The Buffet

Well the Hevesy's have made it safely back from vacation. As we arrived back to our house at 2:00am from a very long day, I of course do first things first. Put the kids in bed? Unpack? Unwind after a long trip? Yeah , no. The first thing I did was a mouse check. I used my eagle vision to check every square inch of this house for any sign of a massive infestation, or one little poopie. I saw neither. Phew, we dodged a bullet because Jim and the kids really wanted to go to bed. They would not find it amusing to have to sleep in the car while I had the house tented and chemically de-moused. As you recall we went to the land of the mother of all mouses, Disney World. We did all the basic tourist things. I spent 15 hours at the park and never got a glimpse of the rodent. In person. Of course his image is on everything imagineable. And unimagineable. Mickey Mouse home pregnancy kit, not really seeing it. We decided to celebrate my birthday at a buffet where the characters come and eat with you. Chip of the "Chip and Dale" fame came to our table. He took a picture with the kids, tossled Jim's hair and...stuck his finger...in my ear. His unusually large furry chipmunk finger..in my ear. Can you say restraining order? Thanks Chip...freak. Actually it was really fun. Towards the end of the evening after visits from Minnie, Dale, freaky Chip, Donald and Goofy, Mickey came with a cupcake and sang Happy Birthday to me. Well, he didn't sing as much as wave his hands and pat me on the head alot. After a couple of therapy sessions I think I'll be able to eat cupcakes without the gentle sobbing and sweaty palms. This may surprise you but one of the things that appealed to us about this particular restaurant was that it was a buffet. A boofay. A Buff-it. All you can eat. Jim likes a good buffet. Or a bad one. Or any. Really. So in between the characters we had all we cared to eat. Than came the icecream. A huge icecream bar with lots of candy toppings. I was so full I opted for a bowl of gummy bears. I mostly just ate their heads off and left the carcasses. I felt bad leaving them intact because I didn't want to waste them. Jim went for the icecream. Now the other father with us, Greg came back with a "bowl" that was really just a glorified plate. The sides just barely rose above the bottom, it probably held about a half a scoop of icecream. His toppings were clinging to the sides holding on for dear life. When Jim came back to the table, all heads turned. Greg said, with much envy in his voice "where'd you find that, that's nice", nodding his obvious approval. Jim said with much pride, enjoying the attention "on the icecream bar." So I pipe up "Yeah, the guy behind Jim got one too, I think it's a crown." The other bowls were plastic and came in bright colors. Jim's bowl was silver, intricately engraved, with a scalloped edge. It weighed about 5 pounds. Very regal. It was the holy grail of icecream bowls. Worthy of the 10 scoops and 3 pounds of toppings Jim had mounded in it. It was a vision seeing him scrape the bottom and throw down his spoon. There may have been a high five exchanged. It was just too exciting to remember all the details. There is however one detail I do recall. When the waiter came with the bill. He's sort of chit chatting with us, when he stops and gets a grin on his face. "Hey pal where'd you get that?" He's motioning towards the grail. Jim replies "on the icecream bar." Waiter-"do you know what that is?" Jim shakes his head no. All eyes are on the waiter......and he starts to laugh. "It's a spoon holder." What? A spoon holder? Yea. he says it holds spoons for the icecream bar. You're not supposed to eat out of them. So I speak up, "the guy behind him had one too." I find out that the guy behind him had one because Jim offered it to him. Oh. I guess it's not a crown. Sorry. The waiter and everyone close to us had a good laugh. We left to watch fireworks from the balcony. Tired, happy and very very full. Jim puts his arm around my shoulder and whispers romantically in my ear......"what do you think about a Chinese buffet tomorrow?" That's what I like about Jim, he rolls with the punches.