A Ray of Hope Amidst a Grimm Week

When I got home from work Monday, Kevin announced that he hadn't felt like prepping anything for dinner and therefore we were just doing Burger King again. So we got in the car, headed two blocks down the road, cashed in another one of our coupons, and loaded up on Whoppers and fries.

Then we had a relaxing evening watching a bunch of Grimm with Riley and the cats.

Assume Grimm watching positions!

Tuesday was much the same, only I was the one to text Kevin late afternoon to see if he had any dinner plans. He didn't yet, so I said I'd stop at Giant and grab some fried chicken and french fries.

...And then we had a relaxing evening watching a bunch of Grimm with Riley and the cats.

Assume Grimm watching positions! But this time save a spot for Riley.

Oh, fine.

— Lucky

Wednesday evening, Kevin prepared chicken tacos, which take a lot longer than standard tacos, but Riley and I prefer the chicken over ground beef:

Then Riley went over to my mom's for a little bit to see her sister, which she has been trying to do for weeks now. (Although, she had thought they were going to be celebrating Taylor's 19^th birthday, but then she said they really didn't do much because Taylor and Ahlina pretty much just sat around and talked the entire time.)

Thursday afternoon, Kevin got a call from Brody at Clayton Homes to let him know they finally got a call back from the township regarding our request for a building permit.

Brody said the township wants to schedule a meeting to discuss the whole "stormwater management" issue that's been holding our hopes and dreams in limbo since mid August.

We would've thought that the request for a meeting meant bad news. But Brody said in his experience the worst outcomes are when the township's engineers don't want to discuss things with you at all. (That's when they just kick back a denied permit request and tell you you have to put in a full stormwater plan at $20k or more.)

So, Brody thinks the fact that they want to discuss it at all is more than likely a good sign, and we'll either be on the hook for just a "small" stormwater plan, or maybe we'll even be cleared of the requirements altogether!

Hopefully the township will take into consideration the fact that the property is literally surrounded by farmland except for our one single next door neighbor and another house across the street. (And also the fact that we intend to cover most of the yard with gardens and we'll be trying to hold on to as much water as we can.)

Fingers crossed!

We made a bacon, onion, and tomato pizza for dinner Thursday evening and then...

...Anyone?

...Right, we watched a bunch of Grimm with Riley and the cats :)

Kevin and Riley had both been craving burger sliders for several weeks because we hadn't done them in a long time. (I would've thought they were burgered out after living almost exclusively on Burger King last week!)

So I made sliders on Friday night, and then we watched the final three episodes of Grimm together.

I had of course seen the show and the finale numerous times before, but Kevin said he absolutely hated the two part finale and spent the rest of the evening critiquing all of its flaws :/

We were treated to this lovely freeze frame when I paused the show so we could make tea between episodes though:

And with nothing else lined up as far as a new show to binge, we ended up watching the first half of Jim Gaffigan's latest act Dark Pale before bed. It was okay. Not as funny as a lot of his other stuff in my opinion.

We knew all week that Saturday would likely be a washout, and sure enough it rained just enough to be annoying all day.

By the time we got up and moving, I got a late start heading to the laundromat, and neither Kevin nor I felt much like cooking by the time late afternoon and early evening rolled around.

We settled on an impromptu outing to Applebee's, which we were sure would delight Riley.

But she wanted to take a quick "10 minutes tops" shower first, which prompted Kevin to shoot me a grimace.

He pointed out that he has never seen Riley get in and out of a shower inside of 45 minutes (not including the "hour and half of primp time and another 10 minutes on top of that to put your shoes on while your mom and I wait at the front door.")

Then he asked what the big deal was anyway:

"OMG! I can't possibly be seen by a bunch of strangers at an Applebees without showering first! This is the single most important day of my life! Think of the stories the other diners will tell their friends about this crusty kid they saw at an Applebees that one time!"

Like, who gives a crap? It's not your wedding day. It's Applebees!

Kevin also pointed out that by the time Riley was actually ready to go and we made it all the way over to the Newtown Applebee's (the closest one to us unless we feel like venturing into Trenton, which we don't), the wait on a Saturday night would be an hour or more with a line out the door.

In the rain.

So he suggested we just order online and he and I would go pick the food up and bring it back.

And Riley went to her room to sulk, mostly because she really did want to go and eat at the restaurant, and in her mind she really thought she could be in and out of the shower and ready to go in 10 minutes and she didn't understand what the big deal was.

I could see both sides. Kevin's not a girl, so he doesn't get where Riley's coming from. And Riley's a teenager, so her concept of time isn't as precise as it will be someday

So Kevin and I went and grabbed the food and brought it back. And after dinner we all kind of did our own thing, part of which entailed me and Riley baking two loaves of pumpkin bread together :)

We're hoping the weather will be nice tomorrow so we can get outside and do some hiking.

Tomorrow was supposed to be Hannah's first birthday party, but Kelly and Steve postponed it earlier in the week because Olivia is sick :(

So, we have a free day and we're hoping to check out Dark Hollow Park for the first time in forever :)