Happy Father's day, Chicken Freak!

I stink at keeping surprises. 

I am not sure how I did it for 4 months but I did!

Happy Father's Day, babe.

Here's your gift.......

Wait for it, wait for it......

Waiting....wondering who the heck these 2 guys are and what is getting pulled out of the back of their truck.

"Mom, there is a man here! "

"Really, son?"

It's a Chicken! 

I commissioned this wonderful chainsaw artist to make a chicken for Farmer Andy. 

I left him a note on a stump at Flowerland on 28th st and this is what we got!

Fantastic!!!

This is the artist on the left, Jack Eppinga and his dad....Jack Eppinga's dad.

Instantly liked them. 

Spoiled.....

A man and his kingdom......thank the good Lord he likes simple things. 

A cold Mt Dew, lukewarm pizza, healthy kids, and chickens.....oh, and me. (What? I can be simple....when he does what I want, when I want, how I want it done. Simple!)

Super thrilled with the outcome. 

Mr Jack has some pieces around town. If you are on Thornapple River and see some carvings on the way to Ada....it's his work. 

You can find him on FB @ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bearclaw-Jack/393494260692183 

or his website @ http://www.bearclawjack.com/

Momma? Momma?!

Happy Father's Day, honey. You are so loved.

U-Pick strawberrries...no, really, YOU pick them....

There is a fabulous resource here in Grand Rapids called grkids.com. It's run by a mom named Melody. It is busting at the e-seams with wonderful things to do and see for kids of all ages. We have used this quite a bit to feel like good, non-lazy parents get the kids out and experience some fun stuff.

I was "catching up on the news" as the boys call it when I got up the other morning and saw a list of places that have "U-Pick strawberries".

I had a sudden hankering for freezer jam.

This was going to be our day.

Andy got that "Oh, goody...." look when I filled him in on our plans.

Off we went to Ed Dunnebeck's farm in Alpine Twp.

This girl worked like a machine. She never once picked a green strawberry.

Pick, pick....

Fill the bucket....

That'a girl!

My little farmer in the making.

The boys.....they had fun.

They asked me EVERY BERRY THEY PICKED if it

was red enough.

"Ahhhh!!! For the love of all! Just put it in the bucket. It's like when your father puts away silverware or pans or socks or facecloths.....I will find it and put it where it really goes. I will pick out the hard, green nubs of strawberries before we pay. I ain't paying for those...."

My sweet Cole. I told him I could still see white on the bottom of his bucket and he needed to keep picking....He turned the bucket over to see the white at the bottom of his bucket.

Sigh....

Logan.

My sweet boy....You got time to lean, you got time to pick more berries.

Now, get on it.

How am I supposed to be all "mom of the day" making homemade jam if I have no berries.

Get going....pick!! Pick, I say.

What? You haven't peed on a tree here yet? Well, son, we can't have that now.

Off to the apple orchard you go.

Boys......

Yep, we got a ton of berries, made a few memories and some delish jam.

Next time we do "u-pick" it will be more like....."u-pick the flat of already picked berries in the air conditioned store while your kids stay in the car with your hubs".

What next grkids.com?

Bring on the fun!



Pizza Hut P'zolo review

A guy at work ordered some Pizza Hut and I figured I would throw him $3 and try the new P'zolo.

I ordered the Steak and cheese.

It comes with either Ranch or Marinara for dipping.

I ordered the ranch.....

hmmmmm, their Ranch is a funny color......

 

How was it?

It was good. I really enjoyed it.

The commercial says to ditch the foot long (or something) and get a P'zolo.

Yeah, not so much. It was tiny.

Like 4 bites and gone, tiny.

It was hot with a crispy outer crust sprinkled with Asiago cheese that had a delicious saltiness.

The inside was adequately filled with mixture of steak, cheese and onions and peppers.

I didn't find it greasy. I don't know if I would have noticed. I was starving!

Shocking, I know.

I would have preferred to have the ranch dipping instead of the marinara but, again, it didn't stick around too long!

I would get it again.

I would order the 2 for $5.

Ok....I would order 4 for $10....my kids would prolly like a bite.



I birthed two freaks....

There are times in a mother's life where she looks at her children and thinks....."I picked up the wrong kid at the hospital nursery. I had to have, there is no way this kid comes from me."

 or in my case--these two kids. 

They started booty dancing and singing "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes" as they took off their shirts. 

I don't even know who sings that song or anymore than that one line. 

We listen to country music.

We are normal people.

Look at Logan on the left...that blurryness is him dancing. 

Seriously, Metro Hospital you need to tighten up security. 

My Vegan week.

Life is a little crazy this week and couple that with a power outage and a super busy night at work and I am behind a little on the blog. 

Today is "Day 4 of being a Vegan". 

Haven't cheated even once!! Amazing!!

Eating great, feeling great...what a concept.....

Have my Mom to Mom show at the Devos on Saturday so my mind is there and getting ready for it. 

Last 2 digits of my weight is 5.5....4 lbs gone. Whoot whoot!!

Going Vegan! Day 1

  My friend Veronica and I decided to go Vegan for a week to kick off our 911 worker 12-Week body challenge. 

We are gangsta's like that!

I have to say....Day one.....not terrible. 

Let's be clear: I'm not ever going to give up meat or meat by-products or pink slime in burger for that matter. This is just a weird thing Vern and I thought of doing while sitting around dispatch one night.

Here's what I ate today.

I picked up hours at work today so it was a quick toss of non- animal stuff in my bag. Love the steam-able veggies. These were on sale at Meijer for $.99 each. I stocked up....now that we have a microwave :) I have to take my Synthroid and Calcium pill on an empty stomach with just water and wait 30 minutes before I eat. I just set the timer on the microwave and know that I can eat at the beep. I was rushing this morning so the water was fine until I got to work and then I ate my orange and broccoli. 

I felt I was always munching on my bag of veggies and had to pee every 30 minutes with all the water I was drinking. 

This was my dinner along with a half a plain bagel (I read the label like 15 times so I was sure!) with some strawberry jelly. 

This is zucchini boats (hollowed out) and grilled then I put grilled onions and a little pasta sauce. 

It. Was. Divine.

Not in the I will eat it because it's "either this or my hand" type of Divine, but really, truly delish!

I will make this again. 

Along side a strip steak a turkey burger.

I had a half a popsicle with the kids while they took their bath (the place they eat their popsicles). 

I will end day one not hungry and super optimistic about the week and the next 11 weeks ahead. 

I did FB a local bakery to see if they had anything Vegan and blessings abound!! they have Vegan Chocolate muffins....

Last 2 digits of my starting weight is 9.0 

Tune in tomorrow for day 2! 

Whatever should we do?

I came home from work the other night and was getting ready for bed. In my bare feet, I walked into the bedroom and my foot stuck to something on the carpet. I know, I know, our carpet is a mess but this was new. This was fresh sticky.

Me: "ummmm....honey, what is this sticky stuff on the carpet?"

Him: where?

Me: (in my head) where? where? Helen Keller could find this...

(out loud) : right here honey, this big sticky line in our room?

Him: oh, ah, we had syrup for dinner on the waffles.

Me: of course! silly me. So sorry I interrupted "Duck Dynasty."

Him: It's "Storage Wars", I just finished "Duck Dynasty" those guys are awesome, when I...

Me: I know, you are going to grow your beard the day after you retire. So looking forward to that honey. Ummm, did you think to, Oh, I don't know, clean it up?

Him: I couldn't find anything that works.

Me: ......................................

Me: You couldn't find anything to clean up the syrup on the carpet that is

RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CARPET CLEANER??

Him: ....they make duck calls and this one time, they flooded the dock to float ducks on.....

At least he didn't put newspaper over it and wait for me to get home, like when the dog pukes.

It can't be much longer, right, with all that Mt Dew he drinks.....right?!