Our Beaches

Here on the east coast of Florida we don't have to take a direct hit from a hurricane for it to impact our beaches.  In fact, the worst beach erosion seems to come from the hurricanes that stay off our shore.  As you'll see from my photos, Hurricane Sandy inflicted some major damage to our coastline.

Here is our lifeguard shack dangling over the edge of the huge cliff that's now our beach.  Sad.  It costs millions to replenish our beaches, which we've had to do many, many times in the years we've lived here.

This photo gives you a better perspective of the height of the dune.

As you can see, it's still a very beautiful beach but one must be prepared to climb up and down a major drop off to get seaside.  (Not an easy feat with my new hip but hubby had a very tight grip on me.)  

Thankfully hurricane season is officially over tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Photos

I hope everyone had a fabulous Turkey Day!  While we were disappointed that we couldn't be with my extended family on Thanksgiving, we did have a wonderful holiday with Jay and our friends.  My "hostess with the mostest" girlfriend Kelley prepared a fabulous dinner for 36.  The thought of doing that myself would give me nightmares but she always does it with ease.

Isn't this gorgeous?

The Kids Table

The Dinner Buffet

So large it required two photos.

I didn't get a photo of the final dessert table but trust me, it was bountiful. Meggie and I tried out Catherine's pumpkin bar recipe and it was a huge hit.  We also made a tray of Pilgrim hats using chocolate wafers, bite sized Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and peanut butter.  The kids made short work of them.

Jay only stuck around for 24 hours but it was a great visit.  We haven't seen much of him on Thanksgiving these past several years so I was thrilled that he made the trip.  I have to wonder though....did he come home to see us or to eat at Kel's?  ;)

Cake Pops

Meg has been BEGGING for a cake pop machine for ages but it's always fallen on deaf eyes, that is, until now.  What changed my mind?  A little thing called Pinterest.

I discovered and joined Pinterest not long after they started two years ago but frankly, I couldn't quite see the fascination.  After all, I read tons of blogs and use the "save to favorites" option on my blog reader so I could come back to them later.  I really couldn't see needing anything more but two things recently moved me "to the dark side."

1)  the new Pinterest for Ipad app was released ... and
2)  my recuperation from surgery

All of a sudden I had more time on my hands than I could stand and it wasn't long before I got sucked into the black hole known as Pinterest.  In the past two months I've pinned so many cute craft projects, recipes, home decor ideas, organizational and household tips, sarcastic cartoons, etc, etc, etc....all of which leads me back to cake pops.

After seeing so many cute holiday ideas for cake pops I realized that this would be the perfect project for the kids on our Annual Baking Day.  After lots of research I decided to follow the advice of many reviewers and try them out before our big day.  Meggie and I, along with one of her friends, made our first batch on Sunday.

I have to admit that the BabyCakes cake pop maker works like a charm, is very easy to use and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to try them.  (I got mine on sale at Kohls and used a 20% coupon as well.)  We did run into some snags with the decorating however.  Most all blogs and recipes tell you to use melted candy wafers for the icing but we found it to be rather thick, even when thinned down with a bit of shortening.  We used the microwave method (again from most of the recipes) but I think next time I'll use my mini crockpot which may provide better results.  I also came across a recipe that uses canned cake frosting melted with baking chips (choc or vanilla).  I plan to try this as well.

In the end though we had a fun time and the cake pops were a huge hit with the girls.  I froze away some plain cake pops which I'll experiment with before the big day, set for Dec. 16th.  Hopefully I can work out the snags.

*edited to add*  ---  On Pinterest? See my boards at pinterest.com/julesp  Where are you?

For My Northern Friends

Here in Florida, it's a beautiful day for a convertible.

Just sayin'......

You Know You're Old When....

you get one of these babies in the mail....

Yep, between the new hip and the titanium bolts in my opposite shoulder I have plenty of metal to slow me down at the courthouses and airports.  I'm on my way to being bionic.

The End of Another Week

Today marks six weeks post surgery and I am so happy to report that I've made MAJOR strides in my recovery since Monday.  My gait has remarkably improved and my limp is just ever so slight.  I guess those therapists know what they're doing.  :-)

I have spent several months purging and reorganizing every corner/closet/shelf in my house, gearing up for the Mother of All Garage sales.  Last week I totally reorganized every cabinet and drawer in my kitchen which resulted in three more huge boxes of stuff for the sale pile.  Very little in my cupboards are as they were and and I'm really liking the new arrangement.  Here's a photo of my new spice arrangement.  I didn't get a "before" photo but trust me, everything spilled out onto the counter as soon as you opened the cabinet.  (my apologies for the bad Iphone photo)

There are three of these racks total (one is hidden in the back).  The jars were included with the racks but I created all of the labels myself.   Did you happen to notice how much extra room I have on the shelf above it?  :-)  It's no longer dangerous to open this cupboard.

This weekend is the RAK Soiree hosted by my very good friends Kelley and Hans.  For the past 5 years they have opened their home to upwards of 150 people for an evening of food, drink, music and dancing.  Each person donates a $20 at the door and is given an opportunity to cast their vote for a local family/charity in need of some extra support.  (Attendees are provided a list of recipients from which to choose from.)  At the end of the night a random drawing is held to determine the lucky recipients.  We usually collect between $1500-$2000 each year and surprisingly, to the best of our knowledge, the past recipients have yet to figure out the benefactors  :-) The tears of gratefulness and joy that it brings to a deserving family is beyond imagination.  I'm so proud to call these generous hosts my bestest of friends.

Last night, being the crafty friend, I was called upon to decorate these lanterns that Kelley found at Lowe's for $3 each.  I really, really love how they turned out and can't wait for tomorrow evening.

Pineapple Festival and PT

The 25th annual Pineapple Festival was this past weekend.  We've attended every year for the past 16 years so I wasn't about to miss it, limp or no limp. Sunday's are Kids Day ($20 gets you an armband for unlimited rides) so we always taken Meg down for several hours on this day.  Yesterday we left the house at 11:30 AM and were there for the opening. Meg got her arm band, met up with her friends, and was long gone...checking in only when she wanted money.  Randy and I window shopped the booths, watched a couple of local performances (juggling, cheerleading, etc) and then met up with friends.  For those of you who know my friends, this usually leads to cocktails and loads of laughs.  Yesterday was no exception.  So....a few cocktails. kid hunting, chats with everyone from our community who has children ('cause EVERYONE goes on armband day LOL!)  more kid hunting, a great concert by a local band of old hippies playing classic rock, even more kid wrangling, dinner at a local downtown establishment and finally a Vanilla Ice concert....and the next thing you know it's 9:00 PM and I'm still on my feet, barely, but still walking.  

Needless to say, I came home absolutely exhausted and pretty much went straight to bed, deeply wishing that I didn't have Physical Therapy this morning.  My therapist is an awesome but she works me.  Right now I'm doing an hour of bikes, elliptical, lower leg weight machines, bands, steps, etc.  Its all good but I always leave feeling like I've been hit by a truck.  Today I went IN feeling that way and left totally drained.

As for my progress, I have to continue to work on my gait as my right foot wants to in-toe.  I've consulted with three PTs now (one is a friend) who all tell me that the loss of muscle in my right thigh/hip/buttock is causing my leg to turn in.  I've been told I need to concentrate on walking correctly (it takes great focus, let me tell  you) in addition to continuing with the muscle building exercises.  I was relieved to hear them all say that I'm doing great for 5 weeks out and that it takes women 8-12 weeks before full recovery is achieved.  (the time for men is less.  Go figure?)

It was awesome to get out into the world again and "play" but I'll be taking a lot of "down time" the next few days to make up for it.  :-)

Halloween Photos

Just a few quick photos from last night....