Which means No Wall-e!
There are several new dirty words in my household. All seem to be causing massive chaos, and even a little destruction.
Dirty word #1- Opossum. Yep. You would've thought he would move on once Luna came on site, but it didn't happen. Here recently he's taken to taunting her merciless every single night. It is already a big enough pain in the butt to have to walk your dog on a leash when you have a fenced yard. Did we have to add the extra grievance of marsupials hanging out in low lying limbs as well? Seriously folks, it needs to move on and find a new home. The squirrels did.
Dirty word #2- Video game. (Yeah, I know its technically two words.) Back in January, when I was trying desperately to stay off my leg, I drug out the newly rediscovered Nintendo Gamecube. I was looking for Hoot entertainment without subjecting myself to hours of Snow Buddies on the DVD player. I take full responsibility for the initial introduction. My bad. I never should have done it.
Dirty word #3- Sandstorm race. During the same time period, I also downloaded a playable "preview" of the Wall-e video game for the PC. I claim Momma Madness, it strikes us all.
Dirty word #4- Butt. As in "I'm gonna kick some bad guys' butts!" I totally forgot that DH plays video games like Beavis and Butthead. Now, Hoot sounds like Beavis and Butthead playing video games.
All these dirty words have descended us into a pit of chaos like we haven't seen in a while. The game we had for the Nintendo was a Spyro game rated E for Everyone. Yeah. Not for little kids who can't distinguish fantasy from reality. Especially not for the ones who have parents that take them to large theme parks to meet these fantasy characters for real, and then back it up with photos of them giving out birthday cakes. Super bad idea.
Then, when we cut off the games cold turkey (or so Mom thought) we have to listen to whining, crying, and ridiculously polite asking every hour on the hour. That mouth goes off like Old Faithful. "Momma, can I play Spyro?" "Momma, can I play Spyro? Pretty please?" "Momma...." You get the idea.
Then, the PC comes under attack. Turn your back for a minute and he's launched the Wall-e demo to play the sandstorm race portion of the game. *sigh* Eventually, I learn how to lock my keyboard. Oh, the frustration and the agony. So, Hoot starts hard booting the computer to get it to come up. It takes two days and many trips to the naughty mat to get that under control.
So, this week it has officially been two weeks since we pulled the cord. I put the Nintendo's power cord back into the closet with the game unit. I figure we have about another week before Hoot moves on to his next obsession. Yeah. Right.
Monday night, I come home and Nathan announces, without any prompting from Hoot, "I let him play the game." Just like that. Now how do you do, fine how are you. Nothing. So, once again I am the bad guy. I have to remove the power cord from the house. Then, I begin to wonder has he played the Wall-e game on my PC? Yep. Found out today when I checked just before I removed it permanently from my hard drive.
And all of that leads to:
Dirty word #5- nowalle. This is the new password to my keyboard. However, it makes doing anything, even paying bills online, virtually impossible unless Hoot is gone or asleep. That means all my late night online time has been filled with bill pay and such. Not fun. Maybe that'll be my next password: notfun
Phone call to the bookstore:
I see on my receipt that you only give store credit for text books when you return them within 14 days, but I got the wrong book and need to get another one.
You did say you have a receipt, right?
Yeah, I have my receipt, but I got the wrong book and I want to exchange it not get a store credit and its a textbook.
What's the book?
Well, I got an LSAT book, but like, I'm not supposed to take the LSAT. I supposed to take the GRE and if you give me store credit I won't be able to get the right book. So, I just want to exchange it.
Just bring your receipt and we'll get you all taken care of.
And I can get my GRE book?!
Hope she does well on that test....
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Gumbo, Groundhogs, and Diggers, oh my!
This last weekend, the old people (my parents) came down to watch the Super Bowl with us and take a day trip on Monday. We had a lot of fun, but it was a little bit of a budget buster.
For Sunday, we chose to make gumbo for our Super Bowl Sunday meal. Now, my family loves homemade gumbo, and I don't mind a day in the kitchen, but if you've ever stirred a roux until it turns brick red, you know it turns your arm to jelly. But, thanks to Alton Brown, there is a kinder, gentler way to make roux... in the oven. Yep. This recipe will give you all the instructions for oven roux. I didn't make this exact recipe, as I didn't want to peel shrimp so I bought wild gulf shrimp that was deveined, shelled, and cleaned before being frozen. I supplemented the homemade shrimp stock with store bought chicken stock. It came out fabulous and I am now a huge fan of oven made roux! I didn't fret over the substitutions, because using what you have is what gumbo is all about! I did receive rave reviews from the family.
The next morning, to celebrate Groundhog Day, we took a day trip to the zoo. Luna was due for her big check up at the vet, so we dropped her off at "daycare" so we didn't have to worry about her being alone all day. But, we did have to be back before 5:30pm. Sadly, we departed a full hour and a half after our goal of 7:30am. And it would effect our day later on, that's for sure.
The Houston Zoo and Hermann Park are undergoing a huge, and sorely needed facelift. The train in the park is new, but the new station will not open until March. But, most importantly to Hoot, you have to walk through a full fledged construction zone before you get to the Zoo entrance! Holy cow! Frontend loaders, back hoes, cranes, and lifters! It was a little boy's delight! He was beside himself before we even paid for our tickets.
We only did about half of the zoo, but it took two hours. My parents just don't move as quickly as they used to, so we took it slow and easy. A little after 1:30 pm, we headed off to buy our train tickets. By the time we rode the train and hit the road, it was just after 3pm! Holy cow, Scoob, we've got to get out of the perimeter like NOW!
Our late escape put a decent meal in peril. Normally, when we go to Houston, or Austin, or anywhere else for that matter, we try to eat someplace that we don't have at home. We needed someplace fast or we would have to drive-thru and eat in the car. Well, it was a far better Luby's than the one at home. Though, poor Hoot, he never did get to eat groundhog....
We made it to the vet's with about 15 minutes to spare...
Total cost for the day:
$8 convenience store junk
$38 Zoo entrance- 2 adults, 2 seniors, 1 child
$6 ride for 3 on carousel
$12.50 for five train tickets
$1 for train whistle
$63 for super late lunch at Luby's
$206! for Luna's vet bill
$335 for a groundhog? Unbelievable!
For Sunday, we chose to make gumbo for our Super Bowl Sunday meal. Now, my family loves homemade gumbo, and I don't mind a day in the kitchen, but if you've ever stirred a roux until it turns brick red, you know it turns your arm to jelly. But, thanks to Alton Brown, there is a kinder, gentler way to make roux... in the oven. Yep. This recipe will give you all the instructions for oven roux. I didn't make this exact recipe, as I didn't want to peel shrimp so I bought wild gulf shrimp that was deveined, shelled, and cleaned before being frozen. I supplemented the homemade shrimp stock with store bought chicken stock. It came out fabulous and I am now a huge fan of oven made roux! I didn't fret over the substitutions, because using what you have is what gumbo is all about! I did receive rave reviews from the family.
The next morning, to celebrate Groundhog Day, we took a day trip to the zoo. Luna was due for her big check up at the vet, so we dropped her off at "daycare" so we didn't have to worry about her being alone all day. But, we did have to be back before 5:30pm. Sadly, we departed a full hour and a half after our goal of 7:30am. And it would effect our day later on, that's for sure.
The Houston Zoo and Hermann Park are undergoing a huge, and sorely needed facelift. The train in the park is new, but the new station will not open until March. But, most importantly to Hoot, you have to walk through a full fledged construction zone before you get to the Zoo entrance! Holy cow! Frontend loaders, back hoes, cranes, and lifters! It was a little boy's delight! He was beside himself before we even paid for our tickets.
We only did about half of the zoo, but it took two hours. My parents just don't move as quickly as they used to, so we took it slow and easy. A little after 1:30 pm, we headed off to buy our train tickets. By the time we rode the train and hit the road, it was just after 3pm! Holy cow, Scoob, we've got to get out of the perimeter like NOW!
Our late escape put a decent meal in peril. Normally, when we go to Houston, or Austin, or anywhere else for that matter, we try to eat someplace that we don't have at home. We needed someplace fast or we would have to drive-thru and eat in the car. Well, it was a far better Luby's than the one at home. Though, poor Hoot, he never did get to eat groundhog....
We made it to the vet's with about 15 minutes to spare...
Total cost for the day:
$8 convenience store junk
$38 Zoo entrance- 2 adults, 2 seniors, 1 child
$6 ride for 3 on carousel
$12.50 for five train tickets
$1 for train whistle
$63 for super late lunch at Luby's
$206! for Luna's vet bill
$335 for a groundhog? Unbelievable!
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