Good Day / Good Supper / Good Company

This was a very good day.  

Today, oldest was home for the day, so we went shopping.  We hit the thrift stores,  both Target, and Meijer among other stores, and had a nice lunch out.  I had some great coupons and did very well at both Meijer and Target.  At Meijer they had whole chickens for .85 cents a pound, so I bought 2. I should have bought more.  As soon as we walked in the door from shopping, I put supper together. 

(Now, I know that traditionally this is a "beer in the rear" chicken, but we do not have beer in our household.   Well, let me re-phrase that.  We actually do have a beer in our house.  We found it in our side yard about 2 years ago.  It is a full bottle.  It is in storage way back under our sink, because I know for a fact that it works wonders in keeping slugs away from your outdoor plants.  Just pour a bit in a bowl,  place it in your flower bed and wait for the slugs to party!  They come slithering in from all over the place, slide into the awaiting bath and then drown in their beer.  A true "slug-fest"!) 

So, back to my chicken.  

I used 7-up.  It is in the can nestled up the middle of the chicken.  Any liquid will do, it just bubbles away inside the bird and keeps it all moist inside and out. I did have a potato sticking out of the poor bird's neck, but that was removed before the photo.  Prior to roasting, I just oiled this baby up a bit, and sprinkled with my usual homemade rub.  Next time, I will omit the brown sugar from this rub and add garlic salt instead.  A few parts were a bit sweet.  After about 1/2 hour of roasting we prepared some potatoes, onions, and carrots and threw them in the pan.  I would have thrown in some parsley if I had thought about it.  One more hour later and we sat down to a pretty tasty dinner after a day of shopping. 

The bad thing, is that we ate way too late for us.  Husband and I are too old to eat dinner at 8:30!  We will see how the night goes.

As far as today went though,  I love spending time with my boys.  

Lately though, it has been one boy or the other.  The days are getting less frequent when we are all together.  I was reminded of this when  I saw a mom in Target today.  She had two little boys in tow.  They were walking along while she was pushing the cart.  A microphone toy on a low end-cap caught  their attention, and soon both boys had stopped in their tracks to perform for the rest of the Target Shoppers.  I for one loved it, but I saw that familiar look in the mom's eye.  You know the look, the "hurry up" look.   I wanted to freeze time for her, just to make sure she appreciated this spontaneous moment of childhood.  I just turned to her, smiled, and said, "Enjoy them mom, they don't stay little very long."   At that moment about 26 years of memories flooded my mind, and I felt a sweet peace to know that I still enjoy my boys. 

Today was a "keeper"