Lunch With Poppy & Ma

Let me start with the disclaimer.

My family & I are all very close, always have been.  

I do not purposefully put the soon to be mentioned restaurant down for any other reason than my own personal preferences.

Oh-in case you didn't know, Poppy is my dad, & Ma is my mom.

So I had lunch today with Poppy & Ma.

It was supposed to be at a very nice, fancy restaurant, 

I will just tell you.

That's what my mother told me.

We were going to the place where we go but once a year on my birthday.

That's why I got all dressed up, in the pearls, cashmere, fancy hair, high heels, and everything.

Well, somehow-some way, 
don't ask me 'cause I just don't know why, but 
the plans changed.

Poppy insisted as well as decided that we should go have lunch at,
a certain chain Buffet.  Cheap buffet.  

So after my sis & I exchange a few cross-eyed looks, 
remind them that we were supposed to go to the place where they serve gourmet food,
then mention about 50 other choices, 
even drive-thrus,
well...
Nope.  Nada.  Poppy won, cause he's Poppy.

note to self...maybe next time don't tell Poppy where lunch is, or that we are even going to lunch, just surprise him so he doesn't have a say in the matter

If you know me, you're probably laughing hysterically right now.
I am not this kind of restaurant girl.
I don't have to be the fancy restaurant girl either.
But would prefer a fancy place or In & Out, or a candy bar over this certain place.

So, we venture in.
Of course I'm still wondering why we are here.
Poppy gets irritated & wants to know why I don't like it here.

So I fake coughed real hard in my hand, then pretended to pick up the serving spoons that are in every single dish here at this place.

I told him not to worry, I'll just probably end up with pneumonia.

Poppy told me I was being ridiculous.

A nice employee gentleman who was smoking outside opened the door for us, smiling.
Then strolled past us & back into the kitchen.

Sis, do you have hand sanitizer on you?

As we stood in line, I am texting Mr. Packrat (hubby), playing a guessing game of where in the world do you think I'm having lunch right now?

Of course Mr. Packrat doesn't EVER guess this buffet place, 'cause he knows I JUST DON'T PLAIN COME HERE.

I look about the room, yep, looks like grandma's care home.
Tons of walkers, canes, white haired friendly smiles.
Pureed food on the plates.

Poppy paid at the front, & we quickly picked up the pace as we followed he & Ma to a table.
I think we were in a race to get a table, because I was practically running & nearly tripped over some grandpa's cane.
Didn't know I could run so fast in heels & pearls.

The tiny table in the back corner.
Yep.  Ran my mile for the day.

Why not sit at a table where there's a little more room?  
Na, Poppy can pull up a chair on the end so he can go back for more.

Oh.  Ok.  Didn't know that.  And that's exactly what he did!

So I stroll to the salad bar.  As I'm inspecting & half serving myself some questionable salad items on my plate, I see out of the corner of eye, someone serving himself some peas, staring at me...hey sis want to go ahead of me...hee hee?

Grandpa ventures over to say how very pretty I look today.
I smile & kindly say thank you.

Really, I'm supposed to be over at the fancy restaurant, that's why I am all dressed up here in this place today. 
But NOOOO, someone in my family thought this was a wonderful place to have lunch, in fact it was the BEST place to eat lunch.
I was saying all this in my head, 'cause, really 
I was raised with manners.

Well, my salad was pretty good, I soaked enough Ranch over it to taste any questionable item.

Hmmm...wonder why my stomach hurt?

By the time I was done with my salad, Poppy was on his fourth plate.  
Ma sat down with wonderful things on her plate, 'cause apparently she just loves it here, too.
My daughter was in AWE of this place, as she sat down with her self-served ice cream-mind you she was roaming with Ma, her grandma, so of course no healthy item would come first. 
 My daughter asks me if she's ever been here before, cause this place is so cool!

Aww...no, dear.

At this point, my mother says my daughter can have her birthday here.

Aww...no, dear.

So my sis & I travel back up for something to eat.
Funny how we keep walking around, empty plates, exchanging looks...
Ma & Poppy walk by with a Thanksgiving meal piled up.

I do help myself to some instant mashed potatoes, lumpy gravy, processed mac & cheese, & some kind of chicken from only God knows where.

I do pass over the grey fish, tattooed guy from prison, and deep fried everything.

Oh Lord, my daughter sits down with a taco, filled with filler some really dark meat, and my parents both comment on just how good the tacos looked.

I am by no means a totally organic person.  I do try to sort a few things out here and there, buy some organics, but I don't go overboard on this issue. 
Just saying.

My sis had a great stir fry cooked right up in front of her. 
 The stir-fryer was smiling at her the whole cookin' time.
Sometimes stir fry just can't cook fast enough.

So we sit, and sis is enjoyin' the stir fry until she asks me if her chicken looked pink.

Ma tells her that chicken can be a little pink, just not pork.

Ya, Sis, go ahead and eat it pink, it's ok, you won't get food poisoning.  

No, it's kinda grey, pink, and a little brownish.

So she was done.  As I was loooong ago.

Poppy said he'd had about one of everything at this point, as he sits down to a new plate of rubber shrimp fettuccine.

Then, someone starts coughing hysterically.  It was Poppy.
I asked if he was ok, as he can't stop, and his eyes are watering & snot drips out of his nose.
One of those rubber shrimps must be lodged in his throat since it hasn't crawled off the table by now.
He nods yes, then finally speaks.  Poppy was just fine.  
Wrong pipe.

More like, wrong place, but who asked me?

I told him I was glad, 'cause I don't really think I could have given him the Heimlich.

As I looked around the room, I don't think anyone else could have, either.  Everyone had a cane or walker, and probably couldn't have made it to us in time.

I thanked my parents for lunch, reminded them to never invite me here again.
I was raised with manners.  
If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it at all.
I didn't.  
I just thought it.  
I thought a lot of thoughts here today.
I really had to exercise using my filter.

Today was nothing more than the best simple folks in the world, having lunch with the pickiest daughters that strangely enough, were theirs.

I value my parents so much, that I named my spiral review math units after them:

I just don't have to like their buffet choices, right?


So, I won the game with Mr. Packrat.  
He never guessed the place I had lunch.
When he found out where we went, guess what he said?

YUM.

Gross.  
Sorry, I was raised with manners.

What is it with men, kids, grandparents, & buffets?
Don't get me wrong, the buffets in Vegas are to die for.
I would run a mile there to get a table along with all the delicious food.

Poppy & Ma's style of buffets are...well...
I'm keeping the thoughts in my head as I will be fasting the next few days...