My Mom and Dad's birthdays are exactly 2 weeks apart.
When I was at the post office mailing my Dad's birthday card, I thought I would be smart and buy a stamp for my Mom's card too.
A week and a half before my Mom's birthday (31 days ago) I dropped her card in a mail box. Two days later, I found the stamp I had bought for her card. Oops. So I waited for it to be returned. And waited. And waited.
I thought maybe one of the blessings of having your parents serve a mission was free postage- so I told my Mom to watch out for it.
This morning, I checked the mail and there is was.
Seriously? It took 31 days for them to realize there was no stamp and return it to me.
I think I could have walked it to the Philippines faster than that.
So Mom- now it is really on it's way. Hopefully it will get to you before your NEXT birthday.
The other day I went to get a blood test. And this is what happened...
right arm: left arm: yup. I got poked 4 times. 4 times!! And only one of them worked. My veins have become hard to find lately. Apparently VERY hard to find.
The girl poked me once and it didn't work. So she went to get someone else.
Who tried. And holy schmolies did it hurt. Bad. Then she tried again.
Apparently they are only supposed to try twice. But as she told the first girl "rules are meant to be broken". Interesting.
She said I might have to come back another day. Which I really did not want to do. She decided to try one more time. And luckily it worked.
Hopefully I won't have to get another blood test for a VERY long time.
I should post a picture of the 2 beautiful bruises that have appeared.
It was an interesting week this past week. Monday morning my phone rings at 7:30. It was the substitute system calling with a job. It was for a kindergarten class at the school one of my nieces goes to... and she just happens to be in kindergarten. So I call my sister to see if it was for her teacher. It is. Crazy. I showered, got ready and drove there in time for 8:10. Yikes. I walk into the classroom and discover the teacher's aid is a girl from my ward. Crazy. It turned out that the teacher has a flu and as a precaution she is required to stay home for a week. So I spent a week in kindergarten and LOVED it. They sure are cute and fun.
What are the chances that I got that phone call Monday morning- to be my niece's teacher and with the girl from my ward?? Coincidence? or destiny? ha ha.
Last weekend I was reminded of another crazy happening. 3 years ago my friend really wanted to go camping in Delaware for her birthday. So 4 girls headed out for the adventure Friday night. Saturday we hung out around Cape May before heading back to Virginia. It was the Relief Society broadcast that night so we found a stake center that was on our way home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. We got there right when it was starting and found seats on the front row. As soon as it ended, my friend and I went to the washroom. While I was washing my hands I hear "Shelley?" I turn around and there was a lady from my home stake. She was visiting her parents in New Jersey. CRAZY. What are the chances that we would stop at that stake center? And both be in the bathroom at the same time?
It really is a small world after all.
What's a post without a picture. So here are the 3 girls flying a kite on the beach at Cape May.
Let's talk movies. Or shall I say- get comfortable. Because I am going to talk about movies. And then you can have your say when I am finished. ha.
Have you seen (or read) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? If not go get it. Today. I haven't read the book but I am going to. (as soon as I am finished my current one). The movie wasn't very advertised. Why is that? Some movies have the snot advertised out of them. And others- you never hear of. I understand budgets and such. But why. I don't think I even heard about this movie until I saw it in RedBox. But seeing it this weekend changed me. It is sad. And inspiring. And thought provoking. And sad. Here is the trailer if you would like a little taste of the sadness-
Certainly a different perspective of the Holocaust. The book is for teens and the movie is clean- other than the fact that it is about the Holocaust.
Okay. now to my second thought about movies. Many moons ago they had Cheap Tuesdays. You could go to any theater on Tuesday and enjoy a movie for a "cheaper" price. Then for some reason they had to double movie prices. And eliminate Cheap Tuesdays. I don't get it.
Well the theater by my house stayed strong. They resisted the temptation to rip off their customers... at least on Tuesdays. And boy did they benefit. I think the whole city would come out. You couldn't find a place to park. You had to show up at least 30 minutes early to get a somewhat decent seat.
Until yesterday.
My friend and I went to see a movie. Because it was Cheap Tuesday. There were signs everywhere with the title "Advisory". There were LOTS of words on it. So I read the first paragraph. Something about some company (I will not mention) is sponsoring Tuesdays. You can buy a movie ticket, a medium popcorn and a medium drink for $11.45. That is a savings of 50%. Their words- not mine.
While I was standing in line, I read the other paragraph. Which explained that Cheap Tuesdays were gone and T****S Tuesday's are in. Starting today. I was mad. I only go to movies on Tuesdays. Because I am cheap. I bring my own snacks to movies. See. Cheap.
So the lovely guy at the ticket counter said it would be $11.90 for a ticket. Or I could get popcorn and pop for $11.45. So I took the deal. Who wouldn't.
Which got me thinking. Everywhere you look nowadays the focus is eating healthy and being active. So then this company is willing to put it's name on a weekly "event" that encourages you to do nothing but sit for at least 2 hours. And consume a large amount of popcorn and pop. I don't get it. And I don't like it.
So I probably won't go see a movie again unless it is at the cheap theater. Or I have a coupon.
These are evil. And when I say evil, I mean totally tasty. So tasty and evil that once you start, you can't stop. mmmmmm.
A friend told me about them. I saw them. Bought them. And love them. I 've suffered through baked chips before and they aren't so tasty. But Old Dutch got it right. Lots of flavor. Lack of grease.
And guess what? You can eat 27 chips to equal a serving. Hello.
Sorry my American friends... I think these are only available in Canada. But maybe the USofA will get something right and start importing these. ha.
My parents have a pretty amazing garden. And they were kind enough to plant potatos, peas, carrots and beans even though they would be out of the country to partake of the bountiful harvest. Or help with the weeding or harvesting... hmmm. how convenient. too convenient.
I spent an hour in the hot sun, battling bugs and thorns and weeds to get these beauties-
Pretty sure it is all going to be worth it when I have a yummy baked potato and green beans for dinner. And some raspberries and ice cream for dessert.
I got this recipe from Rose- a lady on my mission. So I call it Rose's Ham. But you can call it whatever you want. It is super delicious and yummy. So feel free to call it that.
I tried to take pictures throughout but of course didn't get pictures at the beginning or the end...
First step is to bake ham frozen, with skin on at a low heat (about 150 to 200 degrees) "all day". My ham wasn't frozen so I was a little worried about cooking it all day. Plus my oven would only go as low as 170 degrees. So I put it in the oven before leaving for church and it was "done" when I got home- 3 hours later.
Take out of oven- remove skin and fat.
Now comes the delicious part.
Mix together: 2 cups brown sugar 1 Tablespoon dry mustard 3 or 4 shakes of soy sauce 1/2 cup corn syrup 1/4 cup or less ketchup
(my ham was pretty small so I halved the glaze recipe)
It will be pretty thick- paste the glaze onto the ham. Cover the ham as best you can and just pour in the rest of the glaze.
Return to the oven- but this time at 400 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes- basting it with the glaze a few times. I tried to baste it about every 5 minutes. The glaze becomes very liquidy and easy to spoon over the ham.
I made this to take to my sisters for dinner. So I just put it in a container, poured over the glaze- it travelled perfectly.
Just before eating we sliced it, poured some glaze over the slices and dug in. Pretty sure my brother-in-law ate half of it.
My sister also made a plain ham (that was HUGE) so there were lots leftover. I took a few pieces, put them in my container with some glaze and enjoyed it the next day.
Seriously? It took 31 days for them to realize there was no stamp and return it to me. 
