Random 5 for October 19, 2025 – Restaurants, bloggers, guests, gash, thinking

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Not all change is good change – Our local seafood place changed things around for our visit this week. They eliminated the lunch menu. You must order from the dinner menu. You can get soup and a salad but the small manageable salads have been replaced by the ones that come in a five-gallon container. They also took off the beloved husband’s favorite, fish and chips. The entrees are $$$ as you would expect for dinner and cobbling up a lunch out of appetizers was a challenge. I got an appetizer portion (or so I thought) of bang bang shrimp and the beloved husband and I shared a salad. I got a dozen (yes a dozen!) medium shrimp. I don’t know in what world that would be an appetizer portion but certainly not for me. The food was good, but I missed a starch or something that was not leafy green. It’s been removed from our list of luncheon places. I am a small eater. The portions were ginormous and maybe appropriate for Paul Bunyan. This explains why a lot of people are on Wegovy for weight control! There were only two tables filled during lunch time on a Friday which is a busy day. I don’t know how they can afford to staff for lunch with so few patrons.

Bloggers PSA! – If you follow Autumn Ashbough (and you should if you don’t), and she follows and comments on your posts, there’s a problem. Her comments have been going into WordPress spam jail. She posted about commenting issues, so I went looking for her. I posted bail and she can again put her witty comments on my posts, but you may want to check your spam to see who is lurking in there.

Houseguests – We had visitors this week. It was great! They did the driving (it was like having a driver at our disposal which is the first thing I will do when I win the lottery – NOTE TO SELF: buy a ticket!). We ate out a lot (unusual for us). It was a vacation for us too! They wore the beloved husband out and he got some very good sleep (which is rare).

No trauma for me – The beloved husband took a fall and skinned his upper arm. It was nasty looking and raw. I’ve been dressing it every day. It’s still a little leaky but coming along. On the scale of life this was a small injury. I almost barfed when I saw it. I can’t imagine how I would react to a serious accident. Perhaps not choosing nursing was the best decision I made.

This says it all – The beloved husband sent this out to his friends this week and it hits home. “Thinking is to people as swimming is to cats; they can do it, but they’d prefer not to.”

So how was your week?

68 thoughts on “Random 5 for October 19, 2025 – Restaurants, bloggers, guests, gash, thinking”

  2. That quote should be on t-shirts and bumper stickers! (Cottage industry – cats say go for it….anything that may bring in money for more catnip and goodies!)

    We used to grab lunch at restaurants – it was less food and lower pricing and at some places we still were able to take leftovers home. Not much anymore. As you said, the menu items were redone, and the prices are up. It was nice, but probably saving money and keeping weight down without those trips.

    Hope the healing goes smoothly and quickly. (and got a giggle over your comment about not applying to nursing school.)

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  3. Ouch… glad you are taking care of the beloved husbands hurt. Raw and leaky is a little challenging. I am not a good caretaker or nurse but I am a good bandager and band-aid person. SSNS had surgery on his hand last Thursday and I did pretty good with all that. But after a bit I kind of get over it and want everything to get all better. Even with me. Patience is a virtue… I try to remember. So true your huband’s quote. Eating out just isn’t the same anymore. We ate lunch out often before covid and then, I don’t know, the joy just went out of it. We do eat dinner out more often and we have a to-go box often. I think you are right about too much food. That was a huge change in your seafood restaurant. I don’t want to think that hard when I am ordering food.

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  4. Yikes. I hope he heals quickly. I used to be able to check my spam and feedback, but on my account, feedback is eliminated and there is no way to check it. If it doesn’t show up on my comments I have no idea how to look for it anymore. I hate how the website has changed. So anyone using my contact link to leave me a message will be leaving nothing I can access!! Hopefully, nothing gets sent to my spam.

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    • I still wrestle with the block editor. I use classic to create but if I need to edit, it’s hard to get back to the classic. Arranging photos in block is way above my brain level. I rarely check my WP spam so Autumn would have languished there except that she put a plea on her blog.

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  7. WP has been having its moments lately. I typed the wrong word on a reply to Anne Mehrling and tried to write the right word in a separate message, which didn’t go thru, except it did and then said “duplicate comment”. Another blogger self-hosts her blog and for the last few weeks, every time I am directed to her site via the Reader, the site icon spins around and says the site is busy. I took a screenshot and sent it to her on social media so she knew I wasn’t ignoring her. I do give up sometimes. I hate when they eliminate the lunch menu – when my mom and I went out to eat, it was always lunch, then suddenly “look, we have a new menu!” I took a bad fall almost four weeks ago. I had the dustpan sitting out as I dropped some sunflower seeds on the floor and the phone rang, I propped it up against the wall, then forgot it was there and tripped on it. Went down hard on my knees, the left one in particular, skinned up badly and I saw stars and had to lay down a few minutes as I was dizzy. It hurts more now that I’m in heavier sweatpants (well except for yesterday when it got to 82!!). Use the Tegaderm clear bandages – they worked well for me because using a regular bandage on a bumpy knee makes it just pop off half the time.

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      • I was horrified at my knee scrape, though it was not that big – my knee took three days to bruise up though. Years ago I fell running for the bus … I was scraped up pretty badly and had to wear pants to work because the gauze bandages and wrap would have ruined nylons and it took forever to heal.

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  9. Thanks for the nice shoutout! And also for posting bail. According to another blogger, WP finds it “sus” when you post a comment with a link included. No consistency about which blogs sent me to spam, though. Portions are huge these days–I’ll often split a sandwich with a friend.

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    • It was ridiculous for lunch! They used to have wonderful (and reasonably prices) lunch choices. The waiter said that he told them it wouldn’t work. There were only 2 tables filled. Can’t make it on that. I wouldn’t be surprised if they closed for lunch. Many of the local restaurants have done that.

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        • We have 2 good quality seafood restaurants in town. The other is not open for lunch and this one may close for lunch too. There were 6 people there at lunchtime on a Friday. They do a great happy hour business with bar specials. Not a fan of eating at the bar these days especially at 4 p.m.

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  12. I’m with you. I could never be a nurse. I can’t stand to look at anything inside the skin.

    My youngest daughter has suffered a bit from car sickness. It’s a good excuse for her to do all the driving. Fine with me. It gives me a chance to look at the scenery. I don’t like to eat out by myself, so I’m always delighted to eat out with my guests.

    That was a good idea to give a bloggers PSA for Autumn.

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  14. I really do appreciate luncheon menus so I wouldn’t be returning either. My husband and I like different things so we’d be forced to split something and that’s not always a good thing. Yes, chauffeurs are nice at this point. Sorry about the fall, and I understand about the nursing career choice. I didn’t make it either but often find myself filling the position.

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  15. It’s a great quote Kate.
    Hubby’s not a big eater either, and we used to have a kids portion until prices almost doubled and we stopped going there. Now he has a ‘small side’ of mac cheese which is more than enough for him.
    Hope you Hubby’s injury is healing. Mine threw himself out of the attic once (well, the ladder bolts sheared and he fell) and cut his elbow down to the bone. I’d just passed my First Aid at Work course so could put it into practice. It was messy, but we applied pressure and I got him to A&E within ten minutes. He was seen after someone with a head wound, only five minutes after arrival.

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  16. Glad the husband’s injury wasn’t worse – sounds ouchie though! Our local Chinese restaurant has the same menu but oh boy have the prices gone up. That won’t stop us but if they change portion sizes, etc. it might. I find I’m not as flexible with change now that I’m almost older than dirt! We leave tomorrow AM for our short (3 night) annual trip to Maine. Bittersweet for us – it’s the last time we are willing to go through all the trouble we go through at our ginormous airport. No there’s no help for old folks – we just grin and bear it. They do have wheelchairs but I really can’t push my husband through the airport or I’d need someone pushing me as I push him! LOL Anyway, we’ll do it. I LOVE that saying your husband sent out to friends this week – SPOT ON!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • I am not a fan of recent restaurant changes although I understand they want to charge more so they add more food than necessary. Kudos to you for going on a trip although 3 days isn’t long! We stopped flying a few years back. Health issues, hassles (it’s not like flying in the 70s and 80s when it was fun!) and costs make it less harder to do. My husband is a slow walker but he does ok. Many of our flights would require layovers which can be the pits. Some airports have those carts driving people around although I don’t know how to book one.

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      • Our airport is HUGE – and United is the only airline that flies to Portland, Maine direct. Anyway, we’ve done this trip many times but it sure isn’t EASIER but it will be our last one. They have an underground train out to the far terminal where United flies but the train is VERY fast and no seats – you just hang on to a pole and hope for the best. Not “old people friendly” ! We’ll be fine though – and even though it’s not a long trip – it’s a quality trip seeing good friends and having great seafood.

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  17. We rarely eat out any more. It’s just not the joy it once was ~ the food is too salty and popular venues often are too crowded & way too noisy. When we eat at home, I know what’s in every dish and can tailor dishes to suit our tastebuds.

    If we go out with another couple, I’m happiest at steak houses because they have GREAT baked potatoes or baked sweet potatoes. That and a side of broccoli or a salad works a charm for me.

    Sorry about your husband’s fall. OUCH! I would not do as a trauma nurse either. I can tend to my wounds, but other people’s blood makes me queasy. My mom wanted me to be a nurse. I decided being a lawyer would be a better fit for me. 😀

    So glad you had a good visit with your company! BFF chauffeurs me around most of the time, but I do drive once or twice a week to keep from getting rusty.

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    • I agree on the eating out thing. We ate out often so I’m good for a while. Some restaurant food doesn’t revive well for leftovers either. I’m hoping the bang bang shrimp won’t turn rubbery. Some people are not cut out to be hands on caretakers. I have always been fascinated with the part of medicine that revolves around diagnosis but blood and guts, nope!

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