Dishin' Dinners Day: Use what you have edition and The Battle of Choo Choo Joe

I went light on grocery shopping this week.  (Milk, PB, cheese, turkey tenderloin, carrots.)  I have a lot of things on the shelves and in the freezer that can definitely be consumed. 

Monday:  Morningstar Chick Patties and sweet potato fries.

Tuesday/Wednesday:  Ham and bean soup.

Thursday/Friday:  Crock-pot meatloaf, whole grain rice and vegetable. 
Dinner drop to Heather (cousin #2) to celebrate Elyse's arrival.  Crock-pot turkey tenderloin, carrots, potatoes, bread sticks (that I didn't use last week) and pudding parfait dessert. 

Saturday:  Family dinner at the in-law's.  Chicken vegetable soup and homemade bread.  Mom L says, "Make the big pot!"  Will do.

I have looked at the freezer and shelves and I do have quite a bit.  I stocked up last week and still have plenty of grapes and cherry tomatoes for K-.  I will go for milk and to purchase a whole chicken for the soup.  Outside of that, we're good.

Onto The Battle of Choo Choo Joe.  Now, for those of you unfamiliar, I am a complete fan of Gilmore Girls.  I loved the show, own all of the seasons and mourned the day the Gilmorisms stopped.  The show gave me a great funny to share with Hubs today while at the Franklin Park Conservatory. 

Feel free to skip reading this if Gilmore Girls isn't your thing.  If it is, this is read on: 

Eight O'Clock at the Oasis. Season 3  Disc 2  Episode 5.
[Rory and Lorelai walk into Luke’s Diner]
Lorelai: Oh, man, it’s packed in here.
Rory: I guess we counter it.
Lorelai:Oh, I guess we do.
[They sit down at the counter]
Luke: What?
Lorelai: What do you know, your face really can freeze that way.
Rory: Are you okay?
Luke: Yeah, I’m fine, I’m great. It’s a big fat happy sunshine day for me.
Lorelai: Business looks good.
Rory: Yeah, the place is packed.
Luke: Sure, it’s been taken over by the J. Crew catalog.
[Several families with little kids are seated at the tables]
Rory: Oh, look, babies!
Lorelai: I never wanna hear that come out of your mouth again.
Woman: Find the yellow ball.
Man: [searching through a diaper bag] Yellow ball, yellow ball, yellow ball. . .ah, yellow duck.
Woman: Ball.
Man: Yellow ball, yellow ball, yellow ball.
Luke: Every weekend, the same stupid group comes in here and take up all my tables and every chair they can get their sticky hands on, and they do that. They sit, they stand, one person holds the kid, another person holds the kid.
Man 2: I’ve got Choo-Choo Joe.
Luke: This guy runs in and out and back and forth, the other guy never takes his head out of that stupid bag, the women can’t figure out which kid is which, and they do it all morning long, and then order two iced teas to go, and that is it.
Lorelai: I’m sure you’re exaggerating.
Luke: I am not exaggerating.
Woman 2: Oh god.
Luke: Oh, now, this is good, you see – Choo-Choo Joe will not be working.
Woman 2: Get the Bongo Bear. Get the Bongo Bear.
Rory: How’d you know that?
Luke: Because Joe has not been working for the last six months. Personally, I don’t think he’s broken, I think he killed himself to get away from that family.
Lorelai: Oh, now that kid’s a major drooler.
Rory: Yeah, it’s like a fountain.
Luke: Okay, that’s it, they have to go.
Lorelai: Luke, come on, it’s just spit. Pretend you’re at a baseball game.
Luke: No no no, I’ve had enough. Let them go not spend money at Al’s, I’m through. [He starts to walk toward the people when a woman stands up and starts unbuttoning her shirt. Luke walks back to Lorelai and Rory] Is that woman doing what I think she’s doing? [the woman has started nursing her baby]
Lorelai: Um, well, I can’t be a hundred percent sure, but. . .oh yeah, that’s lunch.
Luke: Why, why do they do this? This is a public place, people are eating here.
Rory: They sure are.
Luke: This cannot be sanitary.
Lorelai: I agree. You don’t know where that thing’s been.
Luke: When did that become acceptable? In the old days, a woman would never consider doing that in public. They’d go find a barn or a cave or something. I mean, it’s indecent. This is a diner not a peep show!
Lorelai: Hey, consider making it a combo. You could charge more for your cheeseburgers. Of course, no one would ever feel the same ordering a glass of milk again, but . . .
Luke: I have to do something. I just can’t stand here and let the lactating continue.
Lorelai: Luke!
Rory: Gross!
Luke: I’m gross? I’m not the one exposing myself for the entire world to see. That’s it.
[Luke starts to walk over to the woman, then walks back to the counter] You go make her stop.
Lorelai: I’m not going over there.
Luke: Why not? You’re a woman.
Lorelai: So what?
Luke: So you have the same parts.
Lorelai: What?
Luke: You shouldn’t be scared of it.
Lorelai: Scared of it? You know, you’re gonna be a bachelor for a really long time.
Luke: I am being taken advantage of here, and I do not like being taken advantage of. I hate this!
[Jess walks down into the diner and sees the woman nursing]
Jess: Oh geez!
[Jess quickly turns around and walks back upstairs. Lorelai and Rory start laughing.]
Luke: Okay, well, that was kind of funny.
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You see, every time we visit the Conservatory, we run into some of the snootiest people.  (Ferris Bueller, anyone?)  At any rate, we had the Choo Choo Joe crowd today.  K- was literally the oldest child in attendance while young thirties-ish folks milled about.  There were the poor Choo Choo Joes of the crowd, strapped down with an assortment of baby paraphernalia while pushing the high end stroller that is always empty of child because either the child is strapped to him or toddling on holding onto him while his wife (on my husband's observation), shoots ahead in tight pants, unsensible shoes and holding a large coffee high in the air in her right hand, while talking on the cell with her left.  They are the ones that go to the cafe and can never be happy with their fine offerings of rather nice food.  "What do you mean you don't have pomegranate?  She was really looking forward to pomegranate.  You don't have any pomegranate in the back?  Are you certain that you are out of pomegranate? . . . "  :Insert 2 year old chanting "Pomegranate!  Pomegranate!" alongside overly caffeinated mom.: 

The Choo Choo Joes, for the most part, were only at the Conservatory.  We went on to COSI and found a completely different crowd.  We were all able to have a nice time, but struggled to be able to have K- use some things because of a lack of sharing.  COSI (Center of Science and Industry) is a hands-on exhibit science building.  There was one section that we found that she aged out of, but looked forward to seeing other things.  She wanted to ride the High Wire Unicycle, but she was too short.  I was going to, but the line was too long.  That's fine.  They had a thing that you would load balls into, you'd crank this handle several times, then you could shoot the balls to see if you could hit the wall funnel so that they could go through the wheels and tubes.  She played for about 10-15 minutes while patiently waiting for this child and his dad to give up the ship.  Nuthin' doing.  Hubs mentioned it to me and I walked over, bent down and asked the little boy if my daughter could try it a minute.  "She's been so patient."  He let her and the family ended up leaving soon there after.  K- was very careful to watch for the little people and when I yelled over to make certain that she was sharing (which she was, but kids were starting to surround the shooter now that it was free from the others), there was a mom who kind of approvingly looked over with a smile.  Apparently, more people wanted their kids to use it, but didn't have the guts to mention it.  K- wanted to climb into a submarine, but there was a huge line.  We decided that we'd go back.  When we went back, the line was shorter, she was able to get in, hang out a few and hop back out.  No big deal.  Same with the rocket ship.  There were seats that would allow you to pilot space craft.  All three seats were filled by ADULT men who saw us standing there looking, one turned, looked at us and went back to his thing.  That's fine, but when three adult men take to taking over a child's exhibit, that is just sad.  K- got plowed over at one exhibit.  I called her over to do something else and apologized to her for that happening to her.  The parents saw and I'm sure that they heard, but there was no correction on their part.  Their son probably didn't do it on purpose, but I still would have had K- apologize.  Fact of the matter is, COSI was packed, there was a lot to do that we did get to do, but my nerves were shot by the time we left.  I can absolutely tell you that I would never in a million years be a good candidate for Disney.  Ever.

Smiles in my weekend:
-  Spending the day with my people in early celebration of Hubs' upcoming birthday.
-  K- announced to Hubs and me, as we were trucking down the road, that she saw a hot air balloon.  I looked at the thermometer on my car.  13 F.  "Baby, I'm not saying that you didn't see a hot air balloon, but I really don't know that you did.  Perhaps you saw something else that looked like one."  "No, Mom!  I did!"  We came up over a hill and wouldn't you know, there was a hot air balloon in the air.  Now, it wasn't pie-in-the-sky-high, but she was up there and above the treeline.  I was stunned.  I didn't know that they could fly in such cold.  I don't know that given the temp that I would want to be in a basket flying in the briskness of 13 F.  Besides, wouldn't it be colder the higher up you went?  Yes, I apologized for doubting her.
-  When I took my truck to the Toyota dealership for an oil change on Saturday, it was an expected hour and a half wait.  I chuckled and told the gentleman to remember that I had a 7 year old with me.  45 minutes later, he showed up.  When someone (I went to church with her previously) said, "Hey!  :insert chuckle: Why does she get out before me?"  He smirked and said, "She has a 7 year old and you don't." 
-  While it wasn't a smile when I wore through 2 pairs of jeans this week (I had 4 that I've been wearing in hopes of losing 10 pounds before purchasing more), my friend confirmed that thrift stores have to do something to avoid the bed bug situation.  (She works in community health and would definitely know the details of this.)  She promised that I wouldn't infest my house if I went to buy myself pants there.  I found 4 pair of jeans, including one lovely pair of Ann Taylor Curvy Boot jeans (originally 69.50 and the ones I bought look like brand new!), all for $11.45 total.  That, my friends, is a lovely deal.  And yes, I left them outside in the freezing cold (12 F) and took them directly to my washing machine where I ran them through the agitation cycle twice.  They also tumbled through the dryer.  Not that I think that they brought any buddies with them, but in case they did, they are now gone.
-  K- is officially signed up for her spring sports.  This year, we are thankful that soccer and swimming aren't on the same day.  Where the two do overlap by two weeks, swimming is on Saturday and soccer is on Sunday.  We'll be okay.  We wouldn't normally do two at a time, but this is a short two week exception.

Have a great day!