Giving A Clear "Pitcher"

Steph volunteered to be a water porer for a charity dinner/silent auction last night. Jenny, Kyle, Matt and I supported the event by attending and bidding. Unfortunately, none of us won any of our bids, but we did enjoy a nice evening out!

Steph did a great job, but not without it's competition. The entire restaurant was jammed packed for this private event and each table had a water porer volunteer. One actaully was making balloon animals! I guess Steph should start practicing now for next year's dinner!

An A"Maize"ing Sunday...

Steph and I went to a corn maze/pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins and check out the maze. We got lost in all sorts of fun! I'm going to warn you right now, there are plenty more of those corny jokes in the near future!

We started with the corn maze:

While half way through the maze, we were able to get a bird's-eye-view:

As you can see, I'm "stalking" Stephanie! 

We had a little help navigating us through the maze...

And if the map wasn't enough, we had some helpers point us in the right direction!

Then I was inspired to take some fun shots...

Sorry to "squash" your good time, but the blog post is now over...oh goodness, I just kill me! :)

Matt's Membership

You will be happy to know that Matt is now an official member of the "Double Down Club."  You may be asking, "What is that?" Granted, that is a fair question.  However, before I explain, I feel I must warn all the vegetarian readers to beware - this next statement may be shocking and you may want to stop reading now...

The Double Down is a newer menu item at KFC. It's a bun-less, fried chicken sandwich. The bread is substituted with two pieces of fried chicken with bacon and cheese in the middle.  OMG, folks, this one is a heart attack waiting to happen. Ever since Matt saw this monstrosity on TV, he has been craving to try one. And it's not just him, I've heard of guys getting together and going on man-dates just to try this sandwich!  I don't understand it, but hey, I learned a long time ago not to fight the carnivore in Matt.  Sorry to both the meatless Jills out there, I tried to warn you!

And here is a picture from KFC so you can see what it looks like in the middle - ugh!

Saturday Cruised On By...

So in case you can't tell by the blog title, Matt, Steph and I went on a 2 hour river cruise on Saturday. It was themed around the fall colors and we learned a lot of interesting facts about Toledo and the Maumee River. As predicted, the fall colors were very pretty to look at and the three of us had a very relaxing time. The woman giving the tour was very eccentric but it made for an entertaining tour.  I'll do my best to replicate the tour like she did...

This is were we were docked:

The center of the boat had this very pretty holiday themed centerpiece. This is where they provided donut holes and cider. :)  We made our own lunch, too, so we were good!

The was our view before leaving:

And just after we left.  The large boat off to the right is permanently stationed for tours.  We learned that next year it will be celebrating 100 years!

While we crossed under this bridge, a train passed by. Some would think that's cool due to the timing of it, but we didn't since our tour guide said that it cost $.50 extra to see the train... 

Here is some fine examples of the fall colors:

We passed so many serene homes, or as our guide pointed out: "Starter Castles."

My crew...

We saw many egrets and seagulls. We learned the seagulls like to follow the boat because the engine churns up a lot of fish for them to eat.

   

Our captain: He did a fine job of not crashing into any glaciers (the tour guide's words, not mine!)

We were told by the guide that this building is known as "Dolly Parton and Her Half Sister"... 

This was our view of the city coming back - unfortunatly I had to take this shot a couple of times due to some very "rude" obstacles!

And this statue is interesting because of the different colors it takes on. Apparently this random art work reflects the sun and generates different colors from it's prisms depending on which direction you look at it. I thought it was very cool!

And thus ends our tour, but not our day! Steph and I also headed to the mall to kill some time between the cruise and the evening's entertainment - the open season Walleye's Hockey Game! This was a momentous occation for Matt and I because it's the first time we can actually say that we have done, for the 2nd season in a row!  We can't even say that about the holidays so it just goes to show you how long a hockey season is! The Walleyes had a very embarrassing loss, and there were too many staged-looking fights, but it was still fun to go and I'm looking forward to another fun season!

And I just thought this was pretty as we walked back to the car. :)

Uncle Bob, You're Famous!

Well, at least your chili recipe is! :) I partook in a chili cook-off at our apartment, and whereas I didn't win (boo!) I was told by many unbiased people that it was delicious. I was one of 7 contenders and I must say that I felt ours was the most authentic chili.  Many were too runny, others not enough flavor, and one was even presented on bagels with cream cheese (although, I will admit, it was a quite tasty combo).  My favorite actually was a sweeter chili that was next to mine. It was different from any chili I had ever had, so I liked that it was unique. That one didn't win either, so I struck out all around...

I think I represented you well, Uncle Bob. Matt's convinced the whole thing was rigged, so I pretty sure I didn't bring shame to your chili or your "house-hold name" (ha, ha - get it!?)  :)

Matt redeemed us by winning one of the door prizes - $200 off our next month's rent! Good job, Matt! Way to win one for us!

Once again, there is not a picture to post - this time it was my fault and I'm ashamed. I'm bummed, too, because Matt did a great job with it's presentation. He cleaned the slow cooker to a shine and we sprinkled cheese across the middle. Oh well, hopefully the visual alone will get your lips smacking!

Bonus Blog!

I realized just now that I forgot to write about the rest of my day and it's rare when I have so much to report in one day's time!

My morning was filled with computer stuff and random cleaning, nothing fun to blog about. I asked Steph is she wanted to have lunch and we had a great time catching up with all our recent happenings. I then decided to be impulsive and check out a nearby antique shop and I'm so glad I did! Not only did I find the perfect little table I've been looking for quite a while, but I also fulfilled a little dream of mine. I'm now an official owner of a piece of jewelry from Tiffanys - including the little blue box! And all for $35! I'm so proud of this find!!! Afterwards, I had a wonderful talk with my couin, Jill. I got to hear all the details regarding he new daughter and it was great catching up in general. :)

Hmmm... Ok, I think that's it. After the call, Matt came home, we had dinner and raced off for the bowling league. Now I'm caught up!

I Won't "Spare" You Any Details...

What is 130+131+141?  Well it's 402 of course! What's the relevance with this? This is the overall score I contributed to last night's bowling league I joined through Matt's work team.  There are quite a few of us so I won't be playing each week, but I hope I get to play again because it was a lot of fun!  We played three games, hence the three numbers above and I was proud of my overall performance. The team I played with is really nice and we were all very supportive of one another. :)

Matt was the cheerleader. He opted not to bowl because he feels it isn't his sport.  That's OK, some can't be like us truly gifted athletes...just kidding! I am disappointed with him though. He had one job last night and he forgot to do it - take a picture for the blog.  Way to go Matt, now you have disappointed all our readers! ;)

Matt had another great day of training and really likes the Kaizen role he's been learning about. He has this and next week of training and then he'll be ready to take on any Kaizen projects.