Whatever you think of Valentine’s Day-it’s right around the corner. I enjoy helping the boys-though only Hayden still does this, make all their little cards for their class mates. I like doing that, Hayden will come home and share his take with me-though I limit myself to one piece of candy these days. That’s fun.
I have no real interest in going to a restaurant and paying 25% more for the same meal I could eat the day before, but because it’s ‘a special menu’ we pay more.
I am not a huge flower person, especially because they jack up the price on V-day. Though I will say the prettiest flowers Roy ever bought me, he gave to me one year on V-day. They were marbled roses-peach with some red in them…beautiful! And he swears he didn’t over pay.
What I do love are the notes Roy writes me. Yes, he often buys me a Hallmark, or he used to, the past few years he has made me a card on his computer, and then he always writes something short, sweet and simple, but it always takes my breath away.
We’ve been together almost 14 years. In those 14 years we’ve had our share of fights, a few times we’ve even thought this might be it, we can’t do it anymore, but those times are few. For the most part, these have been the best years of my life. We have grown as a couple, we have raised the boys (and continue to do so) and watched them grow. Shared their triumphs, and taken care of them when they were sick-together.
As I have said before, we don’t have all the answers. But what I find amusing is, almost every magazine does something about couples this month-interviewing them, sharing their stories, etc. And to be honest, I don’t want to hear from a couple that’s been married for 9 months! They’re still in the honeymoon phase! The first nine months of our marriage were over and done with in the blink of an eye.
I want to hear from couples that have been married for 20, 30 or even 40 years. Couples that have gotten through a serious illness, that have seen all their children grown up and move on to have families of their own. And while it’s cute to hear the story of a couple who’s biggest fight was over the color of their bathroom paint, I want something more.
Real Simple did a profile of a couple that have been together for over 60 years! 60 years! He still has the convertible that he picked her up in for their first date. How sweet is that….
Magazines often do celebrity profiles-it’s wonderful that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been together for 6 years, but what about Elizabeth Banks? She has been with her husband almost 20 years, and still talks about how much she loves and respects him. Danny Devito and Rhea Perlman-maybe not as pretty as the Pitt/Jolie clan, but together over 30 years! Let’s hear about them…
I’m not saying newlyweds, have nothing to share, but I do think the couples that have been together longer have MORE to share, and I wonder why they aren’t he focus of those articles?
It isn’t often that we all go out to eat as a family. The older three are usually doing their own thing, so it’s often just Roy, Dean, Hayden and I. Occasionally, I tell the boys we are going out together, and they all need to attend.
We went out last night to a local pizza place, and then to get some ice cream…EXHAUSTING! Seriously, exhausting. They argue, push, fuss at each other, poke, pick, prode and whine-and that’s the older three!
Yes, i swear, it’s the older boys that drive me crazy. They just can’t get along, and if they do it’s for three or four minutes at best. Corey can be so bossy sometimes, and if Roy and I are around it drives the other boys nuts.
“Seriously, Corey, shut up. No one wants to hear it.” Addi is fussing at Corey for something.
“You shut up, before I whack you.” is Corey’s muttered reply.
“Mom and Dad are here. YOU aren’t the boss.”
I’m sitting next to Roy, exhausted by all this..just listening to them drives me nuts. And the pizza hasn’t even arrived yet!
“Seriously, both of you. Quiet.” Dad’s getting that look on his face, and thankfully both boys recognize it and respect it.
But then, five minutes later they are back at it.
We decided, sort of a spur of the moment thing, to sign Dean up for T-Ball. Little League was holding registration at the pizza joint, and we thought…why not? He might enjoy it, he might not…but we hope he can make some new friends.
“Seriously, Joe! Move your legs!”
“Corey, shut up.”
And so it goes…
Hayden used to love this show! We would watch it with him, and sing and dance, and today he is getting awards for Honor Roll. Time Flies!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this show. American Idol, who? I love that this show is based on haha-their voice. The coaches don’t know who these people are, they don’t know what they look like, all they know is whether or not these people can sing.
I love that there isn’t any age limit! Hello! Did you see Kim Yarbrough? She is 50?! Her skin…GORGEOUS! But aside from that, she reminds me of one of my favorite artists-Chaka Khan, whom Adam Levine compared her too.
I love that anything can happen. A young man, Jermaine Paul, is a back up singer for Alicia Keys. Cee Lo and Blake turned around. I was sure he would pick Cee Lo, but he went for the unusual route and chose to work with Blake Shelton.
I LOVE the trash talking between the coaches. According to Rolling Stone it’s all in good fun, but they throw out some real zingers.
And I’m a sucker for a good story. I LOVE seeing someone go big, and shoot for the stars.
It only took me an hour on the phone, but the rep from Carnival was very nice. We got our cruise booked! YEAH! August can’t come soon enough for me.
Going to leave from New Orleans this time, and we are all looking forward to seeing the city, even if only for a few days….can’t wait!
Someone asked where Corey got his tattoo, and I can’t figure out how to reply to a comment! I’ll get it one day!
Corey was actually thinking of getting it across his upper back, but for it to have any real impact, it would have to be fairly large. On the other hand, if he wanted a back piece on day, it could interfere with it.
Because he works, he wanted it somewhere that could easily be concealed so he got it on his upper arm, on the inside. Honestly, I think it looks really good there!
[video]
[video]
Corey just got his first tattoo. Well, he got it a few weeks ago, and my mom can’t believe we let him get one.
But I figure, how can I say anything! I have five! Sure, I am older, he is only 17 (almost 18), but he came to us with an idea, and I have to say I liked it. It meant something to him, and actually it is sort of an extension of one I want to get.
One of our favorite artists is P!nk. She is just ‘rad’ to put it mildly. She’s brash and ballsy, and I completely love that about her. Her song “Raise Your Glass” has one quick scene in the video of two young men celebrating their marriage. But there are also scenes, of people that one might look at and see something…different. A young girl dressed all in black, kids that skate (so of course they have that requisite look), gay youths, a nerd that doesn’t care what people think…and she’s telling them to just Raise their Glass and enjoy being YOU. I want all my boys to do that, to see the world that way.
When the song came out, I would walk around constantly singing it, so would Corey. I told him that I was going to get “Raise Your Glass” possibly on my wrist, maybe on my side. He said, he wanted to get “Wrong in all the Right Ways.” And he did. He showed Roy some fonts he liked, Roy helped him tweak it a bit, and he brought his finished product to me and asked if I would come with him.
My parents didn’t think I should, my in laws said let him wait until he is 18, but why? Some people put their art on the wall, some of us get inked. I told him as long as he understood that this was permanent, this wasn’t something you got for a little while and then took off when you were tired of it. This was going to be with him forever, did he get that? He said yes he understood that and still wanted it.
So, Roy and I took him to the young man that did our most recent tattoos. He was upfront, said some of the lines would be tough, so he asked if he could rework it a little bit, and when it was all said and done…it looks really great! I know Corey, sees it and is reminded that no matter what some people say or think, he is ok just the way he is. That the big things-being a good person, working hard, being kind..he has those covered. When his brothers asked him about it, and he explained it to them…they got it. Same with his friends.
I am glad to see that tattoos are becoming more acceptable. I’m sure some would say that they are ‘trendy’ that everyone has one, and yet, doesn’t that just mean MORE people are coming to understand that being inked doesn’t make you a reprobate, it doesn’t make your weird, it simply means you choose to wear your art on your body, as opposed to hanging it on your wall.
But be careful…they can be addicting! Corey is already planning his next one, Joe wants one, and I’m always thinking about one or two…
With five kids at home, I take date night seriously. When Roy and I plan to go out, I do my research-or ask Roy for help. The last restaurant we went to was Passionfish in Reston, and it was a total and complete home run! EVERYTHING about the meal was wonderful-the food (of course!), the service, the decor, the ambiance-just a wonderful time.
So, we decided to go out this past Friday. There was a restaurant I wanted to try-Blue Duck Tavern in DC. Trendy, but supposed to have very good food. Well, we had a quick stop to make before hand, and unfortunately it wasn’t quite as short a stop as we wanted and we missed our reservation. Oh well! So, Roy worked fast and got us a reservation at Morton’s Steakhouse in Georgetown. Not our first choice for the night, but we both wanted to try it, so why not? Got down there, found parking-which is completely nerve racking for me to begin with in Georgetown. My car is so big (Ford E350 13 seater) that finding a garage that my car fits in is almost impossible, and Roy’s car is so nice, that I don’t want to drive it down there to begin with! That leaves Corey’s car-which smells like food and old soda..no thanks, and of course it’s too cold for one of Roy’s bikes…sooo…we take his car and hope for the best.
Anyways, we park and walk to the restaurant. I put on heels and was just trying not to break my ankle on the uneven pavement (yes, I suck at walking in heels), when our destination popped up ahead of us.
We went in, and to be honest, it wasn’t really what I expected. It was sort of dark, not skeevy dark, but I felt like I was being led to a backroom poker game, and I wondered if I knew the password. So, we are shown to our table, doing good so far. OUr server, and very sweet young lady brought us the cocktail menu.
And right off the bat, I was surprised. I don’t mind paying for an expensive meal, but the prices on this menu, I knew this was gonna be a doozy. BUT, I heard this was the place for steak, so we went with it. Roy got an old fashioned (I LOVE the name of this cocktail) and I got a Skinny Blood Orange martini. A few minutes later we are brought our cocktails-as soon as I saw Roy’s served in a martini glass I should have been on notice. You don’t serve an old fashioned in a martini glass-you serve it in a lowball tumbler! Ok, whatever. The drinks were tasty, so I let it slide. (but, I mean really what was I going to say anyways?)
We were then given our menus-and there it was..the prices (the fact that they dont’ put prices on their menu on the web, should have alerted me this was gonna be CRAZY!). Pricey, but right there on the menu it says-The Best Steaks Anywhere. Ok, show me what you got.
I had Tuna Tartar at Passionfish and absolutely and completely loved it. I would go back there just for that, so we ordered that as an appetizer. Roy ordered a Cesar Salad, and we told our server we were going to share both.
The Tartar was ok-but for $18 I expected something more. Unfortunately, our Tuna Tartar was more tomato than Tuna, but ok.
The Salad was ok, but it’s a Cesar salad, how bad can you mess it up? Ok, my crouton was sort of stale and and soggy at the same time, but whatever.
BUT, here is the kicker for us. We were there, we were out and I love being with my husband, so we decided to go for the Double Porterhouse-a 48 ounce steak for two, cut tableside. Pricey-$114, but we decided to do it. Remember, best steak anywhere! To go with that we ordered Grilled Asparagus and onion rings with Thai Dipping Sauce.
We don’t cook steak at home a lot. Cheap steak is a joke, and why even bother? It doesn’t taste good, and sort of ruins the meal. On the other hand, with 7 people that all LOVE good steak it’s pricey, but when we do it at home, Roy and I get the best we can find, and Roy always cooks it. So, I figured we are at a place that bills itself AS a Steakhouse, I thought the porterhouse would be an experience-we both did.
What a joke! It was brought to our table, and it looked good! We asked for it medium, and this was perhaps our fault-when it was cut it was up rather high and we couldn’t quite see it. So, the manager cut it, and served us and then left.
“Honey, I don’t know about this.” Roy told me as he looked at his steak.
“What?” I looked at mine. The lighting wasn’t great in the restaurant, and I have crappy eyesight. It looked a little…well, red…but ok. “Hang on, let me try it.”
My first bit was ok, a little rare, but nothing offensive. My second bite…steak tartar. And while I LOVE Tuna Tartar, not interested in steak tartar.
“Oh, Roy.” I admit it, I tried not to gag, “That was raw.”
“Ok, put your knife down, we need to send this back.” We sat there, and munched on our onion rings, which were tasty by the way.
Finally, the gentleman that sat us, came by and asked if everything was ok. Roy told him that our steaks were not medium. The guy promised he would handle it.
A few minutes later, they were brought back, and it was obvious they had just slapped the filets back on the grill. not sure what I was expecting them to do, but if it was cooked better, than ok.
IT was NOT. Mine was charred on the outside and still almost raw on the inside. I had ordered another cocktail and was feeling a bit tipsy, so Roy and I at this point just sort of laughed over things. BUT I could tell it was getting to Roy. On date night he enjoys taking me to nice places, he enjoys having a meal we can reminisce about and remember, this was going to be one of those, but NOT in a good day.
“Oh, wow,” I was chewing a piece of meat and Roy looked over at me.
“You ok? What’s wrong?” Roy asked me, with his hand on my back.
I tried to be as discrete as possible, but I spit out the piece I was chewing on. Yes, I spit out a piece of my $114 steak. Honestly, it was bad. Not just sort of bad, but full on gross. Charred on one side and raw on the other.
“Honey, that was gross. Not just bad, but gross.” I told him.
He shook his head. I cut around my meat trying to find the parts I could eat, but so much of mine was either charred or raw that I ended up leaving about 65% of my steak uneaten.
Our server asked if everything was ok, and Roy told her the issue. I just wanted to get out of there, we were both so disappointed. The manager came by again, and said that it is such a big piece of meat it is hard to get right. Sure, we understand that, BUT when you say right on your menu-The Best Steak Anywhere- and it’s ON the menu, I was expecting a damn good steak! But even if it had been cooked right, there was virtually NO seasoning on it…not a bit! So, on top of being raw or charred, it was tasteless! He wanted to buy us drinks-no thanks…or drinks were fine, and I was already tipsy. Dessert, no thank you, I just wanted to leave, and there is a little place in DC that has some really good Frozen hot chocolate, that we KNOW is gonna be awesome. He said when we came in again, mention his name and we will get the VIP treatment, again, with all the GOOD (some great) steakhouses in DC, why would I come back? And then we get the bill
$235. Frankly, I didnt’ know what to do? We were so unhappy with the meat, on the other hand, do we just pay and take it up with their corporate office? What should we do?
Roy handed over our credit card, and I could he did so reluctantly. When he got it back, he cringed signing the slip.
We like to try new restaurants, new things-and again, we aren’t opposed to saving some money up so that we can splurge on a special night out, but this one was SO disappointing. The steak wasn’t even mediocre, it was BAD. We have never spent this much on one meal for just the two of us, and frankly, the best thing I can say about it was one of my cocktails was pretty good.
To put it into perspective. Roy came to me last night,
“Come on honey, let’s go to Chili’s.” he joked that he wanted to make it up to me, though he had nothing to make up.
We go to our local Chili’s often. We sit in the bar, order the same stuff and usually the same young lady serves us. She knows what we like, and always has a friendly smile for us. Roy had a beer, I had my usual-a Mango Daiquiri. We ordered the chips and salsa (my favorite!) and the triple dipper-we get the Southwestern Eggrolls and two orders of the Big Mouth Bites. Roy had another beer. We spent $45 dollars (that included a 20% tip) and had a better meal and a better time.
So, I ask you-how would you have handled the bad meal? Did we do the right thing? I’m still unsure…