Sippin' at Sam's

Hi! Molly Joy here. All dressed up and ready to roll.

Where am I going? 

Well, here's the situation...we are out of milk.  Dad thaith it's almost time to buy a cow becauth we go through tho much milk these days.  That makth my Mom grin a little, she loves feeding all of uth.  Being out of milk isn't such a big deal exthept that we're out of bread too and I think I heard someone thay we were out of just about anything that could serve as lunch.  Thith makes my Mom grin a little too becauth being out of lunch food usually means we go out to eat for lunch and Mom really enjoys that.  So...

that's where I'm going...out to lunch. Wanna come?

I really like the place where we are going. There aren't any tables large enough to seat our whole family, tho I alwayth get to thit at the table with the big kidth. It'th so fun.  I get to chooth between the pizza and the hot dog special.  I chooth the pizza today.  The only thing that stinkth is that thith place only hath one size drink and that size ith tooooo big fo me! Everybody elth gets their own drink, but I have to share with my Mom or Dad and thath kinda hard from the big kidth table.

It was a really thpecial day today cauth we got to get dessert! Mom and Dad haven't been eating much dessert at all lately and today, they decided to live a little with thoft therve from Tham's Club! (Megan hath taught me allllll about alliteration you know!)  I love the dessert here but by the time we get around to eating it, it's time to get into the shopping cart and race around the store before Dad'th lunch hour ith over. Really, thith part is pretty fun too.  First, we load everyone'th drink into the cart (nobody wants to see all that thoda pop at 88 cenths a piece go to waste) 

...and then in goeth Kate and then me.  

Look at uth chowin down the ith cream! It had strawberrieth in it! Thooooo good. My mom had such a hard time eating and taking pictures of uth...but she soldiered through! 

Ya know what else ith fun when we go shopping at Tham's and other places? Watching all the people looking at us.  I'd look too! I mean really, who pushes THAT many drinks around in a buggy? I don't really think its the drinks they are looking at.  Mom saith they are counting us kids.  She gets a kick out of it too.  She saith that the people looking at us must think that we are a grade school on a field trip to Tham's Club for cheap soda pop and hotdogs.  

I guess when you stop to think about it, that'th kinda what we are!

After we've loaded the buggy with boxes and bags that are mostly the size of ME, I decide to stand up and demand politely requetht that I be permitted to walk about the store for awhile.  Finally, I convinced Dad to let me down. It wath about time too, cause I had a bit of shopping to conquer as well. I saw this patio furniture while I wath eating and couldn't wait to give it a whirl.

The cushion was good and firm that table lookths like it would hold a dinner plate or six. 

Hang on a thecond! That sign doesn't say that it's been stain guarded and Mom saith that is a deal breaker. Did you see the price on it? That'th almost enough to buy....mmmhmmm carry the 4....1,965 drinkths here at Tham's. I'm pretty thure Mom and Dad will think that'th a deal breaker TOO!

Anywayth, thanks for comin' to our gourmet lunch wif us!

Hope to thee ya again real thoon!

Discovered @ Lunchtime Part 2

(If you didn't read yesterday's saga, click here first.)

I climbed into my Man's truck, hoping no one saw me on my way to sweet tea bliss.  I was dressed one level above pajamas and had not yet been visited by the hair do and make up genie.  (No picture of this will follow. . .)  Cranking the engine, I reached to tune in the radio and get a dose of the latest political happenings, when what to my wondering ears did I hear?

My Man, the sponsor of my mini-retreat, is always listening to a mind-feeding CD of one sort or another so I wasn't surprised to hear a man's voice coming over the speakers to my ears.  Usually at this point during past "retreats" I hit the the radio button and off I go.  Yet, on this particular occasion, something caused me to pause and listen to the man on the CD.  It may have been that I recognized his voice as that of a pastor that I'd enjoyed watching on a video series in Sunday School a few months ago.

Pastor James MacDonald was the owner of the familiar voice.  I remembered my Man telling me that he'd been given a CD set of Pastor MacDonald's by a friend and I assumed that this was one of the CDs from that set. 
 

The CD Set. . .Click to see details.

Curiously, I listened on.  

"Here's what your wives wish you knew. . ."  and this man went on to list some wonderful TRUTHS - biblically based and all!  Don't you know I was all about forgetting the political talk now.  I felt a lot like I was listening in on a conversation between this man and my Man--and it was such a GOOD conversation. 

Had I looked at myself in the rear view mirror, I'm sure I'd have found a big grin on my face.  When I pulled into the drive thru lane, I ordered TWO big 'ole sweet teas and considered turning up the volume on the CD player so that the fast food worker could hear that my Man was listening to a CD about how to be a better hubby--to me of all people!  (The fast food worker, seeing me pre-make up genie probably would have thought however, that I was the husband trying to better his married life!!) 

Another thought popped into my freshly rested brain, "How cool is it that my Man has friends who influence him like this?  Who care enough to share. . ."  Then I remembered being handed a bookmark on Sunday by another of my Man's friends which turned out to be a "How to Pray for Your Pastor" prayer card!  Wow!  Ridiculously blessed I'm tellin' ya.

On the return trip home, I remembered to reverse the CD to the exact place where I began listening (I didn't want my Man to know I'd been eavesdropping) and set the radio on the AM talk station.  I left my Man's beverage in the cup holder, went into the house, and "tagged back in". 

As we practically live across the street from our church, the thought hit me that it could take many many days for my Man to log enough drive time to listen to much more of his CD.  It was in his best interest, I reasoned, for me to devise a plan to aid him in this "educational" endeavor.

For the next day or so, I proceeded to send my guy on every imaginable errand around town that I could think of.  My heart gave an extra jump when he would relate that his work had taken him hither and yon or that he felt he'd spent this entire day in the truck!  When I could hold it in no longer, I 'fessed up about my CD discovery and asked my Man to go to the store three towns away to pick up some eggs and milk.

He called me a "stinker" and chuckled. 

"You know," he said evenly, "the next CD in the series is for wives. I've been listening to that one on my trips today. You can listen to it too if you want."

Stinker.