Mmmn...shrimp...

It was all those television ads, I think.

Friday night we decided to celebrate the new mortgage with a rare treat at Red Lobster. We had the shrimp promotion they've been endlessly advertising. and how could I possibly resist crab-stuffed shrimp? It's been a long time since I've had baked stuffed shrimp actually made with crab/seafood stuffing. I remember we'd have that at home, but then the stuffing must have become too expensive, because they replaced it with a grainy, buttery stuffing instead, even at the Inn.

This was a bit too slavishly covered with a buttery cream sauce, but it was oh-so-good! Also had some shrimp scampi, and we even had an appetizer, wood-grilled shrimp bruscetta. Bellissima!

Afterwards we made our third trip this week to MicroCenter. You see, James has been considering upgrading his 4-year-old EEECPC, but didn't want to spend a lot of money. MicroCenter had the old version of the 10-inch unit, with WindowsXP, and refurbed, for a very reasonable price (not quite half the price of the new one with Win7). So on Tuesday he bought one and took it home, started to set it up—and the minute he connected anything to it via USB that needed to pull power, like the DVD drive he needed to make a backup copy, Windows seized and died, and he not only had to shut the thing down, he had to pull the battery and wait a half hour before starting it again! And then it did it again. So Thursday night we went to get another. We no sooner had it home and James turned it on than it threw a Windows registry error. He was just going to reboot and press F9 to get into setup, but he couldn't, because the keyboard wasn't fastened on properly. So this time we tried out the replacement in the back room at MicroCenter, with the blessings of the staff. This one seems to be better, but I'm not impressed with Asus' refurb department!

Today we had to get Willow's stitches removed. We were going to take Wil to the Farmer's Market with us, and then directly to the vet, but then I remembered how shy she is around other dogs. We would need to have more time to negotiate the booths. Plus I thought someone would see her stitches and ask about her—I know I would!—and that would take more time we didn't have. So we had breakfast and then went off to the vet.

Were we embarrassed and chagrined! We took the shirt off Wil midweek because she was being so good. Sometimes we caught her scratching and told her "no" firmly, and everything was healing nicely.

Well, except for the one place under her left foreleg. It was covered by fur and we apparently didn't notice she'd been worrying at it. It was bright and red! They had to restaple it and now she has to go back next week and we have to keep her away from it. So when we got home, back on went the shirt—to her chagrin. You should have seen her face when I called her with the shirt in my hands.

Anyway, on the way home we stopped at Borders at Perimeter Mall. I had seen a book here in April that looked quite promising (The Victorians) and this was the only place I had seen it. James walked Wil around outside while I went inside, and then it was his turn. I took her and walked down to Pet World. They had miniature bunnies, and a great flock of budgies singing, ferrets, mice, rats, guinea pigs, and a wall of barking puppies who seemed very envious of Willow being outside! Several Yorkies, and two of the cutest Cairns ever!

We made one more short stop, at the Container Store so I could buy more hooks for the car. These go around the supports of the headrests, and I could fit another two sets in the back seat. It will be nice to have hooks for any shopping bags instead of worrying about them falling forward if I have to stop short.

James let Wil and I off and went off to the gun show at Jim Miller Park, and then to the IPMS meeting. I put Willow back into her shirt, then took the rug that was too small back to Walmart, then decided to go to the Barnes & Noble at the Avenue at West Cobb. Didn't intend to buy anything and didn't, but did discover they had a Yankee Candle shop there which just opened yesterday. Sadly, they don't have a coffee-scented car freshener. I would have loved one of those. Right now I have "Sun and Sand" in my car. It smells just like Coppertone, one of the few happy memories I have of summer. It brings back Sundays at Sand Hill Cove [cough...'scuse me, Roger Wheeler State Beach] and Galilee and Newport and Narragansett Beach.

But, boy, was it a shock going back outside. As the morning wore on, it got more humid and smothery, and at Walmart the sun emerged from the clouds. Very hot by the time I arrived home.

Came home, read a bit in How the States Got Their Shapes. When James got home, we took the new EEEPC (dubbed "Little Blue" because it is "midnight blue") to Borders to see how it worked with the wifi (flawlessly) and he had a strawberry Koohla (like a smoothie) and I had a kids' cocoa trio. Wish I could have the lattes. :-(

Came home past Publix, where we shopped while the folks at Dragon 168 prepared our supper. (Yes, Ivan, real fried rice. Yum.) Ate dinner to Doctor Who—we haven't watched any of the Matt Smith episodes yet! So we watched "The Eleventh Hour," which we enjoyed, and also "The Beast Below." I like him so far.

Labels: books, computers, dogs, food, shopping, summer

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:52:00 PM

Comments:

We have another witness -- B at Gonna Put Me in the Movies states: "I've NEVER had chicken or shrimp fried rice that had peas, carrots, or corn. That's just wrong."

# posted by  Ivan G Shreve Jr : 6:05:00 PM

 

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