That Hobbit Lady

You know me, I love using coupons. So here’s my latest coupon triumph:

The Crimson White, the university newspaper, had a coupon for a 99-cent grilled sandwich at the Crimson Cafe, a local restaurant on “The Strip” (the college hangout area just outside the campus). So I suggested to Russ we go, thinking to save a few dollars on a quick and easy dinner.

So tonight we go. And apparently the 99-cent sandwich ALSO includes french fries AND a drink. So, with tax, that’s $1.08 for me, and $1.08 for Russ. I said to the guy behind the counter, “Wait. I wanted an iced tea with that also.” He said, “No problem. It’s still $1.08.” The usual cost would be $6.49. That’s a five and a half dollar savings on EACH of our meals.

So…

For $2.16 we each had a grilled sandwich, fries/chips (I had fries, Russ had chips) and a drink. What a bargain, right?

But wait…there’s more!

This little restaurant also had a bakery case, with some pastries and bagels, and as we are getting up to go, the guy behind the counter says, “Hey, you want some bagels and stuff? Take them, it’s free. If you don’t take them, we’re just going to throw it all away, so take as much as you want.”

Now I’ve worked at Dunkin Donuts, so I know how it goes. You can’t continue to SELL old stuff, but it’s certainly not poisonous. Maybe not quite as fresh, but still good. But as I was filling a bag with four bagels, two muffins and some kind of pastry-thingy, none of it seemed stale at all!

So let’s recap: 2 sandwiches, 2 drinks, fries, chips, 4 bagels, 2 muffins and 1 pastry thingy for a grand total of…$2.16!!!!

I’d say we done good.

I challenge anyone to beat this story. Legally.

I’ve just been reading some fanfiction (not my own!) and I ran across this sentence: “I felt a rough but gentle hand on my shoulder.” Now…am I being picky or unreasonable when I ask…What in blazes does that MEAN???? Rough…but gentle???? Am I missing something? Am I dense? Is it wrong to stop and ask “How can a hand be rough AND gentle?” Or should I say “Rough BUT gentle?”

Geez…You know, I don’t WANT to be a Grammar Nazi, but sometimes…sometimes I just have no choice.

Tonight we used our rice cooker, and as I was browsing thru the little instruction booklet, I found this highly amusing sentence under “Hints for Steaming” (as apparently you can also steam veggies along with the rice.) This is what the booklet suggests:

1. The ingredients must be of superior excellence.

I kid you not. I wrote that word for word. Superior excellence. The funny part is that the rest of the instructions sound like they were written by someone who speaks English as a first language. I guess they just really wanted to stress how important it is to use ingredients of “superior excellence.”

I would like to write more, but I’ve been very little in my computer these last few days, as I’ve been nursing a sore back. We took an overnight trip to Huntsville this past weekend, just for the fun of it, and it was fun, but sleeping in a strange bed and sitting in the car for hours on end I guess was not so good for my back, which had already been hurting a little. But I took a day off work and I’ve really been babying it with heat and pain relievers, and I’m n the mend now. But back pain can definitely slow you down.

But before I go, one image, from Huntsville. In the distance, those are mountains. Honest to goodness MOUNTAINS. And the wispy stuff in front of the mountains is mist. So this is a picture of mist on the mountains. Pretty cool, huh? I liked Hunstville. It’s laid out pretty much in a grid pattern, with very little chance of getting lost. I like places that make sense.

I spent a good portion of my lunchbreak today observing a lizard. Actually, I think he was not a lizard, but rather a chameleon, because he was able to change color to match the leaves of the tree or the brown of the bench. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a chameleon before(in real life), so mark it down as a first.

Also, since coming to Alabama, I have seen real live chipmunks. Not often, but once or twice (another first). And the other day I saw a rainbow, unbroken from one end of the sky to the other. So life is full of wonderful things to see.

In other news, I hope to be getting a promotion soon, which hopefully will mean some extra money. This past weekend I worked a sampling job (like Mary does) but it was overall not a good experience. Setting up and closing down were not bad, but everything in between was dead boring. And my feet started hurting about two hours into it. So I’m not sure if I’ll be doing this again. It’s not like I NEED the money, just that it would be nice to have some extra money. But if I get the promotion, there should also be opportunity to work overtime at time-and-a-half, and that would probably end up being a lot more profitable and less stressful than standing in a store all day trying to get people to try a product that (in this particular case, anyway) was not really good.

In more “other news,” I have become captivated by the book Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, which I just finished, and I hope to get the second book in the series later this week. I’m kind of annoyed at myself for enjoying this book, because it’s really so hokey and so predictable, and so corny and cheesy…yet, as I said, I’m captivated. Have you ever sat down in front of the TV where some really dopey sitcom was on, and you KNOW it’s a dopey sitcom, and so beneath you…and yet you can’t stop laughing? That’s kind of what this is like. Only without the laughter.

Well, anyway, this catches me up a little in this LJ, doesn’t it?

So here are some family photos, just for the heck of it. Enjoy.

First…Mary and Joey, during my recent trip to Florida.

Here’s Mom and Dad from the same trip.

The two grandmothers with little John-John and Gabriela

Later that day, they have a lot less energy…

And just in case you forgot, they used to be smaller!

Here’s Dad at home. Notice the bird, Buster, on his shoulder.

And here are the other birds in the house, Chi-Chi and Virgil.

Okay, the kids again….Now…

And then….

With Samantha: Now, outside Samantha’s Gainesville dorm room…

And here’s what they used to look like….then…

Oh, and here’s me….

And here’s my sweetie, Russ. Love that smile!

And here we are at our wedding, last September

Going back a bit further, here’s the gang from a few years ago.

Also, Dad with all us kids

The two grandsons together. Little John-John has some growing to do to catch up with Joey!

At my house in Alabama, we had some lovely roses this Spring, right outside the kitchen window.

And no posting of photos would be complete without Boogie and Squeeeeee!

Well, hope you enjoyed that! It was fun!

When I go into my local Target, this poster is hanging on the wall in the Snack Bar. It always reminds me of Joey and Sarah.

Someday, I’m going to get Joey and Sarah to pose for a picture like this with an icee.