all this over a bowl of apple slices, but we can rejoice in the non-gingham bedding!

Why yes, it is too early for salad!

I enjoy going to McDonald's about as much as I enjoy going to Wal Mart. I probably hate McDonald's worse than Wal Mart, because every excursion to McDonald's means I will have some sort of encounter with a non-English speaking McEmployee who will try to dialogue with me for about ten minutes regarding the fact that I want a cheeseburger with no meat and will then inevitably give me a regular cheeseburger.

So Nate the Great asked me if we could go to McDonald's this morning and get him a biscuit. I acquiesced. Pull up to the drive through and notice they have a new "apple walnut salad". So me not having any lunch packed and being on a diet because I am so fat, think I will just grab a salad now. And I am very excited as this menu item actually has no meat on it and it won't be like the time when the McAssociate explained to me that I had to choose either grilled or fried chicken strips for my salad even though I told her I didn't want any chicken. She wore me down and I finally picked grilled.

OK, back to our story. We ordered at the window. I ask the McPerson if it was too early for a salad. Bless her heart, no habla English but she smiled at me with a big, bright smile. Salad was probably a word she was not trained to hear on the breakfast shift. However she rang it up, I paid for it and we proceeded to the next window. Got to the 2nd window and received Nater Tater's biscuit and hash browns (by the way this is total progress that the kid will eat hash browns - for years I had the only kid in the world who would not eat a french fry). I explained to non-English speaking associate #2 that I also had a salad. Huh? Bless his heart. He and two other very excited McCoworkers flurried around looking slightly panicked, with this look about them that said "salad, in the morning???". I know the look because I've also seen it for "cheeseburger with no meat???". Mind you the "salad" I ordered consists of apples, nuts, grapes and yogurt. No actual lettuce.

Finally another McEmployee directs me to pull up, out of the drive through and they can bring it to me. Oh no. This can't be good. This is the place where problem orders go. So I pull up and several minutes go by and a salad is delivered to me. Mind you, I get to the office (no I didn't check my order while still at McDonald's because I no longer cared) and the salad I ordered, straight off the menu without any variations, was a bowl of apple slices.

Now it could very well be that after all the "hot and fresh just for you" special requests I've been known to make at McDonald's that the corporation has developed some sort of flyer about me and when McEmployee's see me coming they panic and prepare to customize.

Incidentally, I happened across a handy little guide for making McDonald's meatless on their website. It basically says to order things without meat. They also have a handy-dandy list of all their meatless foods, which is great except for the fact that they almost all total junkfood like ice cream, biscuits, cookies, and my personal favorite - bottled water.

I have worked very hard to instill in Nathan that fast food is just bad and not something we eat on any sort of consistent basis. Just an every once in a while sort of thing. Hello......we have sit down restaurants for cryin' out loud! But I am a nice Mommy and was happy to get him breakfast. He ate his hash browns, but took a bite of his biscuit and said it did not taste good. Score one for Mom!

Another restaurant note. After many consecutive nights* of cooking at home, I think I may have angered the restaurant industry. The past two nights, the Pastor and I have eaten out and have received poor service. One of the experiences was at my beloved On the Border! Say it isn't so! I feel so betrayed. The delicious guacamole live does not make up for it. I am entirely convinced the word is out that I am cooking and no longer frequenting the eating establishments.

*I've been married for 18 days.

The pastor and I got new bedding! It was very exciting because all of our bedding was from our prior marriages and that just seems like bad mo-jo. I went to Target (way cooler than Wal Mart) several times and agonized over bedding. I was worrying all about what the Pastor would like. Hey... I am going to sleep on it too! He finally went to Target with me (it was my birthday) and we got all bright pink middle eastern inspired bedding. The prior Pastor's wife was apparently fond of all things checkered - checkered placemats, checkered sheets, checkered dish towels, checkered napkin rings, checkered shower curtain, checks checks everywhere! It is very nice to have non-gingham bedding. Also between the Pastor's red and white checkered sheets and hunter green comforter, it was way too Christmas-y. Glory halleluiah, rejoice in the new bedding.

18 days later, and he's already fleeing the country

The Pastor is leaving for Jerusalem today. I must say I like picking him up from the airport much more than I like taking him. I'd worry what I'm going to write while he's away, but as you can see from the monologue above there's nothing to be concerned about. I am looking forward to finally being able to finish organizing the Parsonage though.

We had our first post-marital newlywed spat. I won't go into detail except to say 1. I was completely right and 2. I'm really really cute so it's hard to stay mad at me. Oh, and since the Pastor will be many time zones away without a cell phone or e-mail and unavailable for comment, that's the version of the story we'll use.