Shock & Awe & Wine & Cheese

The other day I posted about my killer wine headache that's to the amazing time we had out with friends Saturday night. Everyone who was there has emailed me saying that they had such a fun time seeing everyone and really enjoyed the resturant we went to and expecially the Corkscrew Wine & Cheese bar. We really did have alot of fun there.

I'm not sure if it was later Saturday night (since it's still kind of a blur) or sometime Sunday morning when the realization finally hit me that I believed we very obnoxiously, and very unintentionally, "dined and dashed" out of the wine bar. I could not recall paying for the meat and cheese sampler that I myself had requested, nor did I think I had even left a tip.

I had bought the first bottle of wine when we arrived, and because there was no where to sit at the time, I paid for it at the front counter and we drank it as we stood and mingled around the front of the bar checking out all the wine. Once we took our places on the big couch in the back, everyone else began taking turns buying bottles of wine and there for also paid for it at the front of the store as they grabbed it off the shelf. About an hour into our stay we had all decided that we needed more food. I don't actually think we were starving, but since we were drinking, eating seemed like the next logical thing to do, and so we did.

Once I had realized the horror of us possibly not paying, I called or emailed everyone that was with us to see if maybe they paid the bill unbeknownst to me. Because if they hadn't, I was going back to pay for it. Not only was I feeling completely guilty about it, but I was pretty certain that my husband and I were going to visit this place again and I couldn't imagine them seeing us walk in and thinking "There's the loud, obnoxious people who were here that one time and left without paying."

Everyone confirmed that the bill was not paid, at least by them. One of our single guy friends said he wouldn't go back. Another friend said, "I guess it was free." Hello people! Don't you believe in Karma? I had to go back.

Last night my husband and I drove back over to the wine bar and I walked in to see the young lady who was working that night behind the counter. She and another girl were working, but not the bartender who was working at the counter that night and rung up all our wine bills. I smiled and asked her if she remembered us from the other night, and she did, and I told her that I didn't think that we were giving a bill for our food, and I'd like to pay for it if no one had. Did she know if it had been paid for? She wasn't sure. I think she was surprised by the question and the fact that we were there.

I thought the girl standing next to her was going to hit the floor. She was truely shocked.

"You came back to pay the bill? Wow."

Neither one of them knew for sure if it was paid or not. The waitress we had said that she had saw the bartender bringing over our receipts to sign as we were ordering wine, so she assumed he had given us the bill. I told her that because I had talked to all of our friends and because they all said that they had not paid, I was going to pay for it. They insisted on giving us the "employee discount" for our honestly and we added a few bottles of wine to our bill, which they also gave us the discount for, and thanked us as they handed me the receipt. I looked at it and I said to the waitress:

"I suppose we didn't leave a tip either since we paid for everything at the front of the store and there's no place on this receipt to add a tip?"

She assured me that it was okay, and not to worry about it. But that bothered me as well. My husband had already walked outside (we had the two little guys with us and one more minute in there with them and we'd be paying for many broken bottle of wine) so I walked over to him and told him I needed $10 for a tip. He just shook his head and handed it over and I took it back in and gave it to the girl. Now I felt totally better about coming back to this place.

Some people might think I'm crazy for going back. I don't know if I'd go back into Wal-Mart and pay for a loaf of bread if they forgot to ring it up, but that's probably because I think Wal-Mart would survive without the $1.15 and chances are they would never know. So maybe it was selfish of me to go back because I thought they would remember that we didn't pay WHEN we do go back, even though it was an honest mistake. But alot of it has to do with Karma too. I think that what goes around comes around, and if I knowingly decided not to go back, I'd feel horrible about it and sooner or later it'd come back to bite me on the ass. :)

http://www.corkscrewwineandcheese.com/

Easter At Home

I'm sure we've all heard this saying before. What I like to refer to as those who show up for mass twice a year and take all the seats so those of us that go almost every week end up having to stand in the back of church the entire mass with our unruly kids. Maybe If we just left the house a bit earlier, we'd get a seat, but I still like to blame it on those "Twice-A-Year Catholics".

I've actually started to become what I call a "Twice-A-Year-Non-Catholic" and that's not really a good thing. The two days that I should be in church, Christmas and Easter, I'm home. It's starting to become more of a hassle trying to get two little kids ready and to church where they are just going to act crazy and be bouncing off the walls the whole time. I make a much better effort, actually not so much an effort, but I actually go, when we have family in town or when we have the older boys with us then when it's just Scott and I and the little boys. Neither one of us looks forward to how we think the two little guys are going to act in church. We run around all morning trying to make sure that they don't get their new Christmas or Easter outfits dirty. And let's face it, especially at Christmas when there's a house full of people and you're just completely drained by all the activities, I can barely pull myself out of bed on Christmas morning. I'm content to just lay there until the first kid finally wakes up and remembers that Santa was there.

Yesterday was one of these years where it was just Scott and I and the little guys. The older boys were with their mom. My mom had stayed the night with us because she had watched the boys the night before when we went out with friends (see previous post), which contributed a tiny bit to my not really feeling up to getting out of bed quiet so early that morning. Scott had to go into work Easter morning, so we were kind of up in the air as too when he'd be home and we could get to mass. I had already decided that my mother was insane for suggesting that she and I go with the kids. If they decided to be just the slightest bit out of control that would be enough.

The boys had decided to sleep in, and Scott actually was home at a pretty decent hour, so in all honesty if I would have just dragged my sorry butt out of bed BEFORE the boys got up and not WHEN they got up, I probably could have been ready to go to mass at 10:30, 11:00 or even noon, but we had other things to worry about. Like how the Easter bunny was a bit buzzed the night before and had planned to go to the store after dinner with friends to buy goodies for the Easter baskets, but didn't quiet make it there. So Easter bunny had to go to the store with a wine headache the next morning to buy goodies and groceries for Easter dinner. (On a side note all the Easter Candy was 50% off. BONUS!!) Good thing the boys really don't get the whole Easter bunny thing yet. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't yet introduced them to dying Easter eggs. I had fully intended to do that this year, but since I had the carpets cleaned this past week, I wasn't looking forward to anyone accidently spilling egg dye on the dining room floor. So we'll wait another year for that. Needless to say they had no idea that they were supposed to wake up and go running around looking for their Easter baskets. The fact that they had already gotten a basket at daycare, and from my friend and from grandma might have contributed to this as well. I'm sure they thought they had enough baskets and candy. I sure did. But the Easter Bunny did finally make an appearence later that morning, leaving a basket full of goodies for each of them on the front porch. Of course as soon as they ran out and got them and started going through all their fun stuff, Christian exclaimed with delight, "Thanks Mom!". And I told him, not mom, the Easter Bunny left those for you. To which he responded, "Okay. Thanks Mom!".

Note to self: To a better job of explaining Easter to the kids.

So our day was pretty much shot. Everything I had planned on doing, really didn't get done. We never really left the house. I had bought the boys new Easter outfits so I broke down and dressed them up just so I could at least take a picture and not it be a total waste. We did have a nice dinner, thanks to Scott cooking for us...I helped..but burned my hand on the oven, and pretty much gave up after that. My mom ate with us and my dad and step-mom stopped over later in the afternoon. It was a lazy Sunday spent at home, but with good food and good company. Just another Easter at home.

P.S. This is what happens when your husband gives your 2-yr-old and solid chocolate bunny:

Holy Hangover Batman!

I'm nursing a wine hangover this a.m. I am by no means a connaisseur of wine. In all honesty, I've never really been a fan of the stuff. But I'll have a few sips of it occationally, mostly when we are out. Never at home. I'm not the type of person that drinks wine at home with dinner, or at night to wind down. I'd rather have a beer.

Last night my husband and I and a group of my High School friends and their spouses went out to dinner. One of my best friends from school just got engaged, and she and her new fiance were going to be in town this weekend for Easter, so I thought it would be nice to get a group of our friends together for dinner that we are still in touch with. Nine of us went out last night to dinner at TASTE, which was very good food, but not very big portions, so we compensated by drinking alot more. (One of my friends husbands made the comment that he felt like he was on that Visa commercial where the get into the big fancy resturant and get served tiny little meals.)

We had a couple of bottle of white wine with dinner and then the majority of us decided since it was still early (8:00 p.m.) we'd walk across the parking lot to the Corkscrew Wine and Cheese company and eat and drink more.

I was feeling pretty happy at this point already and got really excited when we walked in the door and the first bottle of wine I saw was a red called "Bitch". For some reason all us girls found that to be extremely hilarious and we had to have that. All the ingredient on the back of the label were: "bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch....." You get the idea. Between the seven of us who decided to stick around, we took turns buying bottles of wine to share. Then we moved onto the cheese and meat trays. I can't even tell you what all we drank at this point other than they were all red and pretty much all tasted the same to me after a while. And they were doing down nice and fast.

We were loud and obnoxious and we had a blast. The place was packed when we got there and we closed it down. We were the last ones to leave, laughing our way out the door. Me with my empty souvenir bottle of "Bitch" in hand. What was left of the rest of the night is pretty much a blur, but that just consisted of the ride home and me passing out and going to bed.

This morning one of my friends called me to tell me that she's going to have to break down and paint her master bathroom now because the red wine stain on the wall where she got sick last night wasn't cleaning up very well. We just laughed. Thank God I didn't get sick. I can live with the minor headache all day, but I'm sure that if I would have gotten sick I would have sworn off of wine for the rest of my life which would be a shame. I think I might actually start to like the stuff.

Private vs Public

For many of you reading this, you'll surely know that my post today stemmed from a small discusion that was going on on another site. I could have gone on and on about my thoughts and feelings, but decided that I'd just come over here and maybe the topic would make for an interesting blog.

The questions that was posed was this: "What are your feelings on the private schools in this area?"

Many had responded. Everyone had an opinion. All had pros and cons.

The subject of private school comes up alot in our household. Scott and I were both "priviledged" to have had a catholic education. The reason that I put it in quotes is because I don't think he feels like it was a priviledge. We had very different experiences.

I grew up dirt poor in a so-so neighborhood and attended a catholic grade school with other poor catholic kids. The majority of us came to school every day on a school bus. Most of us, my sister and I included, qualified for free lunch. We had an average class size of maybe 20, and one classroom of every grade. The kids in my school were from all different backgrounds and races. We had a crappy little playground with a metal teeter-totter and a couple of swings and we played four-square or kick ball every day when we were outside for recess, and Bunco or Heads Up 7-Up, every time we had to stay inside for recess.

When I was in 5th grade, it was decided that two of the smaller catholic schools in poor parishes would be closed the next year and the students from those schools would either be sent to my school, or another poor catholic school a few miles away. Two other parishes whos schools had closed years before would also be joining with us and we'd essential become one school, with six parishes. Are school name was changed to All Saints, and if you ended up in my school you went to All Saints West, and if you ended up in the "other building", as we liked to call it, you went to All Saints East. Once a month all the students in both schools would meet at an "All School Mass" at one of the six parishes and spend the day with same grade counterparts from the "other building" and all was good.

Those of us who were privilegded enough to be able to go on to a Catholic High School, did, and those who weren't, didn't. Those of us who probably had a choice in the matter, but knew that it would be impossible for our single parents to afford to send us to a Catholic High School, even the "poor" Catholic High Schools, "decided" to opt for the Public High School; myself included.

My husband grew up in a different state, in a much smaller town where there were a couple different Catholic Grade Schools and one Catholic High School. If you were enrolled in catholic school, you were pretty lucky. There were poor catholic grade schools and there were not-so-poor catholic grade schools, but everyone ended up in the same high school regardless of your social status. Kids who's parents worked for the city, or the local grocery store were going to school with kids whos parents were judges and doctors. There was a distinct line between the rich kids and the not-so-rich kids, and that's about all that my husband has taken with him from that experience. He was "priviledged" enough to attend High School with a bunch of rich snotty kids.

So the debate always comes up in our house on whether or not our kids will be attending a Catholic school. For the most part, my husband had always been adamant that the boys would not go to a catholic school. Why waste the money? Why send them to a school with a bunch of rich stuck up kids? I always argue that they should get to experience the same education that we did, and he always argues back that he hated the education he got. Mostly he just hated the politics of it all.

My second argument alwasy comes down to the fact that his three older boys have all attended a Catholic school and why shouldn't our boys have the same opportunity? He can't really argue a whole lot about that with me. The older boys started in that school when he and his ex were still married, so it wasn't like it happened after the fact. He always argues back that he really didn't have a say in the matter. He doesn't think they are getting any better of an education there then they would be getting in a public school, and I can't really argue with that. Two of the three of them have had to have extra help in school and because the resourses weren't available to them at their school, one eventually moved over to the public school system where he is now an honor roll student.

Still, for me it's so important that I at least try to give my boys the opportunity if I can. I will say that the money is going to be an issue. We struggle now to make ends meet, and we honestly can't afford to help pay for the older boys education right now. I don't think the catholic school we plan on sending them to has free lunch, so I'm going to have to start saving up. Less shopping. More in the bank. :)

I think my husband has started to come around lately. He's not a huge fan of the school or some of the people there, but I think that's because he still thinks of it as being the same situation that he was in. Poor kid in rich school, but the older boys all loved it there, and so I think that makes a big difference. He even said to me the other day that it was a good thing that I'm leading a high school youth group through the parish because the fact if I'm involved in a parish activity coupled with the fact that we already have kids that attend the school, it will be easier for us to get our boys into the school there.

And if we are lucky enough, or I should say if our boys are lucky enough to end up being able to attend that school, I will make sure that they realize just how lucky they are. They are not there because we have the money to send them to a private school. They are not there because they are better then anyone else or because they are going to be smarter then anyone else. They are their because their parents worked their ass off to save money to get them into a school where they are going to receive a catholic education. Where they are going to learn about their faith and where they are going to learn christian values. Where they will get a good education, but if they screw up and don't take it seriously, then then will not be at that school the next year. They can't get just as good of an education in a public school, but they won't get the faith based education that I want them to have. And they will know from day one that it is a priviledge for them to be where they are.

8 Message Board Members Split Lottery Jackpot

I decided that this is going to be the headline when me and 7 other girls from "The Nest" win the powerball. Obviously the only people who win the big jackpots are groups of 8. Eight packing plant workers in Lincoln, Ne. Eight Women in the County Tax office in West Virginia.



The first seven girls from "The Nest" who read this blog and want in, are in. Leave me a comment so I know who you are.



I'll start collecting money once the jackpot reaches $200 mil again. LOL! :)

Everyone Needs Another Hole In Their Head

My 16-year-old step-son let his girlfriend pierce his ear.

My husband called me from at work yesterday afternoon while he and above mentioned kid were driving in the car.

Scott: "Hey, I'm putting you on Speaker. Blaine has something to tell you."
Blaine: "Hi Shannon. I let Ellen pierce my ear last night. But mom made me take it out."
Me: "With what?"
Blaine: "An earing."
Me: "Gross. Why didn't you just go some place and have it done the right way. Why'd your mom make you take it out?"
Blaine: "She didn't like it."
Scott: "I would have pulled it out if she didn't make him take it out."

He kept telling my husband that he wanted to get his ear pierced and my husband told him if he came home with an earing he was going to rip it out of his ear.

Last night when were laying in bed I bring up the earing thing again:

Me: "What's the big deal? He could have done something alot worse, and believe me, he's done worse."
Scott: "I know. I just don't like it. Blaine said 'See, Shannon didn't make a big deal about it like you and mom did. It's because she's younger and cooler then you guys.' "

:)

When all else fails, DVR it.

Can I just say that the DVR has to be one of the greatest inventions ever. That sounds so pathetic, but honestly, how else would I ever be able to watch TV. For instance; when I spent 2 hours at urgent care last Thursday, I was able to come home, put the kids to bed, and stay up until 11:00 p.m. watching that nights episode of LOST. Instead of having to run from room to room last night watching American Idol on one TV and Dancing with the Stars on another TV while at the same time trying to keep my two little ones from killing each other, I could just DVR both of them and still be able to keep my kids from killing each other and then just watch both of the shows later. It's a godsend.

Especially when the kids are trying to body-slam or do a choke hold on one another.

I can just simple say, "Boys, do you want to watch Elmo's Christmas Countdown?!" (because it's been on the DVR since December) and they stop trying to strangle each other and actually sit down for a few quiet, blissful minutes. Then again, they assume that every show they have ever wanted to watch can just magically appear on the TV at any given time. Which basically leads me to tape an episode of every show they do watch, and then we get to watch the same episode over and over and over again until it "accidently" gets deleted and Mommy has to explain how the TV is broke and the show has gone bye-bye...lets pick a new show to watch!!

My only other complaint is that when I actually have time to sit down and watch the show at its regularly scheduled time, I'm frustrated that I can't just fast forward through the commercials. Or of course when I'm DVRing two shows at once and it only lets you flip between the two channels your recording. Of course there is always a third show I have to see...like the other night when I just had to know if that cute little kid on Deal or No Deal was going to take the money and walk away even though he still had the million dollar case left. I had to go into the bedroom and watch that because I'm such a sucker for that show and I NEEDED to know what was going to happen. And I actually did have it set to DVR, but then my husband decided he needed to DVR a Minnesota Wild hockey game and he actually cancelled on of my recordings! The nerve.

I told him to get his own DVR for his "man cave" in the basement.