Olive Garden @ MindSay 
That's what my family did all afternon... tried to rene them because apparently you need one to be able to go to Greece. Who knew? It was quite a time but then we ended up going to eat at Olive Garden for dinner and any day you go to Olive Garden just has to be a good day. Then, I got home and worked with my dad on college applications for over three hours, and I just now got free. Goodness, that was a fun time! (the sarcasm's kicking in).
Last night, I went over to Matt's and we watched a Jack Black movie called Nacho something or other, and it was not that great of a movie but we had a nice time. He's amazing.
Tomorrow will be filled with lots of college application work, which will be a ton of fun, let me tell you.
I have more deep thoughts to share, but unfortunately I think I'm nearly brain-dead tonight so I need to get to bed sometime soon.
For some odd reason the camara that all these pictures were taken off of seems to order them in any way it wants. So we have some summer pictures intermixed with all the fall and birthday pictures! Sorry!
1. The Men in my life! We hit the Olive Garden on our way doing some shopping for the house sometime this past summer! As you can see Randy, is like me and hates his picture being taken. But since I run the camara I get more pictures of him!
2. I thought this was a cool picture! We were on our way to Coltin's Birthday party at the ice rink. That is Randy's truck shadow in a field on the way up.
3. This is one of my favorite pictures from Coltin's Bday party! That is DeLaney hanging on to the rink wall with dear life! I just love how she has her lil tushy is in the air!
4. I am in the yellow sweater and behind me is one of the party goers! I had just hit the ice and I wasn't about to let myself away from the edge until I got use to it again! I really never got away from the edge even when I got use to it at Coltin's Bday party, I was helping the kids out a lot! And I am stickign with that excuse!
5. This is of DeLaney and Coltin down at Grandpa and Grandma's pool on Fourth of July!
6. This picture is of my dad, mom, and Randy on Fourth of July. Randy was tired as hell and rubbing his eyes. My mom with her shit eating grin, and my dad hurrying to put a cig up to his mouth so I wouldn't get his face!
Mr. Larry Todd, my old high school science/Bible/P.E. teacher once said that he loved this time of year because “the nights are crisp and the days are mild.” Sometimes the days are a little too mild for me, but I have to admit that this is my favorite time of year too. It’s time to break out the sweatshirts and long sleeves, and I’m going to have to go and raid my old closet at my parents’ house for hats to protect my bald head against the autumn chill.
It’s the time of year when I like to snuggle under a blanket and read a good book. For some reason I do more reading in the fall and winter than at any other time of the year. In addition to my schoolbooks, I’m juggling a Louis L’Amour Western with nonfiction works by Andy Rooney and Bob Newhart, and the poetry of Shel Silverstein. Angie and I put new flannel sheets on the bed last night, and the only problem once I’d settled in for the night was deciding which volume to drift off to sleep with.
’Tis also the season for really good food that I usually only eat in the cooler months. That extra layer of wintertime fat that keeps bears warm doesn’t have quite the same affect on humans, but it’s sure fun putting it on. As I write this, there is a pot of chili simmering on the stove. None of that crap out of a can for us; this is homemade, fire-breathing, put-hair-on-your-chest chili. Nor is it like that slop served at Wendy’s, where you’re lucky to find one little chunk of meat in what amounts to nothing more than a watered-down salad. I’ve got two pounds of meat in my chili, along with three kinds of beans, corn, onions, tomatoes, and a secret ingredient or two.
Notably absent from my recipe are chunks of peppers. In my humble opinion, any kind of pepper other than black or cayenne is to good chili what Harry Reid is to the U.S. Senate...unnecessary. I wouldn’t befoul my chili by even passing a pepper over the pot. Trust me, pepper fans, if you ever get to try it, you’ll find it has enough kick that you won’t miss those vile fruits one bit.
Good chili does need some cornbread to go along with it, and I’ve got some baking in the oven right now. I think Jiffy corn muffin mix makes the best cornbread. The sweetness complements the spiciness of the chili quite nicely.
Homemade vegetable soup is also a fall staple. My grandmother makes the best vegetable soup I’ve ever tasted. I’ve tried her recipe numerous times over the years, but my soup never quite measures up to hers. I guess that little dash of love that goes into Granny’s soup just makes it taste that much better.
I love the smell of pumpkin in the air. I’ve been known to carve jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween, and a couple of times I’ve used the pumpkin innards to make a pumpkin pie, but every one I’ve made turned out soupy and ruined the crust. I doubt I’ll try again this year. Besides, I’ve still got Little Debbie and Mrs. Smith to satiate my pumpkin desires, and Olive Garden serves a pumpkin cheesecake that is well worth the drive to Raleigh or Greenville.
I appreciate nature more in the fall. What’s more pleasing to the eye than driving down a roadway with trees lining both sides and displaying brilliant red, orange, and yellow leaves? Watch out for deer! They’re some of my favorite animals, but as I’ve said before, they make me paranoid about driving at night. Still, a field dotted with deer is another lovely autumn sight. I’m looking forward to our next trip to Sparta. It will be really beautiful in the mountains.
The smell of that chili is driving me crazy. I’ve drooled down on the keyboard three times already. I’ll be glad when Angie gets home, so we can eat. A nice hot meal, a little TV Land, and Travis Dog lying at my feet. It can’t get much better than that...until I answer the call of those flannel sheets.
© 2007 by J.D. Lewis
Prizes were given for highest scoring team (and teams were assembled randomly) and highest individual scorer. Another "prize" was given to the one with the most gutter balls. (It was a trophy with the rear end of a horse on top.)
We bowled only one full game. A few frames into the second, I was informed that I was tied for high game with another player, and we had to have a tiebreaker game. In this game, I scored more than 20 points higher than my previous game, while he... well... didn't.
So I brought home the high game trophy, and my team won high team trophies, too. Our team also got gift cards to a local coffee shop, and for top game, I also got a $25 card to Olive Garden. (Mm... balogna alfredo!)
This is the first time I've been bowling since our last such event, which was two years ago. My thumb is gonna hate me tomorrow.
And tomorrow, I'm evidently being drafted into going out with Lucky & S., from our office. But first, I'm meeting up with "A," with whom I've been emailing since answering an ad on Craigslist. She seems nice; works in the hospital industry, too, so I'm sure we'll have things to talk about.
I also am hoping to meet "T." She answered an ad I placed looking for a roommate. Yeah, my financial situation is leading me to strongly consider moving out of my apartment in order to pay less in rent. I do like living alone, but saving a few hundred a month is something I'd also like a lot. "T" and I have been emailing, and it's been pretty great.
No idea if it'll go anywhere, but at the very least, I'm getting a great conversation out of it.
This weekend was none stop, had to work on the classroom, re-paint it, change some things around, and get paperwork done. We met with the new parents and new kids yesterday for an open house at the school. That was fun, got to meet a new little girl from Austria, her parents and her moved here not too long ago, the little girl only speaks German, and since I have taken four years of it combined in high school and college, I will hopefully understand and get to communicate with her. I brushed up on some this weekend and it's coming back to me. Another thing we did was Mark and I went for a drive and we were talking about cars on the way to have lunch at Olive Garden, 5.99 soup and salad special, can't beat it! We just bought a VW Passat and I was telling Mark how stable I felt in it when we turned corners, were on the freeway, or even just having to stop quickly. He drives a Honda Prelude, which is way lighter than a VW Passat. After thinking about it for a moment I realized Japanese cars are built like their builders, small, light, and fast. German cars are built solid, and strong, just like most of their builders. I am not saying that all of these people are the same, but most are from what I have seen and heard of. Then there are American cars which we go from really small cars like the Geo Metro to the Hummer H1 just like our builders. We vary alot with size. This isn't a bad thing, it just goes to show that we have variety and suit all people's needs and wants. Don't get me wrong, I love certain cars from all countries, each have their own style and performance. To each his own.
Heard a joke that i wanted to share:
Heaven would be a place of Germans would be mechanics, French would be the lovers, Italians would be the cooks, and the English would organize everything.
Hell would be a place of Germans would be the lovers, Italians would be the mechanics, English would be the cooks, and the French would organize everything.
Sorry if you didn't think that wasn't funny, just something I thought was cute. But if I offended anyone, I would just like to say, I haven't had English food so I can't say for sure if it's bad, please set the record straight if it's different.
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