This Magic Moment...

Sunday was filled with wedding showers (not the raining kind unfortunately), summer camp, and driving. Lots of driving. Zane and I decided we'd crash at Tammie's instead of drive another 3 hours home, and just head back in the morning. It was a good decision. What Zane doesn't jump at the chance to torment his Uncle Jesse, if only for one night? Exactly.

After Aunt Tammie beat the boy soundly at Sonic on the Will (she's really more aggressive, er... competitive than her meek demeanor lets on) I put him to bed and settled in for the remainder of the evening doin' what we do best. Watch cooking shows. Lame, right? I know.

So we're watching this show on the Cooking Channel called Unique Sweets, and this particular episode featured Traditional Southern Deserts. The usual suspects were there; Banana Cream Pie, Red Velvet Cake, Pecan Pie, and an interesting looking Mint Julep Cake. Note to self... gotta try that. In fact quite a few of the delicacies were boozed up a bit. Interesting. But what caught my attention was a Cowboy Pie. Ok so it's really just a Magic Cookie bar crammed into a pie crust, but it looked so good. What the show didn't know is that I've been sort of quietly craving those things for about a month now. Seeing the pie that night set just did me in. I could smell it. I could taste it. I had to have it!

On the drive home I'd planned dinner, AND desert. We didn't even stop at the house first... we drove straight to the grocery store. I gathered all the ingredients, plus one that isn't on the standard recipe, tossed 'em into the cart and headed home.

Well dinner wasn't as big a hit as I'd hoped, and I was tired, so I decided to put off the treats until today. I couldn't take the chance of ruining them out of irritation or sheer exhaustion. I'd waited this long after all... what's one more day?

Magic Cookie Bars are just graham cracker crumbs, butter, sweet condensed milk, chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts. Some recipes add butterscotch chips, but I'm not a fan. I am however a fan of CARAMEL. So, I decided to add caramel bits too, along with a good pinch of salt... my two secret ingredients.

OH MY GOSH was it worth the wait!!!

I've already had 3.

I may eat the whole pan.

I don't know about you, but I'm a corner and edges girl. MacGyver is a soft fudgy middle kind of guy. It's a weakness I'm willing to overlook seeing as how it provides me with more crunchy edges and corners.

Perfectly crunchy and gooey all in one bite. These are for later. I've already eaten all the corners.

I need help.

And She Didn't Die!

Coach entered her into the 400, the 800, and the 1600. Grace was NOT happy about doin' the 1600. At. All. She ran the 800 first, and was ready to go home when she finished. She'd walked part of it and she was embarrassed. She cried. She complained. She begged.

"There's 2 hours 'til your next race... and it's the short one. You've got time to recover", I said. She calmed down, ate a little something, and agreed to stick it out.

The 400 went by fast, but she ended up with a bad cramp. Coach had her eat some mustard (random, but ok) and press cold packs into the muscle. More tears. More complaining. More begging.

"I can't do the mile. It hurts. I want to go home", she said. I gave her a banana and some Gatorade and she calmed down. Coach gave her a good pep talk, and made sure all the girls got a good stretch before their next event.

The sun FINALLY came out just as they lined up to start the 1600. Grace was in the back of the pack the whole race, but she kept up a pretty steady pace for the fist 2 laps. By the 3 lap she was startin' to fade. When she saw Coach she walked a few steps, but he cheered louder, and we cheered louder, and suddenly she picked up the pace again. I could see tears on her face from the bleachers. But she didn't stop.

Grace finished the 1600 in 9.41. When she walked off the track I threw my arms around her and held her tight... and we cried. She did it. She DID it!!! I always knew she could. Coach knew she could. But she needed to know she could. Now that she knows, she'll be unstoppable.

"I ran the 800 the 400 and the mile!! Thanks all of you guys for cheering me on in the bleachers ;) its such an amazing feeling when you run past the finish line and even though it feels like your going to die, you feel so accomplished :)"

That's my girl! Charlotte Grace Tyler is my hero.

Don't Forget to Stretch

I'm thinkin' it's time to dig this blog out and dust it off... maybe get 'er up and runnin' again. What do you think? It's been a year, and it's been pretty neglected. I'm not sure I can revive 'er. Aw, what the heck... I'll give it a shot.

So I spent the last week in Ohio. I saw miracles there. And snow. Boy, these bloggin' muscles of mine, much like the rest of me, are so out of shape.

What's that you say? Push through the burn!? Fine. I'll sprint to the finish.

Smoking causes cancer.
Quitting is an epidemic in my family, except when it comes to smoking.
4 dogs is too many for a trailer.
God answers prayer, even if the person you're prayin' for doesn't know it, or care.
Stubbornness is apparently hereditary.
Being away from my family is hard, even if they do just fine without me.
There are still places in our country where your cell phone will read "No Service".

That's it. That's all I've got!

Man... I think I pulled something!