Just some random thoughts for today. Pretend you joined me in the car for the addictive drive-through coffee shop. Couldn’t resist another Irish Blondie Breve. Hoping that’s a seasonal thing because I definitely don’t need to be doing that everytime I’m over near the shop.

My joke of the day: What do you call Spring Break when it happens prior to payday?

Answer: Spring Broke!

(Gather your rotten fruit, I’ll be here all year!)

Can you tell I typically work with preschool children? Where even jokes that make no sense are funny. Drive-through coffee shop might also explain the spring broke.

Would you like to see the photos that were supposed to accompany yesterday’s post?

Winter Wednesday Photos

The crocus that finally bloomed!

The purple flowers taking over more of the yard.

A pot of dirt just waiting to be filled with spring/summer flowers.

Finally, a random photo of one of my daffodils in a vase.

And now that we’re back here at the house, have fed the birds (or rather the squirrels), and drank our coffee, let’s go walk around the yard.

After This Morning’s Rain

Final picture for today:

Creepy little critter isn’t it?

I don’t like them. They’re rodents and they steal my bird seed. However, they’re also super smart and it is interesting to watch them figure out all the “squirrel proof” bird feeders. I do wonder if I started feeding the squirrels instead of the birds, would the birds eat the squirrel’s food? Hmmm…

Do you like squirrels?

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Day 73/365

This is going to be a quick and just for fun type post today.

It all started when my husband brought home Dr. Pepper flavored Peeps, I think at the end of February (his word of the year is not “wait”). Anyway, we all tried them and if you come across Dr. Pepper flavored Peeps, know they are very, very good. We’ve not been able to find them anywhere since he bought that first package.

However, we have found all kinds of other odd flavors. I decided every time I saw a new flavor, I’d get it for us to try. And so it began, our quest to taste test every weird flavor of Peeps we could find.

Peeps are essentially just marshmallows and usually not too many in a package or too expensive. I did find some gummy Peeps at Target, a bit different.

As well as J’s current favorite flavor (also mine):

We’ve done lots of tastings over here so I thought I’d share our results with you all today.

Peeps Flavors Found And Our Thoughts:

1. Dr. Pepper Peeps, we all LOVED these. How they managed to make them taste just like Dr. Pepper is a mystery. If you are a Dr. Pepper fan, you’ll love these.
2. Sour Watermelon Peeps, we mostly liked these though I can’t remember them making a huge impression.
3. Party Cake Peeps, these were memorable for all the wrong reasons. For all of us, they completely missed the mark on the cake flavor. And the sprinkles on the outside were kind of weird.
4. Cotton Candy Peeps, I didn’t mind these but they didn’t really taste like cotton candy. I’m the only one who even kind of liked these.
5. Hot Tamale Peeps, these were surprisingly good! Tasted like a soft hot tamale (the candies, not the savory dinner item).
6. Sparkly Wild Berry Peeps, were not a hit with me. Too much grape (I should note I hate grape flavored things: grapes yes, grape artificial flavoring, no). J didn’t mind them. They left a weird coating on my hands as well. Cheetos can leave my hands covered in stuff, not Peeps.
7. Fruit Punch Peeps, these weren’t bad but I was looking around for Mr. Kool Aid to come bursting through the walls (Remember those old commercials?). They tasted like Kool Aid to me.
8. Tropical Burst Peeps, nice and subtle. We really like these. Hard to describe as no in your face flavors, definitely not coconut, but we know the flavor is tropical.
9. The Peeps Gummies, I loved these. Very vanilla flavored. J thought they tasted just like a peep. G said they weren’t for him. My husband hasn’t tried them yet.

Final Thoughts

The only flavor I’ve seen and not bought are the ones with the chocolate on the bottom. No doubt those are good but I’m not paying the same price for half as many candies just because they have chocolate on the bottom. Maybe I’ll get some for actual Easter or when they go on clearance from being over priced.

Peeps aren’t a candy for everyone. Personally, I prefer the regular flavors of them when they are slightly stale. My husband and J like to roast them (they are marshmallows after all). And G just likes them.

What about you, tried any new flavors of Peeps lately? Or do you even like this type of candy?

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Day 71/365

After yesterday’s very unproductive day, I did manage to get a few things accomplished today. Resting on and off all day yesterday and going to bed at 8PM helped. So did a mistaken coffee order.

This Morning

I started off the morning by checking on my daffodils. As much as I’d like to have a lovely vase of flowers in here, I just can’t bring myself to pick them.

(Should mention it was yet another cloudy, rainy day so the lighting for my photos was not the best.)

Despite the cold, rainy weather, it felt good to be outside getting a bit of fresh air. Discovered the little purple flowers in the yard (not planted by me, they come up all over the front yard each spring). I battled these purple flowers, scilla aka “glory of the snow,” for years before embracing them as a cheerful first sign of spring.

If it was a sunny, warm day, I’d have probably seen happy bees with them.

Anyway, besides being outside a bit, I also managed to fill the car with gas. And while I was running that errand, I ran to Tractor Supply to pick up some overpriced bird seed. Went there instead of Menards since it’s closer to home. And because I knew they’d have a good selection of seed starter trays, bought a few more of those as well.

And I was brave, for the first time ever, I went through one of those drive-through coffee shops. They kind of intimidate me so I’d never been despite having many choices around here. Ordered something called an Irish Blondie (Irish cream,vanilla, and caramel breve) and they accidentally gave me a large instead of a medium. Woohoo extra productivity!

This Afternoon

Had another day with some time home alone as J went work with my husband again. And G works every Saturday. So, I spent some time writing a much overdue letter to my penpal. And doing a little house cleaning. Of course, I never seem to get enough finished before everyone returns.

Lunch was up in the air but at the last minute, I made a “clean out the fridge” type of frittata. Used potatoes, orange and yellow peppers, onion, and cheese. Turned out pretty good. Wish I’d had fresh parsley or some other green component but alas nothing.

J and I agreed next time, we’ll add bacon and more cheese. And maybe spinach. Plus perhaps skip the potatoes. (My husband doesn’t eat eggs so had something else for lunch).

Then, my productivity kind of stopped. Had to pace myself after yesterday plus the cat found my lap again. So, I watched more baking shows. Decided I’m not a fan of the Easter Baking Championship, too much food waste. They were baking huge cakes and then the judges were only judging a tiny component.

This Evening

My husband and I spent some time looking at hotels (on-line) for our upcoming trip in August. We’re in the very early planning stages. Then he made waffles for dinner for J and himself (all day breakfast over here). G ate noodles, he made those himself. I’ve yet to eat, not really hungry. Finally, we spent some time watching his cooking show, Guy Fieri Tournament of Champions. I like it as well.

Guess I’ll end tonight’s fairly random post with a reminder that here in the US (except for a few lucky states), it’s time to spring forward an hour.

The cat’s face at another rainy day is pretty much how I feel about that. Not a fan. Can I even say it often enough that the days get naturally longer and shorter? Ugh.

Here, let me leave you with another shot of a cheerful daffodil instead of that unpleasant thought.

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Day 69/365

Are you excited for it to be almost the weekend? I know I’m excited over here. Not much going on this Thursday morning. It’s another cloudy sky and more rain is moving in for later. I’m listening to J practice euphonium as I type this. Such a nice sound.

Breakfast this morning was the current usual:

Coffee and oatmeal. Lower sugar maple flavor. I’ve started making my instant oatmeal with water instead of milk. One tiny change at a time, we’ll see if it helps with the shedding of the winter pounds.

Strawberry pie probably doesn’t help. I didn’t think the pie was a huge hit around here. However, it turns out I might have been wrong. My husband’s been taking it in his lunch for dessert and I did find this in the kitchen this morning:

Did I forget to take a picture of the actual pie after I made it? Possibly. I used this strawberry pie recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  I was slightly short on strawberries (like 1/4 cup) but it didn’t make a huge difference. However, if making it for company, I’d go big on the strawberries as well as adding some fresh sliced ones on top for garnish.

On Today’s Agenda

Pretty much everything from my to do list on Monday. The only thing I’ve managed this week is to wash all our bedding. And make the strawberry pie. Forgot to pick the daffodils but thankfully, the weather never turned super cold so I think they’ll be okay. Main item today is getting cat food as we’re now completely out of it.

The rest of the list waits for me. And now, there’s more to do. Go to the bank, pay bills,  and clear off the kitchen table. Also, work this afternoon and a fun mom’s night out planned for tonight.

Weekend Plans

We have no big weekend plans at the moment. Maybe another movie or G said something about playing Mario Party 2 (they’ve somehow downloaded the old Nintendo 64 games to the switch). I usually read my book while they do those things but I used to sometimes play the Mario games with them when the boys were younger.

As I bring this post to a close, J’s finished practicing and now I can hear the rain once again falling outside. Just makes me think of the how everything will soon be green and growing. Like these little tomato plants I started indoors:

These are actually from a Dollar Tree “tomato rocket” so we’ll see how they do this summer. I was excited to see them sprout.

Are you excited about any of your weekend plans?

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Day 67/365