Last night we popped into the Rajin’ Cajun Piano Bar in Alton, Illinois,  to check out one of our local places and to get a bight to eat.

The place oozes atmosphere. Awesome.

We are not fussy people.  We are happy with decent food and decent service.  It doesn’t have to be first class stuff, just pay us a little attention, give us a little respect and serve us edible food at the temperature at which it was meant to be served.

The Ragin’ Cajun failed at every one of these aspects….  oh, the food was decent, but it was COLD, and it was not meant to be cold.  Trust me.

Last night we experienced seriously bad service.  We waited 25 minutes to be asked if we wanted a drink.  An hour to have our food order taken.  Waited another hour and a half for our meal to be served and were treated with utter frustration and disdain when we had the nerve to suggest that they may want to get their act together, because the slow service had become a joke and the talk of the entire restaurant.

The kicker?  Not a single apologetic word.  From anyone.  I emailed the restaurant last night as soon as I got home and I really hope they write back because that place is awesome, except for the service, and I really want to go back.

Thank God for Charlie.  Charlie was the Pianist.  Charlie rules.  Thank you Charlie, for making our night tolerable.  You are the only reason we stayed so long.

The fabbo frustrated guy was stolen borrowed from here.

Last night Brad and I were the lucky recipients of two tickets in a luxury suite at Busch Stadium.

I’d never been to a baseball game, so this was “a great adventure” for me.

They had Hoochies with slingshots.

and Fredbird

The players: St Louis Cardinals VS New York Mets.

OH MY GOD!  GRAND SLAM!

I had the most amazing evening!  I’ve fallen in love with the game and can’t wait for the next one.

Thank you, Contegix for an amazing night.

Duncan is the newest addition to the McCrorey family.

He is an 18 month old kitty with a big fat case of the snuggles.

He was surrendered to animal welfare when his family were moving interstate to look for work and couldn’t afford to keep him.

He’s adorable and we’ve fallen in love with him already.

Prom time is approaching

and this year we have plastic ware to match!

“Each packet wrapped in a promise of God”

Seriously…. WHAT THE FUCK?  Just in time for Easter, another little piece of brain washing for the kiddies!

Only in the Mid-West, I tell ya!

2009 was my first Halloween in the USA, it also happened to coincide with my girls visiting.

Our first taste of Halloween was visiting the Pumpkin Patch to choose our pumpkins with my niece and nephew.

Next, we had a family carving night.  Kids young and old had so much fun!

The front step, now resplendent with Jack-O-Lanterns.  Emily gets the prize for most evil, Susan gets the prize for most scaredy cat-like.

Scarefest.

St Louis is well known for it’s haunted houses.  No, not REAL haunted houses, but houses dressed up by Hollywood crews and inhabited by actors dressed as monsters lurking in doorways and camouflaged into the walls.

OMG

It was the most Awesome thing I had ever done.

UNTIL

We went to Knott’s Berry Farm, which at the time was called Knott’s Scary Farm.  It had also been dressed up for Halloween and had actors dressed as monsters, and the rides had been changed for the event as well.  I’d have had a heart attack on several occasions had I not been having such an awesome time.

Halloween 2009 ROCKED!

***I stole the two photos of Scarfest from Scarefest.com***

Crispy little mouthwatering morsels of oniony goodness.  Yeah Baby!  I love me some Funyuns.  When I get off my diet, I’m going to try the Wasabi variety.  *drools*

Fried Green Tomatoes

These sound really gross, right?  Oh no…. they’re completely awesome!  I can’t describe them as it would make them sound worse, but trust me, if you get a chance, give them a try.

Ribs

They’re everywhere and they make my mouth water just thinking about them…. oh gawd, there I go again.  I’ve always been a ribs fan, but had no idea of how good they are until I got to the South.  OH.MY GOD.

BBQ Pork Sandwich (Pulled Pork)

I tried this for the first time at Marlowe’s in Memphis.  I’d never heard of it before and wasn’t all that fussed on trying it as it didn’t sound terribly appealing.  Brad, however, insisted and I’m glad he did.  It’s slow roasted pork, shredded and mixed with bbq sauce.  Really moist, tasty and nom!  It’s served on a burger bun.  SCRUMMY!

Marlowe’s was fabulous.  The food was dirt cheap and very good ($6.95 for the BBQ sandwich meal which was WAY to big for me to eat).  We walked out after spending $25.00 on drinks and food AND they pick you up and deliver you back to your hotel in their pink stretch limo.

Popeye’s Chicken – “is fuckin’ awesome”.

I’d been wanting to try Popeye’s since seeing “Little Nicky”.   He’s right, it IS fuckin’ awesome!

Dairy Queen

This and Frozen Custard are the two things I miss the most since changing my eating habits.  Dairy Queen is the best soft serve ice-cream on earth.  Seriously.

Pretzels

Oh God!  Talk about more-ish! Pretzels are big, soft, tasty and insanely addictive.  The more salt the better.

***With the exception of the Dairy Queen photo, I totally stole all the graphics from the internet.***

“The term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day. More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).”  Thanks Wikipedia!

Black Friday is the most insane of all insane sale days.

Oh, yes it is!

So, Thanksgiving morning, the newspapers and mailboxes are full of the store brochures advertising their specials.  So those who say that Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks and ALL about the turkey….. they’re lying!

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SALE PLANNING!

It takes you all day to go through the damned brochures and I finally bit the bullet and set up a spread sheet.  I know.  I KNOW!

So, the sales start at different times and are all over the freaking place, so you have to carefully plot your course, however there are some traps for young players!

Sears opens at 4am and has all the kitchen appliances a girl could ever need at never to be seen again prices. J C Penney opens at 5am, Kohls at 6am etc etc  Walmart sale starts at 5am, however Walmart are open all night and if you are keen on something at Walmart (ie: TomToms for $59 and $89), you really should stand by it all night to make sure you get one once they release the goods.

Obviously there are choices to be made and many risks to be taken!

We learned by accident that if you want one of the most popular sale items from Walmart, they sell tickets at 3am… but getting a ticket doesn’t mean you can leave, in fact if you go missing for more than 15 minutes, you lose your spot. Harsh.

One solution I learned from a serious Black Friday shopper (while standing for 3 hours in the TomTom line) is to  co-ordinate with friends and family.  She had people EVERYWHERE in that fucking store.

You also need a runner for snacks, coffee and to stand in line for you for pee breaks.

We had to do a run home after being at Walmart to empty the car for another  stab at the sales.  We’re setting up house, ok???

So, Walmart shoppers, what bargains did YOU grab on Black Friday?

***Photo courtesy of Black Friday 411***