Dinner at Jared's & Watches

Our grandson Jared and two friends rent a house in the Charlotte area and Jared and Lee are the cooks, so they invited Gerry and me over for dinner tonight.  Blake, the other roommate works afternoons and wasn't able to join us.  We made the drive over there and found the house quickly with the aid of our Tom Tom GPS.  

We had before dinner drinks and took a tour of the house.  It's a 3 bedroom home in a nice neighborhood of single family dwellings.  They have a nice yard, but not so big that it's a problem to take care of without a lot of work.  Bachelors usually have other things to keep themselves occupied. 

Jared prepared beef tips over rice for dinner and it was super tasty.  He put the beef into a slow cooker and left it on all day and it was ready in a jiffy when we got there.  It was so tasty I was about to go back for seconds but held back.  Great job Jared and Lee.  You can cook for us anytime we are in the area.

Jared, Gerry and me.

Gerry's watch battery went dead a few days ago and she has been trying to buy a new one since then.  We called Jared's Jewelry store and they wanted $40.00 to replace the battery.  WHAT!!  We then called Reed's Jewelry store and they wanted $10.00 for the same service.  That is more like it.  The battery in my watch has been dead for a couple years and I decided to get a new battery at the same time.  They said the watch was too old and they didn't have a battery that would fix it.  Ok, take it to the Quick Fix store and they had the battery and now I have a "new" watch.

What does a watch battery and dinner at Jared's have to do with each other?  Well, there is a connection to be sure.  We were living in Costa Rica in 1989 and Barbara was pregnant with Jared.  Barb, Henry, Ryan, Stephanie and Sean flew down for a vacation and visited with us for a week or so.  Henry had to go back to work and left Barb and kids behind.  Gerry and I were scheduled to travel to Bangkok and Singapore for a conference and Barb stayed behind to watch Larry Jr.   Hold on for a minute.  I am getting there.

We did stop in Singapore and visited with our friends Hanne & Niels for a few days.  While we were there I bought the watch that I needed the battery for today.  The one that was too old.  So, there you have it.  The watch and Jared are the same age and both work now.

Barbara was a real trooper in that she stayed behind in a country where she didn't know her way around, didn't speak the language and didn't know anyone.  Our maid only spoke Spanish, so they had to communicate somehow.  It all worked out in the end.

Ryan, Sean & Stephanie

 
There you have it, all over dinner and a watch.