Jello + Alcohol = YUM!

Jello + alcohol = YUM!  We went to a friend's annual rib cook-off over the weekend.  I made a highly-requested tray of jello shots.  This is the only way I'll make them anymore...right in fruit rinds.  No stupid plastic cups to feel guilty about not being able to recycle...plus, the fruit rinds ground up in the garbage disposal make the kitchen smell nice.  This year's varieties included:

Raspberry Lemonade (raspberry jello w/ pink lemonade vodka) in lemon wedges
Pina Colada (pineapple jello w/ coconut rum) in lime wedges
Tropical Punch (tropical punch jello w/ mango/blood orange/passion fruit vodka) in orange & mango wedges

My favorite was the tropical punch.  Matt's too...the couple he was able to snag before they disappeared.

The Next-to-Last College Move

Keaton has made his next-to-last college move.  Wow...the time has flown by since we moved him into his dorm room for his freshman year three years ago.  We (and a nice friend who volunteered and wasn't blackmailed into helping) helped him move into a house that he'll be sharing with six other guys.  He took his bed and about half of his clothes from our house. His uncle was nice and donated some furniture and kitchen odds and ends from his bachelor days.  The house is awesome and has two kitchens, three bathrooms, and seven bedrooms. It's located across the street from campus (appropriately on Academy St.) and will be an easy commute to class.  I spent about seven hours cleaning the upstairs areas that Keaton will be occupying most of his time to ensure he doesn't contract any strange diseases.  (He said the house had been cleaned, but let's face it, nobody will ever clean it to my strict standards.) It was pretty gross...even Matt agreed...but is now smelling and looking much better after our thorough scrubbing and sanitizing.  We used an entire extra-large economy-sized bottle of antibacterial wipes on the kitchen, his bedroom, and one bathroom alone.  I steam-cleaned his bedroom carpet three times and the water was black and absolutely disgusting.  I won't even talk about the other upstairs bathroom because I'm going to need serious therapy to revisit those memories.  For now, they're safely tucked away in the back of my mind and I'm hoping I can one day forget how absolutely horrible, disgusting, awful, terrible and frightening it was. (I just shuddered while thinking about it.)  Happy thoughts.  Happy thoughts.  Happy thoughts.   

Now Keaton is happily living in his house and is currently responsible for all of his meals.  He made his first dinner and sent us pictures of spaghetti, garlic toast, and green beans.  (Yay! He remembered to have a vegetable with dinner!  Oh and I could see his desk in the background of the picture, so I know he wasn't really eating at a restaurant!)  I've spent the past week picking up odds and ends so he'll be self-sufficient and nicely decorated.  (Sorry, although he thought the towel and blanket he hung on his bedroom windows worked, I had to veto that decorating decision and picked up some curtains to hang.)  Matt and I stopped by on Friday night to bring him more goodies and get his curtains ironed and hung...and I totally forgot to bring the camera for pictures.  I guess I'll just have to stop by this week for a visit.  I'll just be sure to bring lots of food so he doesn't think I'm a stalker...even more than he already thinks I am.   

He took all of his electronics in his vehicle.

Matt & I got to take the rest of his stuff.

His top priorities were getting his computer set up and connected...

...and his TV connected to cable.

Home Sweet Home

Bees: 21, Me: 0

Matt has a lot of making up to do with me and it better involve something pretty and sparkly...or something really good to eat.  While helping him do some mowing for someone he worked with, I was attacked by bees and got stung 21 times.  (We think it was 21, but it was probably more.  It was hard to count with all the red splotchiness and welts all over my body).  

Sunday, Matt hopped on the tractor and I got stuck with the push mower.  As I mowed a little bit, I felt some stinging on my legs and thought I must have mowed over a stick and was getting hit by splinters.  As I looked down, I saw bees around my legs.  Then, when I cut the engine on the mower, I heard even more buzzing around my head and that's when I took off running and yelling for Matt to spray me with the hose.  I don't think I've ever asked to be sprayed by a hose ever in my life.  Ever.  He was on the tractor and didn't know what was happening as I was frantically running around and flailing my arms around me screaming at him.  His first thought was that I just lost my foot mowing, but then realized that wasn't the case since I was running.  Then, he saw the bees all around me and on me.  He kept yelling at me to hold still so he could swat them off me and I kept running around like a crazy person yelling at him to get the hose.  We ran to the spigot and there was NO FREAKING HOSE!  Matt finally got the bees off me, I sucked down some Benadryl and off we went to the nearest medical facility so I could get a shot of epinephrine.   

After returning to the scene of the crime, Matt found two holes near some rocks that must have been hiding the little buggers.  I must have mowed over the holes with the push mower and they obviously didn't like it and came out angry and seeking revenge.  Yay, me.  I'm glad it didn't happen to Matt while he was alone...or it didn't happen to the little boy that lives at that house.  I have been fogged out on Benadryl and have spent the last couple of days napping and just taking it easy, waiting for my hives to go away.  I think some pretty jewelry would help them go away more quickly.    

Small Town Sojourns

Matt and I have embarked on a journey of visiting small towns every couple of weeks.  Our first visit was to the small towns of Saugatuck and Douglas along the gorgeous west Michigan shoreline.  We wandered through the towns, did some window shopping and then stopped at a local brewery for lunch.  We ordered a flight of six different homemade beers.  I'm not a beer drinker.  I dutifully tried them all (even one with a promising title of 'Neopolitan')...and decided that I'd much rather drink my pretty, fruity cocktails.

We picked all different beers:  some with chocolate, some with caramel.
Matt keeps telling me that beer is an acquired taste...but I still haven't acquired any I like.

Our latest trip was to Shipshewana, IN to visit the huge flea market and to enjoy some Amish culture and food.  Matt was in all his glory at the flea market and probably could have spent a week digging through the, ahem, treasures.  I didn't get my hands dirty like he did, but I did find a Coach purse for $40, beads to decorate another patio table, and some awesome license plate letters to make a project for the RV.  After two trips to the car with our loot, we headed over to the popular Das Dutchman Essenhaus for a chicken dinner. Yum!

I know the Amish don't want to be photographed, but I didn't think they'd mind the back of the buggy being photographed. 
I just thought this was funny as they passed the speed limit sign.  It's the little things in life that make me laugh!

The Thornapple River

Last weekend, we went camping and kayaking with our good friends.  Our adventure involved a 5.5 mile trip down the Thornapple River...and a LOT of rain.  We started with a partly cloudy morning and ended with a very rainy afternoon.  We still had a good time...even though I was soaked.  But it's always definitely better to getting soaked by falling rain rather than getting soaked by tipping in the river!

Before.

After.  It's a good thing I did my hair that morning.