Seven

 1. Wednesday was our 25th wedding anniversary, and you know what we did?  We went for a long drive in the mountains and stopped at a nice restaurant for lunch on a rooftop balcony, then wound around to a movie theater but arrived between shows and didn't want to wait...

So we stopped at DQ (I had a Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard, which I highly recommend) and then we drove home.  The girls had cleaned the house while we were gone, and everyone had made us cards, so hugs went all 'round.

Then, everyone (mainly the kids) watched an episode of the old Star Treks, washed up, brushed their teeth, and hit the sack.  That was it.  It was perfect.  Who could ask for anything more?  (No kidding, I could.  I loved our day out, but I'm totally looking forward to a longer vacation with Dan come summertime when we have "big kid babysitting" and more time to spend driving around, eating and talking.)

2.  Besides discussing all the children, then each child in his or her turn, then the state of the world, it's economy and our economy, and whether or not the old Dodge truck is powerful enough to pull our 5th wheeler -- we play a lot of word-type games when we go out driving together, Dan and I.  On this last excursion one of our random quizzes was to answer the question: What would make you most happy?  But, I didn't need to ask Dan, really, because I know the answer.

 What would make my husband most happy is if I loved him enough to make French Onion Soup -- and still live in the same house with him after he ate it.  And, after twenty-five years, I still say:

Sorry, Dan.  I love ya, but I don't French Onion Soup love ya.

(It's not you; it's the soup.)

3.  Did you know they had these on the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower?  If you happened to be in Chicago, and happened to be at the Sears Tower, would you go out there?

I would. But just for a minute maybe.

And only if I happened to be wearing slacks instead of a skirt that day.

(Yes, well... Ya gotta think of these things...)

4.  Here's an easy, yummy, homemade tootsie roll recipe...
Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter, softened
1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup dry milk powder
1/2 cup white corn syrup

Directions
Mix all ingredients together and knead it as you would bread dough.  Roll into rope shapes and cut into desired lengths.  Wrap in pieces of plastic wrap.  Makes roughly 2 dozen traditional-sized pieces.

Just what we all needed, huh?  But, no worries!  Make some up Saturday because:

5.  Sunday is International No Diet Day.  Really, it is.  I plan not to diet that day.  I plan to eat tootsie rolls.

6.  We get our tv exposure from Netflix, and you just never know what you're going to scroll across on the lists when you're relaxing at the end of the day...  When the kids are in bed, and we've got our glass of wine... We wiggle our toes out of our shoes, get into our jammies and get ready to unwind and watch ...  Are you ready for this?  Ice Road Truckers in the Himalayas.  And Swamp People.  Yeah.  I know.  Tells you something about us, doesn't it?  But, seriously.  Both of those shows absolutely hypnotize me.  Why, you ask?  For one thing, they really are both spine-tinglingly spine tingling -- and they make me so very happy we live where we do:  safe from maniac Indian bus drivers and bus-sized alligators. And you've just gotta love that crazy Swamp People Cajun accent. After watching a whole season of the show, I can now actually understand what they're saying without reading the crawl at the bottom.  I could be a translator! (Though I'm not fluent to speak it yet).

 And that little slip of a girl who drove the rickety old truck through the Himalayas?  All I can say is: "Wow." And, "Are you crazy, girl?"  Same comments I've heard countless times through the years -- but Lisa Kelly's job makes mothering ten kids look easy...  Granted, Miss Kelly would probably rather drive a rickety truck over the Himalayas than raise ten kids, but, if you think about it, our jobs have some striking parallels.  Seriously.  For both of us it's all about staying on the road, delivering our cargos to the proper destination, and not killing anybody.


7.  A note to my husband on the off-chance that he'll see it here and notice that it's addressed to him:  I love you, Dan.  Remember how you promised to clean the refrigerator as a favor to me...   two weeks ago?  Well, just so you know... I'm not nagging or anything, and I so totally understand all the things that have distracted you -- as I've certainly welcomed my own distractions from cleaning the fridge, too --  but I just thought you'd appreciate a heads up:  Mother's Day is May 13th.  That's a Sunday, you know.  I can arrange to be out of the house on Saturday, the 12th...  Just sayin'.




Run over to Jen's at Conversion Diary for oodles and skads of Quick Takes posts.