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July 27, 2006
Beach Day
I'm lucky enough to have Liz and her awesome family come down to visit with me and the girls today. Anyway, our plans are simple.
1.Beach
2.Swimming and BBQ at my house
Are you jealous yet? LOL.
In Mom news, she's doing MUCH better. The doc switched her meds from morphine to percosets and she was quite happy with that! Today, she's getting moved from the 4th floor in the hosptial to the 2nd floor rehab center. I'm betting they will be tossing her out by Saturday. Thank you for all the nice emails and phone calls about her.
Ok - off to get the kiddies up and moving!
Posted by Cate at 08:15 AM | Comments (2)
July 26, 2006
How Old Am I?
(snagged from Jay)
| You Are 19 Years Old |
 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. |
Posted by Cate at 08:47 AM | Comments (3)
July 25, 2006
Mother Nature!
I picked this tomato tonight from my mother's garden. It's the same tomato with two completely different views!
Click to embiggen.
Posted by Cate at 10:26 PM | Comments (2)
July 24, 2006
80's Heaven
Posted by Cate at 11:44 PM | Comments (1)
Something fun
I *just* discovered Citizen Mom while perusing the Carnival of NJ Bloggers. She mentioned the Blow Monkeys and linked to one of my most favorite 80's tune - Digging Your Scene. Once I relived my sophmore year in the *lovely* Wall High School, I did a quick search for my true loves - Duran Duran. Look at all those videos! You know, I was planning on marrying Simon LeBon (stop laughing!). Lordy, I had a major crush!
I'm in HEAVEN!
Posted by Cate at 11:06 PM | Comments (3)
So it begins
Let's play a little game called Good News/Bad News.
Good News - Mom's surgery went well.
Bad News - She's still in a lot of pain.
Better - I am going to be able to check on her tomorrow too.
Good News - Husband made dinner.
Bad news - It didn't turn out quite right.
Better - The kids really liked it!
Good news - I did all the laundry last night.
Bad news - The water heater crapped out.
Worse - We can't replace it until tomorrow.
Even worse - No hot water.
Better - I don't have to do the dishes.
Not So Good - No showers and smelly dishes in the sink.
Good news - Husband will be home tomorrow
Bad news - He will most likely be spending it cursing at the old or new hot water heater.
Best news of all - I've got a box of this stuff and I'm chugging away. Yeah, it's cheap but, right now, I don't give a crap. I've got a sinkload of stinky dishes and I'm boiling water so I can wash them.
Freakin' JOY!
Posted by Cate at 09:59 PM | Comments (2)
Out for the day
Mom is at the hospital and is having a knee replacement done so I will be there most of the day. Any good thoughts and all would be appreciated.
Will update later.
Posted by Cate at 06:17 AM | Comments (5)
July 21, 2006
Addicted
I've been hooked on Flickr for the past several days. This place is fun! I can't believe the photographs that some people can take. Incredible!
We had another playdate yesterday. Only one mom who brought her three munchkins along. The pool was nice but not as warm as it was a few days ago. I think the pool water hot about 90 degrees! Boooyah! Today, no playdates but we are going to visit my Mom and swim in the pool in her community. Eldest was invited to sleep over a friend's house tonight and she is SO excited about it! I'm off to pack her up.
Catch ya later!
Posted by Cate at 10:00 AM | Comments (1)
July 19, 2006
A success!
The previously mentioned playdate was awesome. All the girls had a great time and all of us moms had several cups of wine. ::hic::
I've got to go cook dinner... time to sober up!
Posted by Cate at 06:43 PM | Comments (3)
Sun and Fun
I've got two of my friends coming over this afternoon. They will be bringing their daughters along as well. So, I'll have six girls here between the ages of six and ten. Ooof.
I've officially named this day as "Moms Who Playdate". We watch the children swin and have fun while we relax in the shade, eating little snackies and chugging sipping wine.
Boooyah!
Posted by Cate at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2006
Stacy London Junior?
I have to wonder if the girls are watching too much "What Not To Wear" when Eldest says to me, while we are all splashing around in the pool, "Mom, you'd better keep an eye on the girls."
She's not referring to herself or her sister either.
Posted by Cate at 03:16 PM | Comments (13)
Another yummy recipe
I saw this on the Today show this morning and it looked fantastic!
Grilled Eggplant (Melanzane alla Griglia)
Giuliano Hazan
Serves 6 as a side dish
Not only is eggplant easy to prepare on the grill, it is a delicious accompaniment to any grilled meat. Serve the eggplant half in one piece. Usually the skin is too tough to eat so you scrape the flesh out with your knife and fork.
Total time from start to finish: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon flat leaf Italian parsley
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large eggplant
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat a charcoal or gas grill.
2. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Finely chop the parsley and put it with the garlic in a small bowl. Season with salt, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and mix well with a spoon.
3. Cut off the tops of the eggplant and cut them in half lengthwise. Score the cut side with half a dozen diagonal cuts about 1/2” deep (do not cut all the way down to the skin). Sprinkle with salt and drizzle the remaining olive oil.
4. Grill the eggplant cut side down until they have grill marks, 2-3 minutes. Turn over and spread the garlic and parsley mixture over each eggplant half. Grill covered until the flesh of the eggplant is tender, about 15 minutes. Serve hot or lukewarm.
Posted by Cate at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)
Easy Peasy
I found this Chicken and Rice Pilaf recipe in the paper the other day and tried it out on the family on Thursday. It went over pretty well. It's super easy to make and hey, I am ALL about one pot cooking!
EASY CHICKEN-RICE PILAF
Bone-in chicken will cook more evenly and add lots of flavor to this skillet supper. You may substitute boneless chicken breast halves, but add to the rice after 10 minutes of cooking.
1 onion
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large green or red pepper
1 1/2 pounds bone-in, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon (freshly ground) black pepper
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth or combination of broth and water
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme
Peel and dice onion. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a wide, deep pot (like a Dutch oven), and add onion. Dice pepper, and add it to the pot.
Cook vegetables 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until they have softened and shrunk a little. Scrape them onto a plate.
Cut chicken breasts in half to make 2 short pieces. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Add remaining oil to pan, and heat over high heat. Add chicken, meat side down, and brown very well, about 5 minutes. Remove to plate with vegetables.
Add rice, liquid, bay leaf and thyme, and bring liquid to a boil. Add chicken and vegetables to pan, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes, or until rice is tender. Serve with green beans.
Serves 4.
Posted by Cate at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2006
Slowly but surely
Husband and I are have been in the addition for about three weeks now. Of course, there's no other furniture than the bed (click for images). It looks like a small basketball court. When we speak, it echoes (echoes... echoes...). My inlaws have offered us a very nice bedroom set. Husband is picking up one of the bureaus on his way home from work today. We will be getting those bureaus while the girls will get our OLD bureaus and my mom will be getting THEIR old bureaus. Confused yet? No? Good! I will be doing the bureau swap for the rest of the week, purging old clothes and attempting to make room for everything else. I know the girls are just going to love helping me with this massive job. Good times, my friends, good times.
Since we have been in the room, we have slowly started to incorporate things into the new bathroom, like Qtips, washclothes, spare toilet paper and medications. We had SO many prescriptions that we stored in the kitchen that we decided to move out our meds to make room for the girls stuff and get the little bottles off my counter. We went through everything. We were shocked at the amount of medications we had in there. Incredible. PLus, a bunch of stuff was expired - and when I type the word expired, I really really mean E X P I R E D. Like 2001 expired.
Yeah, that's bad.
We flushed, dumped, poured out all the medications. Then, we came across old epi-pens. We couldn't just toss out needles with epinephrine still in them. I had never had to use one (knock wood) and decied I was going to test them out so I grabbed an orange and WHACK! Dosed it with an epi. Man, that pen has a wicked little kick to it! Husband decided to get in on the action and got to shoot an orange up as well. By the time we finished, we had a ton several (more than 6) epis ready for disposal. That poor orange was just oozing. Nasty.
Well, off to tend to the kids before I seem like an unfit mother. I care, really! I do!
Ciao!
Posted by Cate at 04:05 PM | Comments (2)
Superman or GirlieMan?
This guy has something to say about the new Superman.
Posted by Cate at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2006
Weekly update
Well, it seems I am able to update pretty much every two days. Boy, my stats have certainly tanked. I can't imagine why...
I've joined up with Flickr and plan on posting some pictures there. I think I can take some pretty nice photographs. I've added a few to start and posted the badge on my sidebar.
Whaddya think?
Posted by Cate at 10:05 PM | Comments (5)
July 15, 2006
Rocket Time!
Yes, I know the image is sideways. I won't be shooting my videos like that again. I just like watching Youngesttake off after the rocket lands.
Posted by Cate at 11:21 PM | Comments (1)
July 12, 2006
Always Nice
I spoke with Miz Christina yesterday. It's always nice to catch up with a friend. I have been quite concerned with what happened last week and I wanted to speak with her.
Christina's sense of humor did not disappear one bit. She referred to herself with her new nickname - Sparky. I told her that I'd had enough blog drama going on and she needn't burn her next house down for some attention.
She's such a show-off!
We had a lovely chat and I was even able to speak with Sweet One for a few moments. She sounds just like Christina, bless her heart (as Christina would say). I heard all about the new place and what the plans were going to be for the new (and improved) Casa de Feisty. Again. I told her I was quite happy that everyone was safe and she's never allowed to run into a burning building again.
In other news, my lovely friend Mary from BookBlog will be down for a visit today. I haven't seen her in for about six or seven months. Boy, the house looks just a little different since her last visit! But, the wall she sheetrocked is still here.
I'm off to get the kids fed and out the door. Eldest has camp. Wheeee!
Posted by Cate at 09:33 PM | Comments (3)
July 11, 2006
Just an FYI
Did you know...
there's only 166 days until Christmas?
Posted by Cate at 10:37 PM | Comments (2)
July 10, 2006
Book Review
About two months ago, I was contacted to review a book "Peanut Butter, Playdates, & Prozac: Tales from a Modern Mom" written by Arlene Schusteff.
It is a highly amusing and very well written, easy read. I found myself outright laughing, especially when I read "Never in a million years did I think I would ever..." and "My Porn". I too obsess over enjoy perusing through decorating catalogs. I have little piles of them stacked around my house, hoping to one day be able to think to myself "What would happen if I had a need for overly priced and completely outrageous and unnecessary bedding set with optional bed pillows and matching curtains! If only I had a decorating catalog (or twelve) available!"
Heh. Right.
Like I always say, Nordstrom taste on a Walmart budget.
And, in Schusteff's chapter on "Mommy Speak", I have personally said at least six out of the nine sentences, and meant it. Of course "He has so much energy" (usually accompanied with a weak smile) translates into "He's such a wild animal".
So, I am strongly suggesting that all you parents get out there and purchase this book. It's a great read. Thank you Arlene for the opportunity to preview this book. I truly enjoyed it!
Posted by Cate at 09:42 PM | Comments (4)
Is this blog on?
:::tap tap:::
Hello?
So much to report - we;ve been pretty busy as usual and I can't believe I'm not blogging like I used to! Could it be that I am running out of things to say? Me? Speechless?
Nahhhhhhhhhhhh!
Let's see..
1. Eldest turned ten on Saturday. My baby is ten. TEN! That's just not right.
2. We all went to the beach on Friday. The weather was gorgeous - high 80's and no humidity. We met up with my friend who has two kids - one of which is one of Eldest's best buddies. An added bonus, it was free beach badge day since Starbucks bought up roughly 1,500 day passes. Plus, I got to sample their new drink - a Pomogranate frappuccino. Yum!
3. Saturday was also garage sale day at my house. Suffice it to say, I think a lot of people are freaks. I didn't think that there were that many weirdos around!
4. Deadwood tonight - WHOA! That fight scene between Dan and the Captain was awful! Husband and I both yelled out when the eye was popped out of the socket. GROSS!!
5. Eldest has 5 days of gym camp this week. Thank God. She needs to get out for a while!
6. Today would have been my Dad's 65th birthday. Lordy, I miss him so much.
I've got to get to sleep. G'night!
Posted by Cate at 12:14 AM | Comments (5)
July 05, 2006
More terrible news
My very dear friend Christina and her family are safe. Thank God. They lost their home and just about everything else when their home was struck by lightening and burned down. If you can, please send out many, many prayers and well wishes to her and her family. I'm just sick that I can't be there for her.
Posted by Cate at 08:45 PM | Comments (3)
July 02, 2006
House Pics
I know you're dying to see 'em!
This is my bedroom - all full of nothing but a bed!
This is the new french door and access to the back yard.
This is the outside view of the new window in my kitchen (right) and the windown in the new bathroom (left) which is in my new bedroom!
Here's what it looked like last year!
and
This is part of the new fence which is near where the new well was drilled last year. ::link to last year's entry with photos:
Before:
After:
Posted by Cate at 04:09 PM | Comments (11)
July 01, 2006
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Saturday!
Again, busy busy busy!
Today, my brother and his wife will be coming down to take the girls out to lunch and the movies. I think they are going to see Cars. I'm thrilled because the girls have been wanting to see this movie and I had NO intention of taking them. I am already SO sick and tired of seeing the products, the commercials... UGH! Thank you Pixar for the UBER-mass media blitz on this movie. Enough already!
Hopefully, while the girls are out, Husband and I can make a run to Home Depot and pick out a paint color for the girls bathroom. It's a sad sort of minty color. It looked better on the card than it did on my walls. But, it went up anyway and now, eight years later, it's time for a change.
So, I'm off to make myself presentable. Have a great weekend everyone.
Posted by Cate at 08:23 AM | Comments (1)