The Periphery of the Mind

Went to Tulsa Saturday with Maryanne. Well, actually, first we went to her doctor that morning to get some blood tests done. She's been shaking on and off, mainly in her hands, but Thursday it was so bad that she was stammering and chattering and I took her to the hospital emergency room. It's possibly a reaction to her thyroid problems (which she just discovered a couple of weeks ago), her thyroid medicine, her fertility treatments (which may have been needed due to underlying thyroid problems), stress from all the stuff that's going on, or some other unknown physical problem. The blood work will hopefully clear up if anything else is wrong. At this point, I'm assuming and maybe hoping it's just psychological. But the shakes seem to be spreading, and even muscle relaxants don't do too much. Some times she seems fine, other times she shakes a lot. And like I said, one time it was so bad we went to the emergency room.

But Saturday she was fine. We went to the Oklahoma Aquarium outside Tulsa in Jenks. $14 a head to get in, ouch. Despite the price it was very, very busy and crowded, and for good reason. It had a huge antique tackle collection, a walk-through (and under) shark tank, numerous fresh and salt-water fish exhibits, areas to feed some of the animals, and even a stingray petting zoo (where the rays actually wanted to be petted). By the end I think we were ready to leave. Some people asked how it compared to Bass Pro shop. Well, Bass Pro is free, and has the awesome Hemingway restaurant. But it's also a store, just as crowded in its own way, not nearly as educational, and also lacks all the unique and fascinating fish. If the Oklahoma Aquarium had a real restaurant mixed in with the exhibits, similar to the Hemingway perhaps, it could make a killing.

After the Aquarium we went to the Riverwalk and had lunch at an Italian restaurant called Gina & Guiseppe's. Meh. The prices weren't unreasonable, but the food was fairly bland. We ordered some bread as an appetizer, some lighted toasted focacia with garlic and herbs in dipping oil, and for the main course Maryanne got fettuccine alfredo and I got a chicken breast muffalata with fries and steamed veggies. My sandwich was decent enough, but Smokin' Joes makes better muffalatas (they use olives and peppers in addition to the muffalata sauce). The fries were interesting, and had some nice peppery heat to them. The veggies were almost, but not quite, wilty. Maryanne's pasta though.... I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I can cook better Italian than that. And I'm dead serious too.

Afterwards we headed home, a bit wiped out, but first we hit the Sam's Club in Fayetteville, and then hit the one in Bentonville. A point for us to remember: the Sam's in Fayetteville may sell liquor, but their selection of flowers is awful. And since I like to hit wineries and meaderies for my booze (and she can just hit a liquor store for her Smirnoff's), we'll stick with our Bentonville Sam's. (amusing side note: the Smirnoff site wants to check your age before it lets you in)

Labels: weekend recap