1-3-13 Thursday (Cajun Cramps)

At Thanksgiving I found a recipe for chocolate chip mint cookies that used a Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix with the addition of mint extract and such.  I made them.  Easy.  They were a hit.  Over the weekend we were in Target and naturally had to check out their clearance section.  75% off of Christmas.  I spotted an actual Betty Crocker Mint Chocolate Chip cookie mix that didn’t need tweaking.  Everything was included.  It was 60something cents so I picked up a few bags.  The back of the back has a lot of writing but my eye went right to a spelling error (see blue arrow in photo below).  I get some strange sense of achievement when I find some major whoops on a nationally known product.  I then wonder did the person who gave the final “OK to print” lose their job over this?  Was the spell checking program in “ignore words in caps” mode?  I’m not sure if there are other errors or not.

For New Year’s Eve, Jim had made reservations for the Cajun Queen for 8.  They feature, duh, Cajun food and a live Jazz Band.  We went with Beth and her mom and several siblings which made it 7 of us.  We knew it would only be 7 but we’ve learned in the past that if you say “party of 5” you’ll get a booth or other 4-top table and they’ll drag a chair over making for cramped arrangements.  This happens with any type of odd number so it’s better to say the even number, get to the table and then tell the server the xth person cancelled.  So, we arrived.  We were seated and my back was 1 foot away from the band’s drums.  Oy.  Oddly, it wasn’t over bearing loud at all.  Phew!  We were seated at a 6 top with only 6 chairs.  Jim had to find a 7th chair.  What if our “8th” had shown up?  We were cramped.

As we looked over the menu bread was dropped off.  No silverware - so we had to ask for that.  All in all, service was great though. 

Jim and I have been here several times.  Last week, we brought Jim’s Mom and Morgan here and they enjoyed it.  You know that situation where you recommend some place and the food or service or both is horrible?  So when you bring people to a place you recommend, I’m on edge as if I’m the restaurant manager with a known food critic sitting in my dining room.  The good news?  Our 5 friends loved all of it.  Beth had a bad “Hurricane” but everything else was delicious.  Score!

Several weeks ago I interviewed for an Underwriter position with my current employer.  Someone emailed my supervisor for information such as: would they rehire me?  My start date?  My performance score?  I knew at that moment that I had the job and anxiously awaited my offer letter.  Because of the holidays (I guess), it was taking a long time and I started to question myself if perhaps I didn’t get it.  Maybe my current supervisor said something bad?  But if he was going to do that then surely he wouldn’t even have told me that he got the email?  My head was spinning.

Thursday (1-3-13) I got a phone call from the recruiter but missed it because I was on the phone.  An hour later I was able to connect with her and was offered the position!  I gladly accepted.  I start a 6 week training program on Tuesday 1-22.