Lollypalooza Begins!

My family has been calling my Mother's Day/Birthday weekend Lollypalooza. We started out the weekend with a family dinner on Friday night at one of my favorite places, Maggiano's. Everyone made it except Justin and Shannon. Justin was out of town helping his father-in-law work cattle (he's loves it!) and Shannon had out of town company coming in for a baby brunch.

When we go to Maggiano's, we always order the family style dinner.





We had:

Mozzarella Marinara
Mushroom Ravioli
Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Chopped Salad with Bacon, Avocado and Blue Cheese
Lasagna
Chicken and Spinach Manicotti
Chicken Parmesan
Baked Ziti with Sausage
Apple Crostada with Ice Cream
Cheesecake

It was every bit as good as it sounds! It is served family style, all you can eat, and they just keep bringing it out. They also pack up any leftovers you have. I came home with a bag of food that I think was more food than we ate. Our server was great and she even packed up some extra cheese cake with strawberry sauce to go. I highly recommend Maggiano's, especially for a big crowd.

Birthdays Are The BEST

I have a birthday coming up next week. It usually falls right next to Mother's Day, or sometimes I share a birthday on Mother's Day. My family is ALWAYS so good to me! Pops has been working on my gifts and reservations for the past few weeks and he is beside himself with what he has done. He is dying to give it all to me now!

I am always registering for restaurants frequent diner clubs. Most of the time, they will give you a gift on your birthday. This past week, I have gotten several. I can't wait to use them all and they are great gifts!!!

So far, I have gotten:

Free Dessert at Chef Point Cafe (aka the Gas Station)
Free Brunch at Blue Mesa (best brunch around)
Free Appetizer or Dessert from Piranha Killer Sushi
Free Dessert from Pappadeaux
Free Dessert from Pappasito's
Free Beef Medallions and Shrimp Scampi from Brio
Free Steak Dinner from The Keg

There are a couple that I know of that I haven't gotten yet. Wow! I will eat well during the month of May!!! I encourage you to sign up at your favorite restaurants. I usually get free offers on my anniversary.

Big Announcement From Landrie and Karsyn!

Landrie and Karsyn are so excited about their new cousin, Easton, who should be here in about 4 weeks or less. They can't wait to hold him and help take care of him.

The girls have a bunch of baby cousins. When all of the pregnant girls in our family deliver their babies, we will have 8 babies under 2. That is a bunch of babies and a bunch to share.

But . . . Landrie and Karsyn will get to have more baby time when their new baby brother or sister comes in December! We are all so excited and can't wait to welcome another baby in our family!!!

Great Weekend - Great New Restaurant

We had a great Easter Weekend. Our weekend always start on Thursday. Thursday night we went to Catfish Sam's in Arlington. We had a great meal and we had a groupon, so our bill for the night was $3.04. Not bad at all.

We decided to go to church on Friday night. We went to our new church, www.lifechurch.tv. It was a great service with a great message. Before we went to LifeChurch, we went to our favorite area in Ft. Worth, Crockett St. We tried a new restaurant, Hacienda San Miguel. It was great. They have a really neat patio. We chose to sit inside since it was about 90 degrees, but definitely want to it again soon.

The food was great. We ordered guacamole, which was some of the best we have ever tried, and we both had the Enchiladas Con Crema Poblano. We decided not to have dessert since it was so early. We headed to church and then after church, we went to Dairy Queen so that Pop's could get the ice cream sandwich he had been craving for a week.

Saturday night, we went to the movies before dinner. We went to see Water For Elephants. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time! After the movie, we went to Campania Pizza. Our favorite pizza is the Quatro Forgammi. No tomato sauce, just lots of cheese.

To finish the weekend, we had a family dinner and Easter Egg Hunt with about 35 people. Always a blast!

New Restaurants?

We have tried several new restaurants over the past few months, but nothing good enough to write about.


Friday night, we went to one of our regular favorites, La Hacienda Ranch. It was very good. I do have a major criteria for when I am going to La Ha. No freshly washed clothes. Just like most people, I do wear my jeans more than once. There is NO way you can wear anything again after going to La Ha. Your clothes stink! Seriously, that is a big reason many times why we don't go there. We might be going somewhere else afterwards, and the only place you can go is home.


Yesterday for lunch, we went to Piranha Killer Sushi and it was SO good. I don't think I will ever try sushi any other place. Piranha is the best I have ever had.


Last night, we were a little bored and decided to go back to Ft. Worth. We tried Fred's for the first time. The atmosphere was pretty old and dilapidated, and the food was just okay. I think most people go there for the bar atmosphere, so they don't notice that the food is really not that great. It is more of a honky tonk bar, with food.


The main reason we went back to Ft. Worth is that Pops has been craving an ice cream sandwich, like Dairy Queen. There is a place close to Fred's, Sweet Sammies, that has made to order ice cream sandwiches. 12 different kinds of cookies and you pick your flavor of Blue Bell for the filling. We were so full from dinner that we just had a cookie. Janelle had a molten brownie cake with ice cream. Next time I will try one with coffee ice cream.


Any ideas on new places to try?

Weekday Restaurants

Every night when we are trying to decide where to eat, we come up with the list in our heads. Some nights are easier than others. During the week, we try to hold the cost down.

I am posting my list here so that I have it readily available and don't have to keep recreating it. Any other suggestions?

Jason's

Quizzno's

Firehouse Subs

Chipotle

Costa Vida

Cafe Medi

Cheddar's

Catfish Sam's

Lupe's

Palio's

Bottle Cap Alley

Simply Burger's

Pappasito's (Wednesday's)

Smoky's

Dixie House

Mi Chula

Pei Wei

B J's Brewhouse

More Questions

What was the best thing you bought?

I don't even have to think twice about this. I bought a washer and dryer just before Christmas. I don't know if it is because my new washer and dryer are so great, or if it because my old washer and dryer were so BAD! My old ones were not that old. They just didn't work well. When I washed a load, about half of the time, all of the water would not get out of the clothes and you would have to do the rinse/spin cycle again. And again, and again, and again. Sometimes, I could get by with one cycle, and other times it would take 5.

I am guessing that the dryer wasn't too bad, but because the clothes in the wash cycle didn't get as wrung out as they should, it took the dryer longer. It took at least 2 cycles in the dryer and sometimes 3. I have had it repaired a couple of times, but it really didn't get better. Since I hardly wash any clothes, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Every time I do laundry now, I get so excited. I did my Consumer Reports research to pick out my washer and dryer. Now, I pop a load in, push a button and the washer does the rest. It weighs the clothes and calculates the load. It has a countdown timer. The dryer does the same. 41 minutes to dry a load that used to take me 3 hours. This is why there is so much excitement!!!

Whose behavior merited celebration?

Don't know if this is something to "celebrate", but it would have to go to Janelle. Janelle was robbed in our driveway on December 21st, as she was opening the garage door with the keypad. Someone had followed her and parked down the street. When she was opening the door, he ran up behind her, choked her and stole her purse. I was very proud of her because she has handled this like a trooper. She has taken care of all of the details with the detective and getting her lost cards/license/keys, etc. by herself.

She is still scared from the incident, but she has not let it control her life. She now parks in the driveway and uses the remote opener. She has trouble sleeping and she has a real fear when people walk up to her from behind, but she is still living her life. I am proud of her for not letting this take over her life.

There have been a couple of incidents after this robbery that caused her a little anxiety. There was a robbery and stabbing of a 16 year old girl in our city exactly 1 week after Janelle's robbery. That was scary until we found out that it was all a hoax. 5 weeks to the day after Janelle's robbery, the other assistant manager where she works was robbed in her driveway. Not sure if there is a connection, but it has caused some additional anxiety. I'm proud of Janelle for pushing forward.