Kiss My Face Contest at Chic Critique

Kiss My Face for Kids Contest over at Chic Critique.
Click HERE to go enter. ***link fixed***

Great review on new bath products for kids without harsh chemicals.

My Effort In Making Myself Not MissThe Beach

Monday.
No Beach.
Raining.
Work to be done.
Unpacking to do.
Pink Eye for Bubby.
Errands to run that don't involve finding big shells or eating seafood bisque.

sigh

Things to be happy about - this is my effort so as not to miss the beach too much.

Good coffee.
Stonyfield Farm Raspberry Lemonade yogurt.
Time with friends.
Home with my dogs.
My own bed.
Home Sweet Home.


We had a great time at the beach. It really is so amazing to just do nothing, eat what you want, spend time together, read novels and just BE! No doing. No go go go. It makes life a lot more enjoyable to come back to after a break like that. It's just not easy to jump right in. So....working on that today. How about you? Going on vacation anytime soon? What is your favorite thing about vacation? How about coming home?

Excited Like a Child - What I Learned This Week

I learned that it doesn't matter how many times I come to a beach, that I still get excited like a child at the first glimpse of the ocean.

As we drive closer to our destination, I start to sense the air change. The smell is salty and then...I see it - through the houses, the never-ending vast ocean.

And almost immediately, like waves that wash away footprints in the sand, I am washed over with peace. It is the place I feel closest to God. It reminds me that life goes on and there is something much bigger than myself.

For More What I Learned this Week head over to Musings of Housewife.

Why I Love The Beach

For More Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom

Let the Vacation Begin, the Shrimp Boil is on!

True to our little family tradition, we have purchased our fresh shrimp upon arrival to the beach and I am preparing the Shrimp Boil. For us, this marks the beginning of our week at the beach. I actually could eat this every night - the shrimp is so good here because we get it the day it comes off the boats.

Anyway, wanted to share the tradition with you.
Reposted from July 2008

Shrimp Boil or Frogmore Stew

My friend adds sausage and lemons to hers. I've made it like that before and decided to merge our recipes. My family loved the added sausage and lemons.
And no, we have no idea what Frogmore means. If you do, please let us know.


Here you go!


Ingredients

2 TBSP of OLD BAY Seasoning per gallon of water
3 lemons halved
Red-skin potatoes (depending on size, 3 or more per person)
Spicy smoked sausage, cut into 1-inch slices (1/4LB. per person) I used lite turkey
Fresh corn, shucked and broken into halves or thirds (1 1/2 ear per person)
Shrimp with the shell and tails on, rinsed (1/2 LB. per person)

I add a half of stick of salted butter. (for good measure)

Directions
Fill a large steamer pot half way with water.

Add Old Bay, Butter and the lemons.

When the seasoned water comes to a boil add the potatoes and boil for 15 minutes or longer depending on size. They should start to soften. We like ours pretty soft so we boile them forever.

Add the corn and boil for at least 7 minutes or until desired texture.

Add sausage and boil for 7 minutes.

Add shrimp and cook for 3 minutes then drain and pile in large container.

Serve with lots of paper towels, melted butter for the corn, cocktail sauce for the shrimp and sour cream for the potatoes.

* Another addition to a shrimp boil that I think sounds good but I have not tried- those little pearl onions. I just HATE peeling those little suckers.

We're leaving. We're not leaving. Okay, now we're leaving.

Well, if you saw my Facebook or Twitter, you might have heard that we were all excited about leaving for the beach today.

That was our intention, anyway.

My daughter had a fever for two days and I was afraid that it would delay our trip but she woke up this morning fever free so we started preparing to leave.

I'm not sure what happened. We dilly dallied around and then it occurred to me that we actually did not have a place to stay until tomorrow at Noon.

I guess Hubby just thought we would stay at a hotel for tonight. So, he went to checking the internet for a hotel. There were plenty of them just waiting for our family of 4.

In the end, we just decided it was not worth the price they were asking. Beachfront hotels or even close to the beach hotels can be a little proud of their two queen beds in a box.

So, here we are. Waiting to leave first thing in the morning to our condo that we've rented for 3 years in a row. It almost feels like home! Except smaller and with a beachfront view.

We did enjoy some Mexican food and finally watched Slumdog Millionaire tonight instead. Wow, what a great movie. I cried like a baby. I just don't have the words to express my feelings on India sometimes. I have several friends that go on mission trips there and bring back pictures from their trips. The faces of the children are just unbelievably beautiful. Just look at my sidebar of that Compassion child in India. The things they have to go through tear my heart apart. Anyway, it is a movie you should watch. Definitely.

I'll be posting some at the beach. I will have downtime in the evenings as my hubby always tries to put together some million piece puzzle that leaves me bored to tears. He finds it relaxing. I find it hurts my head.

I did get a new camera today! Similar to the one (but better) that I dropped in the water last year when I went to the beach. It was marked down about 50% at WM! Woo Hoo - love a good deal. I am so excited to have a decent camera again - I've been taking the worst photos.


Okay, so see you this week!

Goodbye MJ

I remember the day my Dad brought the shiny black album home. He put it on our turntable stereo and we listened to it all night long. We bought the cassette and listened in the car. I listened in my room. The album, Thriller, was very loved in my home.

Like so many of you, I lost an icon from my youth today. Michael Jackson helped to usher in my teenage years with songs like Billie Jean, Beat It and of course Thriller. They are the background music to my years of discovering boys, clothes, make-up and middle school.

I remember clearly when MTV debuted Thriller. It was a highlight as we huddled around our TV to watch.

I remember his climb to superstardom and how loved he was. I remember the good he did when he sang We are the World. He seemed to genuinely be one of the first pop stars to care about the world hunger problem.

I remember putting away my Thriller music and moving on to other pop, punk rock and 8o's big hair bands.

Then I remember how the world accused him, tore him down and watched as he became more of a sideshow than the mega watt superstar he once was. It was one of the saddest things to watch the world embrace and then reject him.

He had it all so it seemed. All the money, all the fame but not all the happiness.

Goodbye MJ - thanks for your contribution to pop music. May the family find peace very soon at this unexpected loss.