Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Once in a blue moon...

The original definition of a blue moon:
The third of four full moons in a single season.

The more recent definition:
The second full moon in a calendar month.

If you happen to subscribe to the second definition,
that means that on Friday we'll experience 
a blue moon.

And that got me to thinking.

What do you have lined up for your Friday?
 
Something special?
Do your plans include anything extraordinary?

Maybe, just maybe,
since a blue moon is a rather rare occurence,
we should make a real occasion of it?

No, not a full blown balloons and streamers
kind of celebration.
But perhaps just do something 
we seldom take the time to do;
something we enjoy.

What is some pleasure you don't often
allow yourself?
It doesn't have to be something HUGE
like shopping for a new wardrobe
 or 

 taking some exotic trip.

It can be something as simple as 
treating yourself to a pint of your
favorite Ben and Jerry's

or

taking a couple of hours 
to read or craft or bake
or do whatever it is that you enjoy 
but you've been to busy
to even consider.

My Friday is already pretty full
but I do intend to pencil in
some little something 
that's just for me.

I will take the time to do something special;
something I've been wanting to do,
meaning to do
or hoping to do,
but simply haven't had the time.

Perhaps I'll bake something for the neighbors.
Or get started on some crafty project
I've pinned on Pinterest.
Maybe I'll take some time to 
write.
That's something I've had to ignore
far too often lately,
and it's something I miss.

So what gift will you give yourself?

How will you make your Friday special?

What is it that you long to do at least
'ONCE IN A BLUE MOON'?


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Brett Gets His Fifteen Minutes...Tell Me What You Think

My son sent me this link (he comes up with some of the neatest stuff sometimes!) and since I hadn't already seen it or heard about it, I thought I'd share it here.

I couldn't help but laugh while watching it, but by the time it was over I was also thinking how absolutely sad it is that our society is so easily influenced by celebrity.  Especially when that celebrity isn't even....well, a celebrity.  ; )

Take a look at this and tell me what you think.

Click Here! 

Friday, August 24, 2012

Isn't that just peachy!

Delicious, juicy peaches brought back from South Carolina 
(Thank you, Brie! : )  They're WONDERFUL!) 
were the perfect reason to throw together
 a couple of fresh and fabulous desserts this week!

First there was this Amish Peach Cobbler. 
Here is the link for this recipe.
It was featured on a local news broadcast
and I decided to give it a try.
I did make a couple of adjustments...
but you knew I would, right?  ; )
I added a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon
to the batter because it just seemed like
it would be rather bland if I didn't
spice it up a little, ya know?
And then, because I like to taste the fruit
and not just SUGAR,
I sprinkled on only about 2/3 cup of sugar 
rather than the full cup that was recommended.
That just sounded like too much sugar to me!
It was very good, especially since these peaches
were positively perfect!
But if you aren't going to be able to eat
the entire cobbler soon after baking it,
I would suggest sharing it with neighbors
because it really wasn't great 
after being refrigerated.
It got all soft and doughy.

Then came this Peach Upside Down Cake.
No recipe to share here, I'm afraid. 
I just used a boxed yellow cake mix
and prepared it the way I do a 
pineapple upside down cake.
No big secrets or anything special,
but I'm here to tell ya
this is one
DELICIOUS 
cake!  
 
Now I'm outta here for a fabulous weekend!
First high school football game of the season tonight,
not exactly sure of the plans for tomorrow just yet,
and then on Sunday.....
*drumroll, please!*

I GET TO GO SEE MY YANKEES 
LIVE AND IN PERSON!!!

Yes, I'm a happy girl!

Hope your weekend is just peachy!  ; )

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Last Week

This was last week.
Oh how I miss last week.
The water was warm, the weather was perfect.
However, not all of our time was spent on the beach. 
Some was spent on the softball fields.
Perri played in her final tournament of the summer
the weekend we arrived.
This is a pic of her and her coach, Cindi.  
She has so much respect for this woman
and learned so much from her this summer.
(Yes, Perri has on lots of tape.  We referred to her as
'The Walking Wounded'
all weekend.)

We also ate lots of great food.
 Have I ever mentioned how much Tucker
LOVES crab legs?  
Well, Tucker LOVES crab legs!  ; )
This was at Duffy Street Seafood Shack,
our favorite seafood spot in North Myrtle.
We've enjoyed meals at 2 of their 3 locations.

Since I wasn't in a seafood kind of mood this time around,
check out the gorgeous
 grilled chicken salad
I got there!
Perfection.  : )

And of course, if you know me at all,
you know we had Italian while we were gone.
Pizza Margherita
Talk about some delicious food!
Completely fresh and fabulous tasting.

And, of course, what's life without a little
pulled pork?
has my favorite pulled pork. 
Tender, juicy and delicious,
with 4 different sauces to try
(My fave?  Carolina Sauce...YUMMY!)
and wonderful hushpuppies and cole slaw.
The onion rings are super good,
but for me you still can't beat
the onion rings at Sonny's Real Pit BBQ.
You just have to travel further south to get them. ; )

But now we're at home, where mornings and evenings
are tinged with the coming autumn
and afternoons are still holding on
 to the typical August heat.
School has started and we're slowly but surely
working our way back into a normal routine.

And, once again, all the cooking
is up to ME.

*sigh*
; )

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

This Crazy Summer of 2012

Hello, my friends!  Oh how I've missed you!  I want to give you guys a brief update about what's happening in this crazy-busy life of mine and to let you know that I hope to be back on a more frequent basis around the first of September.

The kids' schedules have really kept us hopping the last couple of months.  I honestly think we got busier once school let out for the summer!  Tucker finished up his regular baseball season and then started playing All Stars.  They didn't go far but he got some pretty amazing pinstripes!  : )


Perri's high school softball season finished up just in time for her travel ball season to begin.  She spent most weekends this summer sporting this uniform:

Except for a couple of weekends when she was sporting these instead:
A couple of small fractures kept her on the bench for a little while, but it didn't keep her from having her pic taken with Chase Likens of American Idol fame.  : )  He is a DOLL.


She also had band camp, marched in the Fourth of July parade, suffered through tons of incredibly hot and humid band practices, and she now also sports this uniform:

My girl is enjoying her first year as a Ripley High School varsity cheerleader!  : )  

School will be starting back (far too soon!) next week and the rest of this month will continue to be a busy one, but I'm hoping that my daily schedule will slow down a bit once we're back in the swing of a school time schedule.  

I'll be back soon I hope.  I promise.   I miss my blog and I miss YOU GUYS!