So… I haven’t been documenting everyday, because honestly, I think it will get narcissistic and boring. So, I will be sharing highlights today… all via iPhone pics. Fun, huh?

We took the boat out & met up with friends at Lake Boca… and there was a nice patriotic service at church.

We went on a hiking trip… then made cookies.

And… we made a wreath for Independence day. We also scored big at Goodwill with some vintage cast iron (Griswold, and no heat ring!) and a brand new (with tags!) helmet. Of course I couldn’t resist cheap cookbooks. ($2.99) 😀 Yay to that.

I manages to knock a few things off my Pinterest boards, as well. I made these cute little charms & a AMAZING ICED COFFEE ~ I’ll share the recipe and link it up shortly.

I have this huge craft box under my bed with random supplies for assorted Pinterest crafts I saw. I have vowed to not even get one more craft item until that box is empty. Let’s just say I’m going to be all crafted out soon & very soon. :p

If you can’t tell from that pic above… that cast iron is in desperate need of a re-season. So, that will be a tutorial as well. But, to be honest- it’s summer. Turning on the oven to re-season cast iron is not tops on the list. (For now…)

Maybe the next rainy day. 🙂 Have a wonderful day, folks. Enjoy today & all that it is for what it’s worth. xoxoxo!

Ahhh… nothing like a surprise boat adventure.

Thanks to me copping a little attitude. Sometimes, a little attitude fixes everything. When my hubby called to say he was going to ride on his buddy’s boat to make sure it “sounded okay” , I said “Awww… I was looking forward to hanging out with you this afternoon” Which, I know is totally NOT an attitude. But it’s a whiny complaint- something I seldom do. So, it’s was different than my “usual” attitude.

Anyway, it worked… because five minutes later he said get dressed for the boat- we’re all going.  It turns out, his buddy’s girlfriend was going , too – and we ended up making an evening of it.

Yay for attitudes!

I LOVE the flip around camera thingy on my iphone. It keeps ups entertained quite nice.

I need to paint my toes … the spots on my kids feet are the stamps she gets after each swim lesson.

The “stamps” on my legs are permanent.

I LOVE going to restaurants by boat. It’s so Florida…

And, it’s awesome to come back from the bathroom and find a Mojito waiting there.

After the first place… it started to look a bit rainy… so we went down the intracoastal to resturant #2

I love docking signs…

Man, I’m glad I had my shirt on.

Saturday ended up being homemade pizza day.

And… on Sunday after church we avoided tornadoes.

… and I made tater tot casserole.

As for today, there is a VBS starting, which means three free hours for ME. I decided I’m NOT going to do chores.

🙂

Summer day twelve:

We had a total rain day on Wednesday.. and I forgot what was on my summer-do-list for rainy days, so we drew pictures, made garlic knots and spaghetti pie.
Oh yeah, we also got robbed of twenty bucks and an hour and ten minutes. Grrr. It turns out, I went to the bank to deposit twenty bucks in the ATM, and perhaps because it was raining or something, the machine ate the money and just froze up on me.
So, I go through the human drive through & explain the situation, and they tell me to come in and fill out a claim. They also said it would only take five minutes. MY ASS! It took an hour and ten minutes, mainly because the banker tried to call the WRONG department the first time. Then, when the RIGHT department was reached, I had to argue over the phone with some outsourced phone girl who I was. She didn’t BELIEVE me. Jeez, there’s NOTHING like defending your own IDENTITY to someone in ANOTHER country. So, all I want is my twenty bucks credited, and they say “We’ll see in 72 hours” Totally WASTED a large part of my afternoon BANK OF AMERICA. Seriously, with the name BANK OF AMERICA, you wouldn’t think they’d OUTSOURCE.
Just sayin’.
Anyway, the rest of the rainy afternoon was spent at the library where we got some books and DVDS, then we came home to an indoor picnic with a DVD- that ended up getting stuck in the player.
So, I went to make sandwiches & the bread was moldy.
AGHHHHHH!
I gave up and made spaghetti pie and garlic knots and a mango pie.
When all else fails, bake.

Summer day thirteen:

Ahhh, much better than twelve! The sun was out, so we decided to go on a nice long flower-picin’-mango-findin’ walk.

Score!

I see more mango recipes in my future…

I also have been on the hunt for some nice summery-smellin’ lotion, so on the way to swim lessons we went to the mall. Key note: I go to the mall for twenty minutes once a year to visit Santa. THAT’S IT. When, I texted my hubby that we were going to the mall, he didn’t believe me. Until I sent him a picture. He KNOWS I’m just not a mall girl.

Turns out, it’s too late to fine summer stuff at the mall. They are getting ready for FALL.

Well,  mall merchants, it’s still SUMMER here. Grrr. I settled for some summer items that were 75% off. Ch-ching! 🙂

After the mall…

SWIM LESSONS!!! In case you were wondering, I’m doing ISR ones.

Then, we had to got to the pet store… they had baby skunks there. I contemplated what it would be like to have one.. for a moment.

These are part of today’s plans: washer charms, cash in on a coupon, and make cookies & homemade spaghetti-Os. There’s also sewing and beading projects that are “on the list” but, I doubt we’ll get to them today. Unless it rains again….

PLAYDATE!!!

My daughter was soooo excited to see her friend from preschool that she drew this:

I’m crazy about the slide.

I love four year old art. All kids artwork is awesome, but I’ve always been more partial to the little ones. Before they get too literal & after they move beyond scribbles.

Just my opinion.

Here’s the play-date in real life:

After that, we had to rush off to swim lessons & then go rescue daddy, because her car went “Bonk” as we say.

Thank goodness it’s fixable. Today is a mucky rainy day… probably no lessons which means we will probably make cookies or a craft and stick some seeds in the ground.  It’s always fun to see a sunflower sprout up in a odd part of the yard.

I decided to combine summer days 8 & 9, mainly since it fell on a weekend & also due to the fact it was Father’s day weekend…
At first, we contemplated going camping, but the 4 1/2 hour drive to our favorite camp site deterred us- we ended up doing the next best thing: pretended to be tourists in our own hometown ( and still steep in our own bed!) I made a little collage with a cool 1960’s filter effect~ perfect for cheesy tourist vibe.

I’m very lucky to live in Florida… not just for the beaches & weather… but because I found these on my morning walk:

I’m totally thinking about making a mango cobbler.

As far as the actual Father’s day went, my hubby’s only request was to get wings and a pitcher of beer at Hooter’s. I was actually surprised that all of the tables has kids & dads & moms at ’em. Maybe it was a Father’s day thing…hmmm.

Hubby surprised me with a little present, as well…

How cute is my new decal???

Since we were being tourists as well, we had to go to a seaside tourist shop and rescue a hermit crab. The salesgirl was shocked to learn that we’ve had the same one for over a year now…

We’re good crabby parents. 😉

Ahhh, summer day seven involved a trip to IKEA with my out-of-town friend and her son. It was their first IKEA visit, and a “mini-road-trip” for the four of us, (since it’s an hour away from my house). We planned to get there early to avoid the crowds & get a hot cinnamon bun… but (grrr) they didn’t have any buns out. (I need to tweet them about that).
We were going to attempt to stay for a meatball lunch, but kids were IKEA-ed out at that point. I’m not sure what it is about when kids see beds in stores that they have an uncontrollable urge to go and pretend to sleep in them… but that’s what my daughter kept doing. Which, in turn led the little guy to do as well. Whoops.

So, a lot of our IKEA trip was spent saying “Oooo, that’s neat.” and “NO! Stop! Stay here!”

Ahhh… shopping with kids…
Regardless, we had a blast & I know there will be a day when we can go there and giggle about having our little kids there. And, it bought us some nice quiet time later that afternoon:

Normally, I have a list for an IKEA trip… but this trip I just kinda wandered around…and got my coffee, a microwave food cover, a hook, and Popsicle molds. Mmmmm, homemade cream-sicles… yum.

My girlfriend got a duvet set… I forgot to warn her that they are a bit tricky to do. But, she’s tall & has a longer arm span than me, so maybe it will be easier for her. I always feel pooped when I change my duvet cover by myself….

Anyway, after IKEA it rained for about 5 hours… the sunshine state, you know. 🙂

Living in Florida, I’m blessed to have a water “splash ground” that’s a ten minute walk from my home. It was the perfect (and free!) thing to do with a two and four year old. Of course, I had a little fathers day craft for them to do beforehand. Because, sometimes, I’m known to get “all Martha” 😉

I was trying to find these wooden trays for the plaster mix, but in typical last minute at the dollar store fashion- they were sold out. So, I opted for the lids of happy birthday boxes to serve as plaster molds and picture displays to hold the handprints.

Of course cold squishy stuff is lots of fun for kids…

I’ll post a pic as soon as they’re cured completely. Hopefully before my friend has to go back home to North Carolina….

Summer day four!

I had an old friend come into town… we’ve been friends for… jeez… um… maybe 15 years? I’ll have to ask her.  Anyway, she used to be my pottery class partner, co-worker, traveling buddy and thrift shopping and flea marketing partner. We had a falling when I first met my now husband… and man, I’m so glad all that is behind us. I missed her a lot.

Now, we’re both moms and yesterday we hit up a little mom and pop breakfast place with our kids in tow. It’s funny, I think the last time we were at a restaurant together we were having Long-Island Iced Teas…

Instead we’re cutting up pancakes for our kids… I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I tell you, there’s nothing like a good biscuit and a good friend…

Afterward, we treasure hunted at World Thrift, biding our time while the kids got restless in the shopping cart. The shopping cart quickly became a train/semi truck that had to keep moving so the inhabitants didn’t become restless. It almost tipped when my daughter saw an array of brightly colored “booby’holders” (AKA bras) and tried to move in for closer inspection.

Nothing like a nearly tipped over cart to get your blood pumping. Which, was probable needed after that biscuit.

After we parted for the afternoon, I had to go marketing because we NEEDED grapes. Nothing beats frozen grapes in the summer, you know… Once  the hubs came home, we  went to a local park to watch the boats & smell dead fish.

Really.

There was this big dead stinky fish that had washed up. I think I burned my olfactory space with the stench. 😛

That’s it for summer day four. Dinner was pork chops and rice. I made my own cream of mushroom soup for it- mainly because I was too lazy to go back to the store.  I cooked it in the toaster oven, too. Mainly because the big oven makes my house a sauna.  True story.

Today’s adventures are Father’s day crafts with the kids and a stroll to the splash ground that’s in my neighborhood.