WTF (What the Forecast?)

When this is the first thing I see when I get home tonight, I am slightly enraged... and slightly jealous.

I'd take a March heat wave warning any day before an ICY forecast on a day when we're supposed to reach 50 here. It's insane.

This morning's commute proved this is far from done. Yes, the roads were plowed. But quality? Meh. Lots of snow-covered and glare ice-covered surfaces. Plus occasional drifts to drive through. Normally takes 30 minutes to get to work and today it took 50.

When I got to Stevens Point, it was obvious they got more snow because they didn't know where to put it. I was mostly concerned at the roundabout by work because the snow bank was so high I couldn't see to my left. I had to inch out super slowly and pray not to get sideswiped. Thankfully, I didn't.

I was so distracted by concentrating on driving after work that I just realized I forgot to stop to get a Shamrock Shake to celebrate St. Patty's Day. That's definitely the worst kind of distracted driving.

If you're Irish in any way, I hope you found a fun way to celebrate! When we were growing up we had an "Irish blessing" of some sort hanging on the wall – even though we're 100% Scandi-Hoovian. So maybe everyone is a bit Irish today.

Sláinte to us all! ☘

What are the Odds?

The phrase Sunday-Fun Day has lots of meaning. Basically, if you're winning at BINGO, it's fun!

If not.... well...

Since our (Assumption's) progressive BINGO jackpot was well over $5,000 yesterday, I got there about noon to stand in line. A line that stretched a LONG ways down the hall. All I can say is that my "BINGO besties" saved a spot for me so it was all good.

I even brought a new "good luck' charm – my foxy spirit animal. Which a lot of veteran BINGO-ers do! 

All I can say is the 8 of us "regulars" sitting together were close to that $7,700 jackpot. But did not have any "cover all" success. Three people I do not know ended up splitting it!

Dang.

It was almost pleasant just having a normal, non-melodramatic work-from-home day today. I didn't even have any meetings to show off my St. Patty's Day green! I might have to wear it into the office tomorrow. I hate to waste any blarney or shamrock vibes!

P.S. I am 100% Scandi-hoovian, but my hubby and sons are a wee bit Irish, so I'm entitled to wear a wee bit of green once in a great while!

Saint Green Day

I have no Irish blood in me. Though my hubby and son share a tiny fraction. Still, I am quite willing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day... as it pertains to mint "shamrock" cupcakes that is! The rest? I have no clue.

And it fact, even though my hubby is an 8th Irish and our son a 16th Irish, we were mainly thinking about Badger Red today. They lost in the playoff game leading up to official March Madness, but they still got a 5-seed. Which may or may not mean anything!

So I'll enter March Madness per usual  – somewhat hopeful, but completely clueless.

Go Badgers!

And as for McDonald's and other businesses supporting the mint green of the season, no need to wrap that up. Even us 100% NOT Irish folks could use some luck!

Well Shake My Shamrocks

When it's St. Patrick's Day AND it's a Friday, you know you have to celebrate somehow! Even if I am zero percent Irish and don't have a stitch of green clothing in the house. I did, however, uncover some cool shamrock glasses (above) and other props that hubby said I could wear.

As long as I stayed home. Ha. I still had fun without them.

The evening turned into another mini AHS class of '81 reunion. We picked up one couple down the road and met up with two more couples from Jim's class AND saw a band with another classmate in it.

First stop was O'so Brewery in Plover, where The Foxfire Affair was performing. This husband-wife duo sang and played a mix of Celtic and folk and what they call maritime alternative. Their instruments ranged from guitar, banjo, and mandolin to flute, Tamborine (on his shoe), and a squeeze box. Very entertaining. I think we'd see them again.

Then we did a complete 180 and went up the road to Rookies Pub, where our friend Todd's metal/rock band was performing. Starting at 9 p.m.! It's no wonder we got home at midnight. We had to stay at least through the first break.

Terri and I got a picture with Todd in the background.

Then we sort of got a group one with Todd trying to get in it, too.

And this one includes our hubbies up top, who both had their knees replaced about the same time this winter. They didn't do any dancing. But the rest of us made up for it. Shaking our shamrocks with the best of 'em! Rising Phoenix always does an incredible job.

I say that even though my ears are still ringing. Not kidding.

Guess I can pretend to be Irish for a day. But pretending to be young AND handle loud music, that's a different story.

Hope you had fun going green today. For some of us it was the only way to cope with our busted brackets. But we won't talk about that blarney business!

Going Green

I found this cartoon hilarious this morning. I almost ALMOST always wear green on St. Paddy's Day – even though I'm 100% Scandi-hoovian. But today I forgot. Didn't cross my mind when I wasn't "going" to work. Until I noticed it on our daily morning video meeting. Ooops.

Had to change my line of thinking and just consider myself lucky there was plenty of coffee to go around today. I still am sleeping like crap – post clock change. But this little leprechaun sees an early bedtime tonight.

No sense waiting up to see if a pot of gold arrives. Or heaven forbid, experience any luck on my stinkin' bracket! I mean I always make random, uninformed picks, but really UConn and Iowa? You're killing me. 

I apparently don't have the luck of the Irish or the luck of growing up in Luck, Wisconsin. What I do have is a comfy bed and heated mattress pad calling my name.

Lucky me!

Shakin' Things Up

Just like Wal-Mart wasted no time switching up from Valentine's Day merch to Easter (and those darn good peanut eggs), Mickey D's followed suit. Thankfully, they didn't skip past St. Patty's Day.

It just happened that Carter had errands to run in to town during his lunch hour. So he did the right thing at McDonald's and ordered a small Shamrock Shake for his mama. Yep. I may have the best son ever. Just sayin'.

Will that be my ONE for the season? We'll see. It was a small after all.

I did my best to work it off after work. We'll also see if that worked! I came home and sorted through pictures from last night's girls games against Manawa. Both JV and varsity dominated. Then I decided to watch some Olympics and never made it to the boys game tonight. But they won. By a lot. Yay! 

So not to shake things up too much, I'll probably head back to my recliner per usual and catch some "live" women's figure skating. Since it's not for the medal tonight, I will also not shake up my bedtime either! 

Shake me if I become too predictable!

The Luck of the Non-Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My hubby is about an eighth Irish, I believe. So that counts! As a 100 percent Scandi-hoovian and zero percent Irish, my only luck is that I'm from Luck. 

How do you find Luck on St. Patrick's Day? You might need GoogleMaps, but it's there. Think northwest Wisconsin. Nope, not Eau Claire area. Keep going!

The town, er village, was so big we have two water towers. Actually the one up top is the newer one, but this one is still standing on the north end of Main Street. (As of Sunday anyway, when we drove by.)

Our high school yearbook was the Horseshoe. Our newspaper was the Cloverleaf. And our mascot was... not a leprechaun. Definitely not a leprechaun. Too many Scandi-hoovians in the area! They went with the bland cardinal for a mascot. At least it's red and pretty.

Hopefully, it's Luck-y too!

Of course, in true Irish poser fashion, I celebrated wearing green today (and I do have green eyes), wore shamrock sunglasses during work Zoom meetings, and sucked down a Shamrock Shake after work! Now Jim is gone to indoor golf league and this little leprechaun from Luck might just start watching a new series on Netflix.

Who's lucky now?

Closing Time

Of all things a pandemic could cause in Wisconsin, I never thought sobriety would be one of them. But the gov announced today that all bars and restaurants are closed. Yes. Closed. Not even the unpopular dives with less than 10 patrons are open. Every CLOSED sign was to be hung by 5 p.m. On St. Patty's Day, no less.

Ironically, the phrase, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere" did not indicate the start of a good time.

Crazy, huh?

Also in Wisconsin, churches had announced they're closing their doors for now, too. But the saloon announcement came later. Totally in line with our usual priorities. No offense.

Seriously, every day it's bizarro news taken to a new level. For us in the Blue Jay Drive Bubble, we're just glad we reached Day 8 Post-Washington and still not symptoms. I'll drink to that! (At home.)

Based on our empty fridge, water or chocolate milk will have to do.

Cheers and happy St. Patrick's Day!

May the Road (to Recovery) Rise Up to Meet You

There's an Irish blessing that even us Scandi-hoovians have heard. You know, the one where we want the road to rise up to meet them and the wind be at their back, etc. I'm not Irish – hubby is a bit – but I've been thinking about the blessing a lot today. Yes, it's St. Patty's Day but also, I want my baby to be on that road... to recovery.

I now know that one of the harder things about being a mom is trying to mother your sick "baby" seven times zones away! It's been a long week!

In last Sunday's weekly call, Mr. World Traveler said he'd been sick a few days with fever, "migraine" level headaches, and swollen/sore throat. Boy did I want to hop on a plane and deliver some love and chicken soup! All we could do is remain helpless – and pray. A lot.

Long story short, he did get to an English-speaking doctor on both Monday and Thursday since the symptoms persisted. And he finally got antibiotics on Thursday to kick the virus in the butt. He made it to class two days and suffered for it. Today, he told us he's finally feeling close to himself. He can eat and swallow food with no pain and doesn't have too much of a temperature (in Celsius or Fahrenheit) or headache. Praise the Lord!

When I was talking to my mom today she said the worrying doesn't end. It actually grows because you start worrying about grandchildren, too! No wonder we get gray hair!

I'm just pleased that my baby is better and truly on the road to recovery. And that I can deliver chicken soup or whatever he wants in 17 days.

Yep, Momma copes by buying a plane ticket! I'm flying solo and spending a long weekend with Carter from Thursday, April 4, through Sunday, April 7 (flying home on that Monday). Dad will be busy coaching baseball or shoveling fields to prep for baseball. And maybe even having a bratwurst in our honor.

He is part German, after all... and Irish... and English... and Bohemian... and so on.

Shakin' My Shamrocks

We didn't have to wait until St. Patrick's Day to start shakin' our shamrocks. Just needed a classic country concert.

I'm not that into country but I do remember a lot of the stars of the '70s and '80s when I didn't have a choice. Ha. That includes Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers. When our friends asked if we wanted to go to the concert with them in two other couples, we said sure. It was close by – in Rapids – and I do recall the songs Broken Lady (Grammy winner) and All the Gold in California.

Was thinking I wouldn't know anything else but I did recognize several and these brothers put on a very entertaining show. Much more interactive that some previous acts we've seen here. So that was a bonus! Plus they had some interesting stories of friends who inspired them – from Elvis to Patrick Swayze. Yep, you read that right!

We weren't supposed to take pictures so I waited until the concert was over and got Larry and Rudy, but brother Steve was off stage already.

Of course, there's that encore... Gotta tell you, Larry's voice was amazing. Very clear and pleasant vocal range. You wouldn't know they've been performing for 60 years.

Final salute to our sold-out crowd.

You'd think today's entertainment would pale in comparison. But it's St. Patrick's Day so there's gotta be some shenanigans going on...

Is that not a fitting name for me? For the record, I did not have a Shamrock Shake today – though College Boy texted me he was getting one... and I was tempted. Instead I donned some green and enjoyed the morning my girlfriends at book club. Then did some freelance work. Then went for a run (walk/run) and pretended I was having my own Shamrock Shakin' 5K.

It was beautiful out! I mean almost 50. So yes, by Midwestern standards... a McPerfect St. Patty's Day.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, too. So I will probably crack open some windows and actually get some cleaning done. Unless the leprechauns sneak into tonight and do it.

That would definitely be me lucky day!

Blessing and a Curse

First the blessing...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Or, as I like to call it, Shamrock Shake Day!

As of 7 p.m., I have managed to willpower myself away from all things minty. Of course, my thoughtful hubby (urged on by a fellow shopper at Wal-Mart who may or may not live nearby) brought home a bag of Hershey's Carrot Cake Kisses. That's right, another of my fave flaves.

I calculated it out and it seems like each Kiss is about 1.1 Weight Watcher Smart (or not Smart) Points. No need to ask how many points I racked up, just refer to the previous paragraph and marvel at my willpower... for most of the day.

Now the curse...

Typically there'd be nothing much to curse about on St. Patty's Day. Even for us non-Irish folk, it's still an excuse to wear some green, kiss the blarney stone and maybe engage in some shenanigans.

This year, though, it coincides with the official opener of March Madness. Or, as I like to call it, the Annual Throwing My Money Away Because My Bracket Stinks.

Granted, I wasn't going to do one since I don't work with the bracket master any more. But we decided to scan ours and email them to him and see if we can't win some gold at the end of the NCAA rainbow. Even though I filled mine out in record time to beat the 11 a.m. deadline, I would hazard a guess that that is the same amount of thought I probably put into it every year. Just willy-nilly picking random upsets and hoping for the best.

The first day and my bracket's starting to bust up already. I think I might need the luck of the Irish on my side, but I am sure the Irishmen living with me won't help. They want to beat me!

I might have to hunt down a few more blessings... Or those "Kiss Me, Even if I'm Not Irish" treats Jim brought home.

Something's gotta work for a girl from Luck!

Well, Shake My Shamrocks

I am 100% Scandi-hoovian but since I live with two Irishmen, can speak blarney with the best o' them and can shake my shamrocks without shame, I celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

And by celebrate, I merely mean I make it a point to partake in something green – of the mint variety, not vegetables.

I worked at home office today and did not wear a spot of green. By late afternoon, though, I told hubby I planned to have a Shamrock Shake (and designed the sign above to honor it) or an Arby's Andes Mint Chocolate Swirl Shake for supper. He was going to run a errand in town and said that would be out of his way.

I took that to mean I better go get me own. So after I was done with work, I went to Arby's, which has my vote now for best mint effort – as you can see from the photo up top! Came home and enjoyed that while watching The Voice. Was just getting done when Jim got home.

With an Andes Mint Chocolate Swirl Shake.

Well, shake my shamrocks! He went out of his way for me! Wow, I couldn't drink another sip after I was done with mine. But I'll see if it freezes well and I can celebrate again tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'll keep calm and kiss my favorite Irishman!

MVP Network

There are a lot of different networks out there. For professionals, I am part of LinkedIn. For social networks, I am on Facebook, Twitter and, obviously, Blogger. But my favorite is my Mint Network.

As soon as February hits, I need to rely on the eyes, ears and taste buds of other Mint Freaks like myself who can't wait for Shamrock Shakes.

Tonight, hubby and I and a handful of other friends watched a double-header basketball game between Rapids (public high school) and Stevens Point (whose boys are ranked No. 1 in the state) – mainly to see our friends' daughter play.

Despite a dual loss for Rapids and major bleacher butt (and back), I came away with some MVP (Most Valuable Piece) of information. Shamrock Shakes are coming to town tomorrow. This according to a friend who heard it from her daughter who heard it from another friend.

Oh this is no ordinary network!

Then, just to dispel a rumor from a weak link in the chain of communication who "thought" we had to wait until Monday, I had it confirmed from our newest network member (whose daughter works at McDonald's in town) that Saturday is the day.

Whew. That's a lot of work. Good thing word travels much faster now thanks to all those other, less important networks!

Mint Freaks live to see another Shamrock Season!

Irish Blessing?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Or as I like to call it, Shamrock Shake Day! (Even though I didn't have one.)

The weird thing about St. Patrick's Day is everyone seems to acknowledge it -- even if they are 100 percent Scandi-hoovian like me. My husband, and consequently my son, have a wee bit of Irish in them. They both would have appreciated a true Irish Blessing if I was home.... Woke up with absolutely no voice.

Squeaked my way through the first half of the day. Then managed to make myself heard by midafternoon. Will keep drinking (that's what we do on St. Patty's Day, isn't it?) to keep my throat lubricated. I will skip the green beer, though, and stick with water. Lots of it. Just glad the hard part of the day is over.

As luck would have it -- and some luck is fitting today -- we wrapped up conference meetings and such at 5:35 p.m. Why do I know the exact time? Those of you who know me well can guess.

"Ohmigosh I have time to sit outside before the sun sets!"

Although the temps have been nice since my arrival (according to my phone's weather app), I was only outside to board the cab at the airport and disembark at the hotel. Knowing I had about 20 minutes before the sun set tonight, or at least the pool area with chairs closed, I didn't waste any time.

I didn't bother trying to get up to my room to change. I carried my purse and two bags with stuff and just plopped down on a chair in the sunshine. At least I had short sleeves on. But still long pants and shoes. Who cares? I was sitting in the sun and it was 82 degrees. Despite winds at a constant 20 mph, I braved the windchill just fine.

We'll see if maybe that was a cure for what ails me. Knowing our schedule the next two days, that little dose is pretty much gonna have to do it. Sadly.

Ah well. That's why they call it work. After hearing the winter-storm weather reports for back in Wisconsin, I'll take it.

It's like my personal Shamrock Shake blessing!

St. Pat

I am 100 percent Scandi-hoovian without a drop of Irish in me, but I am married to Mr. Blarney and we have a son who inherited the Irish charm, so I feel I am allowed to say Happy Shamrock Shake Day! That's St. Patty's to you true Irish men and women!

Did not wear any green today, though, as I was working my butt off and had to be dressed pretty nice. Event management requires very long days but I enjoy being a part of it. For most of you, it would be completely boring for me to talk about. So unless I run into a celebrity or I win big on the penny slots, I won't have much to blog about this week. Besides the fact I am beat by the end of the day!

Sure miss my Blarney Boyz, though! Plus, the only thing I had that was close to a Shamrock Shake was mint gum. Don't ye feel bad for me, though. I'm sure I'll make up for it at some point.

If you were wearin' the green today -- because you qualify or just wish you did -- Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Time for this leprechaun to sleep!

Pot O' Gold

Since it was pre-St. Patty's Day today, it was only fitting our Assumption girls basketball team found a "ball" of gold at the end of their state-tourney rainbow!

As promised, I kept my blue fingernail polish on and wore an AHS hoops t-shirt today to give the girls good vibes that brief hour I was in Green Bay before my plane took off at 9 a.m. I am sure it helped!

The game started at 11:05 a.m. and my next plane was departing at 11:15 a.m. Not enough time to get a real sense of the game at that point. When we took off after a short layover in Minneapolis, I learned there was wi-fi on the plane. For just $5 for an hour, I figured I could log on and watch live streaming video of the game! I was so excited until I realized my laptop was not fully charged and I only had 29 minutes of power left.

So I paid for the connection and had to power down my computer every few minutes to let it rest and let the game continue a little bit. Every time I would power it back up, the game was getting closer and our lead was gone. With less than 4 minutes to go, we were tied and I had to power off since I only had 6 minutes left on my battery. Oh, the agony!

I managed to turn it back on for the last, truly agonizing minute and saw us win. Whoo-hoo!! However, the computer went dead immediately after and I missed all celebrations, etc. Physically, I also missed the pep rally back at the school at 5 p.m. followed by a big ol' pizza party at The Ridges.

I was really busy since the moment I landed this afternoon. And something tells me nothing in Vegas is as exciting right now as the party back home!

Congrats, Lady Royals ... Our new Division 5 State Champions!!

12-12-12

{  12  }

It's just a number but it drew plenty of attention today -- on 12/12/12... the only time in any of our lives we will see that. And not because the world ends next week. There's just no months higher than 12.

Of course, Packer fans made a huge deal out of this since their QB wears #12. I guess someone who I didn't vote for declared it Aaron Rodgers Day. Here's my answer to that!

Unfortunately, Percy Harvin is out for the season, but you get my point.

Carter's school actually had a "dress down" day today. So they didn't have to wear dress code as long as they were wearing Green & Gold. Here's Carter's answer to that... He wore his St. Patrick's Day t-shirt that looks like a GREEN leprechaun suit with GOLD pieces in the pockets.

Oh yes, we are so clever in this house!

Typically, when I'm thinking of 12/12 it's in reference to 12x12 paper for scrapbooking. That's really my kind of 12! Tonight though, we realized our bathroom tiles come in 12x12 size, too. Now I just have to pick out a style and color.

Trust me. It will not be green and gold!

Wee Bit O' Fun

70 degrees at 8:40 pm. You'd think it's summer, but there was one obvious green thing missing from this St. Patrick's Day... grass.

It's still ugly, dead brown, but really, that's to be expected in mid-March. It just didn't FEEL like March! And I'm OK with that. It didn't spoil my Irish holiday one bit.

I really don't get that into St. Patty's Day. You'd think I would since I'm from Luck. But I'm 100% scandihoovian so it hardly matters to me. I fake it for Jim and Carter since they've got the blarney in their blood! I think Jim's 1/8 Irish so Carter's 1/16... just enough to warrant a "Kiss me, I'm Irish" smooch.

Since we went out to eat last night and wore green yesterday, today was just, well, Saturday. As luck would have it, I did get out of some spring cleaning, just like I hoped. I ended up doing a freelance design/editing job this morning so I could earn some gold for my pot. After that, though, I figured I better do something.

So I went for a walk/run. It must have gotten up to 80 or close to it today because it was way too hot to be trotting around the neighborhood. I only went 2 miles. Then continued to work up a sweat when I got home... mopping the floors. Oh yes I did! I even washed some windows. But that was the extent of it today.

Had to watch some hoops for my wee bit o' fun, you know.

We grilled out brats for supper with the next-door neighbors and watched the Badgers win. Also caught some high school state tourney action, too. But not a whole lot. It's hard to watch TV when it's so darn nice out. And we know it won't last.

I called my mother this afternoon and sat out on the swing on the back deck. We both wished we could bottle up this weather today and save it for next Saturday when we throw her big 80th birthday bash. At least from the long-range forecast, it looks snow-free next weekend. It might be half the temperature it is today, but that shouldn't stop people from coming. I hope not. My family may not be Irish, but we do count on luck once in awhile!

Hope you enjoyed your St. Patty's Day!

Kiss Me, I'm Irish (for Today)

I woke up with an Irishman in my bed. I kissed a young Irishman on the couch on my way to my first cup of coffee. So that makes me Irish by some sort of osmosis, right? At least for today.

We all wore some form of green -- Jim a Celtics shirt and sweatshirt, Carter a St. Patrick's Day t-shirt that said "Kiss me I'm Irish" (but he had no takers, allegedly), and me, just a generic green sweatshirt.

It was good enough to get me a cupcake with mint green frosting for an early morning snack and a doughnut with green sprinkles on it for a late-morning snack. It looked like I was on a mission to consume a whole lotta empty green calories, but I tapered off. A Shamrock Shake would have been the perfect ending of the day... but, of course, I didn't give it a second thought.

Today was also the first real action in the NCAA tournament. All 3 of us did a bracket for a work pool. I did mine in record time this morning just to get it in in time. Based on early games, it would appear I consulted a Blarney Stone for my picks. Yikes. I do not see a pot o' gold in the hands of this leprechaun after the Big Dance!

Since yesterday was my mother-in-law's birthday, we stopped over there this evening to drop off her card and gift. She convinced us to have a bowl of her yummy beef soup -- much better than corned beef and cabbage, in my opinion.

After we left there, we stopped at ShopKo and I bought Carter his first pair of "real" running shoes! Now he doesn't have to log miles in his basketball shoes -- which were great for the vertical leap and fast breaks but not so good for the long haul (in my self-proclaimed expert opinion). So now he should be able to kick my butt sooner rather than later.

We got home just in time to meet up with the Schwan's man. I told him he better have an Andes Mint Pie in his truck. I knew he didn't. Those were so last season. I did let him know I've given up ice cream for Lent so he might as well not show up until after Easter! I don't think he has confidence in my willpower 'cause he said he'll be back in 2 weeks.

I can do this!

Tomorrow is just another normal, non-minty day. I'll still kiss a couple of Irishmen in the morning. I'll still put up with their blarney all day. But I'll probably just wear red.

Mind over Melted Matter

For the record, it is very hard to not be thinking about a green, minty cool Shamrock Shake when St. Patty's Day is just hours away! But I'll stay strong. For now.

Was too busy today to even think about ice cream. I do not know where the work day went, but somewhere in there I escaped outside (on the warmest day of the year so far) and got a run in. It was so nice out! Made it to 50 degrees, why stop now?

Carter had to do "our" run on his own after school because we had to head into town as soon as I got home. Our church holds Soup Suppers before Lenten services each Wednesday. All the confirmation kids have to help out at these to get credit towards fundraising for confirmation camp. He has to do "cleanup" 3 of the weeks and I only have to do it one of those 3 -- unless I'm feeling generous with my time.

Tonight we actually got home in time for me to catch a few of the singers on American Idol. I tend to watch it sporadically until it gets close to the end. Since our pastor's sermon tonight was about regular church attendance (even on Wednesdays), I suspect I won't see a whole lot of Idol between now and near "final" time anyway!

And church attendance is very important. Did you know our church is only 2 blocks from Dairy Queen? I just know they serve something cool and minty there! Ugh. This can be hard.

I had to break down and do the only thing a person can do when they can't have what they're craving -- turn to an alternative. Sorry, no, it was not carrot sticks or yogurt. I broke into the Cashew Crunch. Carter had some, too, and said, "Sorry, Mom, but I just don't think your love of Cashew Crunch is carried on to the next generation." What? Seriously?

I am not disappointed. It just means more for me and, well, all my siblings if I put it out in the freezer NOW and keep it there until my next trip Up North.

Of course, that freezer is a dangerous place...