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Shannon, our eldest daughter, bought herself a SMART car.

It is very little. And very cute. The perfect car for Shannon. Who also happens to be very little and cute. You can tell she didn’t get any of my big-girl genes! (Though today she did admit to a propensity to buying lots of fresh produce only to have it rot before she uses it. That’s not genetic, but apparently does run in the family.)

Back to the car… did I mention it is VERY small? Look at the size of it next to our mailbox. Hubby is driving. That’s Shannon waving happily from the passenger seat. It’s a two-seater, so I stayed at home with the girls while Hubby and Shannon went for a short spin.

Upon arriving back at the house, Hubby said he did a 3-point turn, also known as a K turn, in our driveway with no problem.

Shannon’s very proud of her cute little new vehicle. It really does fit her well. Next time she comes to visit, she’ll have to take me for a spin.

This weekend was weirdly warm. It’s the first full weekend in March and we had temps in the mid seventies.

Hammock weather. In March.

The dogs weren’t complaining. This was taken on Saturday when Buddy (our neighbor, the Golden Retriever) came to visit.

This one was shot earlier today after Belle discovered the wonderful bog at the end of our driveway.

There’s some new yard art at the WV place, courtesy of my friend, Carol.

I’ve had this frog for awhile, packed away somewhere. I figured the WV yard would be a good place for him to hang out.

It was so warm, our lizard was out. He’s not really our lizard, he just happens to live in the yard at our WV place.

Belle and I got some hammock time in, too.

Here’s Hubby and Meg enjoying the porch. The weather was nice, even if it was weirdly warm. But I am totally not ready for the warm weather yet. I’m a cool weather girl. Though I am looking forward to Spring, I’m not ready for this sort of heat quite yet.

Eric took me out to dinner last night. I won’t reveal the occasion, I’ll just say we’ve had scheduling difficulties for a while. But we finally did it. And it was fun!

He took me to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant. I’ve never been to a fondue restaurant. It was quite interesting.

First we had cheese fondue that we dipped bread cubes, apples, and veggies (carrots, cauliflower, and celery) into. We had a salad, too, which I declined for personal reasons that I won’t go into here (TMI!).

Our main course was pork, chicken, lobster, steak, shrimp, salmon and some sort of ravioli, which were all marinated and had to be cooked in the boiling pot of broth that sat right at the table. The main course also included more veggies to cook and a bunch of different dipping sauces. Once I got past the fear that I wouldn’t cook my food long enough and get violently ill as a result, I enjoyed it.

Finally, it was topped off with chocolate fondue for dessert. We opted for the dark chocolate and marshmallow concoction topped with Oreo cookie bits. We got a whole plate of stuff to dip into that, too. Rice crispie treats – my favorite – strawberries, bananas, pound cake, brownies, marshmallows and cheesecake. It was divine.

We’ll have to work harder to schedule our next night out sooner.

On another note… I’m ending this post with a cartoon Hubby e-mailed me this morning. His note said, “You made it into the funny papers.”

He was right!

Always, we wait all year for this weekend to roll around and it passes by in a flash. We’ve had four days of peace, catching up, shopping, eating, drinking and just being girls. Now it’s time to go back to reality. Of course, I have a very nice reality. A wonderful hubby, a family that loves me, dogs who have missed their Mama…

I’m ready to go home.

That’s not why today is special though. Today is special ’cause it’s Amy’s birthday.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

My youngest daughter, the mother of my grandchildren, turned 28 today. Twenty-eight! Wow, time really does pass quickly.

Amy, I hope you have a fabulous day. I love you!

When the girls and I come to Lancaster each year, one of our regular stops is The Green Dragon. It’s billed as a farmer’s market and auction, but it really is much more than that. They sell Amish furniture, baked goods (whoopie pies!), crafts, produce, meat, etc. Plus there are assorted vendors selling a very wide variety of stuff from drill bits and socks to pet supplies and Nascar hats. It’s a bit flea-markety, too.

This year it was VERY crowded. So we just got what we needed to get, ate the customary hot dogs and got out of there.

That’s Tracey and Carol, from left to right, shown above.

We’re enjoying shopping and relaxing and catching up with each other. I haven’t taken nearly enough pictures yet. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.

It’s that time of year again. I’m on my annual girlfriend getaway to Pennsylvania. This is the one time every year that for four days we’re all accountable to no one but ourselves.

It was a crazy week leading up to the trip. Which is why I haven’t posted anything since last Friday. Last weekend was pretty much consumed by my foster dog adventure. Monday through Wednesday I was busy working and getting ready for the trip. Thursday (yesterday) I was finally able to leave for my escape.

Now I’m here. I’ll try to take some pictures today and post more later. Right now, I need to go get some coffee. We’re getting ready to head to The Green Dragon. I’ll explain that one later.