I Starved My Children
One of the great things about having two teenagers is the freedom to go out without getting a babysitter. Last night Todd and I had a swanky little soiree at the Philadelphia Art Museum to see the Renoir Exhibit with his company, so I ordered a pizza for delivery for the kids and we left.
As we were driving into Philadelphia with our friends, Stan and Betsy, Todd’s phone rang. It was Taylor. Apparently our new Pizza Hut does not accept checks. Who knew? I’d written hundreds of dollars worth of checks to Pizza Hut in Arkansas over the years. I figured since it’s a chain the policy would be the same. Obviously not.
Between the two kids they had something like $7.00 so the guy left with the pizza. When Taylor called he was most unhappy, especially when I told him there wasn’t a whole lot I could do about it and they’d just have to find something to eat at home. “We don’t even have any bread,” he whined. Okay. So that was true. But we did have frozen stuff like chicken tenders and meatballs and Weight Watchers entrees (which are pretty darned good).
After we hung up they scavenged the house, looking for enough money to buy a pizza. Katie had a stash of quarters and Taylor managed to find a few more dollars. They ended up with about $20.00 cash. I’m not sure if it was the humiliation or what, but they called another pizza place to deliver a pizza. The guy took their order, the address and told them it would be 45 minutes and approximately $15.00. Everything was looking great.
Thirty minutes later or so the phone rang. It was the pizza place they called. “Where do you live?” Taylor gave him the address again and explained where the neighborhood is. The guy put him on hold for a while, then came back and said, “We don’t deliver there.”
By this time my laid back boy was over the top frustrated and just gave up. He ended up having a Fiber One bar and an apple for dinner. When he told us that I blurted out, “Holy crap!,” which then made me laugh because, well, that’s a lotta fiber! He should be as clean as a whistle by now.
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, we went through the exhibit – which I thought was fabulous – then found a table on the balcony overlooking the jazz band and had a glass of wine. We’d met up with another couple so there were six of us there, trying to have a conversation and yelling over the band. Marble does not lend itself to good acoustics.
The menu was less than thrilling so we decided to ditch the museum and go to London Grill, a hip little eatery in the trendy Fairmount section of Philly. Our party kept growing as we snagged a young man who had been through the exhibit and didn’t want to wait for the company bus he had ridden in on. It was a miracle we were able to get a table for seven at 7:30 or 8:00 on a Friday night, but we were seated almost immediately.
Dinner was good, the company was great and the entire evening was delightful. At least for Todd and me. I almost felt guilty for enjoying our dinner when I knew the kids were at home scrounging up whatever they could find. Almost.
Can anybody guess what we’re having for dinner tonight??
Hmmmm….pizza, perhaps? At least you’re not cooking.I’ve so been in the no cash situation and scrounging. I think I should keep an extra $20 just in case, but that would look like too much thinking ahead on my part. TMI, but we conceived History Boy in Philly. We had dinner near the Hotel Atop the Bellevue (where we stayed due to my hub’s conference) at a place called Upstairs at Varellis. I think that was the name. Also saw Billy Idol that weekend. Then, I flew back (separate from Big) into a horrendous October blizzard. My 4 hour flight took 8, and I had to sleep in DIA. But, it’s all good.
It sounds like you had a great night out and your kids had a not so great night in. I like your end of the deal better. We had Gordon’s fish fillets (the crunchy fried ones, bot the baked healthy one), onion tater tots and spinach. My kids were in heaven. I was going for quick and easy cause the hubby is not home for dinner tonight. Hope you have a great rest of the weekend.
I’m guessing that you’ll be eating pizza tonight Sounds like you had a wonderful night out!
TOO funny! I feel for the kids!Man I’ve enjoyed Philly every time I’ve gone in. I always threaten to do the rocky bit up the Art Museum steps- but when I stare up at ALL those steps I think ” Oh heck no” and walk it. LOL!Glad you had good time! ( I usually go ethnic when I hit Philly, because it’s so hard to find around here!)
food that is! HA!
Oh, the poor, poor children! HA! Don’t they become big babies at times? I used to notice that when pizza wasn’t available for whatever reason and it was what that kid wanted, he/she would pout and be completely unhappy with anything else in the house!! I think it is a gene that become active when they reach puberty!!If that boy isn’t cleaned out after that, sumthin’s seriously wrong with him! Those Fiber 1 bars are waaaay too much by themselves, then adding an apple would put in in bed (or somewhere close to it) for a week!!
Gretchen – I guess History Boy is proof Philly is a fun city! LOLKris – I always do easy when the hubby is gone. :o)Dev – It was fun. Now I’m ready for another fun night in the city.Zeek – Thanks for clarifying what you meant!! LOL!!! Zorba’s Greek restaurant was calling to me, but some of the people had eaten there before. London’s was new to all of us and it was very good.I’m feeling a trip into Philly for the Reading Market…
Lynilu – Pouty describes the kid very well. Katie was disappointed, but Taylor was flat out mad. He even apologized for it today even though we weren’t around to see it. He’s been in a great mood today. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re so “clean”. lol
that’s funny . . .glad you had a nice night out on the town! you deserve it!
Some Thanksgiving in the near future, probably the first time you have Taylor’s in-laws for the holidays, he’ll tell the story about how you starved him and went out to eat at some fancy restaurant. All the while he will be consuming large quantities of the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy you just prepared.
Jenster, Your story is too funny! I has a similar thing happen several months ago, the pizza shop changed their policy. They no longer took checks, but I had no clue. The girls were so mad, but they certainly didn’t starve, they managed. They were mad, but they got over it.Glad you and your husband had a nice night out. It sounded lovely!XOXO
I’m totally feeling your kids pain! I’m a huge suck when it comes to food. If I’m promised or expecting something and it fails I get very upset. I think it’s female hormones so I’m not sure how Taylor would feel about that ;)I know, Taylor let his T-Rex out to play ;)CindyS
I’m thinking you won’t be having Colon Blow… ROFLOur pizza Hut doesn’t accept checks either. Boo.
oh, man. that’s totally something that would happen in our family, well, if we were lucky enough to have pizza delivery, that is. I laughed out loud at your ‘holy crap’ comment. Too funny. 🙂
All the way enjoyable post! I am truly delighting in your blog… thanks for sharing! My kids absolutely hate the answer, “there’s not one thing I can do to help you with that.” I think it’s a good life lesson!
I think I saw a movie like this on Lifetime once.The parents got arrested…:)
Trust me, the kids won’t starve to death on one night… just ask my boys how many “what ever” nights they had for dinner! I always had eggs, Eggo waffles, and Boy Scout popcorn on hand though! 🙂
Poor starving kids. Maybe its time for them to learn to cook. You would think if Pizza was “cash only” they would tell you that when ordering.