Bar food is crap

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, but hopefully it has finally come to an end. I was in Dallas for the hurricane (I don't really recommend it) and I spent a good deal of my waking hours on Friday at Scrap Fest 2008 (also not recommended).

I was in Dallas for the TriZetto Facets User Group Enhancement Survey Review. Whew! Essentially all of the users get together and read word for word the enhancements that were submitted and if someone has questions people pretend like they know what the enhancement involves. So super fun! I met a few new people and got to meet up with my awesome friend Tina who was also there for the user group meeting. It was almost like a free vay-cay but I had to talk about work to get it.

We had tons of refugees staying in the hotel, the University of Houston football team along with their support staff and regular joes with their pets who pooped in the lobby. I have to say the pooping was quite hilarious, but that's because it wasn't my pet. The only time any of these people talked to us was when we would scratch off our lotto tickets in the lobby. They were so intrigued that out-of-staters would play the lottery. Hello! It's like totally the most fun you can have at a hotel!

Trizetto took a bunch of us out for dinner and drinks to watch the Cowboys game on Monday. The hotel recommended a restaurant/bar down the street but I think the concierge was getting paid by the restaurant manager to recommend the place. I ordered fish tacos and it was more like bottom-of-the-barrel fish bits tacos (see above). The people were on fire for the game! I never heard so much shouting in a restaurant. Texans are serious about their football.

The following Friday I attended Scrap Fest in Sandy. Scrap Fest is where all the new papers and scrappin' materials are presented for your purchase and the true crazies can bring all their stuff and scrapbook right away. I had never been so I was really excited. Little did I know how loud and crazy it would be. First thing they have an announcer who comes over the speakers to cheer on scrappers. Then he announces that there is a t-shirt contest.

OH the contest! If you had a t-shirt with a scrapbook theme then you were able to enter. 20 people got up on the stage and had their t-shirts screamed over the PA for us to then cheer back if we liked it. Here's a sample:

"Why do a workout when you could do a layout?"
"Anything you can scrap I can scrap better"

I would go on, but I got sick typing those. This went on for 15 minutes with the group getting smaller and smaller as the person with the smallest cheers was eliminated then the shirts WOULD BE READ AGAIN! Dear Lord, it was painful. Of course, I went home and got all my scrapbook stuff and went back. I'm sick.

Some people said it couldn't be done...

Wednesday night was gymnastics for Sophia. Steve showed up early just like I asked, however, DB looked more like a dumpster diver than a gymnastics superstar. I guess I shouldn't have been too taken aback since she comes straight from 8 hours of day care fun. I've often wondered why the other mom's won't talk to me and I guess it could have something to do with the black dirt between her toes.

This turned out to be her best performance day. She ran through the forward rolls, donkey kicks, jump spins and arabesque. We moved on to the trampoline and wall climbing, when lo and behold, her diaper gives up and leaks a huge amount of pee-pee onto her pants. That was the final straw. I had to remove trash baby from the class before everyone started pointing.

Steve and I have a new game plan. We will both carry an extra outfit, diapers, comb, hair ties and wet wipes. My friend, Kim, was a little distraught by the photos and she's going to give us gymnastics outfits to wear. It was either that or Kim said she would be responsible for picking up Sophia to make her presentable. See? Even people that aren't at the class are embarassed for us.

Following the diaper incident we had to get some food. The closest restaurant was Rubio's where the appetizers consisted of Cheetos. These resulted in the singing and rolling around you see above. Note the lack of pants. Onto Thursday.

Today was a red letter day! Tasha deigned to have a lunch date with me, only because her lunch room was off limits due to interviews, but I will take what I can get. We went to La Frontera, which was my 3rd visit in 6 days. I may have a problem. My heart hurts a little. We had some good laughs and parted ways.

Super Happy Fun Time!

My Labor Day weekend was just packed with fun. First off it was pay day and then my glorious coworkers and I celebrated with lunch at La Frontera. We were all feeling fat and sassy after completing our meals of melted cheese and giant pork cubes.

Next up was Costco. My dear child fell asleep on the way and there is nothing better than a sleeping child at Costco. We were able to go up each and every aisle to peruse the goods and services available to us as members. There was no shrieking, no running and no demand for "mo" churro. The storm started to hit when we left so we drove out to G-ma's for the evening. Babies are always better when there's a G-ma involved.

Finally, as the weekend came to a close, I decided to do something motherly. I made home made oreo cookies. My sister promptly told me that hers were better, but I've never had any of these supposed cookies that she makes. These cookies turned out to be the best ever for the "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" marathon going on in my living room. Sophia will only allow this show to play and screams "babies!" until we start it up. So I plopped a giant cookie in her hand and left her to own devices while I cleaned. I am such a domestic goddess.