More than I bargained for...

I love a good bargain. I am always telling people how much I love things like priceline, ebates, and restaurant.com. I've gotten some great deals, stayed some awesome places and eaten at restaurants that I would have never been able to afford or would have never heard of otherwise.

The bad news about Salt Lake is that they don't have too many restaurant choices on restaurant.com but anytime we ever go on vacation I am always excited to print off a couple certificates and eat for cheap while traveling. Portland had about twelve pages of restaurants. I chose a random couple of restaurant coupons to print off. I always check the menu to make sure the restaurants are affordable and check reviews, etc. to make sure we don't end up in some grungy yucky place.

Well one of the certificates I printed off was for a restaurant called Starky's. It was a little on the expensive side but they had some hamburgers and salads that were very affordable. A quick check on google maps showed that it was close to our hotel and that people had rated it about 4.6 out of 5 stars. We were golden.

So we pull in to Portland in the early evening last Wednesday and decide to go straight to dinner. My Dad was a little nervous about the neighborhood it was in, since there were lots of .... um....downtownlike people around. It didn't bother me, I loved downtown Austin and all the unique character and flare there, and the shops/people in this area seemed pretty similar.

We pulled in to Starky's and my dad wanted me to go check it out to make sure it wasn't full of hoodlums.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a really nice restaurant, tablecloths, candles, the works. I checked over a menu and that looked fine too, if anything the restaurant seemed a little too nice for my three tired, sick-of-sitting-all-day, children. But I was hungry and tired and wanted to use my coupon.

I went and shared the good news that the restaurant looked fine, though there weren't any other children there.

So we go in. No one was there to show us a table. Weird. So since my kids were bouncing off the walls and crawling under tables we showed ourselves a seat and waited. My kids were real heroes on the trip. They traveled so well, but they had really had it. Ben was trying to through the dishes off the table. Gwen was under the table, and Ivy....well there were no high chairs around so she was a handful. I was debating just leaving but decided that we should just order and hurry up.

I hadn't really noticed the table of twenty-something guys that was seated directly behind our table, but then a group of three new guys joined them, all the guys at the table stood up and there was....uh....mmm...well the other guys were really happy to see the new guys. Lots of hugging, lots of kissing, and I've never seen my mothers eyes open so wide.

As I was averting my eyes from the PDAs taking place at the other table I noticed that....well, everyone at every table was male. And there were no kids, and... it was just kind of different.

At that point I decided that our crowd was probably better suited for a Wendy's. You know, the kind of place with a slide rather than China.

Once we got out to the car I googled "Starky's" in Portland again. This time I went past the star rating and actually read the reviews and yeah....totally a gay/lesbian friendly restaurant.

I took my parents, and my children to a gay restaurant.

I'm sure the food was good. I am certain the people were lovely people, but I am having a hard enough time explaining the birds and the bees to my children, and I didn't particularly feel up to the task of explaining same gender attraction. I'll save that conversation for Blaine to have with them.

So that is how we wound up at Wendy's. And to the lucky couple at Starky's seated at the table nearest the exit, I hope you enjoyed the $25 gift certificate : )

Revenge

I think we can all acknowledge that I am not the type of person who is very organized. When you own a home, however, and a car, and have kids with birth certificates and shot records, it becomes vital to get a drawer to stuff important papers into.

Ivy is no respecter of drawers. She doesn't care if it is a drawer of pots and pans or a drawer with the title to your house enclosed, she loves them all the same. She scatters their contents freely about and nothing, absolutely nothing, brings her more joy.

But today, when for the umpteenth time she scattered Blaine's mission journal across the living room floor, something had to be done.

And, as a side note, if you are ever writing a journal maybe consider numbering the pages. Just sayin'....

Anyways, today I took matters into my own hands.





And for the billionth time since I have been a parent I add my voice to parents everywhere who proclaim on at least a daily basis, "THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!"

Because imagine how silly duct taping a nice wooden cabinet would be. But the stripes of duct tape on my cheapy ikea filing cabinet, I dunno, it kind of has a nice look to it.

You should see the ice and water dispenser on our fridge (also covered in duct tape), because that is downright classy.

Now...how to keep her out of my purse...

Thing you should buy that you maybe don't already have Tuesday

On December 31, 2007 at 11:45PM I was not eating fattening appetizers. I was not playing silly party games. I was at an overpriced grocery store, buying overpriced medicine that I did not need, with the $200 left on my flex spending account for the year.

I was fuming mad. FUMING MAD. I was buying enough Tylenol to supply an army of achy pregnant women, and enough bandaids to last the rest of our lives. Boy was I ever mad. I think flex spending accounts are the worst things ever.

But that's another story. In my shopping spree of medical supplies I happened to pick up this little product called "orabase" for cankers. And the quality of my life has improved about ten billion percent.

It's kind of on my mind right now because I have two gargantuan canker sores and cannot eat or sleep or focus on anything else. For a brief moment in time I thought I wasn't going to be able to find our precious tube of Orabase, but never fear! I found it, and life can continue as normal.

Seriously, if you are toughing out canker sores the old fashioned way....spring the $3.50 and pick yourself up some orabase.

And I feel really pathetic that my blog fodder has come to this. Canker medication. I need some more adventure in my life.

Confession

Okay, so maybe Utah can be kind of, sort of, mediocrely fun.

Sometimes.

But not always...







And yes, Bentley is wearing pink mittens.

#2

I have proof that children are more precious than "things".

I had always heard it, and I had always believed it, but I had never really had it put to the test.

I think I may have mentioned on here that Bentley is a budding exhibitionist, right? We'll go in to give him one last kiss after he's already asleep and find him buck naked in his bed, all sprawled out and comfortable.

Often he'll come running into a room and streak through wearing nothing but his birthday suit.

You would think that this is a sign that he is ready to be potty trained. Not true. We tried for like a day, and it wasn't working. So I am going to persist in my plan to wait until he is five. Is it just me or is potty training hands down the absolute worst responsibility of a parent?

Anyway, so yesterday, loving mother that I am, I was letting Bentley play with my iphone in my bed. Gwen needed a shower so I was helping her with that. We were running late for preschool. I walk into my room to find Bentley on my bed in the buff. Normally it would be kind of annoying but mostly cute. I'll tell you this friends, there was absolutely nothing cute about my white down comforter being covered in streaks of brown.....waste material.

I don't own a lot of nice things. I mean, we're still on our first set of couches and table, all purchased on the budget of two starving students. We make it work. But I just barely bought the bedspread, a year ago, and I love it. Totally love it. I think you all know how I feel about my bed.

But, turns out, I love Bentley more. So after being confined into his bed for two hours while I attempted to clean the disaster, he was back to being one of my favorite people. But seriously, I like him so much more with his diaper on.

And I have to offer my sincerest apologies to those of you who I recommended getting a white comforter too. You asked me if I had any problems because I didn't purchase a duvet cover and I said no. I take that back. Buy a duvet cover and buy a chocolate brown one. You'll be happier when your day of reckoning comes.