Day 7 Summer June 18

A momentous day. . . my 15th wedding anniversary!!

Wow. Hard to believe it has been that long and that I am old enough to have been married that long! Crazy. In fifteen years we have lived in 9 homes and five cities, had two kids and one dog. Nine homes?? That means we had to pack and move 8 times!! and that was in the first 10 years, because we have been in our house for 5 years now.

So how did we spend our special day? Running around two counties mostly! The girls and I had plans to spend the morning at the beach with schoolmates. I picked up Rachel on the way because Michelle has SHINGLES (!!!) and won't be able to get out much for a few days. She feels pretty good considering. . . So then we drove down to Bathtub Beach (in Martin County) but there were no spots left in the parking lot! So after a few frantic cell phone calls it was decided that we would all meet at Jensen Beach which is about 7 or 8 miles north of Bathtub. So we got to the beach around 11. I really did consider taking pictures but there is NO FREAKING WAY I am bringing my new Canon to the beach and I can't find my little Canon with the cracked LCD screen. So no pictures. I know. I suck.

I spent about an hour and a half in the water because it was way too hot to sit on the beach in the hot sand. That was enough beach time for me. I don't know how other people can stay for hours and hours. I'm good for about two hours, max. And even slathered in sunscreen I still managed to burn my back and shoulders. Crap. Two days later and it is still sore and starting to itch!

We stopped and got burgers and headed back home. That is another thing I never do. We never bring food to the beach. Been there and done that and ate enough sand that I have never done it again! We got home around 2 o'clock and Mike was already home. Yeah! Everyone took a shower and then we packed everyone up for their night away from home. We dropped Becca off at her friend Amanda's house (I just adore her family. . . They are so nice and their house is adorable!) took Kenzie to art class, took Rachel home and visited with Michelle, went to pick Kenzie up and dropped her off at Lauren's house and then headed south to Stuart for our night away. (I love Lauren's mom, too!)

Mike and I ate at the Thai Basil Garden in Stuart and then headed over the causeway to the Marriott Hotel on Hutchinson Island. We had a lovely evening on our own and even got to watch a grown-up movie that I would never be able to watch at home (well only on the laptop with headphones): The Hangover. Basic grossout humor but with a plot! Very funny and recommended by both Mike and me.

Mike's gift to me was some fabulous caramel popcorn with nuts (I'm sure there's a better name for it, but it's like Super Crunch n Munch) and a caramel apple from Kilwin's. Unfortunately Mike ate most of it! LOL! And I have another gift coming that is in the mail. . .

Day 6 Summer June 17

Well, looking back, we didn't do much of nothin' on Thursday. The only eventful thing that I remember was making butter chicken for dinner, which was really amazing. Try it out if you haven't ever made it. It's really pretty dang easy. You marinate some chicken in lime juice and spices (I never remember to do this, so my chicken only sits like ten minutes and it's still just fine). Then you saute an onion in butter, add the chicken and saute a little longer. Add a can of diced tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce and let it all simmer about 20 minutes. At the end you stir in some cream and serve it over rice. See? Not too difficult! And absolutely delicious. If you leave out the cream it might even be kind of, sort of healthy.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2010/02/a-tasty-recipe-butter-chicken/

Day 5 Summer June 16

Well I got the kids out of the house by 10 to get to McK's dental appointment. The chain across her front teeth snapped on Tuesday and within a couple hours she had a gap between two of her teeth. Oops. Definitely needed to be taken care of. While there I ran into an old student and her family. It's nice to know that I have made an impact! Sometimes it really feels more like I beat my head against a wall!

After the dentist the girls and I headed to Tradition. The girls don't have much for summer clothes. In fact they both wore long jeans to the dentist. Crazy! When we got in the car after the dentist appt. the car said it was 113! Ha Ha. It wasn't that hot of course, but it was still super warm. Over 90 and incredibly humid. We made it to two stores before the girls started to beg for lunch: Old Navy and TJ Maxx. Becca finaly found some shorts! She is hard to fit. She is very narrow with a tiny waist but has a bigger butt and thighs than a slim. So most things are too big in the waist or too tight in the thighs. Definitely a Mayo. McKenzie is in a junior size 5 now. And both girls found some T-shirts. I'll try to remember to take some pictures to post.

We ate lunch at Wicked Burger. It was delicious (and yes I stayed away from the girl's soda) but their a/c was out and we ended up eating outside. It was shady and they had fans going, but I was still soaked in sweat by the time we were done so we headed home. The girls and I ended up watching "The Blind Side." We all enjoyed it and none of us cried. I kept hearing from everyone who saw it to be prepared to cry. What is wrong with us? We must be hard-hearted or something!

Day 4 Summer June 15

Day 4 and I must admit that I was, dare I say it? Bored. Yep, it's true. I didn't feel much like cleaning or housework and I don't have many projects going, so I didn't do much at all! Mike and I did take the dog for a walk. We did it before the sun was up and it was still pretty warm. The humidity has been terrible. The temp may only say 90 but the heat index is around 105. Nasty stuff. What I wouldn't give for a pool!!!

I ran out of Pepsi Sunday and forgot to buy some at the store so I figured maybe it was a sign that I should try giving it up. I had a can of Pepsi with lunch on Monday but none Tuesday, so by Tuesday night I had a pretty killer headache. And there wasn't anything on TV so I mostly laid in bed and read a book. Fun stuff huh? I should be caught up on sleep!

Oh, I did paint the patched wall in the master bath. We tore part of the wall out behind the shower over spring break to fix a leak. I had patched it, but never gotten around to painting it, so I did take care of that. Now I need to paint the baseboard and replace it. I really should paint all of the woodwork. All the trim in the house is a flat builder's white. The house is six years old now and the baseboards are looking pretty sad and beat up and they could all use a coat of fresh paint (as well as the doors) but that just sounds like a LOT of work, so I keep putting it off. I need to just do it!

Day 3 Summer June 14

Started the day very early, at 4 am! Yuck. I let the dog out and she ended up terrorizing a monarch butterfly on the back porch. Nothing quite like a barking dog at 4 am to make your neighbors love you. I fell back to sleep around 5:30, but had to get up to go to work anyway. Double yuck. I spent 8 to 12:30 at school doing some instuctional planning for next year with other teachers. They fed us breakfast and lunch and I will get paid, so not too bad overall.

Got home and rallied the troops to do a little cleaning. Got most of the laundry done and Kenzie helped with the kitchen and Becca helped here and there. My house needs to be deep-cleaned from top to bottom and I need to do a LOT of organizing (closets, drawers, shelves, etc), so it's hard to not go crazy and just tear evrything apart, but I'm trying to keep my cool. :)

I got Kenzie signed up for a Fine Arts camp at the Elliott Museum for the next two weeks. The classes are in Stuart (about 35 minute drive) from 1:30 to 5:00, so Becca and I will need to find stuff to keep us busy. It's too far to come back home, but I'm sure we'll find things to do. And Kenzie will really love the opportunity to learn and hang out with other kids with similar interests.

Around 3 a kid showed up at my door to apologize. A few nights ago we were woken up around 3 am by a policeman letting us know that our car had been spray painted in the middle of the night. (FUC U written on the back window of Mike's car) Several cars and houses were spray painted. The paint came off pretty easy with WD40. We got a call a couple days later that the person had been caught but I didn't ask for particulars but we figured it was just a few teenagers pulling a prank. It turned out to be a black kid, probably about 13 or 14. His aunt was taking him around the neighborhood to apologize and to offer to clean up any damages. Apparently he just moved in a couple streets over. I have a lot of respect for that aunt driving that kid around in the heat of the day to take responsibility for his actions. Good for her! I hope the kid appreciates her. In my line of work I see a lot of apathetic parents.

Becca had a neighbor boy over for the afternoon (too hot to play outside--heat index 104!). They played Wii for a couple hours. She kicked his butt in the Family Feud but he did better with the Summer Games or whatever it is called. We'll have to set up some more play dates especially for Kenzie who hibernated in her room all day. Becca is much better at picking up the phone and calling friends. Kenzie texts a bit, but doesn't spend much time on the phone.

For dinner we had Chicken and Green Beans with Spicy Orange Sauce (America's Test Kitchen again)and strawberries and mangos with whipped cream. Super Yum and fairly healthy (except for the whole whipped cream thing). I've lost two pounds this week. Only about 50 to go! Ha Ha. Then Becca and I watched The Bachelorette. Not sure why I keep watching. It's an illness I guess! I just love it! Even while knowing that The Biggest Loser and Survivor have better matchmaking rates. Right now my money is on Roberto or Kurt.

Day 2 Summer June 13

Got up early again to take the dog for a walk. It's not fun getting up early in the summer, but if we don't get a walk in by 8 am, it just ain't gonna happen!

Let's see, oh yeah, I was going to make pancakes because we had some strawberries to use up and then Mike suggested waffles. YUM, I thought. Uh oh, no pancake mix. Now for the most part, I do not use mixes; I prefer to make things from scratch. But I find that the pancake mix where you just add water is every bit as good as from scratch. Unfortunately, I was out of mix. So I dig out my fave cookbook, America's Test Kitchen, and peruse the ingredients. Uh oh, no milk. Seriously?? If you read yesterday's post you will recall that I was too smelly to go to the grocery store. Oops. So I ended up making oatmeal-cranberry cookies. Yeah, I'm not quite sure how I came up with that either, but the family was happy. Except Becca who picked the dried cranberries out of hers. Oh well. . .

We did finally make it to Sam's Club later in the day. And we made it out for about $100 which is really good for us. We got steaks, snacks, fruit, etc. So for dinner we had rib-eyes, grilled mushrooms, corn-on-the-cob and fresh sliced mango. Delish!

It was also my mom's birthday!! And Michelle's high school graduation! It's rough being so far away during all these celebrations. I just feel so disconnected from our families. At first it seemed like it might be temporary, but we haven't lived within a day's drive in over 7 years now. At least when we lived in Utah we could drive up. It took a full day but it was possible. Now we are 3700 miles away and we are limited to once yearly visits. This year we fly out on July 8 and we come back on July 26.

DAY 1 Summer!

Got up early and took the dog for a walk with Mike and Kenzie. It was already HOT!

Becca was over at Kiera's house on a sleepover. Mike and Kenzie and I took Sophie to the Farmer's Market in Fort Pierce. Picked up some bread and veggies. It was hot there too, even though it's right on the water.

We decided we were too sweaty and gross to stop at Sam's Club so we went home.

Took Becca to a pool party at a schoolmate's house at 12 and then ran to the post office to mail some paperbackswap books and my mom's birthday gifts (and dad's father's day card). Mike and I went to BerryFresh Cafe for lunch and then picked up Becca at pool party.

What I wouldn't give for a pool right now!! The Heat index is over 100 everyday and it's just miserable to be out in it. Canada sounds good right now.

Becca got a little gift in the mail today! A couple weeks ago I mentioned on Pei Wei's Facebook page that my daughter had gotten a A+ on an assignment where she had to write about her favorite restaurant. One of Pei Wei's marketing people contacted me for our address and he sent Becca $30 in gift cards and a coupon for free lettuce wraps! See, it does pay to do your homework!

Spent the evening reading and went to bed early! Exciting start to vacation! Okay, maybe not. But it feels good anyway!