In Search Of.....

Our family has started a new tradition recently, that of going out for breakfast on Saturday mornings. As David says, "Eating breakfast at home means that everyone else gets to eat, and the pancake maker ends up picking at the leftovers, alone."

So, I'm on a search for the Best Breakfast place that is reasonable to get to, i.e. I don't have to get on a plane or drive 100 miles to get there :) By the way, when I say breakfast place, I don't mean coffee & a pastry. This is sitting at a table and having a plate of food brought to you.

In no particular order are some of those we've already tried, and would consider them in the running: Reedville Cafe, Hales Restaurant in Hillsboro and Tom's Pancake House in Beaverton.

This morning, although not Saturday, we were heathens and skipped church!!--don't judge me, we're getting ready to go on vacation and we didn't want to put Kyra in the germ factory.

Anyway, we decided to try the Black Bear Diner in Beaverton.
We'd been to the one in Madras, and the food was pretty decent, so we thought we'd give the local one a go.

When we pulled into the parking lot, there were people standing outside, which wasn't a good sign. We walked in, and asked how long the wait was, and even with all the people waiting, they said, "About 15 minutes."

After waiting about 20 minutes, they took us to a nice table, and even went so far as to put a large piece of butcher paper under Kyra's highchair, so as to minimize the baby debris--what a great idea! I don't why more restaurants don't do this. Our server came over not too long afterwards, said she'd be right with us, and asked if she could get us anything to drink. We both ordered coffee, and got milk for Kyra. The coffee was hot, but the cups were a little questionable. Both had huge cracks in them, that had been repaired, and didn't leak, but still....I wondered if maybe we should have asked for new ones?

Anyway, we ordered from their extensive menu, and it wasn't long before the food came. However, we weren't able to dig right in, because we were missing a very important part of eating--forks! We waved down our server, who said, "Sorry about that. We seem to be having some problems with our bus people including the forks today."

I ordered the Bear's choice, which came with your choice of pancakes or french toast, bacon, ham or sausage, and 2 eggs any way, all for $8.00. David got the Prime Scramble, which was a huge portion of potatoes and sausage and peppers and cheese! Yummy! Kyra had a piece of french toast, a slice of bacon (which we ate), and a scrambled egg, for $2.99.

All in all, we had a very nice breakfast, although a little spendy ($30 with tip). We will definitely go there again, after we have concluded our search :)

We're also open for suggestions of places you'd recommend.....
Blessings, K~

All things Costco

Costco, the Mecca for those who have a million different things they want to pick up, and don't want to make a million stops.

I mean, where else can you buy tires, a swimsuit and a rotisserie chicken, all at one stop??

Anyway, I was curious about your Costco experiences, so I put together a little Costco survey. Here it is:

1. How many times do you visit Costco in one week?
   
2. What is the most you've spent during one visit to Costco?
3. What is the least you've spent during one visit to Costco?
4. Are you allowed to go to Costco by yourself, or do you need a Chaperone?
5. What is your most embarrassing or humiliating Costco moment?
6. What do you have right now in your pantry or closet that you thought you needed, and now have most of it remaining?
7. What is the most interesting impulse-buy item you bought at Costco?
8. Do you consider Costco your primary grocery store, or do you use it to supplement your regular grocery purchases?
9. Have you ever eaten at the Costco "restaurant"--I'm talking about the part that has the tables, not just the walk of samples :)
10. What is your favorite thing to buy at Costco?

I promise to post my answers in the Comments section for your amusement....So, what do you have to say?

Blessings & Happy Friday!
K~

A whole bunch of Whys...

Today I feel like listing some of the things that are bouncing around in my brain, so here we go:

1. Why, when you're running late, does every traffic light turn red the moment you drive up to it, and traffic is hideous?
2. Why, when you have plenty of time, and are even early, all traffic lights are green, and there's no traffic?
3. Why do they always seem to cancel the decent TV shows that we like, while trashy shows seem to have an incredible life span?
4. Why are people who abuse their children allowed to be parents in the first place?
5. Why is spandex made in large sizes?
6. Why do people think that it's ok to pass on the right, all those who merged early, when a lane is closed up ahead?
7. Why do people drive 10 or 15 miles below the speed limit until a passing lane, and then speed up to 90?
8. Why do people merge onto the freeway, which is flying by at 65+, at school-zone speed, and then get mad at you, when you come up quickly on them?
9. Why is it guaranteed to rain the one day you've left your umbrella in the car, or at home?
10. Why does your child, who has not slept all day, fall asleep in the car, 5 minutes from home?
11. Why do drive-thrus have people with heavy accents, taking the orders?
12. Why is there Braille on the drive-through ATMs?
13. Why are video games so addicting?
14. Why do people drink Coca-Cola, when police use it to clean up blood at crime scenes?
15. Why does 65 degrees outside, feel warmer than 65 degrees inside?

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy, and try to stay dry!

Blessings, K~

Sun or Snow?

I've decided there are 2 kinds of people in the world:

Those who prefer to vacation where it's warm,

and those who prefer to vacation where it's cold.

Take for instance my sister and I. Her idea of a perfect vacation is anywhere warm and tropical. Although I'm certainly not opposed to warm, sunny beaches and water the color of sapphires, warm places also come with all sorts of creepy-crawlies, many who have no problem sharing your room, and getting to know you really well.

This actually happened to me on my George Fox Juniors Abroad trip to Australia. In order to keep the costs down, we stayed in some pretty primitive places, one of which was so bad, that all the girls decided to sleep on the bus instead of in the rooms, due to all the huge roaches on the floor--but that's another story.

Anyway, one of the nights we stayed at a fairly decent hotel, and we had just climbed into our bunks to go to sleep. My luck, I got a top bunk, and all of a sudden, I felt something wet hit my face. I looked up, and right above me was a lizard, that I swear was the size of New York.


And said lizard had chosen just that moment to either throw up, or relieve itself, right on my forehead. YUCK!!! Needless to say, after cleaning myself off, I spent the rest of the night Underneath my covers!

So, even though sun and surf are great, (we are leaving for Hawaii in 3 weeks), I think I prefer a lizard-free place with crisp, snowy air, a roaring fire in the fireplace, a good book and some hot cocoa.

What about you? Are you a sun or snow person?

Blessings, K~

Class Acts

Super Bowl 2007 has come and gone, and I have to say, aside from the turnovers and absolute downpour, it was not a very exciting game. Even the ads were somewhat disappointing, and a couple of them down-right offensive!

It didn't help that our Mortal Enemies, the Chicago Bears, were playing. See, the mantra in our Green Bay Packers household is this:

The Bears are Evil. End of story.

So the bottom line was, Chicago had to lose, which they did, to the joy and delight of Packer fans everywhere, and the Colts became the Super Bowl Champions.

However, the most memorable part for me was in the final moments of the broadcast. During the presentation of the Vince Lombardi trophy (hmmmm, the Packers again!!), the announcer handed it to the Colts' coach, Tony Dungy. Visibly emotional, he said, "The Lord has brought us as a team through many trials.....I'm very proud to represent the African-American coaches, and to be the first African-American to win this."~~this had been a big thing in the media in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, plus February is also Black History month.

What he said next, though, was priceless:

"Lovie Smith and I are not only the first two African Americans, but Christian coaches, showing you that you can win doing it the Lord's way and we're more proud of that."

Needless to say, I lost it. I could hardly see the screen for the tears rolling down my face. I mean, this probably won't become a quotable quote like, "Famous Person, you just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do now?' 'I'm going to Disneyland!'" But it lifted my spirits, and for that, Tony Dungy, I say "Thank you, and Congratulations!"

Blessings, K~

News of the Really Weird

Every once in a while, the local evening news actually runs a story that does not involve murder, robbery, high-speed chases or MethWatch 2007.

Just such a story showed up last night on Fox's 10 o'clock news. Unfortunately, I was half-asleep, as I've been fighting a nasty cold, so I didn't catch all of it. But I did hear enough to get the following Google-able phrase: "93 pound tumor removed from woman".

With my curiosity peaked, this is what I found~~Warning, this video is not for the faint of heart!

If I was this poor woman, I would definitely have something to say to all my past doctors!!!

Yes, people who are overweight often have a myriad of health problems that can make it difficult to pinpoint a single diagnosis. However, you'd think with the growing (no pun intended) awareness of the link between Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Obesity, some doctor somewhere might have put two & two together, and suggested a simple abdominal ultrasound before now!

The good news is, now with the tumor removed, the doctors believe she may not need any more medical intervention. I wish her all the best!

Blessings, K~