No Roast Tonight

Yesterday I had planned to make a pot roast for either lunch or dinner.  That didn't happen because I went with Dee to a doctor's appointment and it was noon when we were done.  We were both starving and went through several rounds of the "Where do you want to eat?" "I don't care, where do you want to eat?" game before Dee suddenly remembered and announced, "IT'S FRIDAY!"  I responded with "PERRY'S STEAKHOUSE!" and then we both said "PORK CHOP SPECIAL!!!"

If you've never had the pork chop special at Perry's, you must go.  The Perry's at Sugar Land is open for lunch only on Fridays.  The rest of the week they are open for dinner only.  And the Pork Chop Special is only available on Friday at lunch.  For $11.95.  It's ginormous!  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it.  It's like three thick pork chops all together in a little roast. 

Found this photo on their online menu

 This is a pretty good photo of it...well, of course it is...duh!  But, it doesn't really give you a good feeling for the size.  When they serve it, it looks like the photo above.  The server then slices a piece off the back edge which is called the "eyelash"...have no idea why.  Then he cuts another slice, called the loin.  Then he cuts the three chops apart.  Honestly, just the eyelash was almost enough for my meal, which also included a large dollop of mashed potatoes, probably garlic mashed, I don't know.  And a small serving of cinnamon apple sauce.  I took the three chops and the loin home.  Wayne had two of the chops for supper with some scalloped potatoes I made.  I had the loin.  We still had a small pork chop left.  For $11.95!!! 

Below is a link to the menu.  The pork chop meal is $24.95 on sunday and $32.95 all other times.

Yummy, yummy, yummy!

 Anyhoo...back to my plans to cook the roast...I didn't on Friday, and I'm not going to today.  Since I slept so late and had breakfast when Wayne was having lunch and just now, at nearly 5, had a big snack of tuna and crackers, peanut butter and crackers, peanut butter and banana and a small glass of light orange juice, I don't think I'll be ready for roast. 

Plus, I had to hire someone to install the water heater.  They came and I was sweating just the few times I had to walk out there.  They were soaking wet when they finished.  Wayne, of course, due to his penny-pinching ways wanted to do it himself.  At least, he acted and talked like he wanted to do it.  Maybe he was counting on me to talk him out of it.  I will point out to him, if he asks how much it cost for plumbers to come out on Saturday to install the water heater, that it took two guys (who knew what they were doing) two hours to do the job.  It would undoubtedly have taken Wayne longer than four hours, plus there would have been a lot of cussing, spitting, not to mention sweating and heavy lifting going on.  I would have been the installation assistant and I'm pretty sure both of us would have died. 

I have already booked the plumbers to come back in a couple of weeks to take care of some other things that we've neglected for eons.  So, good on me!

But, no roast tonight.

Plumbing Fun

I slept in this morning...

Actually, I did wake up about 8 with a headache, so I got up and took a couple of something...acetaminophen, I hope (I didn't turn on the light, but the lid of the bottle felt right), and went back to bed.  Carolyn texted me at about 8:15 with some kind of Christmas gift ideas for others.  I typed back that I'd talk to her later, that I was sleeping.  But, I forget to send it, so she sent two other texts.  I have my text alert sound set to whistle (the "tweet" sound, I think.)  I noticed  that I while I had typed it, I hadn't sent my response to her earlier text, so I sent it then and was saved the trouble of typing a new message.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to get back to sleep.  Not to worry...the next time I woke up it was almost 11.  Guess I needed that.

While I was eating my breakfast I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Wayne appear at the kitchen door.  He came home to have his lunch. Then he walked away, then appeared again, then walked away again.  I opened the door and stepped out.  "What the hell?"  There was water on the garage floor coming from the storage room where the water heater lives.  Upon further examination, he discovered the bottom had rusted out.  We were going to drain it, but all the hoses that were nearby are probably 832 feet long, so I remembered I had a short one near some pine trees.  Ants had constructed an elaborate hill around it, so I was treated to a couple of ant bites while I drug it around to the garage.  He hooked it up, but wasn't able to turn the knob to drain it, so it's practically useless until the plumber gets here.  Plus, he couldn't turn off the water supply to the heater...frozen, or something.  I couldn't find the manual...I looked up the purchase in Quicken and the last time I bought a water heater was in 1997.  The manual is here somewhere.  I get to throw it away when it shows up.  Yay!

Wayne wanted to do the job himself, but I refuse to let him...it's too hot, and if something goes wrong we'll need a plumber anyway.  I called all the plumbers in the yellow pages and left a message at all but one of them.  Finally, I called Kelly and he gave me the cell phone numbers of two plumbers.  The first one I called answered and he is the lucky winner of the weekend sweepstakes!

I had already called Rioux's and had them charge a new water heater and bring it downstairs, so Daniel is going by to pick it up on his way out here.  Should be here any minute now.

While he's here, I'm going to take him to 2 or 3 areas in the house that need repairs so he can come back with whatever he needs to do that during the week.  Unfortunately, most of the areas he will see will look pretty "hoardy". 

Why, oh why can't I make myself just do a little every day?  Lazy, I tell you.

Lazy

This is how lazy I am...

I'm sitting here reading a book on my Kindle where I have to push "Next Page" to turn the page. I've actually quit reading and am now trying to figure out how to press the button by just using my mind.

Lazy.

I'm going to work on it.

The Bloggess

I'm reading a new (to me) blog that sounded interesting when I saw it mentioned in the newspaper today.  Actually, I read about it today, but the paper it was in was dated around the 3rd week in April.  Yes, I'm nearly four months behind reading the newspaper...and I only have the Star section to read.  Occasionally I read about a television show that sounds like I should give it a try, and then I remember that it premiered months earlier and has probably already been taken off the air.  Wayne reads the Sports and I read the Star section.  Too bad we can't just have those two parts delivered.  What a waste of paper!  At least I recycle...schlepping newspaper, cardboard and plastic to the bins in El Campo.  Aluminum cans go to the Bubelas, who then take them to St. Philip's. 

Anyhooo...the blog is called The Bloggess.  The writer, Jenny Lawson, has been blogging for 10 years and she is waaay nuttier than I am.  I thought you might enjoy reading this post talking about her 16th anniversary and the gift she got her husband. 

I'm having to read her blog backwards since I haven't really figured out how to go back to the beginning.  I can't wait to read more.  As I said, she's pretty out there!

Magnolia Beach

It's been years and years...decades, really, since I've been at Magnolia Beach.  I was a teenager...probably in my early teens...so, at least 50 years ago.  [Gasp!]  But,  Carolyn had talked to a friend who had been there recently and she wanted to take her family there.  So, earlier this month we arrived at Port Alto on Thursday so that we could spend Friday at Magnolia Beach.

As usual, when we're on bay-time, we don't get a big jump on the day, so it was probably close to eleven before we got to Magnolia Beach.  Brent parked the car near a restroom facility and then started transferring all our "stuff" to the beach.  We brought a gazebo-type tent, some beach chairs, water toys, sand toys, (yes! there's real sand on that beach!), towels, a cooler full of snacks, lunch, and drinks, and probably other items that I'm forgetting.  There are lots of covered tables off the beach, in case you don't have an umbrella or gazebo.  They even have grills and trash bins at each table.

As soon as we got the wagon on the ground, Jax climbed in and almost went to sleep.

It must have been close to high noon, judging from the shade cast by the gazebo.

Busy bees, playing in the sand.

Carlee

Kate and Jax collaborate on a project.

Time for a little snack.

Look at this long stretch of beach!

The kids enjoyed being buried in the sand.

Jax was very cooperative during the process.

It was a very nice outing...one that I hope we do again.  Maybe we can get the Garners' to come with us.

S.I.L.I. (Signs I'm Losing It)

You can pronounce that "silly".  I thought I would start chronicling my lapses so that my family could look back and say, "Oh, THAT'S when the onset of dementia started!"

• At least four times in the last couple of months I have put my top on backwards. 
• A few days ago I forgot I was already dressed and started to put my underwear on over my pants.
• Twice in the last week or so, I have forgotten the order of events in the shower.

I'm just going to ignore that first one.  Surely everyone does that occasionally...although several times in a few weeks strikes me as excessive.

The second one was odd, I'll admit.  Even odder, I sat down in a chair to do it.  But, to my credit, I noticed almost immediately that I was already dressed.  I laughed about it then and am still laughing.  Hmmm.

About the shower...here's the order of events:  wash my hair, first with a really sudsy shampoo then with the shampoo to make it shiny, rinsing after each shampoo.  Then, apply conditioner, work it in and let it stay while I wash myself.  Rinse off body and conditioner.  Exit shower.

The first time I did it wrong I forgot to apply the conditioner and went straight to washing myself.  When I was ready to rinse I remembered about the conditioner, so I applied it then.  Then I needed to find something to do in the shower for the couple of minutes the conditioner needed to do its magic.  So, I grabbed the razor.  Then I rinsed my body, exited the shower, dressed and then dried my hair.  But, I noticed that my hair didn't feel clean.  Even after drying it felt heavy and...just wrong.  Later in the day I realized that I probably had forgotten to rinse the conditioner out of it.

This morning I mowed the yard and immediately afterwards took a shower and washed my hair.  I did the two shampoos and then started washing my body.  Halfway through that process, I retraced my steps and said to myself, "Hold on...I don't think I put the conditioner on."  I felt my hair and realized that I hadn't even rinsed the second shampoo out!  Geez!!!  So, again.  Rinse hair, apply conditioner and find something to do.  Grab the razor, etc.  This time, however, I did remember to rinse the conditioner out. 

I haven't noticed anything else very odd about my behavior.  I hope this is as weird as I get.

The Lion King

Eleven of us piled into two cars Sunday to go to the Hobby Center in downtown Houston to see The Lion King.  The group included Dee, Wendy, Gage, Zane, Carolyn, Kate, Carlee, Robin, Carolyn's friend Sandie and her daughter Anna and me. 

We had called the day before and got lunch reservations at The Aquarium for 11 AM, because the play was to start at 1 PM.  We planned to drop most of the group at The Aquarium and then take the cars to the Hobby Center to valet parking...about $20 per car.  The drivers would then walk back to the restaurant (about 5 minutes) where we would eat and then walk back to the theater.  However, when we arrived at The Aquarium, we found that we could valet park there for only $9 per car and leave the cars there while we were at the play.  It was a no-brainer.  

Gage, Robin & Carlee

Kate and Anna

Sandie and Carolyn

Gage, Zane and Wendy

The kids enjoyed viewing the various fish in the huge tanks.  They all ordered pizzas for lunch, while the rest of us ordered entrees that we shared.  Dark clouds started building, so we didn't linger over lunch.  We got to the theater just ahead of the rain.  I don't think the rain was particularly hard or lasted very long, but I was glad we were inside, especially since we forgot to get most of the umbrellas from the car before the valet service took them away.

Dee and Zane watch while a Hobby Center volunteer entertains Kate.  Notice that the volunteer is just a little taller than Kate, who will turn 7 later this month.

Dee and I sat a couple of rows in front of this group.  Sandie and Anna were in another section.

 The kids all enjoyed the play very much.  Carolyn, Kate, Carlee, Sandie and Anna had been to the Hobby Center earlier this year to see Annie, but I think this was Gage and Zane's first experience at this theater.  We have taken them to some productions at the Plaza Theatre in Wharton, but I doubt if they realized how spectacular The Lion King would be. 

After the play, we made the short walk back to the Aquarium to pick up the cars.  We also took a few more pictures to help us remember the wonderful day.