Weekend Recap - The Boy, The Girl and The Zoo

College Boy sent this picture to me on Friday, showing me that he was actually wearing the scarf I made him like two years ago.  I also made him a hat with college colors and asked him where that was, but he didn't answer.  He proceded to text me throughout the day when he got a compliment on the scarf.  He ended up with TWO compliments, so now he thinks it is cool to wear it.  OK, this picture to me really isn't much about my son or his scarf, or the fact that he knows how to take a picture of himself with his phone.  It is WHERE he is taking this picture!!  Ummm...what do you see on the side and in the background?!  Is this a PUBLIC RESTROOM on the FSU campus??  OH Lord have mercy, have I NOT raised you better than this???  Good thing no one was coming out of the stall!!

Can you guess which show Sweet Girl can't wait to come back on???   She texted me this photo of her in her bedroom.  Do you see the blow-up mattress in the background??  Yes, it has been there on the side wall of her room for a couple of weeks now, in case another friend texts her and says they are coming over and BAM it goes down, sheets are on, pillows and blankets are there and it is good to go.  At least the closet doors are closed!

Yesterday myself and some friends all went to the zoo.  A couple of them had never been before, and we have a pretty nice zoo here in our small coastal town.  That being said, at first it was a disappointment and I felt bad.  We went around 2:00 and the pythons were not in their cages.  We saw the new Cheetah exhibit, but the cheetahs were far away in the corner, then went to feed the giraffes, and they were no where in site.  There were SO MANY people there since this was the first weekend all year where the temps were in the 70's, so the wait for the kayaking was hours long so we couldn't do that either.  But all was not lost -- we got to feed the birds, then we came across this guy up above.  I have no clue what kind of prehistoric animal this thing represents, but it was the funniest looking bird I have ever seen! 

 

We saw the alligators and were there in time to see them being fed.  The girl was on the platform on the other side, where us spectators were, and she banged the pole to call them.  I'm telling you, all of a sudden came out THE biggest alligator I have ever seen!  He was 13 ft. long and weighed a ton, but he hoisted himself up and ate the meat off of the stick she held out.  His name was Humphrey and he was pretty impressive!

Here is a small group of them. 

One of my favorite things to see:  It is hard to see here, but it is a Sandhill Crane on her nest of two eggs.  Well, it may be the male about to sit on the eggs, I forget.  But we have them by my house also, and when these little guys hatch, they are SO cute to see with their parents walking around!  You can tell spring is in the air when you see this.  Hopefully the weather will remain mild, but I think it is suppose to get cold again by the end of this week.  Sweet girl was sick so I had to take her to the doctor yesterday to get her on antibiotics.  Little Man earned enough money to go to Target and buy some more Bakugan traps, but they were out of those so he settled on some cool Bakugan balls that he didn't have.  Boys and their toys!! 

Artful Thursday

Today for Artful Thursday I decided to use the valentines paper I had out, and use some other little odds and ends I had around the house to make this tag.  My girlfriend dared asked me to make something with my new Martha Stewart punch I bought.  She is a great crafter herself, and liked the punch with the birds on a wire, but couldn't think of any way to use it so she asked me to play with it, so here it is:

 

I decided to use some vintage sheet music and try my punch out on that.  I think it turned out pretty good, considering I had the music upside down (shh - we'll just say I meant to do that to add character to the tag).  I had the felt butterfly and added it to go along with the "fly" theme I had going on. 

A little cluster of things in the bottom include the "negative" image from the bird punch, a punch from a french dictionary, a flower and a small button.  I'm thinking this would go pretty nicely on a card blank for a birthday or a sentiment to just say hello.  I still may add some stamping, but I'm not sure what.

Paczki Day

In Poland (The Rocket Scientist's heritage) yesterday was Paczki Day. My Publix grocery store actually had these VERY heavy, wonderful looking doughnuts for sale in their bakery, all to eat before lent on Ash Wednesday. Click on the link above to find a recipe to make them. Gone are the days when the window of opportunity for savoring a pączki was 24 short hours once a year on Fat Tuesday. Now, most bakeries offer these chubby fry cakes the entire Lenten season.

Pączki are made with a rich dough that has more eggs and sugar than a regular doughnut and they're cut larger, without a hole. When properly made, they look like huge, round baseballs, and boy are they HEAVY! Each one has around 500 calories! aahh! So go out and try to find some or make your own before Easter gets here.

Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras Day

In honor of the start of Mardi Gras and today being Fat Tuesday, I decided to get on the Cajun 'Who Dat' band wagon and celebrate New Orleans style! A favorite cajun item I got at World Market today was a bag of Zapp's Cajun Crawtator potato chips! They are so good.  We found Zapp's potato chips back when we used to live in Pensacola, FL around 1987!  That really isn't "that" long ago, is it?? 

This dinner I made tonight is fit for any 'Nawlin, even though it is served with pasta instead of rice.  It is REALLY good and REALLY spicy!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

8 ounces linguine pasta
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
4 tablespoons butter
2 red bell pepper, sliced
2 green bell pepper, sliced
8 fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 green onion, chopped
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
 
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

Place the chicken and the Cajun seasoning in a plastic bag. Shake to coat. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute the chicken in butter or margarine until almost tender (5 to 7 minutes).

Add the red bell pepper, green bell pepper, mushrooms and green onion. Saute and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce heat.

Add the cream, basil, lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder and ground black pepper. Heat through. Add the cooked linguine, toss and heat through. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

(I used thinly sliced chicken breast, whole wheat pasta linguine and fat-free half and half in place of the heavy cream, and this dish was spicy and delicious!)

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!

A Birthday and Valentine's Day Recap

I had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday, exchanging a few gifts and having a nice meal out, just the two of us, at Carabas.  These Ghirardelli chocolates came straight from San Francisco!  I'm so glad the Rocket Scientist made it home the other day, in time for Sweet Girl's birthday party and Valentine's Day.  With the snow all over the country, flights were cancelled left and right, but his were fine.  Thank the Lord!

 

Sweet Girl had a GREAT time on Friday, having a chocolate party at school, exchanging valentines with friends and then having a FUN birthday party that evening with a slightly cheesy great movie and a pizza party.  First off, the party bunch, myself and Aunt Shannon went to see Valentine's Day 

while the Rocket Scientist and Little Man went to see The Tooth Fairy which was playing the same time.

Let's just say the KIDS loved the movies!  haha  The Rock in a pink tutu??  Oh Lordy, lordy....

Pizza and cake finished up the night.  Because it was Sweet Girl's golden birthday (she turned 12 on the 12th), I made up some candy bags that included gold Hershey Nugget candy and gold Rolos.

We let the girls order the flavor of pizza that they wanted, and they chose a Spaghetti Pizza (it has spaghetti noodles and cut up meatballs on it) and a Hawaiian Pizza.

She loved all of her gifts which mostly consisted of clothes which she is REALLY into lately! 

Little Man didn't make it through the whole party.  He pooped out right when his pizza came out.

Happy 12th Birthday, sweety!  So glad you loved your day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

xoxoxo

The Golden Birthday

Happy Birthday to Sweet Girl who is 12 today on the 12th!  Her golden birthday.  We have been planning her party all week, inviting a few friends to see the opening movie of Valentine's Day, then going to the Pizza Gallery for dinner right across the way.  She is at that stage now where she doesn't want me to bring cookies to the class or buy a cookie from the cafeteria for her.  She doesn't want any added attention.  She almost didn't want a cake!  What, no cake?  Of course we have to have cake!  So I ordered her favorite - the Raspberry Elegance cake from Publix.  Yum! 

It is so good...vanilla cake with raspberry filling and a cream cheese frosting.  Another thing she was working on were valentines for her class. 

Yesterday I was taping the candy to Little Man's valentines, and was thinking since College Boy was 4, I have been taping candy to valentines every year since then!  Too funny!  Now, again -- with Sweet Girl doing her own and this being her last year to hand any out, next rises up Little Man!  6 more years of valentines to put together!  ha - that's what you get when you have your kids 6-9 years apart. 

Some more things going on...

The College Boy had his picture taken with Govenor Charlie Crist a couple of days ago at a state funding rally, and was elected to the Union Board at FSU.  So proud!!  He is majoring in accounting and loves being involved with student politics.

 

The Rocket Scientist just got back in town this morning from San Francisco, taking the red eye flight home so he would be here for Sweet Girl's birthday.  And he brought with him a loaf of Sour Dough bread!  Yum -- the perfect accompaniment to the lasagna I made last night.