MadamMoo

My goal to post something on Sunday or Monday has completely gone out the window the last few weeks… with most of the blame being that I completely blanked on it, and part of the blame being placed on being busy, which is why I forgot!

This last weekend was BUSY!  Friday night started the weekend with us buying a new bed!  Keep in mind, I was out with a trailer in a mist that was right on the edge of freezing (not my idea of a good time)… but we got a pretty snazzy new bed!  I had always been convinced I needed a firm bed (and the firm bed we hadn’t wasn’t very old at all), but I woke up each morning absolutely miserable.  We spend a lot of time in hotels, and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the beds (very cushy plush top) that Marriott and Hilton has… so we went on the hunt for one.  We ended up with one from Denver Mattress Company… not quite as cushy as the ones at the hotels, but still very soft.  Although the mattress itself is 18″ thick… so I need a ladder to get into bed, and we quickly discovered that the sheets we HAD been using came no where close to fitting the new bed.  SO… new sheets and oversize blankets had to be ordered.

Once we got home with the new mattress, we called upon our neighbor Darren to come and help unload it.  If anyone had been here watching, I’m sure they would have gotten a chuckle… as it probably resembled a 3-ring circus. 

This last weekend we finished up the celebrating of my 40th birthday… we started it off with a trip, with friends (there were 10 of us- Me, Russ, Aimee, Gary, Jennifer, Gage, John, Amanda, Jesse and little Miss Abigail) to ReRico Brazilian Grill in Springfield.  We have been long-time fans of ReRico, eating there numerous times a year.  If you’ve not been there, I’d suggest you check it out… it’s all you can eat, but we’re not talking Golden Corral type food here.  The meal starts with soup (either a beef-vegetable stew or corn chowder), fried dinner rolls (about the size of golf balls), spinach-cheese dip/chips and sushi (California rolls)… not a choice of what you want, you get it ALL.  Then you wander up to the cold bar… which has a little bit of everything.  Lots of picnic/pasta type salads… some with smoked sausage, some with calamari, some with chicken… some without meat.  There are also things like crawfish, mussels, marinated mushrooms, cubes of cheese, slices of deli meat (salami, turkey, pepperoni, summer sausage), tossed salad, beets, vidalia onions, asparagus… you name it, it’s probably there.  Once you finish that up, they start bringing out the meat… garlic-crusted ribeye, anyone?  They have various cuts of meat (filet-mignon, KC strip, ribeye, roast, lamb, fish, shrimp, chicken) and it either comes out plain or crusted with cheese, garlic or horseradish.  There is also Chilean Sea Bass, Brazilian Meatloaf, Sausage links, pineapple, fried bananas, teriyaki chicken, shrimp, lamb… it’s amazing.

2 1/2 hours after getting to ReRico, we left… and made a flying trip across Springfield to the Mediacom Ice Park to see an MSU Ice Bears Hockey Game.  We were late getting to the game (by about 5 minutes), but in the end it was absolutely fine… lots of excitement, and MSU won the game.  Our friends Mary and Roger joined our group here, as they couldn’t join us for dinner (so that increased our number to 12)!

After we left the hockey rink, we (me, Russ, Aimee) decided to head over to the Highlife Martini Lounge in downtown Springfield to see our friend Clancy doing his first-ever accoustic set.  We got there late (seeing a pattern yet?), and only caught 2 of his 6 song set… but it was an excellent experience and I look forward to hearing more of his stuff!  Within seconds of walking in, we ran into our friend Carson (from Assembly Line Gods) and Ruben (from Motherstar, with a stint with Assembly Line Gods)… so that is always nice.  My friend Aimee rode with us (she lives in Mt. Vernon, so it seemed silly for both of us to drive to Springfield), and I think she enjoyed the show as well,  Along with seeing Clancy, we also got to see Hessian Crucible (they’ve done a show in the BlueCow Underground… our venue), Ewag3 (we’ve not seen them before, but we really liked their stuff!).  Because of being the parents to 3 pooches, and having left them alone at 1:30 pm, we missed aMedivm because we figured the girls were in dire need of going outside (they were!).

So I loaded up a mostly-drunk Russ and Aimee and headed back to Mt. Vernon… finally falling into bed at dawn.  Sunday was a “stay at home” and rest kind of day… until Russ headed back to our house in Arkansas, and his job, Sunday night.

Good grief… I need a nap after writing about our crazy weekend!  I want to thank everyone that participated in helping me celebrate my 40th birthday!  I had a lot of fun!

So, last week I told you that I would let you know how my “almost” birthday party went (which was a game night at our house, where friends come over to play cards and eat dinner) on Saturday night… and all I can say is I had a great time with a group of great friends.  Most of the “usual suspects” attended our game night… but we had a few that only attend on occasion.  These goofballs brought me a HUGE card that played this funky little tune.  I had to chuckle. 

My friend Klista spent the night and we woke up Sunday morning to her fixing breakfast for all of us… biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns… the works.  I was having so much fun that I completely forgot that I had turned 40!  BUT, since we stayed up way too late and woke up way too late… it was a dash to get ready to head to Branson for the  “Whiskey Fest”, hosted by 417 Magazine.

It was held at Big Cedar Lodge, just outside Branson.  I’m not a fan of whiskey, so I got the “designated driver” ticket (which means food and non-alcoholic drinks).  Russ IS a fan of whiskey, though… so I’m sure he’s going to be taste-testing all of it (and by all… I mean a LOT!  There are at least 100 brands being featured… it’s insane!).  And eating as well… maybe not in that order, though.  But, honestly, it was a GREAT event… it started right at sunset, and the whole side of the convention center at Big Cedar (where the event was held) overlooks the lake, and therefore the sunset.  Beautiful!  There were “private tastings” (those were right up Russ’s alley)… but there were a few “informative seminars” (Whiskey 101 and Scotch 101… both of which I attended).  The speaker at Whiskey 101 was an absolute riot… we learned quite a bit about how to smell/taste the whiskey (which, trust me… it makes  difference!) and I had the priviledge to taste a few different whiskey’s… but my favorite was the Laphroaig.  It has a very smoky taste (I can only imagine this would be great with BBQ!) and I was rather shocked that I liked it.  At the beginning of the seminar the speaker asked if there was anyone there because they were forced into going because they didn’t like whiskey (I was the only one that raised my hand).  At the end he said, “Did anyone here develop a love for whiskey?” and I was the only one that raised my hand.  When he asked what I liked, and I said the Laphroaig, he cheered… I had to laugh.  At the Scotch 101 seminar I learned more about the making of whiskey and scotch… overall I learned a LOT about both, and have a whole new appreciation for both.

Once that was over (about 9pm), we headed back into Branson to stay at the Branson Landing Hilton.  Russ took Monday off, so we got to sleep in… and then, because I was his DD for the Whiskey Fest (and Sunday WAS my 40th birthday), he took me shopping (which he absolutely HATES to do!).  We only shopped at the Branson Landing, but I still came home with a car full of goodies. 

Next weekend we’re having my “official” birthday party… which has turned into a yearly tradition.  There is a great restaurant in Springfield, called ReRico Grill… it’s a Brazilian Steakhouse.  So each year I try to gather up friends and we head there for an early dinner, then we go to a Missouri State University Hockey Game (which is typically a case of, “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out”.  We always have fun… so that’s nice.  A few folks have RSVP’d for this… but we still have a week, so maybe more will join us. 

That’s all I have to report on for this week… stay tuned for next week, when I tell you about my other birthday party.