Hunt for a clean table at the Rat

Is it slander or liable if I say bad things about a fictional character? HA HA HA HA HA Well I don't care. I'm going to vent... and vent big!

As you may know, I am currently on day 10 of 3 healthy kids. I flirted with disaster by taking the kids to McDonald's on Sunday (the one in Dover that has a big huge PlayStation). I don't know when I became a germophobe... but I am.

There was a little girl there who was coughing all over the joint! At my kids as they walked by, on the slide as she went down... in the little elevated bubble car... cough cough cough. I didn't hear any worried mother chiding her for not covering her mouth... it was excruciating... but we made it through, and whatever bug that child had, has had 2 days in incubate in my kids... So far, so good.

Yesterday, my oldest had an allergist appointment (which was GREAT! Her smaller airways are not operating up to 78 percent! That's up from 50. That means, no permanent lung damage and we need to figure out how to keep her lungs clear... The Dr. finally gave her prednizone for 4 days, which cleared up the cough she had had for 4 months... but prednizone is a steroid and they don't like to give that to kids too often) Anyway, the kids were good at the allergist and I had promised them Chuck E Cheese (actually that's where we were headed on Sunday, but there it was so crowded that there wasn't any parking, so we settled on the McDonald's... temporarily settled... because my youngest - Hair Cut Henrietta... has a memory like an elephant, and as soon as we left the McDonald's, she was like.. you promised Chuck E Cheese... is that today!?)

So, off to see The Rat.

Tuesday evening is a great day and time to go see the Rat. I got parking right in front of the door... The only problem is that the staff is a little less attentive.. Of course, as in most restaurant type places, the staff are all under the age of 20... but this was really bad.
First we had to wait at the podium for someone to come and let us in (if you've never been they stamp your hands and your kids hands, they are supposedly supposed to check before you leave, but I've never been checked at this chuck e cheese) I ended up actually yelling... "HEY! Is there anyone there?" Because there wasn't ANYONE, but the handful of other guests milling about.

Finally, young Ichabod comes and let's us in (yup, Ichabod for obvious reasons... you can figure it out) I go to the counter and I order the family pack... comes with a pizza, 4 drinks and 100 tokens. That's when it all went down hill. The tables were a greasy mess.... I don't know if they hadn't wiped them down since Sunday... or if they decided that using butter was better than soap.. but they were disgusting.

However, I had already doomed us to whatever virus the child in McDonald's was carrying, so rather than start making a fuss again (after all, they hadn't brought out our pizza yet, I'm always a little leery about making a fuss when there is food coming... you know know what they might do it... ) Anyway, I picked the best table I could find, and plopped our stuff down.

The kids had a great time then our pizza arrived... we went into the ladies room to wash up before eating and there weren't any paper towels... again, my guess. They used their weekly quota on Sunday... because folks... it's TUESDAY, I can't imagine that there was a mad rush during the day and they simply ran out of paper towels!

That's ok... OK... I grabbed napkins and away we went, with clean quasi dry hands.

The pizza. uuuugggghhhhhhhhhh

Now, I've had the rat pie. It's usually about as good as a dominoes... which some people like (me and my kids) some people hate (my friend Mar) Granted it is obvious that they don't have Anthony & Son back there in the kitchen... but where ever their frozen things come from... it's usually pretty good. EXCEPT for yesterday. My Guess.... again, I think they used up a lot of supplies on Sunday... Because this pizza had no sauce. It was a half cooked pizza crust, and cheese... kind of like something you would cook at home as an experiment.

YES, I said experiment.

Once again, the kids like it. (of course they liked it... they would like chewing gum scraped off the sidewalk if I let them eat it!)

So... for the children, the experience was fantastic and everything they hoped and dreamed of... for me, more like a nightmare.

Afterwards, we went to the ice cream parlor... where with hands wrapped around homemade ice cream and the choice of cone, they all proclaimed that "Today was the best day ever"

Good for me! I am going to remind them again and again how much fun they had while I am nursing them back to health... from what ever bug or virus I am sure will rear it's ugly head by this weekend!

And that... is my Rant about the Rat.

OH, I got a new camera... so, you know what that means... right? MORE PICTURES!

I don't think I told you that my old camera was broken.. but I suspect it had something to do with my youngest who's middle name is Mischief. My fault, I let her use it... usually when I am supervising, so she probably just felt like she could play with it... riiiiiiggggghhhhttttttt.... anyway, the new camera is 100% off limits... and it's NICE! I can't wait to take some great pictures!

OH OH OH OH OH OH OH

I forgot to tell you. REAL QUICK

My oldest (1st grade) was really good in class, so her teacher let her pick some things out of the prize basket. She came home with 2 tattoo's. She put the butterfly tattoo on her cheek and the heart on her forearm.

She came home from school yesterday and told me that... are you ready for this!?! Yesterday was class pictures! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH AH

I said, WHAT? She said, Yup, they took our pictures, and the lady had me cross my arms and tilt my head so you could see the tattoo and my dimple.

I said, WHAT? -- too stunned to say anything else.

Well, I didn't see any notice come through, maybe it was something else... who knows. Once I thought about it... I realized that it would be one heck of a cute picture! and TRULY..

OK. Gots to go!
Have a good one!
As a special treat to you and yours... I'm going to spell check this entry! (your welcome B)