Movie and lunch

Two posts in two days! I might try for NaBloPoMo in November.
We went and saw The Informant! yesterday. That was interesting, kinda slow but amusing as well. LOTS of stand-up comedians: Paul F. Thompkins, Tom F Wilson, Allan Havey, Joel McHale, Tom Papa, Bob Zany, Patton Oswalt, Tom AND Dick Smothers (!) to name a few. Some you may know by name, most you'd know if you watch a lot of Comedy Central and HBO One Night Stands like me.
After the movie we went across the street to Spinnakers Restaurant for lunch. That was okay. Byron was disappointed with his cheeseburger, but the club wrap that I was good. We had their Caribbean Cream Pie for dessert and I'm going to try and remake that for dessert sometime next week. Graham cracker crust, vanilla pudding, bananas and pineapple topped with toasted coconut and walnuts. I'm going to substitute macadamia nuts for walnuts when I make it. Yum!
After that we went to Michael's, but their Christmas stuff was lacking...too early yet. But I was just getting ideas for kids activities for the Open House. We went to Barnes & Noble and picked up the first book in the series that inspired the show on FOX, Bones. Byron's reading that while I finish the recent Sookie Stackhouse book. After that we went to Game Stop and I got Batman Lego for the Wii. That's a pretty fun game. We have the Star Wars Lego for Gamecube (for the Wii), but I enjoy playing Batman more.
Today is sports day in the house. Football and NASCAR...and naps :) I'm off to enjoy my last day of my 4 days of freedom. Tomorrow's back to work...blah! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Nothing much to say

I haven't been blogging because I'm lazy and nothing much has been going on lately.
The kitchen is still a mess, but it's painted now. I did most of the priming and then Crystal came over and helped with the actual painting of color on the walls. I think it looks good and am pleased. We also got a new rug for the living room. What we had was something that came with the house. It was a wall-to-wall rug that was falling apart in several places (no help from our four legged kids). It's a bit bold for what I usually do when decorating, but I like it.

Work is just that. I finally had some vacation time this week after not having any all year. I didn't win the big Mega Millions jackpot a few weeks ago, so next year I'm taking some days off in the summer to keep me from having a mental breakdown.
I'm working on starting my invitations for the Open House. I'm just getting the wording together so when I can buy the stationery I'm ready to print them. Most places are setting out their Christmas decorations already. I've gotten one or two things already. As much work as it's going to be to pull this off, I'm excited about it.
We went to the NASCAR race a few weekends ago. B was sick and he didn't go, but my mom, step-dad and I had a good time.
Chris and I went to the State Fair on opening day (Thursday). It was hot and humid, but we had a good time. We saw some dog stunts at the Extreme Canines Stunt Dog Show, played with Legos, petted some barnyard animals, played some games (and won), rode some rides and walked around the exhibit halls. Pictures are on my Flickr.
That's all for now...like I said not much going on here. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

July, exit stage right

July started off busy and pretty much stayed that way. About mid July I overheated my truck to the tune of having to replace the radiator. The thermostat was broken, so that needed to be replaced as well.
Soon after, we went to Carter Mountain for some peach picking. Brian and Ale were supposed to go, but Ale had a really bad sinus infection and they couldn't make it. So, the three of us made the trek up to C-ville. Warning: Cute Dog Pics and Scenic Mountain Views Inside
A few weekends ago we attended Richmond Tea Party's Libery 101, a freedom rally. Nothing like some info for the noggin. Warning: Funny signs and one cool video inside That night Carolyn, Todd and I went to the Funnybone to see Tom Wilson (the guy that played Biff in the Back To The Future movies). He was hilarious.
Two weekends ago it was B's birthday. We went to Captain Chuck a Muck's in Rescue, VA (just east of Smithfield). We had seen the place on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and B wanted to go there. The food was good (and mid-ranged priced for seafood), the atmosphere and staff were friendly...however the owner left much to be desired. The table I called ahead for was the Captain's table. It's reserved when there are 7 or more people in your party and there's a 90mins limit on the table. Yes...a time limit. I can see why. The place is busy and you want to make the most of your space. We got there 5mins earlier...well two in our party didn't. They got there 10mins late. At about 5mins late the owner came over and made a big deal about the time limit and that they had a group coming in after us and then just walked away. Wow. Really? No "thanks for coming". No "I hope you enjoy". Just "they'd better get here". So, we had a good time making fun of him for the rest of the evening. Oh and we left 5mins past our allotted time-limit. So there! K caught up with the owner after dinner as we were leaving and asked him how long he had been in business. He answered 12. K said that he wouldn't make it to 13 if he kept treating his customers that way. The owner could do nothing but apologize to K, but K didn't do it for the apology.
We would go back, but not as a large group and not if we were coming from home. Ninety mins is too far to drive for that. Captain Toms in Colonial Heights is just as good if not better. Maybe if were were already in Surry and the Rocky Bottom Grill was closed and we wanted seafood. Well...I just went to see if Rocky Bottom Grill had a website to link to and it seems they went out of business in September 2008. RIP RBG
Last Saturday we went to see G.I.Joe. That was good and a nice way to round out the Summer Movie Season. Lots of explosions with just a hint of plot. Yummy! We also took advantage of the tax-free weekend and went to Best Buy and got a new wireless router. Yippee! I can finally play my Wii online. I've been playing Mario Kart Wii all week online. I love that game. If you wanna be my Wii Friend, lemme know and I'll give you my number.
Last Sunday we started on the mini-renovation of our kitchen and hallway. The plans at the moment are to remove the wallpaper, apply primer and paint to both, get new curtains, replace the faucet and possibly replace the flooring in the kitchen. You can watch the progress on my Flickr. All this is because I'm still planning my Open House in December (mentioned in my Welcome 2009 post).
That's all for now. Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Cleaning

I should have taken a before picture so I could track the progress of the cleaning. I've taken an hour each morning since Tuesday to start cleaning the house. I'll pick one area to do and work on that for an hour before going into work. I've already got my dresser and nightstand cleaned and the floor between those two pieces. My mom is getting a new desk and offered up her old one to us and I wanted to replace the POS desk that's in there now. There's nothing wrong with Mom's desk, she's just upgrading to one that she found on eBay. That meant that the "catch all" room that used to be the computer room (before we got the laptop) needed to be cleaned at least enough to get the old desk out and the new desk in there. I started that cleaning this morning and got everything off the desk but the electronics. I have an iMac that I was given for free that I've never bothered to hook up or use. I guess I'll be giving that to Goodwill. I also cleaned under the desk (lots of dustbunnies!) and into the corner. I need to work on the other side of the desk tomorrow morning. B's clothes are kept in this room and I did ask him to start getting them up and he did, but now he needs hangers to get more of them cleared. Fun! Until next time, keep your stick on the ice.

Welcome 2009

So long 2008. I will not miss thee. 09 has got to be better, right?
My resolutions? I want my house clean. I never really finished unpacking from moving in back in September 2005. There are unpacked boxes in bedrooms and crap everywhere. I want to have a Christmas Open House this year. That's going to be a ton of work throughout the year, but it'll be worth it. I also want to lose 50lbs this year. I've lost 60lbs over 2 years. I'm not getting any younger and it's not going to get any easier.
Happy 2009 everyone! I hope it's a great one!