Birfday Fun

Do you want to know how to be a pretty cool mom? Buy a new TV.

I wasn’t sold on the exact reasons we needed a new TV. I don’t even watch anything—maybe one movie a month. And from what I do see, the old one has no flaws.

But, nonetheless, now we have a stupid TV bigger than I am. Why? (Crickets…)

Oh, that’s what I was starting to say: as soon as I gave the thumbs up to Kris to buy it, Kal said I was a pretty cool mom.

I’ve been lots of other things: mean mom, nag mom, correction mom, crack-the-whip mom, won’t-listen mom, roll-the-eyes-at mom, make-them-clean mom, make-them-do-it-again-the-right-way mom.

Now I’m pretty cool. Okay. I’ll be one of the other moms tomorrow. I always thought just going out for ice cream made me a cool mom.

Yesterday was my birthday. I’m 21 again. Happens every year.

Kris and I went to a Japanese steakhouse in Fort Wayne, Takaoku which is on the second floor of the Gas House (which has absolutely fabulous steaks).

The chef we had was in his 14th year of chefery. I just made up that word, and I kind of like it. He works a day job as his main job, but loves to cook and uses Takaoku as his outlet for it.

He was a real artist. Flipping and banging the knives and meat forks and bowls and food everywhere without dropping anything. His hands never stopped, and he could still carry on an entertaining conversation. He had an animation about him that I’ve never seen in another Japanese steakhouse.

I hate shrimp and onions, but the way he cooked it, the shrimp was actually good, and the onions were tolerable. I’d call that chefery magic.

Part of the old fort in Fort Wayne, IN

While we waited for our table, we walked along the St. Mary’s River and up to the old fort. It’s a replica of what used to be there in Fort Wayne.

St. Mary's River in Fort Wayne, IN

If anyone likes a small-town feel to a city, Fort Wayne has it.

My birthday also included a stop for ice cream.

Ice cream is always a good idea. It works for celebrations. It works for lifting the spirits. It works for cooling off. It works for freezing the innards a bit so a tasty, hot beverage tastes even better and hotter. It works as a stress-reliever. It works as a reward for hard labor. It works against depression—I’m sure of that—it just has to.

So, food, walking in Fort Wayne, and TVs are what made up my last two days. I neglected to write yesterday after coming home and being exhausted from eating all that Japanese steak and ice cream.

Today our internet is being a butt again. Kris ordered a new router. Hopefully, that solves our internet problem for good.

For now, I’m typing this up as a Word document, then transferring my writing to the blog site and running into town to my shop to post it from that network. It works.