Mmmmmm....the craving for the insides of a peanut butter cup started promptly after my nap this afternoon....I didn't know why....but I knew I MUST have the insides. Sure, I could go buy a Reese Cup, but to be honest, I like them for a brief while, and it's really the chocolate that doesn't hold my interest, but oh the insides. So I google and insides recipe, mind you, my mom makes DA BOMB reese cups, and used to make them every Christmas...along with her famous popcorn cakes, to which my brother and I would DREAD having to deliver on Christmas Eve....anyway, I go downstairs...and I say to mom, I need insides to reese's. She says, I have a recipe, I said I know, butter, confectionery sugar, graham crackers and peanut butter right? Yes, she answers, but I'll do it, I don't want you knowing my secrets....LOL! (Tricky me getting her to make them eh?) Anyway, so she mixes, and then I hear the BLECK....turns out graham crackers can go bad! As the box is from 2006, I pull out another box....from 2008...Hmmm....PROBLEM! Well, I'm too far into it to give up now. SO I put on shoes and grab my keys, she says, get new peanut butter too! (Do you have ANY idea how MANY different types of peanut butter there are!?) I get home, having spent $20 at the store, buying other things I didn't need...I have such a weakness for Snapple too. Anyway, home, and Momma Bear whips up this batch, that has now turned from a tasting to the full blown cup, she's melting chocolate and everything! Which worries me, I JUST WANT INNERDS....and NOW! She hands me a little bowl of it, warm buttery goodness, and BLISS BLISS BLISS! I couldn't even speak! YUMTASTIC!! I'm sure...that home made reese cup innerds will be in my heavens pantry....and is also a way to my heart! :-) Josh Mings....it is NOT just PEANUT BUTTER!!

So today? FIREMEN!

1. If you are capable of raking or have a leaf blower...call me.
2. If you read this blog call me. lol.

On our way to Sunday Sushi (half price from 12-4), we saw to hombres blowing leaves, so we pull over to ask how much, they point me to their "jefe"...who was a kid....a guy...whatever. And he's like, I'll follow you to your house and see? Super! So, he does, and mom and I were discussing what we'd pay...she said $50...I said $80. So this cat gets out of his truck, asks where we want them, I say...off the lawn? He says okay....I can do it for $210. I laugh out loud and say, yeah no, we're good thanks. TWO HUNDRED AND TEN DOLLARS! For him to do NOTHING, and for him to have his 2 hombres with leaf blowers do it!!! So he pays them $10 and hour and pockets the rest!? Note to self...."Earth & Turf"...steer clear. (Unless...you think that is a REASONABLE amount for leaves...)

Mom was "mowing"...(aka...leaf blowing)...she got half done...and then all of a sudden....she opens the door, and says, sort of calm actually..."Um...Carrie, I think I need your help....I...I think the lawnmower is on fire..." WHUUUUUAAATTT? So I ask if there are flames...she says yes. (You THINK it's on fire!?) So I grab my phone, to call 911, and wet a towel, and then the water bottle by the door....I go out...and it's smokin', and mom has her watering can...the pretty one she painted that is on display in our house, and she's filling it with water. I spray the bottle on it-not HUGE flames mind you, but yes, flames. And then the watering can...and I ask if we have a fire extinguisher, she says yes, I say where (which should cause you, reader, to ask yourself if you know where yours is-OR go buy one.), she says by the washer. So I run get it, while she's on the phone with 911. I spray it twice, and it's DONE! (Fire extinguishers are so cool), and I hear a siren...I look at mom..."is that for us I ask"....she nods..."I told them not to come as we'd put it out from when we first called to before we hung up...". A cop shows up. LOL. So he walks around it, assess the situation, and then STARTS it up again! It starts...ooohh! Mom is back in business...and then he says, if it doesn't work...I could use the tires. Ha ha ha. So THEN a firetruck FILLED with firemen, rolls up...8, EIGHT of them pile out, and a truck behind, then another pick-up truck, so all of them crowded around it. It was a sight to see....good times. I felt bad they, all EIGHT, had to come, but I'm grateful. I secretly think mom was just trying to meet the boys. lol. Anyway, the mower, may or may not work, but it did give me something blogworthy!

So....I'm just throwing this out there....my streak of 2 blogs in a row was interrupted by sleeping for 15 hours....IN 4 DAYS! So....perhaps I'll be back for a little bit?! We'll see! For now!? No more SCHEDULED tours....one never knows what may pop up...but my next trip....I get to be the tourist....watch out world! :-)

For now....since I don't like to blog without some sort of photo!? THIS...is a picture of DINNER in London this past fall...INDIVIDUALLY wrapped sushi. Cool...but NOT practical....AT ALL! And I was too hungry to have my food individually wrapped....hmmm...sounds like a diet scheme!

The CROOKED House of Windsor...NOT CRICKET!

Well, what a GLORIOUS day we had at Windsor Castle...I call it Windsor Palace....I have no idea why, but really....Palace...Castle...WHO CARES! Royalty lives there! We had a SUNNY DAY! A first for me...the leaves were REALLY beautiful....as was St. George's, in all it's sun and splendor. Some day? I'll go INSIDE the chapel! Turns out the Queen WAS there that day....but she didn't come say hello. Sad. Maybe next time. So, we do this trip as an option, so not all my peeps go, but on this particular trip, I had two other guides with me. Two FABULOUS guides-thank you Mark & Sarah for being as awesome as you are! Anyway, I tell my people about "The Crooked House" and how it's fun to grab a coffee, or tea, or lunch. However, THIS particular time? Nobody heard Crooked....but nobody! They all heard CRICKET! So when I had a lady say, you have to point out the "Cricket" house to me....I froze, (insert the part where I have to know everything all the time and when I don't, it's failure...and I'm RACKING my brain about crickets, and how do they relate to England, and what cricket house, and should I know this? Is it so obvious that I missed it in my research...on and on my brain goes...) and she interrupts my quizzical face, and says..."you know, the "Cricket House" you said to go to!? PHEW!!!!!!! SIGHS OF RELIEF! I had dodged a bullet! CROOKED! I SAID CROOKED!!!!! (By the way, she still heard CRICKET!) Anyway, I proceed to point it out, and then they go off to the castle. The other two guides and I head through the castle, and take the shortest way out...not without my stopping to have a picture taken with the guard...you know, the ones with the fuzzy hats!? So, I'm never with people here, I've NEVER had my picture take with them...so I DID! And I felt silly, but well, who cares, I can be a tourist. So I stand next to him, and mutter, "just stand there"...HAHAHAHAHAHA! As IF he would do anything else. Then, prompted by Mark or Sarah, I nuzzled closer, and after the picture, I apologized profusely and we went on our way. Ah...the CROOKED house...the reason for the blog. I ordered a hot cocoa...and it came with THOUSANDS of marshmallows! By thousands...I of course mean more than 50, less than a hundred, either way...oodles of mallows! It was great, along with some smoked salmon & cream cheese too, yum-tastic! And it was here, at the Crooked/Cricket House, that I enjoyed, what very well may have been, my favorite hot cocoa to date. Or should I write...favoUrite (a la British spelling!) So...get to Windsor...see the castle...but HAVE A HOT COCOA at the Crooked House! (I'll not vouch for the service or prices or even claim they have honey, but I overlook some things when woo'd by mallows!

So...I love fall...I do...and I love pumpkins. THAT SAID!? I like to LOOK at pumpkins...not eat them...well, seeds, okay, pies? Pancakes? Lattes? NO THANK YOU! They are, however, VERY VERY PRETTY! And I say this a lot, but how can you look at a pumpkin, and not believe in God. I mean they are a GORGEOUS color...they blend perfect with the leaves...which are another beauty all together, but then they are edible too (for those of you that like them that is...) So...God is real, He is big, and He's all or nothing. I'm just throwing that out there...more for me. Enjoy fall...enjoy every crunchy leaf. (My thanks to Lorrie Hanson for the use of her pumpkin for the photo shoot! Glorious time spent with her and Peter outside of Chi-town!)