Back in the Saddle

Well, after a week of being really sick, I'm back. Since I missed a lot of vacation, I'm just going to skip to the end. It appears that I posted on Thursday, but it was actually written two days prior.

Here's the situation. I have had very little sleep the past week. It's been terrible. But last night, I did not have ONE MINUTE of sleep. Truly, not a single minute. I watched tv ALL night---miserable as hell.
Walked in to my doctor's office first thing this morning and he fixed me up.

After  a full year May1st of being prednisone free, I'm back on it. I wasn't hive free for the year, but pretty much. Still, I'm so grateful for this miracle---cheap drug!! It's been 14 years! But what it means now is that I'm once again running on warp speed. I thought I could get a nap today, but really only got 10 minutes. Now it's midnight and I'm wide awake. Although it's not good for the body (or mind) to not get any sleep, that's just the way it is right now. I'm going to embrace it. As my fingers are flying over the keyboard, I'm going to have more time to keep up with a few things.

Starting with the winners of the Eads Family Cook Off! May I present to you:

"Top Chefs" Victoria and Morgan!! Clearly I was surprised because I ended up missing their meals. They did a really good job. Actually, everyone did. They all really enjoyed this little family fun that turned in to a much bigger deal than any of us had in mind. That's competition for you.

Here are the category winners:

 Elizabeth and Mindy won "Originality" for their "M & E Pizzeria"complete with mustache party favors. And I must add, Elizabeth did all of the lettering on my Gypsy. Kids are amazing! I showed her how to operate it just once and she did everything. (For those of you that don't know, a Gypsy is part of the Cricut die cutting system. Basically it's a little computer that allows you choose and size letters to cut.) She also was a whiz with the Xyron machines (sticker maker).

Then they killed it with their dessert:

White chocolate mousse tinted blue for the ocean, crushed vanilla wafer for sand, teddy graham on a fruit roll towel with an umbrella! It was Elizabeth's idea for the chocolate mousse---and we're not talking from a box---from scratch! Mindy came up with the presentation idea she remembered seeing on Pinterest.

 Team "Throttle Back" Butch and Nicky won "Best Presentation: Food" for their fish and shrimp tacos and red velvet pancakes. For a couple of guys who don't care about food, they really stepped it up.

Sandy and Greg won "Best Presentation: Table" with their Mexican Fiesta. Since they were first up, the rest of the family pretty much conceded that they would get "Top Chefs" too. Turns out the judging got laxer as the week went on!

 Jordan and I won the "Timeliness" award. Due to my situation, Jordan really had to step it up. She did a great job. We had a pirate theme. I'm hiding my face for a reason!

 We littered the table with gold doubloons (chocolate coins) and black gumballs.

Our "treasure chest" was filled with messages in bottles. Jordan came up with all of those---quite clever---things like "Arggh! Surrender ye' booty!" and "Shiver me Timbers." Our meal was steak, baked potatoes, salad and red lobster rolls.

Team Twitter---Stephanie and Mitchell won "Best Taste" for their Nutella and banana grilled paninis.

And, finally, back to our "Top Chefs" Morgan and Victoria.

 They made fruit skewers, blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes for their breakfast. They drew the 4th of July for their lunch.

 They made their dessert---the fruit fantasy pizza into the shape of the flag. (Hint: my flag for the photo scavenger hunt). I wonder if they used 50 blueberries to be historically correct. They're definitely "off" on the stripes.

 They set a festive table with glow glasses and USA tattoo party favors.

Everyone had fun with this challenge, but it definitely put the focus on food for our vacation. Plus we are all such huge re-cyclers that we never use so many paper products. Still, it was fun.

And finally, a glimpse of us playing "chicken foot" which we hadn't played in years. It became the game of the vacation. We didn't play anything else. I even was able to get in on a couple of games.

 Gosh, everyone looks so serious. Oh yeah, we had money riding on it!! A penny a point. And who do you think was the big winner? Elizabeth! She definitely has a strategy that works for her!

There you have it. I'm finished! I had to get this post done---after all, this blog is my yearbook!!

The Energy Bunny signing off!

Day 4

So I started day 4 of our vacation like this:

This doesn't look like much, but I can't even show the hives on other parts of my body. I have two that are the size of a beach balls on my stomach and upper thigh. Seriously, they are THAT big! My hives are out-of-control. After a year of no prednisone and hive free, I started having a problem about two weeks ago. I ended up having to call my doctor and getting a prescription sent down here.

 I look like a battered woman! I'm miserably uncomfortable and itchy. The medicine I have to take to control the itching makes me sleep all day! It's a catch 22---miss the vacation by sleeping, or be there and miserable! At least I do not have the typical flu-like symptoms and fever that usually accompany this severe of a case.

 My entire scalp and both ears are covered. Luckily I'm not vain. These are about the most unflattering pictures one could post of themself.

Looking on the bright side, I don't have to put on makeup!!

Eads Family Vacation Day 3

I forgot to mention that when I came up with this "cook off" idea, it was really just a little way to get everyone involved with the cooking. Little did I know what it would grow to be. I should have realized that with the competitive nature of our family, nobody can do anything just half way. It's been fun to see everyone "run" with their ideas.

I never even mentioned mine and Jordan's lunch. What we had planned was a casual party around the pool with hot dogs off the grill. Instead, they had to be cooked in the rain and eaten inside. So, we decided not to give anything away about our theme. As a result, we got low marks on the ballots, but we're okay with that. We're going to "blow it out of the water" on Friday night!!! Everyone did like our  "fish and chips" idea (from Pinterest)---mix Pepperidge Farm Goldfish with potato chips. Darn, I forgot to take a picture. Very cute!

 Team V & M had breakfast. We probably needed to re-think their meal choice---breakfast is not always a good time for teens. Still, they were pretty good sports even if Morgan was a little crabby at first. Someone (or someones) ate their bananas that were supposed to be for their banana pancakes and fruit skewers. As a result, they were only able to offer chocolate chip or pecan pancakes. Everyone was happy with that! We especially liked how they layered the napkins. Using all this paperware has certainly made cleaning up quick and easy. The rule is, that when you finish your meal and clean up, you are done. The next meal preparers have to re-clean the kitchen and unload the dishwasher.

So far, everything has been working out just fine. We'll have a couple of leftover meals at the end of the week, but I'm starting to thing there won't be any leftovers with teenagers around!

After breakfast, the girls went shopping---the guys were already on the golf course.

When they all got back, it was Team Twitter's turn for lunch:

They greeted us with "Welcome to Moe's" and had a burrito bar. Steph was pretty "bummed" to find that Sandy had the same idea about a piñata. But, considering all of the candy is gone from that one, this one is a welcome addition! The little boxes held the plastic utensils and is intended to use to gather the candy. Great fun!

The weather cleared up in the afternoon so we went to the beach.

The wind is so, well, windy---that we were all joking about how it was NOT relaxing in any way shape or form. You have to hold on to anything not tied down including hats, towels AND chairs!!! Mindy bought a kite, but the wind was so strong that it carried the chair away that we had stuck in the sand to anchor it. They decided to reel it in rather than let it get torn up.

Now, this sounds like I've spent a lot of time on the beach today, but all of this occurred in the first 10 minutes. Maybe I lasted 15---then I went back to the pool (I snapped this shot of the house we're renting). I'm not a beach person in the best of times. I just don't like the sand. The way I compromise is that I agree to go to the beach for an hour every day. I just can't sit around and do nothing and swelter at the same time. Here, the wind is so bad, you can't even thumb through a magazine. That's the difference between the "full on" Atlantic ocean compared to the calm breezes of the Gulf.

Which leads me to our big announcement. Butch and I bought a condo in Santa Rosa!! We've got to keep up with the Potters!!! Not really---first off, our place is not as nice as theirs. I'm not changing anything which is really hard for me---I like to decorate! It's strictly an investment that the family can use now and then. We decided to stick with the Gulf Place condos because that area is so good for families. It's our "go to" place for a beach vacation. If we were buying it for ourselves, we may have gone in a different direction. This place sleeps 6. It has a consistent level of rentals each year, so we're hoping we've made a good investment. We'll see! We've only had one other experience with rental property in the 1980's and that was really BAD!!! Since we will have a management company handling it, we hope to have better luck this time.

At happy hour, we did show and tell so the girls could show what they bought while shopping today--apparently, Forever 21 is the best down here.

Tonight, we adults went to the Peninsula Grill for a nice, upscale dinner. We got Subway for the kids. We had a really delicious dinner of assorted seafood. And dessert---

By the time we got home, it was 11. We sat around and chatted for another hour with the kids before calling it a day.

Day 2

So we're making lemonade!!! The weather is crappy, but it hasn't dampened our fun. We go poured on at the beach yesterday. When it didn't seem to be letting up, we headed back.

This is one mean looking sea!!! Dark, but beautiful in its own way! I love that this full color photo looks like it's black and white. I'll definitely be doing something with it.

We started the day with breakfast hosted by Stephanie and Mitchell. They went with a beach theme.

 Food-wise, they served grilled Nutella and banana paninis ---so delicious---with sliced strawberries. I'll definitely be making them the next time we go to the farm.

Luckily, the sun came out in the afternoon. Rather than head to the beach to get rained on again, we stayed at the private pool at this house we've rented. We ended up having about 3 or 4 hours of sun.

Next up was dinner with "team throttle back"---Butch and Nicky. Everyone was excited to see what they came up with and they didn't disappoint. You can never tell about those quiet ones!!
Here's how they began it:

They served fish and shrimp tacos---some were blackened. They really had a lot of work peeling and deveining those shrimp. They had a refried bean casserole and cole slaw with them. The peach and mango salsa was really good too. Key Lime pie for dessert---I should have guessed that is it's one of Butch's favorites.

 We got a laugh out of the fact that the boys used the placemats from breakfast. With Butch's passion for recycling, I wouldn't have expected anything less!

 They even had a palm tree centerpiece. They were very thrifty---found everything at the dollar store.

 Getting the family to hold off on the food while I snap some shots is hard. Everyone's hungry all the time!

Nicky and Butch greeted everyone with leis and then led them to the party.

After dinner, we played "chicken foot." We played the night before until midnight, but this night, everyone was tired. Elizabeth won for the second night in a row. This time we played for a penny a point. She was complaining that she didn't want to play for money. I told her that she didn't have to, but then she couldn't win the money either. In the end, she decided that she wanted to be "in" for the money. Luckily she changed her mind since she ended up winning about $10.00.

Eads Family Cook-Off Day 1

Mindy and Elizabeth drew the first breakfast which meant that they had to start their prep work last night. After a bit of a rocky start and burnt bacon (Elizabeth came over and whispered to me---"grammy, what do you cook bacon on?" Apparently, Mindy has never made bacon) they got their breakfast casserole in the crock pot.

The "rules" of our cook-off are that everyone has to stay away until the cooks have everything ready. Today is Victoria's birthday, so they made breakfast a little party.

I have to point out that Elizabeth made all of the letters for the sign. I showed her how to use the Gypsy for my Cricut---just once and she knew how to use it right away. Kids and computers are just in sync!

Their breakfast was really good. This casserole along with cinnamon rolls. What more could you want to wake up to?

Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole
1 dozen eggs
1 cup milk
1-32 oz. bag frozen hash brown potatoes
1 lb. bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
3/4 cup chopped sweet onion
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
salt and pepper

Spray inside of crock pot with non-stick cooking spray. Layer all potatoes, bacon, onions and cheese half and half. Beat eggs, milk and seasonings. Pour over potatoes. Cook on low for 10-12 hours until eggs are set.

 
Here is Elizabeth explaining their breakfast and theme---happy birthday, Victoria! The teens don't get up for breakfast. Their loss.

It was overcast, so we decided to go to the Market in Charleston. We shopped for awhile. When we got home, the sun came out, so everyone went to the beach.

Next up were Sandy (Hot Tamale) and Greg (Big Enchilada).

Sandy went all out---including costumes, games and activities. They made it a birthday party for Victoria---including party favors. They started us off with margaritas (adult and children variety) and appetizers.

 Victoria gets pretty close at "pin the tail on the donkey."

 Sandy "spun" everybody just enough so they were disoriented.

Butch ended up winning a can of "fiesta string." We didn't know they still made silly string.

Then there was more entertainment. Sandy's little dance, dinner, margarita cupcakes and a pinata. A perfect birthday party.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

I finally figured out where I saw the idea for the photo scavenger hunt. It's here on the Gallo Organico blog. I'm changing it up a bit for anyone that wants to follow along. We'll just hunt for 5 things a month---or just one thing if there's a great story to be told. Then you can make a scrapbook page, email it to me at the end of the month and I'll post it---or link to your blog. Whatever you want to do is fine, no pressure!!

Let's get started. For July, it's summer and it's hot. Let's find the following:

Sprinkler

Clothesline
Dandelion

Roadside stand

An American flag

Can't wait to see what memories these items evoke for you!!