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Author Archives: Jen

When I asked for seafood, they delivered.

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Our good friends and amazing chefs invited us for dinner. They don’t do seafood with their regular dinner group so were excited when I said we’d be ALL IN for as seafood extravaganza. And what an extravaganza it was…

Pre-dinner drinks! Jami tried to give me a margarita replacement. It was okay but I really missed the sugar!!

Salmon Rilletes and Gingered Crab Potato Nests

David’s homemade soppressata and cheese.

Lobster Cheesecake

Seared Scallop on Truffled Parsnip Purée

Lobster Bisque w/Anchovy Butter toasts

Lobster Stuffed Chateaubriand with Bernaise Sauce, asparagus, and failed duck fat potatoes.

Raspberry Soufflé

One additional special thing that happened… Tom and I finally opened a bottle of wine we bought after our first cruise in 2006. We had done a wine tasting on board and liked that so bought it once we got home. Then we didn’t remember what we needed to drink it with and never looked it up and just moved out around with us. So tonight it was time. And it was okay but not my style at all.

All in all an amazing night of friendship and food.

It’s my day, y’all! #NationalMargaritaDay

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Um guys…did you know today is my day?! It really needs to be in the summer, though, right? Anyhoo, I’m looking forward to having a few sips tonight—I can’t have much more since I’m being super strict on Naturally Slim, but I can’t NOT have one today!

ROW 1: Lemon margarita!? Yes. I NEED a slushie machine.
ROW 2: YES! YES! Two bottles.
ROW 3: Always. NyQuil margarita? I believe.
ROW 4: Combine them! Nothing. There is on Facebook!

Y’all—I don’t mess around.

He’s not a margarita fan so I have to drink enough for the both of us. #FirstWorldProblems

Getting old sucks, part 31.

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When you innocently go into the doc to get a refill on your back pain meds and end up being there for 2.5 hours. Which honestly was really efficient and I’m not even complaining. 😂

👨🏾‍⚕️The resident was very thorough which means my appointment with him lasted an hour.

👩🏼‍⚕️Then the doctor came in to oversee everything and she was in there another 15 minutes.

What did I win?! 🎉

1️⃣ Lab for bloodwork. I haven’t had a full panel in about five years.

2️⃣ Pharmacy for four scripts. The two I wanted plus two others.

3️⃣ While I was waiting, I went to the immunization clinic for a TDAP. Also tried to make the mammogram appointment but they were at lunch.

4️⃣ Back to Pharmacy to pick up scripts.

5️⃣ Radiology for lumbar x-rays just in case. This is where I interrupt you for your VISUALIZATION OF THE DAY:

I might just have flung a gloss across the radiology exam room floor because I forgot it was warming in my cleavage and I had to remove my bra. 😂 You’re welcome.

6️⃣ And now that I’m home I have to schedule the mammogram, my annual exam, and physical therapy.

Homemade pizzas on the grill

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It’s been awhile since we’ve made homemade pizza and Tom had been wanting to try them on his new grill…

Our pizza? Garlic aioli, sopresseto, caramelized onions, home-smoked cheddar, and some tomato mix we forgot to spread on top of the aioli.

The kids? Peanut butter and jelly.

Owen tried ours and then asked for ours!! What?!

See anyone familiar?

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🥺So everyone is allowed to have a pity party once in awhile–as long as you don’t let it consume you and you can move along it’s all good. Consider it a mental health moment and we all need those. AMIRITE?!

This morning was my morning. Then I picked myself up and made this graphic because DAMN Y’ALL SeneGence wouldn’t publish my name in the monthly newsletter unless I was being successful. AMIRITE?! 🥰🙌

#PersonalSalesVolume #SignificantSeneseller

Do any other parents hate mornings as much as I do?

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😖 Sometimes I get woken up early just for Owen to ask Alexa what the temperature is even though there is another Alexa elsewhere in the house.

😖 There’s generally a question if they have to take a shower.

😖 Some times there’s drama about clothing. From one or both.

😖 There’s sometimes drama about wearing appropriate outerwear for the weather.

😖 There is generally some tattletailing going on from the little one about something completely inconsequential.

😖 And let’s not forget some kind of drama about homework that was forgotten (even though I asked) or homework not being put in the bag.

😖 And this morning there was extra special drama about a backpack being too full of crap and apparently I can’t look in it to see what the problem might be.

THE LESSON I LEARNED TODAY

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Just don’t ever shovel. EVER. I wanted to get the slush off the end of the driveway. I was out there for like five minutes. Picked up like three shovels of slush. Really hurt my back. Like can barely walk. #neveragain #ihatewinter

Oh and yes, I know the “right” way to shovel…I was just stupid and didn’t think five minutes would hurt.

Parenting struggle #3,471:

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Katie decided it would be a great idea to empty the entire 64-crayon box into another box so she could use the individual inner crayon boxes for some game she created with her jewelry. Seriously?

I love that she’s creative but things like this make me insane. I know I shouldn’t care because it’s just a damn crayon box but I just know the boxes will likely get ruined (never put away), the crayons will never go back in their original boxes, and the crayons will likely end up all over the house, broken and lost, because nothing ever gets put away because KIDS.

And now I’m feeling guilty that I’ve stifled her creativity over a $4 box of crayons. Ugh.

HALLLLLLLLLLP MEEEEEEE!!!!

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Why is it I can organize someone else’s closet or pantry (hi Stacey!) but when it comes to my own I’m a hot mess? Nothing fits where I want it to fit and I have too much stuff to fit in this armoire but it’s my only option. I hate complaining about such a first world problem but this setup is literally the bane of my work existence. I normally just shut the doors and try to ignore it but I had to get everything out for Heidi’s demo last night so now I’ve decided that it needs to be put back together nicely. And I’ve been procrastinating all morning but Tom will kill me if it’s like this when he gets home. 😂

THREE HOURS LATER…The stuff on the top still makes me twitchy but I can live with it for now.

Proof I love Strawberry Lime margaritas.

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Just in case you all thought I might be kidding about

👉🏻 my love of margaritas

👉🏻 the fact I’ve bought CASES of them because this flavor is seasonal…

I bring you PROOF. I haven’t kept track of how many I’ve gone through since summer but it’s at least two cases (12)…but most likely three.

Happy birthday, Owen! Or not.

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So I came downstairs and gave Owen a big birthday hug or four and we talked about his birthday and his sleepover that afternoon… I took a casual birthday picture.

I wore his baby face necklace and took a birthday picture with him.

I posted a happy birthday post on Facebook.

While he was at another birthday party, Tom and I gave some cuddles to Katie because we knew the rest of the day would be about Owen.

And it wasn’t until we were all eating dinner (with his friends!) that I realized it wasn’t his birthday. OMG, am I a bad mom or what?! I asked Owen why he hadn’t said anything and he just shrugged his shoulders and said it wasn’t a big deal.

That said, I knocked it out of of the park with his gift: 900 Pokémon cards. He couldn’t believe his eyes and was practically vibrating with excitement. 🙂

This is what it looks like to be the mom of a 10-year-old with two 10-year-old boys over for a sleepover. #thirdmargarita #soloud #thankheavensforbasements

I think we only had to go in about five times to tell them to quiet down, and they were out by 11:30.

Owen’s amazing Pokémon evolutions.

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Owen really is amazing when it comes to creating Pokémon and evolutions. Today he was making a birthday card for his friend and wasn’t sure what to draw so we told him to draw some Pokémon. We thought he’d just draw a common Pokémon, but he came up with two new Pokémon, complete with two evolutions each, for a total of six new Pokémon (he did one for the birthday boy and one for his sister, just because). He just blows me away.

Polar Vortex Day 2

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When the entire outside is a freezer you take advantage (chocolate covered caramel corn).

You also take advantage of cool science tricks!! I’ve always wanted to do this but we’ve never been anywhere it got cold enough (I think it needs to be like a minimum of -20°). The kids weren’t nearly as excited as I was (heaven forbid we interrupt a damn Xbox game) but we did it twice because it was so cool!

Trying out an almost life-size Connect Four. It held their interest for maybe 30 minutes.

Then how about a game of GUESS WHAT’S IN THE CUP ON DAY TWO OF POLAR VORTEX SNOW DAYS AND THE KIDS ARE GETTING ON EACH OTHER’S NERVES.

If you guessed a margarita you’d be correct. If you didn’t, I don’t think you really know me.

Polar Vortex Day 1

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We knew it was coming (school was even called off in advance) but it was still a shock to see it. Feels like -45°.

I stayed in bed because the kids can fend for themselves (and Tom had a late start) but eventually Katie came up to cuddle for a few minutes.

Then Tom went to work and I honestly hadn’t been planning to leave the house but we were invited down to the neighbor’s house for lunch and to just hang out…so we did. The kids had fun playing, we had a yummy lunch and birthday cake (for Enzo’s birthday), and I actually helped Stacey organize her pantry (yes, that’s fun for me!).

When we got home we turned our new heater on…and someone loved it. 🙂

And even though the furnace was working and it said it was 70° in the house I was still cold so pretty much sat under blankets next to the heater…

The polar vortex can bite me.

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All of the windows in this house are horrible and leak air. We have tried covering them with the insulating plastic wrap but this is what happens. It’s useless.

So I thought I’d try this hack: bubble wrap. Not perfect by any stretch but doable. (Guess what? It didn’t work.)

And I did the same thing in the master bedroom to my window plus put a towel over the crack because the cold air was just pouring in.

The house couldn’t get past 64° with the furnace running all day (it was 61° when I got up, and it should have been 72°). Long story short—after some texts to the landlord and an HVAC guy—our problem was the furnace filters!! We had expensive 3M allergy filters and he said those were the worst thing you could use and to take it out immediately. We did, and the house heated up to 68 within two hours. Lesson learned.