Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Chocolate & Strawberries...For Your Feet?

Welcome to Chocolate Friday!! That means the weekend is here - Woo Hoo! I know, you're thinking chocolate on feet? She's lost it. No, I haven't - not completely anyway! :)

A while back, I wrote an article for Chic Critique about making your own foot scrubs. In my research, I discovered a recipe for Chocolate Covered Strawberries Foot Exfoliant. Since I happened to have some strawberries that were past their prime and the other ingredients, I thought it was time to give this scrub a try!

It was easy enough to mix up, and it did smell nice and chocolatey. But, I have to say, it was very strange rubbing a gloppy chocolate mixture on my feet. Kinda seemed wrong, if you know what I mean. And it makes quite a mess of the bathtub! Before I rinsed it off my feet, I looked down at the mess and decided it probably wasn't a good idea to rinse all those strawberry chunks down the drain. I scooped up everything I could before rinsing off my feet.

What was the result? Well my feet are nice and soft and exfoliated! But I think I could achieve that with another scrub that's less messy. You can try it if you dare! :)

What chocolate do you have for me today? I know you've got something! Get it and link it up! Mr. Linky is not cooperating with me, so let's try the new MckLinky today. Let me know what you think.

Have a wonderful chocolatey day! I'll be scrubbing out my tub...

Tour The Caverns With Me

One of our favorite things to do in Montana is to visit Lewis & Clark Caverns! I saw them many times growing up and now my son has even seen them twice. It's very hard to get good pics as it's so dark in the caverns, so much space, and the cave absorbs the flash. But, there are a few pics to at least give you an idea. So join me for a little tour!

Trail to the cavern entrance. Arrow points to trail with people hiking on it and circle is around the approximate cave entrance. It's about a 3/4 mile hike, climbing 300 feet in elevation.

There's my son starting off the hike. Of course, he ran up part of the way! I huffed & puffed in the high altitude and slowly made my way up.

My son at the entrance.

My son and his Grandpa!

Me & hubby!

Let's head through the tunnel!

Looking through broken stalactites as we head down.

Stairs chiseled into the cave.

Me & my son climbing through (with lame facial expressions!) - you have to bend over in half in so many places!

Down some more. Upper right of the pic has some formations in the dark.

Watch your head! My Dad bumped his a few times - ouch!

Some pretty flowstone.

Me and my bright green purse managed to navigate just fine!

Down even more!!

Flash wouldn't show it, but there's a pool waaaaaayyyyyy down at the bottom of the dark hole.

Spectacular, isn't it?! OK, I couldn't resist - this is just black. But when you get into the heart of the cave, they show you what it was like for the workers if their candles went out. They turn out all lights and you CANNOT see your hand in front of your face even if it touches your nose. I think they call it natural total darkness?

Some colored flowstone.

The color comes from minerals in the water. This formation is called the Brown Waterfall.

Now we are climbing up. Looks like some cave popcorn.

Can't remember how these form, but don't they look interesting?

Though we are inside a cave, we are at a mile high in elevation.

Up stairs into the final room. Try to see some of those formations in the dark - fantastic!

Part of the ceiling.

One of the columns.

Coming out of the fabulous final room.

The tunnel out.

We were so surprised to walk out into hail!! Good thing it wasn't any bigger or we could have been hurt! My dad's head did get hit and was stinging, but the rest of us just felt a few little hits. My son was so excited and was collecting the hail in his hand!

What is this doing here?? Well, after all that hiking and climbing, we had to go somewhere good for lunch! We headed to Wheat Montana - yum! We saved this caramel roll for breakfast the next day. That baby is easily 6 inches square or more, so we cut it into 6 pieces and it fed 3 of us quite easily!

Hope you enjoyed your tour today! Stop back here tomorrow for Chocolate Friday! Get your chocolate posts ready to link up!

The Gopher Slayer

If you do not like tales of hunting (even if it is just killing a few of the thousands of rodents intent on destroying a wheat farm), then just skip on by this post and come back tomorrow!

While we were on our Montana trip, we enjoyed a visit to a wheat farm! This is not just any farm - it's the farm where my Dad grew up; the farm that his parents homesteaded; the farm that my cousin currently operates. We had a great time going to see it and my cousin drove us all over showing us various things. Of course he took a gun along so we could shoot some gophers (a regular occurrence as they're all over the place, including right in the middle of the wheat!) to help him out.

We decided to let my son try even though he's never really shot an actual gun. He shot 2 gophers in his first 2 shots - no misses and they were not close! So we have now named him "The Gopher Slayer" and he is available for hire if you need one - LOL!

I had him write the story in his own words - here it is:

We were in Montana visiting my Grandpa. We went out to visit my cousin once removed on his farm. We went out to shoot gophers and we saw one when we were in the truck and I wanted to shoot it. My Dad handed me a gun to shoot it with. I pointed the gun out of the window and aimed at the gopher. I shot at it and hit it.


Later we saw another one, we got out of the truck and my Dad handed me the gun. I aimed at the gopher and shot it. And we cut the tails off of them. I had fun. I liked shooting a gun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, a good story though lacking a bit in emotion! It was much more exciting than it sounds as we couldn't believe that he made those shots! And he was proud of himself for doing something that he didn't think he could really do. Big thanks to my cousin for showing us such a good time on the farm!! And yes, we really do have the tails - authentic Montana souvenirs - LOL! We have them in a bag right now that I frequently put in my purse so they are ready to show off at a moment's notice! :)

I did spare you the pic we took of one of the dead gophers as I just don't think it goes well with all the pics of chocolate and tea around here - you're welcome!

Have a blessed day and hope to see you here tomorrow - I'll probably have another trip post!

Tea For Two-sday ~ Brunch Cakes

Happy Tea For Two-sday!! I'm trying to get back in the swing of things, but still don't have it all together after our trip. Maybe by the end of this week - LOL!

When I helped with a ladies' tea recently, we decided to make it more of a brunch. I thought it would be nice to have a little-girl-friendly food and came up with the idea of using these mini pancakes with toppings. Rather than call them Mini Pancakes Topped With Stuff, I think it sounds a little more elegant to call them Brunch Cakes. Yes, you could make your own mini pancakes - that would be the best - but to save time I used Krusteaz frozen mini pancakes.

I topped some of them with peanut butter and then strawberry jam on top - yum! And then the others - I topped with Nutella and powdered sugar. I LOVE Nutella. Aaaaannnnd now you have reminded me that I have an unfinished jar of Nutella in the cupboard - **drool** - that could be a problem. See what you've done? And speaking of Nutella, check out that cute Nutella button on my sidebar - it means I'm participating in the Nutella Challenge at bell' alimento. I will have to, HAVE to you understand, come up with a Nutella creation to post about once a month. Yum! Did I mention that I love Nutella??

Wait - I thought this was a tea post! Anyway, you could top those little Brunch Cakes with any sorts of toppings you like - fruit, cream cheese, so many options. Make it fun! That's my little tea party idea for today. What fun brunch foods do you like to serve?

I'm linking this up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam - stop over there for more recipe ideas!

"Camping" In Idaho

On our trip to and from Montana, we stayed at a KOA in Idaho. It was actually rather amusing to me. Now keep in mind, we are campers and frugal - so this place was just fine for us. For many of you, it would not meet your standards, I'm sure! :)

Just to give you a taste...

THE GOOD:

~ Clean, CHEAP cabin

~ Clean, heated outdoor pool

~ Clean restrooms
~ Friendly staff

THE BAD:

~ Pasture smells (AKA manure odors) wafting into the campground
~ Mosquitoes
~ The Brown Pond - didn't get a pic the first time when we saw skin of dead animal floating nearby. Eeeww.

Oh, and you PAY them to ride a paddle boat in the brown pond - LOL!

THE UGLY:

~ Miniature golf course

For free? I would play the ugly golf course. But it costs money to play, thus explaining the lack of "customers" here!

All in all though, it's a good frugal option for an overnight stay!

I'll have more trip posts later in the week. Stop by tomorrow for Tea For Two-sday!

Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Yes, I Went To My Fav Hometown Candy Store Again

Welcome to Chocolate Friday! So glad we made it to the weekend - you deserve some chocolate for gettin' through the week! And let me just say a quick Happy Birthday to my wonderful hubby today (a whole post just about him would embarrass him)! I love you dear!

While I was on my trip to MT, I did make it in to my favorite local candy store - AGAIN! You must understand, it's been a favorite since childhood and my Mother even went there to hang out in the 50's! So I absolutely get there every time I visit!

I had the Parrot Special - again! Shared it with Dad this time. 3 scoops of creamy homemade vanilla ice cream topped with 3 homemade toppings of hot fudge, caramel, marshmallow and chopped pecans on top. Are you drooling? It's actually quite small, but soooo satisfying! At least this time, I totally controlled the candy purchasing. I sent hubby up to the counter and he got me one chocolate-covered caramel. Yum! That is probably the least amount of candy I've had there in years - LOL!

There was something different this time though! New owners! I was a little concerned, but we met one of the owners and he said that they consider themselves the "curators" of The Parrot - they want to keep everything the same and are learning all the candy-making techniques right now from the old owner. Sounds great! So funny - my son spoke up (not yet 10, this kid) and said, "Are you keeping the prices the same too?" The new owner chuckled and said they might have to raise them a little for inflation and complimented him on his head for business.

There's my dose of chocolate for you! Now, don't you have some chocolate for me?? Just a little ol' chocolate-themed post, even if it's from the archives? Oh I know you can find something and bring it back and link it up and fry it up in a pan 'cause you're a woman...oh, wait - that was from a commercial, probably one you don't remember from before your time. So don't fry it up, but do link it up!

I'm having a problem with Mr. Linky and don't have time right now to set up the new MckLinky, so please leave your links in the comments and I'll add them to the post during the day.

Happy Chocolate Friday!!


Sharing the chocolate:

1. Kathy C (Fudge-glazed creamy peanut butter cake)
2. Becky (Chocolate Milkshake)
3. Jen T (Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips)

Can't Have A Blog Hop Without Chocolate

We are partying today! If you're a regular reader, I hope you won't mind a post that says a few things you already know...

Before we begin though, it's hot out and I'm sure you're worn out from all the blog hopping - so I must offer you a treat! And I think it should be chocolate! Please help yourself to a Frozen Chocolate Mousse.

But if you would rather have a Powdered Sugar Pound Cake, I won't be offended!

Since so many of us are not attending the Blogher blogging conference in Chicago, we are joining in all sorts of parties! I'm co-hosting #pityparty09 on twitter (one more session on Saturday at 12 central), joining in the Happy BlogNerd Bash at Garibay Soup, and rockin' at Blog Hop '09 at Pensieve!

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My name is Lisa and I've been happily blogging away for over a year now. Obviously, I love chocolate! I may have mentioned it a few times in my 100 Things. But my blog is not just about chocolate; it's a place to take a little break from your busy day. When you stop by, I want you to escape from the world for a few minutes and enjoy a yummy treat, laugh at a funny story, gaze at a pretty picture, make a new friend, and find your smile! I want you to be reminded of God's blessings all around you.

I like to talk about tea on Tuesdays and chocolate on Fridays. In fact, I have a Chocolate Friday post today! I enjoy linking up with memes whenever I can and I have a thing for hosting theme weeks. My most recent one was Cake Week.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll come back and visit me again! Better finish off that last bite of mousse before you head out...