sorry! I’m already nervous about having to leave Wookie there all day. The vet understood my reasoning for going elsewhere for the spay and is fine doing the bloodwork portion. I am so relieved! I really like her but couldn’t justify spending $500 on Wookie’s surgery when it would be $140 at the welfare league.
I also called the insurance to find out why Quest Diagnostics billed me $100 for the blood work I had done a few weeks ago. Turns out they submitted it with the wrong coding so I should be getting a refund after the insurance re-processes the claim. I really hate Quest. I wonder if the insurance can tell me what it would have cost to go elsewhere. If it’s negligible I’d rather not go to Quest again.
Now I need to motivate myself to clean the upstairs and submit some rebates for the alcohol we bought over the weekend. It snowed overnight and there’s more snow on the way. I am not happy about that at all.