Eating Out

So, Adam and I went out to eat last weekend and as I stood in the entry way of the restaurant waiting to be seated, it dawned on me that not everyone in the world knows how this whole eating out thing works. Now, when I need to define the term "eating out". I am using this term to mean when you go out to eat a restaurant where the waiter comes to your table, takes your order, brings your food, you pay the check at the table (so this excludes those quick mexican restaurants) and then you leave. If you have to walk up to a counter at any time during the meal to order or refill your own drink, this is not the type of restaurant I am discussing here. So, here is some general information:

1. There are some things that you should just expect. If you show up at a restaurant at 7:00 pm on Friday night, you are going to have to wait. If you don't, you aren't lucky, you are probably going to be poisoned by the food you are about to eat and everyone else in town knows it but you. If you don't like to wait, you should probably go out to eat on Monday or Tuesday night.

2. When you pull into the parking lot and cannot find a parking space, then you have to push through 150 people just to get to the hostess stand, don't act shocked when she tells you it is going to be an hour to an hour and a half. Shockingly, all those people were here before you were and will be seated first. These restaurants operate on a "first come-first serve" basis, it is not hunger based. When the hostess tells you it will be 90 minutes, don't say to her "Oh, I'm not waiting that long!" As if she is going to come around the hostess stand, grab hold of your leg and beg you not to leave. Judging by the number of people in the waiting area, her job is not hinging on whether or not you eat there. Make her life easier...go to McDonald's.

3. The method the hostess uses to determine how long your wait will be is not a proven scientific method. She is ESTIMATING. She has no control over the table of four who ordered dessert and five cups of coffee after their meal. She is guessing. And, she is not going to walk around the restaurant trying to get people to finish faster because you keep coming up and asking her where your name is on the list. Slipping her money won't work either...this isn't a New York restaurant in a movie. You just have to wait your turn.

4. Nine times out of ten your little pager thingy is working. No amount of banging it on the seat you are sharing with five total strangers as you wait is going to make your wait shorter. It just annoys the rest of the people around you.

5. If you have a large party (like more than 6) try to call ahead and let them know you are coming. Most restaurants don't have rows of 12 top tables just waiting for a large party to fill them. The tables have to be set up and arranged and a server (or two) has to be ready. So don't act surprised when you refuse to separate your party and it takes longer for you to get seated. Be patient and enjoy visiting with each other.

6. Don't bring your toddler who absolutely has to eat at 6:30 pm or he will have a complete meltdown. We all know you're not going to be seated, much less eating, by 6:30 pm if you just showed up at 6:15 pm. Your toddler is going to have a complete fit and it really just makes everyone's experience miserable. Especially the parents...you wind up rushing through your meal and sweating before it is over. Is it worth it? Babies who are not mobile are excluded from this if they will happily sit or nap in their car seat carrier. I can remember a three year span where Adam and I only got to go to a restaurant if someone volunteered to keep the kids or our church had Parents Night Out. Yes, it's hard but the stage doesn't last forever and you will be able to go to a nice restaurant with the whole family eventually, I promise.

7. Anytime any little thing goes wrong or not just exactly like you wanted, it does not mean you automatically get a free meal. Yes, sometimes things are so wrong that they only way to fix it is to comp the meal. But, things happen. Kitchens get backed up...servers put in the wrong order or don't put the order in at all...one server takes another servers food and the food has to be remade. If your server is communicating and trying to keep you happy, don't demand the manager. If the server is any good, he/she will know when to involve the manager and you can leave pleasantly surprised instead of being the person the entire staff talks about all night. That being said, if your server is terrible and has no clue that they are terrible, be sure to tell the manager, but don't look for a reason to get a free meal.

So there it is...my restaurant lesson. Most places will let you call and put your name on their list when you are on your way, so jot down the number before you leave the house and call en route. This will expedite the process. PF CHANGS TAKE RESERVATIONS!

My Latest Cake

Okay, so I made this cake in January for a friend of mine who turned 50, but the pictures were on my Mom's camera because Adam was in Uganda during this time and he had our camera. My mom couldn't find the cord that went to her camera to plug into a USB port and, of course, all of the cords we could find were too big. But, she finally found the cord and so I can now download the pictures from my cake. It turned out cute, I thought, though not perfect. But that's okay. Here it is...the top part are blue and yellow chocolate suckers and the "50" is sugar cookie. The top layer was chocolate cake with buttercream icing and the bottom was white cake with buttercream icing. Fondant accents.

Organizing

This week has been an organizational week for me. One of the biggest adjustments to apartment living has been the lack of places to hide stuff. By this I mean we don't have extra closets to shove stuff in and never think about it again. We don't have extra places to keep out of season clothes or socks that we cannot find the mate to anymore. So, this past weekend, we cleaned out everything. I started with the girls room. This room is the biggest problem in my house right now. There are two girls who cannot share any clothes, any shoes, any socks, and very few toys. So it is all in that room. The boys room isn't as bad because, well, they're boys and share everything except shoes. Also, since their room is smaller than the girls room, we already had it pretty much organized with two toy tubs and a tub of Super Hero costumes.
Anyway, we only have room for one set of drawers in the girls room. Up till this weekend, all of their clothing were in those three drawers. As you can imagine, since they didn't all fit in there, we wound up with clothes all over the place. So, I bought three plastic tubs and labeled each of them...one for pants, one for skirts/shorts and one for shirts. I put both girls clothes in these tubs. I put them in the bottom of their closet (they have a walk-in closet in their room). Then I labeled the three drawers...one for panties and bathing suits, one for socks/tights/panty hose and one for pajamas. I cannot tell you how much this has helped. The top drawer used to have all of their socks, panties and pajamas in it. You could never find anything in it! Now I just have to remember to take the five bags of stuff to Goodwill!
The other thing that I organized this weekend was our soccer stuff. One of my pet peeves is losing things. I cannot stand not to be able to find something when I need it. So, soccer socks, shin guards, cleats, soccer balls, shorts and jerseys are all things that need to be found and usually quickly as we are headed out the door for practice or for games. This year I have three playing soccer, so this can get very tricky and very stressful. So, now in our laundry room is a soccer bin. I put everything soccer related (except the ball - we can usually find those) in that bin and put it on the shelf to keep anyone from playing with anything in there. It contains shorts, shirts, socks, jerseys, shin guards and cleats. It being in the laundry room means I can just pull the clean ones out of the dryer and toss it in the bin. It also means that when we have been playing soccer in the mud as we have this week, the cleats are on the floor in the laundry room and the mud isn't all over the house.
Next up is my room, but I'm not in a real hurry since it is not too bad. I love being organized! And, with it organized, there is no excuse for the girls not cleaning their room. It has been a much better week for us in that department.