A Valentine's Day splurge

Yesterday we decided to make a day of Valentine's Day. We headed out about noon and ended up at The Greene in Beavercreek. We spent a few hours just walking in and out of stores and getting a few things. We then headed to The Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner. We walked in at about 2:30 and had to wait 45 minutes for our table. I didn't really care how long the wait was. We both wanted this. Thanks to 2 years worth of gift cards from my brother and his wife for Christmas, we had every intention of splurging.
The hostess sat us at a really great secluded table, rather then the central tables that are practically on top of each other. We started out with what they call "small bites" of Fried Zucchini and Onion rings. This was anything but a small bite. Both were easily the best Fried Zucchini and Onion rings we had ever had. I then ordered the Combination Salmon and Chicken plate and Jonathan had the Philly Flank Steak that the server recommended. Both were melt in your mouth wonderful. After Jonathan had his second peach smoothie, we were both completely stuffed. The Cheesecake came with us to-go.
Normally we do not eat like this at restaurants, but since it was free and we never get to that part of town, we decided to go all out and spend all of our gift cards. It could be another 2 years before we make the effort to get over there again.
Jonathan's Philly Flank Steak along with his second Peach smoothie. His meal was really good. The steak was actually bigger then what the picture shows. It has a really great sauce along with a fancy bread underneath the steak collecting all the juices of the sauce and steak.

I had a combination platter of Herb Crusted Salmon, Madeira Chicken and a massive serving of mashed potatoes. All of this was wonderful but my favorite part of this dish were the sauces and the asparagus. I wish I knew how to cook my asparagus as perfect as there's was.

And these are the flowers Jonathan got me on Friday along with the cheesecake that came home with us.. Jonathan had the Peanut butter cookie dough Cheesecake and I had the Peanut butter Fudge Ripple Cheesecake. Both were awesome!!

Lesson for the day: Eating like this always comes back to haunt you.....

Fireproof

I have now made it a point to stop buying movies at the store. Since DVDs are going out and they just stack up around the house, I didn't want to buy anymore movies. Until now. We heard so much about this movie Fireproof that I became a mad woman tearing through the store to purchase this movie. I wanted to buy this movie without seeing it first. I just new this would be to good to not share with everyone.

I can honestly say that I have never been moved by a movie as much as I was moved by this one. I wouldn't call this an Oscar winning movie, but if they had an Oscar for actual content and life lessons, this would be it.
The brief synopsis (without ruining the movie) is a husband and wife whose marriage is on the skids and is heading for divorce. She wants a divorce because she is tired of his disrespect. He is simply tired of not being respected. Throughout the movie, with help, he is making the attempt to keep his marriage while she just wants out.
I don't think I can say much more then WOW!! An actual good movie without the swearing and racy content.
Jonathan had heard a bit about the movie and for a change I didn't have to tie him down or prod him to wake up. Of course I was a blubbering fool through the whole movie. Since we were sitting in the dark watching the movie, the only thing I heard from Jonathan's chair was "SNIFF SNIFF, SNIFF SNIFF. My husband who doesn't get the least bit emotional when it comes to movies, was actually SNIFF SNIFFING! Hopefully that is a good indicator to everyone else, as to how good it was.
I have now taken this movie to work and after driving everyone crazy by gushing over it so much, I now have 5 people from work who want to watch it. And I'm sure after they watch it, they will want to share it also. This is a real chance to minister to people with a subject that is universal. Whether you are married for 1 year or 50 years, dating or engaged or just dreaming of marriage, this is the movie for you. The subject is dealt with in a very real way and not too "Hollywood".
Just imagine all the work that can be done just by buying the movie and passing it around.

2 thumbs up for me!!

This and That

This week was pretty uneventful for us since there was no "weather event". Just business as usual.
Right now we are kinda thinking that our computer is getting ready to die on us. It's been frustratingly slow when logging on and also keeps telling us we have bugs. Once we realized this, we were kind of in a panic situation with our pictures. We have 1 1/2 years of pictures on our computer that have never been put to a disc. So, I stopped at the store this week and found some discs. We were never really sure how to do it, but once I started hitting some buttons, it was pretty self explanatory. I'm pretty sure we managed to get them saved.

Yesterday, I made a date with my 2 best girls, Karizma and Karma. I had fun once again spoiling them with a movie and dinner. We saw Hotel for Dogs, which was really cute. If you are a dog lover then you will really like it. When I asked them where they wanted to eat, I rattled off all of these nice restaurants that I thought they might like. But then Karma says, "Hey, there's McDonald's and HEY!!! look at that playland!!!" My attempt at a nice dinner for the 3 of us was foiled by Ronald. But then, when our dinner only came to 15 bucks for 3 dinners and ice cream, I thought to myself, "this isn't a bad deal after all". Once the girls had completely worn themselves out in the playland, it was time to head home.

Today, We haven't done much at all. We went to church and came home to a turkey breast in the oven along with mashed potatoes and veggies. I really love my new oven. The old one didn't have time bake. Now it's really nice to come home to the smell of my turkey already cooking in the oven.
Also, I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of the movie "Fireproof" that everyone at church keeps talking about. I think now I will sign off and watch it with Jonathan. I will provide my critique with my next entry. TTFN.

Meet Chuckles.......The Personal Assistant.

Meet Chuckles. He is the new personal assistant in training to Jonathan at Garber Electric. He was hired today when he did a great job of rolling around in the back yard. Chuckles has a great personality and a real way of helping out with snow. He only needs to roll around a few times and BAM! the snow is lifted off the ground.
Now that Chuckles is done rolling in the snow, he is moving to the streets with Jonathan. As you can see here, he seems to be really great at assisting with Jonathan's tools. I don't think there is a Snowman Union yet, so he should be fine with working the long hours with Jonathan.

YOU. That's right. YOU can also have your own personal assistant too. They are now available at my house. Just stop by and we can have one waiting for you. This is a great offer, so hurry! Offer good until snow supplies last.

See, not only a personal assistant but a great buddy too.