Thank you g-dfamily!

This smile is thanks to the g-dfamily: Tammie, Erin and David. They sent us a large box full of wonderful Chanukah gifts. Kerri loved everything, and immediately played with her doll, her DS game, and her craft kits. But the most treasured gifts of all are the hand painted (by David) Dungeons and Dragons figurines. Kerri picked out the warrior for herself and we are not allowed to touch it. They really are a work of art. Thank you Tammie, Erin and David for all the thoughtful and wonderful presents!

As the year draws to a close, we wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year 2012. May all your troubles be soon a distant memory. May love and peace reside in your hearts and homes. May your life be full of joy & laughter, purpose & accomplishments, and harmony & balance. And please don't drink and drive, be safe!

Life with Kerri is all smiles.

You found me how?

Every so often, for my own amusement, I log in to my Google Analytics account and review the keywords/phrases that people used to find my humble blog. The results are, um, interesting.

A sampling of recent searches that led people to my blog:

can i superimpose a photo of my dad with the american flag and an eagle? - No, no you may not. I hope that settles it. But if you do, be sure to put a tear in the eagle's eye.

mom pee - EIGHT people used this keyword phrase to find my blog this year. EIGHT. I do not know what to say about that.

"my kid bit another kid" - We definitely went down that road a few times when A was a toddler. I'm not sure which is worse - when your kid is the biter or the bitee.

"plastic poop" - I'm starting to think my blog is a lot less sophisticated than I thought it was.

"you farted" "i did not" - And now I'm sure of it. I'm as low-brow as it gets.

booger back - Oh, for the love of . . .

childern and dogs - You keep them there younguns away from my dog.

don't want to be a girl scout cookie mom - I'm with you, sister. Right there with you.

I also saw every kind of spelling of alabaster that you can imagine (a lot of people are probably looking for the city of Alabaster but wind up at my blog instead). I found entries for alabster, alabastor, aalabaster, and so forth.  My blog also came up under various searches for eye dilation and nausea. I guess I'm not the only person who was treated to this fun little optometric adventure.

I hope you'll come back and visit my blog next year. I am planning to find new and different ways to talk about bodily functions in 2012. That's my pledge to you, fair reader. Happy new year!

A Year of Many Blessings

I don't often review a year as it comes to a close but this year, 2011, was so full of memorable moments for me that it seems fitting that I should look back and count my many blessings with thankful remembrance.


These are only the highest of highlights in a year brimming with special memories.

I began the year in an unusual way by painting, exhibiting and selling my first ever acrylic work of art. Despite that encouraging start, I haven't had the inspiration or courage to pick up a paint brush since!

At the beginning of 2011 I got to spend some precious time with my grandsons when they came to visit.

Having all of my kids together at once is the best of all possible joys in any given year.

One of several milestones was the marking of thirty years of marriage to the most loving and loyal man on the planet. I gave my groom his first ever wedding band. (He got to choose between two designs and by his choice revealed how much he has changed in thirty years.) He is working hard at getting used to wearing it.

My little wedding cake business kept me more busy than ever in 2011. I delivered thirty something something wedding cakes (I lost count) and baked a bazillion cookies. With a couple newspaper articles, a photo in a bridal magazine and internet attention, I am ever so grateful for work that I find fun and challenging in these times of corset tightening in the wedding industry.

One of the surreal events of the year was my trip to Oklahoma to hang out at The Lodge with my daughters and grandson. We got to bake some pie, hang out with the Phillips girls, ride some horses and...

...oh yeah, the one and only Ree Drummond was there too. She made me swoon over cheesy bacon grits.  That weekend still has a surreal aura to this day. I watch the Pioneer Woman show on Food Network and feel a certain deja vu every time.

As I approached the mid century mark of my life I managed to accomplish a long held goal. I swam solo across Lost Lake a couple times followed by an early morning Labor Day swim across the Columbia River with 400 other water lovers. I am thankful for the good health that gives me the opportunity to do this. And yes, I'd like to do it again!

After decades of driving station wagons and mini vans with one or more child car seats strapped in the back, I made a mid-life transition to a spiffy little car with no child seat in sight. It's just right for a wedding cake or two and I am having fun driving it.

I spent the whole month of October as well as my milestone 50th birthday waiting with my daughter and her family for this little guy. He was worth the wait. It was the highest privilege to witness his birth and welcome him into the world. Despite that joy I learned what real homesickness feels like as I missed my husband, other family members and home like never before.

Being absent made my heart grow fonder. It's been a great year. I'm looking forward to what the next one may bring.

May you also be so richly blessed with love and family in 2012!  Happy New Year!

Au Revoir, 2011

Here it is, the obligatory year-end review.

Good stuff that happened this year:

1. We visited DC in July and spent time with my middle sister, her kids, and some of my other relatives.
2. My baby sister visited in August and brought her kids and husband along. I was thrilled that I got to see both of my sisters this summer.
3. I won $10,000 for my favorite charity from Michael Moore. Although the money was awesome, an unexpected benefit was that I picked up a few more blog readers. My blog post about patriotism ended up on Michael Moore's Facebook page and Twitter feed. I was gratified to receive so many nice compliments from those who read it. It is hard to get noticed in the blogosphere (particularly with a blog as low-key as mine - maybe I should consider having myself vajazzled and then writing about it intricate detail or something), so it was definitely a boost. At least once a week someone asks me, "When are you going to write a book?" The answer is that I don't know. Part of me is pretty sure that I'll never be published (in as much as I never submit anything for consideration). This blog may be as ambitious as I get.
4. I saw the Pixies in concert. This was definitely a highlight of my year. They played Doolittle in its entirety. I have had Doolittle memorized for over 20 years so it was a like a dream come true. They also played a bunch of other favorites as encores - Where is My Mind, Holiday Song, etc.
5. I reconnected with my daughter's birthmom this year. I've sent her some photos and we've exchanged a few emails. She told me that she could not have chosen better parents for A, and that made me happier than I can adequately express in words.
6. I added two nephews to my nephew collection (which now stands at six). One was born in Virginia and the other in Oklahoma. There are a lot of penises in my extended family. It's kind of funny because my mom always said she was glad she had girls because, and I quote, "I don't know how to clean poop off balls!"

Disappointments:

1. I didn't get a handle on my weight. I had good days and bad days. At this point I am not sure if I will continue with Weight Watchers or not. I also belong to Sparkpeople, which is free, so I may try to delve into that a bit more. Honestly, I am just tired of thinking about it all the time.
2. I still can't do the wheel. The wheel is a yoga pose. It looks like this. I had hoped that by the end of the year I would be able to pull myself into a wheel on my own, but I can only do it if the instructor hauls me up by my ribcage. I think it comes down to my unremarkable upper body strength. Oh well, there's always next year.
3. I now wear bi-focals. Pllllbbbbt on that.

I think my daughter had a more exciting year than I did. She lost her first tooth, got tubes in her ears, was elected to student council, and got her ears pierced. One challenge is that she just failed the hearing test at school, despite having tubes in her ears. I am not sure what to do about this, but I have an appointment scheduled with her pediatrician next week.

P and I thought about going out for New Year's Eve but then we remembered: our property taxes are due (so we're kinda broke), we have no babysitter, and we don't really stay up that late.  I know, we're craaaaazy up in here. Happy New Year!

A few of my favorite photos from 2011:



Cousins on vacation



Daddy-Daughter dance in February

Lakeside reverie

My favorite face in the whole wide world

July trip - competing for Granddaddy's attention

Cousins having ice cream. It was about 4,000 degrees in Washington that day.

Mother-Daughter weekend in September

Fairies and snakes, oh my



Sleepover = no sleep, but lots of fun



Vacation "up north"

One of Kerri's favorite gifts.

She actually asked for this, and has been playing non-stop with it, go figure.

Life with Kerri is having a (yoga) ball.

First major snowstorm of 2011.

And that is hubby's car, buried underneath all the snow.

Life with Kerri is getting ready to shovel.

The post I insist on writing every year, even though it is of interest to no one but me

I get pretty excited about this time of year. Not because of half-price Christmas candy or because the new year is upon us, so full of possibilities and magic, but because music critics publish their "best of" lists. I love to read the lists, compare the music to what I already have, and download new stuff I missed.  I can't say that 2011 was a remarkable year for music, but there were some notable tunes.

My daughter got into some new music, too. The only trouble with her is that kids love repetition (any parent alive will swear to you that there are only seven episodes of The Backyardigans because they have seen every episode a hundred thousand times). So, when my daughter gets stuck on a song . . . the child gets stuck. on. a. song. That's why she forced me to turn on this little ditty every day for six months:



So yeah, I hate that song now. Here are some 2011 albums I liked (in no particular order):

1. The Decemberists: The King is Dead. Favorite tracks: "Down by the Water," "June Hymn," "This is Why We Fight"
2. Cut Copy: Zonoscope. "Take Me Over" has been on heavy rotation on my iPod.
3. Grouplove: Never Trust a Happy Song. I was dismayed to learn that "Tongue Tied" was featured in a commercial but I still dig it.
4. Beth Ditto: Beth Ditto- EP. I love Gossip and Beth Ditto.
5. Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full of Holes. On the Amazon version, they included a cover of "The Story in Your Eyes." I love it so and listen to it at least once a week.
6. Tune-Yards: Whokill
7. Washed Out: Within and Without. More mellow than my usual fare, but maybe I am getting old? Don't answer that.
8. Peter Murphy: Ninth. The dude's still got it; I don't care what anyone says. 
9. Muppets: The Green Album. Alkaline Trio singing "Movin' Right Along"?  Yes, please. 

A few 2011 songs I've been digging (I don't have the full album for any of these so I can't vouch for anything beyond the songs I bought):

1. Givers: Up Up Up
2. Say Hi: Devils
3. The Black Keys: Lonely Boy. I know it's only a matter of time until I'm sick to death of this one, but it still has some traction for me at the moment.
4. The Civil Wars: Barton Hollow
5. The Joy Formidable: Whirring
6. Fanfarlo: Deconstruction
7. Peter Bjorn and John: Eyes

Thanks for humoring me. As you were, soldier.

Family Music Making

One of my very favorite things in the world to do is to make music with my children. These days I don't get enough opportunities to do so but I know with the little boys just beginning to embark on their music education there will be more in my future. I now understand why my own dad tried so often to get me to play with him when I was at still at home. He didn't have a very big repertoire on the guitar and mine was completely different from his so I found it difficult to play with him. I also hadn't had much of a music education aside from a couple years of piano lessons and wasn't very good at improvisation and jam sessions. He grew up without any music education and expected me to be able to play without one too. But after my kids got involved with orchestras I had the opportunity to play orchestral percussion and I learned so much during my years with them. The learning curve was steep and long but my playing and musical understanding improved greatly.

Several of my kids have had music lessons and opportunities but the two that have stayed with it are Katie and Seth. Both of them took piano lessons but Katie also learned the flute and played in a couple orchestras. She even had the privilege of playing flute in an orchestra in Zurich while she was living in Switzerland. Seth dabbled with the cello while he took violin lessons and eventually took up guitar, mandolin and viola also. He has played with numerous orchestras, participated in a concert tour to Europe and had several solo concert performances on violin. He is currently playing viola with an orchestra in the city. He definitely has the musical talent and ability to play by ear that my dad had wished I had.

Back in 1999, when Seth was nine years old and Katie was sixteen we played Ashoken Farewell together at a church talent show. Seth ended up bringing down the house that day by burning up a few fiddles tunes and winning the first prize.



When I was in Michigan with Katie in October, waiting for a baby, we occupied ourselves by playing music. Jonah hadn't really heard his mommy play flute or his grandma play anything so he at least was mightily impressed. He even put a tip jar on the piano and would add his homemade money to it whenever we played. We also entertained a few Amish visitors who stopped by to use the phone. They don't play or hear instrumental music of any kind in their communities.

My playing is not of the caliber of my kids. My old fingers and slow brain just can't keep up with them but I have fun none the less. I wish my dad were here to participate too. He'd love to see his grandkids keeping the family music-making alive.

If you don't have an aversion to mistakes (mine!) and out of tune pianos, this was the way families enjoyed music before the invention of Ipods and CDs.

Merry (4th day of) Christmas!

Christmas morning.

At 7:30 in the morning, we were all woken up with a loud scream: "It's Christmas! Wake up it's Christmas!". Kerri was so excited, she made sure we were all up and out of bed so she could run downstairs to the tree, still in our pajamas.

There were lots of "oohs and aahs", which I tried to capture in the pictures.

And lots of smiling too.

Even Pookie was excited, he pulled a present out from under the tree, played with a bow, and could not wait to see what was in his stocking.

And although Tia could not be here to celebrate the holiday with us, she made sure there were special gifts for everyone under the tree.

Nana slept over so she could share Christmas morning with us. She also gave us the most amazing presents this year. But the best present of all is having her in our lives. The bond she shares with Kerri is so very special. And I am honored to call her a friend, as well as our niece.

I could not help but share this picture, Kerri is a huge Potter fan, and Tia sent her every movie she was missing. She spun around in circles on the floor she was so thrilled.

Pookie got gifts too!

And Tia sent him more clothes. He is a very happy pooch.

Oh and Tia? Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This face says it all:

The best gift this Christmas was having our family together. And that includes Nana.

Life with Kerri is still playing with all our new toys, and eating leftovers galore.

Christmas Recap

It's hard to believe this was my daughter's seventh Christmas, in as much as I could've sworn we were just slathering her tiny heinie with A&D Ointment and shoving far more diapers into the Diaper Genie than it was ever meant to hold. But, she is growing up and doesn't want to be slathered with anything. A lot of people have asked me how she liked the vanity I painted for her. She loved it. In fact, I think this was the first Christmas where she actually realized that I/we put a lot of effort into the things we do for her. She came to me yesterday afternoon and said, "Thank you for the vanity, Mom. And thank you for everything." Maybe all those "giving is more important than receiving" talks actually took hold in some small way.

One of my daughter's favorite Christmas gifts is called "Irritating Ethel."  She was a gift from my mother. Ethel burps, farts, laughs, and screams (when you poke her in the eye). She will also record your voice and play it back with a sort of munchkin effect applied to it. And here is the beauty of Irritating Ethel: she has no "off" switch. Thaaaaaaaanks, Meemaw. You do remember that I will have a hand in choosing your nursing home someday, right? As I write this, my daughter is dancing around the living room in her undies (it is 2 p.m. and she has not bothered to get dressed) singing made-up songs about our Christmas tree, which Ethel is recording and playing back to her.  It'll be such a shame when Ethel's batteries die. Such a shame indeed.

Other than all the burping and farting coming from Ethel, we had a good Christmas. We went to church on Christmas Eve.  We've also made it a little tradition to stop by a house whose owners take Christmas decorating to a whole new, wonderfully tacky level.  I'll include a photo below, although it is hard to do justice to it in a photograph. Bedtime on Christmas Eve went remarkably well this year. Earlier in the day, my friend Beth posted the link to the NORAD Santa Tracker website. I pulled up the site. Santa was in Japan! I brought my daughter into the room and we kept an eye on it throughout the day. As Santa drew closer and closer to the U.S., my daughter knew that she had to be asleep before he hit the Midwest.  So, she brushed her teeth and hopped right into bed. A Christmas miracle!

I did videotape my daughter's reaction to seeing the vanity and whatnot on Christmas morning. If I ever learn out to edit video, I'll post it. She actually had to open her gifts fairly quickly as we were due at my brother-in-law's house for brunch at 10:30ish. A opened the gifts from Santa, us, Meemaw, and her aunts. I knew she wanted one of those Monster High dolls so my youngest sister bought it for her. ("Hey, I mailed her that ugly doll she wanted.")  I sent my sister a text yesterday morning: "It's hideous!  She loves it!" The kid also received: art supplies, bath stuff, Barbies, earrings, games, and Polly Pockets. I think Polly Pocket is the root of all evil. I mean, her shoes can fit in my nostril (no, I haven't tried, it but I'm pretty sure). They are almost microscopic so I'm reasonably certain she will be barefoot for the rest of the winter if the vacuum cleaner has anything to say about it.

After going to brunch at my brother-in-law's house, we came home and resumed the battle to liberate plastic toys from their packaging. I also took the quiet afternoon as an opportunity to clean out my daughter's room and make space available for some of the new toys and games.  I tossed out some old stuff (such as "Hi-Ho Cherry-o!" - I know for a fact we can't play this one anymore because the dogs ate most of the cherries and shit them out in the back yard last summer) and found spots for new games like Sorry and Bananagrams.

As for me, I received some nice goodies for Christmas. My mom made me a robe (it's almost enough to make me forgive her for sending Ethel to my house . . . almost). She also sent me some jewelry, yoga pants and shirt, bath stuff, etc. P got me some of the items on the list I helpfully gave him, including a Belgian waffle maker. So, we decided to have "breakfast for dinner" and I made waffles.

Since I doubled my weight over the holidays, I headed straight to the gym this morning. It was nice to have an extra day off after Christmas to unwind and . . . yell at our daughter to get dressed. She is making progress. She is now wearing tights and underwear. I just feel like I should apologize to her future husband now. I hope he likes being perpetually late everywhere he goes.

Christmas Eve.

This year, we decided to have a very low key Christmas, and focus on the things that really mattered most to us: family. So my main task was to recreate hubby's childhood memories of his Grandmother's British Christmas dinners. With help from a friend (thanks Dawn!), I found the recipes I needed to make some of hubby's favorites: minced meat pies, Christmas pudding, and creamed onions. We also had the usual turkey and ham and side dishes.

Carol and Andre

Hubby, Ben, Nana and Kerri

Kerri opening a gift from Carol and Andre

And Pookie the Elf

After dinner, Carol brought home-made cream sauce for the Christmas pudding. I poured brandy over the pudding, and then ignited it. Hubby was ready with a fire extinguisher, just in case. I think Christmas pudding will become a holiday staple in our home from now on. It was delicious!

The most touching part of the evening was when Carol asked us to open her gifts to us. She wanted hubby to have something of her mother's, and something that his grandmother touched and used. It was a beautiful antique silver sugar tong for high tea. Carol told him that it was a shame he had nothing of his grandmother's to remember her by, and that the tongs were something she used every time she and Carol's mum had tea together (which was quite frequently). We will treasure the tongs forever, they are a precious reminder of what we have lost, and someone we will always remember with love.

After a lovely evening, we could not get Kerri to go to sleep. She was too excited. It took hours!

Life with Kerri wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Ta da!

The secret project is done and, after some cussing and sweating from my other half, has been hauled into the living room.

Before photo
In-progress photo

See the chair? I picked it up at a consignment shop for $6 and then painted it. There's just one wee little problem. It doesn't actually fit under the vanity. Doh! So yeah, I'm hanging up my paintbrush for a while as I don't think I'm cut out for this sort of thing.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Making Tradtions in the Kitchen

One of the most special parts of Christmas is the food. Every household in every culture that celebrates this holy day has some unique menu item that adds special memories to the occasion both with its making and its eating.

The main food traditions I remember as a child were special Christmas cookies and homemade fudge. Christmas was the one time we would make rolled and cut cookies in shapes of stars, trees and gingerbread men that were decorated with icing. We would frost the cookies with colored icing and decorate. Many families do this I think but believe it or not, I did not continue that tradition in my house.

When my firstborn was little I looked for a cookie that she could help make and I found one in a Good Housekeeping magazine (my go-to recipe source in the early days!). It was a simple cream cheese dough with chopped walnuts. They were just dropped on a cookie sheet and topped with a chocolate chip (or two or three). So easy for a little toddler to do. We have made those every year because so many years we had little ones around to help. My firstborn now makes these cookies with her little helpers. That's how a tradition is born I guess.  For the first time in our family history we almost didn't have any this year but the kids finally made them the other day while I was out shopping.

There are a couple other things I started making in the early days of our family that have carried through to today. One is our Christmas morning sweet rolls, filled with cream cheese and iced with strawberry jam. The recipe came from Betty Crocker (my second go-to source for recipes. I had no Martha Stewart in those days!) There have been a few years when I tried to make something else for Christmas morning, like Grandma's fruit and nut wreath, and my attempts were met with loud lamentations from the family. They insist on the strawberry cream cheese rolls. That is also how traditions are born.

Another is our smoked salmon spread for our Christmas Eve post church buffet. This is a newer tradition established after we moved to the Northwest. We also always have some kind of wild game (venison, elk or bear) in the form of summer sausage provided by the hunters in our family.

I am really interested in hearing about these special food traditions in other families. If you have a few minutes of time I would love to hear about yours, especially if you don't live in America! I love to learn about the Christmas celebrations in other countries and cultures too. Please share!

Back to the kitchen...

Kung Fu Panda - Kerri style.

Life with Kerri is panda-tastic!

the true spirit of christmas

last week, shad had a seminar and it was just the kids and i home for dinner.  after dinner i felt like cozying up on the couch with my kids, turning on the christmas tree lights and watching a movie.  we watched a hallmark move, "the night before, the night before christmas".  cute.  we loved it.  cheesy of course, but we still loved it.  (kate had a horrendous fit the last 20 minutes and we didn't get to finish it until the next day...but the first hour, was blissful)

at the beginning of the movie, a small boy, is gathering up things around his home to donate to a local shelter.  tanner had me pause the movie to explain what was going on.  he lit up and asked if we could do the same thing.  

so he has been busy, trying to find things to donate.  

before i get to the next part, i have to explain some things about tanner.  he is a greedy little boy who loves money.  will do extra chores to earn money.  saves up, searches amazon and orders toys.  

well, sunday morning, he came into my closet while i was getting dressed and said, "i want to give this to the poor kids."  he opened up his little hands and there were a bunch of green dollar bills inside.  he said, "it's all the money that i have, except for my tithing....you know...it's all of my fun money".  i told him how proud i was, gave him a hug, and then he lit up and said, "oh, tomorrow is family night, i get paid for my chores....i'll have 2 more dollars and some coins to give".

i love this boy.

Updates.

We spent Wednesday night at the hospital emergency waiting room. We also spent Thursday morning there. Kerri had a massive nose bleed that would not stop. She bled for over four hours. And we never were treated at the hospital. By the time we left in the wee hours of the morning, there was still a four hour wait to be seen. We would have gone to a different hospital, but the roads were very dangerous (we had freezing rain and black ice, so it was a skating rink out there).

So we slept in and Kerri missed yet another day of school. Last night she had another nose bleed, but this time we were able to stop it right away. This morning, she headed to school in her pajamas, all excited - it is her last day of school and then she is on a two week winter break.

Chanukah so far has been fun, Kerri loves lighting the candles and playing with the dreidle. And she keeps asking for latkes, and Daddy keeps buying donuts. I think we are going on a diet next year.

Kerri had her last phonological speech therapy session this week too. I was overcome last night when she was writing her Christmas cards for her teachers. In the card for her speech therapist, she wrote: "Thank you for teaching me how to speak clearly.". In the card for her principal, she wrote: "Thank you for running a great school". And in her occupational therapist's card, she wrote: "Thank you for helping me hold my pencil.". The simple sentences she wrote carry so much significance to us. It may not seem like much, but words cannot describe how very grateful we all are that she can now be understood, is getting the help she needs to accommodate her special needs at school, and is receiving therapy to help her with her fine motor skills.

So as Kerri wraps up her last day with partying and making gingerbread houses with her classmates - in her new pajamas! - we are readying ourselves for another night of Chanukah festivities, with some company over for dinner. And tomorrow we are hosting a Christmas eve dinner for our loved ones. It has been so wonderful to see Kerri's excitement every day, as she gets to choose a Chanukah gift to unwrap, or looks forward to Santa's visit, or hops around with happiness with all the fun and joy of the holiday season.

Life with Kerri is thankful for every moment.

Results of Persistant Maternal Persuasion and lots of practice!

After a year of piano lessons, Samuel and Peter had their very first recital last Sunday. It was held at a local retirement home (assisted living facility) which was much better than having it at a church with only family members attending. The residents of these places always enjoy having contact with children and don't mind that they were all beginning level players.

Samuel did very well despite his nerves.

And Peter surprised me by playing with so much expression!

They will get a chance to play again for an audience when they repeat these pieces at church, Christmas Eve, as part of the preludes and postludes of the service.

dark chocolate covered peppermint joe joe's

they ran out.

ran out, before i could even buy a box.

ran out of these amazing cookies that only come around once a year trader joes.

i went twice to each trader joes in town this last month looking for these cookies.  each time i was told, "oh, i don't think we're getting those in this year.  i haven't seen them yet".  

well come to find out, they came in extra early, and got bought up immediately. 

they have as serious cult following.

i was really bummed.  

so i bought me some dark chocolate, some peppermint joe joe's (plain ones...they have tons of those in stock), and candy canes.

melted the chocolate.

dipped the cookies.

sprinkled crushed candy canes.

now i've got some dark chocolate covered peppermint joe joe's.

if you don't have a trader joe's.....i'm sorry.  i really am.

*they do have them in stock in a larger box, with 3 other flavors of cookies.  if you love all of the flavors, great.  but if you don't (like me), you buy a whole box, eat 1/4, and toss out 3/4.  no good.