Dear Mr. Jones

Mr. Jones turned 60 today!

I offered him a fussy party,

but he turned me down ...

we have had a busy few weeks in the family,

so we just stayed home and had a quiet dinner together.

If you want to see some cool pictures of Mr. Jones

in his younger days, click on the link to The Rauch Report ...
For dinner, I decided to make "Round Steak in Rich Brown Gravy"
(you know, the real simple recipe where you brown the meat,
add a package of onion soup mix, 1/2 C water and
1 can of cream of mushroom soup, put a lid on it and
let it cook until it is finished)
with delicious mashed potatoes
two side vegetables
a fruit cup
and bread.
The steak was compliments of Andrew and Sabrina
for they had actually purchased it when with us last week
but then went home a day early and left the meat with us ...
So we thank them for the main course!
See how nice it turned out?
I like a simple meal like this -- no fussing,
difficult to ruin, easy to serve, etc.
I think food is over-rated in our society anyway --
so much time, money and effort goes into a meal
only to have it eaten in 20 minutes!
I went to Arnie's Restaurant and picked out
the most decadent-looking cake I could find.
(in complete contradiction to what I just said above)
And here is Mr. Jones blowing out his candles,
the big 60

This cake tastes even more amazing than it looks!

Dylan joined us for dinner, but I messed up loading that picture.

Once I retire, I'm going to read up on this blog stuff and stop

deleting pictures that I have uploaded, and figure out more about

how all of this works ...

So what did I get Mr. Jones for his birthday?

Nothing yet! But I did make him a card.

I've asked him what he wants, but he doesn't know.

So we have decided to defer the present until he knows what he wants.

I was going to go to the new Hobbie shop over by

Rivertown Crossing Mall,

and just get a gift certificate;

but so far, Mr. Jones hasn't been inside that hobbie shop

and what if it isn't a very good one?

I do want to thank him, though.
I want to thank him for our trip to El Paso.
It meant so much for me to go and be
with Jesse and his family.
Mr. Jones could not have been nicer
during the whole trip!
He was kind and patient.
He loved on the little kiddos.
He shared time with Jesse and Di.
I am just so thankful that we could be there.
So ...
HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY, DEAR MR. JONES!