The Jelly Belly Factory

We had a terrific day. Anita, Nick, Samantha, and Justin arrived at our house right on time at 11:00am. Nicole decided not to go - too bad - she missed a good time and we missed her. Jim decided to stay home and work on taxes, but made us promise to bring him some licorice jelly beans. We went directly to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield and first had lunch. The food in the cantina there is barely edible and pricey, but for us, it was convenient. We probably should have done better planning and eaten elsewhere but we wanted to be certain everyone had at least some food before we became involved with the quantity of sugar that was to follow. The tours run about every half hour, so we didn't have to wait long once we had gotten in line. Wednesday was a good day to go - most of the schools are still in session, so it wasn't very crowded. There were a few elementary school field trips going on, but not the long lines we experienced last summer.

In order to go on the tour, everyone is issued a handsome Jelly Belly hat (see pictures below) - no one is allowed on the tour without one! Since it was a work day, we actually saw the jelly beans getting manufactured, flavored, finished and inspected and finally packaged. In addition to some amazing equipment and robotics, there were lots of mosaics done with Jelly Bellies. Ronald Reagan was the first mosaic made, followed by lots of others - Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Johnny Carson, Martin Luther King, Pope John, and many others. Each phase of the tour offered a different set of aromas - at first it was vanilla, later a tart aroma like sour ball candy. Other candies besides jelly beans are made at this factory - candy corn, gummy bears and worms and other jellies (the rat was the most disturbing). The Harry Potter jelly beans are made by Jelly Belly and feature some interesting flavors such as vomit, earwax, and rotten egg.
The tour took about 45 minutes to complete and at the end we were given samples of jelly beans and invited to shop in the gift shop. Quality control is a big deal at the Jelly Belly factory so any jelly beans that don't meet the precise standards of Jelly Belly are marketed as Belly Flops and can be purchased at huge discounts. The flavors are good - they may just be the wrong shape or have several stuck together. We really took advantage of the bargain! We spent about an hour in the gift shop - there's so many choices to make! It was a good time and I'm glad we could have that time together.

PICTURES OF THE DAY











Nick, Justin and Samantha having lunch before the tour.

Nick's hamburger and Samantha's pizza was jelly bean shaped - Justin's french fries were actually smiley faces.









Here's Anita looking pretty in pink. She looks like she's ready for spring!







Everywhere we looked there were easter decorations and signs of spring. There were giant easter baskets filled with jelly beans and other candies made in the factory.

Jelly Belly was waiting for a photo op at the end of the tour. Doesn't everyone look wonderful in their Jelly Belly hats!

Love to all,
Corrie and Jim


MzCorrie@comcast.net
jmcrhoads@comcast.net

Post Holiday Musings

The St. Patrick's Day party at the club was different - very tame - not like some Irish celebrations I've been to. There were lots of shamrocks and lots of green (and even a little gold) - but no drinking and fighting for which the Irish are known. We met Rose and LeRoy there - actually, they got there at 5pm with the plan to secure a table for all of us. Dinner was scheduled for 5:30 (planned around the idea that old folks eat early), but wasn't actually served until nearly 7. The food was good once we got it. While we were getting pretty hungry, we had time to get to know other people at our table. We had a good time and a clear head on Sunday! I know I promised pictures, but there really weren't many that are noteworthy. Jim wore his light-up leprechaun hat that he wore at his birthday party. That drew some comment and his picture will most likely end up in the Trilogy Tribune (our monthly resident's publication).

Sunday started out restful...then I decided to start our taxes. I hate doing taxes, even using a no-think program like Turbo Tax. No matter how organized I've been during the year, the situation is always the same - I can't find the info I need. This year I really worked at getting our files set up so I could find everything easily. In the past I just stuffed everything, all year, in a cardboard box. When it was tax time I took the box to the dining room table and sorted everything. It took the better part of a day. I took what I needed for taxes from the sort, filed a few things, and threw everything else away. Worked like a charm - easy, simple. Might resort to that for next year.

Grandson Marcus went off and got married on February 9...his new bride is Amanda. This was a surprise to the whole family. Amanda is a nice gal and they've been together since high school, so she's a welcome addition to our family. There's also a great-grandchild on the horizon. Marc is still reeling at the thought of being a grandfather at 44. He's pleased, but stunned. When he gets over the fact that yes, he is old enough, he'll love the idea. Don't have many details to share yet, but will after I talk to Marcus.

Jessica tossed me a curve - changed the dates on her visit to April 12-19th. so I had to rearrange a lot of other plans. Regardless of when she arrives, we'll be happy to see her and the kids. I wish they lived closer. I can't handle cold and don't do winters like New Hampshire has, so it means I don't see my daughter and grandchildren for months at a time. Sad. But, they'll be here in less than a month and I'm excited about that . I'd like to visit them late summer/early fall before the snow begins.

This awesome weather has kept us working outside on the yard. A few more refinements and the patio and patio enclosure will be like we planned. So far the flowers we planted are doing well. That severe freeze we had earlier this year might have killed the maple tree. We thought it was sheltered enough, but so far this year, it hasn't begun budding. We're praying over it daily... I'm going to give it a little root stimulant and see if that helps. The lemon tree survived nicely, and so did the orange tree - both are flowering like crazy. The orange tree went into shock and lost a lot of leaves, but a good feeding seems to have brought it back with vigor.

We have lots of family visits scheduled which is excellent. We love doing family get togethers, but it's also nice to have some one-on-one time, which is what we'll be doing the next couple of months. It's a great time of year for it.

Wednesday will be a fun day. I'm going to the Jelly Belly Factory with Anita and Marc's 4 kids. They're out of school for spring break and this is a good, something-fun-to-do activity. (Jim's already put in his order for licorice jelly beans .)

Sorry about the pictures, folks.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Here's a picture of a cathedral in Lemroy, Ireland. Since I don't have any rowdy party pictures to share, I thought I would share this one.

European churches are amazing.

Love to all,

Corrie and Jim

MzCorrie@comcast.net

jmcrhoads@comcast.net

Oh Holy Night or Faith and Begorrah!

In the McRhoads household St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday. Let us celebrate appropriately. Pour yourself a Guiness and enjoy a little Irish humor.

Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey!"Miraculously, a parking place appeared.Paddy looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."

Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and says to the first man he meets, "Do you want to go to heaven?"The man said, "I do, Father."The priest said, "Then stand over there against the wall."Then the priest asked the second man, "Do you want to go to heaven?""Certainly, Father," was the man's reply."Then stand over there against the wall," said the priest.Then Father Murphy walked up to O'Toole and said, "Do you want to go to heaven?"O'Toole said, "No, I don't Father."The priest said, "I don't believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don't want to go to heaven?"O'Toole said, "Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now."


Paddy was in New York .He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic cop on a busy street crossing. The cop stopped the flow of traffic and shouted, "Okay, pedestrians." Then he'd allow the traffic to pass.He'd done this several times, and Paddy still stood on the sidewalk.After the cop had shouted, "Pedestrians!" for the tenth time, Paddy went over to him and said, "Is it not about time ye let the Catholics across?"Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney. "Did you see the paper?" asked Gallagher. "They say I died!!""Yes, I saw it!" replied Finney. "Where are ye callin' from?"


An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for speeding inConnecticut. The state trooper smells alcohol on the priest's breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the car."He says, "Sir, have you been drinking?""Just water," says the priest.The trooper says, "Then why do I smell wine?"The priest looks at the bottle and says, "Good Lord! He's done it again!"Walking into the bar, Mike said to Charlie the bartender, "Pour me a stiff one - just had another fight with the little woman.""Oh yeah?" said Charlie, "And how did this one end?""When it was over," Mike replied, "She came to me on her hands and knees."Really," said Charles, "Now that's a switch! What did she say?"She said, "Come out from under the bed, you little chicken."

Flynn staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking buddy, Paddy. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Mary. He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs leading to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung around and he landed heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and made the landing especially painful.Managing not to yell, Flynn sprung up, pulled down his pants, and looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt cheeks were cut and bleeding. He m anaged to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began puttin g a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood. He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and shuffled and stumbled his way to bed.In the morning, Flynn woke up with searing pain in both his head and butt and Mary staring at him from across the room.She said, "You were drunk again last night weren't you?"Flynn said, "Why you say such a mean thing?""Well," Mary said, "it could be the open front door, it could be the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but mostly.....it's all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror.


Tomorrow we will be attending a St. Patrick's Day party at the club. There's no guarantee that there will be a blog publication on the 18th...we could be quite ill. I do, however, promise pictures of the celebration at some point.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

A little decoration for the front door.

Here's a close up of the leprechaun sleeping in our wreath.

Everyone needs a stained glass shamrock.






Love to all,
Corrie and Jim
MzCorrie@comcast.net
jmcrhoads@comcast.net

Three Years!

Three years ago today we met and our lives changed forever. So much has happened to both of us in three years. Looking back, I can hardly believe the things we have done in that brief period.

Three years ago Jim was retired and living in Modesto with Kathy, Becky and Sean. I was living in Oakley with two cats and working full time. We had connected up on Yahoo Personals and after many emails and some telephone conversations, we decided it was time to meet face to face. Jim suggested Orchard Restaurant in Tracy since it was about half-way between Oakley and Modesto. It was Sunday morning and there was a waiting list to get into Orchard - we tried Denny's nearby - same thing, so we ended up at Arby's. Fate has a way of directing us where we need to be, and Arby's was perfect. It was nearly empty, quiet, and we had a chance to talk. It was pretty much love at first sight and we made a date for St. Patrick's Day. And so it all began.

We celebrated as we usually do - lunch at Arby's. Now we're wishing we had picked a place with better food! We pretty much decided that next year we'll go to Arby's and have a diet coke and then go somewhere else to actually eat. After lunch we did some errands in Modesto since we were already half way there. We really celebrated and got Jim's car washed.

One of our errands was to get the Kirby vacuum cleaner repaired. You'd think for a piece of equipment that is that expensive and comes with a 'lifetime' guarantee, they would just about repair it for free - NOT! $125 later, we have our vacuum cleaner back. Not only that, we got the hard sell to trade up to a newer model for a mere $900. Ouch. No Thanks!

We bought some flowers for our patio, which is starting to look very nice. I'll take some pictures soon when the plants begin to mature. After the nursery trip we went to Verizon - We received a letter that said we were due for an upgrade on our phone - for a price, of course. Again, no thanks - we're good with what we have. Before we headed home, we stopped at Starbucks for an energy boost.

It was a long, wonderful day. We didn't get home until around 6:00, which was a long day since we left home around 11 am. Jim had done all the driving so I made chicken enchiladas with verde sauce for dinner...yum....the perfect ending to a lovely day.

Life has really changed for both of us in the past three years...thank goodness we found each other! I smile every day. :>)

PICTURES OF THE DAY

Every year, when we go to Arbys, we sit at the same table (like I said before - the place is not crowded) and I take a picture. Here's Jim in his spot in front of the window. We watched a bird gathering twigs from the tree. Also, there was a lizard sunning on one of the branches.

The two years previous I just took photos of Jim, but this year we took my photo as well.

Have you ever seen two happier looking people?



Love to all,
Corrie and Jim
MzCorrie@comcast.net
jmcrhoads@comcast.net

This and That

We had a really fun weekend with Becky. We had not really had any good one-on-one visiting time in a good long time, so this weekend was special. She got here around lunchtime on Saturday and the plan was to have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches....I had agreed to make them. Thankfully we had a lot of bread and cheese, because I didn't think the griddle was heating enough and burned the first set of sandwiches :>( - things got better from there.

After lunch Jim and Becky went to the driving range and for a quickie tour around the golf course. After they got home and Jim started dinner (hey - remember I made lunch!), Becky and I worked on her resume. She's graduating in June and needs to start seeking out opportunities. She has a lot more experience than she thinks she has, along with some very good leadership skills. I hope potential employers see that.

Dinner was delicious and nothing got burned. We made home made ice cream (yum) and watched TV.

Sunday brunch at The Nines is a must do for visitors to our house, so we did that after a quick tour of downtown Rio Vista (that takes less than an hour!). After lunch we came home and visited a little while. It's a long drive back to Santa Cruz, and Becky had papers she still needed to work on for school, so she was on her way.

It was such a nice day we decided to drive into Antioch and get some flowers for the patio. Off we went to Target. We bought a few plants and found a bench cushion that matches our patio set perfectly.

With daylight savings time in effect, we had daylight longer, so we moved the patio furniture out of the living room (it's been there since before Christmas!) and started rearranging everything in the back. It's beginning to look pretty good, but still needs a little work. After my Kare Bears meeting today I'll plant the flowers. While I'm off at the meeting, Jim said he would get the flower pots filled and do some more rearranging. It's all enjoyable work.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

This is the t-shirt Becky gave Jim last year for Father's Day. While he wears it often on the golf course, he can't wear it while he watches Fox News because it gives him a political rash. He seems to be ok wearing it when he watches Real Time with Bill Mahr... :>) Don't you just love the expression on his face - he seems to be saying "I'm wearing this for my granddaughter."

Love to all,

Corrie and Jim

MzCorrie@comcast.net

jmcrhoads@comcast.net

The Wonders of Spring!

My seeds are sprouting! We have a few nastursiums coming up, some spinach, some lettuce, and even scallions breaking through. The daffodils are a couple of inches tall...it's like life is beginning - and I guess it is for all this stuff.

We've had such beautiful weather - 68 degrees, no wind. It's invigorating just to be outside. Sunday was gorgeous in San Francisco. I went over wearing a warm sweater, wondering when I left if that would be enough - it was almost too much. Jen and I had a terrific time. We saw most of Macy's - we took our time and saw nearly every floor. Ended up only buying underwear, but hey - it was fun looking. Had a yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Honestly, the restaurants serve such huge portions, that there's no way dessert was possible...and here we were at the Cheesecake Factory...ahhhhhh. After Macy's we went on to Crate and Barrel and saw everything on all 3 floors! We walked on to Westfield Center where Bloomingdales and Nordstroms are and met Jason. We sat and visited for awhile and they went on their way and I headed home. BART is the only way to do San Francisco. My only problem is the distance from the parking lot to actually boarding the train - it's gotta be a quarter mile hike! One of these times I'll take my pedometer and clock it.

We've been in our house nearly a year - actually, it will be a year come April 3, so the builder is doing all the follow up work according to the one year warranty. We've had a few minor cracks from settling and a couple of tile that aren't level, but all in all, there isn't all that much. I've lived in new homes with some interesting 'mistakes' - like hot water in the toilet tanks! The plaster person was here yesterday and today we should have the painter here. Shea builds a pretty good home - quality work and materials.

We had dental appointments yesterday - hate it. At least neither of us had any cavities and we're cleaned up for another 6 months...and we have new toothbrushes :>).

This weekend Becky and Kathy will visit. We're looking forward to having some quality time with Becky - we haven't seen her to really visit for quite some time. We have some fun things planned. Jim and I really look forward to visits from our family.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Our kitties are wonderful companions for each other - that's why we have two. Cats are really social beings (honest - they are!) and one alone gets very lonely. I love this picture. It says so much about having a buddy to snuggle with.

Love to all,

Corrie and Jim

MzCorrie@comcast.net

jmcrhoads@comcast.net