Bowling

Jim decided he wanted to go bowling Saturday night so he texted a few friends to see if anyone was interested in meeting us at the (fairly) new Brunswick Zone XL (don’t know what the XL stands for) and Debbie was the only one available. She called me in the afternoon and I told her to meet us at 7:00 and she told me that she wanted to eat a good hamburger at the bowling alley because everyone knows that bowling alleys have the best burgers.

Jim & I got there a little before 7:00 and were quite impressed with the “Dave and Buster’s” –like atmosphere. We went to the bowling counter and told the guy that we had 3 people wanting to bowl & rent shoes. He threw us off when he asked us how long we wanted to bowl and when we looked baffled, he said most people take an hour, so we said okay. He handed me a form to write the bowlers’ names on, rang us up and told us that someone would bring the shoes to us. We went to the lane he assigned us and that’s when I looked at the receipt. I said to Jim, “Holy shit, we haven’t even started bowling yet and we’ve spent almost $40”.

Debbie came, we all put our shoes on & started bowling. The waitress took our drink order and Jim wasn’t very happy that beers cost $4.25. The waitress came back and took our food order – 3 cheeseburgers with fries and, I must say, they were excellent. We continued to bowl in between bites of food as our time was ticking down. We all did terrible, not even breaking 100 points. I haven’t been bowling in a couple of years since JCI had a team-building event, and Jim & Debbie hadn’t bowled in longer than that. We got in 1 and 1/3 games in one hour. We left at a little after 8:00 and our bill was $82.91.

The breakdown:
1 hour bowling $25
3 shoe rentals $10.47
4 beers $17
2 Sprites $3.20 ($2.20 for the first & $1 for a refill)
3 cheeseburgers w/fries $22.47

So with tax & tip it cost the three of us $94.91 to speed-bowl for one hour, drink a couple of beers (luckily I thought ahead and brought my little flask with vodka to mix with my Sprites), and eat burgers & fries. It seemed expensive to us and we questioned how young people could go on bowling dates at those prices when we looked at the two young couples bowling next to us and noticed that they had no drinks, snacks or anything. They were just bowling. I guess that’s all they could afford at the Brunswick Zone XL.
Oh, I’ve come up with the meaning of XL -- Xpensive Lanes. I think we’ll stick with Wii bowling – we’re better at that anyway!

Following big sister's orders

Barb asked me to post more layouts I've been working on so here you go.

This is the last page of my second completed album.

This is the first page of my third album "Life is a biography. Memories smooth out the edges".

This is probably my favorite so far--you can't read the full title is "LOBSTERFEST".

I love the black squiggly 3D stickers but I ran out and I don't remember where I bought them.

Album I started for John.

Album started for Angie.

Layout in second album.

The Final Chapter

The laundry room has been completed besides a valance which my friend and I are going to make for the window. It seems like this project took longer than our dining room redecorating! I’m sure the reason is that Jim wouldn’t let me help with anything but the painting and, of course, getting on my hands & knees to wipe the grout off of the tile. I think it turned out pretty good and it’s definitely brighter. I think the tile makes the room look bigger and also tone the yellow down so Jim doesn’t call it the “canary” room anymore. It's also passed big brother, Rob's inspection. I’m glad it’s done because it’s getting to that time of year where I’m anxious to get outside and start working in the yard. As promised, here are some before and after pictures.

Part 4

The grout is in, the washer & dryer are operational and I got caught up on my laundry. Jim assures me that the final step of applying the sealer will be done this week which is when I will post before & after pictures.

Part 3

No, the laundry room isn't done yet. The tile has been cemented to the wall and the floor but we have to wait at least 24 hours before applying the grout. Jim says he's going to do it tomorrow night. Then we have to wait again (I'm not sure how long) before applying the sealer. Hopefully, it will be done before the weekend. I'm running out of underwear!

Part II

There’s really not much to report besides that Jim finished putting down the cement board Saturday which is the base for tiling. He also scrubbed the sink which looked really bad with dried paint and stuff all over. His brother, Rob stopped by in the afternoon with some lame excuse but I think he was just checking up on Jim’s progress. Prior to the start of the job, I told Jim to ask his brother to help since he’s had extensive experience in tiling his own house. He did a beautiful job. Jim was insulted that I even suggested he ask for help and told me he could do it himself! On Sunday, he had to wait for me to paint the wall since we decided not to tile the whole thing. I finished my job by about 12 or 1:00 and went out to do some errands. When I returned, Jim was laying out the tile and trying to figure out the best way to avoid having to cut too many. When I asked him if there would be any tiles actually cemented down by the end of the day he said, “Jeanne, I will be facing a lot of criticism and it’s got to be right!” So, needless to say, he’s still working the puzzle of the tile placement. I told him that it was okay but I didn’t want to have to go to the Laundromat to wash my clothes since the washer & dryer are now in the garage. I don’t want to put any more pressure on him than he’s already feeling.