The end of the weekend. A nice one, as weekends go. A little more low-key than some, but nice.

Hubband went tail-gating again today. It was the last game the Lion's will play at the Silverdome. Next season they're moving to Detroit and will be playing at Ford Field, which seats about 30,000 fewer fans. This greatly decreases the odds that the game will be blacked out because they couldn't sell enough tickets. Unfortunately it also decreases the odds that we'll get to many games. Having the Silverdome down the road has been pretty handy.

Little Boy and I hung out at home most of the day. We did take Grandma to dinner at our neighborhood Chinese place. We spent most of the meal listening to our waitress lament about how young people don't appreciate what a physical job waitressing can be.

This particular restaurant is literally two blocks from our house and has been there forever. It's not a terribly nice place, but then this isn't a terribly nice neighborhood. They do, however, have good food at good prices. They also have waitresses that have worked there for years (15 years our waitress confessed) and know what they're doing.

I was all set to blow Grandma off this weekend, using the snow as an excuse, but she called us in the late morning.

Grandma really likes going out to eat on Sundays. It doesn't matter if I've shared six meals with her that week, she'll still want to go out to eat on Sunday. It doesn't matter if I've slaved over a stove cooking a 12 course meal, (yeah, like that would happen!) it still wouldn't compare to hitting a restaurant.

Nana works a second job as a library receptionist every other Sunday, so we've got this alternating schedule. We long ago discovered that there is far more stress and confusion involved in the event if we all try to go out together. (Not to mention the bill is a little more stout.) And this gives us each a weekend off now and then.

Hubband has been missing these dinners due to his "boys days out" deals. He actually enjoys going out to eat more than I do. I'm happier with a grilled cheese and my jammies and some Lifetime Television For Women. But he likes it and misses it. And I miss having him come along, because to tell the truth, dining with just my Grandma and my ADHD son is a little more than I can bear sometimes.

Thanks to our waitresses never-ending tales of woe, today wasn't so bad.

We also had to buy a new VCR, since ours went phlooey on us the other night. Hubband was astounded that I picked up a 4-head stereo VCR for $60. When we had first gotten married we had a period of time where our TV, stereo and VCR all bit the dust within the same month. At the time we spent $400 on a similar VCR, thinking that if we spent the big money it would last us a good long time. EEEENNNNGH! Wrong! It lasted just under two years. It would have cost more to repair it than replace it and at the time we had the money to do neither.

We ended up going about 6 months without a VCR at all and then my Dad and Stepmom surprised us with one at Christmas. It was some off-brand cheapie Kmart special and it was so wonderful I cried. It's lasted us about 5 years.

Oh, and I got it at Sam's Club, where I picked up a couple of my favorite movies on DVD as well.

We also stopped at JoAnn's so I could test drive the new VISA card I got in the mail yesterday. I bought some books on rubber stamping and some new stamps.

We came home and I made cookies while Little Boy watched "The Mummy". He's big into the action adventure movies now. Making the transition from "All Cartoons All The Time".

I made some changes to my layout. Sorry if it takes a little longer to load. I think I can fix that, but I'll have to take another picture to do it and the snow has melted off the tree.

Just in case you were wondering what winter looks like (and most of you aren't this year, it seems) here's a couple of shots of our neighborhood this morning.

Big Boy came by this evening. He seems to really be enjoying the PDA we gave him for Christmas. He also picked up a rather large check that is the money we put aside for him when his Grandparents died. He's 18 now and is buying his mother's car. Yes, my stepson is driving a fully loaded Dodge Durango that is far nicer than any vehicle we've ever owned.

At least he's safe.

I'm a little worried about his heart, though. He and the Girl got each other "rings" for Christmas. His is a gold band and hers is "kind of twisted with some gemstones on it". They've ordered them and they're not ready yet. That's okay by me cause I don't think the owners are ready yet either.

We ate some pizza and started watching "Lara Croft Tomb Raider". Little Boy and I seemed much more enthused about the movie than anyone else. I think Angelina did a great job with the accent and, yes, I would like to be her, thank you very much. (Not Angelina - cause then I'd have that whole creepy relationship with my brother and I'd be married to Billy Bob, who is a genius but very, very weird. No, I want to be Lara Croft! I want the cool toys.)

Are you guys still with me? This is ending up being much longer than can possibly be interesting. Guess I will jump off now. Should be hopping into bed soon anyway.

Happy Monday, everyone.