Dinner at Don Pablo's

It was my turn to treat my friend to dinner and I had chosen Red Lobster. It had been years since we'd been there and their $15 for four courses was a definite attraction. I wanted to go. So, off we went, knowing full well it was Saturday, but hoping that we were early enough to beat the dinner rush.


OMG!! There were people standing OUTSIDE waiting to get in! Sorry, but that's not for us. We had tentatively decided to get barbecue if Red Lobster was crazy busy, but the BBQ place was about five miles away and we still had to go to PetSmart to get our babies food. Since PetSmart was where we were, we decided to pick another place to eat.


The area where we were is lousy with eating establishments (to use a colloquial term), so we had a wide array of choices. We opted for Don Pablo's since we both love Mexican food (and I knew I could get Sangria for cheap). 


It's funny that I'd never noticed the barbecue options on the Don Pablo's menu before, but last night I did. And, that's what I decided to get. Tom decided to change his usual ordering pattern as well by ordering carnitas.


I ordered the "Texas Two Step", a plate full of Rio Grande ribs and a mesquite grilled chicken breast, both slathered with barbecue sauce, sharing a large platter with Mexican rice and smoky beans. The ribs were surprisingly meaty. I say surprisingly because I had ribs once at Applebees that were almost entirely bone with barely enough meat to hold the bones together. But, Don Pablo's ribs had plenty of meat on them. The chicken was tender, moist and left me wanting more. The ribs were also very good, but I was full by the time I got to them. I even shared one with Tom and still brought a couple home to enjoy today. 


Tom's carnitas turned out to be pulled pork without BBQ sauce and were accompanied by soft flour tortillas, shredded lettuce, guacamole and sour cream. He'd opted out of the pico de gallo. I tasted a piece of his pork and it was delicious and tender. It wasn't long before his plate was empty.


Although the barbecue sauce they used wasn't as full-flavored as I'd have had at the barbecue place we'd considered, it was still delicious and satisfying. I'm glad we went.

New Phone, Nice Lunch and Prescription ReNewals

Had a doctor's appointment this morning. My first in almost three years. I was long past due. My prescriptions had run out and she needed to see me before renewing them. I have Type 2 Diabetes and haven't been as good to myself as I should have been, although I'm much better than I used to be. Lifelong bad habits don't change overnight. They did a blood sugar while I was there and it was 267. Of course, I had an overfilled cream donut for breakfast, so that didn't help. (What can I say - I was hungry when I drove by the bakery. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway.) I was happy to see her, though. I really do need to go more often. I just kept putting it off because I don't have insurance and I didn't want to do the paperwork I needed to go for free. But, this time I did and I'm glad. I need to start caring for myself better than I have. 


I can't do a blood sugar test on myself because I haven't found my meter since moving, so the doctor is going to give me one once I find out the cheapest test strips offered by Walmart. She'll match the meter to the strips. They're 

Different kinds of glucose meters

very pricey, I have to say. I got most of what I had used previously either through eBay or through Freecycle. Since the charity program run by the hospital doesn't include testing strips or prescriptions, I'll have to pay for them myself. Still, the overall cost will be less than out of pocket, for which I am grateful. I get my prescriptions at a local grocery pharmacy that offers FREE diabetes meds and antibiotics and virtually matches Walmart's $4/$10 program. So, a quarter of my prescriptions will be free. I really can't complain.

Yeah, I got the blue.

My daughter called me as I was leaving the doctor's office (the desk clerk loved the song I had on as a ringtone - I'm Here For The Party) to tell me that the phone I could get for my line upgrade was now on special. I should stop at the Sprint store or Radio Shack and get one while they were waiving the $10 monthly premium data add-on to encourage customers to take advantage of the eco-friendly phones Sprint was offering. The Sprint Replenish, an Android model, is made of 34.6% post-consumer recycled plastics with fully-recyclable packaging. The keyboard is larger than the one on my old phone, so there will be fewer keying errors because of my fat fingers (I hope). I have to get used to it, though. It constantly locks the screen and I have to swipe the icon to the side to unlock it. I need to see if I can disable that. So far, what little I've used it, I like it.

As for the food part of today's message, we were supposed to go for breakfast before going to the doctor. We didn't. He didn't get up until just before I needed to leave for the doctor. So, we went to lunch instead. Considering I had eaten the worst possible food for breakfast and had elevated blood sugar, I decided I would be good to myself at lunch. We went to Don Pablo's where I got their $5.99 Speedy Lunch special. I had a choice of enchiladas, tacos and tamales. I chose two different enchiladas (with corn tortillas) and black beans with my rice. I also had a cup of white chicken chili soup. Plus the chips and salsa and a diet Coke. All fairly low carb (the carbs were complex, whole grain carbs). 


Although we had at least one heavy downpour while we were out, it was a fairly productive day. I got the dishes washed (thank God for dishwashers that can do the work while you're away) and didn't have that waiting on me to start when I got home. I even got some genealogy in this morning before I left!  I'm satisfied with my day.