Birthday Cake

Hi everyone!  Yesterday was my husband's 51st birthday.  He is three months younger than me so I always kid him about me being the "older" women in his life!  The boys and I took him out to The Outback Restaurant for his birthday dinner.  It was a nice time.  No girlfriends this time just us and our boys. That's nice every once in awhile, isn't it?  We met at the restaurant close to my oldest son's apartment so he would be able to join us after he got off work.  The only temptation at the Outback for me is that darn Blooming Onion!  I took a few sections of it and it really made me want the whole thing!  Luckily I was able to resist...but just barely! One good thing about having boys is they scarf everything down so quickly it gets rid of temptations!   Dinner was easy with the Ceasar salad and grilled shrimp on top.  Yum!
During the day I made my husband a sugar-free chocolate cake with chocolate icing!  It came out really nice and tasted great!   This is one of those "the secret is black beans" cakes, but you would NEVER know while eating it. Even though it's "healthy" I still only had one piece.

I found the recipe over on Healthy Indulgences blog.  If anyone is interested you can find it here: http://www.healthyindulgences.net/2009/05/healthy-chocolate-cake-with-secret.html

We leave for the Outerbanks in a week.  This year we taking all the boys (of course), my oldest son's girlfriend, my older dog Marley, and the new puppy (Mabel) and as an added twist this year...my parents.  I love my parents but they are getting grumpy in their older age and bicker constantly with each other.  My brother and his family are also going down for the week like usual but they get a separate beach house.  My brother's wife and my mother have a hard time getting along, so I hope this whole trip will still be nice and relaxing for me and I won't have to the peacekeeper for everyone while we are there! That might be wishful thinking, fingers crossed!

Taking Mabel will also be a little bit of a trial.  I almost had her completely house trained and then she got a UTI (urinary tract infection).  She was peeing everywhere again and couldn't make it thru the night.  I had to get up at 3:00 in the morning to let her out of her crate.  Good grief!!  I took her to the vet and got antibiotics for her which seem to be doing the trick.  I also read that Braggs Organic Apple Cider Vinegar mixed with a little plain yogurt also gets rid of the bacteria - so I've been giving her a dose of that once a day also.   Seems to be working.  Apparently this Apple Cider Vinegar (the one with "the mother" in it) is supposed to be great for ALL of us.  It's claimed to help with diabetes, high blood pressure, skin blemishes, digestion, bladder infections and tons more.  All you need is a tsp or two a day, which you can mix with water and a little stevia to get it down.  So many of you are so much more knowledgeable in nutrition than I am.  What do you think about ACV?  Do any of you take it?  Just wondering since it seems to be so good for you, I'm thinking about trying it myself to see if does anything wonderful for me. 

Well that's about it for this week.  All my boys are going tubing today in Harpers Ferry, and tonight we are all going to the fireworks that are displayed at our local Fireman's carnival.  Hope you all have a great weekend!