Archives for 2011

Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

September 15, 2011 · Narrative

“Don’t worry ’bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It’s more than just a cliche or something a well-meaning friend says to comfort you. There is one great big master plan and everything works out the way it’s supposed to. Or I’d at least like to think so. It sure sounds good, doesn’t it? For whatever reason, this week has been a little high on the stress-o-meter, but at the end of the day today, when we were out and saw this rainbow, it was exactly what we needed. Proof positive that more than “everything is gonna be alright,” everything IS alright, and it’s just a little colorful, magical reminder to count our blessings.

Minutes after we saw the rainbow, Mother Nature put on a spectacular light show in the sky. She can do that like no other. And we all looked quickly, left, right, all around to catching the changing sky. It was absolutely, positively glorious.

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Recipe: Joe’s Crab Shack Crab Cakes

September 14, 2011 · Narrative

Two nights of Aleve and rounds with IcyHot patches did nothing to help my neck, so today I made my way to the doctor. Who said she felt the spasms on the side of my neck. And sent me promptly to x-rays while guessing a herniated disc. I am purposely not going to google “herniated disc” because I don’t want to know worst case scenarios right now. Two days to wait for x-ray results and a prognosis. When I can’t turn my head left or right, I happen to think that’s a little crazy. In the meantime, I left with two prescriptions and the advice to get a heating pad and use it non-stop, rest, and not work. Oh yes, and no driving while taking one of the meds. I tried to explain that this is all well and good, but doesn’t really work for a single working mom. No work, no pay. And there is this matter of two kids that need constant care. So for now, I hope for the best and try to forget the story Mystic told me some months ago about when he had surgery for a herniated disc and was out of work, um, for awhile. Luckily his symptoms were way more severe, so me and my rose-colored glasses are pulling for a pinched nerve, pulled muscle, or something decidedly less serious than surgery and heavy recuperation.

How about some crab cakes now instead?

We are super partial to Weight Watchers crab cakes and make them a few times a year, including for our annual New Years’ Eve Seafood Feast. But I saw this recipe the other day, from Easy Restaurant Recipes via Pinterest, and when I saw the directions, it seriously said make me now. No, it didn’t really say that. But it did say mix, fry and eat. When I said “stupid simple” yesterday, I meant it.

I changed a teensy bit of the recipe along the way, mostly to lighten it up and make use of ingredients I had on hand. I’ve never been to Joe’s Crab Shack so I can’t tell you if these are a good copycat recipe. What I CAN tell you is that they are amazingly good. Slightly crispy and full of crab goodness. Simple to make. And totally worth ten minutes of your time. But then again, most things are worth ten minutes, right? Such a small investment.

Just one caveat. They were okay reheated, but not as out of the world as they were fresh from the pan, so best to eat them when you make them, and not save for later.

And with that, my kiddos are fed and bathed and moments from bed. Which means, time to reheat the heating pad and hit the hay, wishing miracle neck cures for the morning. A girl can dream, right?

A year ago today … need a way to use up the last of summer’s strawberries? This is the ticket.
Two years ago today … breakfast for dinner? why the heck not?
Three years ago today … ahh yes, the olden days when there was menu planning.
Four years ago today … Grilled Peanut Chicken, don’t mind if I do.
Five years ago today … guilty pleasures and clearly before I became a wordsmith.
Six years ago today … muffins, just muffins.

September 14, 2011 -Bonus Photos

A few months back, my sink was empty, which prompted Mystic to comment, “so THAT’S what your sink looks like!” He was kidding, of course. He is just way better at the having-an-empty-sink thing and I, well, I know it will be there when I get to it. He’s very much a clean as you go cook. I am totally and completely not. I cook. Enjoy time with whoever. And deal with it later. And I cook a lot so even though I empty the dishwasher at least once a day, sometimes twice, the sink fills up quickly. We also don’t use disposable anything, so that doesn’t help. Well, it helps the environment, not so much my workload in the kitchen.

So every time my sink is empty, I take a picture of it and text it to him. Just to bust him. But to change it up the other night, I texted him the overflowing picture with this message:

All in good fun. One of the strong fibers in our relationship is humor. A topic for another day.

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Tuesday Photo Purge

September 13, 2011 · Narrative

My lovelies, can we pretend that today is Wednesday? As in Wordless Wednesday? Pretty please? See, here’s the thing. I had a bunch of photos from today that I was going to post tomorrow. And tonight I was going to tell you about some amazing, homemade, stupid simple, can’t do without, crab cakes. But yesterday afternoon I wrenched my neck somehow. Aleve last night didn’t help. And today it’s much of the same. As I told Mystic, as long as I don’t have to turn my head left or right, I’m golden. So in deference to an IcyHot patch, another dose of Aleve and getting one with my bed, I’m going to switch up the plans. Tonight, a dump from today’s memory card. And tomorrow? The crab cakes. Swear.

And before I forget. Apparently I can’t count. Luckily Sarah can. I only drew four names for the Luna Bar giveaway yesterday, instead of five, so I have since added one more. Go back and check yesterday’s post. It might have been you. And there are still a few of you to e-mail me your details — need it by Friday or your prize pack is going, going, gone. Sorry, folks, have a deadline to get the information into the corporate peeps.

And here we go…

This is how our morning started today. Discovering that Mocha ate Nick’s homework. Yes, folks, the dog ate his homework. I quickly printed out a picture of her, scribbled out a note to Nick’s teacher and hoped she’d understand. Nick reported that she did, saw that he completed the assignment, and asked him all sorts of questions about her. Phew! A ten month old dog definitely still has more than a hint of puppy in her. Patience, Cate, patience.

For now, it’s a good thing she’s so cute.

When I got to work this morning, I spied a little reminder from home. Brightened up the morning immensely.

Afternoon nap. She sleeps in the weirdest can’t-believe-it’s-comfortable positions.

Ran to Target before dinner to pick up a few things and the sun was gorgeously setting behind the building. But after I saw this shot on the computer, all I could think about was Mystic. Whenever he sees my camera out, he takes it and cleans all the lenses and mirrors and glass. Can you imagine why? He’s so good to me. After looking at this spotty reflection, you can see he has his work cut out for him.

Ever so slightly better….

Review: Ava’s Cupcake Shoppe & Cafe, Rockaway, NJ

September 12, 2011 · Narrative

I have exactly four cupcake shops to review for you. That means two things. One, I’m really behind. And two, if you like cupcakes, you should continue to hang out here.

Today? Ava’s Cupcake Shoppe & Cafe in Rockaway Borough.

The first time we went there was a few weeks ago for a mid-day can’t-believe-summer-is-almost-over pick-me-up. Which is one of the very best kind of mid-day pick-me-ups one can have, don’t you think?

Located on a side street off the small downtown section, there is ample parking right in front of the store, on the street, or in a nearby parking lot. The inside of the store is cheery and bright with a retro, 1950s style vibe to it.

There are several tables and chairs for you to sit and enjoy your sweet treat, although there was quite a bit of grab-and-go foot traffic while we were there.

The cupcakes are $3.00 each, and if you buy five, the six one is free. I think it’s about average for cupcake pricing. Let’s face it, folks, cupcakes are not really a huge bargain, but in the terms of splurge snacks, it’s right there with your Mocha Frappuccino. Oh wait. That might be just me.

There are a number of cupcake places within a five mile radius, and several are higher priced than Ava’s. I think only one is lower. Ava’s perk of the sixth cupcake free is a nice bonus.

Wanna know another fun bonus? Ava’s delivers. I think we need a moment of silence. Only cupcake shop in the area to stake that claim and I can think of nothing more fun at the moment than a cupcake delivery, can you?

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Weekend Photos in Review

September 11, 2011 · Narrative

I feel like every weekend goes by in a blur, but this one? Man, I’m still dizzy. Let’s say I had a hypothetical list of ten things I needed to get done this weekend. One got done. I felt completely unproductive. Mystic pointed out some things that I *did* get done, sweet as he is. And he’s right, of course. But, dear readers, I want my weekend back.

Not only was it an unplanned whirlwind, it wasn’t until tonight at 8 pm that I realized I hadn’t picked up my camera all weekend. That’s when you KNOW it was a blur. Proof positive is in a largely empty SD memory card.

No sooner were those words out of my mouth did Mystic grab my camera and start documenting the chaos in the house at that moment. We were in the midst of our Back-to-School Rainbow Cake party, an event rescheduled from two weeks prior, when Hurricane Irene blew through. Nine kids, 8 adults and a much lower key affair than the June End-of-School year celebration. The June one was a little more larger scale, and I decided to rein it in a little bit for the September event. I think the blow-out should be focused on the end of school, rightly so, and a slightly smoother sashay into the new year with the back-to-school version is pretty perfect. Well, as smooth as a house full can bring us.

This weekend also brought about a new addition to our household, Mocha. I promised the kids that we would start to look after the Labor Day weekend, and this little 10-month old German shepherd mix found her way into our hearts yesterday. Although I fully expect her to overcome a slight bit of shyness and lose the shell, she has an endearing personality and has charmed the kids. You know, like they were hard to win over to begin with.

I hope your weekend was lovely. Tomorrow? A new cupcake shop review. Until then…

Review: Fooz Kids

September 9, 2011 · Ad-Free, Narrative

Thank you to Fooz Kids for providing me with an All-In-One pack to review. The opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. ‘Cause anything less would totally not be cool.

As Nick gets older, he has more and more interest in playing on the computer. YouTube videos, countless Google searches, game playing and research for school. For now, we share my computer. I try to not get too uptight as I watch his fingers fly across the keyboard, knowing that one inadvertent keystroke can accidentally wipe away a freelancing article or invoice in a moment. I am a work in progress. But together we navigate the computer and he knows the rules that have been set in place.

When it comes to visiting various web sites, parental controls or an eagle eye is a must. It’s way too easy to click here or there and suddenly be transported to someplace way older than his young nine years. So when the folks at Clever Girls Collective asked me to review Fooz Kids, I was all ears. And if you have kids that like to play on the computer, you’ll want to be all ears (and eyes!) too.

It’s an aplication that you download onto your computer, and it operates like a kid-friendly, easy-to-navigate browser. I created a shortcut on my desktop to make it easy for Nick or Madeline to just do one-click and get in.
YOU are in control, but it’s in a subtle, background way. Once you buy the application, you can set up the account specific to your child(ren), deciding based on age and gender, and what applications are appropriate to include and have viewed by him and her. Because of this, it doesn’t so much feel like a lock-and-key approach to your child’s viewing. They don’t know what you’ve excluded, and you can feel at peace while they browse, play, work, and create to their heart’s content.
There is a huge variety of applications available for your kids to engage in … games, crafts, activities, printables and more There’s Barbie for Madeline, who loves to mother her babies, and Nick was stoked to see Big Time Rush and Drake & Josh included in the offerings. I like that there’s one spot where they can both safely hang out.
The brainchild of Moms, it’s also a bargain at $11.99.
It has a “university” feature, where you can select your child’s grade level and then he/she can do activities and worksheets targeted toward their grade level, and I love that for extra reinforcement on what Nick is currently learning in school. You can also check in on their progress there and see how they’redoing.

Want to learn more? I encourage you to go and discover Fooz Kids for yourself. Targeting kids age 3-9, you’ll find all sorts of activities to keep your young ‘uns busy and your mind at peace.

Please click here to learn more about Fooz Kids. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. #cleverfooz

Recipe: Cinnamon-Nut Spice Cookies

September 8, 2011 · Narrative

My loves, I am exhausted. The last three weekends have been insanely busy, and this week has been filled with non-stop rain, including a 24-hour period of torrential downpours. Our downtown is once again flooded and it breaks my heart as I see homeowners and businesses put out even more ruined furniture and belongings on the curb for the garbage men. Mother Nature, I don’t know who did what to you, but we could seriously use a break. My cell phone kept going off with text messages from the police department today about road closings, and school busses get delayed. On the plus side, it’s perfect napping weather. Not for me, of course. But if one was so inclined, this would be the week to pull down the shades, snuggle under your blanket and catch some extra zzzs. In fact, right after I hit publish, I’m hitting the sack early. I’m just a wee bit spent.

It’s been downright chilly here this week. Like sweater and soup weather. New Jersey never has been one to sashay lightly into the next season. It slams you in full force ’till you’re spinning around in the closet, not knowing which season you’re dressing for. But that did mean some delicious New England Clam Chowder for lunch today, in support of one of our local Mom & Pop delis that lost everything in their flooded basement after the wrath of Hurricane Irene.

And my darn web site. Some of you are seeing updated posts, which is awesome. Some see last week’s 9/1 post, “Summer’s Last Hurrah” as the last published post. I have had a number of people look at it to figure out what the heck is going on and it is making my head hurt. It’s been a problem since the last week and so far, we haven’t stumbled on the solution.

My whining notwithstanding, I somehow found the energy to bake two batches of cookies tonight. Mostly because it was a leftover night. Which means extra time for other things. These are still, nearly five years later, one of my favorite cookie recipes. The first time I made them was way back in January of ’07. If you haven’t made them yet, for shame. You can make up for it now though. I won’t be mad.

Not sure if I’m going to pop in over the weekend. I have an unexpected free day Saturday after a class cancellation, and our Back-to-School Rainbow Cake Party is on Sunday night. If I don’t, have an awesome laughter-filled weekend. I plan on doing much of the same. xoxo

September 8, 2011 – Bonus Photo

This afternoon, Madeline dragged all her chairs into the living room and set up a little snack area for her and her stuffed animals. This was the rest period after an impromptu concert to David Guetta’s “Where Dem Girls At.” Love her spirit….

Recipe: Buttermilk Pancakes

September 7, 2011 · Narrative

When Hurricane Irene was looming on the horizon, I made three trips to the grocery store. I am totally not one of those Chicken Little “the sky is falling” type people when it comes to the wrath of Mother Nature. In fact, those people kind of drive me a little crazy. While the shelves were quickly wiped out of peanut butter, bread, applesauce, and bottled water, and people literally fought over batteries for flashlights, I concentrated on fruit, fish and pancakes. You know, the necessities. I didn’t worry about losing power, so I focused on hunkering down and cooking up a storm. I had a house full of people that weekend, so many willing participants eaters.

When the kids are here on Sunday mornings, I like to take advantage of our extra time and non-schedule and make a leisurely breakfast. Hibernating during a hurricane sounded like a perfect excuse to prolong that effort, so we started the morning with freshly made pancakes. Forgetting how picky my kids are when it comes to pancakes, and since I had buttermilk on hand from the previous evenings’ delicious OMG Fried Calamari, I threw caution to the wind and made Buttermilk Pancakes. And come to find out, my kids are still particular about pancakes. As in, if they’re not Banana Pancakes, they’re not eating them. No matter, everyone else did. I am not a fan of pancakes period, banana or otherwise, and even I ate these.

Light. Fluffy. And super simple to make. Perfect for a leisurely Sunday morning breakfast, hurricane notwithstanding. And now that school is back in session, make up a batch of these, freeze half and you’ll have a quick breakfast for those harried mornings. Assuming, of course, that those harried mornings happen in YOUR house, as well as ours.

September 7, 2011 – Bonus Photo

This Sophia Loren sandwich from a Hoboken deli was lunch today (more on the deli coming soon). Fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, lightly marinated artichokes, and pesto. Yummy stuff.
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Craft Time: Crayola Art Project

September 6, 2011 · Craft Ideas

This is how we spent the Friday before Hurricane Irene. Making art work. Less than ten dollars of supplies and inspiration from Pinterest, this is a reasonably kid-friendly craft that I love because a) it has the rainbow and b) you can totally customize it to use whatever colors you want. You can coordinate it to match your kids’ rooms, or a specific theme, or do a rainbow like ours. Get creative!

With school supplies on sale, this is the perfect time of year to make this art. You will need a canvas, boxes of crayons, glue and a hair dryer. The canvas was 40% off at Michael’s for a two-pack, the crayons were 40 cents a box (I ended up using four) and the glue was $4. My grand total was $9.60 for individualized art that we could do together as a family. Which you all know is priceless, baby, priceless.

I opened up all the boxes of crayons and removed all the whites, browns, blacks, pinks, aquas and any other non-rainbow colors. Then I arranged them neatly across the top of the canvas in ROY G. BIV order, making sure the Crayola label was front and center for all of them.

Madeline helped by arranging crayons on her coloring book.

Like so. She is not the OCD member of the family.

She also helped me by grouping colors together.

Man, I love crayons. Especially Crayola crayons. And crayon art even more.

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Weekend Photos in Review

September 5, 2011 · Photos

This weekend, our final Summer hurrah, brought about Surprise #2 from our Summer 2011 Bucket List. A trip to Hershey Park. But that’s not all. Mystic’s family joined us, and we met Jamie (the kids’ old babysitter) there for dinner the night before and the next day. So a 3-in-1 surprise, which was the perfect way to finish the season off with a bang.

Traveling with seven, and being responsible for five kids, I can totally get how Kate Gosselin feels. There was a lot of “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ok, we’re good” going on, and with the older kids sometimes going in different directions, it can definitely be a challenge, but it worked out rather seamlessly. Speaking of five kids, Sunday morning found us at the pharmacy, and while the pharmacist was answering a few questions for me and Mystic (one of the kids was under the weather), the kids starting coming to stand near us. The pharmacist stopped for a second. “Are these ALL yours?” We nodded. “Wow, it’s like they just keep coming.” Really, folks? Five kids is a lot? I could see if it was maybe five kids under four or they were all climbing the counters or rambunctious, it might seem a little overwhelming. Or like the Duggar family. But five? People amaze me sometimes.

This is Madeline’s favorite part of Hershey Park, Chocolate World. And it’s really not even in the park. It’s outside of the front entrance. It has a ride where you can learn all about how they make Hershey chocolate. She calls it the cow ride because singing cows are featured prominently throughout, and asked for it from the moment we got to Hershey yesterday morning, until we finally did it at 9:45 pm Sunday night.

I don’t know how he managed to squish himself into this fire truck, nor uncoil himself to get out, but if Madeline asks, it’s as good as done.

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Summer’s Last Hurrah

September 1, 2011 · Narrative

I have had a terrible head cold for a little over a week now.

Sore throat came and went.

Today I woke up and felt like my head was going to explode.

Apparently Miss Migraine felt a little left out and wanted to join the party. How kind of her, no?

Madeline’s camp had its last day yesterday. Nick’s a few weeks ago.

So today I worked from home.

With the kids.

And said head cold, migraine, and oh yes, nausea filled out the party nicely.

I succumbed and finally called the doctor and off the three of us went.

Only reason I went, instead of waiting it out longer, is that Surprise #2 off our Summer Bucket List is happening this weekend.

And I couldn’t not be well for it.

And Nick has plans tomorrow night, and Madeline and I are hanging with my nieces. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen those girls and I miss ’em.

Antibiotics were the only solution. The over-the-counter/hydrate/soup cocktail just wasn’t cutting it.

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Bake It Forward with Imperial Sugar

August 31, 2011 · Narrative

I love sending care packages. When Desert Storm was going on, I spearheaded a big effort to send packages to the troops stationed overseas. Getting donations from Nabisco and local businesses, we packed up hundreds of boxes stuffed with snacks, condiments (by request), ChapStick, comics and more. It landed us on the local news. When my sister was in college, I sent her a few packages featuring favorite things from home. And we frequently drop off cookie care packages to neighbors and friends. We bake. We share. That simple. It’s good to spread joy, and better for our waistlines to get the baked goods out of the house asap, ya know?

So you know when the gang at Imperial Sugar e-mailed me recently to ask if I wanted to participate in their Bake It Forward program, I was in like flynn. It’s a pretty fun concept. You can buy a tin from them ($5.00 each), and it comes with a code stamped on the inside of the lid. Once you get it, you register it online so you can track it. Go bake up some favorite baked goodies and send it to someone who can use a smile. A neighbor who goes the extra mile for you. A co-worker who needs a little sunshine in their day. A lot of the tins are being sent to military personnel. I’m sure you won’t be at a loss for who to send it to. Much harder to whittle down the list! Then, the idea is that they receive it, eat the goodies, fill it back up and bake it forward, passing the cheer along to someone else who needs it. And because you registered your tin, you can track it and see how far it goes and where it ends up. Pretty nifty idea, no?

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