1000 views, Snow, B and Mardi Gras

2-19-15

Thanks for the views! We hit 1000 on the 17th!!! I know there are blogs out there that hit that in a day but they aren't my blog. I'm grinning ear to ear and loving it, here's to another thousand views!

The question of the day is, "Why is there snow on my front lawn" and so far I have not received an acceptable answer!

This is the view from my front door at 9 pm last night. Due to the wind chill factor of one below, this was as close to going outside to take a picture that I was getting! The record breaking temperatures had kept the ice storm ice from melting so the snow is now covering a half inch sheet of ice that had been lingering on the lawn all day. Woke up this morning and the snow was still there, thus prompting the above question. Of course, I understand the logistics of cold weather, lack of heat, inability to melt yada yada. None of that changes the fact that there is snow on my lawn.

All of my family and friends up North realize that Joe and I are well aware of how to deal with snow and ice. They also know how much I disliked it. Unfortunately, here in our little corner of the South we don't have the luxury of snow and ice removal equipment to facilitate life in the aftermath of an ice storm. Basically, an ice storm here is the equivalent of a Nor'Easter up there! No school for two days and lots of fender benders and burst pipes. The saddest part, my pansies didn't make it, they clung on for dear life but the last little purple petal is wilted and browning as we speak. Not sure if the little buds are going to make it, we'll see next week! 

Yesterday was also my day with B and of course the frigid temp meant no outside time. Having a giant playhouse and slide in my den is entertaining but we needed to burn off some of his excess energy. This involved me deciding to teach him how to jump. I wish I would of thought to take a video of him, imagine little bent knees then he squats and acts as if he is going to jump and instead he falls on the carpet and says, "all fall down" followed by giggles and "again"! This evolved into ring around the rosy and dancing to the Wiggles and a rousing game of hide and seek! 

He isn't very good at hiding! When I came around the corner he
looked up at me, said boo, then giggled and ran.

We did have some fun with a new toy that H and I found at the consignment sale. This creation is called the boogie bus. Had to look it up on Amazon because at first I thought it was broken! You push down on the driver, the bus flashes lights, revs it's engine, then shakes (which sounds like it is broken) and then rolls about four feet. This is a very strange toy and B is not sure if he really likes it or not so this is how the game goes. B says, "Grandma" and brings me the bus. He then runs to jump on the sofa, I push down the driver, and then after it shakes I say, "Ready, set, go" and light flash and the bus rolls away. Once it comes to a complete stop, B jumps off the sofa, runs and picks it up and brings it back to me and so it goes. Now, if the driver happens to fall out, he'll push the driver back in and then run! Go figure. 

I'm interested to see what the Cabinet Spirit is going to think of this toy! I have no trouble at all in picturing this bus in any number of horror flick scenarios...

All of this coldness prompted me to actually pay attention to the news on Tuesday and this is how I found out it was Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras. I have very limited knowledge of Mardi Gras but it did occur to me that New Orleans has a cruise port and last year we cruised in February and had a blast and this year we had an ice storm and snow on our front lawn. And folks, that is how it all began! Research has begun and it looks like a very doable trip! Evidently Fat Tuesday is the last day and in 2016 it will fall on February 9th. Looks like a short cruise the week before, back to New Orleans on Sat, rent a room for four days and fly home covered in beads... I've narrowed it down to a few choices for cruises but I am truly stumped on the hotel part. Any intell out there would be greatly appreciated! Trying to figure out the different quarters and parade routes, maps are not my strong suit.

I'm not sure which part of the trips are my favorite: the planning and research phase, the eagerly anticipating the departure, the actual trip itself, the reunion with the kids and B or the return home and fun of reliving the trip while I make our Shutterfly book and trip board! Luckily, we have a few trips in the works to keep me busy for awhile!

Valentine's Day, cruise pages on Facebook and presents to myself!

2-16-15

Hope everyone felt the love this Valentine's Day! Joe brought me some very delicious Lindor truffles and brought me gorgeous flowers after work on Saturday. Sunday, we hit the movie theater and saw Kingsman and then met up with B and his folks for a yummy dinner at Texas. Beef tips with mushroom gravy, one of the meals I love and Joe hates so I rarely cook it at home. A true treat! 

Bought myself a present as well! I've been trolling all the cruise line Facebook pages the last few weeks. Stumbled across one and it opened up a new avenue for insight from folks from all over the world into the different cruise lines, itineraries, tours, port info and on board tips. Each page has it's own set of rules and while some of the folks are truly petty and irritating most of them are quite helpful. I've learned tons of useful info and opinions on places to go and things to see! One post was about a great sale at Kate Spade. Now, those that know me will be amazed to hear that I actually went to the website and spent money!

This is called a jitney clutch, no clue what that means but is it not adorable! What a great little bag to carry all our important stuff in when we hit the stops! It'll fit right into my little back pack and no more fumbling around for credit cards and money. I never carry a handbag when we are on trips, once we hit the room I take out ID, credit cards and cash and put them in my little backpack. Much easier and no chance of setting it down somewhere and forgetting it! When we are on the ship, that stuff goes into the safe and my ship card goes in my back pocket! 

Another great idea I got was for these very cool vinyl luggage tags that fit the boarding passes for the ships. I always print mine on the poster weight paper and then we staple them to our luggage. This is a much better way to go. They even have a picture of a ship on them. Found them on for sale on amazon.com and they were a great deal, have a metal loop for attaching them to the luggage. Looking forward to trying them out and best of all no trying to find a stapler to borrow before headed to the ship.

Last present I bought for myself was a powerstrip. The ship only has one outlet (most of them at any rate) and I always have batteries charging and the POC itself plugged in. Makes it tough to use and/or recharge other things. This has extra outlets and two USB outlets as well. Phones, camera, computers, Joe's mp3 player, no longer a problem! Next on my list is the hanging organizer for bathroom stuff! It is amazing to me some of the ideas that these folks have come up with.

I've also been given inspiration for some bucket list trips that I want to take in the future! These are places I've never even heard of. Churchill Manitoba Canada, did you know you can see the Northern Lights, whales, and polar bears here? Granted it is in sub zero weather but most of the excursions provide the winter gear! I also found out about Alpena, Michigan. Looks like an amazing place to visit as well. Hoping to cross Northern Lights off the list in 2016. Anyone have any great ideas for me to add to our list? 

Superbowl, B and we won another dollar!

2-6-15

To all my New England Patriots family and friends, wow, what a game! Love the thrill of a nail biter that is fought to the bitter end. Both teams did a great job and both had a few OMG moments and best of all, we had a hockey worthy brawl moment! Fairly decent selection of commercials with the exception of one insurance company that ruined my day and I'm pretty sure will be feeling the impact of that poor decision for at least a few weeks. Halftime was pretty ho-hum, expected to be wowed and was definitely not oohing and aahing as I expected to be. On the flip side, B loved it, shook his little booty so at least the adults were entertained by something. Wish I had thought to video it!  Don't want to pat my own back (too hard) but food was a success. Cooked Saturday and Sunday. 

Cheese football, rolled in bacon and french fried onions! Did I mention sharp cheddar, green onions and garlic were inside along with the cream cheese and sour cream?

Pork tenderloin, wrapped in prosciutto, served with secret slaw & cheese on rolls.

Super meatballs, stuffed with sausage, cheese and onions. Looked so tasty we ended up buying sub rolls and using them for sandwiches with melted provolone cheese.

In addition, we had some salsa, jerk chicken wings and tons of chips and crackers. Best of all, H made her famous buffalo chicken dip! One of my favorite things and as always, ate way too much of it. Found some great pita chip crackers by Keebler, really enjoyed them! 

Did learn one lesson from the weekend. Cell phones do not like the tomato sauce that you cook meatballs in! Splashed some sauce on my phone and my microphone stopped working. After we got home, started messing with the phone and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work. Turned it off and using a toothpick and a piece of tissue "cleaned" every little spot on the bottom of the phone. One little tiny drop of dried up tomato sauce came out, turned phone back on and ta-da! Stranger things have happened. Will have to be much more careful while cooking, I am very dependent on the microphone, much easier than typing!

B and I spent quite a bit of time together over the last week and a half. Stayed with me a few extra days cause his poor momma had to work more than usual. Enjoyed every second of having him (did feel a bit bad for H so cooked her an extra meal). Have to say though, we wore each other out! My muscles ached from running around playing hide and seek and boo. I am amazed at how smart he is. He constantly amazes me at how quickly he picks up on things. Our first true jigsaw puzzle and he has pretty much mastered it already! Next we will be working on the block puzzle, total of six different pictures.

  










Have to admit that the extra meals I cooked did hit a snag. We had an epic fail on a new slow cooker recipe for chicken and dumplings, hands down, one of the worst recipes I have ever encountered. Joe and I were amazed at how bland it was. Re-purposed it with some leftover noodles and tons of spices into a version of chicken and pastry and then used the last of it in chicken soup. Told H to feel free to do the same or toss, made me sad that I wasted good organic chicken on such a sad recipe. Not even going to bother tweaking to improve, so if anyone has a good chicken and dumpling recipe, I am looking! 

Powerball has a ridiculously high jackpot so decided to do 2 week subscription with my pick 5 numbers. Of course, didn't win a dime but my pick 5 finally won a dollar...

Finally feeling better, cat on steroids and time to start house hunting

1-23-15

Wow, the first few weeks of the year have been rough! What started out as a little bit of a cold turned into a full blown antibiotic taking infection. Happy to report that I am feeling much better and luckily caught it before it hit the steroid taking phase. No paranoia for me this month, always a good thing. Sam on the other hand, not so lucky! Seems that back in December (while in cat jail) Dr. S gave him a shot and it really helped. Turns out it only lasted for about 3 weeks so after much research she has decided that liquid Prednisone is going to be the best solution. Took about a week to start working but have him trained now to come to me twice a day. He takes his few drops of meds and is rewarded with his special cat treats! They actually have hypo allergenic cat treats for food intolerant felines... Only in America.

The silver lining is that the kids are hanging out together again, slowly getting closer to each other. Haven't seen any side effects yet. Joe and I are both being diligent about rinsing dishes and not letting him sneak bites. Hardest has been the treat rationing but with the twice a day med routine he seems to be forgiving me for only giving him 2 treats a day. His sister is even starting to adjust!

Now that the holidays are over we are going to actively start seeking a house on the other side of town. Be much easier for watching B if we were closer to his house and I am looking forward to getting out of the boonies. Those of you who know and love me are probably a bit surprised to hear that I actually want to have neighbors. Truth is, I am a bit lonely and wouldn't mind having other people around. This area is a bit remote even for me. Love my neighbors but two 70+ year old men who both had strokes recently aren't my idea of afternoon chat buddies in the yard.

We are being a bit on the picky side since we have no time limit on moving. Been spoiled having this big house with nice 2 car garage for all of Joe's stuff and the den for my vast collection of things to entertain the grand kids with. B likes having a house in the middle of the house!

His version of "hiding" for hide and seek, LOL! As you can see we have been working on shapes. I ordered a Melissa and Doug wood puzzle but he still likes the ones we made out of construction paper too. When I'm in the kitchen cooking I can hear him saying "oval" over and over again. Tuesday, while I was chopping vegetables he sorted all of his food into containers and then brought them to me to put in our dinner. That kid cracks me up!

Recipe blog

As you can see, none of his food made it into the crock pot! I did send some home with him so H wouldn't have to cook after her long day! Been busy the last few weeks catching up on DVR recordings (translation, cooking shows) so I have tons of ideas rattling around in my brain. Tried out a couple of things already and have a few more things I want to try. Keep an eye on the recipe blog, guarantee that some yummy stuff will be post worthy soon!

Final note, I'm almost done with the Smiley360 mission for Orajel cold sore treatment. Used my free sample and did my review on CVS website. This link should be the one for the coupon, if you haven't tried it yet and are a cold sore sufferer, I highly recommend giving the Orajel a try. I was very pleased! 

Orajel link for Smiley360 

Cruising, Christmas, cat jail and Happy New Year!

January 4, 2015

Wow! Hard to believe how fast the time has gone! Seems like just yesterday that I was getting us ready for our cruise! 

Independence of the Seas, a very grand name for a very average ship. Much larger than any ship we have ever been on. Common areas are beautiful, Joe nailed it when he said he instantly thought about the casinos in Vegas. Thought the walking would get to me but other than a few times of having to stop and rest, I did pretty well. Our room was a balcony and had tons of storage. 

Saying goodbye to Ft. Lauderdale from our balcony. Long story short, we had a super trip, saw some great places and found out that cruise leased peninsulas are definitely not meant for folks who don't like water sports and/or zip lining! Being us though, we found plenty to do that we did like, saw some great shows, ate way too much food and spent a few bucks in the casino!

Always wanted to go to Margaritaville, Joe had the Cheeseburger in Paradise and as for me, sorry B, I ate Mr. Grouper. "What time is it? It's time for lunch"! We did do some sight seeing as well. We met a lizard and a turtle, we even each held a turtle! Found this great fort, which was a patch of gravel and a canon. Went to Hell and out back saw this iguana, thought it was fake but turned out it was just very green. Had some jerk seasoning and tried plantains, YUM! At the private beach, we liked the view and the sand and the gorgeous sunset as we left to head back to Florida!

 

    

   

Rushed home to spring Sam from cat jail! Had to send him to stay with the doc so they could try and figure out what ails him. Trying a steroid shot, hopefully he'll behave while the kids are here and we won't have to incarcerate him during their visit! He was very happy to see us but his sister wasn't quite as thrilled with us or him. We have all been subjected to the angry growl of 7 days at home with only the cat sitter once a day. Poor Isobel!

Being the great planner that I am, I gave us an entire day at home prior to the arrival of my lovely daughter and her family from up North! Needed to have the two girl grand babies here so I would have a perfect set of four, two boys, two girls, all cute and adorable and willing to be spoiled rotten! That being said, we did Christmas in several phases and during that entire time I did not get one decent picture of all four babies together at the same time with smiling little faces. Go figure!

  

Fun times, Santa came to Grandma's and left some extra presents Christmas morning. We also spent some time over at Aunt H's house and had some good times there as well. C and her momma helped decorate the tree, baby A spent her time laying around, B, O, and C loved having the picnic table to sit at, eating at it was another story! Two little red heads, O and C, had to get a shot of them together and of course B and C at Grandma's racing to get to the tree! Over the course of the week we all had plenty of time to visit, eat, drink and even sent the girls' folks off to the movies not once but twice as one of their gifts! Us grandparents call that a win-win, they were out from underfoot and the girls were ours for a few hours with no interruptions!

All in all, can honestly say this was one of the best times I have ever had at Christmas, couldn't of been any more fun! Kudos to all of my kids, their spouses and good friends that are just like family. Combined we had one hell of a time! Hope they all feel the same way...

As for New Year's Eve, believe it or not Joe is the one who stayed up and I went to bed at ten. But, I did have B spending the night and knew that I was going to be up early in the am. As far as I am concerned the best way to start the New Year is with a cute and adorable little boy grinning at you going "awake"! We then had a great morning playing with him and getting him all wound up before his Daddy came to get him. You're welcome!!

Happy New Year to one and all, hope that 2015 is even better than 2014 and that all of you have a healthy and happy year full of good things, here's to nothing but silver linings!

P.S.
Check out the Smiley360 page if you want to see how I roped Joe in to doing a mission  :)

smiley360

Turkey, parentals, cousins and Denny's!

12-3-14 

Thanksgiving flew by! Deep fried turkey was awesome and I also tried some new sides. Sadly, got so caught up with visiting with my parentals, forgot to take pics of our feast! J and J brought mister O over in the am and we had cheesy egg scramble breakfast and visited with them for awhile. Then my mom and I spent a few hours putting together our dinner. Did most of my prep work on Wednesday while they were driving. Made life much easier! Tried a new recipe for sweet potatoes that involved orange juice, maple syrup and bacon. Also, took the family traditional sausage dressing and added apples and craisins! My other new dish was roasted cauliflower with a ricotta and parm sauce, needs some tweaking but a definite keeper. Getting hungry just thinking about how yummy everything was. Totally forgot to do green beans and the cranberry relish never even made it out of the fridge...

O definitely cleared his plate!

After we finished up dinner, H and M brought B over for an evening snack. Horrible grandma that I am, never made a pie and they were stuck with danish, cookies and ice cream. B loves ice cream thanks to Grandpa Joe! Only one that seemed to mind the missing pie was my daughter. She did let me off the hook though after finding an after the holiday pumpkin pie on sale at the bakery! I have a giant can of whip cream to use up by next Friday so there will be some type of pie in the next few days. I'm thinking apple blueberry!

Meanwhile, the folks and Joe and I had an awesome time. My handsome O came back to see us Friday for a quick lunch. Tried out quesadillas with turkey, dressing and cheese on the inside, cranberry and hot sauce on the outside. A definite hit! The kids headed for home after lunch and we took my parents over to see H and M's house and then all of us along with M's sister and very adorable nieces had dinner at a new (to us) restaurant, Japan Inn. Quite tasty and all of the kids behaved so everyone had an enjoyable time! 

Got home and spent an hour looking at tv and my folks got a taste of the cabinet spirit, check the page for the story!

Cabinet update

Saturday was long lost cousin reunion with the added bonus of two more cousins! My aunt and uncle had all of their kids along with their three grand kids, my local crowd along with us and the folks. Total ended up at 20 of us. Must say, had the best time ever! We caught up on all the good things going on in each others lives, shared a fantastic brunch, a group of the guys managed to get some football in and the little guys made it to the park! Kudos and thanks to our host cousins. Hoping this is the first of many family get togethers in the future! 

Headed out around 4:30 to show off J and J's house before driving back! My son made an awesome goat cheese dip which along with a glass of wine was our hold over until we made it back to town. Believe it or not we ended up at Denny's! Made me realize how much I miss having my folks to hang out with.

Sunday morning the parentals took off and I spent the day recuperating, cleaning, doing some laundry and making plans for the future of a refrigerator full of leftovers! Started off with a pot of turkey bones and veggies, with that stock I think we'll start off with soup at the beginning of the week. Have some leftover sausage scrambled and some onions ready to go! The obligatory turkey salad for lunch was made and I foresee several bags of diced turkey in the freezer for future use! Loving these pint size Ziploc freezer bags!

Hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as we did! 

BRRR! Teething, Bubble Guppies and my take on the 7 layer burrito.

11-19-14

Wow, can't believe how cold it has been these last few days! Bought myself a batch of cold weather flowers and redid the porch, need those bursts of color! I am sad, no more fresh herbs until the spring, I fear the kids and the little black fruit flies equally! Luckily, my new spicy shelf has helped make it easier to find things in the cabinet and I have plenty of dried spices to experiment with over the winter. I have always been a lover of creating soups and stews and Joe loves to take them in his lunches during the cold weather so it is a win-win for me. Rachael Ray introduced me to the "Stoup" the other day and I am looking forward to trying some of those recipes as well. 

On the grandma front, B has been suffering from extreme teething the last few days. Poor little guy! Everything in my house is covered in drool and he isn't eating well. What he does eat is rather unpleasant later on and his little bottom is getting raw. Hoping these teeth break through quickly and give him some relief, I'm missing my smiling little garbage disposal.

We also made the decision to finally upgrade the cable Tivo to the new mini. Our box was beginning to misbehave and it was getting frustrating so off to the cable office I went. The upside is we now have Tivo in the bedroom and we have four tuners instead of two. This makes Joe very happy. Not too thrilled with the cable company but in too good a mood to rant on them, hope they know how lucky they are! 

The downside, no more Bubble Guppies. We lost the recorded episodes and since Suddenlink no longer has Viacom that means no Nickelodeon, I'm sure you can see where this is going. I do have Amazon Prime which has Season 1 available. They must have figured out that everyone was turning to them because the previously free season 2 now has a price tag. Luckily for me, B doesn't care what episode he watches! The problem is the amount of time it takes to get the TV to the Prime site, download the show and then just have to pray that the internet doesn't blip and kick us out of the show. Hoping the new internet upgrade will help with that problem, keep your fingers crossed for me. 

Have a feeling that some Bubble Guppies videos will soon be making a permanent home at my house...

Delicious concoction for dinner last night! Take one Backyard Produce box, mix well and YUM!

Decided to use avocado, roasted corn, onion, radishes, and some tomato and created a "salsa", indoor grilled some Denver steak rubbed with my Mexican dry rub and sliced fajita style, then made rice with chopped chilis and western style beans. Layer in tortillas with sour cream and cheddar cheese, drizzle with lime, wrap and eat. 

Recipe

Looking forward to next week, Thanksgiving! My parentals are scheduled to arrive mid week and plans include one deep fried turkey, visiting my long lost cousins (my aunt & uncle will be there too), and of course grandson time. I can't think of a better way to spend the holiday!