I had to actually work last night, hence my slightly tardy update this week.  Oh, the indignity.  As a matter of fact, I had to work for my paycheck several times this weekend, greatly affecting my general quality of life.  It happens.  Oncall is definitely a young man’s game, but I still have to take my turn I guess.

Friday night was something of a non-event once again.  We dropped by the Brooksider for a brief bit of socialization, but after several pages from work it was clear I might as well just head home.  For our evening entertainment, we watched “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.”  For once Donette and I agreed on a movie;  We both thought it SUCKED.  We sat through to the bitter end though, mostly because the dogs were resting comfortably by our feet and we didn’t want to stir them up.  I kept hoping the guy from last week’s movie,  “Hatchet,” would come out in the next scene and slaughter Chuck and Larry, but it never happened.

Saturday started off rough with a few hours of work, then we drove south to visit Mom.  I wanted to pet my motorcycle for a bit, and tell it how much I missed it.  I bought a new seat a while back and put that on too.  Didn’t start it up though;  If the battery was dead that would have ruined my already tenuous mood, so I’ll just leave that to my next visit.  And, of course, we went to lunch at “The Best Burrito.”  I went with the chile relleno this time, and wasn’t disappointed.  On our way home, Donette suggested we “drop by the Honda dealer and see what they have.”  Hey, sure, what the heck, it’s a nice day out, let’s look at some rides.  I knew things were looking bleak when “John” the sales dude came running over.  “Ahhhh, Mrs. Kenagy, good to see you again!  Brought the husband this time huh, great!”  What the heck just happened here.  The short of it is, 3 hours later I was driving home alone in my new ’98 Honda Accord, and Donette was following me in her new minivan.  (Pay no attention to those prices, that link is for vehicle informational purposes only.  Rest assured, being the shrewd negotiators that we are, those numbers are totally invalid.)  Geez, we might as well just sell the house and move out to Johnson County, maybe coach a futsal team or something.  I think it technically falls under the “SUV” category, but it’s a fine line in my book.  What can ya’ do.  I will admit I was hooked when I saw the built-in XM receiver.  That’s what put the sale over the edge for me.  I am very fond of my satellite radio, but the receiver I use in the car broke several months ago.  So this way, we have a car with XM again, and I don’t have to go out and drop $40 on a new receiver, install it in the car, call them up and switch the codes, etc. etc.  How’s that for a rationalization.

Sunday we were a bit slow getting around.  We finally got up the energy to go have lunch at Jalapenos, and then went and kicked around Costco for a while, which is always good for some afternoon entertainment.  We dropped by the Brooksider on the way home and showed off the new minivan (which technically we don’t actually own yet, but I have a feeling the cards are stacked in John’s favor at this point) and hung out a bit.  That kinda wrapped up Sunday, and the weekend for that matter.

I’ve got the day off, SWEET.  An entire day to rest up from an exhausting weekend of… Nothing.  Friday I was too spent to do anything.  I sat on the couch and watched a few movies, including the internationally acclaimed thriller “Hatchet.”  Ninety minutes of senseless gore;  Nice.

Saturday, once it warmed up just enough to step out the door without losing fingers to frostbite, we headed down to the swanky Power & Light district.  We met up with the Munkirs at McFadden’s for a little lunch, and loitered there for a few hours.  After lunch we scurried back to Midtown for another low-key evening.  Donette took the car to the shop for some “emergency maintenance.”  The mysterious “check engine” light had been on for a few days, and we thought we’d better get it looked at.  What a drag, I hate spending money on cars.  I try to rationalize that a trip to the mechanic once or twice a year to fix our ten year old car is a lot cheaper than a car payment, but I never really convince myself.  I have all kinds of cool toys lined up that I want, and instead I get the seventh fetzer valve replaced in my car.  Bummer.  But it’s one less thing to worry about I suppose.  Meanwhile, I stood in front of a hot stove and practiced my gumbo technique.  I’ve been commissioned to whip up a pot of gumbo for Float Trip, and the pressure is building already.  It came out pretty well, aside from the third-degree burns on my hand.  Man, you do not want to be too aggressive stirring that hot roux.  Stuff is like napalm.

Sunday we had our sights on another day on the couch, but we rallied briefly to go visit everybody down at the Brooksider.  In something of a dramatic shift in scenery, we sat on the south side the whole time we were there!  Sometimes we just get crazy like that.  We thought maybe the air quality would be a little better.  Naturally this theory didn’t pan out, and the smoke drove us back home pretty quickly.  That pretty much wrapped up Sunday.  We sat on the couch and watched the football games and tried to entertain the dogs, who are darn near stir-crazy from being cooped up.  (But they won’t go out in the cold.)  Schmitty came over for a bit and picked up some scrap PC parts, but didn’t stay too long.  Maybe he wasn’t comfortable sitting around with us in our jammies at 7 o’clock in the evening.  We were plenty comfortable though.

For the holiday today, I have my sights set on roasting a big ol’ 5 lb. piece of beef.  I will be using a recipe from Saveur, substituting a rump roast for the rib roast.  Oh, the excitement is thick in the air at the Kenagy house.  My plan is to roast it and shave it up for sandwiches.  Daunting task, but I’m feeling kind of edgy today so I figured “what the heck.”  That’s how I roll.

Wow I’m really going to be struggling for material this week.  Too cold to go outside, I don’t feel very well, and we’re flat broke.  Those pretty much add up to a very uneventful weekend.

Friday Donette had to go out of town, leaving me home alone to watch the pups.  After she left, it occurred to me that I really felt quite poorly;  Feverish, achy, the whole bit.  So, I threw down some NyQuil, put on a blanket, and thus ended Friday.

Saturday brought moderately more entertainment.  I met up with a bunch of guys down at the Brooksider to A) attend their post-Fantasy-Football-season party and B) watch the MU game.  It’s possible that sitting in a smoky building all afternoon wasn’t the ideal environment for somebody feeling half-sick, but it was fun anyway.

Sunday the “highlight” of our day was a trip to the dreaded Nebraska Furniture Mart.  That place really wears me out for some reason.  But, I agreed to go, because they had a pair of headphones that I wanted to pick up.  After enduring roughly six hours of looking at furniture, I rushed down to the electronics department to get my headphones.  Wouldn’t you know, they were out of them.  Boy we got some super-duper furniture though.  Tedious shopping experience aside, the trip was made somewhat more interesting by our new GPS.  Those things are pretty fun toys.  I’m not convinced it was the most practical purchase for a person that rarely goes over 5 miles from home, but it’s still fun.  Heck I turned it on this morning to see how to get to the office that I’ve been driving to for 15 years.  Can’t be too careful you know.

That’s it, that’s all I got.  Let the work week begin.  I will add that, after the enthusiastic response to last week’s “helmet” poll, I have become convinced that I need an entire suit of armor.  I could wear it for added protection when riding the scooter, or I may decide to go to the Renaissance Festival some year;  The possibilities are endless.  And, while searching the ‘Net for armor for myself, I even came across a guy that makes armor for dogs.  Man, would I be cool walking the dogs in armor or what???  Come on now, who looks cooler:  These dogs or this dog?  These dogs or this dog?  No contest!!!

Not a terribly exciting weekend.  On the entertainment scale, I’d put it somewhere between cleaning out the garage and picking up dog crap in the yard.  Kind of sets the tone for my 2008 I guess.  Speaking of the New Year, we had a good, albeit low key, holiday celebration.  The Martin’s came over and we threw some cards all evening.  We celebrated the New Year on east coast time, just in case we didn’t see midnight CST, but we ended up making it.

Saturday, Donette’s parents came over for some routine laptop maintenance.  (Hey, what happened to Friday??  I don’t know, I’m asking myself the same question.)  We went out to lunch at good ol’ Jalapenos, always a solid bet.  And, speaking of Jalapenos, we found out they have “customer appreciation” cards!!  Geez, I’d have appreciated them telling me that about 50 meals ago.  It’s only the 7th day of the year and they already owe us one free meal, and I need one more stamp on mine for another free-bee.  For dinner, I had a rather unusual urge to stir fry something.  So, I broke out the trusty wok and one of my treasured Jeff Smith cookbooks and got to cipherin’.  You can’t beat a Frugal Gourmet cookbook in some instances, particularly for a cheap, easy stir fry.  Heck, he was one of my favorite TV cooks until that unfortunate, alleged incident with…  Oh never mind.  Still good books.  Anyway, I decided on chicken with leeks in black bean sauce.  Solid.  For evening entertainment, I played “Call of Duty” (the first edition) all night, which my friend John loaned me.  I’ve been looking for some alternate means of entertainment, as my usual routine of clicking endlessly through 100 some-odd TV channels is getting rather tedious, and I’ve tentatively decided on PC games as that new hobby.  I’m not sure it’s going to work out, but we’ll see.  I’m not very good at them, generally ending up totally lost and having no idea what to do next.  Maybe you have to play them more than once or twice to figure things out, who knows.  Not being blessed with any sort of attention span, it might be a short-lived hobby.

Sunday I got up and fixed a fine frittata,  our recent weekend breakfast of choice.  Donette labeled it her favorite so far, so I guess I’ll keep that recipe on file for future reference.  (I didn’t like it as much as she did…  Needed some meat in it.)  After that we went on a short burst of “home maintenance” projects.  I have been meaning to work on our generator, which has been sitting idle in the garage since the ice storm in 2002.  I’d blocked out the entire afternoon for this project, convinced it would take hours of Internet research and several trips to the hardware store.  But, what do you know, I poured some gas in it and it fired up on the fourth or fifth pull.  Good ol’ Briggs & Stratton, can’t beat ’em.  Guess it’s good for another six years now.  Meanwhile, Donette was inside trying her luck at carpet patching.  We had a rather disappointing situation arise over Christmas involving Belle, a few pounds of butter she stole off the counter, and…  well, never mind the gory details, suffice to say the carpet needed patched.  The fit came out good, although the color is no where near a match.  It looks better than the previous color though, if you get my drift.  Emboldened by my success with the generator, I then undertook a little plumbing project.  We’ve had a slow drain in the shower for several months, and before dropping the standard $200 fee for the plumber visit I figured I’d at least take things apart and see if there was anything obvious.  I can’t really decide what was grosser, Belle’s mess on the carpet or what came out of the shower drain.  All I’m gonna say is that after that project I spent the rest of the day down at the Brooksider watching TV, trying to erase those horrible visions from my memory.  The shower drains now though…  VICTORY!!

We are still closed for the holidays.  One more day to go and I will be able to say that I’ve successfully weathered another season.  It was a long weekend for me, but a mostly boring one.  Boring is safe though.  We ate out a lot though, and even tried a few new places.  Thursday night we met up with the Martins at The Sky’s down at Crown Center.  It was a solid dinner, but I don’t imagine we’ll make it a weekly dining spot, based on price alone if nothing else.  I had the ribeye steak, which was “OK” but for the money I’ll take Mortons or Capitol Grille.  Martin The Slayer had been out bird hunting all day, and after dinner he gave me a half-dozen quail he’d brutally massacred.  I could have made use of several more, but beggars can’t be choosers.  He said he gave all the rest of his to Schmidt and Scotten so they wouldn’t have to go home empty handed, which I thought noble of him.

Friday brought more dining opportunities.  For lunch I met up with several elderly gentlemen down at George Brett’s on the Plaza.  This is Munkir’s annual effort at socializing, and not to be missed.  We hung out there for several hours, and then a few of us decided to while away the rest of the afternoon at the Brooksider.  Alas, when I stopped by the house to replenish my wallet, I was informed that I would be doing no such thing, as I had unscheduled dinner plans.  Our friends John & Susan took us out to the Blue Koi to celebrate Donette’s birthday.  Yes, her birthday was three weeks ago, and yes she is still milking it.  Dinner was quite good;  I had the duck and noodle soup in case you’re wondering.  While slightly outside our geographically limited entertainment area, I’d say this place will be on our “repeat visit” list.

Saturday brought an almost intolerable day of complete boredom.  My exposure to the outside world was limited to retrieving the morning paper;  After that I was relegated to the couch.  I probably have never been so excited about a football game as I was for the New England game.  Not so much about the game itself, just to have something to watch other than the same reruns I’d been staring at for the last 12 hours.  Hey, I like “The Dog Whisperer” and “American Chopper” as much as anybody, but when they cycle around to the same episode you saw that morning it’s time to watch something else.

Sunday started off looking like a repeat of Saturday.  I finally rallied off the couch around noon though, and decided to make a pot of gumbo.  I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with the quail that Martin had given me, and I figured gumbo was safe.  I threw in a few pheasant that a buddy at work had given me too, and it made for pretty good eating.  You put enough cayenne pepper in something, it really doesn’t matter what else is in it.  Reasonable theory, huh.  Enlivened by that culinary experimentation, I then went down to the Brooksider to watch the Chiefs game.  Alas, the game knocked me right back into my state of perpetual boredom, so I went back home and spent the rest of the day on the couch.