When in Doubt, Eat Chocolate

In case any of you were wondering, Why hasn't Meg updated her blog in a few days?... I have created a list of excuses reasons. In no particular order, they are:

• Two words: snow days. Oh my word, am I ever sick of these! Ten for this school year -- two this week --and it is still officially winter. In other words, I am not exhaling yet...
• The dog had surgery this week and she is trying to make me feel guilty. See Exhibit A:

{Fur baby guilt trip}

• I already have a heaping load of guilt on my plate, thankyouverymuch. Everybody else is talking about how they are signing their similar-aged kiddos up for kindergarten, and we are redshirting Logan. He truly is NOT ready, but still, it makes me feel like I have somehow failed.
• I was honestly avoiding my blog for a bit because I was thisclose to writing a snarky post about how much it stinks to be the classroom volunteer who counts and sorts the Box Tops. I do try to keep it positive around here, but I just have to show you this Exhibit B and I think you may understand why I am going slightly bonkers and will never again volunteer for this job. EVER! 

{Why would anybody tape these to a random piece of paper -- front and back -- why?!}

• I've been kinda busy coordinating meal deliveries for a couple of mamas in my MOPS group. Note, I am not complaining about this, just stating a fact. It is part of my job as hospitality coordinator, and it's one of the few things that has made me feel useful and good this week. So there's that.
• I will do just about anything for my children. This now includes scooping a rabbit carcass (and assorted innards) out of the road immediately in front of our house, tromping through the huge drifts of snow in the back yard, and burying it under a mound of snow behind a tree -- all so that when Mia gets off the school bus, neither child will see any evidence of the Easter Bunny's demise.
• The time change is kicking my butt. (And if I ever meet Benjamin Franklin, I will be sorely tempted to kick his butt! I think all the moms will understand.)
• I am doing 40 Bags in 40 Days as my Lenten sacrifice. Truthfully, I have not given up anything for Lent in years. I used to do this in the BC (Before Children) era of life, but since doing 5+ years of pregnancy and breastfeeding, I have a hard time wanting to give up anything. I am making pretty good progress -- only missed one day -- and I have completely sorted through both kids' wardrobes and already given a bunch of things away! So, this worked out well as a way to purge things I don't need without having to give up chocolate, and let's face it. If you just read all that junk I just unloaded up there, you can probably guess that I have been hitting the chocolate.

And that brings me to the happy point of all this. Chocolate. Mia was bummed last night because Brett told her that it was Pi Day, and I had not made a pie. (Obviously, I was tied up with all that other stuff, but how do you get a seven year old to understand that?) 

{Chocolate Strawberry Pie! Isn't it pretty?}

I went shopping and got a few things to pull together a pie today, but I wasn't really sure what type of pie I wanted. I had gotten both a graham cracker crust and a chocolate graham cracker crust plus strawberries. I was waffling between making strawberry pie or making chocolate pie. Then, this phrase popped into my head, When in doubt, eat chocolate! Yes, of course, chocolate was the way to go. 

After I made a batch of chocolate mousse, I realized that it would not be enough to fill the pie shell. Disappointed, I turned to Brett and asked now what? His suggestion was to add strawberries, (They are the bottom layer.) which made for a tasty and beautiful pie. (Prettiest I've ever made!) Perfect! I love when he comes up with the perfect solution to my kitchen quandaries. We're a pretty good team -- not unlike chocolate and strawberries.

{Somebody finished hers and then sidled up, hoping for more.}

Notes to self: This recipe for whipped cream came out better than previous attempts. Might be the stand mixer, or the use of powdered sugar over granulated sugar. Or maybe I just rocked it! Next time, try sandwiching strawberries between two thin layers of mousse.

21 Things You May Not Know about Me

Have you seen this going around Facebook? People are posting numbered lists of little-known things about themselves. These have been nice to read, giving me insight into my friends' lives without being too personal. I started constructing my own list because I thought that this was a wonderful writing prompt. Then, I finally got somebody to give me a number: 21. (Note: This is the highest number I have seen yet -- most have been around 10 or under -- but I was open and willing to the challenge.) Here is my list. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

1. My given name is Margaret, after my paternal grandmother (who didn’t even go by that name – she was called Evelyn, which was actually her middle name). So, if I look at you strangely when you call me MEGAN, this is why. It’s not my name!
   
2. When I was a baby, my hair was red. It later fell out, came back in blond, and then gradually grew darker.
3. I bit my nails for 20-odd years. One of my earliest memories is of my mom telling me to stop biting my nails, so I tried to hide in another room in order to bite them in peace.
4. All of my life, people have called me “skinny.” (Sometimes, with the b-word tagged on the end.) Even when they said this as if it was a compliment, I knew they didn’t mean it that way, so I hate this word!
5. Sometimes my birthday falls on Mother’s Day. Growing up, my mom was nice enough to let me be the star of the day whenever this happened, but now that I’m the mom, I want 2 separate days for myself -- NOT one conglomeration day!
   
6. When I was 16, I met a palm reader on Pennsylvania Ave. She told me that I would marry a man with dark hair and blue eyes (true!), have 2 kids – one of each (true!), and that I would work for a magazine (if everything works out for me, this will eventually be true!)
7. I began college as an art major before switching to elementary education because it seemed more “practical.” For some reason, I was concerned about “starving” and I thought teaching was a safer alternative! Also, I didn’t smell like patchouli, which seemed to be some sort of art major requirement that nobody had informed me about. Yuck! (Although, I sometimes wish I had stuck with art.)
   
8. I went on fifty (50!) job interviews before I got a teaching position (and this was after going back and getting my master’s degree in special education). In retrospect, that should have clued me in to the fact that I was not cut out for it.
9. I thought that losing my teaching job was the worst thing that would ever happen to me, but when my water broke a few days after the end of that school year (3 MONTHS before Logan’s due date!), I gained some perspective on what is most important in life… 7 weeks in the hospital can do that to a person.
10. I never intended to be a stay-at-home mom. EVER. Now, I realize that this is the biggest blessing that I could have been handed.
    
11. I got engaged during Super Bowl XXXIV, in my parents’ living room, right after Faith Hill had finished singing the National Anthem.
12. I like to see new places, but I am a terrible traveler. (I am sure Brett can tell you about how hard I squeezed his hand on the return flight from Puerto Rico.)
13. Despite my hating to fly, I have a strange affinity for winged things, and I have always loved birds, butterflies, and angels. Maybe I wish I could be more like them, but I am much too nervous to be that free.
    
14. I am REALLY competitive. I know, I know, I fooled you all into thinking I was nice and complacent. The truth is that Brett will no longer play air hockey with me because I will hurt myself and anybody who gets in the way of my winning!
15. My guilty pleasure? Watching Toddlers & Tiaras. It convinces me that I am, in fact, an awesome mom, even if I don’t feel like it at the time!
16. I still sleep with a nightlight.
17. I LOVE color! In fact, whenever someone asks me my favorite color, I think this is a silly question. Choosing a favorite color would be like choosing a favorite child. (If you don’t believe me, visit my house, and you will see ALL the colors of the rainbow.)
    
18. I HATE bananas! Everything about them. The color, the taste, the smell, the texture. Being a mom has helped to desensitize me somewhat. I am now able to handle a banana and NOT immediately wash my hands afterward.
19. I have a strong belief that I can make just about anything, and most of the time, I am right. I only wish that this self-assurance would transfer to other areas of my life. (Successes that come to mind include the watermelon shark, the rainbow pinata, and the Lightning McQueen Halloween costume. One failure -- and believe me, I have them-- was trying to make homemade lip balm!)
    
20. Despite what some people seem to think, I am not Super Mom! For example, I cannot sew, knit, or grow things. Well, okay, I found a rather interesting mold specimen growing in my fridge just the other day, but I doubt that counts since I wasn’t intentionally trying to propagate it.
21. I have not used shampoo in over 2 years. I make most of my own beauty products. (See # 19) Some examples include: facial cleanser, face oil, eye makeup remover, shaving cream, non-petroleum jelly, and face masks.

Here is a recent photo so you can see the face behind all this wonderful insight (or nuttiness, however you happen to view the stuff I just shared). Note: I have a new bird necklace that makes me very happy!

{Here I am! Thanks for reading.}

And Then the Doorbell Rang...

I realize that it's been a while since I have done a post. Really, I have tons of stuff to say, but I wanted to make it truly count this time around. You see, this is my 500th post! In my head, I had built this up to be something bigger than it really is, thinking that I needed to write something that would be a summation of all that I am and all that this blog stands for. And now, I have decided to end my self-imposed writer's block by simply telling a story of something that made me smile at a time when I really needed it.

In addition to getting myself worked up over the significance of what to write next, I got super busy with Halloween preparations  -- which I am sure many other moms out there can relate to. I actually lost count of how many hours I spent making my little man's Lightning McQueen Halloween costume (which came out pretty cool, and I promise I will post more on that later). Also, I may have said "yes" to taking on yet another project when I really should have said "no, not right now." And, I felt down because nobody was coming to a party that I had planned. Rationally, I knew that this wasn't personal, but it was upsetting nonetheless.

By Thursday evening, I was overtaxed, and I was definitely feeling it. The house looked like it was falling apart and I was getting pretty grumpy with the kids. I was exhausted in the evenings, looking around and feeling like I had accomplished nothing for an entire week -- except for yelling at my kids. (So, it turned out to be a blessing that no guests were coming to my party after all. This saved me from having to do one more thing: a "company clean!")

Then, Friday morning came, and things were starting to look up. After dropping Mia off at school, Logan and I headed to our MOPS group meeting, where I got to hear a great speaker share ways that we can do more "missions" as a family. This gave me hope for finding a solution to yet another thing that was weighing me down: the kids are currently going through a phase in which they seem to have a bad case of the "gimmes" -- not a good thing with the holidays fast approaching! After having some chat time with other mamas, and getting a much-needed hug, I left feeling excited about doing some random acts of kindness.

All the rest of that day, I spent countless hours hard at work transforming a cardboard box into a costume, because after the party was cancelled I realized that I would be taking the kids to a costume party, after all. This meant that my deadline was pushed up, waaaaaaay up, from this coming Thursday -- Halloween -- to the preceding Saturday! I was completely in a trance and had no idea what anybody else in the house was up to. I actually asked Brett at one point, "When did the toys get picked up from the living room floor?" and he told me, "You were painting." I asked something else, and got the same response, "You were painting." Then, I realized I missed quite a lot during that lost time.

The good news was that it came out well and Logan was very happy with his costume. They had a fun time at the party, but after 3 hours of treats and games, I was drained. We ended up doing a movie night just to get through the evening. Then after the kids went to bed, I tried to tackle some of the mess that had been left to accumulate "while I was painting." After 30 minutes or so, though, I was worn out. I had just sat down to take a break.

And then the doorbell rang...

Honestly, I was not at all happy about this. I was 8:45 at night, and my kids were (hopefully!) asleep. I glared at the dog and warned her not to do her usual machine-gun, someone's-at-the-door-and-I-must-alert-you! bark. Amazingly, she listened, but I was still alarmed at the thought of answering the door.

Who could be ringing the doorbell at this hour? Nervously, I looked out the window, and not seeing anybody there, I asked Brett what to do. I was thinking, Oh great! Somebody's pulling a Halloween prank on us and we're going to find a bag of flaming dog doo on the porch... or something worse! My next thought was, I hope it's not that Kirby vacuum salesman. He was ridiculously hard to get rid of! Brett suggested that we turn off the porch light, and after doing that, we noticed a large vehicle -- a van? -- parked on the street, slightly obscured by the neighbor's trees. Then, I tried to quiet my apprehensive and over-active imagination, It could be somebody doing something nice. You know we just talked about random acts of kindness at MOPS. They're waiting to see if we get the gift!

Feeling emboldened by my more positive thinking, I opened the front door...

And I found a purple plastic tub loaded with goodies: a preschool fishing game, a dice game meant for kids Mia's age, two bottles of flavored sparkling water, some sprinkle-covered chocolate doughnut holes, Halloween pencils, and glow-in-the-dark necklaces! There was also a note explaining that we had been boo'ed. (Now here was something I could relate to, after having done this for the past four years in our neighborhood!)

It turned out that nobody was out to get me, after all. Some sweet, thoughtful mama (and while I don't know for certain who is responsible, I have to assume that the most likely "suspects" are my MOPS friends) gave us everything we needed to have a fun family game night! She may have known that I was having a rough week (self-inflicted, mainly, but rough despite it all), or she might not have even realized that I was feeling overwhelmed with everything at that moment. Either way, I hope she knows that she brought a much needed smile to my face...

A smile that I intend to pay forward -- just not at night. That's when all the scary stuff happens -- at least in my imagination!

Mommy's Got Mad Skills!

Lately, I have been annoyed by the feeling of being boxed in by everyone else and their perception of who I am. When I vocalized this during the Puerto Rico trip, my sister-in-law, Jill, asked me, "Do you even know who you are any more?" She raised a good point! Who I am got kind of lost when I became a mom, and perhaps, became even more muddled when I switched from being a working mom to being a stay-at-home mom. So (in my mind at least), I have dubbed this the "Summer of Meg!" and I have been trying to take advantage of opportunities to try new things whenever they happen to be presented to me.

A couple of days ago, after watching my brother and his girlfriend try out my cousin's paddle board, I decided that I should try it, too. I ran up to the house and quickly put on my swim suit. In my eagerness to get going, I was already headed into the water before my brother, Ryan, was done giving me some some pointers. Normally, I am more tentative and try to get as much info as possible before jumping into new things, but I figured it would be much harder to chicken out once I had already committed myself to paddle boarding, and I really wanted to force myself to take on the challenge.

Naturally, it turned out that I should have given him a minute to finish explaining how to turn around. (This is why I usually figure things out before attempting them.) I had a slight scare when I got out far enough that the wind was starting to push me out into the bay, finding myself wondering aloud, "How do I turn around?!"  Fortunately, I was not far out, and I was never really in danger. I was just bound and determined to NOT fall into the water since the weather was more reminiscent of a September day in northern Michigan than the late-July day that it actually was.

So, I used my instincts and sat down (or squatted actually -- I don't really remember -- and my dear husband was kind enough to not shoot film or video of this portion of the show). Then, I pushed the paddle deep and hard until I was able to turn the board back toward shore. After turning around, I hopped back up, and noticed that I had a rather large audience, much larger than when I had started (and undoubtedly they were all thinking, "What?! Meg is paddle boarding?! Better not miss this!!).

Well, this meant that I had even more incentive to not fall in the drink. Most of the family was there watching, including my cousin John, the owner of the paddle board, and for some reason not looking stupid in front of him was imperative. I remember laughing and yelling, "I got this!" I was feeling more confident since I figured out how to turn around, how to get down and back up again, and most importantly, I did it all without falling in, so I hoped they didn't notice my legs were shaking a bit while I negotiated all this.

Safely back on shore, everyone seemed very impressed that I had stayed upright the entire time. My dad commented that he assumed that I would fall in. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dad! I informed him that I was highly motivated. My mom suggested that most people fall the first time they try it, but I am not sure what she was basing this on. Why were they all so surprised? Did I mention that I was highly motivated? The water wasn't as warm as I would like, and the air definitely was not warm enough for me to be getting soaked. The most telling of all was Mia's shocked reaction, "Mom! I can't believe you can paddle board!!" I replied, "Well, guess what? I've got all kinds of skills that you don't know about!" Clearly, I am not known for being an adventurous spirit, but maybe on I am on the right track with the "Summer of Meg!"

"Do one thing every day that scares you." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

{Trying something new...}

{I enjoyed my adventure, but I was relieved to return to shore!}

10 Things I LOVE about Puerto Rico!

While there were a couple of things that disappointed me about our recent vacation (Note: It really does rain quite a bit during the rainy season, despite my wishful thinking that this would not actually be the case.), it was overwhelmingly awesome! Since it is difficult to even know where to begin describing the trip, I thought I would break it down into a list of my favorites (and even this is difficult to rank according to my preferences):

10) Wrought iron details on windows, doors, fences, gates, etc.
Okay, I know that some of the family (we went with Brett's folks, his two brothers, and my sister-in-law) felt that this was disturbing, wondering why they needed to be so protected, but I really believed (and again, this may be wishful thinking) that this was at least somewhat used for purely aesthetic reasons. If they needed chains and gates, they could surely put them up without delicate scrollwork and other lovely details, is all I'm saying. I really want to insist that this is the Spanish influence on the architectural design of the area. There really was a lot of beauty to it, even in areas where things looked a bit run-down, otherwise.

{Cathedral door in downtown Humacao}

9) Little lizards
We saw many anoles in the backyard of the rental house we stayed at in Humacao. They mostly hung out and sunbathed and didn't mind us too much. They were slightly territorial, however, if another lizard ventured too closely and we could see them puff out their chests and do some interesting dance that I just called push-ups, presumably to look larger and intimidate the other lizards who were encroaching on their turf. These guys made me smile every time I saw them. We had one who hung out on the curtain rod in the dining room for a couple of days and then disappeared, I am guessing through whatever hole in the wall that he entered by. The last night, someone discovered a baby iguana hanging out on a leaf in the yard, where it stayed until we had to leave. That was very cool because I got some up-close photos with no trouble at all.

{One of our many backyard friends}

{Hola, baby iguana!}

The only time a lizard gave me a start was one morning when I went to grab my Flonase off of a shelf in the bathroom, and when I pulled my hand out, there was more than Flonase there. A baby anole was on my finger! The only thing was, I didn't realize what it was at first, so I gave a startled "Ah!" (I did not scream, mind you, since I knew it wasn't anything huge or heavy, just unusual to feel something there.) Once I realized what it was, I was truly amazed because it was on my pointer finger, and it couldn't have been more than 1 to 1 1/2" long from tip to tail and it was maybe a third of the width of my finger. I only wished that I could have gotten a picture, but it quickly sprung off my finger, onto the bathroom counter, and vanished just like that. I guess I can't blame him. I would run away from whoever was trying to shake me off, too.


8) Little crabs on the beaches (which I think are these)
Another animal that we saw frequently that made me smile each time was the little sand crabs at the beach. They were, for obvious reasons, quite skittish around people and would quickly dart into their holes in the sand. However, if they weren't nearby their hole, they would often freeze, which allowed me to get good photos of the scared-stiff creatures. A couple of my favorites included one frozen next to a foot print in the sand, and another that stopped to hide next to a coconut, which were all over the beach.

{I loved that he tried to hide by this coconut.}

Some other crab behavior that we observed was what I think of as "surfing." We weren't sure if they were running away from us or what, but I started to think that they were playing after watching for a while. Most of the time, the crabs scuttled sideways, low to the sand when they were headed for their holes, but not when they were headed for the water. Then, they got way up on their legs, as far as they could reach and they dashed -- really, really fast -- into the surf. Then -- I swear this is what they were doing -- they rode a wave into the shore, picked themselves back up again and dashed back into the water to ride another wave. It was immensely entertaining, and I enjoyed it several mornings while we walked the beach in solitude.

7) Brett let me shop as much as I desired.
This was good when it was raining. Of course, it was good when it wasn't raining, too. Most of the souvenirs we brought home were very reasonably priced, and the things that we spent a little bit more on, we had decided were worth it. The tricky part was finding authentic items that were not just tourist traps. It took some work to find things that were actually made in Puerto Rico. One thing we always like to get if we are traveling is a Christmas ornament. I can't tell you how many of these I passed up because they were cheap-looking and said "Made in China" on them. Finally, I found a hand-painted shard of gourd with the beautiful fort painted on it while we were in a cool shop called Ole! in Old San Juan. This was where Brett found his Panama hat, one of those hand-made items we felt was worth paying a bit more for. In Old San Juan, I found a really great dress, in one of my favorite colors: cobalt blue. It looked great with those cobalt sandals that had somehow made their way into my suitcase, when even I hadn't realized that I had packed them. (True story. I must have been sleep-packing or something.)

{Pretty new dress and a BRIGHT building!}

On a later day, in downtown Humacao, I found a nice little pottery shop that made me very happy, too. It had fun little trinkets in bright colors. Also, we just happened to find a very inexpensive women's clothing shop there so I picked up a fun skirt, and a practical tank top and shorts to wear to the rainforest, because for whatever reason all I had packed were dressier things. The shorts also happened to be cobalt blue, so that was a bonus. I wore that outfit with my new green head scarf from another nice artisan shop in Old San Juan called Artesanias Sarobey.

And earlier tonight, I took my inexpensive little art print to Michaels to get it framed with more bright colors to go with the city scene which includes, what else? Bright colors! I can't wait to see how it turns out...

6) Bacardi 
Okay, let me preface this by saying that I rarely drink. I have never been much of a drinker. I didn't handle alcohol well when I was younger and then, well, I spent years being pregnant, breastfeeding, being pregnant again, and breastfeeding some more (I logged over 4 years total just breastfeeding my two kids), so this was not something that ever mattered. Now, I am re-thinking that mindset ever so slightly. Not that I plan to drink huge amounts, or even that often, but this is good stuff, and it's worth it!

Poor Brett and everyone else had to deal with my craziness for the first couple of days. See, at home, I am basically the "activity director" and everyone, for the most part, does the big things that I want to do, and usually when I want to do them (obviously not all the time; kids are unpredictable, but you get the idea.) My in-laws are the nicest people you will ever meet, but they are NOT good at making decisions about what to do and when to do it. This drove me batty for two days, during which I frequently brought up the topic of rum and how much I would like to go on the Bacardi Distillery tour (which, for reasons noted above, must have come as a SHOCK to everyone). I was told to "relax" and "go with the flow" which if you can't tell, are not my specialty. Yes, I wanted to relax, but I wanted to do it on my terms, darn it!

{Good times!}

By the time we finally got to the factory tour, I was keyed up again. (Driving around San Juan did not help. Those people are C-R-A-Z-Y. They make Detroit drivers seem slow and laid back.) It was probably a good thing that we were told it would take about 30 minutes for the next tour to begin because that meant that we could go ahead and have our first complimentary beverage. Brett and I both chose one of the two options from their "classic" menu. I had the rum punch. He had a Cuba Libre. Y-U-M! And, it's worth noting that my brother-in-law was quick to point out that I immediately seemed much more relaxed. Finally. It only took two days of asking for rum for that to happen. I decided to be more proactive from then on, and I had 3 different daiquiris throughout the week at various restaurants. Plus, we came home with a bottle of Dragonberry, their strawberry rum, after I had it as my second complimentary drink after we took the tour.

5) Swimming under a waterfall in the rainforest
This is one of those things that we will look back on, I am sure, and continue to say "Wow! What a cool experience!" I am so glad we were able to do it. Hiking down there was about 30 minutes of very challenging work-out. The paths were very well-maintained, either with concrete or with rocks, for example, but it was quite steep and I could feel all of my leg muscles straining with the exertion. Other parts of the rainforest were mildly disappointing, but this was so, so worth the hike.

(I was under the mistaken notion that we would see lots of wildlife and beautiful, brightly colored plants. In actuality, we heard the coqui -- the native frog -- perhaps, once the entire time because there were So. Many. People. We went on Saturday, so that may have been our first mistake, but then again, it might always be that busy. Who doesn't want to hike in the only rainforest that is part of the US National Park system?! We saw very few bright flowers except near the visitor center, and as for wildlife, we saw a rooster and a feral dog, not exactly animals that we hadn't already seen all over Puerto Rico.)

I should not complain, though, because as we were nearly back to the van, I saw a mongoose dart across the path. Brett was the only other one to see it because I screamed, "Look! A mongoose!!!" loudly enough that he turned and noticed it before it ran away, presumably trying to get very, very far away from the screeching lady who kept yelling for everyone to "LOOK!" In case you are wondering, the only reason that I even knew what this animal was is that approximately 60 seconds prior to the sighting I had made a stop to read a sign by a picnic pavilion which said something to the effect of: "Mongooses are the most rabid animal in all of Puerto Rico. Please do NOT feed them or release them from cages if you come across one in a cage." Um, no problem. Who does that?! Aside from having to worry about contracting rabies, they're quite speedy and have no desire to be around humans. Do you suppose that is because they've heard one too many ladies screaming for others to look?

Anyway, back to the main highlight of the rainforest (other than the really, really nice gift shop at the visitor center, which obviously cried out to be shopped at -- try the dried bread fruit chips. So good!): the waterfall. It goes without saying, that this water was icy cold, but after hiking for that long, it was refreshing. The main problems were all of the people (photobombs, anyone?) and the fact that we had to climb over, down, and around, several large and quite slippery rocks just to get into the water. Eventually, we made it into the water and even managed a few pictures. This will definitely be one of our best memories of the trip.

{How cool is this?!}

4) Beaches! 
All of the beaches we went to were different. My brother-in-law seemed to think it was strange that I was compelled to beach comb every single time, and I tried to explain to him that there were always different shells to find, but I am not sure he understood. Fortunately, Brett is patient and he has spent enough time Up North with me to know that I do this. Every. Single. Time. I'm a treasure hunter. It's what I do. (If you read about the shopping, then maybe you can relate.) And, I don't do it the whole time. I reach a point when I know I can stop. I only collected sand from two of the beaches we went to, for example, so that shows some restraint, don't you think? (You're probably wondering why... I have a craft or two in mind, don't worry!)

The first beach, I just think of as "Our Beach" because it was a few step away from the rental house, and because Brett and I walked it several mornings and we were almost always the only ones around. One morning there was a many on a horse and another morning there was a lady sitting on the sand (she did not look like a local), and then one morning there was a jogger who had a hard time staying on the path while Brett took photos of me in my bikini leaning against the palm tree. That was part of the fun of our beach. We got to take silly "model" pictures that were fun for both of us. I felt pretty and he enjoyed it, plus I figured he deserved it for all the beach combing, all the shopping, and all of the two days worth of crazy Meg that he endured before I finally got my Bacardi! We also saw lots of crabs, some shore birds like herons, and some of my favorites: pelicans.

{"Our Beach" is adjacent to a nature preserve.}

{A favorite "model" photo of mine. LOVE the feeling of escape to paradise!}

One morning there was a pack of three feral dogs that joined us briefly. I honestly think they were organized about it, too. The two large dogs poked their noses into our beach bag, and finding no food there, decided to roll on our beach towels, before running off. Meanwhile, the short dog, who may have had some chihuahua in his lineage, came right up to us and started licking my legs. I didn't even realize he was there until he did this. He was so friendly, I almost bent down to pet him, before realizing what I was about the do. He licked me a few more times before deciding that I wasn't going to give him any food, and then he trotted off to join the others. These were the most forward of all the feral dogs that we encountered during the week.


We never actually went in the water on "Our Beach" other than walking along the shore and getting our legs wet. Others in the family went at some point and claimed it wasn't that bad, but it always looked murky to me. This was the most debris-strewn of any beaches we went to and walking along we would see all sorts of garbage: baby bottle nipples, pacifiers, a Lego brick, OJ containers, Dawn dish soap bottles, many plastic bottles and cups, and tons of shoes, mostly flip flops, although there was one bright colored dressy wedge sandal that seemed to sad to me to be washed ashore. There was even a rusted, broken cage from a shopping cart, of all things!

The next beach that we visited was Lucia Beach, which I think was about a 10-15 minute drive. It was raining that day and there were large waves, which I found LOTS of fun to play in (but I've spent enough time at Lake Michigan, I suppose, that this didn't seem frightening to me). However, most everyone else was put off by the undertow and they didn't really want to spend much time there. The most interesting thing was driving to the beach, which required us to go through a palm grove. When leaving, there was a herd of cows passing through the palm grove, followed by these white birds (some sort of heron, I think). We saw cows everywhere in the Puerto Rico countryside whenever we drove someplace, and they were always trailed by these birds, however, it still surprised me to see them at the beach. It should not have, since they were obviously "free range," but it did, nonetheless.

On another day, we went to one of my favorite beaches: Seven Seas Beach in Fajardo, which was about a half hour drive through the mountains. The water was very calm with no surf at all. There wasn't too much sun that day, but the rain held off at least. We just floated on top of the water, which was nice and relaxing. This was a super beach for beach combing, with many unusual shells and lots of nice beach glass (a favorite of mine from all my time spent Up North). The most memorable thing about this beach was the school of fish that swam up to us in the shallows and went in and out of our legs. I was curious to see them because the others said they were there, and I wasn't even believing them until I saw them myself. Unfortunately, once I saw them, I had to get away because they kept touching my legs, which freaked me out! Jill was the only one who didn't seem to mind, or at least she didn't mind until they started nibbling at her knees. Josh thought they were coral cleaning fish. They were up to 8 inches long and kind of silver-ish from the side view. There was also a pack of wild dogs here, who entertained us by running around and playing together. Two could swim, but the other two could not, apparently. And one pregnant girl just lazed in the sand nearby us. This was the first time I was able to actually sit on the beach and read a book!

One afternoon, everyone did their own thing, and Brett and I drove the the nearby Palmas Del Mar Resort to check out the beach there. It was a beautiful, sunny day! However, the surf was quite rough, and while I enjoyed it at first, it became too much and we had to get out of the water. The good news was that they had beach chairs here so I had a comfy place to do more reading. The beach was obviously groomed, so it was clean, and in retrospect, we should have brought money since they had a little place that we could have gotten drinks, if for no other reason than I could have had that drink on the beach that I thought was in store for me. (It didn't happen, but I'm not complaining.)

On our last full day in Puerto Rico, we stumbled upon (there is no other way to describe how we found this one) a place called Escondida Beach near Guardarraya, while we were driving along the southeast coastline (amazing views!). This was a Sunday, the only weekend day that we were at a public beach, and it was quite busy. The sand was nice and the water was clear and the absolute warmest that we had experienced. Literally, it was like bath water. It was very calm, however, we didn't float quite as well as we did at Seven Seas Beach, for whatever reason. There were some very pretty flowered trees all along the shoreline, and we learned how handy they can be. We just used them as a place to drape towels and shirts, but after the rains quickly blew in, we suddenly understood by the local people had hung tarps between the trees. They just sought shelter while we were scooping up our things and dashing to the van, which we ended up doing again later, when another rainstorm blew in off the water. These things came and went quickly, so it made sense for people to come prepared to sit them out, before going about their beach days.

3) Food
I ate so many delicious things on this trip! I know that Brett was very concerned that I would NOT like the food because I really don't like spicy things, but I had read two guidebooks and I tried to convince him (and myself) that it wouldn't be spicy, but savory and sometimes sweet. The food of the Caribbean, I thankfully confirmed, is not at all spicy. It's delicious! I think I may have gained a couple of pounds there (and that is saying a log because my metabolism generally makes it so that I don't lose or gain, I just maintain). It probably did not help that so many things were fried, or that they seem to eat a lot of meat, which was no problem to my way of thinking, since it wasn't spicy. One of my favorite foods, other than those dried bread fruit chips, was something called pastalillo, which was a pouch of fried bread stuffed with meat. I chose the pollo (chicken). We bought this from the kiosk on the beach that last day. Also, on the beach there, a vendor came along and sold me passionfruit ice cream, which was delicious. Other goodies that I enjoyed were arepas (more fried bread) made with coconut, which was surprisingly yummy considering I typically don't like the taste of coconut and mofongo (a local specialty, sort of like a "cake" of fried plaintains -- which taste nothing like bananas, as I assumed they would, by the way -- made with oil and garlic, and sometimes including meat). Some mofongo that I tried was better than others, but the place to get them that made the best was La Palmira "Casa del Mofongo" which was right outside of the neighborhood where we were staying.

{Beach food!}

2) Bright colors
I am sure you have already picked up on the fact that I LOVE bright colors. Our house has walls painted in every color of the rainbow and I pretty much always wear bright colors. It was so nice to shop somewhere that had clothing in bright colors because that can often be tricky to find here in Michigan. I was so happy to see buildings painting in bright colors, everything from pink to blue to purple to lime green and vivid orange. I took tons of pictures just of houses and other building in bright colors, just because. Even the roadways were covered with bright colors on the concrete barriers and overpasses! It made me so HAPPY to look at them all! Old San Juan was especially brilliant for this, but we saw tons of other colorful places all around where ever we happened to be. Our rental house was a brilliant shade of yellow, for example. And all of the interior walls were painted in bright colors, too. It was extremely cheerful, and I could not get enough of the bright colors. While there were not too many colorful flowers to see in the rainforest itself, they were everywhere else: at the beach, along the roadside, in front of houses and restaurants and other businesses. Everywhere we looked, there was brilliant colors and I never tired of them!

{A BRIGHT building in Old San Juan. LOVE the door!}

1) Spending time with my hubby without kids!
This was our first-ever vacation without our kids, and for that matter, the longest (a whole week!) vacation we have ever taken. Before leaving, we were asked if this was our second honeymoon, since we flying out on the morning after our 12th anniversary. I remember laughing in response, "No, in order to take a second honeymoon, we would have to have GONE on one the first time around!" I don't think I have to tell you how remarkably relaxing that is to spend that much time together without children clamoring for our attention. Now, if we can just figure out how to get away on a regular basis, we will be all set. (And even though they are great people, I would love to do this without all the relatives!) Yep, Mommy got a taste of the tropics, and she could get used to it! We decided there are lots more islands that are begging for us to come visit them someday...

{Our "fancy" dinner night}

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Awhile back, I read this post, written by a college friend, Katie, who essentially laughs about her "first-world problem" of deciding to whether or not to create a play room for her girls. This came to mind again when it became time to finally pack for the upcoming vacation. (Tropical island! No kids! Eeeeeeeee!)

The "first-world problem" that I had? Not knowing which shoes to pack! I know, I know, this is really not that BIG of a deal, but I was trying to limit myself, and there were just soooooo many choices. And that was when I was mainly limiting it to sandals and cute flats. That is why I am borrowing Katie's term "first-world problem," because it is totally apt here.

Here are some of the options that I considered (which is not even my inclusive shoe wardrobe, which now that I think about it, signifies that I am not as low-maintenance as I previously thought. That, or it's just easier to find shoes that fit than it is to find clothing, so I'm more likely to treat myself to shoes.) I laid them all out on top of the bed to see what might work, but it was still overwhelming. (Also, it's not a particularly good idea to put shoes on top of your bedspread, unless, of course, you don't mind getting it kind of dirty.)

Feeling stumped, I texted my mom asking for suggestions. Her response was that I needed sandals, beach shoes, and walking shoes. I already knew what I needed I told her, but how to choose which ones I wanted was the issue. No problem she tells me, just choose the ones that "go with everything." Um.... which ones would those be? If I had shoes that went with everything, would I "need" so many pairs?

This meant that I had to do a "fashion show," trying on all of my sundresses and cute shorts and tops, modeling them with each of the possible footwear options. (Brett was definitely not complaining about this.) While doing that, I also had to keep a mental tally of how many outfits would go best with each particular pair of shoes. In the end, I went with the black Crocs (bottom, middle) which are my new beach shoes, as I really, really HATE flip flops and would not even consider wearing those. The sneakers were also an essential for the rainforest. Brett insisted that I had to bring what he called the "sexy" shoes which are the black gladiator style wedges (bottom, second from left). And then, the basic sandals made the cut: the black ones (bottom, left) and the brown ones (bottom, right).

I seriously debated bringing the cobalt blue sandals (bottom, second from right) because I LOVE that color. However, they only went with one dress and one pair of shorts so they weren't the most practical choice. And then there were the woven green ballet flats (top, right) that I kept coming back to. They are super cute and I was really tempted, but again, they only went with a couple of things. Brett almost convinced me to pack them because I clearly wanted to SO badly, but I practiced some restraint here. As it was, five pairs of shoes seemed like plenty for a seven-day trip. (I'm sure most of the smart travelers who tell you how to pack one back only will tell you I am out of my mind for packing this many pairs in the first place, but this was tough stuff, and I am not joking when I say the hardest packing decision I made! It was easier to pack both my kids' stuff for a week at "Camp Grandma" that it was to decide which shoes to pack.)

So, folks, I'm leaving on a jet plane, and it's gonna be awesome! I can't wait to share some truly amazing memories -- when we return from our tropical paradise. In the meantime, don't look for any new posts for a bit. I'll on a beach drinking something with a little umbrella.

Lessons from a Lemonade Stand

Last Thursday I let the kids try their hand at running their very first business: a lemonade stand. While this is not something I ever had the opportunity to do, it seems like something every kid should do at least once during childhood. Mia really wanted to do this at some point in the summer, and I for reasons that I can't really explain given how busy we are preparing for our vacation, (Tropical island! No kids!! Ring any bells?) decided to try to cram that into our already bursting-at-the-seams schedule.

Before agreeing to this venture, I had Mia brainstorm a list of items that we would need to buy or make before setting up shop. She came up with: table, chairs, sign, pitcher, cups, balloons, and of course, lemonade. For that, I had an interesting recipe I wanted to try: watermelon lemonade (which I found in the June 21, 2013 issue of All You magazine, page 4). And, I happened to have lemons and watermelon on hand, which meant that this was as good a time as any to test the recipe and run a lemonade stand. Two birds, one stone.

Sweet Pink Lemonade (makes 12 servings)

• 6 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 cups watermelon, chopped 
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups lemon juice (from about 8 lemons)
• ice

1. Bring 6 cups water, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Puree 4 cups chopped watermelon in a blender (I used my food processor for this.) along with 1 cup of water.
4. Pour syrup and watermelon puree through a strainer into a pitcher. (This step was really messy!)
5. Stir in 2 cups fresh lemon juice. (The kids helped with the squeezing, but this was mostly a job for Mama.)
6. Serve over ice. (Hard to do when you're sitting outside for a couple of hours...)

Sounds pretty good, right? It is! However, this is a fair bit of work to put into a kids' lemonade stand endeavor. So, lesson #1 I learned is that when making a lemonade stand, don't knock yourself out making fresh squeezed lemonade from organic lemons and pureed watermelon. Seriously, I doubt that our customers knew or cared how much effort went into making the stuff. *If* we do this again, I will probably just use frozen lemonade concentrate or perhaps, more lazily, a powdered drink mix. For some reason it seemed important to keep it real, but in retrospect, I don't think it mattered.

Setting up a table and chairs was easy. Getting balloons blown up was trickier. I don't have that much hot air, it seems, and the kids are a bit young to be much help in this arena. Making a sign shouldn't have been as time-consuming as it was, but being perfectionistic, I decided to do it myself using my Cricut and some yellow and pink card stock. (I am not sure if this was the right choice or not. Mia could have done the lettering herself, of course, but I didn't think it would be as legible, so I wanted the cut-out letters to hopefully get more attention.) One thing I made sure to highlight on the sign was the word "fresh" because after all that effort, I wanted people to know they were buying a quality product! Is there a lesson here? I'm not sure, but I think it is still related to #1: don't overdo things; Keep it simple.

Now, came one of the more difficult decisions: what price to assign to a small paper cup of fresh squeezed lemonade? Initially, I was thinking only a quarter because the cups were small kitchen cups, but after all of the work invested in my kids' lemonade stand, (and thinking about having to hand wash my lemon juicer, large pot, and assorted food processor pieces...), I made the executive decision to charge 50 cents per cup. I figured $1 was too steep, and 50 cents was the next logical choice. Lesson #2 is that everything has value, including Mom's time. (However, Mom is also the person who makes sacrifices, so I decided not to charge the kids for my time or for the materials we used to make their lemonade. I'm still debating whether or not that was the right decision. I wanted them to see some "profits" but I also wanted them to recognize that everything came at a cost. Tough stuff, when you really think about it, and I thought it was just lemonade!) I think that *if* we run another lemonade stand, I really should let them have the true lesson in economics. This was just the intro course, and I omitted some of the critical learning.

Lesson #3 was more of a lesson for the children with regards to persistence. About half an hour into the waiting game, Mia announced that this was boring. (Shocker, I know!) I tried to remain optimistic even though I didn't think we would get many customers. We live on a paved road off of a dirt road, so we're kind of isolated. Our only hope was the neighborhood people and given that it was the middle of the afternoon on a weekday, it didn't seem like we would get too much business. I reminded the kids that they had to be friendly and wave to all of the cars that passed by. Logan jumped on this idea immediately, and waved enthusiastically while yelling out out to each passerby, "Hi! We have a lemonade stand!!" Amazingly, we started getting customers right after this, so there is power in positive thinking.

There really are good people in the world. I think this lesson #4 hit home for me, perhaps, more than it did for Mia and Logan. Once the neighbors started showing up, they would buy more than one cup, so that meant $1 instead of 50 cents. I honestly did not expect that, because, again, I was worried that I was overcharging in the first place. Then, we had two people who made donations/tips to the lemonade stand, just because they were supportive. One neighbor said, "Here's a tip just for being an entrepreneur." Isn't that nice? (It made me feel like I should do a better job of supporting lemonade stands...) But the one thing that really impressed me was when the UPS delivery man stopped his truck just so he could buy two (again, not one but two!) cups of our by-then lukewarm lemonade. While I was a teensy bit upset over the people who promised to "come back later" and never did, in the end they sold 13 cups and got paid for more than that, which exceeded my expectations of what we could achieve in a two-and-one-half-hour window on a Thursday afternoon in our neighborhood, where people pretty much keep to themselves.

Mia learned a lesson in responsibility (#5). Our neighbors across the street actually set up a bouncy house while we were working at the lemonade stand. (We had been invited over to bounce earlier in the day, and had taken advantage of their hospitality for about a half hour.) This was a very tough decision for her, but ultimately, she decided to keep manning the stand instead of going off to do the thing that would have been immediately gratifying. I was, admittedly, shocked that she made this choice, especially after watching her weigh the choices in her mind, and seeing how hard it was for her to decide to stick with her business plan!

Lesson #6 is one on being prepared. Lemonade stands are a sticky, messy business so have lots of towels on hand for cleaning up all the spills. The drink dispenser may go haywire at some point from too many little hands fiddling with it, so make sure your extra cups are easily within reach because you may find yourself filling cup after cup, trying to keep up with the gushing. (Must not waste any of that fresh squeezed organic lemonade with pureed watermelon!) Oh, and don't forget a bag to hold all of the used cups, like I did. Sunscreen seemed like an obvious choice (check!), but little did I know, we would actually need an umbrella before the afternoon was over! Make sure your kids have their own water bottles so they are not tempted to drink up the lemonade supply. I made sure that we had change before heading outside, not knowing that we wouldn't really need it. (Nice people!) And I figured having hand sanitizer available couldn't hurt.

Once the rain got too hard, we shut down the lemonade stand, and headed inside, where I counted the money. When all was said and done, I gave each of the kids $3.50. As Brett pointed out, this wasn't the profits, it was the revenue. I had decided not to charge them the $3 for the lemons or the $2.50 for half of a watermelon that was used. Sugar and cups were such small amounts that I didn't know how to calculate the cost for those, and then there was the issue of my time. Undoubtedly, it is valuable, but it was all a gift, because I wanted them to have the experience. Lesson #7 was to just plain enjoy life! We had a good/exhausting/sticky afternoon, and we may have come out ahead by a dollar of so, but the real lessons had more to do with earning money. (This is fortunate, since there wasn't much money actually made when you do the math.) It was more rewarding for me just to let them enjoy the feeling of success, while we kicked back and finally enjoyed some of that sweet pink lemonade. I think we all earned it.

How to Tell If Your Dog May Be Spoiled

Using my pseudo-scientific method, you too, can determine if your dog is spoiled in just three easy steps.

1) Make some popcorn.
Don't worry; even the most sluggish of pooches will soon learn to recognize and respond to the sound of un-popped kernels being poured into the air popper. (The more quickly she emerges from her den, the more likely it is that you have a spoiled dog on your hands.)

2) Observe your dog's behavior while the popcorn is popping.
Does your dog simply watch as pieces of popped corn fly out of the air popper and land on the floor, totally ignoring them while giving you the "you've got to be kidding me" look? (If so, she may be spoiled.)

{Is it just me or does it really look like she's laughing?}

3) To be certain, add melted butter and note how excited your dog becomes. 
For example, my dog suddenly becomes much more lively because this is what she was waiting for! (Yeah, this is the true litmus test for determining whether or not your dog is truly spoiled.)

Now that your suspicions are confirmed, you may as well share your buttered popcorn with your spoiled pet. Before you jump down my throat, our vet says this is an acceptable treat for dogs. Okay, she didn't specifically say to add butter, but as you can see, her royal highness has decided that this is the only way she will eat it! By the way, I should add that step 2b is to clean up any un-buttered popcorn that landed on the floor, because the pampered pooch sure isn't going to take care of it any time soon.

{Oh, really, who could say "no" to this sweet face?}

A Charming Teacher Gift!

Well, school has officially ended for the year, but not before the presentation of teacher gifts. Mia took her teacher and the para-pro the gifts that we had made, birds nest earrings with handmade cards. We were down to the wire on this, too, because I didn't get her to write in the cards until yesterday. So they were not delivered until this morning, the very last day of school! Both of these lovely ladies thanked me at pick-up time, so I decided the gifts were a success.

But, what really surprised me was that her teacher, Mrs. Myers, gave ME a gift! It was completely unexpected, of course. I can't imagine too many teacher give gifts to the parents at the end of the school year when they already have so much on their plates. This is what makes it so special and so very sweet!

{My life is charmed -- a gift FROM the teacher!}

She gave me a bright pink Gerbera daisy, and told me that Mia had selected the color she thought I would like best. (Secretly, I believe that Mia selected the color she preferred, but that doesn't really matter. I do LOVE it.) Here's the really special part about the gift. It was completely personalized because Mrs. Myers, along with the entire kindergarten class, had stamped their thumb prints in various colors and then signed their names. (And, the teacher in me noted that every child's signature was legible, which is an accomplishment for many of them! Trust me, I can tell you this from personal experience, having sorted many, many papers over the past several months. This was the first time that there wasn't one or two I was unsure about, and I like to believe that my special education background has given me pretty good handwriting analysis!) That she would find the time to have the whole class do this for me was so thoughtful, and it completely made my day to receive this on Wednesday!

{Look how they've "bloomed!"}

It felt amazing to read these words, "Thank you so much for your support in my classroom this year! It's because if parents like you that we can do as much as we do with our little sweethearts!" (See, Self, it's not a waste of a master's degree to collate, file, and do other mundane classroom housekeeping tasks! Not that I miss doing these things in my own classroom one bit, thank you very much.) While it felt wonderful to be appreciated as a volunteer, it had me thinking that this would also make a very thoughtful gift FOR a sweet teacher, if you happen to be looking for ideas. The trick is just to find a way to get all the kiddos in the class to sign it in secret. I especially love the thumb prints, too, it's just a little something extra.

On Getting My Way (without Even Trying Too Hard!)

Today, as I was going to make cookies, I discovered, sadly, that the hand mixer had bitten the dust. Rats! I unplugged it, took out the beaters, put them back in, and tried again. It still didn't work. So, I tried the other side of the outlet, and when that didn't work, I switched to another outlet. Yep, it was completely dead. This was pretty frustrating, however, I did learn that it is possible to cream sugar and butter together by hand. Note, I don't recommend this; it's quite time-consuming and my arm was pretty tired by the time I had completed the cookie dough, stirring in my cocoa powder/flour/salt/baking soda mixture, and then adding the peanut butter baking bits. Honestly, I would have given up on this had I not already poured sugar into the mixing bowl. That meant that the butter couldn't be salvaged for another use, and I was committed to the task at hand.

Somewhere in the midst of this challenge, I started sending text messages with Brett, leading to a whole silly conversation (which I have taken the liberty of editing so that you don't have to deal with all of our spelling and grammatical errors).

Me: (12:31 pm) "I was getting ready to make cookies but hand mixer will not work."
Brett: (12:32 pm) "Is the outlet working?"
Me: (12:33 pm){Wondering if he thinks I'm dumb...} "Tried different outlet. :("
Brett: (12:49 pm) "Guess we'll have to get stand up mixer."
Me: (12:50 pm) {Trying to play it cool, but WHAT?! Is he serious? I've only wanted one since forever!} "I guess so!"
Brett: (12:52 pm) "Don't sound so excited."
Me: (12:52 pm) "Hey, I'm doin' it by hand here, so give me some credit."
Me: (2:17 pm) {It's been a while since I heard from him, so I figure I'd better test the waters to see how serious he is...} "I will need something in the next couple days in order to make your birthday cake!"
Brett: (2:19 pm) "How convenient. I better not come home and find dent marks on the hand mixer from where you 'accidentally' dropped it."
Me: (2:20 pm) "Don't worry... I will cover my tracks."
Brett: (2:21 pm) "Good. Feel free to blame the dog, too."
Me: (2:24 pm) "Actually, I was thinking of those kids who supposedly will get a puppy if that get so many 'likes' on FB. I could try it for 'my hubby needs to buy me a stand mixer!'"
Brett: (2:30 pm) "Kohl's has Kohl's Cash available right now. Buy mixer. Get sheets?"
(We actually just discovered that our sheets have holes in them, so sad, but I guess that is inevitable after almost 12 years of marriage.)
Me: (2:45 pm) "Now you're being sensible. :)"
Brett: (3:01 pm) "When wasn't I being sensible?"

Around 5:00, he called me to say he is at Kohl's and he asked what color stand mixer I wanted. Pretty awesome, but all I could think was, I've got to be at a meeting at church soon! So, I told him, I can't decide without seeing them, and anyway, I need you home NOW! I was pretty surprised by how serious he was about going through with my stand mixer pipe-dream... but I just didn't have the time for it right then. He surprised me further by coming home with $400 worth of Kohl's gift cards that he had bought at Kroger, explaining that they were currently doing extra fuel points with gift card purchases. This is cool and all, but seriously Who are you, and what have you done with my husband? I gave him a kiss (I think!), collected the gift cards, and scooted out the door, all the while wondering, What in the world is going on?

After my meeting was finished at church, I resumed our text messaging.
Me: (7:55 pm) "Done at church. Going to Kohl's."
Brett: (7:57 pm) "Feel free to buy something pretty for yourself."
{Um, yeah... I'm getting a stand mixer! What's going on here, anyway? This is when I came up with assorted scenarios that would explain this uncharacteristic behavior, mainly the okaying of spending money, money, money. Seriously now, Who are you and what have you done with my husband?!}

I tried on the following ideas:

a) Someone has stolen my husband's phone and he/she is having fun messing with my head? {Not likely.}
b) He's being held at gunpoint, and this is his way of sending me a hidden Help! message? {Even less likely.}
c) He has some sort of brain tumor that is applying pressure just so... as to alter his personality? {Gosh, I sure hope not!}
d) He's having a affair, and this is his way of compensating for his guilt? {Highly improbable!}
e) He's feeling super geeked about our upcoming vacation sans children, (To a tropical island! Eeeeeeee!) and is, therefore, feeling generous? {Yes! This MUST be the answer! It's the only thing that makes sense.}

While this interesting turn of events initially threw me a curve ball, I ended up deciding that it doesn't matter why he was giving me the green light. The only thing that mattered was that I was getting my stand mixer! Decision time led to more conversation.

Me: (8:15 pm) "Looks like the least expensive model is only in white."
Brett: (8:17 pm) "My original thought was the $350 model."
Me: (8:18 pm) {That explains the $400 in gift cards. Also, score!} "It is nicer. Do you like cobalt blue or the silver color which looks like our major appliances?
Brett: (8:20 pm) "I see that you're easy to convince. I figured silver to match, but it's your choice."
Me: (8:21 pm) {I am drawn to the blue, but the silver seems more practical.} "It probably has staying power. Plus, it will go with any decor from current to whatever... I will get the chrome then."

And, I almost did pick it up right then to head to the check-out, but I remembered his suggestion to "buy something pretty" for myself and I decided that I should probably ride that train as far as I could. So, naturally, I started in the shoe department. Unfortunately, the two pairs of elegant, metallic, gladiator sandals that I tried out weren't very comfy, which meant they weren't to practical for our upcoming trip. (To a tropical island! Without kids! Eeeeeeeeee!) I did, however, find a cute and comfortable pair of brown sandals that meet my criteria (nothing between the toes and not too high of a heel), and I had truly needed brown sandals, so this was a smart purchase for under $20. Then, I tried on some clothes and came away with a pretty purple sun dress, which fit me perfectly! (It was on clearance. Plus, it's usually hard to find things that are small enough for me. Obviously, it was meant to be!) I also found a fun short-sleeved cardigan in my favorite shade of green, which was also on clearance, and also in my size. Yeah! So exciting, but I knew I needed to head home before I really went overboard. I have been on a spending spree lately with preparations for the trip. (Did I mention it's to a tropical island? Eeeeeeeee!)

At the check-out, I was prepared to spend all of the gift cards and pay the difference with my credit card when the sales clerk told me about their scratch-off special for Kohl's card holders. I had never gotten the Kohl's charge card because we don't make such large purchases that it would be worth it to us. However, she let me scratch one off to see what my savings would be if I did: 15 percent. I realized that would be about $60 in savings, more than what I was spending on my "pretty things for myself," so I went ahead and got the charge card, mentally crossing my fingers that he wouldn't be mad at me. I think he was still surprised when I got home and told him what I had done, but not as surprised as I was to have been making this shopping expedition in the first place. And, how could he argue with saving that much money? I even had money left on one of the gift cards, over $40, in fact. Combine that with the $60 in Kohl's Cash, and we should be able to pick out a nice, quality sheet set to last us our next 12 years. And, if that's not enough wonderful news for one day, just think how much better my baked goods will be now, thanks to my beautiful new metallic chrome KitchenAid mixer!