YUM! Crust

Oh the joys of running out to grab a quick bite to eat. This is not a normal event for our family.  We usually end up at a high end restaurant.  One that Chef will come out and speak to us to double check our order....just to make sure he doesn't cook something or cross contaminate food that will ultimately do the Man Child in, or at least send us to the hospital. We can do burgers at Red Robin......they are awesome for allergy families. But Man Child can't have bread.....so it is a burger.....a plain burger. But no more! Crust Stone Oven Pizza is in the Quad Cities. Fresh Sicilian style pizza baked in 90 seconds in a stone oven. Some friends had told me about it, but I wrote it off.....it is crust.....bread....no way! Tall Man and I took Peanut out for dinner last week to scope it out. Oh. My. Goodness. Can we all sing YUM together? The waiter came back with three items on the menu my son can not have. Fryer food (soybean oil), the chicken and the artichoke something. Wait....the crust? Yes. Made with the freshest ingredients.... REAL ingredients! So the Man Child and I went out for pizza tonight. We were on the clock...we had 35 minutes for this dinner. Let's see if their pizza is really as fast as they say. Two waters, a Sausage Pizza and an order of Grilled Asparagus. Photo from Crust Stone Oven facebook  page, used by permission Photo from Crust Stone Oven facebook  page used by permission   FAST, delicious and the total price? $20.33 plus a fiver for a tip. As a parent of an allergy child, this is a Kum ba ya moment! We have found healthy, fast food! I highly recommend this place - be sure to check it out. The service is fabulous.             The restaurant is CLEAN!                                And the food is delicious.... photo used by permission Crust Stone Oven Pizza facebook page Crust Stone Oven Pizza 2561 53rd Avenue  Bettendorf, IA 52722 563-424-5502

On the Road Again....

Traveling across another state....

......in another hotel.

Have you ever noticed the products in your hotel room?

I am noticing.

Do they think the added French makes me want to use this product?  Thanks to my French lessons on my GPS, I do feel a little fresher after using these wipes to take off my make-up.



Purity lotions, shampoo, conditioner......

Do you remember when the little shampoos and liquid containers had a paper band on them?  A safety seal...... I am not sure how much purity is in these bottles.  There is no seal anymore....they may just be refilling them.

I better just put those in my bag to make sure they don't refill between guests.  It is my duty.



Toilet paper.

Renew?   Renew what?

If we plant it....will it grow?

Subtle Touch.  What?
Who names this stuff?
Maybe after hours on the road, you need a subtle touch......
especially  if you are not equipped with Air-Ride......


This just got me thinking though.....

What if Charmin was the "Quicker Picker Upper".......



Yes - I know my images are not working on any device other than MAC.  I am on the road....not my computer.....frustration is mounting, but I promise to fix it when I get home.  Tune in tomorrow night if you just HAVE to see the photos of toilet paper......

I Told You So......

Yes.
I was right.
I have been vindicated.

That's right....I told you so!



Frog is finishing up packing...
...pulling things together to leave for college.

Today was the final laundry day.
She moved her wet clothes from the washer to the dryer,
flipped the ON button, and ........ strange buzzing noise.

I wish I could write what the noise sounded like....
but I didn't hear it.  I am imagining it as an electrical frying sound.   
Kind of a ppzzzztph type of a noise.

She opened the dryer to witness an angry orange glow.
It was arcing like crazy in there!




This is where I insert the reminder of a post
way back in February.....The Rules Of Life.
(Be sure to click on the post title Tall Man...
....just to refresh your memory.)

These were valuable lessons
my dad shared with me while growing up
....and yes....you guessed it.....

Rule #1 is true.

Rule # 1

Never, I repeat, never leave the house with the dryer running.  

It could start a fire and burn the house down.

Uh ha.....the house would have burned down today.





So Tall Man....hang your head and shake it all you want....because


              I told you so!









PS.....my new dryer will be delivered in a couple weeks.
And a new washer comes with it!!  Not happy
about the added expense in the budget, however...
life goes on and the bills will get paid somehow.

A Princess is born

In a land far, far away.....

Johannisburg Castle - Achaffenburg, Germany

                                     
                                there was born.....a princess.



The Princess was forced to wander around the world with her parents.  Faraway lands.  From Germany, to Hawaii, Georgia, South Dakota, Michigan.....and the most exotic of all....Iowa.

Wandering a field on Kolekole Pass, Oahu

She had many adventures and friends along the way....

Making friends

And there were many birthdays through those years....

But today......

                          ......today the Princess turns 21.

Happy Birthday Princess Peanut!

Where is My Camera?

I knew this was a week of events.  I had all my blogs spread out before me......plotted on my calendar.

Today's event was to be a relaxing getaway with Tall Man.

I get to go see what he is building....his job....his people.

I left my camera at home.

The people have an official photographer.

Who knew how many times I would have needed that camera in less than 24 hours.

We brought the convertible to tootle across the countryside.
In this season of drought....we could see the rain ahead.  The lines striped the sky like a bride's veil.  The smell was incredible as the rain pelted the hot asphalt and steamed back into the air.

I missed the picture....where is my camera?

The sky continued to get darker.  There were no lines anymore.  There was only a Crayola Cadet Blue sky....with areas of green glow.

Green.

The top went up.  You can only outrun so much in a convertible.  Green glowing sky is not one of them.

It rained so hard, the wetness was coming through the canvas.  I still can't figure out where it was coming from....but I got wet....with the top up.

And once again....where is my camera?  The sky was an incredible sight.....and no way to document it.

.....and the hail began.....pea sized.

We have no dents in the car.  No holes in the canvas.  But we are missing some paint.

Am I able to show you this?

When I get home.......
          where  I left my camera....
                   in the bag....
                           on the hook...

I won't forget it next time.....

....this time I only have words.

Cuppa Joe

I haven't been sleeping well lately.

After a post on Facebook the other morning, a friend commented, "Caffeine is your friend."

Coffee is energy.

A Cup of Energy!!  My newest want for my car.
Available at ThinkGeek  http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/b29e/
Mommy, you can add this to my Christmas list! hint...hint...

I love coffee.
I love the perfect cup of coffee.
I love my Keurig.

I don't love the cost.

Yeah, I know the Keurig is cheaper than going to the barista for multiple.....even one cup.....of coffee.

I want to cut costs.
I need to budget.
I need coffee.

I am on a mission.  I need a new coffee pot, but what??

I was never a fan of my Mr. Coffee.  My Bunn was okay, but I don't really like the hot water heating ALL the time.  I hate cleaning my espresso machine.

My bean of choice is Jacobs Kronung.
Yummy, bold, fine ground German coffee.

But I need a method of brew.

Ideas for a coffee snob???

It's a Monday.....

It is raining.

Not that I am complaining....my lawn is actually greening up!!  The cracks in the parched earth are beginning to close.

And the games have begun.

The Puppy Game.

Puppy loves rain!  She loves the Rain Game.

The game is to run outside, get wet and then come inside to get dried off.

Yes....she loves her towel.  She leaps in the air at it.  She grasps it in her teeth and plays tug.  She captures it and takes of....sprinting around the house like she just won a gold medal and the towel is her country's flag.

Part of this game though is....how many times can she go outside to come back in and play again,
                                            and again,
                                                      and again.....

Like a typical preschool puppy,
she forgets why she needs to go outside.
            To do her "business".
                                To potty.
                                        To doodle.

Have I ever told you about Puppy's bell?  Yeah, we trained her to ring a bell on the door to tell us she has to go outside.

Needless to say, the bell has had a workout this morning, and yes, she cried wolf one too many times.

I began to ignore her.....
(you may insert now that this is my fault now...)

Puppy got my attention....finally.

She jumped up on my footstool.....



.....and.....




POOPED ON MY FEET!


Go ahead and say it......I am listening.....now.


sigh

The Land of Queue

I am a fan of queues.  They have an absolute purpose in life…..no cutting in line.  If I go to a store with multiple cashiers, I can guarantee that I will get in the slowest line.  It is stressful for me.  I look around and all of the other lines are just flying!  Nope, not mine.

“Price check on Aisle 4, please?” 

          “Oops. I rang that item up too many times.  

          I will have to fetch a manager to void this.”

                “Oh!  This bottle is leaking!  

                 Why don’t you just run back and grab another.”

Yep....that's my line….every time.

The idea of a queue is to 

enter a roped area and wait your turn until 

“the next available cashier can assist you.”  

It runs smoothly….until….you have a queue jumper.

I shop at a grocery store that has a queue.  I love it.  

No question as to when it is your turn. Stress free.

 

I was standing at the front of the line and there she goes, skipping right past the magic sign

LINE

STARTS

HERE

and into the short line.  This same woman bullied her way through the entire store, pushing her way in front of everyone else’s carts, moving carts out of the way, never saying excuse me……ugh!

Then….out of nowhere, came the Queue Angel.  She looked right at me and said, “You’re next on Aisle 4.”  I let her know someone else was in that line and I would wait for the next aisle.

“Oh no……she is taking her things off the belt right now.  

You are next on Aisle 4.”

Yes she was......every item was going back into her shopping cart.  Queue Jumper was not happy….she even used an expletive as I walked by her to the waiting cashier. 

I guess we are not in the land of pearls and white gloves at that grocery store anymore.  I didn’t realize it has become so cut throat!  What happened to civility?  What happened to politeness? 

Can’t we all just slow down and smell the coffee? 

(They don’t sell flowers at that store…)