Cloud fell down

Saturday recap:  Texas Tech lost, Northampton won, the Plano festival was a let down, but last night we had a helluva storm, complete with a fantastic lightning show and loud claps of thunder....so cool!

Then this morning I looked outside to find this:

Cloud fell down.

It just feels like autumn today.  Some days this would be the last thing you'd want to see, but today it just feels right.  Now and then I like a day when everything just slows down a few notches.  

Stay-at-home church on the internet, a leisurely breakfast, maybe a trip to Starbucks later for a latte and some quality time with the newspaper and some people watching.  (They have some interesting types come in there.)  I might even check out the Felon Football League for a while.  That's my day.  

CORRECTION:  I've just been informed my presence has been requested at IKEA sometime today, too.  

S

And life goes on

If you stop and think about it, it's amazing how yesterday people were ducking for cover as tornados skipped all around the area, yet today the sun still rose, people dressed for work and ventured out, babies will be born, and the grass will still need mowing.  Nothing stops time.  Kinda puts in perspective how things really work.  Those who think they control their own destiny are just kidding themselves. 


Regarding those tornados....kudos to the authorities all across the area for their excellent early warning systems.  Despite the widespread damage there were no deaths and surprisingly few injuries.

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Remember how last week I was berating IKEA for the problems I was having with one of their TV stands?  Here's how things finally worked out:  The parts packet was missing two vital parts, and one piece was not pre-drilled as the instructions promised it would be.  I took the defective piece back to IKEA where a customer service rep cheerfully replaced it with a new one.  She also went over to a wall of parts bins, went straight to the right one, and reached in and grabbed my two missing pieces. I asked her if this was a common occurrence and she just smiled and nodded.


I eventually assembled everything, but found it to be disappointing in fit.  The gaps between doors and drawers are inconsistent and the possible adjustments have been maxed out.  Being black hides the poor fit....I'm just glad I didn't buy this piece in white.  While the IKEA box prominently mentioned SWEDEN, down in the corner in tiny print it said "made in China".  No big surprise, and it explains a lot.  Frankly I'll think twice about buying anything else from IKEA that needs assembly.  Dishes, cutlery, rugs, no problem....but nothing needing assembly.  


Also, regarding my rant about my outrageous TXU Energy bill....I had a comment from "Lauren", a TXU rep who monitors social media comments regarding her employer.  I contacted her and they are reviewing things and promise to get back within 5 days with their findings.  I'm confident they'll find a simple error somewhere, but if they try to tell me otherwise, it's time for letters to state regulators, calls to the media, and *.  I'll keep you posted.


Hope you have a nice day.  :)


S

Oooooh.....the HORROR!

What was I thinking???  I don't care how much you plan, how many furniture dollies you have, how much you pre-pack, moving is still a disaster.  Definitely two thumbs down.  Much worse than childbirth (from my perspective at least).  


Most of the heavy lifting was completed on Friday and Saturday, with SIL Donnie assisting on Sunday as I was too tired to lift a napkin holder, much less the final large piece of furniture.  Then it came time to put things away where they belong.  Hahaha!  Where do you start?  K was on one side of a room and I on the other, and all I could see was her head bobbing along as she moved forward.  You couldn't take a step without tripping over something.  I haven't had this many smashed toes since the last time I tried dancing.


I think I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm hoping it's not a....well.....you know.  My last hurdle is IKEA.  I bought a simple assemble-it-yourself TV "stand" there as it was the only one I could find the right height.  What a nightmare!  The parts package was incomplete and one of two critical pieces wasn't pre-drilled....obviously a quality control lapse back at a supplier's facility (read: some Chinese guy's lean-to).  IKEA sucks!


Hopefully by the end of the month (?) everything will be in place.  Our complex is really nice, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it once I put this nightmare move behind.  Pictures sometime in the future.  Hope y'all have been doing well.  :)


S

Restaurant review time

We have a core group of restaurants we frequent often, but recently we've stepped out and tried a couple of new places that have really impressed us.  Obviously this won't be of much use to you if you live outside the Dallas area, but I'm going to sing their praises anyway.

Anamia's has about the best Tex-Mex I've ever tasted, and believe me I've tried a LOT of Tex-Mex in my time.  It's a family-owned place (wife Ana, daughter Mia) and I'm betting it will thrive!  I had traditional Tex-Mex (it's that "old dog / new trick" thing), but K had their shrimp enchaladas and said they were fantastic.  And their margaritas were done right, too, using a lot more than just the usual whiff of tequila fragrance.  The atmosphere is definitely not your typical cheesy mexican-village-mural-painted-on-the-wall, but instead a very nice soft contemporary feel that's just loud enough and just dark enough to be comfortable.  We enjoyed it so much we gave an Anamia's gift card to a friend whose birthday party was last night.  Two thumbs up, and that's only because I don't have three thumbs.

Then there's Tru-Fire Kitchen and Bar.  Their slogan:  "Life happens in the kitchen".  Most of their cuisine seems to be Italian although I saw a waiter delivering a burger to a table nearby.  (Boy did they miss out!)  We each had an adult beverage and a small Caesar salad and then shared a gourmet pizza...."Parma Prosciutto".  It was mouth watering! And again the atmosphere was very comfortable.  Dark but not too dark and some lively noise that still allows for conversation.  The hardest part was deciding on which entre to order.  Decisions, decisions...  ;)

Today we're doing more packing, and going by Ikea to check out some new everyday dishes, and I think we need some new kitchen knives, too, then on for some coffee and read time afterwards.  But first, back to Anamia's for their weekend brunch.

Y'all have fun!  

S