me want steak!

at Mike and Natalie Lee's house - Max loves Natalie's steak so much it makes his eyes cross! Natalie-Lee, I love you!

funny story - for cookie lovers

A little background: Neiman-Marcus (if you don't know already), is a very expensive store; i.e., they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00. Let's let them have it!



THIS IS A TRUE STORY!



My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas, and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus cookie." It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown,

"I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe."

Well, I asked how much, and she responded; "Only two fifty--it's a great deal!" I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my tab. Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe--$250.00". That was outrageous!



I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was “two fifty", which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge.

They would not refund my money because, according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund your money at this point."

I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the state of Texas. I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back." I just said, Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus...for free. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this."

I said, "Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!" and slammed down the phone.



SO HERE IT IS!



Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny off of this recipe!



NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter 24 oz. chocolate chips

4 cups flour 2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp. soda 1 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar 1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)

5 cups blended oatmeal 4 eggs

2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies



PLEASE READ THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO HAS AN E-MAIL ADDRESS! THIS IS REALLY TERRIFIC!! Even if the people on your e-mail list don't eat sweets send it to them and ask them to pass it on. Let's make sure we get these ladies $250.00 worth. Enjoy the cookies, they are good....

My Lineman

Hey, James' blog just got updated for those of you that wanted to see some work pictures. This is a cool picture of him on a tower being handed something(sorry, honey-i don't know what that is!?!?) by a helicopter. I'm so proud of my hardworkin' man! oh the address is www.jamesdbryan.blogspot.com or you can just click on it from my friends list on the right of my blog page.

Bumbo Baby!

Okay, so I just bought that "Bumbo" chair for Max and he Loves it! I stick him in it on the dryer while I do laundry, and take it to restaraunts, and it helps him sit up - I love it! oh, and I know I do a ton of posts at once and then nothing for awhile, but it's hard to find the time and when I do, I get all caught up! So here's our week. (the next 3 posts!)

James sportin' his Doc Holiday look!

Who loves ya, Baby? I love his face in this picture!

stylin'

We went to Roseville yesterday and I thought he looked especially cute in his camo outfit, so of course i took a million pictures! we visited my girlfriends from Nordstrom, Rachel and Laura who I love and miss! and a picture of my wonderfully tolerant cat Pepe LePew, who loves Max, and lets him pulls his whiskers out. good kitty.

sick of being sick!

So Max has had a cold for about a month now, and I'm so over it! Well, actually he gave it to James and I and I'm still in throws of it, so I'm not over it quite yet! yuck! I just feel so bad for him not being able to breathe or eat very well, and then he wakes up and coughs all night and I don't get any sleep and then my day starts late and he's cranky and I feel like I get nothing done! Whew! Just had to get that out. I'm still trying to workout and stay active, but I'm whooped! I just needed to vent and I think this picture says it all!

and some more photos!

we were playin' around with the camera on our walk - we weren't getting much of a workout! but great photoshoot! Danielle -I'm so glad to call you my cousin and friend; you bless my life in so many ways, and I think you are amazingly talented and such an incredible woman! I love you, girl!

Danielle the photographer

She takes amazing pictures! So gifted! Brooke and Max get so excited when they see eachother!

valentine fun

I love these girls!


we dressed up 40's style for our valentine banquet...Bonnie and Clyde!


my funny valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Day of Love! First off, I love you, Honey! My first and only Valentine! You have been the love of my life for so long and I want to thank you for being such an amazing friend and Love to me all these years - you're the best! and now we have a whole new love in our life, and I couldn't imagine sharing this happiness with anyone but you! You're an incredible Dad and such a great Husband - I love you, sweetie! And...my Max, the one I am head over heels crazy in love with, my Baby Boy! You're my new little Valentine and I couldn't possibly love anything more!
and for those of you that survived the mushiness to read this far - thank you for being such wonderful and supportive friends to me. I truly cherish the friendships I have with you - they bless me continuously! and my parents - you guys are the best! Thank you for showing me such an amazing example of true and committed love - you inspire me! Have a fantastic day, everyone!

My Baby Valentine!

My Love!

good times

Almost Valentine's Day! This was taken on our 2 yr. anniversary! it's almost been 4! I love my hubby!

A First

Who me?

Max can hold his own bottle now! James was feeding him and called me over to see what Max was doing - we were so impressed! It's amazing what we consider to be a big deal these days!

doggies

In the lap of his stuffed animal puppy.
His real puppies - BJ and Brody

Hat head

Yes, I love to put hats on Max, I know. and yes, the green hat is too small and makes him look like Pharoah. The baseball hat makes him look like he's 5! I think he's starting to object to the hats in the bottom picture.