Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Momma's Birthday

My mom any my sister celebrated their birthdays on December 3rd. Yes, my sister was born on my mom's birthday. How dare she! Unfortunately my sister who lives in NC at the moment could not be with us. It was the big 4-0 for her too :-( She will be here in January so will have to make up for it. We went to Carrabbas to celebrate because according to my parents they have the best calamarri there. I would not know because I don't eat the stuff. My girls went to tell the wait staff that it was their nanas birthday and could they please acknowledge it. The picture in the middle is the dessert they brought to her. A little glass of bourbon cake with cream. According to her it was delicious! Happy birthday mom and may you have many, many more!!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Our Little Girl turned 15!

Our sweet daughter turned 15 last week. Right after school I took her straight to the DMV to get her learners permit. She is doing an excellent job driving. We are so proud of her!


Later that day her boyfriend and my parents came over dinner and we had her favorite meal lasagna, salad and garlic bread.



This is the cake that her boyfriend bought for her. He had them put orange flowers on it because he knows that is her favorite color.


Happy birthday Rachel. We are so very proud to call you our daughter!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Forever Florida

This past weekend my friend and I went to Forever Florida located in Kenansville, Florida. Our guys were hunting and we needed something to do until they met us later at the motel we were staying at. Forever Florida is a 4700 acre eco-ranch and wildlife conservation area. We took this swamp buggy on a tour of the ranch.







Later we went to our motel Lakeside Inn and checked in. This is the lake and the dock behind the motel. The picture was taken from the screened in gazebo.



The entrance to my and my husbands room.



The inside was very simple, cute, and very clean. Of course we still bring our own sheets, blankets, and pillows ;-)


This is my adorable husband after a looooong day of hunting. No luck though.



This was a very nice weekend getaway. We will definetly do it again. The guys will be hunting through November. Hopefully better luck next time!
Gini





Thursday, September 24, 2009

Homecoming Dance

Last Saturday night Rachel and Daniel went to the Homecoming Dance. The dress Rachel is wearing was worn by her sister to the prom about 4 years ago. My mom altered the dress to fit her. Before the dance I dropped the kids off at the Olive Garden to eat and then picked them up an hour and a half later. (click on the pics to enlarge them)

When I came to pick them up Rachel seemed down so I asked what was wrong. She was upset and dissapointed because the dance was not what she expected. She thought it would be the way you see them portrayed in the movies with slow dancing and that it would be romantic. Instead she said they played ghetto music and the most of the girls were "dirty" dancing. How sad :-(
I am not sure if she will ever go to a school dance again.
Gini

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

First Day of High School


Where did the time go. My youngest daughter started high school on Monday. Her best friend/boyfriend gets up extra early and rides his bike to our house and waits for her to get ready. Unfortunately we do not have bus transportation to the school because we live 1.8 miles away and you must live 2 miles to have bus transportation. Ridiculous considering our children would have to cross a major 4 lane highway to get to the school. And what about if it rains? Anyway, I have been taking them and it stinks because on the days I have to work it puts me behind and on my days off I still have to get up early to take them to school :-( Oh well, on the bright side since I am forced to wake up early on my days off I will hopefully get more accomplished!

Gini

Friday, August 21, 2009

De Leon Springs and the Old Sugar Mill

On Tuesday my mom, daughter and her boyfriend went to De Leon Springs. It is a state park in De Leon Springs, Florida. Native American Indians used these springs as far back as 6.000 years ago. The water is 72 degrees year around. There is a restaurant called the Old Sugar Mill that serves breakfast that you make yourself on a a griddle that is built into the table.
This is the entrance: (click on picture to enlarge)



This is a wheel located in the restaurant that was once used in a sugar mill.



The kids had pancakes that they brought out in pitchers. They were $4.50 a piece for all you can eat and for $1.75 you can purchase add ins. The kids had chocolate chips and blueberries.


My mom and I had eggs that we scrambled ourselves, bacon that we did not cook, and toast that we buttered and toasted on the griddle. The only negative to this fun was that there is no air conditioning in the rustic restaurant and the griddles produce alot of heat and in turn it made for a sweaty meal. But it was worth it.

To get into the coollllddd water you have to just dive in. Rachel and I had no problem but her boyfriend was pretty wimpy about it. My mom... she didn't even wear her swimsuit.



This was a beautiful place and we had a very good time. When my sister and her family come in October we will make another visit.

Gini

Saturday, June 27, 2009

My Garage Sale Finds

This morning my husband and I left the house at 8:30 to go garage saling. We had a great time and found some good deals. This is what we brought home:

The necklace came with earrings and it was $3. I think it might be Premier jewelry brand but I am not sure. For $1 we bought 3 sets of crab claw crackers and gave one to my mom. Vintage tupperware one is a container and the other is a jello mold with interchangable shapes to make a decoration on the top of the jello those were $1 for both, a large plate or picture stand for $1, a set of three candle holders for $2, and....


This milk glass rooster for $1! I have wanted one of these for a long time and cannot believe I found one at a yard sale for $1.




We also bought a wrought iron rocking chair to put out on our patio around our fire pit. That was $2. After garage saling we went to the Farmers market to buy vegetables. Then we had lunch at P.R.'s a mexican restaurant.

Gotta go. I am cooking eggplant parmesan with the fresh eggplant we had today then watching Media Goes to Jail.


Gini




Sunday, June 14, 2009

New bathroom done!

My husband recently gutted and completely re did our guest bathroom. This is also the bathroom that our daughters use. We put in a block window, a pre fab shower tub, new tile, new vanity, and a mirror that doubles as a medicine cabinet. This first picture shows the block window that my husband installed. I bought the curtain at walmart it is Better Homes and Garden brand.
I am not quite finished here....
I love our new bathroom. The master bath is next.

Gini


Friday, June 12, 2009

Our new temporary addition..

Two weeks ago my daughter brought this little guy home. He was about two weeks old, scrawny, and he has a bum eye. I already have 4 cats at home and absolutely cannot keep this one. I have been trying to find someone to take it after I have weaned it from formula. Lots of lookers but no takers yet.







The other day I took it to the vet. It weighs less than one pound! They gave me medicine for its eyes. The bum eye looks better but the vet tends to believe it is useless. He will let me know this wednsday. In my next life I sure hope that I am not such a sucker for animals!
Gini

Monday, May 25, 2009

St. Pete Beach and Tarpon Springs

This past weekend we went to St. Pete as we do every year for Memorial Day Weekend. This is a picture of my girls at the motel.

On Saturday we went to the Greek village of Tarpon Springs. This village was established in 1890 and the Greeks made a fortune harvesting and selling sponges. The next two pictures are of sponges that were brought in while we were there. The pictures are backwards.




There are alot of shops there that sell sponges and homemade soaps. There are Greek restaurants and bakeries.


We ate outside at this restaurant. There was a sponge boat right next to us with the Greek boat owner on board and about 4 old greek men hanging out with him.




On sunday, we all hung out at the beach all day in front of the motel, with the exception of my dad and daughters. My dad took the girls out to go parasailing. They are brave. They went up 600 feet! They said they could see large sting rays and turtles in the water.





The girls had the experience of a life time and we had a great weekend at the beach enjoying the family, sun and beach. We already have our reservations for next year.
Gini







Friday, May 8, 2009

The other day at Lowe's I saw these. I have been looking all over for these. Just not in a butterfly shape. I really wanted a ball like the one I saw at my friends mothers house. Anyhoo, these are LED solar accent lighting. They are for your yard. They stick in the ground with a stake. They use one double A battery and the sun and create quite a light show at night. Here is how they look in the daytime plain white.


This is changing from one color to the next:






The green is the brightest and the prettiest.

So run to your nearest Lowes's and buy one for $9.99!! (Oh, they also have dragonflys) In the meantime I am going to keep looking for the ball.
Gini



Saturday, May 2, 2009

Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area and Lone Cabbage Fish Camp

Today Mitchell and I decided to get out of the house and go somewhere nice and quiet. We decided on Tosohatchee about 20 minutes away from our house. It was a gorgeous day.


These people were there with a horse and buggy. Looks like fun!



Mitchell brought along his fishing poles and we stopped a couple of times so he could throw his line in.


Here is a little blue gill he caught.




These flowers were growing wild everywhere.



This Bridge was the perfect spot for a photo op.






This was an old wooden bridge we had to cross.


We saw this big guy in the creek on the side of the road. Scary!!




After we left we stopped here for dinner. Mitchell had the frog leg combo platter (yes frog legs gross) and I had the fried catfish (I realize that some people may think that is gross too).


This is a side few of the restaurant. They offer air boat rides here too.



Handsome hubby :-)




We had a great time. In the middle of May they start taking bids for quota hunts. Mitchell really wants to get picked for Tosohatchee. I hope he does since it is so close to home. We are home now and I ready to go to bed. Tough day driving around the woods!

Gini