What a night!

I'm still in shock as I write this, so bare with me! Last night after watching Tristin share his talent at Scouts, I zipped off to meet the girl's for Lara's birthday dinner. (Miss Rosie, Annikan, Lara & myself were there) When we arrived at a place that will remain nameless, we seated ourselves and went straight to the corner for more privacy with 2 nursing babies in tow. The girls mentioned to the waitress that we would like the corner booth, but there were dirty plates still on it. The lady walked over, picked up the plates, used HER HANDS and wiped the crumbs off onto the floor. That should have been our sign right there. No, "Oh, just a moment and I'll CLEAN that table for you." Nope, just a swipe of her dirty hand all over our dirty table. Alrighty then... Rosie gave me some baby wipes, and weirded out, I wiped part of it down while Lara wiped her side. The 2nd problem was the very loud music coming from the speaker directly above our heads. It was difficult to have a normal conversation, so I polietly asked if they could turn it down just a knotch for Rosie's sleeping baby, of course. (It was a very small place, we're not talking Olive Garden or anything). Anyway, they turned the music down and I thanked her. They took our order and for some reason it took quite awahile to get out to us. We were starving so we dug into our food when it finally arrived. We were happily eating for quite sometime listening to Annikan fill us in on church stuff/ drama. All of a sudden Annikan started laughing in a weird way and said something like, "I'm not even going to show you guys." "What!" we all said. Through her laughs and slight tears she turned her plate to show us her half eaten food with a black hair embedded in it, protruding out onto her plate. I almost barfed my buritto right there. I put down my fork and just said. "No, that isn't right. Oh my, that it's right You are NOT paying for that. Ohmigosh." Next Lara held up a little stick/twig and said, "I found this awhile ago too but I didn't say anything because Annikan was talking." I looked over in horror to see A STICK! A little 2 inch stick with tiny branch off shoots. WHAT THE HECK WAS HAPPENING??? Are you kidding me? A hair I could understand, (I have a ton of it and even pulling it back sometimes treasures fall in & it happenes to the best of us, still horribly gross though), but A STICK? Come on people! After a minute of me presuading them that something HAD to be done, Annikan walked up to the counter with me to have a nice little chat. She went first and showed the girl the hair coming out of her enchalada. Next, I held up the stick and said, "I'm not sure what this is." With little expression or real care she took our plates and went into the back. When she came out semi emotionless, she said, "We wont charge you for those 2, would you like something else?" Are you kidding crazy people? Who wants to order more when there were crazy objects found in half our food? There was no remorse, or much of anything! I was shocked. I went and asked Lara if she wanted to order something else, but she declined. Annikan said the lady said sorry, but I must have walked away before she said it. It was definatly not the response I would have given, because I would have at least said SOMETHING! We stayed and opened presents and visited for awhile. She came over and asked how everything was a few times, and I was bothered by that too. Seriously? We just found objects in our food and you are asking us how things are? How about, an "I'm horribly sorry."I was disgusted, and upset and weirded out by the whole experience. And, Lara never even got her water refill that she waited half the night for, poor birthday girl. We went to pay for our food (Rosie & I) and she gave the total, it seemed a little higher than it should have been so I asked her, she said, "Oh, $ 1.75 was for the pop. I said, "Oh that was from one of the orders with no charge", but she apparently didn't hear or care, so Rosie paid the lady. (She owed me a few $, so she payed for mine) but the kicker was, sweet Rosie actually left a tip. She was far nicer than I would have been. Sorry, that was the craziest dinner we have ever had. I will definatly NOT be returning to that lovely establishment, but if nothing else, Lara wins the best birthday memory ever! So, I'm still wondering if any of ithad to do with me asking them to turn the music down a notch, sure hope not!Happy Birthday Miss!

Talent Night at Scouts...

Last night the boys had a talent night for Scouts. Tristin brought some of his Pokemon collection and it was a big hit! When I told one of the boys that most of it was from yard sales, he said, " What kind of yard sales do you go to?" We have been collecting for several years, so it didn't happen overnight, but it was fun to see Tristin excited. He also took his guitar to show. My camera wasn't working when he had it out, so the only shot I go was when he was putting it away. He was a little embarressed to play, but I was proud of him for getting up in front of everybody! Good job Buddy!

There might be something wrong with me...

I think I might have some lingering pregnancy hormones surging through my body right nowmaking me think irrational thoughts. The proof: I'm slightly thinking about getting the kids a hamster or other small, no mess making pet for Christmas. I'm insain I know. And I'm still shaking my head as I type it. I really think I'm nuts, but a super tiny part of my heart kind of tugged the other day when I took the kids into Petco for the dreadful 5 minute walk around the store. I seriously hate pet stores, but I took the plunge and walked through the doors to be instantly overwhelmed by the smell of dry dog bones. So gross. The girls happily ran through the store looking at all the nasty, noisy, smelly animals and I just smiled my fake smile pleading to God to get me out of there! I kept looking at my imaginary watch saying, "Yup, sorry girl's, we gotta go! Say goodby to the sweet little animals." And then it happened. Somewhere between the hamsters and hidious rats, the idea came to me that my kids are not going to turn out normal if they do not have a pet. "Nope", I said to God or whoever was talking to me at the moment. "Not doing it" I felt like saying outloud. But as my eyes checked out the cages, and water things, and messy cage covering stuff, and little plastic hut- home looking things, I thought, "Maybe, just maybe I could muster up whatever it takes for a women like me to break down and get a little fur ball for her sweet kids- and just do it! So I need your help. All of you sweet Mama's who have let your kids have normal childhoods, would you please tell me the best little fur ball for young kids? The least smelly-est? The one that eats the cheapest food? And one that wont get out, crawl into my walls, take up residency there and then only come out at night to make annoying scratching sounds? Or better yet, someone please convince me that a pet-free home really is the safest and healthiest thing for my children who are wildly in love with animals!Oh my word, please help, just the idea of it is killing me!