National Chocolate Day

National Chocolate Day!!!!

All right!!! I can get down with this! Thanks Paula Deen for letting me in on this fact. I wouldn’t want to wake up tomorrow and find I’d missed it!! (I’d probably have to console myself with some chocolate.)

I think maybe it should be National Chocolate WEEK , don’t you?
Of course, I wanted to commemorate this day in an appropriate manner.

I thought about gathering the troops to make candy but they said it was just too short notice. (I swear, we cannot share the same genes. I mean, chocolate should trump all, shouldn't it? My Mom would be so ashamed of this younger generation!)

The Big Guy fully understood and helped me eat part of a bag of Hershey Miniatures today. (We can always get something else for those pesky Trick or Treaters! )

Only problem is, now I'm still in a chocolate kind of mood. The guys went to bed and I sat here digging through my recipe collection while watching the TV, trying to find just the right, chocolatey, quickie item that I could whip right up. I settled for throwing a box of brownies together during commercials.

The boys should be happy in the morning when they meander into the kitchen and find this surprise. I don't get up until after they leave in the morning as they are up and out long before 6! (For those who are now really concerned about our household, let me clarify. They are grown men, not children. They do much better without my interferene in the morning.)

Now that I've put chocolate into your mind, too, let me share a few great chocolate quotes.

• In the beginning, the Lord created chocolate, and he saw that it was good. Then, he separated the light from the dark, and it was better.
• I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process. It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?
• Exercise is a dirty word...Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate!
• I don't eat candy bars with nuts in them. Nuts just take up space where chocloate ought to be.
• "All I really need is love, but a little choclate now and then doesn't hurt!" - Lucy Van Pelt

I'll leave you with this one piece of advice:

Put "EAT CHOCOLATE" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

Busy, busy, busy!

Seriously, I'm frantically working on a couple of orders that need to go out this week AND making lots and lots of Easter candy!!!

I really started the candy production late and now I'm rushed to get it all done. No time to write a long post.

I hope to get back to y'all tomorrow. By then, these orders will be in the mail and I'll be all chocolated-out!!!

Yes, Virginia, you can have too much chocolate!!

I'm in a chocolate kind of mood...

Once upon a time, there was a quiet little village in the French countryside, whose people believed in Tranquilité - Tranquility. If you lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget, someone would help remind you. In this village, if you saw something you weren't supposed to see, you learned to look the other way. If perchance your hopes had been disappointed, you learned never to ask for more. So through good times and bad, famine and feast, the villagers held fast to their traditions. Until, one winter day, a sly wind blew in from the North..."

And so begins the movie, Chocolat.

If you've never caught this one, you've missed a fantastic performance by Juliette Binoche and a very sexy Johnny Depp as her gypsy love interest. I just find this to be one of the best feel good movies around so when I saw it in the late night listings after all others in this house turned in tonight, I had to tune in.

Only problem is, now I'm in a chocolate kind of mood. I sat here digging through my recipe collection while watching the movie, trying to find just the right, chocolatey, quickie item that I could whip right up. I settled for throwing a box of brownies together during commercials. After all, I don't want to be up ALL night!!

The boys should be happy in the morning when they meander into the kitchen and find this surprise. I don't get up until after they leave in the morning as they are up and out long before 6! (For those who are now really concerned about our household, let me clarify. They are grown men, not children. They do much better without my interferene in the morning.)

Now that I've put chocolate into your mind, too, let me share a few great chocolate quotes.

• In the beginning, the Lord created chocolate, and he saw that it was good. Then, he separated the light from the dark, and it was better.
• I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process. It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?
• Exercise is a dirty word...Every time I hear it, I wash my mouth out with chocolate!
• I don't eat candy bars with nuts in them. Nuts just take up space where chocloate ought to be.
• "All I really need is love, but a little choclate now and then doesn't hurt!" - Lucy Van Pelt

I'll leave you with this one piece of advice:

Put "EAT CHOCOLATE" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

Chocolate dreams, y'all!

Quick, name 5 things that make YOU smile.

Yesterday, Rose, over at Life, Love, Yarn posted "5 Things That Make Me Smile" and encouraged the rest of us to do the same. (http://roses7184.blogspot.com/)

Once I got to giving it some thought, I had trouble limiting my list to only 5. Know what? Thinking about what makes you smile actually makes you smile and smiling, well, that leads to feeling good.


What better way to enter the weekend than starting a chain of smiles!!!


Here's my list:


#1 - Fun Times With Family

I can't help but smile when the family gathers over good food and lots of talk. In our case, talk leads right into hearty laughter. Some of my best memories are of just sitting around the table chatting and giggling with the family!!

# 2 - It has to be CHOCOLATE!

Yep, chocolate in most forms makes

me smile. (No, I didn't just copy Rose's answer of chocolate.) It really is one of the best ways to make me smile!

#3 - Balloons always make me smile.

I love balloons in all shapes and sizes. They can be one on a string from the Dollar Store or the kind you climb into a basket and ride in. I think they are beautiful! We took these pics last Memorial Day in Simpsonville, SC at the annual Freedom Festival. I had never seen that many balloons in one spot! It was a gorgeous day and we spent hours just watching the balloons come and go.

#4 - Picnics in the park...

We have a great park near our home that overlooks the point where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Susquehanna River. It is an absolutely beautiful view and very relaxing. We love to take our lunch (or sometimes dinner) and our books and just settle in to watch the herons, seagulls, ducks and boats glide by. Just gotta' smile at these moments!!!

#5 - Parades

I love a good parade. How can you keep from smiling at all the great sights? There's not just the floats and bands and such but the ohhs and ahhs and looks on all the little children watching it all roll by can't be beat to coax a smile out of you!

Well, I hope thinking about my reasons to smile has brought a little smile to your face and has gotten you thinking, too. Thanks Rose, for making me smile, too.

So, tell us what brings a smile to your lips and keep the chain of smiles going.