This is a long post that I started a bit after I awoke, saved, and added to for the entire day. It is a tale of kids, food, shopping, and fear........and danger....yes...danger!
I awoke at 7:30, could not fall back to sleep, so I got up, watched some TV, and right before I was going to wake Scott up so we could head out I heard him get up. He did his usual flop on the couch cover himself with a blanket trick that he does upon arising, I left him be for about 10 minutes and we headed out. It is a beautiful day! Blue Sky, sunshine, not too humid, and temperatures are predicted to hit the low 70's today! Whoo Hoo!
We stopped at his Mom's to pick up his birth certificate and headed over to the Secretary of State Super Center. There's only one of these in this general area which was fortuitous for us as they are the only office open on Saturday. We got there about 10 minutes early and there were people backed up already almost to the mall entrance. I spied a few motorcycle riders in their requisite black leather trappings and boots, and told Scott to go over and annoy them. For some reason, he declined!
We talked a bit while we waited the ten minutes for the office to open. From entrance to exit it only took about 25 minutes to get his Level one license which lets him drive with his parents or a designated driver age 21 or older. He needs 30 hours behind the wheel now before he can go for his level 2, and until he is 18 his driving privileges can be cancelled by myself.
We started off for CompUSA, the local store is closing and they have big sales going on, but, I told Scott we had another errand to run, and I surprised him by pulling into McDonald's where I got him his usual order of hotcakes and a Cinnamon melt. I had a single breakfast burrito, a far cry from my former steak, egg, and cheese bagel, hash browns, and two breakfast burritos, This was within my caloric, carbohydrate, and sodium level, and, it tasted much better than the usual breakfast shake! Scott was almost done with his hotcakes and cinnamon thing in the time it took me to eat a single breakfast burrito, and that includes the buttering time for the hotcakes!
We headed back to CompUSA, it was disappointing, a ton of stuff is already gone and the prices were still not all that great, though he and I each picked up a Zune case for our Zunes at 40% off, plus I got a docking station at the same discount.
We headed out into the parking lot, I handed Scott the keys, and we headed back here. He was a little heavy on the brakes a couple of time, and a little unsure of himself, but, overall he did pretty good. I was tempted to throw myself from the car, kiss the ground, and scream, "Land! Land!!! We make it, oh thank the Gods!!!!" but I decided not to tease him.
In a bit the kids and I will head over to the mall, and I may resume this post later. Chris just got up, yelled at his brother, who dared zoom into the bathroom before him, and I let him know about the upcoming mall trip.
Well, it's about four hours later, we've been to the mall, I had a 6" subway sub that was within my carbs, calories, fat, sodium, etc. while Scott and Danielle had assorted chicken from the Japanese place, and Chris had Chili Cheese fries from A&W. I like the food court at the mall because there is something everyone will eat and you don't have to tip anyone.
Our repast completed we hit the bookstore to pick up a book (and some Archie comics of course) that the X had reserved for Danielle. Chris asked me to buy him a book which I did. The X and I had been talking earlier in the week about how, all of a sudden, he has developed a taste for reading....which has shocked us both! Down in my basement office I have four book cases crammed with books I have been collecting (mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy) since I was his age, and I had always envisioned my children would read them someday; up until now I had no hope of ever realizing this!
We headed over to the video game store (and I listened to the usual pleas from the boys to buy them video games....geeze where do they think money comes from anyway....) and on the way back I got Scott and Danielle something from Auntie Em's Pretzels (I was very happy to see they had Caffeine Free Diet Coke because I had nothing to drink with lunch) and we headed out to the car.
Chris was not pleased that he had to sit in the back, but, I wanted Scott to drive us home as he needs 30 hours of behind the wheel time before he can go for his level 2 license. After much grousing by Chris in the back seat (even though I was crammed in up front worse than him since I had moved my seat way up to try and give him more room) and Scott running a red light (his first, which I warned him about how to better judge this type of thing and not to do it again!) Stopping at the X's was the next milestone where Chris was picking up the first two books of a fantasy series he had read to loan me and Scott needed something....I forget what....
Sitting in the living room of my old house while awaiting the kids return from their gathering made me think of the X, and, my cell phone rang, it was the X calling. She scares me that way sometimes! We chatted of things, including some of what I have written above and I mentioned the fajitas, invited her for some this evening, which she doubted she could make, so, i offered to have them tomorrow night as well. I know she loves them and I could easily eat them many nights in a row!
With me behind the wheel we stopped at Forest Hills Foods where I picked up the makings for healthy chicken and beef fajitas plus a few other items and headed back to the house.
The kids vanished to play games while I spent half an hour weighing, cutting, pounding and seasoning the pound of flank steak I bought. This was rubbed with a combination of Barbecue Spice and Cajun Spice
Red Monkey Rubs and then the chicken was rubbed with Mango Habenero rub and put in separate plastic bags in the fridge. A couple of hours before grilling time some fresh squeezed lime juice will be added to the meat for today, and I will saute fresh red pepper and onion. There is enough meat for three nights for me, but, since the X is joining me for dinner and a show tomorrow it will be two evening of dinner. Hopefully the grill will light easier tonight!
Danielle will be heading for her end of year Odyssey of the Mind party around 6PM so I will fire up the grill after I drop her off. For now, it's off to ride the exercise bike, and, will return after later to either publish this post, or add to it.
Once again hours have passed and I guess I shall be adding! I watched some TV with assorted kids, Scott had Taylor over, after the exercise bike I got cleaned up and they played on the Xbox 360. I put head phones on and listed to music on my Zune and read the first 30 pages of "
The Rage - The year of the Rogue Dragons". This is the first in a series by Richard Lee Byers and I was hooked in the first couple of pages.
Around 5:15 I began sauteing of onions and red peppers for the fajitas for dinner. I'm sorry I may not list the exact spices used....but....they are a secret! I made enough to cover tomorrows dinner too and had them cooled, bagged, and in the fridge by 5:50 when Danielle and I left for her OM party. I dropped her off and upon arriving back home I lit the grill with no trouble, made and greatly enjoyed my sumptuous fajitas feast which was the best meal I have had in over four weeks, yet totally within my dietary guidelines. instead of the usual flour tortillas
I used these, which I cut in half. This let me have four fajitas. Tomorrow's batch will be even better as Forest Hills Foods was out of limes and I picked some up later in the evening when we went to Meijers. After eating I watched a Scrubs and a Teen Titans with Scott, then Chris and I watched the rest of "Battle Peanuts" on Iron Chef America. He headed off to meet with friends around 8:30 and a bit before nine Scott and I headed out, Scott driving, to go pickup Danielle.
This was a perfect opportunity for Scott to have his first experience driving the Mustang in the dark. Of course, as he backed out of my driveway, stopped, and got to the part where a sane person would have put the car into drive, he decided to leave it in reverse, and backed up barely missing taking the rear end of the Mustang out with a large tree! We talked about paying attention, not smashing my car, and the need to be careful. We got to the OM party and I went into get Danielle after taking the keys out of the Mustang's ignition and asking Scott to spare the neighborhood trees.
As I was walking back with Danielle I overheard the three teen age boys in the driveway of the house she was in talking and caught the phrase 'I';; trade you my Mustang for your Camaro. I stopped, turned back to face them and simply said "Keep the Mustang"
We headed over to Meijer's where I needed some items. I had Scott park from from the door in a deserted (and treeless) part of the lot. I swear the car was balefully staring at me as we walked away form it, probably still upset about it's near brush with the tree! We shopped, and headed back out to the car. Not finished with scaring the crap out of me by a long shot, Scott barreled through a stop sign from the parking lot onto the main street cutting someone off to much horn honking and light flashing. Again we had conversation about paying attention, seeing stops signs, etc.
Arriving back home, I watched some TV (Lost, In a Fix, Good Eats)while Scott and Danielle went downstairs. It's a bit before midnight, and I envision heading off to bed soon. I shall probably dream of auto mishaps, Mustang eating trees, and police cars chasing us.......
