Author: Chocolate Castles

Welcome to Chocolate Castles, a blog about food, family and stories that hopefully will bring a smile to your heart. Thanks for reading chocolate castles and may the recipes and stories help bring your family and friends a little closer around the table! Remember that Princess On The Porch is still available on Amazon! Makes a great gift for anyone who enjoys being in the kitchen and needs a little laughter in their lives.
Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Camping Out In The City

Chocolate Castles4 Comments

We have been in our house for 12 days. If I remember correctly from all the Bible Studies I have done, I remember that the number 12 (in Hebrew) meant “complete”. But in Mesa, apparently it just means, 3 more nights until we are out of the air mattress And into a bed. After these 12 days of having nothing but 2 borrowed lawn chairs to sit it, we have discovered how comfortable car seats really are. We go driving around just to sit in something besides the lawn chairs. We have also learned that around these many over 55 communities, couples have cards made with both of their names, their emails, phone numbers and last but not least, the couples picture. So Randy and I have been trying to come up with what our “business” card would say. We are thinking something like
Rickey & Trixie is our names, Bingo & Chicken Foot is our game!
Randy thinks we still need to work on it a bit. In the spirit of camping out, since our stuff isn’t here yet, we have been using plastic silver wear and paper plates. on Friday, because they delivered the stove top, we were so excited that we went and bought eggs and bacon and gave us a whole new reason for jumping off the air mattress Saturday morning. As I was using a sharp car key to open the bacon, I get my brand new Paula Deen skillet out that Amazon just delivered on Thursday, and began to fry the bacon. It dawned on me at that moment that I still had no toaster, but we wanted toast to go with our bacon and eggs. Well, they don’t call me little miss Pioneer Princess for nothing. I just got my other new Paula Deen skillet out, buttered the bread and proceeded to fry our toast. As the bacon began to cook on one side, I got the plastic fork out and began to turn it over to the other side. It would not turn over. As I began to get frustrated, I looked at my plastic fork and discovered that it had melted in the hot bacon grease. Well, it doesn’t take me more than 2 slices of bacon to learn that you cannot use plastic table wear for cooking utensils. I learned that if you use one fork to turn each slice of bacon, it does NOT melt. Bends a little, but it didn’t melt. I was planning on having fried eggs, but remembered that I had no way to turn the eggs, so we had scrambled. Note to self, Do not keep the plastic spoon in the eggs as they cook, as melted plastic does not taste very good with eggs.
As of Saturday afternoon, the plumber came to take the sink out so we have had no water in the kitchen. But for one morning, we had a home cooked meal, melted plastic and all. Was mighty good.

We have made a list of “friends” who have actually called or emailed us and told us they wish they could be a fly on the wall just to see us getting up off the air mattres in the mornings. Those so called “friends” will not be getting one of Trixie & Rickes new business cards, much less a Christmas Card. We want all of you to know that we have mastered getting off of the mattress very well, thank you. All you have to do is roll back a little two or three times, with your feet firmly planted on the floor, and then using your hands, push yourself up on the last roll. There have been only a hand full of times, when either of us have had to actually roll over on the floor on our hands and knees and pushing on the side of the mattress, push ourselves up.
When we were staying at the casita for the couple of weeks before moving in to our own place, the owner (and now new friend) told us about a drink that she had every evening when she came home from work. she invited us in one night and made us the most refreshing drink. She put 3/4 cup soda water, 1/4 cup organic apple juice and grated fresh ginger. Put it in a blender and pour over ice. It is so good. Randy and I have been drinking ever since. Also because of the grated ginger, it is very good for tummy aches. Plus, after the stress filled morning of picking out melted plastic our of the scrambled eggs, the drink settled my nerves.

We are already settling in, in spite of no furniture. Both of us have talked about how little we have had, the last few weeks but have still felt at home. It Has shown us that so much of what we have is probably unnecessary, but we realize how spoiled we are to all the “extras” that we have gotten so use to. Extras like, more than one towel, real silver wear, a refrigerator in the house and a television that you don’t need a magnifying glass to see. But by the end of this week, life will be returning to normal with all of our ‘extras” arriving on Wedneday. We will feel like we are living the American Dream, having a real bed to sleep in and a couch. Ah…..the good life!

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Dumpster Diva

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

We have quite a few things to learn about living in an over 55 community. This morning was one for the history books. We woke up feeling so “at home” in our new place, even though we do not get our furniture until the 24th. But we have grown accustomed to our borrowed lawn chairs and our air mattress which is, truth be told, not so bad. We keep telling ourselves as long as we are able to actually get up off the air mattress, it means that we are still spry young things that are still up for adventure. We haven’t once had to bounce up to get off, or even rock back and forth to get a jump on standing up from the mattress.
Last evening we went out for our first social. Four couples and ourselves had dinner at one of the couples homes and then went to listen to a band play oldies, following by standing outside during intermission at the Moustache Pretzzel food truck in 108 degrees to get a hot pretzel. Nothing is better in 108 degree weather than a eating a hot pretzel. But, like Randy says, the tickets were a gift so he told me I cannot complain. It was fun seeing old timers and young timers (such as ourselves) trying to shake, rattle and roll, while watching parts of your body take longer to stop shaking and rattling or rolling than other parts. But, we saw a couple who we had met at Starbucks a couple of weeks ago, out on the dance floor. Felt good to see some people that we already knew. We ended up exchanging numbers so we could get in touch when we got settled.

That takes us to this morning. We hurriedly woke up at 5:45 to shower and get dressed as workers were coming over at 7 to take a soaking tub out of the master bath. So I showered, used the curling iron, put my makeup on, so the men would not get freaked out by my “natural beauty”. Since we were ready in plenty of time, Mr. I Have A Great Idea, says, “let’s take the golf cart and load up some of this bulky trash the previous owners left in the storage shed and haul it back to the bulk trash area”. Well, you don’t have to ask me twice to go riding on the golf cart, (in case you missed the announcement, the cart’s name is Wally). So feeling so prim and proper with my earrings on and my makeup freshly applied, (after all, you do not want to get caught out without earrings, what would my little southern Junior Leaguers say) we load up the back of the cart not and head over to the bulk trash area. For some reason, I turned around before walking out the door (actually I do know the reason; I never, never leave home without my phone because yes, my name is Trudy and I am a phone addict). when we get there the sliding door to the trash area is open as a gentleman is just leaving so we figure that maybe the door is open during the day. So we pull Wally into the trash area and proceed to unload boxes of trash. As we are climbing up the inclined walkway up to the top to drop over the last of the boxes, we hear a sound and look over. The gate door has closed and we are now closed in the bulk trash area behind walls that are about 10′ tall. We just look at each other and I said, “well, at least when we are rescued, I will have earrings on.” We see a security pad over to the side and realize that there must be a code to open the big doors. But, we neither knew what code it might be. Randy said, I don’t have my phone to call anyone, I guess we just sit here and wait until someone comes and opens it so we can get out. In my mind, I have already begun to plan an escape. I was already thinking that if he could help me get on top of the golf cart, I could possibly hoist myself up on top of the 10′ wall and yell at a passerby who has lived here longer than 3 days, who would know the code to let us out. Before I began my ascent to the top of the golf cart, with makeup already melting and running in my eyes, I looked over and saw that I had indeed brought my phone. We called our security guard and told him that we were stuck in the bulk trash area and couldn’t get out. After he quit his snickering, he quickly told me the code to push and we drove ourselves out. By the time we drove back up to our house, I had no make up on to speak of, my hair looked like I had slept in it and we both, well, let’s just say that we have smelled better.
Lesson learned: I might leave home without my American Express card, but I will never, no never,leave home without my phone or my earrings. One never knows when I might need to be rescued and if I am ever on TV I want to have my earrings on.

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Home Sweet Home

Chocolate Castles2 Comments

Last night was the first night in our new place. Of course, we are still without furniture, but thank the Lord, air mattresses have come along way since we first “”camped out” in a new house before furniture is delivered. We are the proud owners of a house in an over 55 community. We like to think of ourselves as being one of the “”youngsters who will bring down the average age of the community”. In reaiity, I have already seen some who make me look like the matriarch, guess I had better catch up on the latest plastic surgery technology. Some of the women here are walking around with frozen smiles,due to the amount of Botox on their faces, with eyes that look like they couldn’t
Close if they had to. But, this little Southern girl is going to let my hair blow in the breeze, as we drive our cute little golf cart around, allowing the wrinkles around my eyes to flap in the wind, just like the wrinkles in my neck.
Yes, we got a golf cart and named it Wally. I told Randy that since he had let me name all our cars in the past,with girl names, I would let him have this one and he came up with Wally. I liked some of the suggestions I had shared with him, such as Tad, or Oliver, but he just rolled his eyes and said, it’s name is Wally, no more discussion. So as soon as Wally arrives this afternoon, we will be on our first little trip around the community. It is street legal, so we will probably drive it out the gate and over to Starbucks. This opens up a whole new world to us. We have already been invited to our first social here in the community tomorrow night to go with 5 other couples to dinner and an oldies concert. (I’m not sure if we are the oldies who will be singing or if they have a group that will be singing songs from the past, guess we will find that out tomorrow night.) Then Tues evening, we are invited to go to Bible Study which is led by a pastor who comes here every Tuesdy night.
Everyone has been texting or calling and asking how the move is going. We so appreciate everyone who has been keeping tabs on us these past two months, as we zigzagged our way across the county. Since I haven’t had a stove or oven for 2 months, I have not cooked. That will be the first thing I do next Wednesday when our appliances are delivered. Randy will think he has died and gone to Heaven when I set something other than microwave mac & cheese in front of him.
There have been so many times these last two months of how God has showed His faithfulness to us. One Story I just have to share is this. We had set a budget for how much we wanted to spend remodeling the new place. We had a certain amount set aside for all new flooring. Two or three bids were as much as $5000 over what we had felt we should spend on floors. Wanting to be good stewards of God’s money, we had obtained several bids. Each one high then the last bid. We have been staying in an Airbnb for the last 3 weeks, close to our new place so we could go back and forth. The casita where we were staying is behind the large house of a dear lady who owns her own construction business. when we were sitting outside visiting with her one evening, werelayed that we were having trouble finding someone to purchase floors from,with installation, at a decent price, Diana says, “Trudy, remember I told you that I have my own construction company. Let me send one of the guys out to look at the house and give you a bid.” He came yesterday, called last night and his bid was $5 under the budget we had set aside for floors. He has been installing floors since 1969 and is sending his men out Monday to install the new flooring. All this to say, that we have felt God’s provision and faithfulness in not only leading us here, but who else but God would provide a casita, owned by a women who had her own construction company. She is also being so kind to send one of her guys out to remove the tub from the master bath.
Randy picked up some money a man had dropped the other day, and as we were sitting there enjoying our coffee, the man stops by our table and gives Randy a Starbucks gift card to tell him thanks for picking up his money and returning it to him. We have had strangers stop 3 times, offering to help us load large boxes into our car in the Home Depot parking lot. So yes, we are embracing the kindness which we know is a gift from the Lord. From our air mattress each night, we will continue to stop and thank God for the blessings He pours on us daily. This is truly becoming Home Sweet Home, very quickly.

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MotorSpeedway in Mesa

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

This morning was really our first “normal” day of being by ourselves since moving here last Thursday. Because we are now staying in a casita until we can get in our new place, we ventured out to go get a few things at the neighborhood Walmart. We have discovered that there are quite a few (ok, maybe more like: DOES ANYHONE LIVE HERE THAT IS UNDER 80?) old folks. Fine, I got that off my chest. So we get out of the car in the parking lot and we begin to dodge the most aggressive blue hairs in their motored scooters. We made our way inside the store only to be greeted by the youngest Walmart Greeter we have ever seen. He could not have been more than 20 and was dancing a jig. When he saw us, he really broke out in a dance routine as we went up to him to tell him how fun it was to see someone enjoying their job. he finally spoke up to say welcome and we ask him if we were the only ones in the store without a scooter. He began to laugh and tell us that we probably were the only ones. I had been warned that the oldies, when behind the wheel of a scooter, became aggressive and deserving of being the first in line. That warning was not unfounded. It became apparent to both Randy and I that in order to not look like an outsider, we would be having to get us our own scooter. He informed me that if I would just buy a pair of gold tennis shoes and a jogging suit I would look like I belonged. We both decided that unless we are truly crippled, we would do everything possible not to ever ride around the store in a scooter. We just do not have the aggressive temperament to drive one.
This past couple of weeks,I have learned a few things about Randy that has me a little worried about this new season. As we were driving to Arizona from Texas we stopped in Midland for lunch. Because we had Whataburger for breakfast we found a barbeque place so we parked and went inside. We got in line to order and looked up and noticed on the sign that there was a $8.50 minimum for each person. Randy looked at me and said, “don’t you think that is a lot to spend for lunch, as that is just the meat and we would still have to buy our drinks and sides? Why don’t we just go across the parking lot to Whataburger and order a hamburger and get some barbeque sauce to put on it?” Seriously, really? But that’s exactly what we did. The very next day we stopped at McDonalds for tea and Mr. COM (crotchety old man, his new name since he retired.) decides he wants an ice cream cone. Our purchase comes to $1.71. Mr. CoM pulls out his pocket full of change and proceeds to count out $1.71. Now I know that this doesn’t sound like a big deal but when I reenacted the scene for our kids, they were rolling on the floor. Let’s just say that the high school kid behind the counter waiting for the money grew a beard while waiting for the money. After the first 5 Minutes of waiting for him to count out the money, I was so embarrassed that I walked away to escape the scathing stares from the folks in line behind him. I can tell you that his ice cream cone was half melted by the time the clerk handed it to him. I made him eat it in the car so we did’t have people looking at us like we were just more old people moving into the million “over 55 communities”here.
Note to self: to avoid looking like we are just another retiree couple, we will never ride a scooter, we will always just buy with bills, instead of change,and never wear black knee socks. Never wear a jogging suit and never dye my hair blue. Purple maybe but never blue!

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Dallas To Desert

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Tonight is our last evening in Dallas, as we leave tomorrow for a new adventure of living in Arizona. We have been back in Dallas for 2 years since leaving California and will be residing in Mesa, which is close to our kids there in Gilbert. We feel it is only fair to spread our “oldness” around to all of our kids and since we owe Jodi and Eric some real fun and what better fun than taking care of old folks? We really are doing it for them. We feel that any marriage that can withstand taking care of parents can withstand anything. So We thought we would do them a favor and move close to them to see just how strong their marriage is. Every time we do a favor for them, (Like Randy cleaning out Jodi’s van or organizing her garage (at her request, we really do not just go out there and start organizing their house, ok maybe I do a little bit, but really their dirty clothes hamper really didn’t look good in their closet and the table runner that she had on the table was a little too contempary so of course I got one that looks perfect now) anyway, back to favors. When we do little favors here and there, like put the dishes in the cabinets where they really should be, Randy tells Jodi “that is just another diaper you will have to Change on us in a few years.”” She gags and walks out of the room.
So we are trading our furs, diamonds, limos and tux for shorts, turquoise, flip-flops and a golf cart. OK, I admit we didn’t have diamonds, furs, limos or tux but we are trading being known as a Texas to try to fit in with a lifestyle which is a little more relaxed. The last time I flew in to Phoenix I felt that when I walked into the airport from the plane, it looked like a nursing home, as there were so many wheel chairs lined up waiting to be wheeled onto the arriving plane. I remember thinking that Phoenix must be the place to live if and when I ever got old. Well, I do not feel old, but because we feel that the longer we live here, the harder it would be to leave. We always said that we would never ask our kids to move to take care of us, so we feel the right thing to do is to move and begin our next season while we are in good health and not waiting until we “”have” to.
Our car is loaded, we have made our last trip to Weirs for our favorite popcorn for our trip the next two days. We have gained 10 lbs this past week having family dinners. In the morning, we will put on our comfortable clothes, flip flops and make our way across the desert to our new destination. We are grateful for the last two years for the healing which has taken place in our lives. We have learned things about each other which only comes sometimes in seasons of discomfort. Because neither Randy nor I were expecting his retirement, we struggled our first year, learning to live together 24/7. We did learn that we truly love each other and enjoy being together, no matter the season, no matter the place. We have been blessed beyond anything we ever expected. We are trusting the Lord for His guidance, His protection and His faithfulness.
If you are ever flying into Phoenix, look closely at the old folks sitting in wheel chairs waiting to get on the plane, you might see Randy and I. You will recognize me. I might be leaving Dallas, but I’m taking my Dallas big hair with me.

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The End of the Road

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Our adventure these past 27 days are behind us. We are back in Texas preparing to leave next Wednesday for our next adventure of living in Mesa, AZ with the rest of the oldies. The memories from this trip have truly blessed us as we continue to look at pictures of the different states, new friends that were made along the way and some truly great recipes which I will post from time to time. Randy and I learned that we can survive just fine, riding in a car, next to each other without having to buy a shotgun or call an attorney. We did, however know that maybe we were in need of having some alone time when we left Franklin, TN. Being such a “wanna be” Southern Belle, I had found a most precious top that I just had to have. The story of obtaining this certain top is a post in itself. Randy told me to go ahead and go to the shop where I had seen the top in question the day before, while he sat at Starbucks to get some coffee. That was perfect. I walked down to the shop, walked in the door and the owner of the shop was visiting with a customer. The customer turned to me and told me she loved my hair. An hour later, I walked out the shop with a new top and a new fried. Randy walked down to see if someone had kidnapped me, but when he discovered me standing there sharing stories of what he had done on past April Fools day, Of course, we all then began to share places which we had been and they told us places we still needed to go. We got to the car and he ask me if I had indeed bought the top I had gone in there to get or did I just visit. When I pulled my new purchase out of the bag he looked at it and examined the label, which was LTX. He ask me if it stood for Large Texas, to which I gave him the “look” and considered going back in and spending more of his money for that remark. It was then that I began to sense that maybe it was time for us to head back to Texas and hopefully get to spend some time alone. We made the 12 hour trip back to Dallas 2 days ago and since then, we have regrouped, refreshed, and repacked our car and suitcases. Because we have family that we will spend each night dining with before we head out, our “alone” time will have to wait until we get to Arizona. Right now, thinking about all the hours we will spend driving across the desert next week, I guess that we need to stay friends so I will have someone to hand me chocolate while I drive. Chocolate…makes the miles go faster, the time go quickly and our relationship…sweeter!
We had time to go over the entire adventure while driving between destination and this is our opinions of some of the best of the best.
Hotel. The Westwynd Farm Inn, Hershey, PA 1 of the top 10 in the USA
Restaurant.Frankie Bones, Hilton Head, NC (thank you Michelle Secco for the recommendation)
2nd Best Restaurant. The Red Pony, Franklin, TN
Best Time The Corvette Plant Tour in Bowling Green, KY
2nd Best Tour….Jack Daniels Distillery, Lynchburg, TN. (This one is free and is just so interesting
Most Beautiful State. Pennsylvania and Tennessee
Friendliest People…Tennessee
Best Bakery. Riley Bakery, Bowling Green KY Since 1922

Will post several recipes tomorrow which I got from different places while traveling, but thought you might be tired of reading by this point.

Daily Thoughts · Desserts · Uncategorized

Comfy Cow

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No I’m not talking about Randy or myself, even though I have to say that we are truly very comfortable staying in our Tina House, here in downtown Charleston in the historic district. What I am talking about today is ice cream. As we were reading some of the literature which the owner of this darling little house has here, we read about Comfy Cow ice cream, which apparently is very well received here in Kentucky. When I read about their popular flavor of Browned Butter Peanut Brittle, I knew that we would be in search of this remarkable new food for us. So after church, which was such a great blessing today, we went in search of Comfy Cow. We found it here at Whole Foods. $7.99 a pint. Their Browned Butter Peanut Brittle flavor has little bits of peanut brittle broken in it with the flavor of browned butter, which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest flavors of the decade. This ice cream beat out 1200 other entries in the 2015 World Diary Expo Championship. They were out of that particular flavor, but we choose the bourbon infused, vanilla cream with pecan pie pieces and dark chocolate shavings. We sat in the parking lot and devoured the entire pint. I looked over at Randy, who prides himself on eating only Blue Bell and he says, “this is so much better than Blue Bell” WHAT? Did I hear him correctly, I could not believe it. If he knew what it costs, he probably would not say that, but that will be our little secret. If you are ever in Kentucky, be sure and either go to a Comfy Cow Ice Cream store, Or buy a pint from Whole Foods in this great state.
Browned Butter Peanut Brittle,..we cannot wait to find you before leaving to head back to Texas. Randy has a spoon hidden in the console of our car, just in case we find it.

Desserts · Uncategorized

Around The Bend

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Each morning before my feet hit the floor, it is my intention to just tell the Lord, “”good morning and thank You for the day” before reading Streams in the Desert or the Bible verse of the day. It just helps me to remember that the day belongs to Him, not me, and thatI need God’s guidance and direction each and every day. This morning, I began to go back over the last 3 weeks of adventures we have encountered along the roads which has taken us to 10 states, thus far.
Because we have had such a blessed time, it made me think about all the blessings which have been ours since we packed up and headed out. Because it has been such a time of rest and just being able to go where we wanted, seeking out new places, I started wondering about this time. Yesterday, after Randy pulled off the road to allow me to take a picture after I just stated, “man that would make such a pretty picture”, he pulled over and said,”is this a good spot?P I quickly looked over to him and ask him if I was dying and he just hadn’t told me. In fact, I began to think back over the 3 weeks of travel and remembered that this entire time, Randy had been overly thoughtful, to the point that he lets me choose where we eat, what sightseeing spots we go, the hotels that I suggest, and even saying, would you like to buy this souvenir? It would look so cute in our new kitchen.” I began to get suspicious. I must be dying and he is just not telling me. It made me compare my feelings to how I feel when God pours out His blessings to us. Why God, are you being so good to me? Are you getting ready to take something away, or what bad event will be around the bend? Why is it that we pray and ask God’s Hand of blessing to be upon us, only to question Him when He gives us times of refreshing? Why do we continually question His goodness to us all the while thinking “o wretched man that I am.” because we know our hearts and thoughts, we don’t deserve His grace or goodness? It makes me stop and remember that, in fact, no, we don’t deserve His grace or goodness, EVER, no matter how good we think we are. But because God loves us, He pours out His grace to us. We truly might not know what bends in the road there might be, but no matter the bend, we have the Master of our Souls to carry us through. I need to learn to just accept that love and grace from God the Father and from Randy. I don’t deserve either one, but am truly blessed to be loved by both.

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Shoefly Pie, Hershey & B & B’s

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We are about 17 days into our road adventure, making stops in Destin, Orlando,Hilton Head, Richmond, and now, Hershey, PA.
Each of these destinations have blessed us with many new precious memories, new foods and new friends.
This week we are in a bed & breakfast, which I was shocked that Randy agreed to. He is not a B&B person, since he might have to talk to a stranger sitting across the table at breakfast. I’m not saying that he is unfriendly, nor is he shy, he is just one of those men who fake being asleep on a plane to avoid talking to the person sitting next to him. But, because we could not find any hotel which we felt good about, after reading rviews, we ended up here and we are so thankful we did. when I read about Westwynd Farm Inn, it looked amazing. So here we are,just a couple of miles out of town and have loved it so much, even Randy suggested we stay for another night. We woke up this morning to Lemon streusel muffins, spinach & feta cheese frittata, sausage and poached pears. Absolutely delicious. Carolyn and Frank, the owners built this to be a horse farm where they have lived since 1980. The Inn is beyond beautiful. She bakes everyday and we came in the door to the smell of raspberry bars, lemon squares, peanut butter cookies, brownies and hot tea/coffee.
Today we ventured out to the Amish country and was just mesmerized by the beautiful farm land, the horse drawn buggies and all of the great baked goods. We bought and ate our first Shoefly pie. We ended up going back and buying one to bring home with us. Tomorrow, we head to Hershey for me to surround myself in chocolate everything. Actually, today we went to Wilber’s chocolate Factory in Lititz, a little community which is known for their chocolate. Wilber’s was around before Hershey and their “chocolate buds” (just like Hershey kisses were made long before Hershey kisses) are really good. Driving into Hershey today, I was like a little kid, when we saw all the street lights shaped like Hershey Kisses. My kind of town! Randy and I are having a glorious time just adventuring to places we have heard about, but never been. I had not been to Amish country in 43 years and it has changed so much. The beauty is just a great reminder of how amazing our Creator is and all the beauty He gives us for our enjoyment.
Tomorrow, we are headed to see a life size replica of the Jewish Tabernacle, which is in Lancaster. It is a 45 minute tour of which we are thrilled to be able to see. When we leave this exhibit, we will head over to see the Hershey Hotel and Chocolate town, where I plan to pick up, well, let’s just say that if you come to visit me, you might see signs of Hershey all over my kitchen, mixed in with the mementoes we stuffed into our trunk at Paula Deens. Tomorrow night, I will wipe all the chocolate off my face after we leave Hershey Town and come home and post our findings. Until then, have a piece of chocolate and think of all the blessings which God has given you. of course, one of those being…chocolate!

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Southern Sweetness

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What is it about the South that separates it from the rest of the world? This week I think I have found the answer. Since we arrived in Hilton Head, we have never been in an elevator that we were Not spoken to. Anytime we shared the elevator, whether with young or old, people looked you in the eye and spoke, not just hi, but how are you, isn’t it a beautiful day, or have a great day when exiting. Several times, while getting in the elevator or door, even the young people, down to one young man who looked to be about 10, told me “ladies first” and let me step in first. This morning at Starbucks, a precious young boy ordered his drink and told the lady behind the counter thank you and hoped she had a great day. He couldn’t have been over 8 or 9. We have just been amazed at the old fashioned manners which we have been around. It has felt like we were living in a “Leave it to Beaver” kind of world. No Baggie pants, no spiked hair,no huge ear lobe holes. Even groups of teens which walked down the hall in the hotel spoke and were just so polite. Maybe it is all the sweet tea they drink here. We will be leaving tomorrow refreshed and with a new appreciation for the South.
After lunch we went to an AT&T store to see why I could not download a book on my phone. When the young man inquired As to my name, I told him it was Trudy,to which he replied, “welcome to AT&T Turdy”. But at least he said it very sweetly and with a smile. It took me a couple of times to get him to say it correctly as we went through a list of “Turdy? No…Trini?No…back to Turdy?NO!” Very slowly I spelled it, T R U D Y…TRUDY,finally he was able to get it. Guess, if I lived down here I would have to learn to speak a little slower or I would be known as Turdy. According to all the books here, one way to know you are in the South is when you have your name embroidered on your bag. Wonder if I would have Turdy embroidered in pink or brown?