birthday chicken for breakfast!

Yes, indeed! That leftover chicken breast, topped with the superbly garlicky spinach from Carrabbas, reheated very well! I added some mini rotini - and coffee, of course! - to complete the meal.

Now, I'm off to Bluffton for dinner and a movie with my stepmom!
Finally!!!
She had sent me an email on Friday. She would be kid-free all of this week; would I like to meet up with her for our much-missed outings?
Hell to the Y E A H!!!
Today, we shall see "Million Dollar Arm" and then have slunch... somewhere!
On Wednesday, we shall meet again, this time lunching before the movie and at our beloved Cheeburger Cheeburger. That's right! It has reopened - or will officially tomorrow - and we are both so excited we can hardly stand it!!!
Oh, which movie are we slated to view that day?
"Belle", you nosy thing!
(smile!)
She picked that one, as she likes films from the American Civil War era.
Hey, I'm just glad we're able to get together and catch up!

daddy's trees

Today was spent in the cheery company of my stepmom. Such a nice way to begin this eighth month of the year!
This visit was initiated by an email I'd sent to her about Daddy's trees. You see, a death in my ex's side of the family had led me back to the Arbor Day Foundation website, to order a group of trees for Gwen, dead after a four-year struggle with breast cancer. The site allowed me to choose where her trees would go: north to Minnesota or south to Florida. I opted for the Superior National Forest, as it will be better for family outings for those in Michigan and Minnesota.
Tucked on the sidebar of the site was the listing "View the Tree Registry." Curious, I clicked it and then followed it down the path to Michigan. Daddy's seventy-two trees are part of the Huron-Manistee National Forest. They'd had four and a half years to grow into new homes for birds, new food sources for small animals, new shelters for larger fauna.
Positive action, positive results.
She said, "Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go see them? Maybe in a few years, life will have slowed down a little for me ... I would love to take a long road trip up that way."
I agree. I wonder, in what part of the forest do they live? What types of birds call them home? Will the forest rangers be able to guide us to those particular trees?
Maybe, when we go, we'll just regard the entire forest as Daddy's.
That will work just fine.
Oh, in case you're interested, we dined on fried pickles and fried mushrooms. She had a huge BLT and I had an actual cheeseburger (!) topped with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, black olives and minced garlic. Quite tasty, and neither of us cared that I had dragon breath for the rest of the afternoon.
The movie we chose was "RED 2", mostly because it was an action flick that featured actors older than us. And who can resist Bruce and Helen and John? Not us! And who knows? Maybe one day we will be Retired, Extremely Dangerous, too!

touch me touch me touch me touch me!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show song is totally appropriate!
I was in SUCH a great frame of mind today! My mood ring would have glowed warm purple for mellow and loved. Truly!

And I have figured out why, too.
Touch.
I scored major touch from all kinds of sources today! It's been pure magic, the transformation of a physical sensation to a balm for my mental, emotional, and spiritual self!

How did it begin?
I met my stepmom for lunch and a movie, something we haven't done in far too long. Schedule conflicts, what with my Fridays being consumed either by meetings or special make-up tests for students. In other words, lots of special favors for others, none for me. Boo hiss!
So this was an especially nice way to celebrate my first day of Spring Break! Oh, yeah! Hugs, first, then a leisurely lunch at what has become our favorite twice-named restaurant. The manager even brought us a free sampler of their new treats: fried mushrooms for her and fried pickle chips for me. Yum!!! Nice and crispy and zingy pickles!
Then off to the movies! She even got an extra dollar off because it was Senior Monday. Nice! We got the popcorn & soda special, too (and a free refill on the large tub before we left, of course!) and had a good time laughing at the movie.
I may have enjoyed "Identity Thief" more than she did, as it had the expected harsh language in it, and a bit more than she liked. Still, we totally enjoyed being with each other and ended our day together with more hugs before going in our opposite directions.
I went home, put away the popcorn, and checked facebook. Oh, yeah! The indomitable JinHi had received a clean-of-cancer decree by her doctor! The evil marshmallow was gone and had left naught behind!!! Woohoo!!! A quick call then to my house-mate. Had he heard the news? Nope, not yet. Yeah! Definitely a night-brightener for both of us!
Then north I headed to downtown for some improv to add more laughter to my life. Great idea! Hugs for the loving husband of the indomitable JihHi! Hugs from friends there when I entered! Hugs from friends there when I exited almost wo hours later! Hugs, hugs, hugs!!!
Then to the Liquor Posse for a bit of camaraderie around a team trivia table. Nice! Some of the Philo Cafe crowd were there, too, adding to the merriment. I can't recall if our team won or lost, but we sure had fun trying! Then hugs before we all dispersed into the night.
Wow! What a fabulous day!