Thursday, October 18, 2012

Allen's New Do


Before
After

Scary


Tangy Lemon Chicken

Love when I find a new recipe we all like.  Love even more when it's a crockpot recipe.  This is such a recipe.  I have to say initially I thought the ingredients were a bit weird.  Even the recipe write up said so, but they swore it was awesome.  They were right.

Ingredients

Cut up whole chicken (I actually used 3 split bone in chicken breasts)
3 T melted butter
1 T onion flakes (I used powder since it's what I had)
1 T dijon mustard
1 package lemon jello mix

So put the chicken piece in crock pot.  Mix remaining ingredients together.  It will be like a paste.  Smear over chicken.  If chicken is frozen cook 8 hours on low.  I guess it would probably be like 6 if it isn't frozen.  Mine was, I cooked it for 9 hours since that's what I worked and it was really good.  Everyone ate it with no complaints.  Even some requests to make it again.  Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

First Day of School 2012

Today was the first day of school for 2012.  Alex started 5th grade, he's in the upper school now, or as we used to call it middle school.  Rachel is in 3rd.  Both had a successful 1st day, let's hope it continues.


Lake Ossipee Part 2


Alex being goofy

We went to Moat Mountain Brewery in North Conway for lunch one day.  They have a great menu, nice mix of options, and of course house brewed beer.  Allen got the sampler rack, which at $6.00, is a steal.  Plus they offer beers that most places dont.  I had a blueberry beer which was I think a 14 oz for $4.25.  Food was good too.

Some good looking kiddos!



 The kitchen, it was well equipped, had what we needed.
 Living room, had basic cable & wifi
 Our bedroom, bit tight on the sleeping space, especially since we have issues sleeping in a queen sized bed and this was a full but we made it work.  And no I didn't make Allen sleep on the couch.
 Rachel's room.
 Alex's room.
 The house in front is the owners.
Upper deck.  We also had a screened in porch which I forgot to take a picture of.
Me doing dishes.  Enjoy you won't see this often.  I hate doing dishes.

All of us at the Lake at night.


Lake Ossipee

We just returned from 5 great days at Lake Ossipee.  We rented a cute little cottage through VRBO, which at $600.00 for the long weekend, was a steal.  We had looked into OOB or North Conway and were looking at least $1000 for the weekend.  The cottage included use of a paddleboat, rowboat, kayaks and obviously the lake.  They had a private little beach which was really nice.  The owner stayed in a house in front of the cottage and couldn't have been any nicer.  We did shopping & eating in Conway, some mini golf, fishing, swimming, boating and best of all just spent time as a family.  It was the perfect ending to the summer.


Getting ready to go out on the paddleboat.  Friday was by far the nicest day at the Lake, but was still a bit chilly.  Once the kids got wet they didn't really want to stay in the Lake.  It seemed like Lakeside it was always about 10 degrees cooler than if you drove out of the Ossipee area.



As you can see once out of the Lake they (more so Rachel) we done with being wet.

The kids love mini golf.


Allen's version of fishing

Alex trying from the dock since beachside was a bit difficult.  THe only thing we ended up catching was Rachel's fishing rod when she threw it in the lake on an attempt to cast.

Tim & Kenny

You may remember that way back in January, Darren & Veronica gave me tickets to the Tim McGraw & Kenny Chesney concert.  Now if you were at my birthday dinner there is no way you can forget it because I started squealing like a 12 year old.  I've wanted to see Kenny for years, but could never get tickets.  Add in that Tim was the opener and it was just a major league bonus.  The concert finally rolled around and it was the closing location for the Brothers of the Sun Tour, and Kenny is a huge Boston fan so I knew it was going to be good.  Good was an understatement.  They were both fantastic. 





We had greta seats and the jumbotron screens made it feel like we were right there.  They both played most of my favorites.....kind of hard to cover them all when I love that many of their songs.  It was a great night.Thanks again Darren & Veronica for a fantastic birthday present!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Rules for Parents of Daughters

Rules for Parents of Daughters

1. Teach your daughter to never allow herself to be anyone's property and that you will disown her if she ever wears shorts that claim otherwise.

Mike's bitch would get a kick in the ass

2. Teach your daughter to talk about her feelings - not eat them or purge them. Or if she doesn't want to talk, teach her to express her feelings through writing, art, music, sports, etc. Anything but food.

3. Teach your daughter to work with what she's got and love what she's got. Tall, short, fat, thin, your daughter is beautiful - inside and out. Make sure you tell her all the time and make sure she believes it.




4. Teach your daughter to like and respect herself and demand respect from those around her. She might end up lonely at times, but at least she won't be a doormat.

5. Teach your daughter that "fish lips" photos are never appropriate and never attractive.


6. Teach your daughter to value herself enough to defend herself - physically and verbally. Let your daughter watch "The Burning Bed." She'll never forget it and she'll always know she has "options" if she finds herself in an abusive relationship.

7. Teach your daughter to go easy on the plastic surgery.

Aging gracefully can't be worse than this hot mess.

8. Teach your daughter to be strong and confident in her abilities and not be afraid of failure. Teach her that sometimes she will fail, but she can't let that fear stop her from trying something.



9. Teach your daughter that has the right to get loud. Make sure she knows girls can get angry, they can have opinions and they can throw "lady like" behavior out the window if necessary.



10. Teach your daughter to never text/email/snail mail naked photos of herself to anyone. Ever. Ever. Ever.

11. Teach your daughter what a douche canoe is so she can avoid them.


12. Teach your daughter to never steal her best friend's boyfriend. That's just a real skank move. What is it that our mothers always told us? "Boys come and go, but girlfriends are forever." Still true.

13. Teach your daughter that having her underwear and half her ass hanging out the back of her jeans is not attracting anyone substantial nor does it make her look smart - even in the library.


14. Never let your daughter wear clothing with sexually inappropriate "cutesy" sayings.

"Hooters Girl in Training" is not adorable, it's so fucked up - and you know this little girl did not pick this shirt!
15. Teach your daughter that smart girls get further in life than slutty girls.

16. Teach your daughter to walk away from the teen magazines. There is so much pressure put on young girls these days to look pretty or hot it's nauseating.


859 Ways to Get Pretty for Summer and Look Hot in a Bikini?? Really? How about 859 Tips to Ace the SATs! or 100 Books We Love! or 252 Ways to Succeed in Life Without Using Your Boobs! ??

17. Don't let your 9 year old dancer look like a 25 year Pussycat Doll.



18. Teach your daughter that bigger boobs isn't necessarily a good thing.



19. Don't let your daughter marry young. Encourage her to get out and see the world, live on her own and figure out who she is and what she wants in a partner before she settles down.

20. Teach your daughter that there's nothing wrong with staying home on a Friday night and reading a good book, but try to get her to read more than just Chick Lit. Give her The Gift of Fear. This book really empowers women to spot danger signals. Unfortunately in the world we live in, this is an important gift to have.

21. Teach your daughter to beat the boys at their own games.



22. Teach your daughter to be able to laugh at herself and have a sense of humor. There are so many women I meet that say they have a sense of humor, but they really don't.

23. Teach your daughter that the "Queen Bees" and "Wanna Bees" and "mean girls" are a waste of time and she should just invest in one or two great friends.

24. Don't allow her to pierce or tattoo her body until she's on her own.

25. Teach your daughter that her choices in life are limitless. She really can do anything - except maybe use the Men's Restroom.Things We Must Teach Our Daughters
 
The original article I found was a copy of the above with the below additions made.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Roadrash

Though now healed, this is what Rachel's leg looked like for about a week when she fell off a rock wall at Camp while cheering on her country, Cuba, at Otterlympics. 

Tough little cookie that she is didnt event cry, just shrugged it off and kept on going.  Pretty sure I would have cried.

My New Ride

Just picked up my new car yesterday.  A 2011 Kia Soul!  It's loaded (minus heated seats) and has everything I wanted in a car.  I can live without heated seats, always makes my butt feel like it's on fire when I ride in the Accord.  It's great, and still has the new car smell.

Canobie 2012

 Alex chilling out waiting for Dad's ride on the roller coaster
 Ms. B too!
 While the boys rode the some swing ride Rachel did the bumper cars multiple times.
 Here's the guys waiting to go.
 Alex on the ride
After riding the Boston Tea Party!.  More than a little soaked.  But it was all good since it was around 90 degrees that day.

Boston Tea Party soaked.  First year riding this ride.  They loved it!