I can't fight this craving any longer

Let me tell you a story. A story of a lady that pulled into a McDonald's on Music Valley Drive in Nashville, TN on August 6, 2011.  She was starving to death and had just made some $$$$ working for a scrapbook vendor.  She ordered a double cheeseburger, fries, coke, and a ROLO McFlurry.  She had to devour the McFlurry quickly because she was driving and did not want to spill any on her lap.  It was YUMMY!!! So YUMMY she wished that she had ordered a large ROLO McFlurry.

She told her husband about the McFlurry and told him of her desire to have another one.  A week or so went by and she was still thinking of that McFlurry.  One day she was going to be driving by McDonald's during lunchtime.  She pulled into the drive through...ordered her #6 with a coke and a small ROLO McFlurry.  She was given a total and she pulled to the window.

Upon her arrival, the girl (with lovely nails) leaned out and said: "Honey, the ice cream machine is broken."  REALLY????   Feeling sad and extremely disappointed she ate her burger while longing for that ROLO McFlurry.

A week or so later her hubby went to McDonald's after football practice.  His mission to feed his son and bring the wifey a McFlurry.  He called a few minutes later, the line was out onto the street, there was NO way she was getting that ROLO on that night.

Days went by and the sweet husband decided to give it one more shot.  He pulled through the drive-through line, ordered and was told: "the credit card machine is broken."  He doesn't carry cash.  What is this a conspiracy?  Was the lovely lady ever going to have the ROLO McFlurry?  Would she be forever to just dream of the taste of the caramel and little chocolate candy pieces?  Would she forever be angry with the Lone Oak Road McDonald's for ruining her McFlurry experience?

No, that lovely little hubby would leave the McDonald's parking lot and go to the ATM, where he was reunited with greenbacks and the wife was very happy that the second ROLO McFlurry was just as good as the first one!

Thank you to McDonald's, John Champion and Abe Lincoln (ATM). 

Must have chocolate

Yes, who can really survive without chocolate? I am thinking of this grand chocolate that I had onboard the Norwegian Pearl. This was a chocolate truffle. A powder sugar coated exterior and under that a bitter layer of dark chocolate power and inside--------decadence!!!!!!!! Without a doubt the greatest chocolate I have ever eaten. I ate about 20 on that day as you know cruise ships rarely serve the same food twice so I ate literally as many as I could. I thought I was going to puke, but I didn't...I kept them all down. whew...

There is a close second and unfortunately, the person can't make them again. A girl I work with, Jennifer Payne, made a chocolate truffle. It too had a bitter outside and a scrumptious interior. She gave me about 3 that day and I savored each little bite, but alas she has said that she doesn't have the recipe anymore.

Someone out there in chocolate land helps me...bring me back a Norwegian Pearl truffle or send me a very good truffle recipe so that I may make my own. Thank you and good night.

Cheeseburger

I have an addiction to cheeseburgers. Honestly, I think that I could eat them every day. I could eat them with tomatoes, ketchup, and mustard. With guacamole, bacon, and mayo. With onions, pickles, and lettuce. Maybe some mustard, pickles, and cheese. I am getting hungry just typing about this...yummy.

There are many days at work when I crave one so badly that I can't stand it. Yes, that is how bad the addiction is. I will dump out the entire contents of my purse scouring for money to pay for a $1 burger. Yes, it is that bad.

A friend of mine realized that the addiction has gotten out of hand...mainly because I walked around singing "you are his cheeseburger" from veggie tales ALL THE TIME!!! So she went to Clay Chameleon and made me a cheeseburger. A cheeseburger with no fat, no calories and will help me save for a cheeseburger. Oh yes, it is a bank. I am now putting all my change into the cheeseburger so that one day I can shake out all the coin and buy a Red Robin cheeseburger.

Red Robin, YUM!! Thanks Jennifer for the wonderful present!

Why I love cruising

1. The Ships---Big beautiful floating cities. And they are gorgeous!! Especially those newer ones.
2. Food---I love to eat! Love to try new foods and my family doesn't...a perfect chance for me to try stuff and not lose any money if I don't like it. Man, if I don't like it, they will bring me a replacement for free.
3. Formal or not so formal---I love to dress up for a 5-course meal! I love portraits. Well, there are also times when I want to slum it and a cruise will allow me to do that too.
4. Location---you go to bed in one country and wake up in another and no extra travel or hotel fees.
5. Ocean (At sea days)---Look out around you and all you see are waves, dolphins and if you are lucky whales. (and you might see Cuban guard boats if you sail in the right area of the world)
6. Broadway (or better) styled shows---We have seen people use the silks, ice skate and blow us away with their vocal talent. Once we even saw "The Beatles".
7. Floating shopping malls---I love the shops!! Sales on watches, scarves, trinkets, ammolite, tanzanite, rhodolite, and sterling silver. Discounts on designer bags and most ships seem to have a $10 store.
8. Empty bars/lounges---places that are secluded and quiet during the day, a great place to read or sketch. I love this part of my day!
9. Classes---Craft classes, scrapbook sessions, napkin folding, name that tune, TRIVIA (I shall win here)....yep, I am there!!!
10. Chocolates on my pillow---that part needs no more added to the description, but I get equally excited by tomorrows capers newspaper.
11. Naturalist---I have only had these on my Alaskan cruises but they are so wonderful, so informative, and willing to answer my questions.
12. Included---I love that after I pay the ticket price and other than the shopping, really I am out no more money except tips. Especially when I got to Alaska and book my excursions from home through the same company the cruise ships use. Saved a ton of money.
13. Midnight buffets---yeah, if I can stay up, I love them. However, they don't come every night like they used to :(
14. Artwork---I love looking at the various artworks on the ships. some have millions of dollars worth of art on board.
15. Photographic moments---there are usually so many that I can fill up an entire 8gb card
16. Omelet stations---one of my favorite parts of getting out of bed early. A fresh cooked, made to order an omelet. I like the one with tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and bacon. YUMMY!!!
17. Vanilla---gotta go to Mexico to get the vanilla for my famous cookies.
18. 12 hours in a fjord---yep, I will sit there the entire 12 hours just to see those great glaciers.
19. Cruise Directors/Shopping Experts---they make me laugh, they are crazy, and often highly entertaining.
20. Hot tubs---oh yeah, love me some hot tub, especially when the air is 39 degrees outside. AHHHHHHH!!!

Ocean boneless

It has got to be the best fish that I have ever put in my mouth. I have only found it at one restaurant, the Country Crossroads in Hardin. I started eating it as a senior in high school and John and I have been there many times as well. There were times that we would come home from Little Rock and that would be one of the first things we did (that and drink a sundrop).


Over the years that fish has been a favorite....there was a bad time when the restaurant closed. I never knew for sure why, but it did. John and I tried many restaurants at the lakes looking for our ocean boneless, but no one had it. It was a thrill to hear it was reopening...our only hope was that they kept the ocean boneless. They had changed some things, do the decor, but it needed that....and they brought you a plate of hush puppies and cheese sauce! That's was new and exciting! Yummy as well! There it was on the menu, OCEAN BONELESS. The cost was more than before, but I promise you, the taste is worth every penny. It says exactly the same. They did improve their dinner salad (it used to be just lettuce) and the white beans hanger always been good. So we are going to the Country Crossroads this weekend...maybe I will take a photo for you. It'd need worth the time, effort and money for you to drive yourself over to Hardin and pig out on this tasty, yummy treat.

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I'll take that challenge

In order to make me a better scrapbooker, I am supposed to take a word....a noun...and write about it. I am supposed to use words, phrases, and even stories about this noun. I have to write for ten minutes and so my dear readers, you get to benefit from this task (yeah, you can call it that, a benefit).

Cheeseburger

yummy, juicy, "some pink", a good burger is a burger that leaves a trail of juices running down your arm, can't get enough


I have had a love affair with cheeseburgers for as long as I can remember. I have traveled far and wide in search of the "perfect burger". I have found some that claim to be "the best" but ended up tasting more like "the least". I have had very expensive burgers to cheap little "low quality" burgers.

The first burger that I ever remembering "loving" was a burger from Burger King. Now see people back when I was a child the closest BK was in Clarksville, TN. So going to Burger King was a HUGE event. We would often make a day trip to Nashville just so we could stop in Clarksville and eat a Whopper (I think we ate at another one in Nashville too). On the way to Colorado one year, I bet we stopped at every Burger King that we crossed just to again have a Whopper. When we heard that Paducah was finally getting one, it was a little hard to believe. We were so excited and actually, I remember going on my first date with John. He said where would you like to go eat? He was thinking I would pick Cracker Barrel or the Brass Lantern...NOPE, I picked Burger King. It was a brand new store and I could not get enough of those Whoppers!!!

Then there was Ruby Tuesday..... I remember that my dad and I used to seek high and low for a burger as good as a Ruby Tuesday burger (see this love runs in the family). I guess this affair stopped when the Paducah store closed and we could not get one anymore. Then I moved to Arkansas and discovered Mexican food, I did take a little break from the affair with the cheeseburger but not much. The first place we ever ate in Little Rock was a Burger King on Markham Street (we actually spent the night in the parking lot in our uhaul---we were the first customers of the day). Once while at the Arkansas State Fair, we tried this burger that was beyond belief...it was a real live "hub cab" burger. This thing was MONSTROUS!!!! We had it plain so that John could eat it, but I sure would love to try it with ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, and maybe bacon! For a while, I thought this was the best burger EVER!!! Of course, I have only tasted one in my whole life, so it might not be as good as I remember.

Then we moved back to Kentucky and had to begin the search all over again. I was over Burger King, we had no Ruby Tuesday...there was not much. In October 2006, John had to go to an NWA meeting, in Cleveland, Ohio. I spent the week traveling around the town and going to Cracker Barrel store that I had opened while he was in meetings. I saw this place by the mall Red Robin, Gourmet Burgers and thought, "what a strange concept" and kept driving. As the week ended we wanted to eat our last meal in Cleveland so I took him to the mall area where I had spent most of my week (be honest Michelle you were hoping for one more trip to Archiver's and you got it). John saw this Red Robin sign, we had never heard of it before (other than me seeing the sign earlier in the week), and he said: "let's go there." We entered and I ordered a Cherry Coke. WOW, it knocked your socks off good. It ranked up there with a Sonic cherry coke. Then I ordered the Bacon Guacamole burger, some pink with garlic Parmesan fries. My friends, that was the end, I had achieved the goal... I HAD FOUND THE PERFECT BURGER!!!!! It's the end of the road for you all. Thank you, good night. RR had perfected it!!! The smiling burger made me smile so big. I took the picture of the burger and had to have more. And I have, we have traveled far and wide for Red Robin, as my dad used to travel for Burger King. I have been to them in Colorado down to Tennessee. Oh somewhere I have a list, I also have a photo that has been taken in every single one that I have enjoyed a burger....plus, I even had one that I have driven by TWICE and never walked through its doors. Pier 95 Red Robin in Seattle Washington...maybe one day I shall enjoy a bacon guac in your presence.

Thanks for joining me for my love affair with the cheeseburger. May you find your true burger happiness.


I did it, Creating Keepsakes, I hope that you are happy with me...I journal-ed for over ten minutes on a random noun....the cheeseburger