Just a quick post of Katelyn laughing......

We finally bit the bullet and took Shawn to the Allergist yesterday. His eyes have been extremely red at times over the summer to the point of not knowing if he had pink eye or if it was just his allergies. We also wanted to find out if it was just peanuts that he's allergic to or tree nuts as well. come to find out, he is still big time allergic to peanuts and only slightly allergic or sensitive to all the other nuts he was tested for (hazelnuts, cashews, almonds) and he has a major issue with Ragweed. Prescription: stay away from all nuts and Claritin (adult dosage) from August first till the first snow. He was also tested for dust mites, mold, cottonwood trees, grass, dogs and a bunch of nuts. The doctor also turned us on to a sunflower seed butter called Sunbutter. Sunbutter is actually not half bad! Here are some rather painful shots of the scratch test Shawn had yesterday:

(w) is ragweed and (4) is peanut

Just thought I would post a few pictures that I took of the Sunset shot from our patio last night. The pictures don't really compare to what it really looked like:

When Lisa's grandfather passed away a few years ago, I discovered in his basement a bottle of wine with the year 1983 on the label and what looked to be French writing. I took the bottle home and it has made the move to Grand Rapids and then back to Toledo. Of course I thought that maybe I had found some very rare and tasty vintage. Low and behold, my lazy ass decided to do a little research last night and the vintage 1983 Beaujolais Nouveau is indeed nothing more than French Mad Dog 20/20. Wikopedia says:

"Many wine critics criticize the "simple" or "immature" wines marketed as Beaujolais Nouveau, for instance Karen MacNeil has compared drinking Beaujolais Nouveau to eating cookie dough.^[1] Beaujolais Nouveau is intended for immediate drinking, and in general should not be kept for more than a year."

After closer observation of the "fine wine", I noticed that there's about an inch of sediment on the bottom of the bottle. I'm not really a wine expert but I don't think that solids are a good thing in any wine including Thunderbird or Boone's Farm!

Anyone care to join me for a glass of fine French Wine?

This weekend was pretty productive. Saturday, I finally spent a little time in the yard starting to cut down the dead plants, cutting the grass and pulling weeds. I also purchased a few auxiliary wardrobe closets for the basement in an effort to organize our closet and to clean up the basement a bit more before I attempt finishing the basement this winter. All in all, not a very exciting Saturday but I got a lot done that I've been putting off.

Sunday, we went to The Grand Rapids Apple Butter Festival. The last time I went to the festival, I swore I would never go again and know I remember why. First they charge you $7 for parking which is about a mile away from where everything is happening and then it's wall to wall people. So many people packed into the downtown area it's impossible to walk at any reasonable pace. We did end up with one purchase (see picture) and I was still able to catch the second half of the Brown's game at B-Dubs.

This week will be spent watching the Tribe kick some Bosox butt! No more repeats of Friday's game I hope!

Craft Purchase (Stocking Holder)

Love!

Go Brownies!

Wow! Finally the only people that I know that don't have cable television finally broke down and made the giant leap to the early 80's. Bev and Ted have not only taken the leap but they now have 130 channels to choose from including Ted's favorites (the speed channel and the History channel). Now we start working on that 70's paneling in the family room or maybe we'll get them an Atari 2600 for Christmas!

This weekend was busy as usual. On Friday, Lisa's family came over for a cook out and we watch the Indian's kick some Yankee rear-end which is always a fun time. Saturday, I cut the grass and did some weeding during the day and then we went out for Jill's birthday. We ended up having dinner at a new Japanese steakhouse called Sakura. Sakura is one of those hibachi style Japanese restaurants and it's food was not only very good but the presentation was entertaining. The place was pretty packed which surprised me because it was also a bit on the pricey side. Toledo doesn't seem to support restaurants that are above average on the price scale very well. I ended up with a Sushi sampler which was 6 or 7 pieces which was very good. I would like to go there next time and sit at the sushi bar and feast; if I could only find someone in my household that would sit there with me! For dinner, I had the Tuna and Lisa had the Hibachi Chicken. The meal comes with Miso, salad with a pretty good ginger dressing, a shrimp appetizer, the meat, rice or noodles and vegetables. Over all, I would say the meal was very good and we will more than likely return.

After our Sakura experience, we stopped by a local watering hole to watch some of the OSU game and then headed out to the bowling alley to go glow bowling. Glow bowling consisted of a bunch of 15-17 year old kids bowling in the semi-dark with music videos and music blaring. It was an experience to be had once but I'm not too sure I would do it again. Thankfully bowling alleys have bars with reasonably priced beer! I bowled pretty well though for not bowling for probably 7 years or so. I had a 237,203 and then the beer got to me and I had 143. Not too bad for bowling with an alley ball.

Sunday, we ended up heading to a local greasy spoon for breakfast and then out to the new mall (The Shops at Fallen Timbers). The new mall is one of the new outdoor style malls and I was pretty impressed. I think once the other half of the stores that are still under construction open as well as a few more restaurants, the place will be happening.

I ended Sunday watching the Indians lose to the Yankees but tonight is another game! I hope the Indians can finish them off tonight.

Here are some Sakura pictures from Saturday night:

"Volcano Onion"

Jill trying to catch a Vegetable from the Hibachi chef

Trying to catch up on my updates hasn't been easy lately. It seems that work is getting busy earlier than usual in anticipation for the holiday season and the weekends are always so jammed with activities. Last week I was at the annual trade show that I exhibit at which was a bust. It seems less and less people attend the show and we end up spending more money to exhibit. The only real perk about going to the show is that we are entertained on the company's dime. Our group ate at Devon's Seafood Grill which was very good. I had the Tuna Tar tare to start and ended up having the San Francisco Cioppino for dinner; both were very good. On Saturday we ate at Scoozi! and had the Salmon Grigia which was also good and ended up ordering some nasty Italian liquor called Grappa which was terrible. Grappa was on the dessert menu so I though it would be a smooth alcohol or a port-like wine but when I asked about it, the waiter explained it was made with the skin of grapes so I gave it a try. When the drink arrived, the waiter told me that the bartender explained it as "Italian Tequila"; the stuff was the absolutely most disgusting alcohol that I have ever tasted. I could only tell the waiter when he asked how I liked it was to tell the bartender that it didn't come close to tasting like tequila...it tasted more like butt! We ended that evening at Howl at the Moon which is always a fun time.

The last evening we went to Fogo De Chao; a Brazilian steakhouse that we went to last year as well and it is one of my favorite restaurants of all time! Other than that, Chicago was pretty much uneventful and I was very happy to come home.

Other than my Chicago trip, we have been to the pumpkin farm, a retirement party where I tended bar (may have missed my calling!), had a weekend trip to Cleveland to visit my Mom and really have just been very busy with activities.

Shawn has turned nasty and quite argumentative; not sure if it's his age or the fact that Katelyn is taking some of the attention from Mom and Dad but he is inching closer to a good ole fashion butt whoopin. Katelyn is well.......definitely a girl.

Saturday night Lisa and I have a birthday celebration for a friend of ours (Jill). I think we're going to a new Japanese steak house and then glow bowling. I can't wait to get some sushi from the steakhouse but not sure about the glow bowling. I afraid that glow bowling will be nothing more than a bunch of teenagers running around and will be a drag but we will see.

Finally here are a few pictures of the kids that have been taken over the past few weeks during various excursions:Eating after a long day at school

Katelyn taking a sink bath after gettting sick

Pumpkin Patch

Katelyn Loves the Swings

Mouth meets Foot!


Go Tribe!!!!