Congealed Salads & Strollers

If that title doesn't make you wonder I'm not sure anything will. The fact of the matter is these 2 things just so happen to be on my mind lately.

I'll start with the Congealed Salads.

I'm an anti-texture person {as in, I have an aversion to textures in foods that I think would be better smooth}. I like my yogurt creamy without "fruit on the bottom" or anywhere for that matter. I like my oatmeal cookies without the raisins. I like my chocolate chip cookies & brownies without the nuts. You get the picture. So, you can also imagine that "Congealed Salads" are probably pretty far from my radar screen. It tends to be the one dish I usually avoid at Thanksgiving and those "Quarterly Church-wide Covered Dish" meals. Well, I'm proud to announce that I'm growing up and I have potentially turned into Aunt Bethany {you know, from Christmas Vacation-- where she brings a jello mold clad with cat food}.

While I was recovering from the birth of the last child, my friend Tami brought us a delicious dinner and with it was a congealed salad. Living in the deep south, I imagine a meal is often thought incomplete without a congealed salad or white acre peas. Being a "transplant" I've become aware of these type things. Anyway, the salad was orange in nature and looked fairly harmless, I didn't see too many "chunks" and I thought I might try it... so I did. And it was absolutely delicious. And guess what? The girls loved it too. So the other day I went searching for the recipe, I knew it had pineapple, orange jello & cool whip but I couldn't remember the rest. I found it. The pineapple in the salad was "crushed" and had it been "chunked" I may have wimped out. Anyway, when I was searching for the "Orange Buttermilk Salad" I came across a recipe for a "Strawberry Pretzel Salad" I'm sure I'm the last person on earth to try this delectable, but just in case I'm not have you ever heard of such a concoction? You must try it. It's not nearly as gross as it sounds, in fact it's delicious. The crushed pretzels and butter make a salty yummy crust which is topped with a sweetened cream cheese layer, and it's all topped with the "congealed" strawberries! Mmmm! The only thing I would do differently is go for fresh strawberries rather than the frozen sliced ones. They were in syrup and that combined with the jello was too sweet. Y'all try it!

***

The next topic that has been on my mind lately is STROLLERS. Well, actually leaving the house has been on my mind lately and with three very little ones in order to accomplish "leaving the house" a stroller is necessary. I'm not talking about leaving the house to go shopping or anything that would require taking all 3 in public just yet. I'm talking about taking my 3 children out of the house to go for a walk. Morgan starts preschool next week, but will only go 2 days a week, which leaves 3 more weekdays at home with mommy. I'm sure the time I'm allowed on my own with the baby the 2 days she's at school will be used for more urgent needs {like grocery shopping} rather than walking. So, I started to look online for a stroller that would accommodate 3 children. I could use my sling & a double stroller but I after just a couple uses I've been made aware it's not intended for exercise use.

I've come to the conclusion that in order for me to leave I will have to...

a) find a stroller that all 3 can ride in

or

b) find someone who will walk with me and push a stroller with one child while I push a stroller with 2

In my search this is what I found...

Seriously, how hard would you laugh if you saw me pushing this thing down the street? It really looks like I could fit three 7-year olds in it. Not to mention the fact that I think the children would need some counseling if I made them ride in it. And it would only look more "normal" if I wore a helmet while pushing it.

Then there's this one...

Which isn't really that bad, but... we'd have to draw straws before the walk to determine which of the 3 would get to ride shotgun hood ornament. And from the looks of it, it'd have to be the Raiger and it'd take a handful of pacis to get her in there.

Maybe I'll just TRY to get up early and walk by myself. That sounds much more enjoyable at this stage of my life... and it's certainly a lot cheaper... those strollers cost $785 and $700 respectively. Yeah, I'll just walk by myself. It'd probably be better for my mental health anyway!