Tim's Birthday at AppleBee's

Yesterday was Tim's birthday so we met Mark, Tabitha and kids at AppleBee's... It is 40% off if you go from 2-4 PM... We REALLY picked a good day as the " kids ate free".. and then the nice waitress did not add the tip on automatically for a party of 8, but let us decide her tip... The guys orders steaks and all together the entire bill was just over $ 30.00... They gave Tim 3 real nice gifts and 3 real nice cards the kids made... The rest of the day, I let him be in charge of the t.v. remote... so .... pretty good birthday!!!!!

Chocolate cake in a Crock Pot

I promised Taylin that I would send her a recipe for chocolate cake in a crock pot and this is the best way that I know how. Maybe some others of you will try it too... I never have made it as Tim does not like chocolate. Spray the crock pot with non stick spray... heat on low......use 1 chocolate cake mix, 1 ( 8 0z ) sour cream... 4 eggs... 1 cup water... 3/4 cup veggie oil....BEAT for 2 minutes... ADD 1 small instant pudding....1 cup choc. chips... POUR into crock pot and cover... BAKE 3-4 hours on HIGH or 6-8 hours on LOW .. Let me know how it turned out! Carole

Friends for the week end...

Over the week end we had some dear friends ( Bobbie and Roy ) from Michigan come to visit us. On Saturday we drove over to Sanibel Island and had lunch at the Island Cow and did some " shelling " . They LOVED it !!!

Tim and I on the Gulf... Tim always wears this silly hat he made to protect him from the sun...We had the pool water up to 90* ( yes... 90* ) so we spend a lot of time swimming... a cook out and lots of visiting made it a VERY enjoyable week end.. They were on their way to deliver beans to send to Haiti... My sister goes home tomorrow so we plan to spend some time with them today... then we need to get serious about painting the house before it gets too hot....

Strawberries and fun !!

Last Friday Tim and I cleaned 2 flats of strawberries for our church's Strawberry Festival on Saturday... They were delicious!! YES .. We ate a few !!!

On Saturday we worked all day on the Festival.. It was warm and windy but we had a good time... It was quite an ordeal with everyone from the church working together... Have been enjoying having my sister Donna and Dick down for the month... We eat out a lot with them, went to a Twins vs. Orioles ball game, went to a movie...( Hollywood movies.. seats were real plush and roomy ) visited a mutual friend, swimming and cook out.. Will miss them when they leave for Michigan shortly... Excited about daughter Kathi and Mike and 7 kids coming after Easter and maybe grand daughter Jessica coming for Easter...Tim has also been busy building a porch and steps to a mobile home for a friend...Oh yeah, did get some babysitting in too...

Since my sister Donna has been down to visit us, we have tried to take in some sight seeing around our area. On Sunday, we went to the 6 Mile Slough ( sp. ) and took a nature walk. We saw an alligator and birds and turtles and had an interesting tour guide..

On Friday, we went to see the manatee.. because of the cold weather and cold water lately, they heat the water at the pump house and pump it into the river.... so the manatee hang out there.. There were LOTS of them!!

But they were hard to see as they only came out of the water for a brief second....

It was a cool day.. notice the jackets...We had just spent 4 hours at the Flea Market.... and were heading for a fish fry for supper.... needless to say, we did not get a lot of work done on Friday... oh well ....