What I Did Last Friday

My friend Heidi and I went to the town square in Rockwall last Friday to have breakfast, catch up and laugh a lot. We ate at a place in the square called "The Fatted Calf".

 

The food was tasty and all the ingredients fresh.  I went for the Huevos Rancheros.  I hear their pancakes are wonderful.

I loved this table in the center of the room.  I think it's a wine barrel cut in half.

We visited some really cute shops in the square.

This shop was called Enjoy.  It had cute kitchen items and sold packaged dips, soups and jars of everything!

They had samples out of course and guess who came home with pickled asparagus, passion fruit jalapeno jelly, dip and soup mix. 

We visited Bella's House.  A gift shop with oodles of everything.  I've posted the link to her website so you can get a better idea.

These signs are everywhere now a days. 

I fell in love with these Sid Dickens Memory Blocks.  I've never seen them before.  They are much larger than the picture makes them look.

My picture doesn't do them justice.  If you look at his website  here  you can get a better idea of how they are made and the endless possibilities of arrangement.  Be sure and read the "about" section to see how they are made.  I've already got ideas forming in my head of the blocks I would like to buy and where to put them.  I just need to win the lottery to buy them.

Have you heard of geocaching?  Heidi who loves all things travel (she was a stewardess for Delta Airlines for a zillion years) is into this game.  It's kind of a scavenger hunt played all over the world.

Here is my pitiful version of how it's played.

Someone (this I totally don't get) hides a cache (little piece of paper).

You go somewhere and check in on the geochaching site using your smartphone.

You tell the site where you are.

Then a satellite beams you a map with flags pointing to spots where the caches are hidden and clues to help find it.

You head for the location using your phone to guide you.

When you get there you start looking for it.  It could be anywhere.  In a tree, submerged in water or even in a bolt on a gutter spout. 

When you locate it you have your friend take your picture.  (I don't think this part is required:)

I'm not going to give away where she found it.  It was in a tin box and had a magnet in it.  That's all I''m telling.

Then you open up the tin box to get your cache.  Sometimes people leave something after they get there cache out.  In this case rubber teeth.  Eeew!

Then you sign a little piece of paper with your game name and date you found it.

Then you login into geocache to say you "Found It".

It was a lot of fun.  I've heard that families do this together too.  Maybe my husband can take this up when he retires next year.  I'm He's looking for something to keep him busy.

If any of you do this leave me a comment.  I'd love to know.

Always

I'll be loving you always

With a love that's true always

When the things you've planned
Need a helping hand

I will understand always

Days may not be fair

That's when I'll be there always

Not for just an hour

Not for just a day

Not for just a year

But, always

Happy Mothers Day!

I Hop

I HOP has this amazing item on their 7 for $7 menu.  You're lucky I stopped long enough to take this picture before I finished eating it.  It's called a Cheddar and Bacon Hash brown Stack. 

I discovered it when mom was in the hospital.  After I went 24 hours not eating anything, I went next door to I HOP and ordered it.  It's deliciousness had nothing to do with the fact that I was starving because I went back and ordered it for the next three days.  Always good! 

This is how it is layered. 

Hash Browns

Cheddar Cheese Slice

Tomato Slice

One Fried Egg Over Easy

Hollandaise Sauce

Lots of Bacon Pieces

Chives

It was so yummy my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

It's served with fresh fruit or pancakes.

They have other versions of the hash brown stacks but I can't remember what they are.  It doesn't matter because this is definitely the best as far as I am concerned.  The menu says it's for a limited time only.  I'm going to have to attempt to make this myself.  I have a great blender hollandaise sauce recipe that would work.

Anyone for breakfast?

Spring

Our Blue Bonnet season is almost over.  To me spring is here when the wildflowers come to life and the fields become blankets of blue.  People come to capture a picture of their children, pets, brides, engaged couples or pregnant couples posed and nestled in the blue flowers.  It makes a pretty picture but I cringe when I see babies or small children placed on the ground in the field.  I am too afraid of what is crawling and/or slithering to sacrifice a pudgy little leg. 

Spring brings out snakes too.  This one was on my back porch about a week ago and way to close to my back door and me.  When I stepped out and saw this I let out a one word expletive that was probably heard miles away.

It was big and fat.

And long ....about 5 feet

Spring also brings....

At last count it was 17!

I was at work when the sirens started going off.  The hospital called a code black.  Patients were moved away from windows.  It was a very scary time.  I drove home in it.  My very bad!  There was heavy rain and wind and once I reached the toll road I could feel things hitting under my car.  There was a big billboard flashing "Tornado Warning Take Cover!"  Cover?  Where? 

There are many survivor stories out there but the one about the grandmother that took refuge in a bathtub with three children is a true miracle.  After the storm all of them were safe but the bathtub was gone.  You can read about it here.

Irish Blessings

Before I throw the corned beef in my crock pot,  I thought I'd share a little piece of my Irish heritage with you.

I never knew my maternal grandfather, William Harlan. 

He died when my mother was just 13 years old.

He was born in Vermont and was full blooded Irish. 

He came to California after enlisting in the Army.

This is where he met a beautiful, feisty young girl named Esther.

I absolutely love this picture.  It was taken before they married. 

They are obviously very happy and quite smitten with each other.

They became a family and had three children. 

The little girl sitting in my grandmothers lap is my mother.

She is my very first blessing.

As we say here in Texas

Happy Saint Patrick's Day Y'all!

Wishing You Many Blessings!

A Random List of Good Intentions

I made every attempt to relax in January and for the most part I did pretty good.  Actually I was pretty much forced to, as I have an annoying pain in the neck.  I developed a pinch nerve in my neck and besides the off and on pain, I have had intermittent tingling down my arm to my fingers.  I had an MRI a few weeks ago and as mom said after having one "When I die, make sure I am really dead before they put me in a casket."  Even if your not claustrophobic it's just too close for comfort. 

I am a list maker.  Partially because I have so many things on my mind that I want to do and mostly because I am at that age where I'm afraid I wont remember to do it if I don't write it down.  I carry a little notebook around that I write everything in from weekly menus, grocery lists, everyday to do things and someday to do things or as I call the latter "Good Intentions".  Next week and the week after I will be taking a few extra days off from work so I will be able to spend a little time on crossing off some of my good intentions on my list.  I hope!

The Storage Room

I think this is pretty self explanatory.  This may take a few days!

The Pantry

This really doesn't look that bad but all the stuff on the floor makes me nervous. 

The Clothes Closet

Again it's not too messy but there is just too much in it.  When I go in to find something to wear it's like a big blur to me.  Everything melts together and I will stand there for a long time with brain fuzz trying to decide what to put on.  There has to be a way to organize better.

The Under The Stairs Closet

I don't even know where to begin with this job.

These four are on the top of the list.    There are so many more.

• Scanning old pictures
• Converting VHS to DVD
• Writing a story before I forget all the details
• Re doing my blog for the purpose I intended it to be (make sense?)
• Get a picture of me that looks like me.  Or have someone take one and photo shop it till it looks better than me.  Ha!  If I smile my eyes close and if I don't smile my cheeks fall.  Fail either way.

I did join Pinterest.  My goodness there is a lot of stuff out there.  Love it. 

So today is the first day of February! We really have had no winter at all. It's in the 70's here in Texas. I even went out and pulled a few weeds. It's just not natural but the older I get the more I like it. 

Hope your day is as beautiful as the weather is here!

 

Relax

I have a mind full of "good intentions" for the year.  No resolutions.  Number one on my list is to learn how to RELAX.  I tend to over do.  I don't sit still.  I think I'm a little obsessive compulsive and I multi-task myself trying to do more than what needs to be.  So I plan to quit wearing myself out and take time to enjoy the day.