Angie’s Drama

I haven’t posted about the little ones lately so I thought I’d update the antics of the “damn dogs.” A couple weeks ago, Sophie took off on another trek to Grandpa’s House. Gary found her waiting at the gate to the pool. Really? It was 13 degrees outside and the dog wants to go swimming. NOTE TO DRIVERS: Watch for the little princess when driving on Forrest Hill. She crosses at Grace Presbaterian. She also refuses to take off her “Viscious” hoodie that I think is a little to small but Rob thinks makes her more warm and snugly.

-Yogi, aka Chocolate Thunder or CHOCO, has learned that when Rob get’s out of bed in the morning, there’s a huge spot perfect for him to sneak into. He doesn’t go out in the morning until I take him out. He has learned from the master.
-Sunday, Rob was grabbing the groceries out of the car and apparently Vito aka Chunky slipped out the door. About two hours later I heard the constant Vito bark which in Vito-ese means LET ME IN. I looked at Rob who thought I was crazy, opened the door and saw him standing on the stoop with the most pathetic look on his face. So, for two hours, he roamed free, smelling the roses.
-Sometime last week, we heard a siren. Two seconds later, we heard Aiko, Bella and Yogi howling in unison. It lasted until the siren stopped.

I admit it. I refuse to eat something that doesn’t taste good for the sake of eating it. This drives my father crazy. He’s from the school of thought that says you eat what’s on your plate regardless of flavor or lack thereof. Half of my life has been spent working in restaurants and with that comes a love of food. Plus, as anyone in the business will tell you-servers are great tippers but awfully critical. Last weekend was the yin and yang of experiences. Thursday was the ‘Last Supper’ at F Scott’s. The food was phenomenal-appetizers included bacon wrapped artichoke hearts, calamari, jumbo shrimp cocktail, asian shrimp and smoked salmon. For dinner, Rob and I both went with the NY Strip-which I had never had. There were bowls and bowls of smashed potatoes, creamed spinach, asparagus and broccoli. We laughed, cried and reminisced for hours. It was the perfect end to the perfect place. Saturday night, we went with some friends to Sky Harbor. To be fair, I’ve usually had the orange roughy which is always good and I’ve heard their catfish is pretty tasty too. We opted for the sirloin and I think that was the wrong choice. It was horrible-it looked like hamburger and tasted similar. I hate having a bad experience especially when you’re paying a pretty penny. Our bill was over $80.00 and the experience was disheartening. So, we had a great dinner and a horrible dinner within days of each other. I really shouldn’t bitch because after eating hospital food for two weeks this year-anything not served on a tray should be a treat. I’m such a snob.

Send him to the grocery store. Rob and I were on a little shopping expedition at Cub Foods on Knoxville last week. Since he was working on Valentine’s Day, we decided to have a “romantic” dinner the night before. We made chicken marsala and eggplant rolantine-both of which were awesome. We were in the meat section-looking for chicken-which for some reason all seemed to be freezer burned. We decided to go with a bag of frozen chicken breasts instead. I sent Rob to grab a bag and started looking at the seafood. He came back utterly stumped and claimed there weren’t any. I walked to the bin, picked up a bag of frozen chicken breast and threw them in the cart. How does a seemingly confident, able-bodied man in his mid-thirties loose all sense of reason and logic the minute they step into a grocery store?

Last Thursday was the first day I ventured out after days of confinement to hospital/house/bed. I was pretty excited since I was venturing out into the land of the living and more importantly, human interaction. We started off with lunch at Khaki Jack’s. Our friend wasn’t working which was a little bummer but the food was great and it was nice to be out again. We had a list of things we needed to get at Super Walmart (i know, i know. Walmart is the devil, I get it.) so we pulled up and manuevered the car around all the carts in the parking lot. We got out of the car and a woman asked me if I knew that my rear tire was low? Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate her letting me know-but I have enough trouble noticing my own air pressure-let alone someone elses. I’ve had people honk at me when I was driving to let me know my tire was low. How do people have time to look at other people’s tires? We walked into the store and there were no carts. There were plenty in the parking lot but the store didn’t have a single cart. I even asked a checker if I could take the cart she was putting things into but I was told that cart was for returns only. We heard announcements over the load speaker asking all available associates to go out and get carts. Do you think anyone did? Nope. By pure principle I was not going to go outside and get my own cart. It’s a little difficult to carry a 47 pound bag of dog food and everything else I was going to get. So, we walked out and I’m determined to never shop their again. Next, we went to three gas stations before we found one with a working air hose. Three gas stations. What is that about? I finally gave up when the store I thought was in Junction City wasn’t there-it had moved to the Metro Centre. But, the ultimate kicker was later in the evening. We were with everyone from F.Scott’s after our “farewell dinner.” I sent Rob and Mick home in a cab and stayed out later. I got into a cab in front of the Pere Marquette and the cab driver actually asked me if I minded grabbing another cab because he was waiting for a bigger party. Yep. So-Yellow Checker is the devil.

Had another battle with the pneumonia bug and was in the hospital another five days, and off work an additional five days. I’m happy to say I’m feeling MUCH better and back to my old self. Read: I’m no longer saying things like groovy and trippy and I’m only seeing one image on the television instead of three. There are so many things I need to blog about but first, a few observations from the myriad of television I mind-numbingly watched over the course of my confinement:

* By far, the best investment I’ve ever made was Criminal Minds: Season One.

* The best television is from 8am-11am. Afterwards, it all sucks. I had to flip from the Food Network to the Dog Whisperer to keep my sanity.

* Wife Swap is total bull. First, you have to understand that it’s total train wreck television. The families are all fine and dandy when the new wife has to live their lifestyle but the second week-when the family has to adopt the new wife’s lifestyle is always a horrible disaster. The family always rebels and refuses to adopt the new lifestyle. WHY DID YOU SIGN UP FOR THE SWAP?

* The Surreal Life Fame Game is just embarrasing to watch.

* I’m officially addicted to Friday Night Lights but the past two episodes have been interrupted by Bradley games. Couldn’t Deal or No Deal have been interrupted instead? The show is on every night.

Blogger Rule #1 according to Billy Dennis is to NEVER blog about work. I have to make that exception because due to my job, I was able to attend President Bush’s visit to Caterpillar.
I’ve rarely experienced a room as full of “a buzz” as on Tuesday. I expected the security line to be worse than it was but we arrived a little after 8am and were in the building before 9am. Whenever I’m around a bomb-sniffing dog, I have to bite my lip to not automatically go into doggy speak. I know they’re working but I still have to fight the urge. This time, I didn’t really have to think about it because the fear of Secret Service was all I needed. We kept in contact with the station to find out the time table for arrival but the majority of time was spent standing around or cutting to interviews.
Getting to see a sitting President speak is a big deal-no matter your party affiliation or your personal views. It was cool. I missed seeing the crowds of people waving to the motorcade as we were in a long line exiting the area. While we were heading out in the car, we looked up to see two bald eagles flying very low and right above us. For me to be able to see their yellow beaks, they had to be low. Everyone in the car immediately got chills and it really added to the events of the day. Of course, Rob was just excited that I could actually see a bald eagle up close.