AtomicMrX

My friend Jim is 59 today and he doesn’t look a day over 40! Everyone join me in wishing him a day filled with friendship, food, and fun!

For the 4th I went over to Jim’s house and he prepared some very delicious chicken, BBQ Beans and Potato Salad. It was a nice time. I unfortunately spent a great deal of the visit on Andy’s new laptop hooking him up with fonts, software, and basic updates. You could call it a working dinner. I still had fun but in a geek-e-er way.

I still have to do one software install for him. For some reason it didn’t work right at all. It could be how I duped the files. I’ll retry from the original.

When I got home from Jim’s; Shannon and I went to the River Front Park and watched the fireworks. It was crazy packed with people. They gave shuttle busses of people rides from the River Market to the River Front Park. There were probably about 12 or so very long school busses making the circuit.

I didn’t like being around that many people in one little area. It was weird. Kind of felt like a sci-fi movie and we were all fleeing the city with the only transportation left. As we sat in the school bus going over the bridges; people were walking along side the bus in hordes. It was very surreal.

Jaki handled the fireworks very well this year. I don’t think there was as much illegal stuff shooting off this year as in the past.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun filled fourth!

I was feeling like the colors of the blog template just weren’t what I wanted. I didn’t mind the chalky blue and orange… they just weren’t my favorite colors. I’m not saying the colors I’ve changed it to now are my favorite but it at least has a little darker tone to it and I like that better. I will probably tweak it a little more later.

I ate dinner with Jim at Mi Cocina on the Plaza and then later had a coffee at Latte Land. That was very nice. I had a great time talking with Jim.

On the way back I had an overwhelming feeling of a need of change. I guess that’s why the blog has it’s color make over. I’m at point were I’m ready to start making changes in my diet and exercise. I am ready to go back to Weight Watchers. I am fatter now than I was when I first went. I’ll have to work harder to stay on it during the “maintenance” period which was where I fell apart ever so slowly over a period of three or so years. I’m going to go to the meetings which really helped me the first time I lost all my weight. I tried a couple years back to do it alone without the meetings and just doing the online stuff and it didn’t work for me. I have to have the accountability that comes with the weigh in at the meetings each week.

This isn’t a New Years resolution, just something I need to do. Period. I’m going to post results on the blog as I go.

I got some scratcher cards from Karen along with some Zim’s Crack Creme (the best in the world!) since I lost mine or it got stolen at work - don’t know which.

Shannon is short on money so my birthday gift from him will be a week late. I also know what it is because I told him I wanted it (Wii Zapper). But he is out of money until the 9th so the gift will be a little late and that’s okay - I can wait!

Shannon and I went to Sweet Tomatoes to eat dinner and use up another Birthday coupon. I really like their food! It is so fresh! Shannon always takes too much food to possibly eat it all and ends up hiding the leftovers under another plate or napkins.

After Dinner Shannon had to go check on his employees to make sure they closed up shop correctly and I check my email. Then we sat and watched some television for the rest of the evening.

In all it was a good birthday - very calm and relaxing.

Friday night Shannon and I went to Houlihan’s in Lee’s Summit and had a great dinner. I joined their Birthday club so we got to use a buy one entree and get a second free coupon. We started with Calamari. Shannon had a French Dip and I had a Jumbo Fried Shrimp dinner. They have $1.99 deserts that are suppose to be a few bites. So I got the Pecan Pie thingy and it was larger than two pieces of pie. I was already a little full so I was hopping for a few bites size not few slices size. Shannon helped with one bite. It was good.

Then on Saturday night I went out with Jim, Karen and Jan to Sakura. I just love their sushi! This was Jan’s first time eating sushi and she was very uncomfortable with the “raw” idea. We told Jan there are plenty of cooked versions of sushi she could enjoy. It didn’t help Jan had a migraine but I think she enjoyed the sushi. Karen tried several kinds and really enjoyed it. Jim and I were going to have our traditional Spider Roll but they were out of Soft Shell Crab so they couldn’t make it. On the other hand they had plenty of my favorite - Unagi!

Afterwards, Jim and I went for coffee at Broadway Cafe. Jim had a Latte and I had a Chai Tea. We sat and talked for a good while.

Sunday morning I was delighted to eat one of the Dutch pastries my Mom & Dad sent me from Pella, Iowa for my Birthday. They come from a Dutch bakery called Jaarsma. My folks have been getting Dutch Letters from them for years. They have a flaky exterior and an almond paste filling that is just fantastic.

Well, Monday January 7th is my actual Birthday and I will be turning 45. I think I’ve had a lot of special birthday events already so far. I was born on my Dad’s birthday and he will be turning 88. Happy Birthday Dad!