How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

photo c/o Wikipedia

Awesome


Awesomer...

The CHOCOLATEY part, not the 'partially hydrogenated vegetable oil' part.


This week I discovered that they make a chocolate version of one of my most favorite candy bars in the world, Charleston Chews. And yes, I now know that they make a strawberry version too, but with very few exceptions, please don't add any type of fruit ingredient or healthy fruit taste to any of my sinful delights. If I wanted fruit flavor I would have headed to the produce department. It's kind of like how my sis Sal Gal says that the apples ruin a good apple crunch pie. It's like phrasing gossip in the form of a prayer request, it's just wrong. You with me?

Charleston Chews have been around for a very long time, since 1922 to be exact, but they are often hard to come by. My grandparents said that when they were growing up they were sold in almost every store. But now I can only find them in certain ones in my area. I don't know how people made it before 1922, wondering around aimlessly I'm sure, headed through life without these delicious treats. It's even made with imitation chocolate, but I cannot bring myself to discriminate. And it was of no surprise to me to see that the Tootsie Roll Industries are the ones who produce this sweet bar of love, as you'll remember my post from a while back about another obsession of mine.

And then the other day, after I take my last bite of one, I look at the wrapper and it reads, "Try Me Frozen." Try you frozen you say? Well I thought you'd never ask. There's a Charleston Chew on aisle two waiting on me and it's freezer bound I tell ya. I LOVE desserts and candy that you can put in the freezer. I love putting these and these and of course Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies® into the freezer as they all seem to become more delectable with ever degree they drop.

Anyone else out their share the love for these chewy bars? I bet your grandma does. If not, you got something else I should try?

As I said, sometimes they are hard to find, but this chic wouldn't hesitate to jump in her car and drive to Charleston for this Chew.

I Should Have Stuck With It

Riverdance was a. ma. zing! I could just kick myself for dropping out of Buddy Sherwood's School of Dance at age seven. I could have been on that stage! Actually no I couldn't have, because what impressed me more than their dancing was their impeccable posture throughout the entire performance, and since I have the posture habits of a hunchback, I would have been cut from the get go...not to mention that when we used to watch the home videos of my dance recitals you could always see my lips moving as I was counting my steps. And one, and two, and three, and kick. That would never fly with the Riverdance troupe. But a girl can dream, can't she?


Over the past couple of weeks M to the Izz-A has gotten a kick out of watching me going around the house doing my best Riverdance performance. And when we met his mom at McDonald's on Friday night so that Kate and Kennedy (my niece) could spend the night with her, he made me demonstrate my skills for her in the middle of McDonald's. I don't think I've ever really seen her laugh that hard. Thanks for the encouragement Mary.



On the way to the show we stopped and had dinner, and after we ate he thought it would be a good idea if I had one last practice.

I am a complete dork. But on this Valentine's Day, may he be reminded that I am in fact his dork.

I'm not quite catching the same amount of air as they do, but at this point, I have to tell ya, I thought I still had a chance. And if this wasn't good enough for 'em, I could always bust out with some Celtic freestyle...or the Irish sprinkler maybe?? I asked Matt if he thought I was good enough. The jury is still out on that one, kind of like when I asked my parents if they thought I was good at basketball in middle school.


We decided to regain some composure (and class) and act like the civilized couple that we are and take a normal Valentine's Day picture together.





We had a great night and the show was incredible. It ended up being that they did not need an extra member on their Riverdance troupe. Oh well, I'm not a big fan of leotards anyway.

Valentine Sweetness

Today when I got home from work Kate and I made Valentine cupcakes. We made them from 'Pillsbury scratch' because let's face it, Funfetti® is hard to beat. Why mess with a good thing?

I'm in love with her little hands.

Always a lady.

The final product (minus about five which didn't make it to the photo shoot because someone licked all of the icing off of them)

Going Back

As I mentioned yesterday, since Valentine's Day is this weekend, I'm feeling the love and decided to scan a few of our engagement pictures to share with you all...from way back when. They were taken almost five years ago, which blows my mind. Has it really been that long? And was my hair really that dark?

Since I had to scan them the quality may be a little off. For some reason I didn't end up with the photos on a disc, only the actual prints and negatives. I need to get them put on a CD.

Anyway, here we are...

What could have been that funny?

As long as you switch out the side dishes you can call it a whole new meal, no?

I'm in the process of scanning some of our old photos and since Valentine's Day is approaching, I thought I'd share a few of them this week if I can make myself get around to it. But that's gonna mean that I have to start my posts before my eyelids start getting that heavy feeling. So, more like around 6ish... I have the bedtime of an eighty year old.

Back before M to the Izz-A had twin peaks (our term of endearment for his receding hairline) and before my unfortunate forehead was given the gracious gift of side bangs, we had our engagement pictures taken on a local beach. Actually, I really love these particular photos because we look so young and clueless carefree. Well, while looking at these photos, I was reminded of our dating days and our first year of marriage.

By the way, I don't think I've ever shared with you all the fact that the boy bought a ring and proposed to me before we had ever mentioned anything about marriage or even brought up the idea spending forever together. Looking back, he must have been nuts. I mean, who in their right mind would do that without having first talked about it or at least mentioned it in conversation with the other person??

In the spirit of honesty, I must tell you that I do know part of the reason he fell for me. It was during our first month of dating when I made that third trip back to the lunch buffet line with him one Sunday after church that he knew I could hang. I guess he assumed that if I liked to eat like that, that I could also cook.

Oh, the folly in assuming, it gets even the best of us at times.

He quickly learned during our first year of marriage that while I did enjoy cooking, my list of recipes was sorely lacking. Although he never mentioned it back then, he now likes to frequently make fun of the fact that I cooked pork chops five out of seven days a week. I can't even defend myself with that one. I mean, what? I like pork chops and so I cooked them often. I baked them, fried them, George Foreman grilled them and mixed them into any casserole I could think of. They were my safety meat of choice if you will, because I wasn't yet comfortable with making fancy roasts or anything else for that matter. I figured that as long as I changed out my cooking method (Monday-fried, Tuesday-baked, Wednesday-grilled, Thursday-fried again, Friday - he better take me out to eat for pulling such pork chopping stunts) and as long as I changed out my sides, it was a whole new meal. Kind of like when you wear that same favorite shirt all the time but change out your jewelry, it's a whole new outfit. They're called staple items people, embrace them.

Well, I'm happy to say that I've made definite gains in the cooking department and I honestly cannot remember the last time I made pork chops. I do still love them, but obviously I tend to get on kicks, and right now I'm on a crock pot kick....what a wonderful invention! I'm gonna send a Valentine to whoever invented it and I hope mine makes it to them before Matt's does.

Come, Let's Take A Picture Walk

Some of you may have noticed (okay, maybe just my sis Sal Gal) that I took a little blogging break last week. I had fully intended one taking a week off but here I am five days later, two days short of a full week. But that's as long as I could go. And although I didn't blog, I definitely still took tons of random photos to share.

So in order to do a little catching up, I decided to post more pics than words on this one.

Here's Kate reminding me that the blogging world is up and running and that I am not in the game this week. I could have sworn that I heard a "nah nah nannah boo boo" coming from underneath her paci.

Now, the next pictures melt my heart. Since it's been cold here lately and Kate actually has hair now ('bout time), I've noticed that after her bath every night Matt blow dries her hair so that she want be cold with a wet head. I was determined to get pictures of it and Wednesday night I did just that!

She's okay with having someone do her hair but prefers to do her own makeup. I can't blame her.

Thursday night after Kate went to bed, M to the Izz-A and I watched the movie Fireproof.

Now I understand what all the hype has been about. It was a tear-jerker of a movie and just a sweet blessing to watch. No, the actors will probably not be up for any Oscars but it didn't really take away from the movie, believe it or not.

Friday night Sal Gal invited us over for tacos and Wii.

Actually the boys played Wii and Wii ate brownies and ice cream!








Saturday Kate and I spent the day together while Matt helped a friend with a home improvement project. She let me put pigtails in her hair again which is worthy of documentation in itself.

We even managed to paint her toenails. Although I thought the color was a little lighter and a little more pink than it turned out to be, we were both pretty proud of the outcome.



Six more weeks of winter? Who says? Spring has sprung around here!



Saturday night Kerri and I planned a last minute trip for shopping and dinner. I left in such a hurry that I forgot my camera but we had such a good time. We shopped until the stores made their announcement that they were closing. That's the sign of a truly successful shopping trip!


And today after church we pretty much just hung around the house TV.


Here's M to the Izz A doing his I'mgonnapretendlikeIdon'tseeyoutakingmypicture face.



And here's Kate and me doing our IdefinitelyseeyoutakingmypictureandI'mgonnacheeseitup face.



You can see the new throw pillows I bought last night on our shopping trip...a long overdue purchase.

So what was the point in me taking some time off if I end up doing a day by day play by play???

Who knows.

I'd like to say I skipped a few days of blogging for deep meditation or to do volunteer work to help my community, but really it was more along the lines of mile-high laundry piles and dried on dishes.

Either way, it's over, and I'm back!
Happy Sunday!

Shuffle Step

Last night M to the Izz-A told me that he got us tickets for Riverdance for Valentine's Day. I'm so excited! And if you know me, I've been practicing my moves all around the house ever since the word 'Riverdance' left his lips, just in case they spot me in the crowd doing a flawless tap number and want me to join them for the remainder of their tour.

The fact that he took the initiative to purchase the tickets kind of blew me away. But lately, he's done several things that have taken me for a loop:

- Aside from Riverdance, he shared with me the other night that after years of watching me wrestle with my blow dryer and straightening iron everyday (oh who am I kidding, a few times a week) he's developed an idea for an invention that will cut out all of the hair hassle. It's some kind of dryer and straightening tool that he described it to me in amazing detail. I've never heard him talk about anything in too much detail other than the deer he spotted on the way home from work. And now he's designing hair tools? (Cue Twilight Zone music here)

- Be warned, this one is the kicker. On the way to the mall last weekend (and the fact that he went with me to the mall should be an item all to itself) he brings up the fact that Kate will be two years old in June, and we will be....well, numbers aren't important here...but his point was that if we were planning on having another child that we should probably start thinking about it and working it into our whole mental 'timeline' of things. Woah! (Cue any music that would go well with my eyes bugging out of my head here)

The kid's on a roll I tell ya. His brain has definitely been churning lately. Actually, one of my favorite things to say to him is, "You have a fun time in that brain of yours, don't ya?" I seriously think he does.

So really that's all that's been going on around here lately. That's the news on our home front. I've been pretty boring lately....so much that I'm even getting bored with myself.

But now I'm off to wrestle blow dry this horse's mane that I call my hair, also know as my morning aerobics.

Have a great Wednesday!