Take a Bite

Biting off more than I can chew . . . .

This week I purchased an entertainment center for my new tv. The one I wanted cost $275 so I kept looking. I finally found one that was perfect for $99 except that it was painted a garish silver. No problem, I thought. I'll just paint it.

It took two guys at Rex plus a dolly to load it into my car. "Are you sure I'll be able to get it out by myself?" I asked. "Oh, it will be a piece of cake," they responded. They also told me it was very easy to assemble.

Yesterday I purchased paint & thought I would quickly paint the wood before assembling; then put it together later in the day. When I got home from buying the paint, I attempted to get the entertainment unit out of my car . . . the box would not budge as it was wedged into my backseat. Eventually I was able to pry open the box & get the pieces out one by one. I spread a drop cloth on my deck & carried all the pieces outside. Suddenly the beautiful sunny day became very dark & windy. Undaunted, I opened the paint & proceeded to paint a piece of wood only to discover that it would not adhere. Perservering, I remembered that I had a can of primer left over from painting my hearth & mantle. I located the primer & began to prime all the wood. After applying several coats of primer, the rains came.

I backed my car out of the garage & spread out another drop cloth on the garage floor. Then I moved the pieces to the garage to finish the priming. Every couple of hours I would go the the garage to apply another coat as most of the pieces needed to be primed front & back, & each side needed at least two & sometimes three coats of primer. As of this morning I have yet to finish the priming & am beginning to wonder exactly how many days this project might take. Hopefully when the painting is finished, it will be as easy to assemble as the salesmen said it would be, but from the looks of all the pieces & bags of screws, I doubt it!

Reality bites . . . .

Oddly enough my sons encouraged me to play in their fantasy football league. I was uncertain since I had never played before, but they convinced me that I could do it.

After the first two weeks, I was sitting pretty atop the league undefeated. At that point I would say "I know my football," but I'm sure my sons were thinking "dumb luck." Since that time I have lost every game even though I have scored a lot of points each week. This week I dumped my so-called premier receiver, Randy Moss, since he had done absolutely nothing so far this season with the hapless Raiders. Unfortunately for me I happened to mention this to my son, Adam, who quickly snatched him up. Yesterday, the Raiders won & Randy had a great day. My fantasy is quickly becoming a nightmare!

Tea for Two

Ever since I blogged about our smooth little system of daily drive-thru iced teas plus free refills later, I have had nothing but trouble getting the tea.

First, Nancy announced that she no longer liked sweetener & now wanted sweetened tea. I drove up to the BK drive-thru . . . voice: "Can I have your order? me: "One medium unsweetened iced & one sweetened iced tea." voice: "That will be $2.42 at the next window." me: "I said MEDIUM teas." voice: "That's what I'm charging you for." me: "Has the price gone up since yesterday?" voice: "No. Drive thru please." So I discovered that Nancy's medium tea with sugar cost an extra 11 cents. So when I went to refill later, I of course got the two cups mixed up & had to pitch them & order new drinks. Then when I got back to the office, I got them mixed up again & put my sweetener in Nancy's already sweetened tea making it disgustingly sweet.

Undaunted, however, I went the following day to the BK drive thru & was told they were unable to make tea due to a broken part on the machine. I then was trapped in the drive-thru while those ahead of me reeived their orders. I proceeded to McDonalds next to get tea. me: "One medium sweetened tea & I medium unsweetened tea please." voice: "We don't sell sweetened tea. It doesn't make sense to sell sweetened tea when we have sugar." me: "Two medium unsweetened teas, please, plus sugar packets." Okay, so I get the teas & can immediately tell it's not going to be good since there is virtually no ice in either one of them. Additionally, I discovered Nancy doesn't like to put sugar into unsweetened tea since she thinks it does not disolve well. Not to mention all this took me at least 20 minutes . . . I think it's time to switch to coffee.

Fill Er Up

My friend Nancy & I get a daily iced tea from the Burger King drive-thru for $1.15 each. Later in the day one of us returns to Burger King to refill our cups. We have been questioned about getting our free refills hours later; however, we feel that since we pay the same price in the drive-thru as we would if we ate inside, we are entitled to a refill. If restaurants don't want drive-thru customers to participate in the free refill policy, then the price for a drive-thru drink should be less than one purchased inside.

I have been a perpetual loser at gauging whether gas prices will go up or down. When gas prices are exceedingly high, I will get a partial tank of gas hoping to fill up later when the price comes down. Unfortunately for me, the price inevitably then gets higher. Conversely, when the prices are relatively low, I will fill my car to the gills only to find the price will drop another 5 cents on the gallon the next day.

Owenisms . . . out of the mouth my three year old grandson who was my houseguest for the weekend:

"Nina, you smell really good." "Do I, Owen?" "Yes, you smell just like Rachel Ray!"

When he found a stray piece of mushroom on his piece of pizza, he exclaimed, "That's just disgusting!"

Upon discovering that his great grandparents (ages 86 & 84) had a golf cart at their house, he asked "Do Timer & Jack wear helmets when the ride on their golf cart?"

After attending our church Sunday, he was meeting & greeting outside & felt the need to introduce not himself, but his uncle. He told people, "Hi. This is Uncle Adam."