Ice Cream Social

A couple of weeks ago, I tried a new grocery store, Aldi. I don't know if you have an Aldi in your neck of the woods, but I had heard it was a lower priced store, but did not have the same name-brand items I was used to. I'm not a big name-brand person anyway except for peanut butter (Peter Pan or Jif only) and ketchup (I'm a Heinz girl). I liked the store but I did not buy any peanut butter or ketchup. I did buy some ice cream in a large bucket for $4.00. The ice cream flavor is Strawberry Swirl, which is Vanilla with some Strawberry glaze swirled throughout. It is very delicious! And $4.00 for a big bucket! Anyhoo, every day Brandon and I make plans to have some of the ice cream that evening after supper (because we are so weight conscious). A few nights ago, I put some of the ice cream in a bowl for Shotzie. I usually don't give Shotzie people food because she cannot just eat what you give her and go on. Instead, she acts like a complete freak and will not stay out of our faces after we give her something we're eating. The fact that she's a dog may have something to do with this but still - I cannot stand how she acts. I remembered that my Meemaw used to always give her dogs ice cream every night when she and my Popaw would have their own ice cream treats. Meemaw's dogs were always fat, but I don't know why. Well, I thought Shotzie might enjoy some ice cream too, in her own bowl. She loved it! Brandon just thought that was so funny for me to give Shotzie some ice cream. He didn't know why he was laughing so much but he said he couldn't help it. It's a good feeling to be able to amuse a teenage boy with so little effort.

Last night was another ice cream night at our house. I fixed big, heaping bowls of soft, creamy, cold mounds of sugary sweet Vanilla ice cream with the ruby red, fruity sweet Strawberry glaze running all through it for Brandon and me. I then fixed Shotzie her bowl (not heaping to our standards, but heaping enough for her) of what has now become her usual creamy delightful treat. Brandon started laughing again while he was watching her eat it. I told him that I could not believe he still thought it was that funny. He said, "Mom, I know this is not really a guy thing to say, but I think that is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Well, being the mom of a teenage boy, I thought that was about the cutest thing I had ever heard. You see, Brandon is such a cool kid. He enjoys watching I Love Lucy and Andy Griffith with me. He is sensitive to sad movies - like Sling Blade. He even liked and "got" Lady in the Water when we went to the theater together to see it. Heck, most adults didn't get that. He is not ashamed to have dinner in public or attend movies with his parents. And yet, he is totally straight. In this day and time, it seems to be so important for young boys to be macho and tough and have very little to do with their parents. I'm very proud to say that Brandon is not like that and we enjoy each other's company very much. We're going to see Mike Myers' The Love Guru this weekend - can't wait!

I hope you have a lovely weekend. See you Monday!

PS - I know the green is hard to read but the ice cream colors are so pretty :)