Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

What’s up, Kittens? The Zollifolks have had a busy week. We were in Florida for three days and I’m not going to lie, it was 9000 degrees. Seriously, look it up! We almost DIED.

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It was pretty, though. This is the view from the restaurant where we ate dinner.

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They didn’t have an air-conditioner, and I got so hot I actually took off my blazer and sat in PUBLIC in my spaghetti-strapped shirt.

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We were in town so that JD could shoot photos of one of our communities. I went along to supervise. Moon went along to eat out every meal.

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Moon was bored out of her skull until the staff found crafts for her to do, and let her work serving the residents their ice-cream. If I’d known she liked serving the elderly, I would have let her bring me my dessert eons ago!

On a side-note, the dress she is wearing was given to me by my husband about 18 years ago.

Speaking of things you don’t care about, we got back just in time for me to get to the Non-Life Master bridge tournament that was happening in Marietta.

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I don’t want to brag so I won’t mention how I did.

Feel free to email me if you’re wondering. Or if you can’t read the headline, or see the images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Life

Last night our electricity went out due to the storms so we had to sit around with candles and do old-school stuff like TALK. Turns out there’s a guy and a young girl who live in my house. Who knew? At one point Moon said, “This is great. You can’t use your computer like you did that one time at the lake.”

Okayyy. I guess a certain teenager is a little resentful. Perhaps we need a little more “unplugged” time.

Speaking of the LAKE, we went a few weeks ago.

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Moon and her BFF, Jemi, had a great time riding the inner tube. Question – Do they still call it an inner tube? Back in MY day, I rode an actual tube, like this –

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Which made riding and not killing yourself a tad bit harder. Anyway.

The girls had a great time until the line broke.

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But we forged ahead by tying the much shorter rope to the boat. “Hey Girls, want me to hand you a soda?”

Later, JD decided we needed even MORE excitement and let Moon drive the boat.

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Just Moon. Her BFF, Jemi, most certainly did not. That would have been dangerous. In fact, we put Jemi on shore with a life jacket and a life guard while we drove around in really fast circles.

The End.

I realize that this is not the most riveting story, but it does have a point. One day my daughter can read it and remember that I did, in fact, go to the lake WITHOUT my computer.

The wi-fi out there is the worst.

 

#TBT Moron Test Kitchen – Spicy Saltines

This was originally posted 5 years ago. I was in Livingston for the family reunion, and I’ll be heading there again tomorrow. Hopefully mom will have some crackers!

My Aunt Faye gave me this recipe weeks ago and I did it immediately. Then I promptly forgot the instructions. I’m sure she can leave a comment to tell me where I went wrong. This is not a spoiler alert – I ALWAYS go wrong.

The ingredients are simple. A package of ranch dressing, 4 sleeves of saltines, red pepper flakes and CANOLA oil.

Me: Do you have any canola oil?

Mom: No, use Olive Oil.

Me: Faye was adamant, she said it MUST be canola oil.

Mom: Use Olive Oil.

Me: But..

Mom: Just USE IT!

You should know I get all of my cooking skills from my mother.

The recipe calls for 1 and 1/4 oil (I think) but Faye says to  trim it back  to 1 cup. It also calls for 2 tablespoons of red pepper, but she says to use 1. I come from a long line of cooking rebels. Anyway, put the red pepper in the oil and set aside for an hour.

Now add the package of ranch dressing and stir well. Put the crackers in a large bowl with a lid and our the oil/pepper/ranch over them. Then gently turn them over and let sit. Then turn them over again. Then again. You get the idea, until they are coated evenly. One recipe I read said to use a gallon zip-lock bag and shuffle around for 15 minutes.

Okay, I didn’t HAVE a bowl with a lid. So when I turned it over, oil just ran out on the counter. Eventually, we just pronounced it good enough and ate them.

Moron Test Grade: Undecided. On the plus side, it was SUPER easy. Aunt Faye raved about them and a similar recipe has 5 stars on www.RecipeZaar.com.

On the con side was that I threw up after eating 200. FYI, throwing up saltines is like heaving sawdust. Of course, I didn’t use CANOLA oil. Or the correct bowl. I consider the whole thing inconclusive.

I would like to try it again with some oyster crackers . Or better yet, I’ll wait for Fay to invite me over. Fay? I can come over right? Hello? I promise to only eat 100. 150 at most.

The Reveal

As I mentioned, while Moon was away at camp JD and I decided to redecorate her room. She has been hinting over the last few months that she was ready to let go of the pink and green theme and try something a little more mature.

Do you remember what it looked like?

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We’d changed the curtains to gray and moved the desk around since this photo was taken, but basically it’s been the same since she was born.

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Not any longer!

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We painted the walls a light gray, got a new bed and shelving unit, hung some cool artwork, updated the bedding, and got a seriously cool chandelier.

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When closed, it looks like the death star!

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Pull a string and it opens up to emit more light. We also moved the cool Hatch Show prints into her room.

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The shelving unit is on casters so that she can move it if she wants.

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The girl was PLEASED. Yay, a parenting win! Now I can relax and rest.

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Or begin cleaning out the spare bedroom where I stashed all of her junk. Whichever.