The Mystery of the Mint Oreo

It was a dark and stormy night.

Okay, so it was dark because the sun went down. And it wasn’t exactly stormy but it was probably raining off and on because it did that a lot last week.

Mark and Jake had already been gone for a few days, off fishing with Brad and a group of other dads and sons. It had been a long day at work and I was happy it was Friday with an entire weekend stretching out ahead of me. Kacey was off on a date with Connor and I had the house and the Netflix menu all to myself.

I was immersed in an episode of my latest Netflix addiction. This one has eight or so seasons, so no chance of running out of things to watch anytime soon. I was prepared to watch until I could no longer keep my eyes open. Suddenly, as so often happens in the evenings when I’ve settled in and relaxed, a sugar craving struck me. The food supplies had dwindled. They don’t last long with an extra kid home for the summer along with her boyfriend who all but lives here. But I was pretty sure there was still a package of Mint Oreos hanging around. I paused my show and wandered into the kitchen to go forage in the snack cupboard where I discovered there were, in fact, a good supply of the mint-creme filled sandwich cookies.

I grabbed a few and headed back to my comfy chair in the living room, diving right back into my show. I enjoyed my first cookie in two bites. YUM! I do love Mint Oreos. And very quickly after the first was gone, took a bite out of the second cookie. As I was immersed in the drama on television, it took me a moment to realize that something was not right with the cookie. It didn’t immediately break apart as I bit into it. There seemed to be a reluctance on the part of the creme filling to separate in half. It was almost as if the filling had hardened into a leathery, fruit roll-up type substance. It occurred to me that something wasn’t right and I lunged out of the chair and straight to the kitchen wastebasket, spitting the remains of my cookie into the trash. I was vaguely aware that I should probably throw the remainder of the package away too, or at least inspect the cookies to see if we got a bad batch, but I was lured back to my show and the cookies went forgotten for the time being. Sometime later that evening, I awoke in my comfy chair having fallen asleep in the midst of another episode. I dragged myself to bed and didn’t think about the cookies again.

Saturday arrived and I was busy. I started my day with a walk outside with Lucy. Then I cleaned house and did laundry and finally showered sometime after noon. I was just getting ready to dry my hair when Connor arrived to hang out with Kacey. As boys his age often are, he was hungry. He knows where to find the frozen pizza and he took one out and preheated the oven.

Connor was finishing his pizza just about the time my hair was dried and I was presentable to leave the house. I announced that I was going to pick up a few necessities at Target. Kacey said, “I’ll go with you.”

I looked at Connor, wondering if he would tag along too, but he informed me he would stay at the house and keep Lucy company while we picked up what we needed. I’m sure his stomach needed a rest anyway after he had eaten almost an entire pizza on his own. Kacey and I weren’t gone long and were back home again within a half hour. As we were unpacking our purchases, Connor watched a ball game on t.v.

“Hey,” he said, getting our attention. “Did either of you two happen to eat a Mint Oreo that tasted kind of funny?”

“No, why,” Kacey asked?

“Maybe,” I said, eyeing Connor with suspicion. “I had a couple of cookies last night. One of them didn’t feel right so I spit it out before I could taste it.” As I was talking, it was dawning on me that Connor definitely knew something about the funky cookie. He loves to play practical jokes, especially on Kacey and Mark.

“Connor, what did you do?”  I was suddenly very creeped out with the fear of what he could possibly have done to that cookie. I had put it in my mouth! I couldn’t even imagine what he might have done and why, but I was assuming the worst.

“Connor Dane, YOU TELL ME RIGHT NOW!” Connor was looking sheepish while simultaneously trying to hide his smile and I couldn’t help but laugh. I was hit with the full realization that Connor had somehow tampered with one of the cookies. He must have checked the package of cookies while we were gone and saw that someone had fallen victim to his prank.

Connor was fast-talking now, trying to justify what he had done. “I thought Mark was the only one who ate Mint Oreos…”

Kacey interjected, “My dad is probably the only one who doesn’t eat Mint Oreos!”

Connor continued, “So I opened up one of the cookies and squeezed toothpaste into it. Then I put it back together and stuck it in the middle of the package.” (The cookies were gone just about to the middle of the package when I had taken a few. I definitely got the toothpaste cookie.)

“CONNOR,” I yelled with mock indignation. “You are SO lucky I didn’t actually eat that cookie!”

“Yeah, Connor,” Kacey chimed in! “What were you thinking?” My dad’s gone for five days! Next time you try to play a trick on him, you might want to make sure he’s actually here to be your victim.”

Clearly, Connor is not a very smart practical joker, but we love him so I’ll forgive him. Mark got a good laugh when he heard how I’d become the unsuspecting victim of the ridiculous prank. As for me, just as soon as I can figure out how to make Connor unknowingly eat a brussels sprout, I will consider us even!

My Parents’ Old Stuff

One thing I noticed about my parents while spending time with them in Arizona – they each tend to discount many things the other says. I suppose this is partly due to being together for so many years. I guess after so much time, people tend to get on each other’s nerves a little bit and argue just for the sake of arguing.

Mom said it was a good thing we “girls” were there to help go through their belongings and decide what to pack and what to throw in preparation for the move home. If she and Dad had to do it on their own, she said, he wouldn’t get rid of anything Mom thought wasn’t worth packing. My sister helped Dad go through his clothing. She kept running from the bedroom to the living room to toss old worn out t-shirts and such in a big trash bag. Mom suggested she just take the trash bag back to the bedroom. Cori whispered conspiratorially, “No way! If the bag is in there for him to see what’s been thrown, he’ll have second thoughts and start rescuing things from the trash again!”

Mom and I agreed she made a good point.

These swim trunks went into the trash. I remember Dad wearing them when we were little kids when he would take us swimming. All these years later, he brought them to Arizona because he thought he might use the community hot tub. Swim trunks were required attire in the hot tub. Dad never did go take a soak in it. Good thing too. The elastic in his swim trunks was brittle! Indecent exposure averted!

We came across other old things too. Mom had brought some of her favorite recipes and cookbooks to Arizona so she could make some of their favorite foods and have a little bit of  home-away-from home.  I’m sure my grandma’s lemon bar recipe has been transferred to many a recipe card over the years. Mom’s version is looking a bit worn.

But it still makes delicious lemon bars, especially when those bars are made with the fresh picked lemons that are abundant in Mom and Dad’s Arizona neighborhood.

When I tasted these, it brought back memories of family gatherings when Grandma almost always brought her famous lemon bars. Some old stuff is worth hanging on to through the years.

 

 

Off to a Decent Start

Two days into January and I’m happy to report that I’m making good on all of my resolutions so far this year! I only hit the snooze on the alarm clock one time this morning. Resisting the temptation to give in to the desire for an extra hour of sleep, I ventured out from under a pile of warm blankets and warm dogs and braced myself for the cold morning air. I got dressed in my workout clothes, pulled up my hair, grabbed the iPhone and some ear-buds and drove off to the gym.

There is typically only a handful of vehicles in the gym parking lot when I arrive at 5 am. Today there were many more cars than usual. Normally, I recognize the same familiar faces during my early morning gym visits. Today there were new and ambitious faces. Said my friend Scott, who chats with me for ten minutes or so while he warms up on an elliptical near my treadmill before he heads off to the weights area, “It will be interesting to see how many of these people come back tomorrow or even next week.”

I knew he was probably right in his expectations but I secretly hoped that the New Years Resolutioners would stick it out. I remember how hard it was for me to keep going back at first. Some sort of encouragement would have made it a lot easier. I think everyone should have a friend at the gym to help keep them motivated. Maybe there should be an online service to match people up with a gym buddy. You know, you never feel as awkward trying to figure out how to adjust a foreign piece of weight training equipment when you have someone there to feel dumb with you or to laugh with you as you give it a go and realize just how out-of-shape certain muscles are.

 

I’m here to PUMP you UP!

 

I didn’t run today since I’m still nursing a pinched nerve or muscle strain or whatever it is in my back that I am impatiently waiting to move on. So far the ache has only moved down the back of my leg. But it felt good to move while I was moving, even if it felt tight and painful again as soon as I stopped. I hope I’ll be running again soon. And since I’ve yet to try out my new racquetball racquet, and since my pal, Lori just got one for Christmas, we’re both anxious to get back to our new sport.

As for doing more reading, I read a good bunch of a new book before going to sleep last night. My blog pal, Kimberly McKay recently published her second book, Facing Redemption and kindly sent me a copy to read. So far, I’m loving it and plan to post a review here when I’ve finished reading it.

And I cooked! Well, technically I cooked. As we drove home from our joint chiropractor appointments this evening and spying the golden arches, Mark said, “Should we just swing through McDonald’s and grab something to eat?”

“Eh,” I said as he turned the corner.

“Do you want McDonald’s,” he asked?

“Not really,” I replied and so he drove on by.

At home, without a meal plan and it already being dinner time, I offered to make pancakes. He turned me down. I offered to make omelets. He turned me down. (All this turning me down and yet he offers up no suggestions as to what he would actually like to eat. Typical. And what is wrong with breakfast for supper? I love breakfast any time of the day!)

But since Mark was turning up his nose at all my ideas, I went to the downstairs freezer to browse the selection of foods within. I spied a container of White Chili that I’d made and frozen a while ago. I hollered to Mark, “Do you want chili?”

“I would eat chili,” he agreed.

“You’d better,” I warned him! And so I cooked heated up the chili, sprinkled on some shredded cheese and added some heat and eat dinner rolls smeared with butter on the side. And it was way better than McDonald’s, I’ll just say.

Two days down. Only 363 to go!

Christmas Activities

Wow, this blog has been sadly neglected. The Kitchen Aid, however, has been getting a workout. Kacey and I have been baking Christmas cookies.

Chocolate Crinkles

Peanut Blossoms

Spritz Cookies

The Spritz cookies were made with my grandma’s cookie press. It worked like a charm!

Old-fashioned, but still works great!

And we used Grandma’s recipe too.

A TYPED recipe card!

And we used Mark’s grandma’s recipe for these Sugar Cookies…

Frosted Sugar Cookies

We’re almost done with our baking. I’m almost done with my shopping. There is still much wrapping to be done. And then hopefully I’ll have time to write about a really important event. If you’ve got connections with Santa’s elves, please send some my way. I could use a helping hand.

Messin’ Up the Kitchen

You know what I’m really bad at? Keeping a regular schedule. Life would probably be so much easier if I just scheduled regular times in the week to do household chores, plan a menu and go to the grocery store, or check in with my parents. I don’t check in on my parents often enough. And how hard could this possibly be? They live on the next block! But I think there’s some flaw in my genetic makeup that contributes to my habit of flying by the seat of my pants. I can’t tell you how many times there will be a thought in the back of my mind to get something taken care of , but I simply choose to ignore it because … I don’t know … because I’m either mentally or physically exhausted or maybe because I’m just that lazy. The flip side of this problem, though, is that I work well under pressure. I get things done best when there’s a sense of urgency.

I have the best of intentions to change my ways. It just hasn’t happened yet. There’s always that sense of guilt that accompanies the knowledge that I’ve sort of dropped the ball again. And I always vow to do better from that point forward. There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish all the things that I wish I could.

And so what happened on Friday is so very typical for me.  I was at work when I received a text message from my sister saying that we should probably talk soon, and seriously about our parents. My mom’s ongoing health problems are simply not going to get better. She has bad days and not so bad days, but she never has really good days anymore. Getting a full breath of air is a thing of the past for her. And as a result, she is often dizzy, sick, and utterly fatigued. Running errands, keeping house and cooking can seem like such daunting tasks for her.

My sis and I made a quick agreement to get over to our parents’ house this weekend to help take some of the weight off Mom’s shoulders. I had a quiet weekend ahead anyway, what with the kids back to school again and Lucy Pie healing from her hip surgery. Normally Friday nights are my lazy nights. I usually read or watch a movie and then do chores over the weekend. But since I had just agreed to squeeze in extra activities, I tackled as much housework as I could so as to free up some hours on Saturday.

I was up early on Saturday morning with the Girly Pies. I took them out in the backyard first thing, then passed out meds and treats and filled their food dishes. I did a few more of my own chores then before showering and heading over to Mom and Dad’s house to do whatever was needed there. My sister arrived not long after me and we were able to pare down Mom’s to-do list pretty quickly.

When Mom asked Dad what he wanted for lunch, he asked what the options were. She informed him that there weren’t many. The cupboards were getting bare. I remembered then that I had really been slacking off on my resolution to cook more and make enough to share with my parents. Even cooking on a regular basis is sometimes just too much for my mom.

I ended up running to the local McDonald’s and picking up sandwiches for everyone. Yech! That was motivation for me. As soon as I got back home, I started planning a menu and making a grocery list. It was a dreary, rainy weekend anyway. If I was going to be stuck in the house because of the weather and a recuperating dog, I might as well cook. My parents were my main motivation, but this would benefit my own family as well. Try as I might, I just cannot seem to get into a good routine of cooking. If I manage a home-cooked meal two or three times a week, I’m lucky. So while I doubted I would soon turn over a new leaf and start cooking every night, (I’ve proven myself incapable time and again,) I knew I could do a whole buncha cooking all at once.

I broke out the favorite cookbooks, checked the freezer to see what I already had on hand (lots of ground beef and lots of chicken,) paged through the cookbooks to find the tried and true favorites and whipped out a list. (Go figure. Having a grocery lists makes the shopping so much easier and cheaper!)

I started last evening with the family favorite Sloppy Joe recipe. I made four pounds of this – some for Mom and Dad, some for us, and some for the freezer (at Kacey’s request.) Next I made a big pot of White Chicken Chili, again dividing it into three portions. This morning I made a couple of meat loaves and a big pot of traditional chili and some cornbread muffins. And if my enthusiasm holds out, later on today I’ll make a big pan of lasagna to split with Mom and Dad.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Yeah, so these aren’t the healthiest of meals, but they’re home-cooked and can be frozen for later use, so that’s half the battle right there. I may have bad habits, but at least I’ve figured out how to capitalize on at least one of them. And we’ll be eating happy this week!

I ran into my boyfriend, Blake Shelton at the Minnesota State Fair

He’s kind of got a big head,

…but he’s Blake Shelton, so I guess he’s entitled.

You’d think that seeing Blake would have been the highlight of my visit to the fair, but oddly enough, it wasn’t. The highlight was my new sticky roller purchase.

No refills are needed, ever and, as promised, this sticky roller removes short, wiry red dog fur from my navy blue love seat like none of the other sixty-odd fur removal products I’ve tried. Comes complete with telescoping handle and a handy purse-sized roller for those embarrassing times when you realize you are out in public with dog fur stuck to the butt of your black dress pants.

They don’t call the state fair The Great Minnesota Get-Together for nothing. I think we were all there today.

Scary high swings!

And there is so much to see! We went inside the Education Building only because there was a huge line of people waiting to get in when it opened. I never did figure out what the big deal was, but we got good free stuff in there. Many of the Minnesota state colleges and universities were represented there. We got bags there! You know, the eco-friendly kind that you can take shopping and reuse again and again. And we got drawstring back packs there. I use those to carry my shoes to the gym. We filled these with all kinds of free things that were available all over the fair. I must have been in a healthy state of mind. I kept picking up flyers on good nutrition and recipe booklets and one on the benefits of flax seed. (Yeah, I’m not sure what that was about, either.)

And we ate. I don’t even want to admit everything we ate. But I will, just because the fair is an exercise in excess and so I’ll admit to doing my part. We had deep-fried cheese curds for breakfast. We had shrimp on a stick. We had turkey jerkey, Sweet Martha’s cookies, an apple pie pocket ala mode. Mark had a foot-long hot dog. We had gelato!

We saw big stuffed animals.

And artwork made out of plastic cups, forks and spoons.

There were a few things we just looked at and said, “Hmmmm. No thanks!”

Mark checked out new docks for his parents’ cabin at the lake. We both checked out motorcycles at the Harley Davidson shop. I sat in a black Cadillac SRX at the Cadillac dealer. A sales girl got in and sat in the passenger seat and tried to sell me one. I said, “Maybe in the next year.” But shhhhh… I don’t think a Caddy is in my price range. It was fun to sit in it though.

We saw strange people. We ran into old friends. We learned to follow people with strollers when trying to make our way through a crowd. People get out of the way for strollers. Mark pointed out the Cutco booth. We just bought a knife set from Cutco. I looked over to the booth where a young man looked at us expectantly. I gushed, “Cutco! I love you guys!”

We proceeded to talk with the young salesman and tell him how much we love our new knives. I bought a new ice cream scoop from him and he asked if we could just stand with him all day and continue talking about how much we love Cutco products. But we had so much more to see and do, so we said goodbye.

I bought a concoction to turn wine into a frozen cocktail. They were giving out free samples! It was good!

Mark checked out a “shack” for ice fishing.

Hell, if this is what ice fishing is all about, I could do ice fishing!

After six and a half hours, my feet hurt and my stomach was full beyond full. The sun had come out and I could feel my skin beginning to burn. There was nowhere to turn to escape the smell of sweat. So we headed for one of the fairground exits , sweaty and tired, but happy that we’d experienced the fair for another year.

Granola Galore!

I was trying to figure out, does the granola I make taste so good because I make it myself? Or is it really just that good?

I just wanted to make something healthy for myself to eat for breakfast. A friend had mentioned she made her own. She explained that her homemade variety had much less sugar than the commercial brands. That appealed to me and I figured if she could make her own, I could do the same. I bought a few ingredients and then looked for a recipe that fit the things I’d purchased. (I’m a little backwards that way sometimes.) I found one that worked, modified it to suit my own tastes and it turned out good! It was kind of pretty to look at too! I ate it for breakfast for a few days and decided it really was that good. Way better than the store-bought kind.

Heather tried it when she and Brad were here for the weekend and she loved it. I decided to make some for her to take back home. And then I realized my own batch was gone, so Sunday night I ended up making my third batch of homemade granola that week. Mark called home from work and asked what I was doing. When I explained about the granola he asked, “You’re not taking it all to work, are you?”

“Um, yeah. I was planning on it. Why?”

“I liked it. It’s good to snack on. Can you leave some at home?”

So that’s why it had disappeared so quickly!  I told Mark I’d leave some home for him. And before I could take my own container to work the next morning, Kacey poured herself a bowl and ate it before leaving for her own job. Who would have thought that my family of junk-food lovers would get so excited over my “healthy” food?

I’ve since replenished my supply of ingredients. Now Mark wants to know if I can make it into bars for easier snacking. Clearly I’ll be making more and doing so often!

Bake and stir and bake some more…

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups coarsely chopped pecans (or cashews or slivered almonds or a mixture of whatever nuts you like)
• 3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins (or golden raisins or dried cranberries or a combination any of these)

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

Mix in the raisins after the granola has cooled.

Pour in a bowl. Pour in some milk and enjoy!

And the world got a little smaller!

When I started writing a blog five years ago, I never would have guessed that the people who came by to read my stuff, the people whose stuff I’d make a routine of reading, would someday become people I would consider friends. I never imagined that. And furthermore, I never imagined I would meet these friends in person. But I have now actually had that privilege; several times. It is always an honor and always so fun to see my blog friends in person, to see live and in person those personality traits that are so easily displayed in their writing.

Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting Agg! He was in town for work but made time to squeeze in a visit with me. We made plans to go out for lunch at a place Agg was quite sure he’d read about on my blog, although I assured him it was not me who’d written a review. When he suggested we eat at The Nook, I was excited. I had seen a local news story on this little bar/restaurant a while ago. There had been a fire, and some ensuing renovations and then a grand reopening. It was while watching this news story that I learned this little corner place is locally famous for their burgers, the Juicy Nookie in particular! I made a note to self to go eat there sometime, but just hadn’t made it happen. Agg’s visit was the perfect excuse!

Agg arrived at my house in the late morning and let me just tell you, my very first impression was, “Holy cow, this man is TALL!”

I didn’t want to be rude though, and so I kept my thoughts to myself. (Agg, how tall are you anyway?) And just so you have some perspective, I am a tall woman at over 5′ 9″, so a person must be pretty tall to strike me as being very tall!

As Agg was getting out of his car, I came out to the driveway to greet him. You might think it would be awkward meeting in person when you’ve never done so before, but it wasn’t awkward at all! We hugged like old friends and then I hauled him inside to meet the members of the family who happened to be around. Brad and Heather were home for the weekend, and of course, Agg had to meet Lucy Pie and her pal, Dacotah! It was too early yet for lunch, so we had some coffee and swapped stories and Brad and Heather got to know Agg a little bit. And Agg is a great storyteller too. He swapped hunting tales with Brad and told us the stories of how his various dogs had come into his life. I hope someday that Agg will write on his blog the story of the dog who kept digging up  paving bricks and scattering them all over the yard! It is quite a comical tale!

Soon it was time to head to lunch and we all piled into my car and headed for St. Paul and The Nook!

Once inside, it was clear that there would be a wait for a table. The host informed me it would be a half-hour wait unless we cared to go down to the lower level where there was open seating. Everyone was agreeable, so we headed downstairs where the first thing we saw was the old school bowling alley!

I thought we might give the old school bowling a shot, but it just didn’t pan out. I definitely want to try it another time!

Just beyond the bowling alley was the bar and an area full of tables. There was an open spot for four and a friendly waitress quickly passed out menus. Brad, Agg and I all decided to try the famous Juicy Nookie. Heather opted for a Philly cheese steak style burger. We didn’t have to wait for long before our food was delivered, along with a warning from the waitress that the Juicy Nookies were extremely hot and that we should use caution before partaking.

I figured I could munch on my onion rings for a while and let the burger cool a bit. The onion rings were delicious – crispy and greasy as all good onion rings should be with thick rings of onion inside the delicious batter. After a few rings, I wanted to try that famous burger, so I threw caution to the wind and took a nice big bite. It was delicious, stuffed with cheese which exploded out the backside of the burger when I bit into it. MORE NAPKINS!

The conversation remained lively as we all enjoyed our burgers and more stories were shared about Agg’s various travels, his time in Germany, and experiences on the Autobahn! As we talked, we all noticed the ceiling of the bar. It was covered in dollar bills that had each been signed or personalized in some way before being stuck to the ceiling.

Agg asked the waitress the significance of the bills. I thought I’d heard her say there was another bar where people stuck money to the ceiling, but there was a bit of a challenge to it. She said someone decided to start doing it at The Nook. The ceiling is low and easy for most people to reach, and so the trend caught on quickly. (For the record, our little group left without parting with any dollar bills.)

Before we left the restaurant, I asked Agg if we could have our picture taken together. I reminded him that when he’d met Rock Chef, they’d failed to take a picture together and I wasn’t going to let him get away with that this time. He easily agreed!

After lunch, it was back to the house where Agg got to meet a few more family members, Mark and Jake. He also chose this time to bring in a few gifts. Lucy loved hers and refused to let Dacotah play with them at ALL!

Lucy is shown here with the rope toy Agg brought for her. Rope toys manage to survive quite well around here. The little stuffed duck with the squeaker inside? Didn’t last 20 minutes before the squeaker was dead and stuffing was being removed. I had to take it away!

Soon it was time for Agg to head back to the airport. I walked him out to his car and we talked about how fun it would be to meet with some of our other blog pals one day. I’m sure Agg will do so sooner than me, considering how well-traveled he is!

Thanks for the visit, Agg! We had a great time!

Independence Day

It was a typical July day, sunny and hot. A hundred degrees, in fact. The pop and boom of fireworks filled the air all afternoon. The heat didn’t keep the kids inside and it didn’t stop them from running and playing either. They played football in my sister’s back yard until their cheeks were red and their hair was soaked with sweat. The adults sat under the shade of a sprawling shade tree, drinking cold drinks and watching the kids. Inside, there was more food than we could ever hope to eat. It was a great way to celebrate freedom!

The Week in Cell Phone Photos (and some video!)

It’s been an eventful week!

Miss Lucy Pie got herself a new pool. The story behind this is that I wanted to give her a bath one day when she came in with muddy paws. I tried to put her in the bath tub but she was having nothing to do with it. She leaped out of my arms before I could get her in and took off running as far away as she could get. Later, I had the idea that maybe a kiddie pool was the answer. And it was. On Sunday, after this video was taken, Lucy willingly let Kacey give her a bath in the pool.

Mothers Day and Kacey’s birthday fell on the same day. I’ve pretty much fallen off the cooking bandwagon, but wanted to make a birthday dinner that I knew my baby girl would enjoy. And she did!

Cheese-Stuffed Shells

Yum!

My kids gave me the coolest gift for Mothers Day! A customized cell phone cover. I’ve been looking for a new cover, but couldn’t find one I liked. This one? I love!

Lucy has laid claim to the area under the pine tree in the back yard. She loves to hang out there. It seemed a fitting place to put the garden stone my nephew, Matthew made her for Christmas. (He made one of these for all of the family dogs! Isn’t he creative?)

Lucy Pie’s Lounge

Belinda and I ventured out of the office Tuesday at lunch time. The food trucks travel around downtown St. Paul in the summertime and we walked to Mear’s Park to see what was good to eat. We found Lamb Gyro wraps – basically a gyro in a wrap instead of in flat bread. And they were delicious!

The Cave Cafe – I highly recommend!

And after work on Tuesday, B and I enjoyed a little happy hour with some current and former coworkers! FUN!

Mmmmm…. BEER!

File this one under the not really funny, except it is category. My mom broke her toe and ended up having to wear one of these boots. How did she break her toe? She was helping my dad put on the boot that he’s required to wear for his own foot injury. (Dad’s boot is much bigger than this one.)

The fashion at my parents’ house

And the happiest ending possible to my week … Kacey is home from college for the summer!

Now to figure out where to put it all until next fall!

Happy Friday, everyone!