Sanibel Island, Day 1

Day 1

I seriously have so much to share with you that this is going to take several posts.  We just got back from our annual “Girls Only” Sanibel Island trip.  But don’t let the term “Girls Only” turn you off if you are a guy.  Keep reading, because you may be interested in seeing some of the cool stuff we did.

To begin, there were 5 of us this year – myself, my 2 sisters, my daughter and my niece.  Each year we head down to Sanibel Island, Florida for a little R&R and family bonding time.  First stop once we hit the island was Schnappers Hots.

They have some of the best chicken wings around.  I get the MILD and they are still a little hot, although they can surely accommodate you if you want some hell fire ones too.  I like their fries and my daughter loves their hot dogs. 

We had our first “phooning” photo op in front of Schnappers.  If you aren’t familiar with phooning, check out this website:  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=phoon

After dinner we checked in to our condo.  This year we stayed at Pointe Santo and they did not disappoint.  We had a 4^th floor, 2 bedroom condo with a screened balcony as well as a rooftop deck.  Talk about an awesome view – KILLER! 

We scrambled into our bathing suits and hit the beach for a quick swim.  We were greeted by a dolphin almost immediately.  I took that as a sign of good things to come!

After a cooling dip in the ocean, we ran back to Baileys Store for some basic groceries and supplies. Baileys is an island staple and has been in business for forever. 

Afterwards we dashed down the beach for our first Sanibel Sunset of the trip.  The colors were fabulous – stunning oranges, pinks, purples and blues. 

We stood admiring the view while the girls did a little jumping for joy at being back on the island. 

 Afterwards we headed back to the condo where we enjoyed a late snack and then turned in for the night. 

We cracked open the patio doors and fell asleep to the sound of the surf gently tumbling against the shore.  All in all it was a good start to our trip.

Ms Bake-It is a Winner!

Ms. Bake-It is a winner with her fun and informative blog site:
 http://msbake-it.blogspot.com/
She takes some really fabulous photos too!  But I am the real winner today because I WON her recent Give-Away Contest. 

I was away on my annual "Girls Only" Florida trip and when I got home I signed on to check my email.  The very first message I opened was from Ms. Bake-It telling me that I had won a $40.00 store credit to put toward the purchase of any item(s) of my choice in Rhonda's shop Creations by Shellbelle .  The only problem with this fabulous win is that I am going to have to narrow my pick down to ONE thing - IMPOSSIBLE!  I already have my eye on one of her Driftshell Hearts.  Shellbelle has so many beautiful, one of a kind, hand created products that it is going to be difficult to choose.  I am going to have fun choosing my gift!  Once I get it, I will be sure to post a picture.  In the meantime, jump over to Shellebelles shop and take a gander at her creations. 

You should also be sure to check out Shellbelle's blog at http://www.shellbellestikihut.com/.  She always has something interesting to say and if you like the beach, you will love her blog!

So a BIG thank you to Ms Bake-It for hosting this giveaway and for honoring me with this win!  What a great way to start the holiday weekend.  Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Geocaching Slang

As you begin to geocache, you will come across some terms that you need to know.  Some terms are slang and other words are acronyms.  A lot of the time these terms and acronyms are used in the on-line logs, so understanding what they mean will only help you in the long run.  Let me give you a few examples. 

Muggles:  non-geocachers

FTF: First to Find.  After a new cache is published, the first person to find it claims FTF honors.  Cachers who love to go after FTF's are commonly called "FTF Hounds."

TFTC:  acronym for Thanks For The Cache.  Just a polite way to thank the cache owner for putting out the cache.

TFTH:  acronym for Thanks For The Hide.  Again, just a polite thank you on your log for the cache owner.

SWAG:  acronym for Stuff We All Get.  This is the little trade items you leave in caches for other cachers to take.

TNLN:  acronym for Took Nothing Left Nothing.  This lets other cachers know that you took nothing out of the cache and left nothing in the cache.

TNSL: acronym for Took Nothing Signed Log.

I just want to make a note here that it is a common courtesy to leave a swag item in a cache if you take a swag item.  Some common SWAG items are coins, marbles, shells, patches, stickers, fancy pencils, legos, balls, magnets, and plastic animals.  The more you cache, the more you'll get a feel of what people leave.  I like to leave fishing bobbers and sea shells.  I like to take foreign coins. 

BYOP:  acronym for Bring Your Own Pen.  The cache owner will usually put this on the cache page to let you know that the cache container is too small to house a pen, so bring your own pen to sign the log.

DNF:  acronym for Did Not Find.  If you couldn't find a cache, you can go to the cache page and log a DNF.  This just lets other cachers know it was difficult to find, or maybe even missing.  If a cache gets several DNF's in a row, then the cache owner will have to go check to make sure the cache is still there.

GPS:  this is for the GPS unit you own and use to find your caches.

CITO: acronym for Cache In Trash Out.  This is an ongoing environmental effort to clean up as you cache.  In other words, cache on your way in and stuff trash in a bag on your way out.

So there you have it.  These are some of the most common terms that you will run across while caching.  If you want to study up on more terms, please visit the official geocaching page at:
http://www.geocaching.com/about/glossary.aspx

Happy caching!

Cream of Chicken and Rice Soup

Ok, it's spring already!!  Hello - 40 degrees today and MORE rain???  Ugh.  This kind of weather puts me in the mood for some comfort food, so how does homemade Cream of Chicken and Rice sound?  I came up with this recipe last year because I like to go to the store and buy one of those pre-cooked rotisserie chickens for us for lunch.  I wanted something to do with the leftover chicken and the carcass, so this is what I "cooked up!" 

First make some rice.  Take 1 cup of regular (not minute) rice, add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Set aside.

Put the leftover chicken and carcass in a large pot of water.  I just toss the whole thing in a huge pot.

Chop up about 3/4 cup celery and 3/4 cup carrots and toss in with the chicken.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 2 hours.   While you are waiting, you can go read a few blogs or check your email.

Remove the carcass and shred the meat.  Keep the broth!

Make a roux which sounds hard, but it isn't.  Grab another pot and add 1 stick of unsalted butter.  Melt it.  Add 4 heaping tablespoons of flour. Stir with a whisk.  Believe me, it works better with a whisk than a wooden spoon.  Slowly add 2 cups of HALF and HALF, stirring the entire time.   (Hey, I didn't say DIET soup)

Once creamy, gradually add cups of the broth with the celery and carrots to the roux. Take your time adding it.  I usually add a cup at a time and keep stirring.  It will be nice and creamy.  Just keep adding broth until the soup is the thickness that you like.  I personally like mine REALLY thick.  You may have some extra left over clear broth, but that's ok.  Add your shredded chicken and the rice.  Salt and pepper to taste.  It usually needs quite a bit of salt. 

Soup will thicken once it sits, so keep some clear broth to add to it. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, you can make this exact same soup using your leftover turkey at Thanskgiving or Christmas.  It's a great way to use up those leftovers.

Ms Bake-It Give -a-way Promotion

Ms. Bake-It is sponsoring a give away.  Please click on this link to jump over to her blog and check it out.
http://msbake-it.blogspot.com/2011/05/celebrate-good-times-come-on.html

When you do, she will introduce you to 2 more bloggers with fun blog-sites and FANTASTIC ETSY shops.  That's a sweet 3 for 1 deal if you ask me.  What are you waiting for?  Go check them out!

National Fishing and Boating Week at Snug Harbor Bay

This is my National Fishing and Boating Week contest entry sponsored by Take Me Fishing and the Outdoor Blogger Network.

I can still clearly remember the first time I ever caught a fish.  Sitting on a dock at Lake of the Ozarks, I was fishing with a minnow strung onto the end of a pole with a bobber as big as a beach ball.  I will never forget the thrill of landing that first crappie and I can still remember the smirk I got on my face when my dad called it a crappie, pronouncing it like crap.  Hmmm….  Dad said a swear word and I could get away with it every time I went fishing.  I don’t know which was the bigger draw for me – saying a swear word or watching my dad fillet up that one tiny morsel for my mom to dredge in flour and fry in a pan.  Either way, I was hooked on fishing for the rest of my life.

It’s interesting to reflect on how our roles have changed since I was that 10 year old girl toting an old fishing rod around.  Small acorn bobbers and jigs have taken the place of that giant bobber and the plain hook.  Dad no longer has to remove my fish from the line and mom now does what we affectionately call “the Nonny dangle” as she waits patiently for me to shove a wax worm onto her jig. As a kid I had to be content to sit and fish off the resort pier.  Now I enjoy the freedom of my own pontoon boat as I chauffer my parents around the lake in search of the next big catch.

National Fishing and Boating Week falls June 4-12 this year and I will be on vacation that week with my husband, as well as my parents, who join us for this annual trip.  Mom and Dad have spent 2 weeks with us every summer for the past 19 years.  During that time we have made a lifetime of happy memories as we cruised from one honey hole to the next. 

One day it may be Redear or Bluegill…..

Another it may be striper….

Or on a really good day, it could be bass…

The best thing about fishing is that I was able to share my love for this hobby with my kids.  It’s a tradition that started with my dad, I continued with my husband and we passed on to our children. 

The common thread  fishing line that strings it all together is the smile on our faces as we share the day.  Whether it’s a shriek of “worms on the loose” when the bait gets knocked onto the floor, or a collective “Awwww” when the biggest fish of the day breaks the line, there is still plenty of laughter to go around.  At the end of the day, as the sun sinks and sputters into the lake, we always head back to our cabin a little sunburned, slightly tired and yet very content.

So let me say “thank you dad” for taking me fishing and giving me a lifetime of happy memories on the lake.  There is no place I would rather be. 

Take advantage of National Fishing and Boating Week.  I‘ll be out on the pontoon with my mom and dad, searching for the bluegill.  What will you be doing?  Make a memory.  You’ll be glad you did!

Memories

We have been working our butts off the past couple of days, trying to get everything cleaned up from the flood.  We had tons of debris and logs that floated up onto our property and it all had to be gathered up, piled and burned...

We also patched some cement on our walkway and our patio. 

We put up our summer gazebo and hung my dad’s hammock between the trees.  Plus, I finally finished painting the downstairs guestroom.  All this in addition to fishing every single chance we got.  So it has been a busy and productive couple of days.

Today it hit 90 degrees, so I threw on my bathing suit and went and sat on my deck, while my husband took a much deserved nap.  A new family recently moved in across the bay and they have 4 little kids.  I spent an hour and a half enjoying the sights and sounds of those kids experiencing the lake.  On Saturday the four of them walked down to the lake, pointed at stuff and then ran back up to the house.  Sunday was more of the same.  By Monday afternoon, the oldest boy was wading knee deep in the water and after about an hour, the other 3 worked up the nerve to join him.  Finally he dunked under the cold water and then dashed back up to the house, screaming all the way “I did it!”  Right then I nicknamed him “joyful.”  He is clearly the loudest of the bunch, and maybe the most adventurous.  Today the dad is down there and the 5 of them are swimming around, grabbing onto rafts and floats and shrieking happily.  They are having so much fun.  It made me start thinking about the first year that we brought our kids down here.

We had purchased a really crappy pop up camper from a guy we knew.  I mean, it was shit, but it was all we could afford.  It didn’t even have a bath room in it and my daughter had to pee in a 5 gallon bucket in the middle of the night.  The canvas wall on one side of the bed was ripped and my daughter rolled out of bed and onto the grass in the middle of the night, which resulted in Louie taping up the hole with duct tape at 3 in the morning while I was swearing at him for buying such a piece of crap.

But that rolling piece of shit on wheels was worth every dime when I watched my kids swing out over the lake on a yellow piece of cord that dangled from a tree limb, or when they played for hours on end with minnows in a bucket, or took the net and went hunting for baby turtles along the pier.  Once they actually caught one and played with it for an hour before releasing it back into the wild.  And is there anything as cute as a 2 year old who has ripped off his diaper and is careening up and down the beach bare-assed naked, while he screams with utter joy?  If there is, well, I don’t know what it could possibly be.  I’d post a picture of it but that now 18 year old would die of embarrassment and probably never forgive me. 

Anyway, I sat there on my deck today and watched this happy family.  I actually got choked up thinking about my kids and the fun times we have had around this lake over the past 16 years.  I would have given my right arm to have my 2 kids sitting there just then.  Suddenly I needed a mom hug – really badly!  I went into the house so I could type this up and share it with you while it was still fresh in my mind.  And I’m not too ashamed to say that the tears are running down my cheeks right now.  I can only hope that the young family across the bay enjoys their lake house and the memories it is going to make, as much as we have.  This lake house has been a blessing and a joy.  It is my forever Snug Harbor!