BRANSON, MISSOURI - PART #4, THE DUTTON'S and I FINALLY GOT MY 24 KARROT CAKE!

On Tuesday, June 23rd, I headed to Weight Watchers about 2.3 miles away. I lugged a bag of "my old BIG clothes" and dropped them off to the thrift shop in Branson. All money goes to the local animal shelter.

The WW meeting was at a beautiful senior and community center. Wow was I surprised when I walked in. There must have been close to 50 folks attending the meeting. What was nice is the community center had coffee there for a donation. You all know how Ralph and I like our coffee. Although we mostly drink decaf, we also drink the high test if that is all they have.

Anyway, I stepped on the scale and I lost 2.0 pounds! I now have lost 47 lbs. and weigh 156.8! Just 8 more pounds to go! Look out Dino's 24 Karrot Cake! Here I come!

You know over eating is just like any other bad habit or addiction. It is just like people who smoke or do  drugs. It is a hard habit to break. For people that over eat, their drug of choice is food.

I often explain my food addition this way: If I had a magic wallet that every time I opened it, there would be a crisp one hundred dollar bill in it. When I spent it, well then another one hundred dollar bill would appear. If I had a choice of having a magic wallet or eat anything and everything I wanted but never would gain weight, guess which one I would choose? I wouldn't be having to go to Weight Watchers, bike or walk, that is for sure!

I had to giggle under my breath, I overheard a woman tell another lady that she checked the nutrition label and did the calculations of how many points a Walmart doughnut was and that is was 4 points. Each food has points and you are allowed so many points a day with WW. Of course there I was thinking of my Karrot cake and the points in that, YIKES! But then I am walking it off today to the tune of 6.5 miles by the time I get home.

The WW Leader, Linda was a very good speaker and I introduced myself to her after the meeting.

On the way home, I went to visit Dino. Well "HELLO DINO"! And look, he is waiting for me with his famous 24 Karrot Cake!

There was another lady working this morning, so I got to tell her of my story and how much I was going to enjoy my reward and of course that I was going to "share" it with my sweetheart. (I think?)

She packed it up in a container and threw in 2 forks. I said "oh no, keep your forks, that just may be a little too tempting". I pictured myself stopping some where along the lakes shore and sit on the banks and eat it all by myself".

Well I had about 1.5 miles to go and I walked really fast to get it home because of the delicate icing. I just thought the whole time that do I have enough "will power" to wait until tonight? Sure I do.

We made salmon cakes for dinner. Our good friends Marlis and Sharon from Minnesota caught Salmon and had it canned. It was DELISH! I made homemade tartar sauce, homemade cole slaw, asparagus and sweet potatoes.

I watched the clock all evening and finally 7:00 p.m. came. That is usually when we turn our coffee pot on for our evening coffee. I waited attentively as the last dropped of coffee dripped and the dinger bell went off and hot dog, our coffee was done!

During my walk home, the cake did get bounced around a bit and the decorative icing carrot got a little smashed, but that did not change the taste.

So I put it on one plate with 2 forks and we sat side by side on the couch with our coffee. Oh my was it DELISH and I so enjoyed every sinful and flavorful bite! Yes I did share with Ralph, bite for bite matter of fact. I did not even try to sneak in a quick extra bite between our matching bites. Oh shame on me, but I thought of it!

I was waiting for Ralph to say what he usually says about a rich desert. "Oh that is enough, it is a little too rich for me, you go ahead and finish it." Well there was not a peep out of him, dang it!

I have often told Ralph that if we were in a boat and it was sinking and there was only one life jacket, I would give it to him. But if we were on a desert island and there was only one sandwich, well that sandwich is mine!

On Wednesday, June 24th I headed into town for my morning walk. I got out early than I normally do, so a cozy fog was coming up  off the Taneycomo Lake.

Fishermen catching tonight's dinner.

There is this nice shop on Main St. in historic Branson. They have pretty clothing and a western clothing section down stairs. While here last week, a nice shirt caught my eye and I bought it. I am trying to get away from T shirts and I found this white short sleeve shirt with all kinds of colorful butterflies on it. It goes well with several colored shorts and capri's that I recently bought since my weight loss. I have worn the butterfly shirt to the shows and have received several compliments on it.

Anyway, there was this really eye catching large tote bag. It was well made and "American Made"! I have always tried to buy American made things when I have a choice. It has an Indian Pony on it with feathers and war paint markings on the horse. It really caught my eye and every time I would go to town, I would pop in and look at it. It was decently priced at $42.

I occasionally use a large tote bag, especially when I go to cowboy shoots. I pack all kinds of letter writing material in it like greeting cards, letters and post cards that I want to send out that month. Especially during Christmas time when I am addressing 150 envelopes and stuffing them with our Christmas Letters.

I also lug along my thick travel journal book. Even though I write our adventures on this computer travel blog, I still like having something I can hold in my hand and read. I often refer to my journal book when Ralph and I look back on our travels this past year, because sometimes I forget where we were and what we were doing way back when.

However I do have a tote bag and although it is not real big, it is cute because it has little RV's all over it. I do stuff it full and the sides are bulging out and I can't close the top and maybe I could loose something (I am trying to talk myself into getting this tote bag). I just don't have enough room to keep 2 totes.

In the afternoon we  had tickets to go see "The Dutton's". The Dutton's are a family show and they made the Top 10 in season 2 of "Americas Got Talent" in 2007.

On the way to the show we passed by a miniature golf course. Thought this was interesting.

Again for what ever reason, my pictures don't want stay "up right", so like all the other times before, just tilt your head.

 The Dutton's are Mormon's. They are International Touring Artists. Dean and Sheila are the Patriarch's and I am guessing in their 70's. Their children and grandchildren now total 26! Most all are in the show and most play several instruments, sing and dance.

The instruments range from violins, mandolins, banjos, key board, guitar, drums, fiddles, bass and harmonica.

They also do several funny comedy routines and interact with folks from the crowd. These brothers are Ben and Jon. They were comical with their zingers and one liners. When Jon would play the banjo, Ben would match the notes with his horns that were strapped all over his body including his back and the back of his legs. They had the crowd in stitches!

During several of the songs, they would switch instruments to show the crowd that they can play any instrument. This family was so versatile and talented. They also did tap dancing numbers and other dance routines.

 Look closely and you will see the little boy in the red shirt with the black sweater vest. He is fighting leukemia. He was in some of the little skits. They said his prognosis is promising.

This was a Mary Poppins song and dance routine.

This is one of the Dutton daughters and was she awesome with that violin. She has won many contents.

We loved this show and afterwards we got to meet Mr. and Mrs. Dutton and a few of their children. My gosh they have to be so proud! It was a great show and I would see them again!