The Rural Juror*...

*if you get the reference then I'll buy you a drink!

I have been a registered voter since I was 18. Not once have I ever been called for jury duty. I got home yesterday to find a “summons for jury service” in the mail. It is weird though, I am “on call” from 2/6-2/20. I have to call in every business day after 3pm starting on 2/6. On 2/6 I am on a plane at 3pm. I called Dallas County and they and told them that I was traveling. Fortunately she said that it was fine. I have to call in sometime after 3 and if I am selected then the message would tell me to report the next business day. What is really annoying is that I have lived 6.5 years downtown, just a few blocks from the courthouse. Not once have I been summoned. I move out of downtown and not a month later I get a letter. This is also in federal court, not district so I am not certain what is going on here. It will be my luck I will be placed on a jury and sequestered for 6 months with no computer or phone. Guess we will see!

Moses' new bed...

Last week we bought Moses a new bed! We had been talking about it for a while. We found a very inexpensive doggie bed at target for super cheap and he loves it! It took him a little while to warm up to it but now he sleeps there all the time. At night he will start out in bed with us then later move to his bed. I was worried that he would not like it and ignore it but I was proven wrong.

Fleetwood Mac...

A few years ago I had the pleasure of seeing Stevie Nicks in concert. We sat 8th row dead center. It was one of those life experiences to be that close to a living legend. Then toward the end we were able to be right down at the stage and could seriously feel her breathe! Well, on April 30th Fleetwood Mac is coming to AAC in Dallas! We again got fabulous seats. Not as good as the last time but we are center on the floor but just further back. CAN"T WAIT!!!


In front of stage


8th row center

The washer and dryer...

Thursday I purchased my very first washer and dryer. Well, they were delivered today...finally. Lowe's called me to tell me they would be here between 11 and 1. After several phone calls they finally showed up at 5! I was really pissed but once they arrived I was happy. They are beautiful machines with lots of lights! Instead of an annoying buzzer at the end of the cycle there is a pleasant little song it does. Not kidding folks...these suckers sing to you! I have done two loads of laundry and am so pleased that I now longer feel apprehensive with the price tag. Yes, they were not cheap but I have no worries about it anymore! Of course Ron will be the person to most enjoy them since he does all the laundry while working from home but oh well!

Annoyed...

Last night Ron and I went to dinner at Cantina Laredo. A waitress spilled a pitcher of water on me. I felt like I had peed in my pants but luckily a lot of the water went into the seat. It really was not a big deal but I normally do not like to eat while I am wet. They were nice and paid for our food so I can't really complain that much. After dinner we decided that we needed some booze so we went to Sigel's. Ron picked up some vodka and I grabbed my Bombay gin. When we got home Ron asked if I had already poured a drink. I was like "no, we have only been home five minutes!" Well, it appeared that the bottle had been opened and about 3/4 of a cup had been removed. I took the bottle back to Sigel's and luckily the manager let me exchange the bottle. So I suppose not all was bad but darn it, I was tired, wet, and not in the mood.

Appliances...

UPDATE 1/15: The machines have been purchased and will be delivered on Sunday!


I love appliances. I get distracted every time I walk through a Best Buy, Lowes, Sears, etc. I have to touch the shiny household appliances and day dream. I have never needed to purchase any until now. This week I will be buying my very first washer and dryer. I could go cheap and get basic models but I like to have the best! I knew I wanted a front loading washer and dryer. I set out to research. I found some very nice machines that cost an absolute fortune. I just cannot fathom spending 3000.00+ dollars to wash my clothes. I really like the idea of the steam cleaning and steam refresh features. I have clothes that need to be dry cleaned and that gets pricey and really isn't that great on your clothes. After reading reviews and looking at machines and doing all the research I could do I have decided that the Samsung front loaders is the way to go. Although still a bit pricey I think that these are a good deal for both the steam washer and steam dryer. I am buying the white ones because they are cheaper. It is amazing to me that people will pay, in many cases, hundreds more for the color of the machine. I would LOVE to have the red or blue ones but the damn things are going into a closet. They are not pieces of furniture. Once they are delivered I will post a picture!

No More DART...

My DART pass expired at the same time we moved. I gotta tell you that I don't miss riding DART....at all. I don't miss getting up early and waiting in the heat or the cold or the rain for my bus. I don't miss late busses or people throwing bleach on each other. I don't miss smelly people and crazy people. But I will miss talking about them! My commute is across the street!

This ain't right...

I love the Golden Girls! Love em!!! But this picture just bothers me. It looks like Dorothy is about to choke Sophia. (Thanks Brittny!!)

Happy New Year...

Happy New Year everyone!

My year is off to a good start. We got moved and are settling in nicely in the new town house. After 6 years of living on concrete and hard wood floors it is taking some getting used to living on carpet. But I like it! Now that things have settled down I will certainly be posted more often. I am also working on a new Cooking with Karen!

My anniversary...

Today is the 33rd anniversary of my birth! To celebrate I slept in then transfered to the sofa to drink hot chocolate and watch Divorce Court. There are really no plans for the rest of the day. At some point this evening Ron and I will have our Christmas. He is leaving early tomorrow morning for Kansas to be with his family. While he is out I will be packing up the loft for our move on 1/3/09 into our new town house! That is about all that is going on for now. I am considering a quick Cooking with Karen at some point before I pack up the kitchen!

TV Shows...

I am really pissed. ABC went and cancelled two great shows that I love: Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money. This has somewhat baffled critics and viewers alike. Both shows are getting decent ratings and PD has won all kinds of awards. I blame the strike that occurred which put these shows on hiatus. DSM keeps getting better and is really a guilty pleasure to watch. I know that ABC is not the only one canceling good shows. They get rid of the good stuff but keep shit like Nanny 911, Survivor, Extreme Home Makeover (how many of those homes have gone into foreclosure, huh?), and other useless bullshit that, unfortunately, people watch. If, for whatever reason, 30 Rock is cancelled I think I will just stop watching TV!

This is rare...

It is is freaking cold ya'll. Our temp is just above freezing with a wind chill of 13!! WOOT!

For sale...

Update:

The closet has been sold!

Hey everyone! We are moving at the end of the month and would like to sell our closet. Please see pics below. There are 3 sections and the doors are glass. This is a very nice closet. I hate to part with it but we just will not need it after we move. I paid around $1000 for this and it has been worth every penny! The center has 4 drawers and each side has 2 hanging rods each. As you can see there is plenty of space. The very top of each section has a slot of a light. If you are interested please let me know. We are moving at the end of the month but will still have the loft until the end of January. I am asking a very reasonable price.

We have a townhouse!!!

Well, we are now in the process of getting our new place. The fabulous leasing agent at Verona called us yesterday to tell us that there was a townhouse in the midrise available. We took a look at it and decided to take it. We got a smokin deal on it too. We will be moving out of Interurban right after the first of January and it cannot come soon enough. Will post more about it later.

The Jumper...

My mother called me this morning freaked out. Rightfully so. She was sitting in her car headed north on Central Expressway when a woman jumped from the Lover’s Lane overpass and into traffic. Actually the 18 wheeler broke her fall and essentially splattered her across the freeway. My mother was about 9-10 cars back from all this. She said that she did not see the woman jump but did see her body on the ground. When she jumped the big rig carried her right up to Mockingbird before it was able to come to a complete stop. Needless to say the woman was dead and north-bound central became shut down. It seems she steered her car into the wrong direction (like she was turning around or something) on Lover’s Lane, came to stop on the overpass, got out of her car and jumped.

stink...

I cannot wait to be able not to use dart on a daily basis. Yesterday I boarded my usual bus home and it stunk....bad. It smelled of a gerry curl smeared port-o-potty on a 100 degree day in Texas. It was horrible. Now I am on my way in to work and the dude behind thinks he is the next P-Diddy. Oh well. Just about another two months on dart then afterwards no more commute!

Costco...

On Sunday we decided to check out Costco. I had been thinking about a membership for a while anyway. Well, behold the Mecca that Costco is!! We spend a good two hours covering the store from top to bottom. You can get power tools, wine, underwear, veggies, gas, and appliances all under the same roof!! I think that we are going to get our washer and dryer from there as well. I was actually really surprised at the wine selection….HUGE! They have many of the specialty food items we like to use at deep discounts. Once we really start running out of certain things then we are going back to stock up!

Quick update...

Guess I should say that I have been busy and such as the reason for my lack of posting but honestly I have just been lazy. Work has been a bit stressful, the air is getting cooler, and with the time change...the light ends just as quick as it started. So I have just been coming home and watching TV. Oh well.

The Holidays are approaching rather quickly. The Christmas tree has been put up at Interurban and the Galleria is working on theirs. Neiman Marcus has been working on theirs for a month already. Their window unvieling is this weekend. I am already dissappointed in NM because they are using those stupid butterflies AGAIN. We have been debating putting up a tree. I know Ron really wants to so I guess we will, doesnt really matter to me. Although next year I want us to get a bigger pre-lit tree! We also have a move coming up sooner than we think. The lease is up in January but we are hoping to perhaps get out of the Titanic/Interurban at the end of December. We will soon see.

Officially I am now a Markit employee and unfortunately I have no access to my JPMorgan financial stuff. I cannot access my 401k or my retirement plan. So I need to figure out what the heck to do there.

Moses is feeling much better. His medication makes him spontaneously pee everywhere but he is getting better.

Moses is one pricey dog...

This morning Ron took Moses to the vet to get his annual shots and such. We even decided that he would get groomed. A day at the spa was ideal since he has been a good little boy. I decided to have them run some blood work. I did this because I am terrified that he will get/has gastroenteritis. It isn't pretty...trust me! So then vet calls me with some bad news. Moses has heartworms. I ran out of his heartworm meds and completely forgot about it. Well my forgetfullness just slapped me in the face via my wallet. The medication they use to treat this is very expensive. All the blood work and test plus his grooming and annuals and such is going to run me a cool one thousand dollars. I instandly became sick to my stomach. This will be the last vet visit without pet insurance.

Forkboy on Grimaldi's...

Recently we stumbled upon a pizza place located at the West Village. We love gourmet pizza pie so we decided to give a try. We arrived early, around 11:30am and very glad we did. The place was packed by 12:15!

It has been a long time since I had a coal-fired pizza that was made to order. I have really gotten to the point were I just won’t eat Domino’s or Pizza Slut. We usually like Sal’s, Carmines, and Campisi’s. Of course the best pizza I have ever had was at Charlie’s in New York City. I mean words just cannot describe the heaven Charlie’s is! Anyway, Grimaldi’s has several locations but the closest to downtown is the one in the West Village. The restaurant is pretty much what you would expect from any other in West Village. Brand new construction, tanned people, leased BMW’s, and designer clothes. Grimaldi’s is new but they try to give it a more authentic pizza parlor feel. Every pizza is handmade when ordered and you could watch it being made since the guys making them are in the middle of the restaurant.

Since every pizza is handmade to order then there is a wait but trust me…it is totally worth it. On our first visit we each ordered a small and we both had leftovers. On our second visit we ordered one large and could barely finish it. I had ordered a small with tomatoes and basil and it was fantastic. The thin crust is crunchy all over and toppings are cooked perfectly in the coal oven. Ron had a small white pizza with garlic, pepperoni, and Italian sausage. One bite of his and I was jealous. His was fabulous. I usually do not care for sausage on pizza but this was perfection. On the second visit we ordered this in a large. They have an ok wine list but I noticed that you can order the house wine by the carafe which is much cheaper than ordering the same thing by the glass. It ain’t the best wine but it goes very well with the pizza and for a carafe at 9 bucks…we will take it! We also signed up for their newsletter and received a coupon good for a large for Ron’s birthday! The pizza is not the cheapest. However, the ingredients are good quality and fresh. A large with a carafe of house wine will run you about 25-30 dollars. Of course the more toppings you get the higher the price. I ordered an iced tea there once and could not drink it. It was that instant Nestea bull shit. It was nasty. They better up the ante on the tea…this is Texas after all!

We love Grimaldi’s and will be going back very soon


Food: 4.0
Service: 3.5
Atmosphere: 3.0
Health Score: Currently unavailable…will update soon.

Grimaldi’s
3636 McKinney Ave. Ste 190
Dallas, Tx 75334
214-559-4611
www.patsygrimaldis.com