By Sheri Hopkins, Lifestyle Contributor
Hello everyone! We just went to Branson and back with our three grandkids, Ethan, Evan, and Ella. We had a great time and Grandma was totally exhausted. We told them we broke the record for the longest time it took to get to Branson. We made about 6 stops along the way and thought we’d never make it.
Now, you all know how I always tell you guys that crazy things happen to us Wags. Well, this trip did not disappoint. I was lucky I didn’t fall. I’ve fallen before. The kids dropped me off at the Belk store at the end of the landing so I could shop while they went somewhere else. I knew I had a ton of time to kill so I just went around looking at everything. Pretty jewelry always catches my eye. I found some boxed costume jewelry so like a kid in a candy store I went to check it out. Remember, I’d been in the car for hours and I was swollen. They had these boxed rings and I wanted to try them on. I normally wear a 7 or 8 but I found this pretty ring in a size 8 so I decided to try it on. It’s connected to a box so it can’t be stolen. I slipped it on and admired how pretty it looked. When I tried to take it off, as you can imagine, it got stuck on my finger. And by stuck I mean stuck. I wish I had a video of this. My finger went red and then blue. I literally panicked. It wouldn’t come off and no matter how much I turned it, twisted it, pulled it wouldn’t budge. I don’t have any lotion and I can’t take it to the bathroom. They’ll think I stole it. I’m seriously panicking. I tried one last time before I went to find the manager and I was able to get it off. My finger is bleeding and bruised. I was in pain for 3 days afterwards. I was scared to put my own ring on that finger. I was anxious.
What happened next was that I was trying on clothes in one of the store’s dressing rooms and my sandals had no lining, so I took them off. And lo and behold, they fell under the dressing room next to me. The woman next to me must have wondered what kind of albatross had such big feet. I stretched my legs as far as I could and picked them up. Ugh! That was close. I would have been walking around Branson Landing with one shoe on and the other off.
I won’t be writing any more vacation stories until I go to North Carolina next month. I’ll be bringing a diary to record all our shenanigans. Mount Airy, North Carolina, I’ve never met anyone like me.
This week’s recipe is Lemon Dump Cake. I love lemons. If there are any duplicate recipes or stories, it’s because we have new readers. Welcome to all the new readers, and thank you to all the trusty readers who have been with me since the beginning.
Lemon Dump Cake
Two 21-ounce cans of lemon pie filling
1 box of yellow cake mix (use lemon if you want a stronger lemon flavor)
1 (8 ounce) cubed cream cheese
1 1/2 sticks of butter (sliced)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Pour 2 cans of lemon pie filling into the prepared dish. Arrange cream cheese cubes in a single layer over the lemon pie filling. Spread the dry cake mix evenly over the cream cheese and press firmly. Arrange slices of butter on top of the cake mix (add some white chocolate chips on top) and bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until golden and bubbly on top. Set aside for a few minutes to set and serve with vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip.
