We spent this past weekend visiting my parents. We got to mom & dad’s around 7:30, said our quick hellos and hopped in the car again to drive up the road for catfish at Crossroads. Crossroads’ catfish always makes for a treat and is comfort food for me.
After dinner we went back to the house and we gave dad his belated birthday present. After belated birthday present opening, mom, dad and Elise endulged in homemade ice cream and cobbler. Everyone eventually fizzled out and went to bed. I stayed up, went outside and looked at Mars in the eastern sky. I thought about life, Mars, life, life, where my life is going, where Elise’s and my lives are going, if I left the toilet seat up for the cats so they could get water, I checked my armor, thought about life a little more and went for bed. Before settling in I softly asked Elise if she wanted to see Mars. She said, “Josh… See Mars?… You’re obviously stoned from the peyote so you and Jimi Hendrix need to put your guitars away for the night, you need to take Jimi home so he can take his kid to T-ball practice in the morning and you should brush your teeth and get some sleep.”
She got up and I showed her the bright orange glow in the eastern sky. She said, “Wow! That’s Mars?” To which I said, “Yes!” Elise then checked her armor and went straight back to bed.
Dad woke me up on Saturday morning so we could run the coax cable from the attic, down through the wall to the TV so mom could watch one show and record another….
My parents have been really up on television technology as of late. Last year they bought a large, flat panel DLP television for the living room. They subscribed to a digital satellite TV service and last week they acquired a new DLP TV for the den. Mom has been working on setting up the TV in the living room so they could watch one show while recording another on their DVR.
Enter Josh: I was up in the attic with an electric drill, flashlight, string, coax coupling kits, pliers and yards of coax wire. An attic in Texas turns into an oven at 10 a.m. in August. With the help of everyone I eventually ran the coax from the attic and through the wall to the TV in the living room.
The remainder of Saturday was cooking. Mom and I made homemade Salsa Verde. Mom went on to make garden grown spinach with balsamic vinegar, peas and a salad with purple onions, walnuts, Mandarin oranges, goat cheese with a sweet balsamic dressing. Dad marinated and grilled 1.76″ inch (yes, I measured) ribeyes. Dinner was awesome.
On Sunday Elise and I slept in. Around 1 p.m. the girls and I drove to Katy where I picked up a new e-Machines AMD64 Windows box for the office. We then drove around Houston in search for furniture. We had lunch at Panera in Memorial City and eventually we found a great bed and dresser for our bedroom at Star Furniture. We weren’t really in the market for new furniture but by chance we found a pretty good deal, aside from the terrible sales experience we had to endure.
We didn’t get home until almost 7 p.m. and had to immediately hit the road.
Another weekend that quickly blew by!