Samoas, Thin Mints, & Tagalongs Oh My!

Can you guess what this post is going to be about?

Bingo!

Girl Scout Cookies.  Yum-O.

This is the first year that D & E  are not doing Girl Scouts.  My wallet is thanking me. In past years I have bought a ridiculous amount of cookies just so they could get the "cookie" patch.

Which I never did get ironed onto their vests.  I was a terrible Girl Scout mom.  Let's just say I was not all broken up about it when they decided over the summer that they would give up doing Girl Scouts.

Thankfully, R's daughter S is still a Girl Scout.  So, she was my supplier this cookie season.

And today was delivery day.  Oh happy day!

I was quite excited to get home this afternoon and see the boxes that R had left by my garage.  S was also the supplier to some of my knitting friends.

What does one do when they get their delivery of Thin Mints, Samoas, & Tagalongs?

Why, eat them of course!

D enjoying a Thin Mint.  She went for 1 of each: Thin Mint, Samoa, & Tagalong.

E just about devouring a Samoa.  She went with 2 Samoas & 1 Thin Mint.

She is her mama's daughter.  She would eat a box of Samoas if I let her.

And I have to use ALL of my almost non-existent willpower to not eat a WHOLE box of Samoas.

And that goes for the Thin Mints too.  The Tagalongs are good but they are not my downfall like Sammoas & Thin Mints.

Here's a little tidbit about Girl Scout cookies: there are 2 different companies that make them.  I learned that piece of info from my friend C(of the 5 pump Chai fame).

There is The Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers.

If you are unfamiliar with Samoas(Little Brownie Bakers), you probably know them by Carmel deLites(ABC Bakers).  And Tagalongs(LBB) are known as Peanut Butter Patties(ABC).

A few of the other cookies have different names too, but I don't buy them.

Now, what I did learn on my own tonight from Wikipedia is that Little Brownie Bakers is a subsidiary of Keebler, who is owned by Kellog's.

Which explains to me why Keebler has a couple knock-offs of Thin Mints and Samoas.  Interesting. May have to give those cookies a try during the non-Girl Scout cookie season.

Especially when I an having a craving for a Samoa.  Or a Thin Mint.

potd #65.  My favorites.  Thus, the only ones I buy.  Which Girl Scout cookie is your favorite?

A Chai For Me

I am a coffee girl.

I like my morning coffee.  Two cups is perfect.  Sometimes I may stretch it to 2 1/2 cups.

I enjoy coffee.  A lot.

I will sometimes have an extra cup in the afternoon or if I am out running errands.

Lately, I have started to cheat on coffee.  Not my morning coffee.  Oh no, never that.

Morning coffee is absolutely necessary.

But, when I am out.  That is when I have a new love.  And it is all thanks to my friend C.

Let me introduce you to my Grande 5 pumps, non-fat, light water Chai.

It is delicious.

I first had it last winter when my girlfriends and I were headed away for our scrapbooking weekend.  We stopped at Starbucks and C was all set with her order.

She shared with us her "regular" order and let's just say she's definitely a regular at Starbucks.  Being undecided, the rest of us decided to also have C's regular order.

And, oh my.  Was it ever good.

Fast forward to this past January.  Again we were headed away.  And again we made a stop at Starbucks for C.

Though I should say we really stopped for all of us.  And yes, we all got the Chai.  And yes, it was as good as I remembered.

The difference is now I am finally brave enough to order it myself.  Although, the first time I did, I had to send C a text to double check that I had everything right.

I did.  So, to the drive-thru I went.  And I read the order from my text to C.  And it was delicious.

Today I was finally brave enough to go into the Starbucks at our local Barnes & Noble and place my order in person.

And it was delicious.  I have decided as long as I can get to a Starbucks, it shall be my new drink when I am out & about.

I even got my friend J to work up the courage to order one for herself.  Although, I haven't talked to her to know if she did it through the drive-thru or in person.

I will have to check tomorrow.  I did get a text from her after she got her Chai and she said, "Yum!"

potd #64.  We are painting our dining room.  And The Conservatory.  Picking colors is hard.  Stopped at our great local paint store and the owner let me borrow his paint sample fan deck.  It is great fun to play with,  I wish I didn't have to bring it back tomorrow.

Happy Daffodils

I just love Daffodils.  To me they just shout "Spring!"

Every year at this time the bunches of daffodils show up at the local grocery store.

Always just weeks before St. Patrick's Day.

Aren't they just so happy looking?

20 daffodils for $5.  Can't pass them up.  There is nothing like having fresh flowers in the house this time of year.  Dreams of gardening outside are starting to dance in my head.

It's usually about this time of year I always regret not plantng hundreds of daffodil bulbs in the yard the previous fall.  I think I shall put it on the list of things to do this fall.  For sure.

Earlier today Sissy and I were able to get out and run some errands.  And do some thrifting of course. 

At one of our stops, I found a small glass coffee pot.  I would guess it holds 4 cups. It is the perfect vase for my daffodils.

Last week I had bought a larger, 6 cup, vintage glass coffee pot.  It will look perfect holding daisies this summer.

Think I have a new mission when thrifting.  Vintage glass coffee pots.  Perfect.  And you know how much I love coffee.  Perfectly perfect.

My kitchen windowsill looks much brighter today with the daffodils.  Ahhh, spring! How do I love thee?

Another great find today is this Fire King Blue Heaven casserole dish.  I love it.

It was a good day thrifting.  Sissy thinks we may need to start our own thrift shop someday.  You know, to sell off some of the things we're collecting.  Silly Sissy!

potd #63.  Pretty Daffodils.  Small glass coffee pot bokeh.  Love.

Sunday Songs & A Hike

After missing the last 2 weeks, we were back to church this week.

Our regular pianist was away this week, so the music was a bit different this week.

We sang a couple medleys of hymns.  They were nice, but I really enjoy the more contemporary music that we sing.

The other 2 songs that we sang were:
Be Unto Your Name
Blessed Be Your Nam

With these two songs, we had guitar played by my nephew J and our regular drummer accompanied him.  They did a great job.

Enjoy this version of Blessed Be Your Name. 

This afternoon after church we all took a hike on a local trail.  We go to this trail quite a bit and Lucy really loves it.  Part of the trail follows a small river and then loops around a pond with a dam.

Lucy loves getting in the water.  Even when it's cold out.  Brrrrrr.

The weather was perfect and it was just wonderful to get outside.

D walking along a fallen log.  There is always something to look at along this trail. And lots of logs to walk on.  Hard to pass up a log to pretend that it's a balance beam.

Lucy attempting to pull up a tree root.  Go Lucy!  She thought it was a stick and started to pick it up and then kept pulling and pulling and pulling.  Needless to say, the tree root won.

D & E found a little water fall in the river that was created by a fallen log.  

While taking pictures, I played with my aperture a bit to get the motion of the water. Of course, everybody kept moving.  And left me behind taking pictures.  

Because of the storm we had last fall, there have been many fallen trees along the trail.  Now, from clearing the trail there are many cut logs along the way.  The girls love looking at all the pieces that have been left behind.

Took this photo for E.  She was sure to point it out to me.  She was very cute.  "Look Mom!  Look at this log and all the moss it has!"  With an exclamation like that, I had to take a picture.  

Hubby humoring me while I take a picture of him.  Yup, lots of humoring going on in the photo.  Probably doesn't help that I was singing his nickname while taking the picture.  "Moonshadow!", sung in the tune of "Goldfinger" from James Bond fame.

And this is where he got the nickname, Moonshadow.  Hubby bought this hat early last winter.  And then we had upteen feet of snow.  And all he did was wear this hat. One day I happened to notice the tag on the side, "Moonshadow".  And that was the moment he became Moonshadow.  It fits him.

E with her Red Sox hat.  I love it when I can get her to smile naturally at me.  Too many times she forces her smile.  And trust me, a forced E smile is not a good smile.  I love the natural smile. 

D with her blue eyes.  Sometimes she is not always wanting her picture taken.  But boy when she does, jackpot!  She has such an easy natural smile. Love it.

potd #62.  At the start of our hike.  Wish Lucy was turned toward me.  Oh well.  It's a great pic of Hubby, D & E.

The Conservatory

As per usual, our day has been busy.

Girls had basketball today.  No baskets for either girl.  C'est la vie.

There is always next week.  Thankfully the girls are just happy playing.

After bball, they headed off for the day to my mother-in-laws.

And Hubby & I went home to start planning the bookshelves that Hubby is thinking of building for the room that is the formal living room.

But, who really needs a formal living room these days?

Certainly not us.  That is why we are turning it into what we are calling, "The Conservatory".

You, know like in the game Clue.  As in, Professor Plum with the lead pipe in "The Conservatory".

We came up with the name one day when we were trying to figure out what to do with that room.  At one point we thought we were going to make it into an office.

But, the more we thought about it the more we realized we don't need an office anymore than we need a formal living room.

The one thing we did know is that we wanted to have bookshelves in that particular room.  And we decided that it would be somewhere that my Hubby could put some of his music/vinyl records and a turntable.

Hence, we came up with the name "The Conservatory".  I was really just joking around when I threw out that name and it has stuck.

So, Hubby drew up some plans of what type of shelves we wanted and off to Home Depot we went.

Let's just say I spent the time taking pictures of the lumber/pine/oak while Hubby talked out his plans to me.

I tried to pay attention, but I was in boy land.  And sometimes when I am in boy land I zone out.  So, I tried to pay attention and answer appropriately when asked questions.

Sometimes I just nodded and said "ok" when I wasn't sure what he was talking about.

What we are figuring out is it may just be as expensive to build the bookshelves(including his time) as it would be to purchase them already made.

Not sure at this point what we are going to do.  So, ultimately we didn't get much accomplished.  Which seems to be a trend for us lately when trying to do things like this.  Hmmmmm.

potd #61.  Some lumber that may or may not be used in bookshelves that Hubby may or may not build himself.  I think the jury is still out on what we are going to do on the bookshelf front.  Sure hope the jury comes back with a verdict soon........

First Friday

First Fridays are just so much fun.

As is our routine, I got together today with 5 other friends for most of the day at R's house.

R & C do a great job of actually scrapbooking.

My friend A works from home part-time so she came and was able to get some work done today.  Although she did have to make a phone call at some point and figured she better leave the room for a quieter place.

Apparently we were laughing too much.

J came for a bit before heading off to work.  She did some knitting.  J is the assistant teacher in the pre-school at the elementary school.  She is wonderful with both the 4's and the 3's that she helps teach.

K, who lives in the neighborhood also came.  She actually brought a book thinking she was going to get some reading done today.  That K, she's too funny!  There was no way she was going to get any reading done in this crowd.

Oh, and me, you may ask?  What did I do?  I did some online shopping and some knitting.  I was quite productive.

See, we have too much fun talking and laughing.  It was a good day.

On another note, I thought I would post some of my favorite finds on Pinterest this week.

Maple Mustard Glazed Chicken.  Made this for dinner this week to rave reviews by all.  Served it with Uncle Ben's Wild Rice and steamed green beans.  Delicious.

Frozen Coconut Limeade.  This drink makes me want warm summer days now! What's really funny is that within an hour of pinning this on Pinterest, it had over 60 repins.  Obviously I am not the only one longing for summer.

Rolly Shelf.  I think this is one of the coolest tables.  And you can even make it fit into a corner by maneuvering the tables.

Chicago print.  I absolutely love this print.  I am going to get it and hang it in the dining room with a couple other prints from the same company.

Terrarium.  I kept seeing terrariums all over Pinterest this week.  I love this one. Thinking it will be a project for the weekend.  Might even let the girls make their own.  

Easter Peeps Centerpiece.  Love, love, love this. Definitely going to be putting this together.  Have already been eyeing square glass vases while thrifting. I think one will be coming home with me next week.

Hope you enjoyed my Pinterest finds.  And these were just a few of my pins this week.  Yup, definitely a fan of Pinterest.

potd #60.  At R's, we always have peanut butter M&M's.  They are oh so addicting. Once you start eating them, it's hard to stop.  Love 'em.

Like A Lion

It snowed pretty much all day today.

Luckily, the temperature was warm enough that it did not stick to the roads.

And we did not have a late start to school today.  Which surprised me.

I was really expecting to have a late start today.  Oh well.

The girls were just fine with their school day starting on time.

Bonus was that I got to keep my hair color appointment.  Which was greatly needed. And greatly is an understatement.

Let's just say that I have now dropped down to every 5 weeks for my color.  Ugh.  I hate getting older.

Watching my cholesterol and coloring my hair more often.  Yup, getting old stinks. Oh sure, there's worse words going through my head.  But, this is a family friendly blog.

More importantly, I hate that early graying runs in my family.  On my dad's side.  It sure is a good thing I love my Nana so much otherwise I might be really upset with her father.  Apparently that's where it comes from.

So I've been coloring since I've been 26, maybe 27.  See, I am getting old.  I can't even remember when I had to start coloring my hair.  Double ugh.

Worse than the coloring is the waxing of my eyebrows.  Now that hurts.  And T, my colorist, takes great pleasure in torturing me while waxing my brows.

She always has to pluck a few stubborn hairs.  Today she actually plucked my skin. She is really lucky that I love her.  Otherwise I might not have her torture me anymore.

Oh, who am I kidding?!?!  Of course I am going to let her torture me.  I hate plucking more than I hate the waxing!

And I really do love her.  Remember, she takes my grays away.  That trumps any pain I may suffer while having my eyebrows waxed.

Love you T!  And you make me laugh!  It's almost like not even being tortured.  Well, almost.

I got home today and Lucy was very sweet.  She was very cozy with E and Hubby's sneakers.

As Hubby says, Lucy's nose almost looks like E's sneaker.

Just moments before, Lucy had her nose completely in Hubby's sneaker.  She is a very funny dog.

As I was sitting on the floor trying to get good shots of her, she got up and tried to curl up in my lap.  Like I said, she's a very silly dog.

She's 60 lbs., but she thinks she's still a 10 lb. puppy.  She likes to be as close as possible.  She is just too sweet.

potd #59.  Lucy laying on me as I am trying to take a picture of her.  She has gotten herself all snuggled up and curled in between my legs.  And laying on my stomach.  I am on my back with my camera just about above my head trying to get a shot of her. Love this dog.