The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

Oy. The weekend was...interesting. My parents certainly know how to show us a good time. On Friday night we had 7:30 reservations at The Melting Pot, and plenty of time to get to my parent's house, drop off the dog, and get to the restaurant. Except my mother, for reasons I don't fully understand, decided to change our reservations to 6:30. ... Then we got stuck in Massive Traffic because of an accident on I-64, finally got through that, and made it to the restaurant at 7:15. Oy.

Dinner was wonderful, as always. Erik was complaining all day, because fondue isn't enough to fill him up. Ha! We were all stuffed by the last course, and hadn't even eaten everything. I started out the evening with one $50 gift card, which was neat. Then, I got another $100 in gift cards. Then, when it came time to pay, there were somehow $200 in gift cards in my wallet. That was kind of a neat trick. I still have something like $95 in gift cards left, so Erik needs to take me to dinner sometime soon.

Did I mention it was wonderful? Even the dessert - white chocolate Bananas Foster fondue. I don't like white chocolate. For this, I made an exception.

Saturday, I woke up early, shot off half a dozen emails and called a few people for the Wicked Faire food, then we ran out for breakfast. We interrupted Keith's haircut to drag him in for coffee with us - he was suprised to see Erik and I. After that, mom and I had to go shopping for Christine's baby shower, which was Insanely Complicated, since she doesn't have a registry. Or a clue. She scares me. Also, there will be another baby shower in two weeks, for Elisabeth. Oy.

We had barely enough time to wrap the stuff up before we had to be at the baby shower. Highlights of the baby shower include a yellow body-scrubber Duck-thingee. It is, in fact, a duck. Life is good.

Mom and Terry tried to convince Erik and I to come to some sort of formal dinner dance at the church, but a lack of formal clothes, a disinclination to dance, and a strong desire to not eat anything else prompted us to turn them down. Instead, we went to Sonic, those evil fiends, since we have Sonic adds up here but no Sonic. My craving for cherry limeade was satiated...temporarily.

Then, there was passing out, because I have the stamina of a starving hummingbird right now. All the running around left me exhausted, sick, and shaking, which isn't much fun. They wouldn't let me sleep early - we had to open Christmas presents. Still. I got a waffle maker/pizzelle press/sandwich grill, which rocks pretty hard. Also candle things. The cat wants to destroy them.

Other stuff happened too, but it was either personal or boring, so I won't go into it. I have to go back in two weeks for the other shower...which is going to be at a bar. Because, you know, nothing says "baby shower" like beer on tap.

My minion needs to email me back, so I know if I can count on her to take care of some of the WWRF stuff for me, or if I need to do it myself. AURGH!

Shadow Skill really isn't a very good show, and the animation sucks. If I'm saying that, you know it has to be bad, since I typically don't notice things like that until they get to the Kare Kano paper puppets level. But...lines like the title make me keep watching. It's pure brainless fun - really, really brainless. It kind of reminds me of Slayers, but that's probably just the red-headed lead female who's strapped for cash and had a tendency to destroy stuff.

If I may, I heartily endorse, in the strongest possible of terms, the Beef and Guinness Pie. Waiting for that to cook was hell. Finding Guinness wasn't much better. Hell - finding a stout was taking on epic-quest proportions! Mexican beer yes, crunchy stout meal-beer no.

Also, I had Erik's wallet, complete with badge, for most of the day. Somehow, I resisted the urge to brandish it. Everywhere. Actually, I lie - I brandished it once at work. Then I had to fly home early, because if I have Erik's badge (and creds, and ID, and cash, and ATM card...), he can't exactly drive places, especially with a gun, in a car that isn't registered to him. That could have been amusing...

Also, I hereby declare this post's icon as the Most Appropriate Icon Ever. Because, really - beer is what's for dinner!