Oh, the joys of living in a small town...

I had a heavy caseload today and Andy had attempted to work from home while watching Aiden so we decided to do something easy for dinner. Some of you may know that we live in a small town called Grantville in the southwest corner of Coweta county right on the Troup county line. Well, we are just a few miles from Hogansville, a slightly larger small town. (They have a grocery store and some banks, but fewer liquor stores.) There is a new barbecue place that just opened about 10 minutes from our house. Andy thought we should check it out (we've been waiting for it to open for a while now). It's a big deal when a new restaurant opens close by so we don't have to drive all the way to Newnan or LaGrange. But the big question was-- do we want to go eat there or do we want Andy to pick up take-out? I am already out of my scrubs and into my pjs, mind you. Well, here is where I make the fatal error-- I decide to change clothes and we'll just go and check the place out. Insert doomed theme music here.

I get changed, I get Aiden changed, grab his dinner, his sippy cup, an extra diaper and his highchair cover and we're off. We get there and the place looks packed (there are at least 10 cars out front!). We park and as we are approaching the front door I see the sign that says they do not accept debit cards or credit cards. Of course not, why would they? Andy decides to drive up to the ATM while Aiden and I go in and get a seat. We are still standing in line to be seated 3 parties back when Andy walks back in with the cash. I can see at least 6 open booths from where I'm standing, but there seems to be some confusion about whether people should be sat, whether orders should be taken or whether checks should be settled. Apparently this cannot all happen at the same time.

We are finally seated and told that there are no more high chairs, but that they would bring us one just as soon as one became available. Ok, no reason to panic. I let Aiden stand next to me in the booth which is fine. However, he is a very active (& large) 8 month old so my bicep starts cramping up about 15 minutes into having it hooked around him to keep him in the booth and off the floor. About 2 minutes after that is when he pulls my huge glass of ice tea into my lap as I'm trying to push the fork and knife out of reach of his other hand. We get the mess mostly cleaned up and with no high chair in sight I decide to attempt to feed Aiden his dinner with him sitting in my lap or in the booth next to me. This goes surprisingly well considering I can't see his mouth most of the time.

They finally bring out of food which of course is not really our food. Although the woman had our ticket in her hand she apparently had not thought to match the ticket to the plates. That matter cleared up, we received our actual food. Still no high chair. Have you ever tried to eat Brunswick stew with one hand while a 27 pound 8 month old bounces on the seat next to you, screeching at the top of his lungs? Good times! I didn't dare attempt to eat my sandwich one handed so I waited for Andy to finish and let him take the wild child so I didn't end up wearing more than just my glass of tea home.

Needless to say, it was an experience-- never did get a high chair. I think Aiden had a great time though even if we didn't. Hopefully they are just working out some kinks since they are newly opened, but I think next time we'll definitely be getting it to go. At least it was decent food, at a reasonable price, close to home. Hope ya'll had a better evening!