A Chocolate Whimsy

I'm as crazy about chocolate as people in Napa are about wine. Don't even mention the movie Chocolat to me because I'll have to make a trip to the kitchen, & turn up my ever ready bottle of Hershey's Syrup! I have been known to scoop up an entire cup of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix & combine just enough water to make it the consistency of cake batter, warm it up, and gulp it down. Part of me would like to think that Jon's biological father's last name might be Ghiradelli~ I mean it just seems like a good match ;) Ok that's enough! I'm sure you get the picture. Tonight I just threw together what I think may be a little bit of chocolate heaven right here on earth. The good news is you don't have to feel too guilty about it because it's low in fat.

Here's what it is....

1 1/2 sleeves of Honey Maid Graham Crackers all cruched up on the bottom

1 of the smaller boxes of plain chocolate Jello brand pudding

1 of the smaller boxes of devil's food Jello brand pudding

3 tbs of Heath bit o' brickle toffee bits

2 tbs of Hershey's chocolate syrup

3 1/2 cups of 2% milk

(I'm thinking a layer of Cool Whip would be a great way to top it off, but I don't have any here at the house & I'm not in the mood to go to the grocery store.)

A Water Bobble??

You guys have got to give this thing a try. My mom got a set of Water Bobbles & gave Jon & I each one of them. She decided to give them a try when she saw something about it on the Food Network. Anyone that lives in Texarkana would agree that our water tastes awful! I live in an older house with copper water lines, so our water is disgusting! We have a big water cooler in our kitchen that we drink from. I was a little skeptical about whether the Bobble would really do that much, so I came home to put it to the test. It's like waving a magical wand! Nasty water goes in, and yummy clean water comes out! I know it uses a carbon filter just like the pitcher things, but sometimes you want something on the go. This thing is going to be awesome for sports & when you want your water with you while you're out and about. It is supposed to be good for up to 300 clean bottles of water. Each one is about $8 if you buy them individually, and the carbon refills come in packs of 2 for $5. Add it all up, and you get 900 clean bottles of water for $13. That is less than 2cents per bottle! I'm loving this idea because not only do you get clean water in a cool sports bottle, but it is eco-friendly, & money saving. I'm sure there are quite a few places that sell them, but I found them on Amazon.com

San Diego Through the Lens

San Diego Skyline view from Coronado.

My view from our room at the Westin Gaslamp District.

Mom & I just got back from a girl trip to San Diego, California. Both of our husbands were invited, but they didn't think that it was a good time for them to take off work, so it was just us. We saw everything in the 4 days we were there. We took the Old Town Trolley Tour a total of 3 times because it was our main means of transportation, so we are both experts on the history of San Diego now. We also rented a car & went to Miramar, La Jolla, Qualcomm Stadium (where the Chargers & Texarkana's own Brandon Jones plays), and we hit 2 places that were featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives.

The Hotel Del Coronado where Edward & Wallis met, where they filmed Some Like It Hot, & where we saw Cameron Diaz (she was trying to blend in with other vacationers).

Let's talk about Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives.... Those people know what they're talking about when it comes to good food. We ate at El Indio - They claim they invented taquitos in the 1940s. Best Guacamole on Earth! Filippi's Pizza Groto - This place looks like every grocery store in Italy, but you walk on around to the back & Bam!! There's a restaurant & the Pizza is killer!

The above pictures were taken at Seaside Village which was built by the same people that built Disney Land. It was really pretty.

The Naval Ship Yard - they are building 7 new aircraft carriers like the U.S.S. Midway.

In Balboa Park the Cherry Blossoms & Naked Coral Trees were blooming.

This was the view at Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach. It was so beautiful that I almost cried. God does beautiful on a BIGGER scale than any canvas could ever hold!! One of the most breathtaking views I've ever seen.

Of course we went to the San Diego Museum of Art. It was small, but they have a really nice collection. I loved the Georgia O'Keefe!

Seals at La Jolla, they were so cute! They were just swimming, playing, & talking! The waves were really crashing!

Riding the Skyfari at the San Diego Zoo!

My all time favorite wild animal! Jon & I love meerkats! How could you not? They are precious!

Peacocks are the coolest birds on earth! Seriously, don't argue with me about this one ;)

This peacock came walking through all of our tables while we ate a snack at the cafe!

I've never seen Flamingos laying down like ducks! I guess I thought they slept standing up on one leg!

This Mommy Giraffe had just had her new calf seconds before we walked over there, & we got to watch it try to stand for the first time! How neat is that!

Oh, this is "The Baby Daddy!"

Getting my Veg on!

If you don't want to turn yourself into a complete turnip head then don't get a new awesome TV. If you find turning your mind to total mush like mine an attractive idea, then it's time to get your veg on! You wouldn't believe how much TV Jon and I have managed to watch in the last month and a half! Back in the day we might watch 1 movie or 1 episode of some show we liked, but now thanks to Netflix, Vudu, & Tivo we are working on becoming the next Ebert & Roper. As a happily married & happily settled couple (meaning we aren't moving or doing any major home renovations for a while!) we are without children, and have finished all our schooling, so there isn't a whole lot of other stuff we are able to, or feel like doing in the evenings after work other than clean house, read, play on the computer, or you got it... watch the TV. This show cracked me up! Jamie Lee Curtis is a Scream! Very cute chick flick, I liked it, but Jon was snoring 5 minutes into it! Cute show from the family channel about a girl that learns to ride and care for horses while she served time in a juvenile detention center.

Army Wives is some pretty patriotic drama. This one surprised me. It wasn't so much about Darwin's theory, but about what he went through when his first born child died. Paul Bettany is a talented actor, and does an excellent job in this film. Liam Neeson & Meryl Streep... do I need to say anything more? It is about a family dealing with their son's involvement in a murder.

I read that they are making a second series of Downton Abbey, and I can't wait to see it! It is about a the family & servants who live and work in a large estate just as WW1 is about to break out. I'm a BBC aholic, this series was like an edgy British version of Desperate Housewives.

The Mural

The other day I FINALLY finished the mural in my front entry way. It was my first experience painting on a wall (sheet rock). It was definitely a learning experience. When I started I really didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, so it took a bit of time to imagine something into existence. Then I discovered that when you draw on a wall with pencil it doesn't really erase very well, so as ideas changed there was no way to undo the other things drawn under it unless I wanted to take the time to paint over my old pencil marks, this was when I became frustrated and took a break from it for a while. I finally got to where I felt comfortable enough to begin painting, and I spent many hours on the floor mixing paint, putting in colors, & then remixing to get the right colors. I did all of the initial painting with acrylic, but I couldn't get happy with it no matter what I did, so I decided to take a break from it AGAIN. In case you haven't picked up on it yet, this project brought out the John McEnroe in me.

I decided I wasn't going to touch the darn thing again until I could figure out how to get it the way I wanted it. Once again I let it sit for a couple of months while I played around with different things. The other day I decided that I'd had enough with acrylic paint for a while, and regardless of how messy oil paint can be that is what I wanted to do. As I worked on this crazy abstract tree idea that I had going on I felt like things were just clicking & I took my oil palette into the front entryway and painted for 4 hours. Then Jon came home, we ate, and I went back to it for 3 more hours until voila! I can't even begin to tell you how sore I felt after spending that much time painting on the floor, my shoulders are still not over it, but I am really pleased with how it looks.