The scarf

My mom is NOT happy about the fact that I ride the motorcycle with Chris. She worries about her baby.

In spite of that, she gave me a scarf that she knitted so I could wear it while riding in the cold.

Thanks Mama! I love it and it helps keep me warm.

Happy Birthday Bebe

Happy Birthday Bebe!!

American Girl

Yesterday was our traditional trip to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro. All the girls go so AG & KB can pick out the doll they want for Christmas. Yes, they get their gifts in October, but at least they get the ones they want. We waited until December the first year and AG was not able to get what she had wanted for weeks. She was very graceful in her disappointment, but we didn't want that to happen again, so we moved it up to October.

On the first trip, the bistro was closed, but the girls were promised a visit to the bistro on the next trip. Well, we found out on that trip that you have to have RESERVATIONS to eat in the bistro in the doll store. So, that was a bust last year.

This year, we got it right, October AND reservations. We had to check in at 9:15 am for our 9:30 reservation.

We made sure we arrived early. We all converged on AG and her parent's house and headed north. We arrived at 8:45 am. Try explaining to little girls that the store doesn't open until 9:00 am. That was an agonizing 15 minute wait!

The girls had already decided which doll they wanted prior to our arrival, so they were able to get in, make the purchase and make our reservation time. Kirsten was the chosen doll this year.

At the bistro, they inquire as to how many dolls are in your party. Each doll is given their own chair which attaches to the table. KB asked our server if their dolls were going to get pretend food, and she was told, that no, they weren't getting pretend food, they would be getting real food. And as you can tell from the photo above, they did indeed get real food.

After our trip to the bistro, we were back in the boutique picking out the all important accessories.

Between the iPhones and the GPS in my car, we were able to locate a Hobby Lobby and navigate there without any difficulty at all.

Spent some time shopping at Tanger Outlets.

It was a great estrogen laden day!

Simple, but good

I went to the grocery store today, and loaded up on groceries. I bought some ground beef and hamburger buns, and some sloppy joe mix. I hadn't had SJ's in a long time. So, I'm back home, putting away the groceries. Chris comes across the SJ mix, and looks at me and said "SJ is to me, like LeSeur English Peas are to you". Uh oh. Cross that one off the list of future meal planning.

So, I back tracked just a tad and made hamburgers and fries instead. It was simple, but it was good! I was happy with the way it turned out. I spiced them up a bit, and all of the spices worked together. (luckily) The meal came together in about 20 minutes. Hardly any mess. Gotta love the simple, but good things.

Anyone need any SJ mix?

(Chris read my blog today and reminded me that we did eat the SJ's, so they are back on the list and you can't have the SJ mix -- he's going to post a comment, so be sure you read it).

Oh no I didn't!

Three words:

LeSeur.English.Peas.

I hate them, I have always hated them. My mother made us eat them when we were kids. Thank goodness our dog Fritz liked them. When the parents left us at the table until we cleaned our plates, Fritz made his rounds and ate the peas for us.

I have gone out of my way to avoid English Peas.

I cooked supper tonight, and thought Chris would like something green. (I'm anti-veggie) And, I found myself opening a can of LeSeur English Peas!!! *Gasp*

They still smell as gross as I remember them. Chris enjoyed them though.

Gripe Gripe Gripe

I don't normally blog about gripes - but I'm going to today. This morning, I'm sitting at a stoplight, waiting for it to change. Sitting in the lane next to me is some young guy in a pickup truck. He has his music so loud that MY car is vibrating. The "music" was awful, I'm not even sure it classifies as music.

It just made my skin crawl, and made me irritable in just that short time. I'll bet he must always be in a bad mood if how it made me feel is any indication.

So, if YOU want to listen to loud, bad music - fine, but don't make me listen to it too.

End of gripe.

Stationery

The loss of a friend of 30 years this week has understandably left me a wee bit emotional. I'm finding myself stumbling across a memory and all of the sudden, I'm crying. Sometimes I'm laughing.

I am kind of amazed at how much joy a box of old letters has brought me.

Today, I sat down and wrote some letters to friends. It felt good. I highly recommend it.

I've always had a love of paper. Growing up, just give me some stationery and I was a happy girl. I guess that scrapbooking was a natural progression. When it came time to write the letters, I couldn't find any stationery! Bummer. So, I opted for whatever I could find.

Tonight, after a trip to Bass Pro, then Carrabba's, we found ourselves at Wal-Mart. I was strolling along and saw "stationery". Jackpot! Or so I thought. Wal-Mart, you are officially ON NOTICE (as kindredly would say). Where's the stationery?! I feel you misled me. I walked up and down that aisle, but there were no pretty pads of paper and matching envelopes to choose from!

I was disappointed. I ended up buying a notebook with a pretty cover. So, until I find some real stationery, the lined paper torn out of a notebook is just gonna have to do.

And you know what, that's perfectly okay! Every letter Ronda wrote me was on notebook paper, and they brought me just as much joy as if they'd been written on the finest stationery you could find.

Eron told me Ronda's funeral was beautiful. I would have loved to have seen the photo montage of her life. I'm so glad Eron was able to go. I went down to the river today, and walked along the paved path while her funeral was underway 1,000 miles away. I laughed and cried. I miss my friend, knowing that we'll never have that reunion, at least not on this earth. I'm comforted knowing she is in Heaven.