Saturday-Family Fun Day!-Strathmere, NJ

Just a little way up the road from the popular Ocean City, New Jersey , is the beautiful town of Strathmere.  Strathmere has become one of our favorite places to visit in the Summer. 

The boys love the beach and so do we.  So quiet and private.  We never have to worry about disturbing anyone or being disturbed.

Cheekie

A rare moment that I could get Evan to look at me

Check out the expanse of beach we had to ourselves

Just kicking back

Free parking and no costly badges, Strathmere is also a great alternative for a family on a budget.


Can't wait to go again!

Foodie Friends Friday Linking Party

Welcome Friends!  Today I am linking up with Walking on Sunshine and Food Friends Friday for their recipe linking party.  Check it out and get some really FABULOUS recipes.  My mini pizza recipe is #70.

Enjoy!

Tech Thursday-Just Say No to Word Verfication

A few week ago, on my friend's blog, Walking on Sunshine, she posted about that little annoyance, word verification.  Wondering what that is?

 It is the annoying little box that makes you prove you are not a robot by copying a word, that you can seldom read, before you can post to any blog.  I have finally removed mine, I hope this will encourage you all to leave more comments.

If you are wondering how you can remove word verification from your blog, it is much easier than you might think.  Primcats 
has a wonderful post on how to do it and Funky Junk Interiors has some great info too, among other things.

In short, the process is pretty simple.  1. go to your dashboard.  2. then choose settings. 3. scroll down to comment.  4. then word verification. 5. click no.  6. save settings.  It's that simple!


Hope this helps!




 

Random Thoughts-Independence

On a day like today, when we are busy with preparing tasty morsels to take to our family BBQs, I would hope that we would take a minute to reflect.  What does independence mean to you?

Happy Independence Day!

Recipe Tuesday-Desserts-Trifles

Banana Vanilla Trifle

Berry Pound Cake Trifle

 

 

Getting ready for your holiday picnics, have I got two delicious desserts for you?  Let's start out with my berry trifle:

First, remove the cores and slice 2 pints of strawberries.  Add blueberries, raspberries and 1/2 cup of sugar. and let sit for 15-30 minutes. (Sorry photo was lost.)

Then, take a pound cake loaf and slice in half with a serrated knife. 

 Place top over bottom and cut lengthwise into 3-4 long strips (depending on how large you would like the cake cubes to be). Then slice the cake creating cubes.

 Layer first the cake, then the berries, then whip topping of your choice and continue laying until you have reached the top.  This recipe took 2 loaves of pound cake, 2 tubs of whipped topping, 2 pints of blueberries, 2 pints of raspberries, and 2 quarts of strawberries.

Another variation is to layer Vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding , bananas and whipped topping of your choice.

This trifle took about 3 bananas, 2 tubs of whip topping, 2 packages of instant vanilla pudding (or 6 cups of the ready made stuff) and an entire box of vanilla wafers.

Hope you have a lovely holiday!

Manic Monday-DIY Storage Ideas

Who wouldn't want a craft studio that looks like this?  Everything has a place and all of your supplies are at your fingertips the moment inspiration hits you.

You all know, I have been working on getting my house organized and finding simple solutions to store things out of sight.  One of my favorite places on Earth is the Container Store.  This place has the coolest things!  They seem to have thought of everything you could possibly need to get yourself organized.

Unfortunately, we are on a very tight budget at our house and I have been looking for some creative DIY solutions to my organizing woes.  It all started with this picture:

From http://kimboscrafts.blogspot.com/2011/08/diaper-box.html and http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2011/02/lets-make-something-together-lined.html

Anyone who knows me knows that we have plenty of diaper boxes on hand.  I was over the moon.  Soon I had been searching for hours, finding all sorts of ingenious ideas like this:

http://craftandcreativity.com/blog/2012/02/17/organizedribbons/

And this:

http://bluevelvetchair.blogspot.com/2011/08/read-it-and-weep-16-repurposed-and.html and http://www.etsy.com/listing/64834633/new-low-price-the-original-modern

And this:

http://myplumpudding.blogspot.com/2008/05/recycled-toy-storage-and-creepy-masks.html

The possibilities are endless.  And when I say endless, I really do mean ENDLESS!  I found countless ideas for all sorts of DIY container storage and you don't have  to be limited to covering boxes you already have on hand, you can cut and transform those boxes to be any dimensions you need.

http://www.letusdiy.org/html/diy/diy_jiaju/20090317/1222.html

 

 

 

 

I am so excited to get crafting again.  Now back to scheduling so that I can block out the time. LOL  

Random Thoughts-Summer Reading

Today was Library Day, or as my 4 year old calls it, Lawberry Day.  Our lovely Library has a wonderful Summer reading program this year and today we read books all about night creatures.

The boys did surprisingly well.  They even lasted through the seemingly endless list of announcements that started the session.  About 30 minutes in, the natives began to get restless but I know that the more we go, the better and more engaged they will be. 

It really warms my heart to see my boys interested in books.  I especially love when they sit reading, sometimes with the book upside down, reading intently, brow furrowed.  It just warms my heart.

Reading and books have always been my favorite thing. I've always said, "Some girls have a shoe department store thing, I have a book and second hand bookstore thing.".  I've never found a second hand bookstore I didn't love.  I can walk into a second hand bookstore and walk out looking like Pretty Woman after her shopping spree on Rodeo Drive.
 
Unfortunately, I have done very little reading for pleasure over the past couple of years, if it isn't a parenting magazine or book  on child rearing, then I haven't laid eyes on it.  Something I truly have missed. But recently I have been finding the time to read a bit, mostly small novels.  Most recently I read, Pemberley Or Pride & Prejudice Continued by Emma Tennant.  Not a bad little novel, even if I didn't completely give myself over to Tennant's version of Elizabeth.  It was nice to read something for pleasure that was about characters I love.

This Summer, along with committing 30 minutes a day to reading to the boys, I have decided to start reading fiction again for myself.  My first challenge is to finish reading PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, which I have only been trying to read, I think since Evan was born...YIKES!  And then onto the phenomenon which is The Hunger Games which comes highly recommended by all my book loving friends.  If I am successful in this endeavor, I hope to add some book discussion to this blog.  I hope you all will join in. 

What are your favorite books and what are you reading this Summer?

Remember support your local libraries, they need our support.