Stooopid Facebook

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I couldn't even drag my sorry ass away from Facebook this morning to go to JoAnn's to look at fabric for my new tablecloths. Steve left at 11:00 to do some things for his mom with his daughter, so I says to myself, "Self, as soon as you finish this one thing, you leave too." I literally did a double take when I looked at the clock TWO hours later. Sheesh.

I hate Facebook and it's evil time-sucking ways. (If you want to Friend me, there's a button over in the sidebar!)

I went out to dinner last night with work friends to the very expensive Black & Blue Steak & Crab. It was sponsored by a vendor and the Director of Purchasing very kindly invited the 3 of us from Accounting to go along, even though we don't deal with the vendor directly. He's very keen on raising morale so I think this was part of his plan. There were 10 of us and the bill came to over $500. (But that includes the tip, so there's that.) Gulp. But I will say that the food was outstanding. I had a Black & Blue salad - blackened spiced tenderloin tips over baby spinach and blue cheese in a warm bacon and shallot vinaigrette, except I had them hold the blue cheese. Excellent!

I had looked over the online menu during the day and had pretty much decided I would order the Pork & Beans. I had two reasons, 1) it sounds really tasty and 2) I thought it would be fun to order $19 pork & beans at a high class restaurant. It's a grilled marinated pork chop over barbecue baked beans with apple-wood smoked bacon and garlic spinach. (Eww to the cooked spinach - would have had to sub something for that.)

But I called an audible at the last minute because one of their specials was black bean & corn enchiladas, finished with pepper jack cheese. I had them substitute fontina cheese for the pepper jack - and boy was this dish outstanding. It came with very tasty rice. I can't even tell you what else was in the enchiladas or what made it so delicious. As I said at the table, "This is so freakin' good!"

They offer a handful of desserts, every one of which sounded delicious, but I went with the chocolate crème brulee served with a fresh strawberry compote. Damn near licked the bowl.

Overall, it was a pretty fun time. But I told Steve later that I think I'm socially challenged. Even though I know these people pretty well and certainly feel comfortable with them, I just feel out of place sometimes. All in all, I'd rather be home, eating dinner with Steve, playing with our pets, stitching and watching TV.

But I'm glad I went. It's nice to do something different every once in a while. I'm not sure if I'll have another opportunity to go to this restaurant. To me the guilt of spending that much money on food, outweighs any pleasure derived from it. Let me clarify - I mean my money. I clearly had no problem spending someone else's money on food last night.

And the restaurant was packed. I'd love to know the back story of the people I saw sitting around us. Like the 2 young women who looked like they stopped there after work. Lots of couples. A table of 4 men. Lots of people doing what they can to stimulate the economy.

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Thanks for your kind notes in response to yesterday's blog about Reggi. I think I got a lot out of my system the other night because I've actually felt a lot better since then. Tuesday, we'll find out and deal with whatever it is. I do believe in the power of prayer and good positive thoughts, so I appreciate the help on that front.

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