Cold service at Ruby Tuesday

Last night, I drove the 3 oldest kids to Pocatello for an ISU production of Annie. Chad bought us the tickets and the kids really enjoyed the performance. It was well done...they have some very talented little girls on that stage!

Anyway, we decided to stop for a late-night treat before driving the 40 minutes home. I do mean late. It was 10 PM when we arrived at the restaurant...Ruby Tuesday. I wasn't even sure they'd be open at that hour.

When we walked in, we were greeted by an older gentleman who I'm not sure even smiled at us. He started to collect some menus and so I said that were just interested in the dessert menu. So he reached to the side and grabbed one. I was tempted to ask for a disinfectant wipe! Someone needs to clean those things off. As I looked at the desserts, I realized that I was going to have to clarify that we wanted a table to go with our dessert menu.

He seated us, let us know who our server would be and left. Shortly afterward, he returned and said the server was hung up a bit and took our drink order. We always get water, and that's what I ordered for the 4 of us. He came back a couple of minutes later and as he was setting out the drinks, gravity interfered and my tall glass of ice water landed on the table - sideways. More gravity interference and I was SOAKED! My khakis were no match for the challenge and my garments were clearly visible on my leg.

He apologized and moved us to another table. As I stood next to the next table, waiting for the kids to slide in, I could feel water dripping from my pant leg onto my foot. My shirt was also pretty wet. Leah was a bit wet as well. He came back with replacement water and left.

Finally, the server arrived and said they were having a pretty good laugh about it in the back because that was their boss that had bathed me...the GENERAL MANAGER. She said it would be great if I teased him, too. Truthfully, teasing is not the verb I had in mind. No one ever offered me a towel or napkin or any other sort of aid.

I thought for sure our check would at least be reduced. Nope. The guy passed by at least one more time and asked how we were "enjoying everything". Really? We were charged full price for our experience. I guess the baptism was on the house. And I was still wet (damp, really) an hour later when we got home.

So I won't be returning to the Ruby Tuesday in Pocatello, Idaho. Ever. That was the worst service I've received in a long time. Anyone want me to throw water in their lap? You won't even have to buy a $5 dessert for the experience.

Fortune?

We took the kids to lunch one day last week. I think it was Memorial Day. We went to a little Chinese Restaurant in a little town.

The lady there speaks with a heavy Chinese accent and always seems to have some parenting advice. A couple of years ago, she got after me for letting Joseph have long nails. As if I intended it! And she's always impressed with how many kids we have and that there are 3 of each. I wonder if she ever remembers that we've been in before?

This time, she said, "Good job, mom and dad." when she saw how well the kids were behaving. Maybe they were so quiet because they were sulking that they were in a Chinese restaurant. The darned place doesn't even have Mac and Cheese!

Then she noticed Joseph wasn't in love with his fried rice. She went to the candy machine and bought a handful of runts for him. She gave him one and put the rest in the middle of the table. She told him he had to eat his food to get the rest. She was trying to be helpful. What she really did was start a mini argument over who else was going to get that candy!

A little bit later, she brings out a plate of french fries for Joseph and puts it down in place of his plate of rice. She says, "I buy." He liked those better...after they cooled off. If I didn't know how Asian mothers could be, I might never go back to the restaurant. But she meant well and I could find a way to be grateful...if I tried.

Eventually, the fortune cookies came out. Everyone got some of the usual fortunes. Some were even more pathetic than tradition demanded. Then I opened mine:

I've always thought maybe I had a little too much of Eeyore syndrome...too pessimistic about things. But when your fortune cookie spits out this gem, it really does seem that a dark cloud must be hanging over your head!

Chicago - Day One

We had fun in Chicago recently. You may recall Chad's Valentine's Day secret message (go back to 16 Feb to read the original post) about Thai Food in Chicago. The real story is that there was a Steel seminar being given there during the week of our Spring Break. Chad presented a convincing case to his boss regarding the usefulness of attending that seminar and we started planning our trip. (There were seminars closer, but not during Spring Break when we could get away easier.)

We got my ticket out of Chad's frequent flyer miles and headed east. Actually, we headed south first. My mom watched the 5 oldest kids for us while we were gone those two nights. We flew out of Salt Lake on Monday at a decent hour (translate = I didn't have to get up early or rush out the door). It was Sarah's first plane ride.


She slept the whole way there. Sometimes her eyes opened, but she fell back to sleep before she ever fully woke up. I was actually a little surprised. The flight was 2 1/2 hours.

We arrived in Chicago about 2 PM. We didn't have to worry about collecting luggage since we packed light enough to fit everything into our carry-ons. We hurried up to wait for the shuttle to the hotel.

We booked a room at the hotel that was hosting the seminar because it just seemed like the easiest thing to do. Hindsight is a lovely thing. But it doesn't help the present. Which is what we found ourselves in at the time. The hotel was very nice, but in more of an industrial area with little to walk to or entertain a pedestrian. We were farther away from Chicago than we expected to be.

The shuttle was a twenty-minute ride one way. It left the hotel every hour on the hour, with the last departure leaving at 10 PM. In order to catch the train into the city, we had to go back to the airport. So by the time we checked in and caught a breath, we were getting on the 5 PM shuttle. The train ride into the best parts of Chicago takes at least 40 minutes. It was 6:30 by the time we bought our 3-day train passes, boarded the train and made it downtown. The shuttle driver warned us that his last pick-up at the airport was 10:30. If we weren't there, we'd have to hire a cab to get back. So of course, I have that stressful piece of information in the back of my mind the whole time.

Coming from a quiet, country life, the sky scrapers in Chicago were impressive. These were some shots we got our first night there.

It's not that I've never been in a big city before, but it's not a common thing for me. I really do prefer a little more sky line and less steel and glass. But still, it's impressive.

Now that we'd FINALLY made it to Chicago, we had a goal to find a Thai restaurant. Isn't that really the reason we'd come? wink, wink

The phone book listed TONS of Thai restaurants. It was a little deceiving. We expected to be able to walk down the street and find one. As it turned out, we couldn't even find anyone that knew what Thai food was! We were in Walgreens (there are as many Walgreens in Chicago as there are LDS churches in Salt Lake City) to buy the diapers I didn't want to pack and asked the clerk if she knew where a Thai food restaurant was.

She asked if that was like Asian food. I assured her that it was, and she gave us directions to a Panda Express, assuring me that it was delicious food. Once she said Panda Express, I stopped listening. I just thanked her. I wondered if she noticed that we went the opposite way of the directions she gave?

Eventually, we had to pick a place to eat so that we could get back to the airport in time. We found a little Italian place under the train tracks. It was quiet and only one homeless man came in while we were there. It seemed he was a regular.

They had free bread as an appetizer. I had some...as you can probably see.

The waitress was really nice. She was 20-something. She definitely seemed Italian and spoke like the typical stereotype. She gave Sarah plenty of attention. She said she had a niece that was chubby too, although she used much more colorful language.

It was a cold night and we had Sarah bundled up as well as we could...considering we were traveling light.

On our way back to the train station, we stopped by Dunkin' Donuts to take a dozen back to the hotel room. There wasn't any free breakfast at this hotel. They have almost as many Dunkin' Donuts as they do Walgreens. 7-11 seemed pretty popular, too. These are all things we just don't see much of around home.

The trains were loud, but much cleaner than I'd feared. Most people kept to themselves. We probably were screaming tourist, but what could we do? No one tried to mug us. Most interactions we had with people were because of Sarah. For three days, Sarah was the highlight: old people, young people, men, women. You'd think they don't have babies in Chicago. I never saw anyone under 5-ish on the trains the whole 3 days. Of course, Sarah is especially cute so I can see how they would be caught in her spell.

We made it back to the airport in time for the 9:30 shuttle. We slept good that first night!

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Joseph turned 2 today! The kids have really been looking forward to his birthday. Leah even made him several cards/pictures.

We went to dinner tonight, as is our tradition for b-days. Joseph didn't actually pick the restaurant. He'll get to do that next year. Daddy picked it and we went to Texas Roadhouse. We'd once told the kids there was a restaurant that had peanuts and you could throw the shells on the ground. Now they've experienced it. It will probably be a while before we go back. It was VERY busy and we waited quite a while. We were there before 6 PM and thought we'd be beating most of the dinner rush. I think we were the dinner rush. Then the kids ate so many rolls and peanuts, plus the fried onion that we had a coupon for, that no one could finish their dinner (including the parents).

We waddled to the car and came home for presents and cake. When you're one of the youngest in a family, you have a lot of help opening your presents. And that's the easy part! Then you have to fight for the opportunity to play with the presents. We only gave Joseph 4 gifts and only one of them was a toy. Good thing it had 39 pieces; that's roughly 8 pieces a kid!

Then we had the cake. None of the kids knew what the cake looked like, though Nathan (for some reason) was sure it was a Curious George cake. This is what it really looked like. I was helping Joseph blow out his candle. I didn't want him to try to extinguish it with his hands, so I had my arms around him. When it came time to really help him blow out the flame, I failed miserably. I think I was just too far away. I can analyze what went wrong if I want since Chad was recording. We'll be able to laugh at Mommy for the next 30 years.

It was a big cake. We only cut pieces that didn't have ducks on them, so the cake was quite a show piece by the time we were done! We'll have dessert for the next week...it was two cake mixes in a 12" x 2" pan.

And now I fear for my weigh-in on Monday. I have been under 180 all week, but eating out tonight (it was the fried onion that I fear the most) and the cake may have been my undoing. I did stick to only one roll though and ate my salad with very little dressing and drank almost 2 huge glasses of water. I didn't have them "load" my baked potato and only ate half of the roasted chicken on my plate. And I ate less cake than I would normally eat. I guess we'll just have to see how it all works out.

Anyway, Joseph is a very cute 2-year-old. He's starting to repeat sounds and we can get him to say "things" when he's in an agreeable mood. (By "things" I mean, animals sounds; "ess" - that mean yes or this...interchangeably; ball - his first official word; and "lick-lick" - something that Leah felt she needed to teach him.) But this boy is very smart and understands WAY more than it looks like he should. And he's the best at throwing things in the garbage. Apparently, that's a skill you lose with age, so I don't know how long he'll keep it up. I'm just enjoying it while I can! He makes Chad help him "say prayers" at night, though all he's really doing is saying, "eh" when Chad pauses to have him repeat the words. He's got the CUTEST little face and his smile is killer.

Happy Birthday, Joseph! You're not a baby anymore!

Hard Knocks

It has been a long two weeks. Swimming lessons finally ended today and "none too soon," I say. We have been getting late lunches and naps (or no naps) and missing out on a lot of the afternoon. It has definitely taken its toll on me and the kids.

Today, we got a mini break between swimming and dentist appointments (4 kids - no cavities, I'm happy to report). After the dentist, we went to the fabric store because I wanted to catch the pattern sale and see what else was irresistible.

I went to a lot of fabric stores with my mom when I was a kid. I remember how BORING it was and how LONG we'd be there. It's finally time to take it out on a new generation. We were there over an hour. (Sorry guys. I didn't think it would take that long.) The dentist gives out balloons. Three balloons ended up on the ceiling of the store, two got rescued. I'm sure the fabric store employees were glad to see us and our 4 surviving balloons leave.

By the time we left the fabric store, it was dinner time. We met Chad at a Subway on the way home. The meal went fine, especially considering that we had 5 kids who had been out and about most of the day. The older kids had fun in the back corner of the store while the two younger ones finished up. As it was time to leave, the boys went out the door. Leah prepared to follow.

The restaurant has double doors - and exterior and interior...probably to keep bugs out, though the interior door was propped open. The doors are connected by the masonry wall of the building and a glass wall on the opposite side (forming the "hallway" between doors). Have I completely lost you? We were able to enter without any difficulty. As Leah made a plan in her mind for exiting the building, a mental connection was lost and she forgot the exact path she used coming in. I never saw the impact, but heard it and the resulting screaming. She'd run full speed (a good 20 feet) right into the glass wall, instead of going around it and through the door. She ended up on the floor. It left a nice big smudge where her cheek bone collided. That was a really clean glass wall.

Most mothers would probably be concerned for their child. I immediately looked for blood and then told Chad to get her out of the restaurant. It was just one more chink in my armor. I am done being a mother this summer! I finished cleaning up the table and headed for the door. I did have to shout at the boys who returned to the scene of the accident to gleefully reenact it. Now there are more smudges on the glass. Can we please not work the frazzled mother into a frenzy? It will be a while before we go back to a restaurant. And yes, I was trying not to laugh out loud after she went screaming outside. It must have been something to see. (I do feel sorry that she got hurt, but I'm having a hard time being really sympathetic.)

We'll see if she's got a black eye or other bruising in the morning. I'll be sure to post a picture if she does. She's lucky she didn't break the window (I'm glad for strong, thick safety glass) or her nose!

10 years

Chad and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary tonight...First Date Anniversary. Yes, 10 years ago tonight, we formally met face - to - face and had dinner at Applebee's on Redwood Rd. in Taylorsville, UT.

We don't live in UT, but there has always been an Applebee's in each place we've lived and we've returned on the 15th every year. (We've gone a day before or after when it's been on Sunday or if we've gone numb in the brain and forgotten.)

We didn't forget tonight. We ate out and made everyone around us wish that we'd eaten in. Each year we seem to have more and more excitement at the table...as well as more kids. We think fondly back to that magical time when we were dating and oblivious to the torture we had in store for ourselves. Last year, Joseph was one month and two days old, so he slept in his car seat, loving tucked under the table. This year he is one year, one month and two days old, so he was in a high chair and letting all of us know he was hungry. Everyone else had something else to contribute to the meal, as well, and I'm sure many Applebee's patrons were relieved to see us go. I know I was.

On the slippery, wintery ride home, I was wondering why we don't get a babysitter and enjoy the meal by ourselves. We rarely get a babysitter. It's too much work and then we watch the clock the whole time wondering how much it's going to cost us by the time we get back. Besides, there's some kind of crazy humor to see how much our situation changes as each year passes. The kids are capable of acting out and embarrassing us, but it's part of the charm of being a family and the memories. At least I hope it is. Before we got the kids to bed tonight, every single one of them had shed tears at some point in the evening. Ah, memories.

I have an Opinion!

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080102/D8TU08S80.html

That's a link to a story you can read on your own. The general idea is about an All-You-Can-Eat restaurant battling with a couple who could really put it away. It's mildly interesting. My opinion comes from a caption quoted at the end of the article. It's from a sign posted in the restaurant. The more I thought about it, the more my opinion formed.

It says,' "Food is for eating, not toys for your child," reads a sign posted on a wall in typewritten text. A handwritten addition reads "Or 20% added." '

Now, I tell my kids to "start eating" all the time. Do they listen to me? Hardly. How does this proprietor propose parents get their children to not play with their food?

"If you don't stop playing with your food, I'm going to be charged another $1.50 and that's coming out of your allowance!"

Maybe you could just starve them all day so that they'd be willing to eat the napkins once they get to the restaurant.

Has the restaurant under priced their food and is losing money on what kids are heaping onto their plates then into the garbage? I would assume that once you pay for it, it's yours and if you want to play with it, then go for it!

Personally, I hate to see my kids waste food that I've paid for. I don't let them get too much at a time, and if they are not eating what they have, they certainly don't get to go back for more. But I can't swallow for them. If they aren't eating their food, I don't want to be the one who gets punished!

Luckily, this particular restaurant is in Louisiana. I doubt we'll have to worry too much.

This reminds me of the sign Chad and I saw in a downtown Salt Lake City's McDonald's while we were still dating. It posted a food consumption time limit of 20 minutes. (Do you remember that Mom and Dad Collett and Pamela?) They just wanted to you to get your indigestion and get the heck out!