Category: Amanda

I’m usually not one of those people who gets too excited about Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, but on Sunday we met up with Mandy and her boyfriend M. and his parents. We went to a fabulous restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire called Fratellos.

The food was delicious and while we ate, we talked and talked. It was warm and friendly and I felt like I had known M’s parents for a very long time.

Here are the ladies.

And here are the gentleman.

What you see in the picture above were the appetizers. They were awesome! An Antipasto, and Bruschetta with a side order of Calamari, that was cooked just right!

Soon our meals arrived. M. and his Dad had the Prime Rib, while Hubby had the Seafood Fra Diavolo. M.’s Mom had salmon, Mandy had Stuffed Haddock and I had Lobster Ravioli!

Doesn’t this look wonderful!

We talked and talked and soon the hostess came over and gently reminded us that they needed to prepare our table for the next seating. So reluctantly we said good-bye.

I hugged my daughter, this beautiful woman who made me a mother, and thanked my lucky stars. She is someone I would want to know, even if she wasn’t my daughter.

My Mother’s Day was complete, and I thank Mandy and M. once again for such a wonderful afternoon!

The day after Easter found me exhausted! lol! I sat sipping my coffee on Monday morning, in a clean house, which was good, because I had very little ambition. I decided to take the day off. Do a little email writing, TV watching and Owl observing.

However, I was feeling guilty about the fact that dinner wasn’t up to my standards yesterday, so I decided to cook Hubby a nice rotisserie chicken for his dinner Monday night. The only thing was, he had a meeting at 6 o’clock, so I needed to have dinner on the table at 5 PM. That’s okay, just meant I had to start everything an hour and a half earlier than normal.

So, the dogs got fed at 4:15 (45 minutes early), and I worked on making a nice dinner after that. The chicken smelled great, and I made baked potatoes and eggplant roll-ups to go on the side.

The trees and shrubs are all budding and this is a problem for me. Seems I am allergic to this process and so I spend part of the last few days with severe allergy symptoms. Ahhhh-choooooo!

And my final piece of news is that Mandy’s cat, Maestro went to Rainbow Bridge over the weekend. He was a big, beautiful, Tuxedo cat with a heart of gold. I will miss him, and I know Mandy will too. I’m so sorry Sweetheart.

Rest in peace, dear Maestro.

Saturday was girls day! I met up with my daughter, Mandy and my cousin Janet for a luncheon date and some serious girl chatting! I arrived first at my cousin’s condo and the two of us talked and I snuggled with her two dogs. I got this picture of her Shiba Inu, Wolf.

Wolf and I have a thing going. He loves me and I love him and his soft fur. Janet warned me about how much he sheds, and I was amazed at how much fur he left on my slacks! But I didn’t care. He was really sweet with me. So was Janet’s other dog, Max. Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of him. I hope the one of me with the two dogs that Janet took comes out!

Janet took us to a Great restaurant in Lowell called “Life Alive”.

I had “The Innocent”, a fusion of delectably nutritious flavorings forming a savory sauce for steamed sweet corn, shredded carrots, broccoli and tamari roasted almonds all served over light and protein rich quinoa and short grain brown rice.

Mandy had the same but added some cashews, apples and carrots.

And Janet had “The Goddess”, a nurturing blend of smoked tofu, short grain brown rice, steamed carrots, beets, broccoli, and dark greens surrounded by our zesty Ginger Nama Shoyu dressing.

I also decided to order some tea. I was glancing over their teas when Something caught my eye.

Yerba Mate was recently written about on my friend Betty’s Blog, A Glimpse Into Midlife! Just two days ago she had written about this tea, so I knew I had to try it. It was wonderful and I really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing the information about Yerba Mate, Betty!!

We ate our lunches and talked the entire time, we sipped our teas and enjoyed each others company. I really think we need to have these “Girls Days” more often. It was so much fun! Here I am with Mandy at the restaurant.

After lunch we went back to Janet’s and had some coffee and dessert. All too soon it was time to say goodbye, and head home. I hugged Mandy and Janet and said my good-byes.

The ride home was something else! It was pouring rain and windy. I drove slowly and carefully, and I made it home in good time.  However at one point the wind picked up and blew the car all over the place. It was just a bit scary!

Now I am sitting here with all three dachshunds asleep around me and Fritz at my feet. I am so happy to have such a loving family and loving pets too!