Jeff and I have been dating for almost two years now and Monday was the first time I took him home to meet the parents.
It started out great. Jeff called about 20 minutes after he was supposed to be at my house and said he was getting gas and he was on his way. I expect Jeff to be late every time we do anything, so this wasn't unexpected and I was fine with it. I told him I was still getting ready so that was fine. Fast forward to an hour later and Jeff still wasn't at my house. Apparently, he thinks it takes me an hour to finish doing my make up. He went back to his house and finished up some other things at his house he needed to do. He didn't really need to do them, but decided he had time because I wasn't completely ready when he called. He still doesn't understand why I was so pissed when he was an hour and a half late.
So we are almost at my door getting ready to leave my apartment and Bogey follows us downstairs and wants to leave with us. I tell him "No" and Jeff says "Why not?", so we take Bogey with us in the car. I guess Jeff didn't listen to me when I had told him previously, that Bogey rides in the front seat. This happens even if someone is riding in the front passenger seat. So, Jeff was a surprised he had to ride with Bogey half on his lap. I set up the iTrip FM transmitter in my car so we can listen to my iPod on the way. I specifically downloaded some of Jeff's CD's so that he had something to listen to since we have different tastes in music. The trip is an hour and a half, he spent 30 minutes playing with my iPod, critisizing my music before finding something to listen to. That was 30 minutes of static on the radio because the FM transmitter can't be more than two inches away from the radio or it goes static-y.
We finally arrive in Springfield, drop off Bogey, give my parents the leftover birthday cake, the apple pie I made, the roses, the mums and the pumpkin from Jeff and do about 10 minutes of meet and greet with the parents before leaving them behind to go get lunch. Even though I had gone over with Jeff our schedule and that we would basically only be having dinner with my parents. He was still surprised when we didn't stay long and left without them.
We went to D'Arcy's Pint and had stuffed portabello mushrooms, boxty's, and horseshoes for lunch. Jeff wasn't hungry because he had already eaten during the hour he spent at his house after he said he was coming to my house, a few hours earlier. By the time we were done with lunch, it was around 3 pm. Our next destination was the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Musuem. It closes at 5 pm. So, we rushed there, rushed through the exhibits, saw one of the movies, missed the other one, and spent about 20 minutes in the gift shop.
Then we headed to the Lincoln Memorial. I wanted to get a picture of us rubbing Abe's nose and that is outside, so even if the memorial was closed, we should still be able to get the picture. Unfortunately, the memorial was mostly closed for renovation. Abe's bust was wrapped in blue tarp and behind a locked fence. The outside second floor to the memorial was closed for renovation. The inside of the memorial was closed because it was Monday and it closed at 5 pm, even if it hadn't been Monday. So we headed back to my parents house.
The nice part of the trip was my parents really seemed to like Jeff. One of the things I like about Jeff is that he is so easy to talk to. You feel like you've known him forever the moment you meet him. So, my parents and Jeff got along really well. For dinner we went to Gallina's and had pizza. Jeff and I were still stuffed from lunch, so we only had a slice of pizza, but it was good
Then we headed back to my parents house, picked up Bogey and returned to St. Louis... and another 30 minutes of static while Jeff played with the iPod until he gave up and we listened to a football game on AM radio for the rest of the way back.
Friday, October 10, 2008
I make the best greek pizza!
I came up with this recipe on my own, but I bet it's out there somewhere already because it's so obvious and easy to make. Here's a list of ingredients:
1 can refrigerated pizza dough
olive oil
garlic salt
1 can diced black olives
1 can bits and pieces of portabella mushrooms
1 package of crumbled feta cheese
1 package pizza mix shredded cheese
Spread the dough out on a pizza stone and cut off the excess or spread the dough out on a cookie sheet.
Glaze the dough with olive oil, sprinkle garlic salt liberally, and spread a thin layer of shredded cheese.
Spread black olives, mushroom, and feta cheese all over the dough.
Spread another layer of shredded cheese on top and sprinkle with garlic salt liberally, again.
Cook according to the directions on the can of refrigerated pizza dough, and serve.
If you have leftover feta cheese, mushrooms and black olives, you can mix them together and either make calzones with the leftover pizza dough or buy a can of crescent dough and make like croissant calzones with the excess.
1 can refrigerated pizza dough
olive oil
garlic salt
1 can diced black olives
1 can bits and pieces of portabella mushrooms
1 package of crumbled feta cheese
1 package pizza mix shredded cheese
Spread the dough out on a pizza stone and cut off the excess or spread the dough out on a cookie sheet.
Glaze the dough with olive oil, sprinkle garlic salt liberally, and spread a thin layer of shredded cheese.
Spread black olives, mushroom, and feta cheese all over the dough.
Spread another layer of shredded cheese on top and sprinkle with garlic salt liberally, again.
Cook according to the directions on the can of refrigerated pizza dough, and serve.
If you have leftover feta cheese, mushrooms and black olives, you can mix them together and either make calzones with the leftover pizza dough or buy a can of crescent dough and make like croissant calzones with the excess.
London died.
Unfortunately, London died around 2 in the morning on October 4th. He had been doing really well since his diagnosis for an enlarged heart. He was taking his medication well and was enjoying living at my parents. He seemed so much happier since leaving his cage at the humane society. He enjoyed the air conditioning and to get petting any time he wanted. He also enjoyed my parents sunroom and running in the backyard when he got the chance. We only had him a short time, but he seemed to really love his time with us. I'll really miss his high-pitched bark and the missing tooth in his doggy smile. He had such a great personality and loving soul that he deserved to have lived his entire life with a retired couple like my parents or a family with small children because he loved people and was always interested in anything you were doing around the house.
My 34th Birthday!
For my 34th birthday on Oct. 3, Jeff and I took the Friday off and the following week. I'm not doing anything special for my vacation, but I've got days to burn before I lose them and I'm a little burned out at work. Jeff was in the same situation. So, on my birthday, Jeff and I went to the St. Louis Zoo. I love tourist traps and gift shops, so this was one of many great places to visit.
Jeff ended up being an hour and a half late, so we didn't get started on our day until 1:00. The zoo closes at 5 pm. I wish that I had re-thought our schedule at that point. Instead of eating lunch at the zoo, we went to a Chinese Buffet. It was yummy and cheap, but time-wise, eating at the zoo was the better option. And, one of our other options was the St. Louis Science Center. It doesn't close until 9:30 pm on Fridays, so if I had thought about this before we went to the zoo, we would have had time to dawdle instead of rushing through the exhibits. Last year, we went to Grant's farm and it only took us about two hours to look through everything and sit and have two beers, so I thought maybe we would be able to do it again. But Grant's Farm is not the St. Louis Zoo by any means. We still only saw 3/5 ths of the zoo and missed the primate house and bird exhibit and we only saw two cats in cat country.
Oh, and the ultimate misstep, the main gift shop was closed by the time we got back to the entrance/exit to leave. Jeff wanted to wait until the end so we didn't have to carry around any shopping bags, but time was not on our side. "Boo at the Zoo" starts October 17th and that was fun last year, so hopefully we'll go and I'll be able to look at the main gift shop then.
Jeff got me a Wii for my birthday, so after the zoo, we went back to my house and tried to set up the Wii. I had told him two months ago Wii's were hard to find and he blew me off and didn't try to buy me a Wii until the day before my birthday. He said he went to 5 stores and called 7 more, but nobody had any Wiis (what is the plural form of Wii?). At one store they said call back tomorrow because they might be getting a shipment in that night if they were having a sale that weekend. So, Jeff called a couple stores on the morning of my birthday and one store got six in the night before, so Jeff immediately left to get to the store and tried to buy all six so he could sell the rest on E-bay, but they only let him buy one because they limit one per person when it comes to Wii. So, now I have a Wii that works on my TV in my bedroom, but not with the living room TV. So, unless a miracle happens, I will be re-arranging my furniture in my bedroom to create a Wii play area. Right now the bed is in the way and there is no room to bowl or play baseball. Jeff almost knocked me out playing baseball on my birthday.
After playing with the Wii, we were going to eat in the Soulard area because it was Soulard Octoberfest that weekend, but the area was way too crowded to find somewhere to eat, so we headed to Outback Steakhouse in South County. I had a Lemon Merange (I wish blogspot had spell-check) Martini for my desert before my meal. It was yummy, but I got an unintentional guilt trip from my server because the bartenders hate making that kind of martini and she thought it was funny, but I felt bad for being an inconvience when they were busy. Finally, my sister and her friends were done with their charity trivia night, so Jeff and I headed back to Soulard to drink at the "Cat's Meow" with my sister and her friends.
My sister's friend Michelle is off camera to the right. I couldn't get everyone in the picture to squeeze together. We had "red-headed sluts" (jaeger, cranberry juice and one other thing that I can't ever remember) for my birthday shot and it was a good time, but I was so tired by the end of the day.
Jeff ended up being an hour and a half late, so we didn't get started on our day until 1:00. The zoo closes at 5 pm. I wish that I had re-thought our schedule at that point. Instead of eating lunch at the zoo, we went to a Chinese Buffet. It was yummy and cheap, but time-wise, eating at the zoo was the better option. And, one of our other options was the St. Louis Science Center. It doesn't close until 9:30 pm on Fridays, so if I had thought about this before we went to the zoo, we would have had time to dawdle instead of rushing through the exhibits. Last year, we went to Grant's farm and it only took us about two hours to look through everything and sit and have two beers, so I thought maybe we would be able to do it again. But Grant's Farm is not the St. Louis Zoo by any means. We still only saw 3/5 ths of the zoo and missed the primate house and bird exhibit and we only saw two cats in cat country.
Oh, and the ultimate misstep, the main gift shop was closed by the time we got back to the entrance/exit to leave. Jeff wanted to wait until the end so we didn't have to carry around any shopping bags, but time was not on our side. "Boo at the Zoo" starts October 17th and that was fun last year, so hopefully we'll go and I'll be able to look at the main gift shop then.
Jeff got me a Wii for my birthday, so after the zoo, we went back to my house and tried to set up the Wii. I had told him two months ago Wii's were hard to find and he blew me off and didn't try to buy me a Wii until the day before my birthday. He said he went to 5 stores and called 7 more, but nobody had any Wiis (what is the plural form of Wii?). At one store they said call back tomorrow because they might be getting a shipment in that night if they were having a sale that weekend. So, Jeff called a couple stores on the morning of my birthday and one store got six in the night before, so Jeff immediately left to get to the store and tried to buy all six so he could sell the rest on E-bay, but they only let him buy one because they limit one per person when it comes to Wii. So, now I have a Wii that works on my TV in my bedroom, but not with the living room TV. So, unless a miracle happens, I will be re-arranging my furniture in my bedroom to create a Wii play area. Right now the bed is in the way and there is no room to bowl or play baseball. Jeff almost knocked me out playing baseball on my birthday.
After playing with the Wii, we were going to eat in the Soulard area because it was Soulard Octoberfest that weekend, but the area was way too crowded to find somewhere to eat, so we headed to Outback Steakhouse in South County. I had a Lemon Merange (I wish blogspot had spell-check) Martini for my desert before my meal. It was yummy, but I got an unintentional guilt trip from my server because the bartenders hate making that kind of martini and she thought it was funny, but I felt bad for being an inconvience when they were busy. Finally, my sister and her friends were done with their charity trivia night, so Jeff and I headed back to Soulard to drink at the "Cat's Meow" with my sister and her friends.
My sister's friend Michelle is off camera to the right. I couldn't get everyone in the picture to squeeze together. We had "red-headed sluts" (jaeger, cranberry juice and one other thing that I can't ever remember) for my birthday shot and it was a good time, but I was so tired by the end of the day.
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