Bread and Chocolate

Bread........ one thing about staying with the family up in Magnolia-- they had a bread machine. A Pillsbury bread machine....... wonderful, warm, fresh bread every morning we were there. And as easy as pie to make--- just fill up the machine with all the ingredients and turn it on. Within two hours, you have the most delicious bread and your kitchen and breakfast room smells like a bakery. Along with the machine came a recipe booklet for all different kinds of bread.... you can make a different bread every day of the month if you'd like to.

The morning after my husband and I got back to our own home, we walked into our kitchen and said: "What? No fresh bread?" I fully intend to look in the stores for a Pillsbury bread machine.


Chocolate..... we had homemade Swiss chocolates sent to C and her family, and to the family up in Magnolia who were our hosts during the hurricane. We wanted to send them something, and the chocolates that are shipped from Vienna, West Virginia (Holl's Chocolates) are truly the best-tasting Swiss chocolates in the world. (In our humble opinions, and in the opinions of everyone we've ever sent them to.)


All is getting right with the world again. Mickey Kitty has begun to chase the other cats around the house, Gracie is waiting by the front door for my husband to come home from work, another season of The Apprentice has begun, and the lawn service came today and cleaned up all the remains of Hurricane Rita. The garage is back to normal, with all of the outdoor stuff out of it and my car back in there. There is just one yard decoration in the backyard now.... my Mexican lady statue that I found at a yard sale a few years ago. Except for the few chairs on the open deck of the backyard, there isn't anything popping up out of the flowerbeds except flowers. Gone are the ceramic bunnies and ducks, gone are the decorative wooden birdhouses that sat on the fence. The chipped pieces were tossed into the trash, the other things went into donation boxes.

Same for the front yard.... just a few garden ornaments are out there... other things were tossed away or taken away by the guys who take care of the lawn. I don't know what possessed me to put all that stuff all over the yard. I think it was our trips to the Hill Country...... up there, the yards and flowerbeds are filled with all things cute. When we traveled up to the Hill Country, we came home with lots of cute-sy things to put into the flowerbeds. Then I found more stuff at yard sales to decorate the yard. All gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. I am thoroughly cured of trying to make our Clear Lake garden look like a Hill Country estate. One hurricane threat was all I needed.... all those cute little things would've been flying around our yard and everyone else's during the high winds of Rita last week.

Last week. Has it been that long already? Rita today, gone tomorrow.