Review- Grubs Uptown

One day when we were in town without the girls we decided to try someplace new. We had noticed Grubs Uptown going in near the highway, and it seemed to have a steady crowd, so we checked it out.

We were promptly and cheerily greeted and accommodated. The dining room had several large tvs, each on a different sports channel. We were informed that kid's meals were free with a drink purchase ($2.50). We were not told (and it was not on the children's menu, but was on the children's section of the adult's menu) that the fruit cup option for a side dish was $1.00 extra.
When it was time to order, Riah was the first child next to us. The waitress asked him if he wanted fries, chips, or fruit. I commented that the fruit was extra, so he took chips. The next child was offered fries or chips, but as the waitress traveled out of earshot she again offered fruit. My children like fruit. We took the price difference out of her tip - you don't "upsell" to children.

While we waited we made trips to the bathroom, which was beautifully done in multicolored slate. I don't remember if there was a changing table.

Bob was offered a refill and I asked for one, too, but didn't get it. The next trip I got a refill, but the children's empty cups (lids off and raised to be taken) were ignored. Once, Riah even spoke to her, but stumbled a split second in his wording, so I filled in "drink" - but he still got nothing.

Our waitress was decently dressed, but at least one other seemed to think she was working at Hooters.

Oh, the food.  I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, because the Hawaiian burger cost the same and didn't even come with cheese. The menu boasts the burgers are 1/2 lb, and they are large. The flavor, however, was quite small. There was no seasoning on the meat at all  - I liberally sprinkled mine with salt and pepper (twice), and added ketchup, and it was almost palatable. The slab of meat was garnished with a single leaf of lettuce and 2 strips of bacon (in a big X across the burger, sticking out the sides - pretty that way, but inedible - I took them off, tore them in half, and put them back on, thus messing up the cheese). About halfway through the meal our buns disassociated themselves from the greasy, bland beef and left us to eat the rest without their aid.

The fries weren't terrible, and the dipping sauce provided was interesting if not yummy.

We left full but in no way satisfied.

Good points - it was cheap, and the bathrooms were pretty.
Bad points - the food, the service, the force-feeding of soda to children, the atmosphere.

Urban spoon has a blog linky thing, so here:

 

they seem to have a more favorable opinion of the place than I do. :/

the agenda

I recently had a little disagreement with my brother about what was the "agenda" of gay-rights folks. I wasn't really looking for this, but saw it in an article I was reading about the recent Supreme Court decision and thought I should share it here rather than go back to his blog and go on about it there, as I don't think it's very polite to go into somebody else's house and stir up trouble.
Anyway, Wil, here's an example.

gay rights activist Masha Gessen recently declared to shouts of acclamation at a GLBT event that the goal of those seeking the right to “gay marriage” is actually to destroy the family altogether:

I agree it’s a no-brainer that we should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it’s a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. . . . That causes my brain some trouble, and part of it why it causes me trouble is because fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we’re going to do with marriage when we get there, you know, because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie. The institution of marriage is going to change and it should change. And again I don’t think it should exist.⁶

article here  http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2013/06/27/defining-marriage-supreme-court-sovereign-god#fnList_1_6

Anyway, I'm not trying to start a "thing" - I'm too tired for that - but it's easier to put the quote here than to try to find it later if I *do* want to start something.

ah, the speech was in May 2012.

short week

So, just to get this "out there" - my best friend thinks that divorce doesn't end a marriage ("in God's eyes") and I am, therefore, an adulterer. Well. She loves me anyway, which says a great deal about her character, I think. For the record, I think marriage is sacred and should be neither begun nor ended lightly. I agree with the stance that 'as a rule' divorcee's should not remarry. However, I believe that God provided exceptions in the Bible, and Bob's experience meets ALL of the exceptions. I studied on this before he even asked me out, and have confirmed it with my parents and several ministers.

Anywho...

We were visiting yesterday and I mentioned that I was running low on clothes, and she took me to her fabric store. I restrained myself and only took two pieces (though Taryn wants to go back and get one for herself). Today I got my sewing machine out. I finished Cedwryck's cape (the one that I promised him 2 years ago). I repaired my skirt (again) that I'd made last year, one of Naysha's dresses, and a pair of pants for William. THEN I made a skirt from the new fabric, but it was slightly transparent, so THEN I made a slip from the unbleached muslin that I'd bout a long while ago. I feel very accomplished!

I've not been sleeping much this week, so there isn't a lot else to report. We did go ahead and pull some onions - some from last year that have doubled and bloomed, and some from this year that are already full-grown. I soon realized that my knives needed sharpening, so I did that, too.  Got two gallon-size freezer bags full of sliced onions, plus a quart of green onion from the tops.

So, that's all I got tonight. I've drifted off a few times but haven't thought of anything else to report.

milk

You may have wondered about my reference to washing milk jugs yesterday...

Now it's legal, so I can freely say that we drink raw milk.

We know a guy who has some milk cows (Holsteins, unfortunately) and every week we go to his farm and buy $20 worth of whole, fresh, raw, milk. We have bought several gallon and half gallon glass jars to store the milk in, as plastic is so bad for us.

Ideally, we would get milk from a pastured Jersey or Guernsey, but so far I haven't located any of that.

Why?

I've heard that cows are supposed to live outside and eat grass (sounds strange, doesn't it?).  I've also been told that dirty food should be cleaned, not cooked, and that it's best to not contaminate the food in the first place. Also, given the history of scandal and dirty money and conflicted interests, I decided I'd rather trust God (or even "nature", if you will) than the FDA and USDA.

Anyway, we like it, we like the farmer/friend, and we really like the free cup of cream that comes with each gallon of milk. :-)

Thanks to the Arkansas legislature that decided this session that we can buy, sell, and consume this ancient and natural product if we so choose. America, the home of the free (unless you want to choose what to eat!). ;-) (that little winky face is so everybody knows I'm just joking and there is nothing unpatriotic in this post. I do love America and I pray for our president and legislatures and judges quite regularly.)

kenmore 13922

About 2-3 months ago we bought a new dishwasher. It's a Kenmore Elite, model 13922, as seen here: http://dishwashers.findthebest.com/l/372/Kenmore-Elite-13922

Previous to this we had a Frigidaire something or other. Both models are discontinued so there is little information to be found, and less need for it. But I did want to do a little write-up on the Kenmore, and it is convenient in many ways to do so by comparing it to the Frigidaire.

So, things I like about the Kenmore Elite:
It hasn't broken yet.
The bottom rack slides easily in and out on its track - no lifting or wrestling to get it in place.
The silverware basket is generous and well-designed.
It holds a lot - this morning I ran 9 dinner plates, 12 salad plates, 8 bowls, a 9x13" baking pan with baked on cheese, and silverware downstairs, and a whole mess of glasses, serving plates, measuring cups upstairs. Two large dinner plates can sit side by side.
It gets things clean, with the rare exception.
It gets things dry, which is a bigger deal than you'd think, because reviews on similar models (H.E.) say it it hard to get the dishes dry, and the manual that came with this one said it was designed to work with a rinse agent, and you'd best run the heated dry option.  Well, I use Finish tablets with the Jet Dry power ball (or whatever they call it), so don't add liquid rinse agent. Also, I've always used the "air dry" option to save energy - after all, isn't that the point of an energy efficient machine? Anyway, I crack the machine open at the end of the cycle, and by the time it's cooled off, it's dry.
It's very quiet.

Things I don't like (or liked better on the other):
I miss the cup rack upstairs - I used that almost every day.
The silverware basket is all one piece - the Frigidaire split into 3, so if I had bulky stuff and not many spoons that could be accommodated.  We kept the old basket(s) so we have lots of options now.
The bottom rack does not have adjustable tines. There is one corner that will fit our 1 gallon milk jugs, so we can only wash one at at time.
There is no rinse/drain cycle. This is important in a house with many hands, because when a cycle gets interrupted and everything *looks* clean, I like to be sure the soap is all rinsed off.
 The soap dispenser is a little low, so you have to be careful about what you put in front of it.

Overall, I'm pleased. Mostly, because it hasn't broken yet. :-)

it's like an obsession

I drew another house. 3D Home Architect, made in '93, is the only reason I really hate to say my final farewell to my laptop. Everything else (almost) works on the desktop, but it is unique to my laptop among our 5 working computers.

Anyway... here is Mansion.  Some details are hard to get in the program - I hope it's obvious that there are round towers on the two front corners, and they go up all 3 floors. What is not immediately clear is that the center of the house has only 2 floors, each with 14 foot ceilings, so that there are short stairs up (or down) to the wings from the gallery.
I was not precise in some things (like the stairs, fireplaces, and furniture).
Notes made on the plans fill in some details, but you have to use your imagination for others.
I was disappointed in the size of the bedrooms, but over all I think it's interesting.

computers, ears, and Daniel

Bob's computer has been failing for a month or so. It would be going along fine, and then just turn off. Then when turned back on, it would try to run a registry repair which would lock up. Bob would have to turn it off, and the next time it would start normally or not at all. He took it to a repair service who scanned it and said the hardware was all fine. They removed a virus and sent it back home. The next day it happened again, so Bob took it back (they had a 30 day guarantee). They did a complete sweep, restoring factory defaults on the hard drive. We got Office and CS5 back on, and then it locked up again. Sigh. Long story shorter, we went shopping. First online, at Tiger Direct and Amazon. Then in town, at Best Buy, Office Depot, and Sam's. No great deals in store, but comparable to that online; no shipping fees, but taxes; Windows 8 at the store; 7 still available online. He decided to get one at Best Buy. It is sure different to have Win8, but he's starting to learn his way around.
We had trouble getting online with our home wi-fi network (had to call tech support), but once he got on, all the other computers couldn't get on. Then he thought of something, but that bumped him off, too. THEN finally we all got back online.

Meanwhile he had a photo customer today, besides the work from his class (portraits this time).

Also wanted to mention Daniel is really growing. He's 10 months now, and walking has replaced crawling. He still crawls some, but walks more. He's learned to make the mmmm sound (he used to say "mama" by patting his hand against his mouth), and will say "mmmmm mamamama." He's also started making the hard g sound and a few others. He said "uh-oh" when he dropped something. He doesn't eat a lot of table food, but it's getting more, and he does expect to sit at the table with us 3 times a day now.  He loves to pull on ceiling fan strings (and touch light fixtures), and has got back into the kissing/biting habit. His hair continues to curl.

I've been teasing Bob lately about his hearing, so when we were at Sam's yesterday he got a hearing test. There is a frequency where his hearing just drops off the chart. The tech said it was what makes it possible to distinguish human speech - he can tell people are talking, but if he's not paying attention he can't make it out. She recommends hearing aids for both ears. I really thought he was just ignoring me, so now we all a little flabbergasted at the thought that he's really that bad. I don't know if he'll make an appointment with the VA or just wait for next year's annual.