With a name like Sherald's, it has to be good

So. On our way home from Moab this weekend, Steve, my mom and I stopped in Price for some ice cream (or those of us who are lactose-tolerant did - the rest of us just stopped in Price). We had some kind of small-town shake-shack in mind, so we figured we had hit the jackpot when Main Street led us to Sherald's.

The line started behind two teenage/early-20s guys ordering burgers. I don't know what these guys do for a living, but I sure hope nobody's life is depending on their ability to make quick decisions. It sounded something like this:

Guy: "Now what comes on the bacon burger?"

Sherald's Employee: (actually, I couldn't hear what she said; she was inside the window. But I think we can safely assume she described the condiments on the bacon burger)

Guy: "Hmm...and what about the cheeseburger?"

Sherald's Employee: (again, assuming she listed the condiments. Besides cheese and bacon, I can't imagine the two burgers really differed that much)

Guy: "And what about the pickles? Do I get those too?"

...this continued for a good three minutes at least. Poor kid probably broke a pretty good sweat worrying about ketchup, onions, and lettuce. I guess if you're craving a really good burger though, you don't want to screw it up. Or maybe this was his last burger before going on a meat-free diet. I have no idea, but he was taking it more seriously than can possibly be healthy.

Anyway, he finally decided on something (and then went to his car to worry about it until they actually brought it to him, I'm sure) and we ordered. (Well, Steve and my mom did.) Steve got a large Reese's Peanut Butter Cup shake and my mom got a small chocolate shake. They told us it would be "a minute" as they were "a little backed up." I'm not sure what was going on in there, since the only other people in sight were the burger duo and two other girls waiting for milk shakes.

Anyway, about 10 minutes later they brought the shakes out - they were both the same size (which I assume was a small), but we were pretty sure she only charged us for two smalls and we were tired of waiting, so we hit the road. Steve was driving, so I broke out the spoon to help him eat. By this time, we were well on the way to the freeway.

I dug the spoon in for the first chocolate-peanut-buttery bite...but only saw white.

Me: "Huh, I don't see any Reese's yet."

Mom: "I saw her unwrapping some in there so I know she had some."

Me: "OK, they must be deeper inside I guess..."

So I crushed up some Oreos we had in the car to flavor up the first few bites. But after a few bites, all I was seeing was still white - with a few Oreo crumbs here and there. So I dug around a little more. Still nothing. It was barely even vanilla - it just tasted like milk. I added more Oreos thinking maybe the chocolate was all at the bottom and hadn't gotten mixed in right. But by the time enough of the shake was gone that I could really dig around, I was confident there was NOTHING in that shake but milk and a little vanilla ice cream.

But don't worry - I found something eventually! At the very bottom there was literally 1/4 of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Just a quarter of it, sitting on the bottom of the cup in two pieces. Nice.

So be forewarned if you're ever in Price and craving a good milkshake...unless you like to eat a lot of milk-flavored shake with one small bite of chocolate flavor at the very end, Sherald's may not be the place for you. There is, however, a McDonald's across the street.

(Note: I really do promote patronizing mom-and-pop places like Sherald's. And it may have been that girl's first day. Or maybe she just figured she could stick it to the out-of-towners and eat the rest of the Reese's, who knows. )

Snack time

Friday night is usually our date night. I came home tonight and asked Steve if he wanted to go to dinner.

"Sure, but why don't you have a snack now and we'll go later?"

"Because I'm hungry now. Aren't you hungry?"

"No," (sheepishly) "I had a snack."

"Really? Right before dinner?"

"Sorry."

"It's okay. What did you eat?"

(looks at his feet) This is when I remember we made bison burgers for dinner last night.

"Did you eat the left over burgers?"

Nods.

"Both of them?"

"Well...they were kind of small."

"So by, 'I had a snack,' you meant 'I ate dinner.'"

(still looking at feet) "Yeah...I ate dinner."

My husband cracks me up! So I'm currently looking for a "snack," and anticipating a lovely Saturday night out :)

Ambition

I have a dream that someday I'll be one of those women who shows up with amazing homemade goodies for every function they attend (and sometimes for no reason at all). And the recipes will be my own inventions too. For our Primary training meeting tonight, I supplied a bowl of microwave popcorn. I guess I'm not quite there yet.

Up and at 'em

I've been in sort of a winter funk. Haven't worked out, haven't spent much time outside, really haven't felt on top of my game. I can't remember the last time winter got me down so much. But the good news is, I think I've put those winter blues behind me (whether Provo decides to warm up or not)! I got back on the work-out wagon and after a week of depressing, barley-over-one-mile-before-I-think-I'm-going-to-die running, I'm back up to three mile stretches and registered for the Utah Valley half marathon in June. It is a ways from 3 miles to 13, but at least I'm back on track :)

So now I need some assistance. My running tunes have gotten old and I need some new ideas. I like really upbeat music when I work out (Shakira, Abba...you know, stuff that makes you want to move). What do you put on the iPod when you want to step it up?

Ain't nobody gonna slow me down (...oh no, I got to keep on movin...)

Last week, I tried to remove my flash drive from my computer only to get this message:

The device 'Generic volume' cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device again later.

You go, 'Generic volume,' I will not try to undermine your awesomeness again. I only wish I were having a day like that.

Confession

I am having a ridiculously lazy Saturday morning. Not just that though, it seems that most of my Saturday (and Sunday) mornings have become absurdly lazy recently. After spending all summer waking up long before dawn to get miles and miles of running in before the sun warmed up, I'm not sure if it's refreshing or disheartening that I've spent most of the winter sleeping in (in a way I haven't done since high school) and then don't seem to get out of my pajamas until I'd normally be thinking about an early lunch. If I'm honest I might admit it would feel less depressing if I were still running miles and miles every week. Sigh. Can anyone guess what my New Year's resolution might be (or had better be)?

What about you? Does anyone have good ideas for getting yourself up and moving even when you know it's freezing outside and the nasty air will probably kill you faster than laziness (and when you also happen to loathe treadmills)? And do you believe in alarm clocks on Saturdays (those of you without children)?

A Chance to Help

I'm grateful this morning that family in Haiti is safe. I'm also touched to be reminded of how in a world that can seem so dark at times, we still stretch our arms around our brothers and sisters in need. Please help as you choose - here are a few ideas.

• From the White House Blog:
  
  For those interesting in helping immediately, simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.
  
  Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.
  
• LDS Humanitarian Services donation page.