An Open Letter to Greg

Dear Greg-

Thank you so very much, I think, for bringing home that box of heavenly goodness.  Please feel free to do so at any time.  Loretta must be one amazing cook.  I do think it is a good thing that you do not travel to New Orleans very often and that we live on the other side of the country or your wife would seriously weigh 500 pounds.  I think that stuff should be on a DEA, FDA, or ATF hit list because I CANNOT stop eating it.  I hope you got some before you left because there's like a 99.99999998% chance that all you get when you get home is a box with a picture on it.  I don't even want to know how much butter is in it.  Good thing it's the 5th ingredient in a list of 6- right behind sugar, which is at least behind pralines and pecans.  One redeeming quality is that I can pronounce all 6 ingredients.  That means the calories are better for me, right?  I must admit that I'm not totally up on what a praline is, but I'll fix that as soon as I'm done here.  They are yummy, whatever they are.  Thank you so much for thinking of us.  We all appreciate it, but mostly me.  So glad you're home! 

Love,
Shan

pra·line/ˈprāˌlēn/Noun

1. A smooth, sweet substance made by boiling nuts in sugar and grinding the mixture.

2. A crisp or semicrisp candy made by a similar process.

PS-I've decided that I love online dictionaries!
PPS- Maybe it's not such a good thing that pralines are the second ingredient behind praline flavoring.  Looks like listing pralines at the top gives one a distorted view of how much sugar there really is in this box- and I notice there's no nutrition label.  Convenient..  This is definitely a time when ignorance is bliss!

Mission Accomplished

For the last several years I've thought it would be cool to make freezer jam from strawberries we grew in our backyard.  Yesterday it finally happened.  We went from this:

 to this:

in rather short order.

It's been declared "yummy" by Steven and now I'm off to try some myself.

pave·ment

pave·ment  (pvmnt)

n.

1.

a. A hard smooth surface, especially of a public area or thoroughfare, that will bear travel.

b. The material with which such a surface is made.

2. Chiefly British A sidewalk.

 

Use it in a sentence:

The best thing about pavement is that we have some (the thoroughfare kind, that is, not the sidewalk kind!).  =)

Curb Appeal

curb/kərb/

Verb: Restrain or keep in check.

Noun: A stone or concrete edging to a street or path.

Use it in a sentence:
I never thought I'd need to curb my excitement over the fact that a curb was poured, but I do. 

Isn't it beautiful? 

It might soon be followed by a road.  After 6 months, I don't think I could curb that much excitement.

Oh, happy day!

Graduation Flashmob

Other people had functioning cameras at graduation last week.  I'm glad, because they were able to record this:



Fun memories!

It Really Does Happen

For all those who feel like these days will never end...

I'm here to say that they do- even though I didn't believe it back then.

And you really will turn around and wonder where the time went. 

 

And you'll wonder when, exactly, did her friends switch from the stuffed, plush type to the living, breathing help-you-be-the-best-you-can-be type?

 And you'll feel happy and sad at the same time.  But mostly happy.

 And you'll wish that you had fully charged the battery in your camera before you left home.  Because then the picture of your child leaving the auditorium to get in line to be announced as a graduate won't be the last picture on the camera with a good "zoom" function.

And you'll be left taking the picture of her big moment with your cell phone. (Which at least you'll have and be grateful for it!)

(Still not perfect parents- not sure exactly when that part comes- but blessed to have such amazing children, anyway!)

 

Congratulations, Erica!

Leaving the Comfort Zone

3-part miracle for today:

1) Sang a duet with Erica at Seminary Graduation.("Oh How Lovely was the Morning" arranged by Janice Kapp Perry)
2) Sang all the words.
3) Did not pass out from stage fright.

 Good day all around.  I've earned a good night's sleep.  'Night!