Travel Tuesday

Staying at the iconic Hotel el Rancho in Gallop, New Mexico on the Mother Road--Route 66. 

Notice Butch's Route 66 shirt!!

Hundreds of autographed photos of all the stars who stayed here while filming so many westerns. Butch and I, along with Stephanie and Nicky are staying in the two bedroom suite of The Marx Brothers. Unfortunately---as often happens when I am traveling, I cannot get my photos to cooperate--nor, apparently my verbage!

Just wanted to try to slip in a quick post. We're on the go constantly which leaves little time for blogging. I'll do my best!! 

Monday Mystery

Not only is this a mystery, it really bothers me!

Honestly, how can someone forbid people from enjoying the beach just because it's in front of their house? I don't understand it. It really bothers me. How do you "own" the beach?? It's a mystery to me. 

Happy Easter!!

When you think if Easter, you think of spring. So, I thought these beautiful samples of nature would be a perfect way to celebrate!

Don't be fooled: these are flowers.

Aren't they amazing? I would love to come across something like this in person. Or this:

Of course these flowers are upside down. I'm thinking it looks like it could be Althea (rose of Sharon). When mine's in bloom, I'm going to have to check!

So this is a hummingbird. It blends in with this flower so well. Years ago when we went to Costa Rica, we saw so many colorful hummingbirds all together. I can't remember exactly where it was, but there were hundreds swarming around the feeders.

This bird is so pretty too. We certainly have some pretty ones, but those we tend to take for granted since we see them all the time. I don't think I'd ever take this one for granted!

A Few Things

I got this via and email. All I could think of is that "now I've seen it all. As if pizza isn't enough, now you can use pizza was a BUN!!!"

Then I noticed at the bottom that it was an April Fool's joke. They "got me!"

I thought this was a beautiful room decorated by Barbara Bush. Now I can't remember if it was in the White House or in their Texas home.

If there's anything better than a book box, it would have to be a gnome house. So. darn. cute!

What a beautiful sentiment! Years ago, I decided that if I noticed something nice about someone, I was going to tell them. I still do that, but never thought about the long term consequences of "just being nice!"

Oh so true!!! Books really take me away!

Friday Funnies

Five Things Thursday

Happy April Fools Day! I hope you aren't subject to any bad pranks. There's no foolin' with these five things!

Mindy came across this Peeps flavored Pepsi!  Sounds d-i-s-g-u-s-t-i-n-g! Although, I would give it a sip just to try it. I wonder if it's yellow or Pepsi colored. 

I have no idea how these ducklings were created. Surely they couldn't have been hatched this way. On the other hand, I can't imagine being able to color them with so much detail. 

If I still had little ones around, I guarantee you that I would have made these with them. How darn cute! Have you ever?

Okay, so maybe this is a little cuter! I would make this with little people too--if we had any left in the family. Hmmm. Maybe next year I should get the gang together to make them anyway as a cute little Easter decoration.

And then last, but not least---is Sandy's Easter pillow! I was able to get it back from my pillow maker and then in the mail in the nick of time. 

There's my "five things" for Easter this year. Since we're leaving on Saturday, I didn't even decorate our house this year. As Butch says, I'm slacking. He's right. I don't know. I seem to be getting lazier in my older age. It all seems like so much work for such a short period of time. Now I'm sad that I didn't put forth the effort. Next year for sure! 

What I Buy Wednesday

Well, my buying this week really is only about groceries. 

Here's the thing. Everyone---and I mean  EVERYONE raves about Trader Joe's. I only went one time a few years ago (or maybe last year--I cannot keep track of time). I went that one time and said I would never go back. 

The stress started as I pulled in to the parking lot. There isn't much parking. People and cars are coming and going everywhere. Just navigating the lot feels like you are in video game of Frogger (now there's a throwback)! That feeling continued as I entered the store. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how the store was laid out or how people were shopping in it. Now, I don't know about you, but when I shop, it's sort of like I drive. I stay on the right with my cart. Not at TJ's. The carts were every which way. I ended up picking up a couple of produce items and then exiting, vowing I'd never go back---if, I could even get out of the parking lot!! OMGosh, it was a nightmare.

As they say, "never say never." Here it is a few (or one) year later and I'm back. I learned about some things that TJ's carries that I wanted to try. Sooo, I really planned this time. I went early---8:30 a.m. I parked easily. The store wasn't all that crowded and, due to Covid, they are limiting the number of people who can go inside at one time. I went with a list, but had absolutely no idea where I might find the items on it. So, I decided that I would just take my time and try to understand how the store was laid out. 

It's still pretty confusing to me---like assorted crackers above the ice cream case. I just decided I just needed to go with the flow and not try to figure out any sort of reasoning. I found a few of the items on my list. I'll save the rest for the next trip. In the meantime, I'll share what I found on this trip--none of which we've tried yet.

I've never heard of these before, but decided to give them a try. We've been having assorted lettuce wraps, so I thought these might be a nice change. They are only 15 calories for 2! Since they advertise they are great for tacos, I'm going to try them.

Another reason I wanted to go to TJ's was that I read that they had a pretty big selection of lower fat cheese. You just about cannot find low-fat cheese in Kroger or Publix--once in awhile, but not when you really need it! So stocking up on cheese was a real win. That bottle in the back is some homemade green goddess salad dressing that I impulse bought. We did have that on our salad yesterday. It didn't taste anything like green goddess at all, but it was pretty good for a super low-fat dressing--10 calories per tablespoon. I liked it well enough.

I scored pretty big in the freezer section. The shrimp stir fry and langoustinos were on my list. I used to get the langostinos at Red Lobster years ago. I have no idea what happened to them, but I'm happy to give them a try. As for the cauliflower gnocchi---Mindy recommend them. She said that they love them. Okay, I'll give them a try. As for the andouille chicken sausage, that was an impulse buy. I'm going to use it in jambalaya and see how I like it. 

Okay, so my second experience at Trader Joe's was not so bad. If I like most of what I bought, I'll be willing to give it another try. 

What about you? Are you a Trader Joe's shopper? If so, send me your favorite purchases. Sandy told me about some of their favorites, but since I didn't write them down, I don't remember. Of course, when she told me about them, I wasn't sure that I would ever go back anyway. I wouldn't say that I am "ga ga" over TJ's, but I'm not as against it as I once was. Just goes to show that you shouldn't make a judgement on just one experience! Ahem---Butch! I'll let it go at that!!