Favor

I have to tell you something so amazing, I’m not sure where to start.

I have told you about our sewer problems before. Here and here and here. They have been an ongoing concern.

At our last meeting with the city people, the inspector, the engineer, and various other men that attended, all agreed that they were not at fault. Well, the sewer line guy didn’t say that, because he couldn’t. Someone from his department did not do their job, and even though he did not say anything, we knew.

We left that meeting with an understanding that they would do their own research as to how we could fix our problem, the problem most certainly not of their making.  Even though they were not admitting responsibility, they wanted to be certain to get all up in our business to make sure that things would not be fixed incorrectly. That would just be wrong.

That was in October. You can imagine getting all those schedules coordinated takes some time. They finally called back and wanted to set up the meeting the week that we were in Florida. We said that was not going to work for us, and rescheduled for yesterday morning, the 19th of November. Two months and a day from when we found out that there were serious, problematic, expensive defects in our line. Before that, we were blissfully ignorant, and thought things could simply be fixed.

Honey and I have talked about this, on and off, for years, and more extensively, for months. Even before we knew the extent of the problem, we knew we would have to do something. We put things off until after the family reunion we had here in July, because nothing says PARTY like an exposed sewer line.

I think we have been concerned, but not consumed with this problem. We asked God to intervene on our behalf. We asked for the city to show us  favor. To treat us like people that they knew and cared about. To be fair and helpful. We asked that the city would hear us.

Honey and I, and many of you, have been praying for a solution ever since. The plumbers solution was to reroute our entire sewer line, wrecking our entire basement in the process, adding a holding tank under the floor of our basement.. That option was the one that would cost more than our first house. We didn’t really like that option for many, many reasons. Plus, our city informed us, they didn’t like that option either. They wanted the tank on the outside of the house.

The city guys knew we needed a solution, and they knew they that whatever it was, they were going to have to approve it. They put their thinking caps on. Like Tom Terrific. The two solutions they came up with were complete destruction of the basement, as well as our bank account, with gravity feeds and tanks of sewage and pumps that always need to be fixed. This, and only this, was the focus. No other solution was available, we were back to the rock and a  hard place.

It seemed like all was lost. The talking had stopped.  Honey gave one final plea. He said that when we built our house 10 years ago, we paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a builder, we paid almost $8,000 to the city to check the builders work. All we know is we did what we were supposed to do, and now it is all our responsibility, with no one accountable for the problem they caused. He didn’t loose his temper, he wasn’t accusing, he just spoke the truth. All were quiet.

And then, in a no win situation, God gave Roy, the guy who doesnt even do the sewer work for the city, an idea. Roy said, “Why can’t we just do this?” Honey said everyone started talking at once!

It was a GREAT idea! It would fix our problem, the city would approve it, it could be done! We would be able to sell our house when we were ready to leave it! It was amazing!  It is still costly, but the basement and house will be intact!!!

And, it was a total God thing. All 8 of those men were professionals at what they do. They have to deal with these kinds of problems every day. They didn’t have an answer. They couldn’t solve the problem, they had looked into it for 2 months.

Our BSF lesson this week was John 6 with bits of Mark . The one where Jesus put the disciples into the boat and then He went to pray. A storm blew up and the waters grew rough. When he saw them struggling, He walked out on the water to them, and while at first they were afraid, they took him on board.

One of our questions asked if the disciples  were in difficulty because they had sinned in some way, or because they had obeyed the Lord’s command.

Jesus put  them into that boat. He knew the storm was coming, that was no surprise to Him. They were right where they were supposed to be. They obeyed and were still in rough waters.

We sang a song this week at BSF and the line that kept repeating over and over in my mind was “Trust Him when to simply trust Him seems the hardest thing of all”. We know that God hears our prayers, but we are more than aware that the answers are not  always what we want to hear. We have no doubt that God can solve our problems, but the solution could be unsatisfying, or hard to get to, or painful. Or expensive, like this one.

Sometimes I feel like we are problem magnets. We have unusual  things happen to us, sometimes in rapid succession. I have wondered if people think we are the most disobedient Christians around. Or just plain dense. Why else would we be tested over and over again?

That’s why I really liked this lesson. We can be right smack dab in the middle of God’s plan, and still be tossed around in the rough seas of life. God is never going to be finished refining us this side of heaven. We might as well get used to it. Because of the storms of life, we learn to trust Him more. And one thing we have learned over the years? God makes a way for us to navigate every storm. It hasn’t always been easy, but He has never left us hanging.

We are so thankful  for this answered prayer! We are so thankful that some of you interceeded for us as well. You have no idea how that comforted us.

And Roy, bless his heart, was a kiss on the cheek, straight from God.

NORTH Captiva Island

After our bad weather in The Keys, it was nice to go back to Fort Meyers and sunshine! We hung out at the pool and soaked up the sun.

On our last day, we drove down to the marina where Capri Patt picked us up and took us to her island. Finally a perfect, sunny day! I was excited to finally visit. They live there six months out of the year, and I can’t picture them living there, because I have never seen it or any pictures of it. I loved their home!

She and her husband Jim gave us a tour on their golf carts. There are no cars on their island. It was beautimous!

Most loverly of all was their yard. One of the few that had grass and landscaping. This guy had a crazy hairdo!

Their purty yard. Her yard in Michigan is loverly as well. She knows the name of all of these plants too.

This picture is taken from the crows nest. That is the Gulf out there. Now I can picture where Patt is when she calls on her cell phone. She says this is where she has the best reception.

Now I can picture where she cooks! Her house was beautiful, but that is no surprise. Her house here is beautiful too. And she helped make our house a sparkling beauty as well.

When we were sitting out on the deck, this turtle just walked by. She wanted me to pick it up. I knocked on its shell. That was the best I could do. He was big. And a little kweepy. I am a big weenie.

She showed us this turtle shell she had found, it’s owner had vacated the premises. She wants to do something with it because it is very cool. Look how brave I am when it’s an empty shell.

Honey looked like a professional islander.

Capri Patt and her honey, Jim. They are professional islanders.

Patt says her dogs love living there. That’s Splash. She is very photogenic. She is normally very shy, and I have barely ever touched her before. We became friends that day, must be the relaxed island lifestyle.

Splashie and her brother Jack. He has always been my friend. Island or Mitten.

Thanks Capri Patt and Jim , for showing us your own personal paradise!

It was very strange to be on Captiva on Saturday and back in The Mitten on Sunday afternoon.

We had a great trip, and the Kids did fine without us. Honey said that was good to know. And when did I want to go again?

Honey is going to our second meeting with the city about our sewer line this morning at 9. We would SO appreciate your prayers. Thank you.

Key West

The second part of our trip was driving waaaaaay down to Key West. We had been down as far as Islamorada once when Abby was a baby, but they were in the middle of a tropical depression, so we just turned around and left. I wouldn’t want to be around for an actual hurricane. A tropical depression was blustery enough.

This time, we drove down with the tail of Hurricane Ida thrashing us. No rain, but high winds. Boats were warned not to go out.

It was a long drive. It seemed to take longer to go through the Keys than it did to go from Ft. Meyers to Miami.

What comes to mind when you think of Miami? Cuban refugees? Elian Gonzeles?  Crockett and Tubbs from Miami Vice? Extremely wealthy people living in huge estates? Gloria Estefan and The Miami Sound Machine? Horatio Caine and the CSI Miami crime unit?

I think of Jackie Gleason and the opening of his TV show. Remember the palm trees? Oh, I liked Jackie Gleason.

This was the hotel pool, the prettiest of the three that we stayed at. The day we arrived was probably the sunniest. It was all downhill, weather wise, from there.

We drove around a lot. This is the sort of thing that Honey enjoys. Like visiting The Biggest Ball of Twine. He can now say that he has stood further south in in the entire USA, than anyone else in our family.

This was my favorite part of Key West.

Key Lime pie. YEAH, Baby!!!! The first time we had it was at Outback Steakhouse. We ate there twice, because it was SO good!

These are called banyan trees, and they were very cool.

We walked around downtown, where everything is very touristy and close together. We saw interesting people. Some were sleeping on the beach with all their belongings. Some were being arrested.

 They were having speed boat races down at the pier. You can all imagine how much I enjoyed that, but Honey liked it a lot. I made friends with a dog nearby. His name was Chipper. There were a lot of dogs around. We saw one cat, sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk. It did not look well to me, so I didn’t touch it. But I wanted to.

There were also a lot of chickens wandering around all over the place. We never did get the story on that. They were really pretty roosters. A blond rooster and a red headed rooster. The Mrs. Schmenkman Roosters! As you can see, my rooster is in a flap about something.

There is much ado about Ernest Hemingway in The Keys. I have not read any of his writing, because I have no culture. My knowledge of him is limited to his granddaughters, Mariel and Margaux, and the fact that he killed himself. None of that made me want to learn more about him. I did read some of the information about him and concluded that we didn’t really need to pay $12 apiece to visit his home. One little fact did give me pause though. Or should I say, paws. People talked about his pet cats that had 7 toes or something, and how some of the descendants of those cats still live in his house. They mingle freely with the visitors. I really did want to go and see the 7 toed cats and try to get some kitty snuggles. But we didn’t.

We are not night life sort of folks, the weather was not good, there was not much for us to do and the hotel computer was supernaturally slow.

On the bright side, our hotel was really pretty, we loved the pool area, we met a very nice and interesting couple from Denmark or Norway or somewhere, that we had a long conversation with, enjoyed 2 yummy steak dinners at Outback, I bought a really cute pair of Privo shoes at the Ross Dress For Less, and we discovered Key Lime pie, that  alone was priceless!

We can now add another place to our list of locations we have been, and don’t ever need to visit again.

On Thursday, we conclude our trip back on Fort Meyers beach and a trip to see Capri Patt!

Secret Squirrels

I have a confession to make. The reason that I had a lot going on last week and didn’t really do much blobbing? It was because Honey and I were in Florida.

ALONE!!!!!

Oh yes we were, and it was wonderful! We have not been away together since The Ab-Cat was 2 and The Boy was 5 months old. So, basically,  almost decades. As they are now 20 and 18.

I decided not to mention it until we got back, because it didn’t seem like the best thing to broadcast on the worldwide web that our kids were home alone for the first time ever. The very last day of the trip, I found out that Abby had  posted it on her Facebook. So much for my secret squirrel plan.

We had so much fun! We decided to go for 9 days, as opposed to 2 weeks, because we had never left them before. We weren’t sure how everyone would do. It was as much for us, as it was for them. Everyone did fine.

Except the cats. I have a feeling they were neglected in the lovin’ department. I plan to remedy that ASAP. They are already swarming me. They love the Mama, and Mama loves her kitty-witty boolie-woolies.

Here we are at the start of the trip, at Detroit Metro Airport. Or, as Mrs. Schmenkman calls it, The Armpit of The World. Because we flew Spirit, we were in the old, smaller terminal. Which was quite awesome. It’s the newer, ginormous, Northwest  terminal that you have to walk to China in. That is The Armpit.

We made both The Ab-Cat AND The Boy take us to the airport, because The Boy would be picking us up from the airport alone, and we thought it would be helpful for him to have one trip under his belt. Also, we had  to be fair. Because if one had to get up at at 5:00, and the other one didn’t, the whining would have been catastrophic.

It was a good thing they were together, because as I understand it, they took the scenic route home. Through some interesting neighborhoods. It took the two of them to rectify the situation. Ab said The Boy got SO excited when he finally recognized where they were! I was ever so glad  they were together because if you recall, Miss Ab-ra Cat-dabra cannot navigate her way out of a paper bag without explicit directions. They worked it out!

I need to explain a couple of things about traveling with Honey. He always has an agenda. Always.

He likes to be early. I don’t like to be any earlier than necessary. Honey would say that I cut things way too close. But, I must say, we were there an hour and twenty minutes before our flight.

Before we left, The Boy asked him if those were his “traveling clothes”? Now that he mentioned it, Honey does always travel in this outfit. He has his necessary traveling companions. His coffee and his paper.

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And this. His itinerary folder. I told him this was going on the blob. Because I don’t want you to think I make this stuff up. He is all about the papers on vacation. Newspapers, all those flyers in the boxes lined up on the side of the road, real estate brochures, anything that will help him learn more about his new environment. He likes to be informed. He doesn’t want to miss anything. He likes to explore his new surroundings. We call him Clark W. Griswold, from National Lampoon’s Vacation. He likes to go see The Biggest Ball of Twine.

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And one last thing, and it is the best thing. Because of his relentless exploring, he knows where everything is. He knows where the ice machine is. He knows where the pool is, where you can get the complimentary bottles of water, where breakfast is served and what time. And he remembers all the roads. This amazes me. I can go to the same places year after year, and have a vague idea of where I am, but Honey remembers the entire map, and everywhere we have ever been. He is just as amazed with me. Amazed that I don’t remember ever being somewhere, that I have evidently been before.

We were rather perky for having gotten up at 4 a.m.

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We flew into the Fort Meyers airport by 11. Honey and I just marvelled at that! We have driven to Florida at least 15 times, and it takes forever. We may never want to drive again!

We collected our bags and went to get our rental car. Honey upgraded to an Edge, because the rental guy said it was a better deal. We wouldn’t have to pay any tolls, and some other junk that I can’t remember. That guy stretched the truth about a few other things, and every time we went through the sunpass lane without paying the toll, we wondered if we were going to have  about $800 in tickets waiting for us when we got home!

The next day we took a trolley down to the beach to see a sand sculpting contest. It was the second of three days, so nothing was finished. It was interesting to watch them work, they all had their own ways and tools.

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This one took first place. Of course, it was finished then.

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This was our favorite. It was called “Food Fight”. The dolphins were tossing around puffer fish. He was an especially personable man and seemed to enjoy interacting with the people. He didn’t win the contest, but we found out later that he won the people’s choice award.

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The next day we went to Sanibel Island. We had gone there once with my Grandma Georgia when Abby was 9 months old. We shelled a little and watched a whole bunch of guys surf with kites. Sometimes they came right up out of the water! It was a perfect day for it, nice and windy.

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We then went over to another beach further down the island. There was no one in the water. Imagine that.

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Honey had the trip broken up into three parts. This was the shopping part, because our location was in a shopping rich area. I had no problems with that! We didn’t buy too much. I did score a bottle of chai!

We were in Fort Meyers for three days, and tomorrow I will tell you about the second part of the trip.

What I Got!

I got a present!!!

From my Capri’s!

Capri’s Lis and Patt gave me the “Life is Good” shirt, and Capri Deb made it all personal and such!

I shall wear it with pride, as it is true.

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Thank you my Friends, I wuve it!

Honey Has a Dream

I told you about my dream yesterday.

Today, I’ll tell you about Honey’s dream.

He is dreaming of  a pasta maker.

He keeps telling me that that he wants to get ME one for my birthday, or Chistmas,ect.

This is how he justifies getting something into our house that is a total want, as opposed to a need.

Now, you all know I don’t want a pasta maker. For any kind of holiday. For any kind of reason.

Maybe Santa will bring him a pasta maker for Christmas. And bring me something else. Something that I would like to have.

Way Back When-sday-The Beginning of AquaMouse

Three year old Mousey at our neighborhood pool. She logged a lot of time on those steps.

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We loved the neighborhood pool so much, we put one in when we moved down the road to our newly built home in 1999.  It was GREAT for years! Now? Not so much. Honey just takes care of it, and no one really goes in it.

This must have been the summer before we moved in, because that is the temporary fence. I’m pretty sure this was the first time we ever swam in it. If you will notice, the small mouse hand pointing the #1 finger. The other kids were holding their fingers up.

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Here is Honey teaching 4 year old Mousey how to swim, without the floaties. She was fearless with them, and in about 15 minutes, was fearless without them.

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Ta-Da!

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She loved being thrown around. From an early age,  she was like a seal in the water.

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Or a sea monster.

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I think that Way Back When-sday went swimmingly!

This and That

Our Halloween had several activities going on, but none of them were trick or treat related. Our children have reached the age where this is all but a non-holiday.

Evidently, so have the kids in our neighborhood. We had a grand total of 7 knocking on our door. Maybe our ugly yard scared them away.

Speaking of our ugly yard, the City Sewer Guy called yesterday afternoon to set up another meeting. It will be the week before Thanksgiving. Still praying for that end result.

I wasn’t going to make our traditional Halloween snacks, until The Boy said that they were the best thing about Halloween anymore. Well, how could I resist that? They are SO yummy. Just what Honey and I need. Extra snacks.

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Thanks to LMNOP for taking the picture. I couldn’t get the flash to work and she is a professional. She also said that she knew  when she came in the house that the plate of cookies was staged for the blob. She’s like a little baby genius.

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I have been knitting a lot. Halle Berry enjoys napping in the nest-O-scarves.

The AquaMouse was in fine form on Saturday. Her team had their Division meet and they came in first place! She swam 3 events. A 200 medley relay with 3 other girls (her leg was the butterfly), and individual 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. Her times in the  medley and the Fly qualified her for the Conference meet. Don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about? I’m totally copying off the schedule paper.

What I do know is, if she does well at this next event, she qualifies for the State Finals! And that would be nothing short of AMAZING!!!! Imagine, our Baby Mouse swimming with the big fish!

She doesn’t think she will qualify, but she didn’t think she would make it this far. We are just so proud of that Fly Girl!

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This is her cute little stance. She always does it. The other swimmer is getting near her. She is getting READY to dive in!

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Off she goes! She’s a beast.

Today is that funky election day, so our high schoolers have no school. Mouse said last night that she heard it was because the voters were scared of the highschoolers.When did adults get so wimpy?

As a happy result, The Mouse and I are spending a half day together. She needs to go to the mall to have her glasses fixed. The arm fell off, and I cannot do my usual trick of jamming a toothpick in the hole to extend it’s life. The hole is too small. In all of my 35 years of wearing glasses, I have never encountered this phenomenon. I should have copyrighted it while I had the chance.

Since we will be in the area, a trip to the Value World will be in order. That ought to make her the happiest Mouse in the land.

AND, when Mrs. Schmenkman was here, and we were spending all that quality time together with the other Capri’s, we heard from Capri Patt that there was a new Sonic that had opened where there used to be a Denny’s. And it is RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO THE MALL. I have read many blogs telling of the unimaginable delight that is the Sonic.

I have been to Sonic exactly twice. Once, years ago with my family in Orlando, where they had ice cream, and where I did not, because I was actually embracing my low carb life style  in the correct way. The second time, was when Schmenky was here 2 weeks ago. Capri Patt and The Ab-Cat had ice cream, Schmenk ordered a  sugarfree limeade, that the worker girl did EVERYTHING in her power to switch to a CHERRY limeade, and I had a Diet Coke. With ice. That is one of the things that I have heard ya’ll waxing so poetic about. Supposedly, the ice at Sonic has magical properties.

It was a very good Diet Coke, but I don’t know about all that magical stuff.

All that to say, I have not eaten their food. So, perhaps today, Mousey and I will partake of the food. If we do, I will surely let you know. But I have to tell you right up front. Food is food to me. This annoys Honey to no end. He likes to think about food, and talk about food, and talk about how to prepare food. I could either enjoy a yummy meal or have a bowl of Cheerios. It’s all the same to me. I’m just meeting a need. The need of satisfying hunger.

Hope you all have a Tom Terrific Tuesday. Who was Tom Terrific anyway? I forget.

They Were All Yellow

The Boy has been busy. Busy getting into accidents. In the last 2 weeks, he is 2 for 2.

Before I tell you about the accidents, I have to tell you about the ticket.

He got a ticket after he had been driving for about 3 weeks. It was for turning left on a yellow light. He says yellow, the police officer said red. He was sick about this. Seriously, he was in distress. I know how he feels. That is a bad feeling when you are pulled over.

I would be more upset about this, but to be honest, the police in our town have just gone hog wild. They have a new little racket. They like to give a ticket with points for a minor infraction so you can go before the judge and have the points removed if you will pay a higher fine. Honey and I have both gotten tickets in the last 3 years for this. Like I told the judge, it’s a judgement call for me to make if I feel like I can slam on my brakes, so I can catch  the yellow light. In that split second, you weigh your options. Sometimes, especially if it is raining, or in Michigan, snowing, or you have someone thisclose on your tail, the better choice is to go. Plus, do all of my passengers need to grab for the safety bars, just so I can stop, when I could have made it through with no problem? Most of the lights in our town have left turn signals anyway.

All of this would not be nearly so annoying if we did not live in a town that has  people flagrantly turning left on RED lights as a matter of course. They just keep on comin’. Or speeding, or not paying attention because they are talking on the rackin’ sackin’ phone! Go get those guys!

The boy now has a fear of the yellow lights. Being the conscientious driver that he is, he now stops at ALL yellow lights, if it is in his power to do so. But the woman behind him last week was not privy to his history. When the light turned yellow, he stopped. She accelerated, and drove right up into his truck. She broke his bloody truck!

We were so thankful  that The Boy and LMNOP were not seriously hurt. They had sore necks and really bad headaches, but were fine. The Boy was going on a retreat with his jr. high youth group boys that night. It was a long weekend for him! Those jr. highers like to hang from him like baby possums.

It doesn’t look as broken in the picture as it really is. It looks like a giant stepped into the truck bed and bent it.

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They want to throw it away. That is probably for the best, it has over 160,000 miles on it, needs a new exhaust, every warning light is permanently on, door locks and windows are haphazard. After he got home, the truck bed door fell off.

The woman who hit him was really sorry. She said that she thought he was going to go through.  She was not paying close attention.The Boy said she was so rattled that he gave her a hug.

Honey and I both agreed with The Boy that we were GLAD that it wasn’t his fault. That made it a little bit better.

Last Sunday, The Boy was on his way to church with his friend, Tiger BatBoy. In Tiger BatBoy’s car. Tiger BatBoy was going about 45 through a yellow light when a car turned left, right in front of him. WHAT UP WITH THAT?????

Now Tiger BatBoy’s bloody car is broken.

They both have sore chests where the seat belts caught them. The airbags didn’t go off.

Honey and The Boy have been spending quite a bit of time looking to replace the bloody truck. They are sharing Honey’s Grandpa Gray Taurus. I am back in the big high top conversion van, which I quite like. Comfy leather seats, good cd player, temperature on the rear view mirror, chapstick, kleenex.  Honey’s car lacks certain amenities.

All of this is inconvenience.  A big, fat, costly inconvienience. A little treat we like to call Michigan No Fault Auto Insurance. 

We are most thankful to the Lord for the safety he provided to The Boy, LMNOP and Tiger BatBoy. We know how quickly your life can change in a vehicle. We are grateful for the hedge of protection.

Scarecrow Brain

I  asked Honey last night if he had any idea what I should post about. He was not helpful. He was watching some dumb baseball game. The World Series, or something like that.

Last week, I had a ton of ideas, but I had no time. This week, I have a bit more time and I am wishing that I had written some of those sparkling beauties down. My memory is faulty. To say the least.

I offer you an example.

Just today, I went to Sam’s Club. Because we were out of cream and cheese.  I do remember the important things. I bought a few other staples, broasted chickens, lemon juice, kosher salt and apples. Only to return home and have Mousey ask, what do I do with all that lemon juice? Honey chimed in about the salt and apples.

The cooking show that we have been watching this year is called “Secrets of a Restaurant Chef” and Chef Anne Burrell is a fan of the kosher salt. Honey kept saying that we should try the kosher salt. Is kosher salt any different than regular salt? I do not know. So I bought him some. I said Honey, I bought you a little treat!  Evidently I said the exact same thing when I brought home the last kosher salt. 

I put the new kosher salt in the pantry next to the old kosher salt.

It taxes my brain to remember these things. On these types of days, I wish I could just do this.

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Well, it’s not much of a post, but it’s all I can remember.

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