Today from 5-8 at your local Coldstone, try two new flavors of Coldstone Ice Cream for FREE!

Make-A-Wish children Jack and Emily created their own signature creations for everyone to try, with donations going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Jack’s marshmallow ice cream with Oreos, chocolate chips and fudge is my choice, while Mike will probably go with Emily’s Nutter Butter ice cream with white chocolate chips, Kit Kat, and yellow cake. Getting to create your own signature ice cream is almost as good as getting Sector watches!

So take you family for some free ice cream and leave a big donation for all the Make-A-Wish kids like Jack and Emily!

Getting my email reminder about Four Foods on Friday is the best thing that could have happened to me this morning. It’s been a long week, and that email was a reminder that a much needed break is coming!

1. Melon. What’s your favorite kind?

Watermelon! I am so sad the season is over. I ate fifty watermelons this summer if I ate one. TMI…they are a great colon cleanser if you eat enough of them!

2. Orange citrus. What’s your favorite – oranges, nectarines, navel oranges, tangerines, etc.

Cuties! California clementines with the zipper peel! Okay, they don’t really have a zipper, but they peel so quick and easy that they might as well. They should start popping up in the produce section any time now!

3. Oreos. What kind is your favorite? (Don’t eat Oreos? What about olives?)

Am I missing an obvious correlation between Oreos and olives? I don’t eat either regularly, but I do eat green olives more often than Oreos.

4. Pot pie. Share a recipe. (No pot pie recipe? What about a casserole or some other hot meal you bake?)

Whoa – we just wrote a recipe for pot pie at work this week! How scary.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare instant biscuit mix as directed and set aside. In a large saucepan, combine 1 (16 oz.) bag frozen mixed vegetables, 2 cups shredded cooked chicken, 2 cans (10 ¾ oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup, ½ cup diced onions and ¼ teaspoon pepper; heat thoroughly. Place mixture into an oil-sprayed 9-inch square baking pan and top with dollops of biscuit mix. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serves 4-6.

Do you ever have dreams that are so realistic you have trouble waking up and coming to? Ever wake up convinced that what is going on in your dream has carried over to real life?

Well, I must have laid the wrong way in bed last night because my back started to ache and I began dreaming that I had just had back surgery and was on bed rest recuperating! I was really tentative with my movements because I thought that I had incisions on my back that I didn’t want to disrupt.

After a few minutes of moving in slow motion, I finally realized I was dreaming, told myself to stop acting like a nut, and hopped out of bed.

I tried doing some dream analysis this morning, but couldn’t find anything specifically associated with back pain. Pain in general does mean that I’m either manifesting emotional pain into physical pain or that possible health related issues related to the specific body part need to be investigated.

I think it’s just because my uncle recently had major back surgery, my boss is going to physical therapy for back problems, and I have a weiner dog that takes up too much room in the bed.

Mike and I are still about a year away from purchasing our first home, but I occupy a lot of my free time by searching the neighborhoods we like for new homes on the market. It’s kind of disheartening to see what’s currently on the market without our budget when we’d really love to build the house of our dreams from the ground up.

You can read all about custom homes at the Schumacher Homes Press. They build dream houses for families all over the mid-west and have the work ethic and solid business practices that have earned the accolades from professional organizations and families alike.

Schumacher builds homes that are just our style. Modern and contemporary but with a comfortable twist. Good thing they build in all the states we’re considering buying a home (Indiana and Texas) plus more. Makes us really want to buckle down and save our pennies so we can get out of this crusty old apartment!

Because I ordered one this morning. Damn Etsy.

It’s tiny (only 3 inches tall by 3 inches wide) and the directions say to place it in bright indirect sunlight and water every 2-3 weeks. I can even order an itty bitty bouquet or mini mushrooms or even a tiny house to decorate my terrarium!

How hard can taking care of a terrarium be, right? Isn’t the whole point to have something green and growing that requires minimal effort or are they delicate ecospheres that require the utmost attention to humidity and air pressure?