Geraniums

I'm seconds away from not posting today.

I haven't missed a day in over a year!!

So here's a little photo of the beautiful geranium outside my mother's home.

Geraniums are one of my favorite flowers.

I go back home tomorrow, nearly today - so the next time I blog, it will be from Jacksonville.

Goodbye Michigan!

Kristin

KrisMiss

Missy in white - Kristin in crazy flowered shirt

This evening I went over to a friends house. I hadn't seen her in about 13 years, but back in the days of High School we were best buds. She was my very favorite friend. Her name is Missy (OK, now she goes by Melissa, but I still call her Missy) - so her name is Missy and mine is Kristin and we nicknamed ourselves KrisMiss. When my family went to Gatlinburg, TN on vacation one summer I came back with a sweatshirt that had airbrushed on the sleeve - KrisMiss.

We believed the world would be a better place if we only had purple M&M's so on nearly everything that I owned (that I could doodle on) said "Purple M&M's Forever." I think that goofy sweatshirt said that, too. This was before the days of M&Ms in a variety of holiday colors. It was just the standard pack...minus the red ones for a long time. Missy and I were truly ahead of our time and I do believe we were the original creators of Purple M&M's. We should at least get some kind of inventors fee or something.

Missy had lived in Lansing for the past 13 years or so, but somehow I lost her address or she moved, her telephone changed, I moved...we just lost track of each other. Thanks to facebook we are back to chatting again, although she doesn't log on each day or even each week for that matter. So this week while I was in town I had to stop by and see her. We had a very full three hours of non stop talking...I think I did most of the talking. :) I even recruited her to go to our reunion planning meeting tomorrow night! I'm excited.

I'm so happy we found each other again because she truly is one of my favorite people in the whole world. It was great to see her today.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Watching Twilight

I've been reading the Twilight series again, I've found that it's a real good read for vacations. I loved it on my Ireland trip and it was just as lovely on my trip to Michigan. Since I've now read the first book twice I figured I really needed to see the movie.

Since I don't have a video card and I don't have a convenient DVD player in my home, I thought I might pick up the movie while I was in Lansing. My mom has a big TV and a DVD player right in the living room and she doesn't have any other TV channels so all we watch here are movies anyway.

I went to the grocery store today to pick up a few things for dinner tonight when I saw the RedBox video outside of the grocery store. I've always wondered what that was all about and if it had current movies, etc. Today I tried it. It's a dollar for one night. I need to get my movie returned to a RedBox location (any of them) by 9pm tomorrow night and I will only be charged the dollar (oh, plus tax.) If I keep the movie for 25 days, I will be charged for each of those days, but no more and the movie is mine to keep. I didn't have to sign up or have to keep a card with me to swipe or anything, all I had to do was swipe my Credit Card and I got the movie.

Cool!

So Twilight, the movie. I'll tell ya, I didn't love it. I really liked the books a lot, but I didn't believe that Bella had fallen in love with Edward in the movie. There just wasn't enough chemistry or something. I know books are always better than the movie...but I didn't fall for any of the characters in the movie. It also sort of bugged me that the boys in the school that liked her were all of a different ethnicity. It was far too diverse. I would much rather just believe in the vampires.

OK, so to recap - RedBox video - 2 Thumbs Up. The movie Twilight - 1 Thumb Up and 1 Down. I'll watch it again sometime when I haven't JUST finished the book and see if I score it any different. The Twilight books -- 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up :)

Have a Wonderful Week!
Kristin

Photo Shopping

I went to Anthropology a few days before I left town and took my camera along for the ride. That store is just so cool when it comes to displays. This current look that's going on is all about Chalkboards. Remember the chalkboard party that I was a part of last month - here - well I would have loved to have had a few of these photos during that event. The chalkboards in the store were all over the place. They were used strictly as a WOW factor, like above, they were used as signage, as descriptions for various sections and as labels for bins. I just loved how the chairs were not lined up with the drawings behind - so they looked like shadows in reverse. Very very cool.

I spotted this set of silverware - I really liked how the etchings went all the way up to the eating area on the flatware. I hid the price tag and now I can't even begin to remember what the cost was per place setting. Ahh well, I just thought they looked neat.


Green wavy plates in an old looking wooden box. It looks like they needed to dust :) I could almost imagine this exact scene being played out at my house. Great looking dishes on a dusty cabinet :)



Another photo of the chairs. It almost makes me want to have a wall behind my kitchen table and chairs just so I can do this. almost!

Egg cups...for me a totally impractical item, but I've always liked the idea of them. I could see buying a small set of these and lining them up on the edge of the very top shelf in my cabinet, just to make it look pretty. Or I could just take a picture of them here in the store and leave with that!


This was very very cool. The big wooden sink type base for the bucket was so very well worn. I touched it several times :) but the little bar of soap at the very bottom of the chalkboard made me laugh.

I managed to make it out of Anthropology without buying a thing, although I think I wanted nearly every single one of the new dishtowels. My dishtowel stack is giant, so it was quite easy to resist.

I hope you are having a great weekend! I'm off to an art fair tomorrow with my sisters, the nieces and my mom. I hope we have good weather.

Kristin

Friday fly-by

It's amazing how quickly days can get filled up when you've only got a week to do everything :)

Today I'm going to Ann Arbor to see my brother-in-law, Cap. He's still in the hospital but should be moving to a rehab place today, again. I'm going with Tom's parents (my in-laws) to visit. Since I don't have a car, I'm waiting to be picked up right now. I will be so happy to see Cap, for myself, that's for sure.

My mother hired someone to come help her clean the garage. We found a baby opossum in there last night, so we knew it was time to clean it out and make sure there weren't any other babies in there. Looks like they have all taken up residence some where else - but at least the garage is looking good! (and I'm glad I didn't get roped into helping!)

I am however, going to help Hillary, my youngest sister, paint a few walls in her apartment tomorrow. She's totally moved out, but has to paint over the walls in the living room, back to basic white. Then I think we will go out to dinner with my Dad...I haven't seen him yet.

I updated my Wreck this Journal post from Monday -- Go take a look - HERE.

OK, I think I hear the car - Gotta run!

Kristin

Dancin'

Zora and Stella's Daddy is the keyboard player in a blues band, Root Doctor, and tonight they were playing at an outdoor venue. That's usually a pretty good indication that the kids can go - so after going to the zoo this afternoon, we went to the concert tonight.



This is Jim. He loves to have his children there. He looks for them when he's playing and Stella will clap like crazy when he looks over at her.







Zora's friend showed up tonight, so they had a great time dancing to Zora's favorite song. (Which, I learned this evening, is usually the 3rd song.)



Most of the time though, Zora was playing with the sidewalk chalk. Every time I tried to take a picture of her playing she would run away. I did manage to get a picture of one of Zora's drawings though -- This is Sonic, the Hedgehog.





While the band was on it's break, Stella decided she needed to be a part of the sidewalk chalk artists group. She had a blast.

Today, I spent the morning with my Mom, showing her all of the pictures I've taken so far with my new camera - just 500 or so, went to the zoo with Alison and the girls, then off to the concert after dinner. Now I'm loading the photos onto my computer and waiting for my mom to get home so I can find out how the play was that she went to this evening. Then I'm off to bed. Not quite sure what I'm up to tomorrow, but I think I may be seeing a friend I haven't seen in ages! I'm excited about that.

I hope you've had a great day!
Kristin

Coming home

Goodness it's been a long day.

I've been going to bed really late - or early - depending on how you look at it. i've been crawling into bed sometime between 1 and 4 am the past three or four weeks. I've been sleeping until 10 most of those mornings. So I've been totally out of whack.

My flight left Jacksonville at 6:20am which meant that I had to get up at 4am so I could leave at 4:50am so I could arrive at the airport by 5:20am to catch my flight.

I tried going to bed at 11:30pm last night but finally gave up and read a book on the couch for a few hours. It was probably 2:15am before I finally fell asleep.

To say I'm a bit groggy today is an understatement!

But.... I got to Michigan. My Mother and Zora were at the airport to greet me -- actually inside the airport, so that was fun! It's rare now to get picked up anywhere but curbside. Then I spent the afternoon visiting at my sisters house and saw Stella. Then my mom and I went grocery shopping for things for dinner - invited all the girls over (Alison and her crew plus Hillary) and we had a lovely evening chatting and laughing and chasing the little ones around the house.

It's 9:41 right now and I can hardly keep my eyes open.

I hope you have a great night, I'll be up at the crack of dawn I'm sure!
Kristin

Going Home

I'm so excited! I'm going home tomorrow. I'm flying into Michigan around 11am and I hope to be smooching on Zora's cheek by about 11:15! I think she's coming with my mom to pick me up.



Alison and the girls went to Pentwater, MI for a vacation a few weeks ago and they snapped a few photos. Here's Alison with Zora in pink and Stella in stripes. Alison is having baby #3 in October. Alison's husband, Jim, is a musician and he had a few gigs in the Pentwater area, so they rented a house for the week.

This is Zora - she was wearing this very beautiful purple princess dress and was elbows deep in mud! Kids will find mud only when dressed up...at least that's what I've heard.

Here's the brown-eyed girl, Stella. I haven't kissed this face since she was 5 months old. She's got so many teeth now! I hope she warms up to me quickly, as I can't wait to hang out with her.


My mother with her granddaughters in Pentwater. Zora loves being with Nana. They have a date every Friday. They go swimming, exploring, picnicing, and play in my mother's garden. I'm sure they had a blast spending the whole week together, even if they did have to share their time with Alison and Stella!

I'll be home a week and I'm already going to be pretty busy, but I hope to see all of these folks every day. My husband arrives back here in Jacksonville in just a few hours. He's been in Michigan the past two weeks. We're tag teaming right now. Tom went to his cabin in the Upper Penisula, visited with his brother, went to Lake Michigan and other assorted stuff. I'm planning on visiting with my parents, sisters, nieces, meeting up with old HighSchool friends and going to an art fair. Not much adventure, but a lot of fun.

I'll be back next week!
But don't worry, I'm sure I'll update each day as usual :)

Kristin

WTJ goes postal.

I just had THE most delightful conversation with the postal man behind the counter at my post office. I handed him my journal, addressed, taped and ready to make it's journal from the Southern United States all the way up to the Great Lakes.

He, postal employee, picked up the journal and looked at the ends, which were not taped -- they were hoping for a little wear and tear on their travels - and he voiced his concern over it's safety. I told him that the book was called "Wreck This Journal" and that it could handle some wear and tear...but if he insisted, I had some tape in my purse and I could tape it some more.

He asked if I needed it sent next day? He assured me that it would get the best treatment going Next Day Air. I told him that I'd prefer just First Class. I told him that I'd send it book rate, but I needed it to arrive in a week.

He put WTJ on the postal scale and he let out this giant sigh - "It's too heavy to go first class, it'll need to go Priority. Here fill out this address label," as he slid a label and a pen at me, "and I'll get a nice envelope to put the book into."

I said, "We'll just send it this way. No need for an envelope. The book is up for a little adventure."

He said, "But I have to put a sticker or two on it."

I said, "Great! The more the merrier!"

He sighed and asked me to place the Priority Mail stickers on WTJ. I did, one on each side. Then he printed off a metered stamp, which bummed me out because I forgot to tell him I wanted regular stamps. shoot. The funny thing though, he did not ask if I had anything fragile, liquid or perishable in my book. I would have said no, but I would have had to think about it a second!

Journal baby is now in the hands of the United States Postal Service.

It's making it's way to Michigan, to my Mother's home, where I will be arriving in two days. I thought this was a very interesting way to mail it to myself, mailing it from my home and sending it to where I will be traveling! It's about 1200 miles door to door. Quite a journey for such a young book.

Exciting stuff, huh? I bet you're on the edge of your seat wondering how this will turn out! I'll let you know when it arrives and I'll take lots of photos.

Have a great week!
Kristin


Edited 7/17/2009 (Friday) - The journal arrived in my mother's mailbox, safe and sound, yesterday. It might have even been cleaner than when it left! There wasn't a scratch on it. My niece and I are going to be doing quite a bit of wrecking this week, so I'll be taking lots of photos of that.

I'm a part of Jamie's Next Chapter group and I encourage you to see all of the fabulous journal wrecking going on over there. Thanks for stopping by, it's great having you.

Gecko guy

I woke up this morning determined to get in some camera time. It's been raining so much lately that it's been hard find the enthusiasm to go out and shoot when I've only got 30 minutes before it pours. The weather map looked to be good all day, so I chanced it and went down to St. Augustine. I wanted to go back to the shell shop and there were a few antique shops that I wanted to visit as well, so I was excited to go.

I ended up taking nearly 200 photos! But this was my most willing subject...Enjoy!



This little guy was literally hopping from the pavement to the turquoise platform back to the pavement and then up on the fence. I asked him if I could take a few photos before he hopped away.

He even let me switch sides and photograph his good side.

He then said - "I can turn into a raccoon right before your eyes. Wanna see?" I said yes and he did this. Funny, huh?

Gecko guy let me get right down at eye level with him. I was literally a foot away.


I love the little feet and hands...paws? fins? grabbers? OK, they are called feet.

My new gecko friend stayed in that spot for our entire session and even watched me walk away. He then hopped away to tell of his friends about how he'd been discovered and was probably going to be a Hollywood star.


Have a great day!
Kristin

Winning is fun!

I've always been a fairly lucky individual when it comes to finding things and winning things. It's not like I've won the lottery (well, mostly because I don't play!) but I in general, I find myself on the receiving end of a lot of good fortune.

One of my latest good fortunes was to win the giveaway in honor of Boutelle Family Zoo's 100th Blog post. Trisha has a real crafty nature and she has been blogging about transforming dressers and adirondack chairs and she's turned a neglected wall into a family photo wall that rivals magazine pages. She's been a lot of fun to meet the past few months and I hope you get a chance to go over and see her and her family at the Zoo.

OK, I know you want to see the loot!

Good, cuz I want to show you.

I don't think Trisha had any idea how much I love tissue paper or how much I love yellow and green (green tissue was below the vibrant yellow!) It was a lovely surprise just upon opening the box. The card was lovely, too and said the sweetest things inside the card, too. Thanks Trisha!

I couldn't tell if she had made the card - there wasn't a mark on the back, so I'm assuming it was a handmade card. It went so nicely with the tissue paper, too!

Now here are the goodies. The two rolled up towels are dishtowels. You can see them on her blog - here - I took a few photos of them unfolded, but hers are better. They are incredibly soft - I can't wait to add them to my dishtowel collection. They will be well loved and well used, that's for sure.

Also enclosed were two little banana leaf cups that are so sweet. I think she called them candle cups. Since I don't burn candles, I'm sure I'll fill them up with some kind of collection...paperclips, binder clips, hair bands or barrettes - something that I use all the time, I'm sure.

The wooden box is so so soft - if you can imagine soft wood - it's smooth and old and worn and beautiful. I'm more excited about this box than I ever imagined. I would have had a hard time giving this one away, Trisha!

She included a sweet little birdy. I think I'm going to hot glue him to something. It's too cute.

Now that final gift - the surprise in the package were the chalkboard frames. These were not a part of the giveaway, so totally unexpected. She wrapped them up in yellow tissue paper... I had to unwrap them. The aqua color is so pretty. I love it! Trisha has been painting things this color in her home quite a bit lately, so I'm assuming this is part of that gallon of paint - and I can see why she's using it, it's gorgeous! I'm so excited that she sent these - I've always wanted to make these, but ... fill in the blank for a million excuses. Now I've got them and they came as a great surprise!

Thanks so much Trisha!
Kristin

Reuben Spread

I just made the most amazing spread for a little get together I'm going to tonight. That's my serving dish with the Reuben Spread inside. YUM!!

If you'd like to see more, read more and get the low down on how you can make this really great tasting and easy spread, please go here... Noble Pig. She has Fabulous photos of the before during and after. I really suggest that you head on over there.

I'll see you later! It's girls night :)
Kristin



Update -- It was a total hit!!

Wreck This Journal part 5

Welcome another fabulous installation of Wreck This Journal. You can find all of the participants at Jamie's Next Chapter. 67 people participated last week, although I only made it to 40 of their sites this past week. I can't wait to see how many join up this week and I hope to visit everyone, as it is one of my favorite things to do these days -- sit and look at wreckage lol

Here's my journal this week. I made my first vlog last week, but decided to go back to photos this week. Many of the photos can be enlarged - click on the picture if you want to see it up close and personal.




I did a little bit of window shopping this week when I stumbled upon a stack of WTJs. I can't begin to tell you how funny they looked! They were so small, clean and fresh! I had to move the display around a bit to get my journal out to pose with it's brothers and sisters.

Mine is on the left :)


I love setting the book up like this. It just naturally fans out like that now. Gorgeous, isn't she?!!

I showed this last week, but I added in a quote I found - although I didn't catch the author --

"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions"

That was just perfect for that page, don't you think?

I sat down on the couch one evening and started just going through this litany of things I needed to do, wanted to do, etc. So I decided that it was the perfect time to fill out this page. I blurred out a few things to protect the innocent. The house in the middle was a house my husband and I went to a week or two ago. This was from the sales flier. My internal dialog always includes - "I don't want to move...oooh, that's a cute place!"




These are supposed to be little houses with chimneys. This page is still evolving, but I wanted to include it now because I didn't have many coloring projects this week.

I've been working on this page since the beginning - funny I cut off the page number. I started and ended with 22. I haven't placed a single other page number in the entire book.



These dolls are a cut out from a magazine. I added in the polka dots, if you couldn't tell.

I drank from the funnel a few weeks ago, but forgot to show it - I then let it dry, folded it up and taped it back in the book.


My Previous Wreckages -- All on one page! HERE I have to say - as I was looking through them, I have two weeks titled Week 3. Now, that's a wreck!! I won't change it though as it goes right along with going with the flow of creativity, wrecking and letting go.

One of my dear friends, Bob (I call her Bob, she calls me Bob - ahhh friendship!) was following along with my journal wreckage and last week she and her daughter just happened to spend a few hours in a bookstore and they just happened to pick up a book for each of them! They immediately came home and started in on their journals. I'm so proud of you Bob! Enjoy!!

I hope you enjoy my journal. I've been so inspired by so many of the other wreckers. Thank you for being a part of this -- and thanks to all of you NOT a part of the group for reading along :) It's great having you!

Have a fabulous weekend!
Kristin


edited to add ***I've got two swaps going on for the Favorite Page(s). I haven't sent out either, nor I have received any. One of my swap partners asked for an additional week, so I agreed! I need to embellish my favorite pages just a little bit more, then they are going in the mail!

Thrifty food and bowls

This Thrifty Thursday (late Wednesday) post is all about going to local events, free events and finding great deals. On this little adventure I spent $40 and got fresh veggies for a week or two, a few pieces of pottery and lunch at the art fair.

Come with me - let me show you my thrifty and beautiful finds. For more Thrifty Thursday participants, please head on over to Leigh's place - Tales from Bloggeritaville.

I went back to the Riverside Arts Market on Saturday. Two weeks in a row! (I blogged about it last time - here) I thought that since it was the 4th of July it might be festive and possibly even more crowded. Turns out it was not crowded, but it was festive! I really enjoyed it. I bought some British pies (Chicken and mushroom, steak and something lol, pulled pork and a ham and gruyere) that so far have been real good! They are personal sized and perfect for this week when I'm home alone making dinner for one.

I just love to take pictures of the vegetable tables. The fresh veggies are so beautiful and the way everyone displays them...it's all so symmetrical.

There was such a nice cool breeze blowing off of the water this day and the smell of the ripe tomatoes was so delightful. I always say that the only tomato I'll eat is one that is warm off the vine.

I brought my little rolling crate with me this week so I was able to bring home a lot of veggies for $10.

Cha-ching! Thrifty!

These eggplants are so gorgeous! Just look at the color. I even like the dirt!

The market is not only food, it's an arts market as well. I saw this booth last week when Tom and I went, but he was cruising through the market and I wasn't able to stop and browse like I wanted, so I passed by. This week, I was alone and I browsed. I also purchased! The bowls were $5 a piece. That's Thrifty!!! They are perfectly sized for small bowl of cereal, a very generous portion of tomato wedges and cottage cheese, and as a serving bowl for salsa. Two of the bowls I purchased will be gifts. That's why I'm not tellin' or showin' which bowls I purchased! sneaky sneaky!

Have I ever showed off my dish cupboard? It's full of pottery bowls. It's what I use most of the time. hmmm, I don't think I have. Well, I'll save that for another day since I'm terribly late for my Wednesday post.

I have to say a BIG Ya-hoo! Leigh had a Marshall's Gift Certificate giveaway in honor of her 20th year of blogging. Well, it seems like I've know her for a few decades lol Her 2nd year of blogging! and I won the gift certificate!! $25 to my new favorite place to shop. I talked about my very first Marshalls experience last week - Here. Thank You Thank You Thank You!!! I can't wait to find some more thrifty finds.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Africa, transplants and souls

OMGoodness! I just saw something that brought tears to my eyes so quickly that it shocked me. It's a singing group from Slovenia (Perpetuum Jazzile) singing the song "Africa" - remember that song from your 80s music vault? It was by the group Toto.

If you do nothing else, just listen to the first minute or two and hear the rain. It's truly spectacular.

You probably won't cry, like I did. I'm kinda emotional.

Click on over to Kim Komando's site and watch it... please

Video of the Day - Perpetuum Jazzile


*****************

While I've got you here. Two of my support group friends got Liver transplants this weekend. Holidays always bring with them a bit of hope for transplant folks, but unfortunately that means that tragedy must have struck someone else. I'm so thankful that two of my friends were able to receive something they so desperately needed because a grieving family gave the gift of life. Thank you.


*****************

My husband is in Michigan (for many reasons) but one of them was to visit his brother who is still in the hospital. Yesterday (Monday) marked the 5th week he's been in the hospital. That is virtually unheard of here at the Mayo Clinic Hospital. Many patients can go back to their home towns after just 21 post transplant. I just don't know what to make of my brother-in-law's situation. He is still unable to walk, but yesterday, with the help of Tom and someone else, he was able to stand up and shuffle to a chair. This is PROGRESS!! I do believe he is going to be sent to a rehab hospital very soon and I'm so pleased. He's so weak right now, he needs to be up and moving. I think overall he is doing so much better. All of the complications that plagued him post surgery have been cleared up and he is definitely on the mend. What a struggle this has been.

*******************
I'm going up to the hospital today to visit with my neighbor, Jim, who I just learned was admitted yesterday morning. I'm also going to visit my transplant friends. I'm probably going to run down to the 3rd Street diner and get a spanikopita (spinach pie) and a diet Coke, too. Here I am wanting to go visit with friends and all I can talk about it food. I think I'm hungry right now, that's probably why!

*******************

I've been trying to join in on Friday Fragments over at Half Past Kissing Time and haven't been able to due to the number of groups I'm in that post on Thursdays and Fridays. So I guess I've been saving up for this. Mrs. 4444, I'll eeek in some time when my journal wrecking group is done. :) I'm making up for it right now, though, I'm full of fragments lol

*******************

A few weeks ago, when I was at Barnes and Noble - That was the day I bought Wreck this Journal, as a matter of fact. Anyway, I was standing at the magazine racks next to this lovely woman. She kept turning around making sure the two little boys she brought with her were still sitting on the bench. All of a sudden one of the little boys said "You are going to miss me when I'm gone. You don't realize it now, but you will...trust me." I looked over and saw that the older boy was holding on to the younger one - playfully but I'm sure he was holding on a bit tight lol The woman then looked at me and said, "I swear, those two have been on this earth before." I laughed. When I looked at the boys again, they really did look like old souls.

What a strange conversation to have at a magazine rack with a total stranger.

*******************

I need to go get a bite to eat, my stomach just informed me that it's been far to long. You've heard those sounds, right? The stomach growls? I'm here to inform you that they are REALLY loud when the house is totally quiet.

Have a fabulous day! Catch ya later.
Kristin

456789

Well, it will never happen again until 04:05:06 PM!
That's probably the time that I'll see.
I really hope I'm not awake at 4am.

I'm just here to keep you informed :)
Kristin

Dripping color

It's been so hot here that even the in-store displays are melting LOL

I took this picture in the Michaels store when I was out and about, looking for glitter glue pens (which I did find, on sale - $1.99)

All of the water colors in the Rose Art brand were melted. It was quite a sight.

Stay Cool!
Kristin

Road trip food

When preparing to drive 1200+ miles over a few days, it's important to make sure to take along some sandwiches. It's also important to get all the food out of the house that the person staying behind isn't going to eat. No sense wasting it! and no sense buying over priced and not nearly delicious as a sandwich made at home.

The banana in the photo above never made it on the road trip, but it did make it to the garbage can. It was even too ripe for Tom.

I have always liked the assembly line process of sandwich making. It's so organized! and so pretty.

I wrapped all the sandwiches in parchment, so that Tom could have a placemat of sorts when he's eating in the car. We then put all of the sandwiches in a large ziplock, just in case they fell into the ice water in the cooler. No need for a soggy sandwich when so much effort was put into making them.

One of my kid memories involves sandwiches, a car trip (actually it was a van) and eating at the picnic table in a rest area. My mother had made us these sandwiches on hoagy rolls and on our trip from Michigan to Nebraska we stopped to eat lunch. I thought they were the best sandwiches I'd ever had in my life and since, come to think of it.

I always think of those wonderful sandwiches when ever I see the sanwich assembly line.

Yum.
Kristin