Nerd Clusters Thursday Rundown

Posted on April 11, 2024 by brent

Spring is definitely in the air here in the Inland Northwest, another very distinct season in this beautiful part of the world. Hope you are enjoying some decent weather in your neck of the woods too. Let’s get started on my latest Thursday Rundown…

Nerd Clusters Sale – If you remember, my wife’s favorite candy is Nerd Clusters. Whether in regular form or freeze-dried, there is something irresistible about them to Sid. Imagine my surprise when I saw them on sale for just 99 cents at Safeway on Sunday. I don’t know if you realize what a screaming deal this was! This candy, at least at the size pictured, is usually always more than $3. And to find them so cheap at Safeway? It was incredible! Do you really even have to ask if I got some for my wife?

I couldn’t believe it so I had to take a photo of the Nerd Clusters on sale at Safeway.

Getting Medieval – Over the weekend, I took the kids to Valley Mission Park for an interesting demonstration. Our good friends, Dylan and Fidela Perry, have many unique interests. One of them is the passion to strap on the armor and go to battle like it was the Middle Ages. They engage in this fun via the Society for Creative Anachronism and last Saturday the organization had a rare event in Spokane. Sloan, Beau, and I met the Perrys right as Dylan was going toe-to-toe with another knight. It was a lot of fun to watch and Dylan graciously let the kids hit him with his own sword.

Sloan and Beau pose with Fidela and Dylan in their full gear.

Eclipse Tourism – This week’s eclipse provided a jolt to the economies of many states. “Eclipse Tourism” was a very real thing as millions and millions of people traveled to catch a glimpse of totality. Include my sister’s family in that mix. The five of them traveled all the way to Dallas for the special event and made a nice little vacation out of it that included the zoo and Six Flags. My sister caught this below photo that I think is outstanding.

My sister’s family watched the eclipse in a super random field in Dallas.

Parting Ways With Stuff – It was 10 years ago this month that I was packing up my life in Montana and preparing for a move to South Carolina. I wrote this blog post about the necessity of letting go of junk. It is a pretty entertaining 3-minute read if you have the time. One of the items I was especially proud of myself for discarding was my old lap top I received as a high school graduation gift. It was 10 years old in the photo below making it 20 years old today. In my opinion, that hunk of metal looks more like 30 years old.

It was tough to do but I tossed my old lap top from my college years into the big black trash bag and threw it into the dumpster.

Chick-Fil-A Shout Out – Wanted to squeeze a bit of gratitude into my last topic tonight. Last Friday, I took the kids to the Spokane Chick-Fil-A for an Easter Egg hunt. The restaurant decided to hold its egg hunt several days after Easter Sunday but I don’t think it bothered anyone 😊. In addition to the eggs filled with candy and toys, all participating families received a free entrée for everyone in their party. Thanks, Chick-Fil-A!

The North Spokane Chick-Fil-A staged an Easter Egg hunt on April 5, 2024.

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Stick a fork in it, another Thursday Rundown is in the books. We have a weekend coming up with sports, birthday parties, and a school fundraiser dinner. Thanks for reading this blog and I wish you a restful Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Don’t Blink.

What Passes For a Waffle?

Posted on August 24, 2022 by brent

A couple days prior to leaving for vacation, our house naturally wasn’t stocked with a lot of food. Sidney, the resourceful cook the she is, was able to round up enough ingredients to make a new waffle recipe. They were really good and we even had some left over that we were able to freeze. Sadly, all the remaining waffles have now been devoured which is distressing because today is National Waffle Day. It would have been fitting to heat one up for breakfast.

A look at the waffles Sidney made for dinner on Aug. 9. Can you spot Beau?

The lack of a traditional waffle got me thinking: Does today just encompass the waffles you put syrup on? Or can I celebrate today by eating one of the following?…

You won’t find a more famous French fry than Chick-fil-A’s waffle fries. These spuds are legendary and epitomize what cravings are made of. Did you know that Spokane is getting a second Chick-fil-A restaurant?

Of all the fast food fries in the world, Chick-fil-A does it best with its waffle fries.

Then you have waffle cones. I can’t tell you what is better—the unmistakable smell of fresh waffle cones in an ice cream parlor OR the actual taste of one. If waffle cones “count” on National Waffle Day, I am heading to Baskin-Robbins right now.

A fresh waffle cone is one of life’s little delights.

What about Waffle Crisp? The discontinued cereal was recently revived and of course I bought a box. It brought back so many fond memories from morning’s at my grandma’s house.

I took this photo in June of the box of Waffle Crisp I bought.

Finally, you have Lay’s chicken & waffles flavored potato chips. Should this suffice for adequately celebrating National Waffle Day? I am going to say NO because the taste of those chips was so horrible that eating them was more of a punishment than anything resembling a celebration.

This is me in 2013 when I sampled all the flavors from the inaugural Lay’s #DoUsAFlavor potato chip promotion. The Chicken & Waffle flavor was awful.

So perhaps the best option for marking National Waffle Day is to just eat a traditional waffle. Man, I sure wish I lived by a Waffle House. Don’t Blink.

Sweetness Thursday Rundown

Posted on February 11, 2021 by brent

Good evening from a frigid Spokane! To be honest, the coldest I have been in the past 12 months was when we were in Myrtle Beach for the holidays. Low temperatures and humidity can combine to rattle your bones. But I think today takes the cake as this morning it was only 10 degrees. Okay, let’s get started with the rundown…

Beau’s Initiation to Sweets – We now know that Beau has a sweet tooth like his daddy. On the morning of his birthday, we gave him a donut for breakfast. He grabbed it with both hands and gobbled the whole thing up. At that point we knew he was going to enjoy his cake. When we had Beau’s birthday celebration on Saturday night, he wasn’t tentative like his sister on her 1st birthday. Rather, he dug right into the smash cake that Sidney made for him. If it wasn’t for Sid cutting it in half, he would have ate the whole thing too just like the donut.

Beau gobbled his donut and birthday smash cake.

Fatima – My movie recommendation of the week is “Fatima.” I was so happy when I saw that this film was available on Netflix as I have been wanting to watch it since it was released several months ago. The movie is about our Blessed Mother’s appearances to three children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The true story depicts how despite strong skepticism and pressure from others, the children continued to meet with Mary at appointed times as their devotion to her never wavered. The appearances culminated in the Miracle of the Sun that Mary performed in front of 70,000 people. Sloan watched the movie with me and was enthralled so it is a good choice for all ages. As we move towards the beginning of Lent next week, “Fatima” would make a great option for weekend viewing. Also, coincidentally, today is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. On this date 163 years ago, the Virgin Mary appeared for the first of 18 times to Saint Bernadette. St Mary, pray for us!

“Fatima” would be a great movie to watch this weekend.

New Products – I tried a couple fun and new products over the past week. During the Super Bowl, my beverage of choice was Mt. Dew’s Major Melon soda. It had a refreshing watermelon taste and did wonders to wash down all the salty foods I ate during the game. Warning, the aftertaste was a little weird. My brother scored the Dunkin Donuts cereals for me at Fred Meyer. They were on sale for 99 cents each. I have already ate the whole box of the caramel macchiato flavor and I am now onto the mocha latte box. When they are poured into a bowl they both look the same with dark puff pieces and white marshmallows. Believe it or not, they taste similar too. With that said, the coffee-flavored cereals aren’t that bad, especially when you are paying less than a dollar for a box.

I had the opportunity to try the new Mt. Dew flavor and Dunkin cereals.

Eating Spokane Chick-fil-A – After writing numerous times about Chick-fil-A coming to Spokane (here and here and here), I finally got to eat from our local franchise on Friday night. Although it opened in December, long drive-thru lines that produced consistent multiple-hour-waits kept us away. However, now that the Spokane Chick-fil-A has been open for two months now, it only took Sid and my sister an hour to maneuver through the drive-thru. Lucky for me, my spicy chicken sandwich tasted just as good in Spokane as it did in South Carolina. I know Sid was happy to get a little taste of home.

Sloan eating her Chick-fil-A on Friday night.

Tom Brady’s “Touchdown” Pass – You might have heard that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had their Super Bowl victory boat parade yesterday. One person who had an especially good time was Tom Brady as he was visibly drunk while celebrating his seventh Super Bowl victory. The fact that he needed a little assistance to stand didn’t shock me as much as when he threw the Lombardi Trophy from his yacht to a boat that some other players were on. Even though I knew he was going to do it when I watched the tape, I couldn’t help but hold my breath as the hardware flew over the water. Luckily it was a completion but nonetheless it was an ill-advised pass.