We Tried A New Restaurant...And Wish We Hadn't...

We were over in Indiana visiting the Horseshoe Casino Indiana South and ended up at The Spread (Buffet Restaurant)...

If you are ever in that area and have the chance to go to their Seafood and Steak night...

DON'T!

Horrible Furniture  

We had to put sugar packets under the table legs to level it out and napkins under the plates so that they wouldn't slide.

Horrible Customer Service

From the cashier to the waitress to the cooks.

Horrible Food

The theme was Seafood and Steak...
MBB hates seafood, but would be good with steak.  Except - no steak (unless you count the small piece of steak for fajitas, I don't).

I like seafood, and most of what I got - after one bite, I threw it away.  

Granted, I don't do crab legs - that could be the highlight of most peoples' meal, but I can't comment on it.

From our standpoint, we liked the small pieces of steak (even though they tried to force us to take the tortilla with the steak), I liked the mashed potatoes and MBB liked the cheesecake.

Horrible Waste of Money

They charge more for Seafood and Steak night - a LOT more.

Can you tell that I thought IT WAS HORRIBLE?

Now, I will say that we ended up back there on a different day - yes, we need our heads examined - but no other restaurants were opened for lunch and we were hungry.

It was a little better...

We got to sit in a booth.

Our waitress knew how to make faces other than a scowl.

The dishes that replaced the horrible special seafood dishes were the better dishes on the buffet. 

The price was still a little higher than I like, but it was much better than on Seafood and Steak night.

Namaste.

Wordless Wednesday

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Calories 110 each (yes, I could reduce it further, but don't think I'm going to)

Results
Everyone who has tried them likes them.  Definitely a keeper.

Just have to figure out how to thicken up the icing a little bit!

Namaste.

PB Cheesecake Chocolate Cupcakes

Calories 154 each

Results

MBB - Nope

SassyMarie - Nope

(At first I had these marked as OK - we'll eat them, but not make them again... Then we ended up throwing them away.  No longer an OK.)

Namaste.

New Cookbook

I found a new cookbook recently...

MBB flagged a few that interested him, so I have been baking a bit lately.

The cookbook is Hungry Girl's Just Desserts, 200 under 200.

Fits right in line with my calorie tracking.

I made three recipes but didn't take any pictures...

Since I want to keep track of what we have tried and which ones we like...

Gooey German Chocolate Cake Mug (194 Cal, MBB deemed it OK)

Oreo Cheesecake in a Mug (171 Cal, Neither of us liked it) 

Double-Decker Fudgy Cheesecake Cupcakes (159 Cal, MBB said OK, SassyMarie liked the chocolate, but not the cheesecake)

I remembered to take pictures this time.

Banana Split Cuppycakes

Calories 147 each

Results

MBB - Good

SassyMarie - Good (better after being refrigerated)
This is a keeper!

Namaste.

It's Shiny...

Found this in a parking lot...

Decided that we might like it and took it home.

:)

Good thing it already had my name on it.

Namaste.

Super Mice

About a year ago, I found that the mice we have been fighting got inventive and creative and started chewing a hold in the tupperware container that holds Yeager-bomb's food.

Since duct tape can fix anything...

I covered the hole with some duct tape.

Fixed.

Take that mice.

Along goes time and many bags of cat food later...

I see this little pieces on top of the container a few days ago.

I looked a bit closer (keep in mind this was 6am in the morning before my caffenation)...

Only to find that the Super Mice are back and have begun working their way through the duct tape.

Namaste.

Sprucing it up... Frugally

We have two big trees in our house... 

HERS and HIS

HERS: Green Tree; White Lights; Gold/Maroon/Crystal Ornaments 

HIS: White Tree; Colored Flashing Lights: Blue/Silver Ornaments 

We won't talk about the fact that HERS hasn't seen the light of day in years because we can't find the tree stand.  Still working on that one...

I bought a new star at an after Christmas Sale recently to go on the top of the HIS tree that went with the decorations.  When I got home, it was to find that the star blended in with the tree too much.

What to do... 

What to do... 

I found some ribbon that I had left over when I made bows for HIS tree... 

So, I decided to spruce the star up a bit.

Success! 

Namaste.

Isn't It Pretty?

I got a Shamrock Plant at a St. Patty's Day Party years and years ago (at least 7 or more)... 

I think I had it a couple of years before I even realized that Shamrocks had flowers!  Yes, white flowers.

I don't see them very often, but once or twice - I saw it (no joke).

The other day, I noticed that my Shamrock Plant had a visitor. 

It is so rare that I had to grab a picture!

Isn't it pretty?

Namaste.

Baby Steps People!

So I've been trying to make changes since New Year’s…

Not necessarily resolution, I think I posted about goals.

I also decided to make a few small changes, not big things that are impossible, but little things that I can do here in there. They probably tie back into the goals that I made, but to be honest - I haven't really looked at them to know for sure.

One small (okay, so it doesn’t always feel so small) change is artificial sweetener. I am trying to reduce the amount of artificial sweetener that I consume. Eliminating it completely is pretty much impossible, or at least something that I don’t want to tackle right now, so I am focusing on one area - my diet pop.

That is huge!

Typically, I had a (sometimes two) Diet Cherry Pepsi(s) every day at work…
It was my addiction…
My comfort drink…
What I always got at the gas stations (and if they didn’t carry it, it wasn’t a gas station that I pulled into)… Since diet pop is full of artificial sweeteners and I am really trying to get back to the natural sugars (mostly Stevia, but I will touch Sugar Cane on occasion)...

GASP!

I'm not giving it up completely as I don’t think that is attainable…
Baby Steps People!

My goal is to only have Diet Pop when I'm at the pool halls and that is twice a week. Unfortunately, I am still giving up my Diet Cherry Pepsi completely as they only carry Diet Pepsi at one and Diet Coke at the other.

Tangent Coming
Yes, I’m aware that some people like Pepsi and some people like Coke.
I fall into the Pepsi camp.
So, it may be easy to reduce to one night a week…

We’ll see.

Namaste.

First World Luxuries...

I come across a lot of posts about First World Problems, especially on Facebook… 

You know, being stuck in traffic or waiting on a microwave or lag on the computer… 

It got me thinking about First World Luxuries. 

What are some of the little things that I never really think about that millions around the world don’t even know exist? I could say the typical: Paycheck, House, Computers etc…. 

But, I was thinking more of the small stuff. 

So, here goes: the 

Speech-to-Text App 

The one that I mentioned yesterday… 

Still trying to work out the kinks, but it is allowing me to multi-task a slight bit more. 

Stevia 

As I am trying to find more balance in my diet and my weight, this natural sugar has become a huge lifesaver for me! I bake with it. I keep a bowl of it in my desk at work. Now, if they could just improve the individual packets (yes, First World Problem). 

Sobe Lifewater 

A drink that is pretty mainstream (yes, more gas stations carry it than those who carry Diet Cherry Pepsi) and is sweetened with stevia! 

MyFitnessPal app 

I am back to logging all of my food into my smartphone and this app is a definite luxury! 

Smartphones 

Well, for this thought, a Cell Phone would work as it is the old functionality that allows me to talk to MBB on days that we don’t see each other much - that is the luxury I focused on. 

The Ability to Read 

Yep, I love to read. It allows me to earn a paycheck, take care of my family and rest my mind. I don’t read as much as I used to, but if you saw my library at home, you would understand that it is still a big part of my life. Many people in this world do not know how to read their language and I am extremely blessed that I have this luxury. 

Tweezers 

Don’t ask. 

What First World Luxury a small one you are you think? 

Namaste.

Blogging

I'm using a new-to-me invention on my smartphone: Speak to Type.
I used to have a lot of time to sit in front of the computer…
To make my thoughts perfect…
To be witty…
To drive people crazy by being vague…

But lately when I do find the time to sit in front of the computer, my brain just isn't able to come up with things to blog about…
Maybe all the small details in my life right now taking up too much space.
So when my brain is thinking in blog mode, I'm going to try speak to text on my cell phone...
Of course, great new inventions lead to new aggrevations…

When I ramble, sometimes I pause while I am thinking and the stupid speech to text thing-a-ma-boob turns off without me knowing and I lose about 5 minutes of this stream rambling thoughts that is up-chucking out of my mouth. I'm sure that this will lead to a lot of funny hilarious confusion when I sit at the computer and try to translate the speech to text into an actual blog entry, but as I am hoping for some comedy in my life – this may be a success (though in the middle of updating this translation and I’m not sure how funny this is!).

I'm also hoping to get more thoughts back on the blog because I am thinking that journaling / blogging, even the vague nonsense, may help turn some of my stress / anxiety into productive memories to revisit later.
Well see how this works between the pauses and the fact that I tend to talk way faster than the speech to text works…

 Namaste.

Hello 2014!

Well,  it is Day 3 of 2014...

Practice Pool: check,  check,  and check
Update MyFitnessPal: check,  check,  and check
Wear my Fitbit: check,  check and check

Try not to stress out about family drama,  mother nature or frozen pipes: I'll get back to you on those.

Namaste.

Leaning Post

I have to admit that I found this extremely entertaining!

He carried the orange "fort block maker" around the living room forever until he found the perfect spot for it...

 

 

Namaste. 

New Year Goals

2013 didn't go so well, and even though I am not super superstitious - I am putting some of the badness on not following my New Year's Day tradition in 2013.

First thing first - I made Pork and Kraut for lunch today, along with Mashed Potatoes and Biscuits.

Then I set some goals.  I don't like resolutions - especially New Year Resolutions.  Seems that they always get broken and making them is just setting yourself up for failure.
So, I am making New Year Goals (again).
Not sure how I did last year.  Don't even remember if I made any or what they were.

2014
Fitness / Physical Side
-Update MyFitnessPal with every calorie that goes in my mouth.
-Wear my FitBit everyday (and try to get it to say 10,000 as often as possible).
-Take better care of my skin.

Mental Side
-Read 12 books (ok - I know I did that one in 2013 and was successful!)
-Work on my pool mechanics at least every other day.

Spiritual Side
-Get to church more...I am not going to say how much, but if I make it two times, it is an improvement over 2013.
-Spend more time with positive / fun / productive people.

Wish me luck.

Namaste.