Sheep Guarding Llama

Very excited to announce that SGL is now receiving over one million page hits a month!

I stayed in bed extra long today.  Liesl had slept with us last night which works out well as it means she does not get up early.  I think that she sleeps way better when she sleeps with us and I am pretty sure that we do because she stays asleep which helps us to stay asleep.  Luciana didn’t get up until nearly ten.  I was half awake for a while and knew that AJ had left around nine or so but did not bother to get up until later when Luciana was jumping all over us.

We stayed home pretty much all day today.  Took the day off from most everything.  Stayed in and got work done.  Very productive morning.  Knocked out a lot of tickets and got a ton of my email cleaned up too.

AJ was only at the house for a brief stint in the middle of the afternoon.  Maybe two hours at most.  We did a tiny bit of work together but not very much.  He was out most of the day so it was mostly just the family hanging out.

I slept in this morning, did not get up until nearly ten.  Did some work this morning but not too much.  Dominica wanted to take the girls to Rainforest Cafe in Grapevine again today so we tried to do that.  It was well after noon by the time that we managed to get out of the house.

We got to the mall and found that, not surprisingly, it was completely packed.  It would be a 20 minute wait to get a table.  Not too big of a deal since there is a store to hang out in and the girls like watching the animatronic alligator that hangs out at the front.  AJ had decided to come with us too.

We got seated and the girls got their Mac and Cheese that they like so much.  They both ate and wanted to walk around to look at the animals but the restaurant was so busy that we could not do that at all.  So that made them more restless and they really wanted to get moving.

Our meals ended up taking for forever.  It took about ten to fifteen minutes to manage to place our orders, we all ordered the same thing, and then thirty five minutes before the food came to our table.  When it did, it wasn’t correct.  It took several minutes to find our waitress again to have the kitchen attempt to correct it – which took another five minutes and they did incorrectly.  It was nearly an hour and the kids were bouncing off of the walls, almost literally, and we only had incorrect and now cold food to show for it.  I eventually ran up to the front since there was no one working in our area of the restaurant to help us and had a manager come back and cash us out so that we could leave.

Before leaving the mall we took the girls (and AJ) for a ride on the mall’s “train” that drives around the call.  It is pretty silly but the girls really enjoyed it.

We went to Mooyah to get veggie burgers instead which was much cheaper and much quicker.  Everyone enjoyed that and it was on the way back home so not a big deal to do at all.  By the time that we were back home it felt like we had been out all day trying to figure out how to get food.

Did a ton of work at the house this afternoon and evening.  Knocked out tickets, did posts, etc.  Very productive.

Around eleven AJ was hungry so we went to Redneck for a while.

So Dan turns fifty today, on 13 Sept 13.  Quite an unlucky day for him 🙂

Normal morning at work.  A bit busy.  Melissa texted me early so that we could coordinate sneaking her and their kids into the office to surprise Dan near the end of the day with birthday cake like she did last year.

Took forever before we were able to go get lunch.  It was one thirty by the time that we got to Redneck.  And once we got there I was stuck on a call for half an hour or more standing outside in the blazing sun so the sweat was just running off of my head.  Not fun.  But the call went really well and was well justified.

We hung out with Chelsey and Katy as long as we could – had a few beers to celebrate Dan’s birthday but between getting out of the office really late, me having that call to cover and having to get back subtly so that we could surprise Dan with the cake.  He wanted to stay longer but I had to talk him into leaving so that we could make it back in time.

Got back to the office and did a bit of deployment work tonight.  Not horrible.  Then Melissa dropped in with Dan’s cake at four thirty.  Mason snuck into his cubicle and scared him which was pretty funny.

Got out of work around six thirty.  Came home and did a little work with Dominica and AJ before ordering pizza.  Nick arrived around seven thirty and I worked with him and AJ till around ten thirty.

At eleven Dan said that he wanted me to take him back to Redneck for his birthday celebration.  He had been wanting to really go out but we were both tired so wanted something low key.  It’s Friday night and the weather is nice so the patio at Redneck is perfect – especially as Stefany was on so we could visit and Morgan was there too.  I haven’t seen Morgan at work in months.  Of course, I don’t try to see her there since I see her several times a week anyway.

We stayed at Redneck till they kicked us out at a quarter after two.  Home and straight to bed. Dominica was long asleep by the time that I got back.

Thursday.  Today is AJ’s birthday but we celebrated last night.  His parents returned to New York early this morning so this is his first day “on his own” down here in Texas.  He went into the office instead of Dominica this morning which worked out really well so Dominica managed to stay home with the girls and we did not need Morgan to come to watch them.

This evening, not too long after I got home, AJ and I went down to Addison to join Watson who always goes out there for trivia night at the Lion and Crown Pub which sits right across the street from his apartment.  Addison has some amazing “real city” living.  I’m very jealous of the housing available there.  Get that city feeling while being just as far out as we are here.  It’s just such a nice location.  I miss city life.  Carrollton is nice but so suburban.  I really dislike having to drive for everything.

We got there at seven thirty, just in time for trivia night.  The three of us had a good time losing horribly.  The food and beer at the pub were excellent.  They tried to get AJ to try some beer but he just hates beer.  He only wants toasted almond cocktails which Dominica decided he would like – and he did.  Now he has one every night.

We were not out that late.  Probably no later than eleven, if even that late.

Slept okay last night, I tried some of Dominica’s overnight cold and sinus medication and that worked, allowing me to breath with the CPAP and actually sleep.  Still have a rough cold this morning as do Dominica and Liesl.  Luciana, thus far, has escaped the infestation.

I found out last night that my local bar, Redneck Heaven, is the set for the latest MTV reality television show “Big Tips Texas“.  It’s being filmed with three waitresses that I know from the bar along with many that I don’t.  Everyone thinks that I will be in it as that is my local bar but it is being filmed at the flashy new Arlington location of the chain, not the old backwater of the original location in Lewisville.  The show is all fake, though, so it’s not really interesting in any way.

It is very weird, though, that in just one week I found out that my friend Dasha has just finished filming her first major motion picture role that is set to release next year, three girls I know from Lewisville are now on an MTV reality television show that is likely going to be huge and Dominica’s friend Amanda from college, that I also know, was just selected for the hottest new television game show and is on her way to NYC for filming!  How bizarre.  Of course, we don’t have television so will see none of it, but very strange that we know so many people suddenly heading to movies or television.  I live in the midst of famous people suddenly.

Got into the office at a good time this morning.  Got a lot of posting done too.  Extremely tired today.  Could barely sit at my desk much of the day.

Came home and Dominica and I watched a huge chunk of the seventh season of Rules of Engagement with the girls on the couch.  We are both still very much under the weather from these colds and need rest.  We basically did nothing all evening until pretty late when AJ got back to the house from church, probably around ten with Ciana having just gone to bed, when Dominica got into some hard core floor cleaning.

Liesl wanted to finish watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks tonight so we watched that starting from the big dance scene and going to the end including the famous soccer match scene that I loved so much in my childhood.  Then Liesl was off to bed.

Just after eleven I took AJ to his favourite restaurant, Applebee’s, so that he could grab a bite before the clock struck midnight and he turned twenty one and could order his first ever drink at a bar.  (Bar being a loose term as this was Applebees.)  He got a mudslide.  More of a milkshake than anything but officially, his first drink at a bar.

At twelve thirty, we went back to the house.  Have an early meeting to deal with at eight.