Tag Archives: fun

All in favor of a two-day work week, say “Aye!”

4 Replies

Since taking three days off of work to spend time with the kids for their Spring Break, my “week” is two days at work and PHEW!, I’m ready for the weekend.

I forgot how HARD being a stay-at-home mom was.  It’s been awhile, forgive me, but OH.  MY.  GOODNESS!!   The chores.  The needs to be met.  Errands to be run.  Sheesh.  Fortunately for me, I decided early on Monday (about half way through errand running) that these days off would be about bon-bons and chillaxin’.  The rest would take care of itself somewhere along the week.  And this is what my week consisted of:

  1. Monday-Wednesday at 9 a.m.  attending our church’s Lenten mission to hear Father Richard Leonard speak on the history of the church and Mary, discernment and God’s will in our lives and forgiveness and faith.  Tremendously uplifting and Living Water for this thirsty soul, right when I needed it.  Very cool how “GOD-planned” to offer this retreat on my EXACT days off.
  2. Monday, Tuesday, and today (Friday), hit the gym with my girlfriend and got our strength training on.  And abs.  And cardio.  You know it’s a good exercise week when you are still feeling it on Friday from Tuesday!
  3. I was able to have our girls’ BFFs over to play each day I was off.  The boys are older and do “their own deal”, but it was nice to be able to get them breakfast and lunch and run them around a bit as well.  Not to mention how great it felt to be able to help out some moms and provide a fun day for their girls.  Having “been there, done that”, it is always a happy feeling when you know your kids are having fun with their friends and not bored at home, coming up with new ways to irritate the you-know-what out of each other.
  4. Dinner was taken care of.  Monday:  chicken and rice for the fam and I went out with the girls to celebrate my girlfriend’s 12th annual 38th birthday!  Tuesday:  crock pot.  Wednesday:  leftovers.  See?  Dinner was taken care of.
  5. We hit the beach.  Every day.  See previous posts from this week…..Sunscreen aplenty, boogie boards, beach toys, snacks and water.  Recharged!
  6. We tried out a scrumptious cupcake bakery in town.  (sorry, no link, no web-based orders, local only)  My youngest daughter and I had a hard time picking out a dozen minis to share with everyone.  Though the price was quite affordable, the calories are simply not a luxury and we will be making a wide berth.  Except for special occasions.  Maybe.
  7. Book 3 of Hunger Games, “Mockingjay” is downloaded to my Kindle.  Which is charged.  I have to work today, however, my lunch hour and free time between football games this weekend will be consumed by Katniss, Gale and Peeta and wrapping up this depressing, yet fascinatingly addictive series.

Things that didn’t get taken care of this week:

  1. Laundry.
  2. Spring cleaning
  3. Reorganizing the pots and pans (a mess, let me assure you!)
  4. Reorganizing the spices and pantry (I want it all in ONE spot)
  5. Purging the girl’s toys
  6. Purging the boy’s clothes
  7. Purging my clothes

No big deal.  It’s still there and it WILL get done.  However, the world will go on regardless, right?

See what other’s weeks looked like @ Conversion Diary’s Friday Quick Takes with Jen Fulwiler!

Have a blessed weekend!

The SALT. The SAND. The WAVES. The BREEZE. AHHHHHhhhhh!

2 Replies

Image

Spring Break is upon us, and while I don’t have the ENTIRE week off, I DO have these three days off!  So, we will be spending at LEAST a portion of every day soaking up the salt, the sun and the waves.  The girls have new suits (LOVE Walmart $9 suits!), fresh sunscreen, I have a book to read and the back of the truck is already set with chairs and beach toys.  We will vacuum on Wednesday….why bother until then?

Image

Apparently we aren’t the only ones getting in a post-Mass beach day.  Well….it IS Spring Break AND the end of Bike Week!  not to mention an absolutely GORGEOUS day!!

Image

one set of “bikes”….

Image

and another set of “Bikes”…it should be a little quieter around here now.

Image

You can find me here these next few days.  Text if you need me, I’ll answer when I can….

I’m baaaaack….a (semi) photo essay.

Leave a reply

To properly welcome back “my Precious” to the blog world, I thought I’d post some pictures from our time away…even though I was still click, click, clicking way with my camera and my phone.

Caught a glimpse the leftovers from a very busy spider one morning on the way out…

We’ve had some amazing weather…

Then we had a super cold morning…here I am walking and completely regretting leaving my hat and gloves at home!

A birthday breakfast for our girl hitting the double digits!

Saw a Mama duck and her babies on a walk around the lake with my girls…

We had wonderful friends come for a visit… (yes, it’s blurry, but really the fact that my clown son was able to get a decent picture in the midst of his hijinks and making us giggle is pretty impressive!)

To be continued on tomorrow’s Quick Takes @ Conversion Diary….

A weekend away…(but not too far!!)

1 Reply

For the past four years, some of my girlfriends and I have had the amazing luxury of (ridiculously cheap) access to a phenomenal beach house in St. Augustine.  It is large enough to grant each of us “space”, even if there are 8 or 10 of us (this year 4 of us) and comfortably decorated enough to not feel lost in the enormity of the house.  Generally, we go in November and do some “Christmas shopping” but this year we opted for a post-holiday season retreat (November was booked..) and THAT was a seriously good call!!  And so, enjoy a (mostly) photo essay of the weekend!

Friday evening.  Subs for dinner @ 8:30 p.m. and a chick flick.

Saturday morning.  Peaceful.  Quiet.  Sunshiney.

A walk on the beach.  And surfers, too!  With snow in the Northeast this morning, THIS is the reason “snowbirds” got it goin’ on!!

I did NOT make my bed!!

Antiquing pre-lunch waiting for our name to be called at Osteen’s.  (cash only, baby!  super yum, super reasonable and worth the wait!…..about an hour!)

A one-man band.

Cobblestone streets.

Courtyards.

Graveyards.

The Cathedral.

Cupcakes @ Luli’s!  Yes.  I ate the WHOLE thing.  and I didn’t take a picture.   SO.  FLIPPIN’.  DELICIOUS!

Boots with the fur…the whole club was looking at her….(thanks, Flo-Rida…that’s all the lyrics I know, though, so you’ll have to YouTube it yourself, I’m not sure it’s appropriate to link here….)

Dinner.  Out.  Of course!  Creekside.  Sister restaurant to Saltwater Cowboys.  Both are wonderful!

Sunday morning after Mass.  One more walk on the beach…

Dessert. It always comes with a price, somehow…..

1 Reply

After Christmas and before New Year’s the planets were in perfect alignment and I was able to spend an evening with my very dear friend, A and her 6 children (and my 2 girls).  Short version:  my hubby was working.   my boys were with my sister and her family and I was on my way to get them.  A’s hubby was at the beach with his parents for a vacation (a few days ahead of her while she took care of some stuff–I think she got the better end of the deal!).  So for a few short hours our kids played hard, ate pizza, watched movies and she and I were able to catch up (mostly uninterrupted with life’s usual interjections), drink wine, eat pizza and THEN.  she made dessert. Not just any dessert.  Simply the easiest dessert to make.  However, don’t let its simplicity distract you from its deliciousness, which is what our kids refer to it as.  I call it “The Devil”.  And I won’t be making it any time soon as it completely contradicts my weight loss goal for 2012.  boo hiss.

So, you start with these, and generous side walls to contain the next ingredients:

Which are these:  a good cup of butter and cup of brown sugar, always a scrumptious couple!!  Pour it on the crackers and bake it in the oven a few minutes until bubbly:

Then add these (which I had NO idea came in such a monstrous size–obviously I don’t shop @ Costco!!!)  when the pan is  hot out of the oven and spread all over until melted and covered up.  Chill for a bit in the freezer. Break it up and voila!  So amazing.

You end up with this and good luck taking a picture before anyone gets to it.  Vultures I tell you.  Vultures.

**as a side note:  if perhaps your pizza spilled over into the oven and you forgot to clean it up before preheating the oven, this might go off and after about 10 minutes of searching for breakers and on/off switches, you may be driven to climbing a ladder and using whatever tape is available and dishrags to muffle the noise until the husbands can be located for guidance.  always good for a huge belly laugh.  good times, good times.  gotta love girlfriends.  and their kids.  and their dessert!!!  Happy New Year to you and yours!!!