Mandy is so funny.

Here's me and Mandy; this was the last time we were together.

She and her hubby came to my house way down in North Carolina from Indiana.

While we had time to talk, she said some pretty funny things that still make me laugh to this day.

When we were serving dinner, which consisted of lasagna and bread, I reluctantly asked if anyone wanted me to put together a salad, adding that I didn't want one myself...
I was ready to eat and didn't want to work any more.  (I'll add that I was over 7 months pregnant at this time.)
That's when Mandy furrowed her brow and put her fists on her hips and demanded, "WHO WANTS SALAD?!"  in a very you-better-not-say-you-do tone.  Ha ha ha!  That cracked me up.  I don't think writing it does it justice.

As dinner progressed, we were jesting back and forth, just telling tales of our dogs.  I prided myself on Rudy's discipline, my afore-mentioned dog, and how we were walking very late one night with Rudy off his leash when a wild rabbit took off across a neighbor's yard. While he naturally saw it and started to go for it, one split-second saying of his name stopped him in his tracks.  I said, "You know, he wanted to chase it, I mean, being a terrier type-dog and it being a rabbit, I mean, that's what they're for!"  And Mandy's husband (they are the best pair) very dead-pan, said, "Yes, rabbits are for chasing."  Ha ha!
So speaking of rabbits, Mandy recalled a time when their dog, Sally, also a certain breed of Irish setter/terrier, they're not sure exactly what all marvelous breeds Sally is, took off after a rabbit in their fenced back yard at their old house.
The rabbit apparently slammed himself into the fence to get away.  It did end just fine for him, no worries, but Mandy added this, "I was like, silly rabbit, fences.... aren't... for rabbits."   Ha ha, oh man, just typing it cracks me up all over again.  It must sound odd, to be putting this in a blog, but these were some of my best memories.

The next evening, I have one more story to tell here, we made coffee after dinner.  Derek and Mandy were going to motor on home to Indy, just drive on through the night (which ended up very stormy and a lot of work, unfortunately), but they needed some fuel (caffeine) and I needed some too with which to keep vigil. 
So Derek, being the kind heart that he is, didn't want to dirty a spoon for the sugar that he wanted.  Mandy and I use the what's-it-called-creamer that's already sweet, at least we used to, so we didn't need the sugar.  So Derek attempts to just simply pour some sugar into his already coffee-filled mug.  An entire racquet-ball-sized clump of it loosens from the cement-like bag of white sugar and plops into the cup, thereby sloshing and pretty much ruining his cup of coffee.  Ah, I can hardly type this I'm laughing so hard. 
He's so sweet he was trying to make due with that cup of coffee.  I don't know why I didn't think, but he was actually trying to drink it as it was.  When it finally dawned on me that he'd probably need to start over, or at least add a LOT more coffee to the mix, he was like, "Oh, can I?  Oh, that'd be great, thank you.  I mean, I like my coffee sweet, but..."
The next morning when I got up and started to clean up the kitchen, the mug that Derek had used had adhered itself to the counter and didn't budge when I tried to pick it up.  And I laughed all over again

And the good news is that Mandy and Derek are planning a trip this summer and they've said they might be coming back!  This time to Texas, so we're really looking forward to that!  I'm even working on making Lucas' room into a tropical-type setting, complete with a mural of waves and a 3D palm tree-- the room that they will be using when they stay.  They really like palm trees and wish they could have them in Indiana.  Oh well, I guess they'll just have to visit more often!