Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Today, I went to a bridal show with a friend. It was all fine and dandy. A perfectly good time, that got better when we found this:

That's right, warm chocolate chip cookie pie. It was delicious. Second only to Jeff's very own! The taste while, like I said, was delicious, brought upon nostalgia. Nostalgia to walk into the kitchen and find my Suzie Homemaker of a husband whipping up some chocolate chip cookie pie. 


That did not happen. 


But, when I turned the corner to go home, I saw a beautiful sight. My long lost, Cleveland dwelling Saab was parked in front of the house. I nearly crashed, as I tried to jump out of the car before putting it in park. Jeff was here. He had driven here. All the waiting and what seemed like endless weeks without him dissipated as I jumped into his arms.


 Jeff is my warm chocolate chip cookie pie! 

The Future

On this action packed Saturday, I took just minute out of my day to think about what the future will be like. Ahhhh, the future. Living in the same town as Jeff, under the same roof, with a houseful of children running around. Well, not really. But, I happened to stumble upon this website that got me thinking.

A Website For Thinking!

That's right, this website allows you to upload pictures of you and whomever you'd like to parent your child. Then, it shows you what your babies would look like. Obviously there is a lot of science behind it! So, I popped in some pictures of myself and Jeff to see what our offspring will look like. I did it a few times, well enough to sport a basketball team, and used different pictures of us so that the babies would look different. Here is what we got:

Starting at guard, part of the 1-2 twin ducky combination, Reid Enrite:

At the other guard, twin sister, Ella Vader: 

Starting at center, our aryan race child, Lou Zar:

Starting at forward, with a scary little smirk, Maximum Red-Head:

And rounding out the front court, our Asian sensation, Brock Lee:

No surprise that these babies are incredibly good looking. They are supposed to be the spawn of Jeff and I. While it was all in good fun, I did think it was important to find out what the real baby on the way will look like. So, as a favor to my brother and sister in-law, I popped their pictures in and found out what Jeff and I's niece or nephew to be will look like. Here he/she/it is:

I'll let them choose the name. 

Cosmic Bowling

It's been a while since I've been bowling. I do enjoy it immensely when I actually go, so I took the invite to go to "cosmic bowling" tonight with some friends.

While I do like the game of bowling itself, yes, game, I do not quite give it sport status, there are a few aspects that irk me. The whole shoes thing. Gross! Who knows how many people have stuck their smelly feet into those bowling shoes. The shoes I had tonight were actually pretty comfortable, and even a bit stylish, especially the ones that glow in the black light.  But I can never get the fact that countless strangers have had these exact shoes on their feet. What if they had some kind of foot fungus? Maybe athlete's foot? These are just some of the things that stay on my mind the entire time I bowl.

The other thing that bothers me is the whole bowling ball thing. You are supposed to go around, browsing for a ball, trying them on for size and weight. This is the worst part. How many dirty, grimy fingers have been stuck in those little holes? People eat french fries and pizza, then stick their grease covered fingers in there. Kids pick their nose, then stick their fingers in there. The teenager with mono licks her fingers and proceeds to stick them into the same bowling ball that may be on your fingers! So gross! Every time I picked up that ball that had the name NANCY written across it, I cringed a little, for more than Nancy have stuck their fingers in those holes!

I'm not a germ-a-phob or a clean freak, but these things continually run through my mind as I bowl. At least I can use that as a reason for my poor scores tonight!

Charm on the Fly

A big day in 5th grade today! D.A.R.E. graduation. The first real "graduation" like milestone these kids have achieved. There was a certain excitement in the air as these 10 and 11 year old kids were ready to declare that they will never touch cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs in their life. They also promised never to pick on and bully their peers. So basically, for most, today was the day innocent children begin to tell lies.

"I will never do alcohol." Very few people can live up to a statement like that, although nearly all the children vowed to it. One child was a little more accurate when she said, "I will never drink too much alcohol." Too much alcohol for what? Too much alcohol to throw up? Too much alcohol to end up in an unfamiliar place in the morning? Or, too much alcohol to poison yourself? She will find out sooner or later. Hopefully later, but eventually, as we all did.

After the students vowed to be mormons for the rest of their lives, it was time to get their diplomas. I specifically asked last week if I needed to give a speech at this graduation event. And, I was specifically told I did not. I was happy about that. I can write a decent speech, in fact I'd love to write one for a politician, but my delivery is weak as soon as more than 30 people are in a room over the age of 12. The whole picturing them naked doesn't work. Especially when we are talking about half an audience filled with minors. I could be arrested just for the thought!

To my dismay, the fifth grade teacher who presented her students with their diplomas first, in fact, gave a speech. Awesome! Now I would look like a jerk if I didn't give a speech. With t-minus five minutes to prepare, I decided to just go up and wing-it. Really, just let my charm take over, since I have so much of it. Lacking charm, I winged it just fine, minus the one time my voice cracked. In fact, I may have pulled off a better speech than I could have written. Ehhh, probably not. But much shorter and sweeter!

Jeff is a good public speaker. Actually, he is an excellent public speaker. If he decided to take up politics on the side, I would write some good speeches for him to deliver. And boy, would he deliver!

D.A.R.E. - dare to be drug free!

A Sh*tty Start

My day started off awfully shitty! Literally. I don't think it is any secret that I have a dog. And, with all the glamour that comes with having a dog, there is one not so appealing part. The part that happens, usually, twice a day.

Each morning, I jump start my day going for a nice run with Shea. I leave empty handed and return with a plastic bag full of poop. Yes, the only stinky part about having a dog. All the pros make up for it though. Or, at least I had always thought! 

As Shea and I took our normal route, we were heading down a slight hill toward a loop. I'm not sure what actually made me do it, but I looked down. What I found was not normal. Since I am a responsible dog owner, I was toting around a bag of poop. To my dismay, the bag I grabbed this morning just happened to have a small hole in it. Well, maybe a medium sized hole. I honestly don't know. If I had known, I certainly wouldn't have grabbed that bag! For, when i looked down, this is what I saw all over the front of my fleece:

How nasty is that? Shea's business squirted out the hole in the bag unbeknownst to me. As I held my arms out in disgust, I noticed it had gotten all over my sleeves too. Luckily for you, it popped into my mind to take pictures for documentation. 

I had no idea what to do. The first thing that crossed my mind was to take the fleece off, which I did immediately. I spotted a garbage can and decided that I would throw it out along with the bagful of poop. Actually, it wasn't quite a bagful anymore! When I got to the garbage can, I changed my mind. 

This was a North Face fleece. The part that zips into the shell jacket. The jacket that I bought, on sale, for $350 with my parent's credit card. They weren't happy about it, but when they saw how much I loved this jacket, they let it slide. And, here I was, ready to toss it. The jacket would be rendered useless without the fleece lining it. I decided I needed to first rinse the fleece by hand, and then power wash it. That's what I did. 

Notice, the washer set to "super." Luckily, it worked. The fleece now smells like flowers and no one would ever suspect that it was once covered in dog poop. 

I couldn't help but worry that my shit filled morning was a metaphor for the day to follow. Thankfully, it was not. My day went just fine. 

Take Me Out To Eat

 February is done and over with. I went the entire month without seeing my husband. I am definitely glad that February is the shortest month, but it isn't that short! As far as I am concerned, it is a very long month!
With not seeing Jeff the entire month, I cannot tell you the last time I went out to eat. Well, actually, I can. It was with Jeff, his parents, his brothers, and their significant others. Yes, that long ago.

Everyday I travel by restaurants, as I am sure most everyone does. For me, I long to go in them. Whether it is a restaurant I actually like or not. I just want to go out to eat. And quite honestly, I don't want to go out to eat with just anybody, but  I'd still take it!

Jeff and I had several local favorites in this area, as well as a few chains which we liked to patron. Each time I drive by them, I smile for the memory of the meals we've shared strikes me. We tend to choose Italian fare more often than not. So, when I had a pot of sauce stirring on the stove, I couldn't help but wish I were at one of these places. Nothing like great food and bad company!

To give myself the feel of actually going out, or at least what I remember of the feeling, I decided to treat myself as if I were at a restaurant. That means I was first served bread with some oil and vinegar. Nice touch, right? A little different when you have to serve it yourself, but delicious nonetheless!

I skipped the whole salad portion, as that really sucks to make for yourself and went right to my chicken and sauce entree. It would have been better if someone had made it for me, or even if it was Jeff's sauce. But, not for the fact that I would be waited on, more for taste purposes. I really suck at cooking! 

I miss my husband. I miss him very much. For many reasons. But, mostly because he would take me out to eat at nice places! I didn't have to try to entertain myself at dinnertime. Not everyday anyways. 

A Lovable Lab

I felt bad for what lay ahead for Shea all day long. The vet. A yearly check-up and some shots. Never a good time. And with Shea, he takes everything on with such gusto, it just makes it that much more heartbreaking!

When I got home and strapped Shea's leash on, his tail showed his excitement. For he thinks wherever we go is all about play, play, play. Usually it is, but not today. He didn't seem to notice as we walked into the vet office. He was captivated by the smells of other animals and dog food. Who wouldn't be?

It struck him that this was not a good situation when the vet technician came in and stuck a cold, metal thermometer up his little butt hole. From that point on, after feeling as though he had been violated, he crawled beneath the chair I was sitting in for protection. After calling in reinforcements, they vet was able to give Shea his necessary shots and draw some blood. Then, all she wanted to do was listen to his heartbeat. You think she was asking for his first born son. Really, he was just frightened. You take the big baby that he already is, multiply that by a thermometer up the butt, and a few needles in his bony little legs, and fear is inevitable. When she finally got to listen to his heartbeat, it was beating faster than a leer jet. But, she understood why.

To atone for Shea's bad visit, I brought him to a local golf course. Covered in snow, I figured it would be a fun place to play. Boy was I right! The boy loves nothing more than galavanting through the snow.

I thought it was the perfect place to play. Nobody would be on a snow covered golf course on the first of March. And, mostly, I was right. Until I noticed some rustling up by the club house. Turns out the owner was there, doing some maintenance and clean up work. The first thing I thought of to do was to run further away from the club house, to be unseen. Shea had other ideas. He ran up to where had seen the man. Got his face right up to the glass door that looked inside. When the man opened the door, Shea, as bold as he is, burst into the clubhouse. I quickly called him and amazingly he listened.

I had no doubt I was going to get yelled at. This man was not going to be happy with me. The thought that he may even call the police on me for trespassing crossed my mind. That would be good. A teacher arrested for trespassing. Setting a good example! Well, turned out, he was thoroughly entertained by Shea. He came outside and participated in the fetch game we had going on. He invited us back to play at the golf course anytime we'd like, barring any golfers of course!

See how lovable Shea is?