Lo, I beheld the Weekend Roundup, and ’twas wicked fearsome and all that
Saw what you want about this weekend. When Monday comes back ’round, we may be tired and we may be beat, but by no means will we be hungry. Because we pretty much spent the entire weekend eating. We ate in, we ate out… but most of all, we just ate.
See, Shannon’s folks were in town for a short visit, and wherever they go, copious amounts of foodstuffs seem to follow. It started Friday night, shortly after their arrival. They recently celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary, so we decided to treat them to a nice dinner at Hereford House, a well-loved Kansas City steakhouse. And lo, how we ate. Giant appetizer plates of fruit and cheese and squid (one of those three is nopt like the other), bread, soup and salad, giant steaks and potatoes and (at least in my case) fish, plus heaping plates of dessert. And then for the second course… ha, I kid.
Here’s Jack and me chowing on some manner of seared muscle tissue.
Afterwards, miserable, we went out for ice cream. I kid again! But we were pretty miserable, with our stuffed bellies aching and distended. Nonetheless, we gamely wandered around Zona Rosa for a little while. The kids even found the strength somehow to chase each other around for a bit. Just the thought of doing so made us feel like vomiting, so we eventually made our way home for.. you know, sleep. And digestion.
So what did we do first thing the next morning? We went out for breakfast. Of course. I don’t think any of us were even hungry. It was force of habit, more than anything. It’s Saturday morning, the in-laws are in, we go out for breakfast, and we choke down the food whether or not we’re hungry. In this case, we headed to the standard Corner Cafe for the standard biscuits-n-gravy and cinnamon rolls and eggs and bacon et cetera. (At first, I type “et catera,” which, given the food-related nature of this post, seemed appropriate, if accidental.)
After the delicious but unnecessary breakfast, we headed back to the house. Nana took the kids out to spoil buy stuff for them (that’s what these grandparental types do), and I concerned myself with cutting the grass. Quickly. Very quickly, it turns out, because the skies were gray and heavy and threatening and I knew that it was probably going to be rainy for several days. Kind of a now or never situation there, so I was rushing through it. Lo and behold, our neighbor, unbidden, showed up in the yard with his mower and offered to help me get it done in half the time. And so it was that the two of us mowed the backyard in no time flat. See, there are still people in this world who are good and kind and selfless. That’s not to say that I’m one of those people. I’m just saying, is all. Anyway, the joke was on him, as the rain held off for another seven hours.
Grass trimmed, the kids and I napped while Shannon and her folks headed to the Argosy for some gamblin’ fun. (Shannon won $20, hooray, we’re rich?) When they got back from getting fleeced gaming, we took the kiddies to go see Monster vs Aliens in 3-D!
Shannon knows we hate to share popcorn, so she brings little bowls we use to split up the giant bag of greasy kernels. Here are Steven and his Nana, waiting for the show to start. This picture was taken with the camera we were using the pirate the movie.
Maya was initially freaked out a little by the 3-D effects, but they eventually grew on her and she ended up enjoying the flick.
Of course, we all ate like pigs furing the movie–popcorn, candy, and so on–so what better to do post-movie than go home and eat? Shannon’s dad had prepared a feast of beef and chicken kabobs on the grill. And a feast it was, with enough grub for a small army. Admittedly, a very small army, but still.
With bellies stuffed (yet again) we settled in a for a night of more movie-watchin’ as the rain started to pour. Hellboy II, this time, and of course we waited until Maya went to bed. The sequel was a little less creepy than the original, but it was still a bit much for a five-year-old girl.
As Sunday dawned, the in-laws headed home, leaving a refrigerator full of leftovers, and we headed for church. But alas, the eatin’ wasn’t over yet. As if we hadn’t shoved enough vittles down our gullet, we got together with some friends for happy hour at Houlihan’s.
We made a meal of appetizers, and they were all yummy. But when you mix them together–blue cheese-covered potato chips, Thai chili chicken wings, mini-sliders, and chocolate cake–it’s a recipe for indigestion. I can almost see myself wavering and bulging like in those old 1970s Pepto-Bismol commercials that I can’t be bothered to search for on YouTube.
I can’t be bothered to do much of anything, really. For instance, my stomach is too full and I am too miserable to bother proofreading this thing. If there are errors in it, so be it! I really need to go vomit. Good night, everybody!
Weekend Roundup high, Weekend Roundup low
Ah, so here we are again. ‘Tis Sunday afternoon, and I’m sitting before a headache-inducing computer monitor trying to work out excuses for not doing this thing. There are blogs on the Internet where the bloggers in question post multiple times a day. One post a week, I make, and that’s when I can’t convince Shannon to sit down and type something for a change, and still I whine about it. I write for a living, people! The last thing I want to do on a sunny Sunday afternoon is pretend it’s Monday morning. Bah!
Oh well, I’m paying for this site, so I may as well put something on it. Oh, I’ll post a Weekend Roundup for you people, but danged if I’m going to enjoy it. Let’s look at the highs and lows of each day this weekend.
Friday - The High
I got a new grill! Our old one was more than 10 years old and was essentially falling apart, so I convinced some sucker a good-hearted local craigslist user to take it off my hands. You could put an ad for bubonic plague on craigslist,and as long as it’s free, you’ll get half a dozen responses within the first minute, people wondering when they can come pick up this plague. Anyway, new grill, and it grilled just dandy.
Friday - The Low
We watched Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Well, Shannon and I watched it, anyway (Tom, of course, fell asleep). It was an entertaining and funny and filthy movie, so I’m not sure what I’m going to complain about here. Wait, I guess the “filthy” part? Oh, I know… I had to cut the grass Friday night, so that was pretty low. I guess?
Saturday - The High
I made some wicked awesome waffles for breakfast Saturday morning, with homemade warm strawberry sauce (for toppin’), as well as scrambled eggs and bacon. What a feast! I mean, sure, it’s not Waffle House, but it filled the belly just fine.
Saturday - The Low
We spent most of the day cleaning house. The few moments I spent outside of our abode were the moments I spent in Wal-Mart buying weed-n-feed. Oh, this is the excitement of life as an adult. Can’t wait to grow up, kids? Well, take a good, long look at me, and savor every moment of your childhood.
Oh, well. At least Maya got to lick the beater when she and Shannon made chocolate chip cookies.
Sunday - The High
Maya got to spend the afternoon at her teacher’s house. At least one of us doesn’t mind reliving what goes on during the weekdays, I guess. Her school had a fundraising auction a few weeks ago, and one of the items up for bid was an afternoon making crafts and crepes with her teacher. Shannon and another lady–the mother of a friend of Maya’s–went in together to bid on it and ended up winning. So today was the day! She was so excited, she wouldn’t stop talking about it all day. Seriously. I had to threaten to punish her to get her to shut up about it.
Sunday - The Low
This.
Easter Weekend Roundup: A hastily-thrown-together video highlight reel
Freeze frame! A Weekend Roundup in lame pictures
I don’t have much to say about this weekend. That’s not to say it didn’t have its high points, of course. Shannon and I had a fabulous date night on Friday as our friends the Crows watched the kiddies. We had a great dinner on Saturday night with friends. I… cut the grass? Okay, it wasn’t all great. But that didn’t stop us from taking pictures of stuff! And so, I am taking the lame way out this week. That’s right… photos! Of stuff! That is, a few snapshots of The Weekend That Was. Except for Friday night, because we didn’t have the camera. Oh, and Sunday, because we didn’t care.
Maya lost another tooth. Considering she has roots in Arkansas, it’s amazing she has this many left.
While mowing on Saturday afternoon, I inadvertently uncovered the nest of some fairly-newborn bunnies. Is… is that rabbit mooning me?
Naturally, this aroused the ire of the house’s natural predator, Elly the Pug. She wanted nothing more than to rip those tiny rabbit babies to shreds, so I had to figure out some way to protect them from the bloodthirsty maniac. No way Elly’s getting in there! And they can probably get out if they’re kind of smart about it! We hope!
Maya swears she didn’t put her hand on the ink pad. She only put a triangle piece of paper on it, she swears!
A Tex Mex fiesta at El Maguey! A passel of amigos joined us at the eatery for food, fun, conversation, and… well, I guess that was it.
Steven feasts on chips-n-salsa with Garrick (sp?) and Zach (sp?).
The Nowotnys grin as storm clouds loom.
Tammy and Amy (mother of Zach [sp?] and Garrick [sp?]) strike a pose.
And finally… Maya was very excited about a book fair that they’re having at her school next week. So excited, in fact, that she decided to put flyers up around the house. She left out the “F” because “F” is for “Failure”!
