worst free meal ever

I got suckered.

It is no secret that I love groupon, livingsocial, and the like. I also use restaurant.com... for about $2, I get $25 gift certificates to restaurants. Well, I got one for a local mexican restaurant in a strip mall about 6 months ago. I was feeling tired and didn't want to drive far, and Larry didn't want to heat up the house by cooking, so we decided to use it. My older brother is in town and a couple friends were going to meet us.....

Fajitas for 2 were $13.99, so we got one beef and one chicken. Add a side a queso, a couple beers and a couple margaritas. Subtract the $25 coupon and I figured we'd be out of there for $20.

OR $89!!!!

$1.99 for some jalepenos
$3.50 for an extra "salad" (lettuce, guacamole and pico)
$17 for gratuity
and obviously many other charges

It wasn't even very good. We won't be going back there.

pluck

I can't remember if I already told y'all this, but I was reminded of it this morning and wanted to be sure I have it written down.

We have a good and honest mechanic named Quan. He will take a look at the problem and let us know what parts we should go get. This usually allows us to save money, because we just go to Auto Zone and bring him the parts. He is Vietnamese and his English can be difficult to understand at times.

A few months ago, Larry's truck was running horribly. He took it into Quan and was told that "the #4 pluck wire is bad." Larry knows quite a bit about cars and this seemed strange, but Quan never steered him wrong before, so he just went out to get the part. Only dealers sell individual wires, so Larry went to the Ford house and asked for a "#4 pluck wire." The guy behind the counter said, "you mean a plug wire?" And Larry said, "yeah" and acted all cool like that is what he said to begin with.

So now, anytime I hear anything about spark plugs or plug wires, I always insert the word "pluck." Try it. It's fun.

F

F is for friends - from Deacon Dolls to Spice Girls, I've been blessed with many...

F is for failures - from coming precariously close to my first "F" in Biology my sophomore year in college or several relationships...

F is for food - which I could go on and on about....

F is for fun - where I could talk about any number of recent activities....

There are many directions I could have gone with this post and I just can't make a decision. So instead, I'm going with:

F is for freak out.

I choose freak out because my mom got me thinking - she said something like, "wouldn't you be sad if something happened to your blog and you couldn't access it anymore?" I know that sounds like my mom lives in some sort of bubble and just discovered the internet or something, but my oldest brother is a crazy computer genius and we hear the way he talks. If the wrong kind of crazy computer genius decided to totally hack into something, Blogger really could be gone. While I use my blog as a brainless outlet, I also use it to document my life. I would love to scrapbook, but typing a few sentences and uploading a couple pictures goes a whole lot faster than meticulously cutting out borders and letters and 3-D shapes. So seriously - I want to keep my blog. I think it would be neat for my kids to read it when they were teenagers and thought I was just a boring stick-in-the-mud that never had any fun. Or if I don't have kids, I can look back on it myself when I am old and remember all of the life I was fortunate enough to experience.

My mom also said, "Maybe you can print your blog into a book or something." Can you do that? Call me paranoid if you wish. If I can, maybe I'll make a book every 5 years and keep them on the coffee table. I'll even sign a copy for you when Blogger gets hacked and you lose all your posts because I'm nice like that.

boom

Extreme drought over the whole state of Texas = no fireworks allowed. I never thought I cared much about them, but not having the option to see any this year makes me a little sad.

But in a weird way, not being allowed to buy/shoot fireworks brings a little perspective regarding what the holiday is all about. In some countries, you're always told what to do, what to believe, how to celebrate.... if you're allowed to celebrate at all.

Happy Independence Day and thanks to all those who have made it possible for me to celebrate - with or without the fireworks.

ohmygosh - like, so totally awesome!

The New Kids on the Block / Backstreet Boys ("NKOTBSB") concert was so much fun. Pretend for a second that you are 12 years old again. Kristin and I got to be 12 again for an entire evening.

The boys did not disappoint. They can still move like it is 1990. At one point, I looked at Kristin and said, "I wonder if they feel dumb doing these cheesy dance moves?!?!" But then I looked at a sold-out American Airlines Center at roughly $100/ticket and realized that even if they did feel dumb, they didn't care.

There were costume changes, multiple stages, fireworks, giant screens - you name it. For the finale, they all came out in Dallas Maverick jerseys.

Donnie didn't keep his on very long. And let me tell you - when he ripped it off, the place went crazy. Mr. Wahlberg has aged well.

I have to say that my favorite part of the concert was when they split up and went into the audience to sing "Tonight." Our section got Joey McIntyre, my personal crush from when I was young. (I swear he looked right at me - ha!)

I could not have asked for a more ridiculously innocent and fun evening. I should really consult a thesaurus for words other than "fun," but it really is the best description. I am not the only one who thought so. Imagine the loudest noise you've ever heard ...... now multiply it by one zillion. That is how loud it was in there. It was a 99.9% female audience with an age range of about 20-45. And every single one of us was screaming like a little girl. One brave boyfriend in the row ahead of us just couldn't take it anymore:

Bless his heart.

For anyone who cares to know what NKOTB and a zillion screaming girls sound like, enjoy some snippets:

warning: I'm talking about my bloody vomit

Just a quick recap of my wisdom teeth extraction:

Arrived at the oral surgeon at 8:30, I was in the chair at 8:45. They put an IV in and obviously it was the sedation anesthesia, because that is the last thing I remember. (thank goodness)

I woke up feeling fuzzy and nauseous. They brought Larry back to me and I told him I thought I was going to be sick. He went to find a nurse since the doctor was already doing another surgery. She brought me a little bucket, and on the way out of the building, I vomited. Lots of blood. Yuck.

It did not get much better from there. The anesthesia did not agree with me. Larry called the doctor and the doctor said, "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" "I will call in some anti-nausea medicine." (Actually, they said, "well, she might be spitting some blood. That is normal." He told them, "she is not spitting blood. She is vomiting. Like (insert retching sound effect.)" That did the trick and fortunately the medicine worked.

I got home and looked like this:


I have chubby cheeks all the time, but they were reeeeealllly chubby after the surgery. I was swollen like a chipmunk.

I ate broth, applesauce, cottage cheese, yogurt, pudding, and jello for about 4 days straight. I finally graduated to mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. I am on day 11 and still chewing only with my front teeth and using the warm salt water rinse just because I'm paranoid.

A few days in, the small bruise turned into a ginormous, disgusting, spreading mess all over my right cheek and neck. A few sympathy photos:


Today is day 11 and I still have bruises - they spread all the way down my neck:


Larry took very good care of me and I appreciate it. You don't realize how much you use a straw until you aren't supposed to use one. He had to yank it out of my glass on several occasions.

I guess I should have listened to the dentist 13 years and gotten them out when I was young and could have bounced back faster. Oh well. They're gone now!!!

judge if you must

Your judgmental words will not stop me from having fun at the New Kids on the Block/ Backstreet Boys concert on Sunday.

I don't even mind broadcasting my attendance over the internet - that's just who I am.

I hope the rest of you have a weekend that is full of as many "WOOOO!"s as mine will be.

(credit)