Cruiseaholic!

So with the cruise right around the corner, I'm in full list-writing mode. It's really bad. I'm thinking about nothing but the trip. Work be damned.

To further my list-writing obsession, I've also spent some time with the google searching "cruise tips and tricks" to learn from the veterans. There are a lot of good ideas out there!

Here's what I have so far:

~ Ask for a printout of your bill the day before you disembark to correct any issues. This way you won't be stuck in a ferocious line of people at the courtesy desk and frustrated at the end of your cruise!

~ Bring a power strip and/or an extension cord. Most cabins (from what I read) only have one electrical outlet in them.

~ Bring sticky notes & a highlighter. Sticky notes to leave a note on the mirror for the cleaning staff and the highlighter to highlight the schedule of the day's activities you're interested in.

~ Reusable water bottles ... to have with you when you leave the boat. And of course, a little thing of dish soap so you can wash them out.

~ A small notebook to document the trip. I'm a scrapbooker so this will help me recall the details of our trip.

~ An assortment of medications, like Advil, Dramamine (just in case), Imodium ... lol!

~ Ziplock bags ... always good to have them

~ Drink mixes ... I thought of this one myself. The soda packages on board are EXPENSIVE. You'd have to drink gallons of it to make it worthwhile. Sure, we'll purchase the occasional soda and adult drink, but having the little single drink mixes will be a perfect solution. My kids like the ones made by Snapple and Propel.

~ Walkie Talkies ... this might be the smartest idea I came across!  Our cell phones won't work on board the boat so this might be the perfect solution to staying in touch! Because the boat is BIG.

The countdown is officially ON!

Garden Makeover

We are in the middle of a front garden makeover by yours truly and my husband. This has been an on-going project since we moved in to remove all the pavers and replace all of the shrubbery surrounding our house. Why remove the pavers you ask? Because the previous owners did not install them correctly and it looked horrible and plus, they were red pavers. Ugly! One year we did half of it and the next we did nothing except rip a few things out, add some flowers and mulch. The next year we had a french drain installed in the backyard along the fence to help with out water issue and last year we finally finished that landscaping.  But this year, I finally got sick of looking at the unfinished second half out front so it became my mission to get it done before the weather turns hot. No one wants to work in their garden when it's 95 degrees outside!

Plants and bushes are expensive. I'm clearly in the wrong business. I should be growing plants and selling them because the mark up on them has to be about a million percent. Yesterday we bought 4 butterfly bushes ($25 each) and 7 other ground cover-type plants and spent $195.  Crazy! These were bought a local nursery near our home, not at Home Depot or the like. I'm the one who has to do all the work to make sure the plant survives, so why are they so expensive?!

We still need a few more well-placed plants and some flowers to finish it off and need to order the mulch and stones for the side of the house. But after that, it's D-O-N-E. Finally. Almost five years later.

Yep. Five years.  I promise to share a picture soon!

Baked Potatoes in the Crock-Pot

When I was in 5th grade, a group of us got in trouble while on a school trip to see a play.  I still don't understand what we did was so horrible but apparently we were loud and ran across the grass instead of being quiet and orderly and walking on the sidewalk.  Because of this, we were required "I will practice self-control at all times" 500 times.  That was our punishment.  This happened on a Friday, I believe, and we had to finish it by Monday. But it was my birthday that weekend and this hung over me like a black cloud.  I wrote and wrote and wrote but to a 10-turning-11-year-old, that's a lot of writing.  Ever since then, I'd swear my birthday was cursed. Something bad or sad always seemed to happen around my birthday after that.  

I may now need to add other special days to that list.  Mother's Day sucked. And I think that's all I'm going to say about it for now. But did you know you can "bake" baked potatoes in a crock-pot?

You totally can.

I fit 17 baking potatoes into my crock-pot on Sunday. Each were cooked to perfection in 8 hours. 

Step 1:  Scrub the potatoes well; let them dry.

Step 2:  Using a paper towel, rub some olive around each potato, sprinkle with sea salt & wrap each potato in tin foil.

Step 3:  Place each potato in the crock pot, seam-side up.

Step 4: Cook for 8 hours on low.

Step 5:  Eat! 

I would do this again in a heartbeat. It worked really, really well. But next time I will rotate the potatoes half way through cooking to make sure the bottom potatoes don't overcook. 

Happy Mother's Day

Last weekend I found this cute tin at Target and I was mad that they only had one left! My penance for not shopping in Tarjaaay for a few weeks.  I even visited a second store to see if they had any left. No such luck so I'm keeping this one for myself!

Wishing all the awesome moms who do it all a fabulous Mother's Day Weekend!  May you be celebrated every day in some small way.