Happy Mother's Day

A year ago, my Mother's Day present was a visit from my daughter and the man who would become her husband. We visited the Museum of Science and Industry and the Brookfield Zoo. They also cleared the front planting beds of a lot of overgrowth. It was a lovely time.

This year, well, I got home from work on Thursday and found a box on my front stoop. Now, I'm expecting a box of things but I don't think they will come in a Harry and David box. I brought it inside and, because it's a box, Mija had to check it out.

The card was in the paperwork removed from the left side. It was a gift from Carole and David. How thoughtful. It can't be their famous pears because it's not the right season for those. 

Opening it up, the first thing I found were these ice packs. Oooh. I take my lunch usually and I will, sometimes forget to put the ice pack back in the freezer for the next day. Having 3 packs will mean I can always keep my lunch chilled. The packs say "Reusable". Hey, I'm way ahead of you on that.

Next, I got to this silver bag. The card on top says, "A Cheesecake Gift For You". Cheesecake? A whole cheesecake? Well, the weight is certainly worthy of a cheesecake.

Opening that silver bag, I got to this box. It's a very nice sturdy box that may find reuse in a few weeks.

Opening that, I got to the goodies. That is a cheesecake, a full cheesecake, a full triple chocolate cheesecake. I unwrapped it and put it in the fridge to thaw. I don't know when FedEx delivered it but it was still frozen. I had to work late on Thursday, too, but it was still hard as a rock when I arrived home at 6 p.m.

Later that evening, I cut the first piece. It's kind of mangled but you can see a chocolate cookie crust, a white cheesecake layer, a milk chocolate layer and a hard ganache frosting.

Rich doesn't cover it. I, who can eat a whole bag of Oreos over a day, can only eat one piece of the size you see here. I took some over to Pam's yesterday to share with her and her husband. They agreed that this was one of the richest cheesecakes they had ever tasted. Today, I'm cutting it into pieces and wrapping each piece for lunches or dinner over this coming week. I'm hanging onto the silver bag. I'm not sure what I'll use it for but it just speaks to me that it's something I should save.

Thank you, Carole and David, for an amazing gift. I think about you with every bite.

Beverage:  Scottish Blend tea

Deb

I won something!

The Illinois St. Andrew Society was conducting a survey last week. If you were one of the first x number of people to return the survey you won the tickets shown on the left. I'm not the fastest responder so I just filled out the survey and sent it back.

Yesterday, the tickets arrived in the mail. They are good through January 1, 2011. I still have to pay the $9 for parking and for any food, beverages or extra shows and souvenirs I might want, but admission is covered. So, I need 3 friends who would like go on a trip to the zoo.

Beverage: Scottish Blend tea

Deb

Gray watch - months gone by

Carole took this when we went to Brookfield Zoo on May 6th. This is in the penguin house. There was this sign that said "Waves in Action" or something like that. That's David, Carole's boyfriend, on the left there. In front of us is this window. We are looking up at the top of the rock not visible. Above us is another window so you are in an alcove. You hear the sound of water and then this wave crashes over the rocks above your head and sends a cascade of water onto the window above you. It's as if you were under the wave. It all happens so fast, you're quite startled. Both of us jumped back while Carole and her friend, Matt Kane, who was watching, roared with laughter.

You can see kind of how long my hair is and that if I got it cut in the same hairdo I've had for years, all that tan still visible would be gone. I'm not liking, too much, the hair on my neck as summer approaches. It does look really nice when I take time to dry it. There is a natural curl to my hair but it has to reach the length it is now for that to be visible.

I'm thinking of trying to tweeze a hair cut out of this paycheck but I really need to investigate short hair styles. I'm tired of the one I've had for the last 4 years. But I don't want something I have to blow dry and style before going out the door.

With a long weekend upcoming, I should have time to look for hair styles.

Beverage: China Black tea

Deb