What A Weekend!

Wow!
Friday started with another showing of our house. And right before they were scheduled to come I received a text that someone wanted to look on Sunday too! Then, not 30 minutes later I got another text to schedule a showing on Saturday! I think that makes 10 showings since the first of the year. Now if someone would just make an offer! The feedback we have received has been good, the only things that people haven't liked were things we can't change: not on a cul-de-sac, wants a larger kitchen. etc!
Saturday morning we were up early so we could head to my hometown. My mom and sister's and I had planned a surprise 80th birthday party for Dad.
Since we were going to be in the area, husband and I lined up some "mountain" houses to look at early in the day. I sent a list of six houses I was interested in seeing. The teens wanted to be dropped off at my parent's house, so we did that and headed to the real estate office.
Since the time I sent my list of houses to see on Wednesday morning, two houses had gotten contracts! Eek! At least we had four to take a look at!
And, after looking at three of the four, I found the one I want! So, now we play the negotiations game! I leave that all up to husband. All I want to know is when it's mine!
The party was a blast! I had my camera with me intending to totally document it all and of course I was so busy talking that I never picked it up! Most of my dad's friends knew me and husband when we were growing up, and some I haven't seen in forever. It was like a big reunion!
I received a bit of bad news when we got to my parents. It seems my uncle has been diagnosed with a very aggressive pancreatic cancer. I was so upset to hear that, he was always my favorite uncle to go visit when I was young. He lives in Pittsburgh, so my parents are heading up there this week to spend some time with him. Once he is gone that will be it, I will have no grandparents or aunts and uncles that are living! I think the thing that has me so upset is that he is just six years older than my dad. So it kind of reinforces the fact that my dad is now living the last years of his life! And, the fact that we don't have that great of a relationship anymore and I don't see that changing as he doesn't see anything wrong on his end.
Well, enough sadness!
It's Monday and I have a fairly empty week ahead! Not too much on my calendar and that makes me happy!

An Award

Yea for teenage daughter!
She received the Jefferson Leadership award for community service in Key Club.

A Couple Good Recipes and Lots of Fun

Hosting Pokeno at my house turned out great. Good food, good friends and lots of laughs!
A few of the girls:

I ended up winning quite a bit! All the prizes had to be homemade, so I ended up with Banana Bread, Banana Pudding, Monkey Bread, and an adorable embroidered dish towel and apron!

I made Ina Garten's Roasted Shrimp Salad for one of the salads. It is my go to recipe for shrimp salad!

Roasted Shrimp Salad

• 2 1/2 pounds (12 to 15 count) shrimp
• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup good mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 2 tablespoons small-diced
• 1 tablespoon good white wine vinegar
  
• red onion

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and devein the shrimp . Place them on a sheet pan with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss together. Spread the shrimp on one layer and roast for 6 to 8 minutes, just until pink, firm and cooked through. Allow to cool for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the mayo, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. When the shrimp are cool, add them to the sauce and toss. Add the dill, capers, and red onion and toss well. The flavors will improve if you allow the salad to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Otherwise, chill and serve at room temperature.

And, I made Ina's Tiramisu for dessert. Everyone loved it, even though I had to tweek it a bit!

Tiramisu

• 6 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup good dark rum, divided
• 1 1/2 cups brewed espresso, divided
• 16 to 17 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 30 Italian ladyfingers, or savoiardi
• Bittersweet chocolate, shaved or grated
• Confectioners' sugar, optional

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed for about 5 minutes, or until very thick and light yellow. Lower the speed to medium and add 1/4 cup rum, 1/4 cup espresso, and the mascarpone. Whisk until smooth.

Combine the remaining 1/4 cup rum and 1 1/4 cups espresso in a shallow bowl. Dip 1 side of each ladyfinger in the espresso/rum mixture and line the bottom of a 9 by 12 by 2-inch dish. Pour half the espresso cream mixture evenly on top. Dip 1 side of the remaining ladyfingers in the espresso/rum mixture and place them in a second layer in the dish. Pour the rest of the espresso cream over the top. Smooth the top and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. Shave or grate some chocolate over the top before serving. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

It seems I don't have a minute to spare lately!

Last night was book club. We had read Skipping Christmas and three short stories by Truman Capote. They were great short reads for the holidays. It was the first time I had read the Truman Capote stories and they were really good. Had a good time discussing them and drank way too much wine! It ended up being a late night and I am paying for it today!

We had a house showing Monday night and one this morning. So far no offers! I am starting to get tired of the whole thing. I am so glad we are not in a position where we have to sell, but I just want it all to be over!

I am hosting Pokeno at my house Friday night, I am kind of glad that out of the 23 women, only 13 including me will be there. I still have to decide on a dessert to make. I am making an assortment of salads for our meal. The wine has been purchased and because someone has been looking at the house this week it is in tip-top shape!

I had to be at a scheduling meeting for teen son at his high school this morning, We are selecting courses for his last year of high school! EEK! He has decided to take some dual credit courses so he can go ahead and get some general education requirements out of the way before he even starts college.

I thought next week would be a quiet week, but my sisters and I are planning a surprise 80th birthday party for our dad to be held next Saturday. And then since we will be in the area, we have scheduled with a realtor to look at some little houses in the western corner of SC!

Maybe I can relax the first week of February!

Biscoff Spread

I am not a big peanut butter fan, so this is fantastic in my book!
But, for y'all that have wheat allergies and such, this probably might not be good for you!
This tastes like a creamy graham cracker! I found it at my local grocery store right beside the peanut butter!
I spread a little on my Kashi waffle this morning.... perfection!
Let me know if you try it!

Have You Tried This Stuff?

OH. MY. WORD!

The Weekend

We enjoyed a perfectly relaxing weekend here in the Lowcountry!
Last week was kind of a busy one. I had a dr. appointment one day, a mammogram another, two house showings to get the house ready for, a parent meeting at school one night and I volunteered at Middleton Place on friday.
Friday night the teens were out doing their thing, so husband and I enjoyed homemade pizzas and he watched a movie while I read Stephanie Madoff Mack's book, The End of Normal. Interesting book and I do feel for her.
Saturday it was almost 80º! It was unbelievably nice.Husband played tennis while I was stuck in the house trying to de-Christmas!
Sunday we went to mass and had a guest priest that is originally from Nigeria. He was trying to raise some money for the Catholics there. It was interesting to hear him describe 2,000 people showing up for mass!
Yesterday was another beautiful day so teen son and his friends took the kayaks out on the Ashley River. They had a great time and didn't get back until after dark.
Today is a teacher workday so the teens are home from school! UGH! They had only been back four days and already a day off! And they have next Monday off too!
Have a great week!

I Can't Believe it's 2012!

The holidays seemed to fly by this year!
I can't believe it's already January 3rd. Husband went back to work today and the teens are back in school. Yay!
Since we were having such nice weather over the school break, daughter and her bestie decided that a photo shoot on the beach was in order. They had a blast!

The gingerbread house was finally finished!

We went to a neighboring town to see a light display. It was not really big, but the plus was there were no long lines to go through!

Santa came on Christmas eve morning to leave my present! I was a happy girl!

I invited my parents to come for a few days. It was a nice visit considering we have very different outlooks on life! I think we all worked to watch our tongues!

Christmas morning we opened our gifts.
Daughter was very happy to get a "real" sapphire ring.

Husband is always happy to get new tennis balls! Can you see he has his pj's mixed up? He has a Grinch shirt on with Snoopy pants! I'm just glad he remembered to dress since my parents were there!

Teen son was so happy to get a Mac Book Pro.

After the gifts were opened we enjoyed our annual brunch. I made a sausage and egg casserole, sticky buns, cheesy grits and a fresh fruit salad. We didn't want to fill up too much because it would be time for dinner before long!

A before dinner cocktail consisting of an ounce of gin, and a splash of cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, lime, and triple sec topped off with club soda. Where is the pomegranate juice in the photo you ask? It seems teen son found it way back in the fridge where I had hidden it so no one would drink it! It was good anyway!

No need to go visit friends to see what they got for Christmas, just text and skype it!

Table set for Christmas dinner.

Getting ready to enjoy beef tenderloin, roasted fingerling potatoes, baked green beans and whole wheat rolls. I decided this year not to knock myself out cooking all afternoon. We didn't have lots to choose from, but then I also didn't have tons of leftovers and wasn't exhausted when it was all done. We had a Japanese Fruit Pie, Italian cake with assorted berries with fresh whipped cream and assorted Christmas cookies for dessert.

A few days after Christmas we drove to Myrtle Beach to celebrate with husband's family

We headed to the lake for New Years Eve.
This year I decided to put the tree up in the loft area. Can you see it?

We got together with all our neighbors for a pot luck dinner and a bonfire on the beach.

I thought this was funny,,,, it looked like the golf cart was on fire!

We were back home early enough on New Year's day to have our traditional meal: pork roast, black eyed peas, sauteed spinach and corn bread.

We had three house showings in the last week! I am so ready to sell this house. One of the lookers actually put an offer in on a house a few streets over. It's on a cul-de-sac and I heard they had small children. I know our time is coming!
Happy New Year!