For Mother’s Day, my two boys planted flowers for me in my front yard. And despite the blazing 100+ degree weather, I’ve managed to keep them alive so far. Which is a feat in and of itself where MY thumb is involved. It’s not so green. I can kill plastic flowers. Seriously.

But so far, I was doing well. . . considering. See how pretty they started out.

Anyway, lately I’ve been out trying my heart out to water and nourish my poor, thirsty flowers. This one was waving at me, saying, “Hey Lady!!! Can you spare a drink?”

Then I started noticing a bit of a problem.

What is this? I wondered. Each day I would go out and more and more leaves were just disappearing. A LOT of leaves! Not like an insect had invaded them. No. It was much more than that.

Leave to my trusty cat who sits in this window and goes all shades of apeshit when she sees another cat outside to find the culprit. She was in the window LOSING HER MIND when I saw what she was after.

It wasn’t another cat. It was a BUNNY. A BABY bunny. The waskally wabbit! Busted!!! I caught it red-handed (so to speak). Chowing down! On MY flowers!

I wanted to be mad, but he was just so tiny and SO cute. And not very afraid. He let me get pretty close. But I didn’t know what to do with him if I actually caught him. So I let him hop away. Since then, I’ve seen him hopping down the sidewalk passing my house as if to say, “I’ve gotten everything I can at that house. Yep, stripped her clean. Now on to greener pastures.”

I think I’d rather just leave out a head of lettuce for the little tike. It would certainly be a lot cheaper than my flowers.

Who would have thought that 80 degrees would feel so good! The weatherman said that a cold front would be coming through our area overnight and today would be in the low 80s, and that that should really cool things down. And I thought, “That’s cool? He thinks 80 degree temps are cool?” Wow!

Well, as it turns out. . . after suffering through blistering, suffocating, mind-boggling heat. . . 80 degrees feels like Fall.

This has been the HOTTEST summer that I can remember! Did we even HAVE a Spring? I don’t remember it. It was frigid cold, then it was HOT. There was no in between this year.

Every weekend since my pool opened, it has been like this. . . AT or near 100 degrees. The water in the pool is almost to the boiling point. It’s more like an oversize jacuzzi. This is coming from the girl who always tiptoes into the water like a pansy.

But finally, some relief!

After traveling all day long, locating and photographing three lighthouses, and coming face to face with Mother Nature on the beach thus diverting our plan to continue to the next lighthouse, we headed back over the bridge toward home.

As we went further north over the bridge, the sun started coming back out.

What a welcomed site that was after the ugly and relentless rain we’d just gone through. And although it had been a rather enjoyable day despite a couple of minor hiccups, we were getting tired ten hours into our vacation. Hungry and thirsty, we debated whether to continue another couple of hours on home or try to grab a hotel room, some dinner and some beverages. The odds of finding an available room anywhere in Nags Head on a Friday night during tourist season was probably not going to lean in our favor. So we decided to let fate make that decision for us. I said, “Let’s stop at this hotel and see if they have anything available. If they do, we stay. If they don’t, we head on home.” Cool.

I pranced into the hotel and with pleading eyes asked if there was anything available. He said, “Yes.” Wheeee! “We have ONE room, 5th floor, ocean view.” Were the Gods smiling down on me or WHAT! I said, “We’ll take it!!” No way did I expect such a sweet room. But 5th floor ocean view? Seriously? This was shaping up to be a fantastic day!

Chris had never stayed in a hotel with an ocean view before. This was our view. We couldn’t believe our luck. After grabbing a pizza from across the street and a few beers and taking them back to our room, we sat out on the balcony. . . . and relaxed.

I have to note this for our family history books. . . Chris (my high-strung man-child) said, “This is really relaxing.” MY boy said “relaxing”. I’d finally found the key to my child’s need for perpetual motion. It just comes at $250 a night. Sorry child, you can only relax one day a year on my dime.

We watched the sun set (although a bit hazy) and just chilled. We talked about the day and how much fun we had. And we marveled at some of the shots we’d gotten. Chris even relented and said that even though we were too late getting to the Hatteras Lighthouse to tour it, he was happy that I was able to get my lightning shot. I mean, it WAS a cool picture.

The clouds started disipating a bit and out came a full moon. This day just kept getting better and better.

So we spent another hour or so trying to get the perfect picture of the moon and the glow it casted out over the ocean water. It was so beautiful! But I’m not a skilled enough photographer to even know how to capture something like that. But I tried.

Chris set his alarm clock to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to photograph the sunrise. (He’s more enthusiastic than me) But his luck wasn’t with him. It was overcast and drizzling rain. But another couple of hours later I decided to drag my fanny out of bed, this was our view! Bright and sunshiny! It was going to be another great day!

This is Chris and I from our hotel balcony just before leaving our fabulous hotel and heading home. It seemed that the trip home went incredibly quick. Why did it seem to take so much longer getting down there than it did to go home? Whatever the answer, it was a great little impromtu vacation! We’re very lucky to have such fun things to do within such a short distance. Anything can be done in a day trip, or if you’d rather kick back and really relax, you can just as easily turn it into a weekend thing. Good times!

This is my second vacation this year! Albeit, both of them have been very short, a vacation is a vacation and I’ll take what I can get. I typically don’t take a lot of vacations. I don’t really need to.

That’s what I love about living in this area. . . you can take an impromtu vacation whenever the mood strikes you, whenever the weather is ideal, or whenever your oldest child finally gets a three day weekend. He wanted to use the time to take some pictures since he’s quite the photography buff. So off we went, my oldest son and I, heading south to photograph lighthouses in North Carolina. (I’m always game if the beach is involved in any shape, form or fashion)

It struck us at HOW MUCH vacation/tourist type stuff we have to do in our area that we take for granted. How we don’t really have to GO anywhere except in our own backyard to find something fun to do. We’re quite spoiled that way.

I, personally, don’t particularly LIKE our main strip of beaches in Virginia Beach very much because it’s rather commercial, always SO SO crowded making traffic unbearable, plus the water is kind of a merky color. There IS a beach that is less inhabited by tourists that’s mostly used by locals and that one is nice and relaxing to go to. But honestly, if you go an hour south to the Nags Head area of North Carolina, the water is much clearer and sand much nicer. Sure, there are tourists, but they tend to be a more laid back type of tourist. The whole area is a more laid back type of place and spread out. Their beaches go for miles and miles and miles, so it’s not wall to wall (umbrella to umbrella) people on the beach.

I have to preface our vacation story with the fact that my oldest child is a little high strung, wound tight, is in constant motion at all times. He rarely sits still and he’s been that way since birth. I suppose the nut didn’t fall far from the tree, but I CAN say that after all these years on the planet, I’ve learned to chill a little bit from time to time (That’s what my pool is for. Oh yeah, and my Miller Lite.). So to take an impromtu vacation (to RELAX) without a particular agenda or a specific time schedule to follow, just go with the flow, is a little out of our typical realm of normal, but we were game.

Which way to go?

We donned our cameras and put on our tourist hats.

And found Currituck Lighthouse first. Pretty cool, huh? But don’t for one minute think that “I” was one of those people at the top. No siree! It was 100 degrees outside. I was pretty certain that they didn’t install air conditioning in 1873 when they built it. And it was FULL of tourists. So my brain did a little mental calculation adding together the heat, the number of people, the number of stairs (OMG!), and toss in my little clostrophobia issue, and I decided to let Chris go it alone. Good luck, buddy!

He was to the top in a flash! I couldn’t believe how fast. But then he IS young and strong. He got a lot of really great pictures from the top and also inside the lighthouse. Really very interesting, but not interesting enough for me to give it a shot. He, in fact, said, “Mom, you’d have died.” What can I say? My boy knows me.

He also knows me well enough to know that since we were SO close to the beach that you can drive on that we just HAD to go. . . despite his apprehension in actually driving on the beach. I assured him that this beach was nothing like the beach that I typically go to. This one is more packed because it’s actually the only access road to a whole bunch of houses and is much less likely of getting stuck. So I talked him into it.

We parked just so we could take a picture.

Then we got distracted by these birds. They were just perched up there taking in the ocean breeze enjoying life. And we were enjoying capturing them on film (well, digital) until . . .

Johnny Law decided to come along. “Move along, buddy. Move along.”

We didn’t get into trouble because he could just LOOK at us and tell we were dumb tourists. (Doesn’t Chris just scream TOURIST?) Turns out that you’re not allowed to park along this particular span of beach. . . since it’s an access road and all and it’s not for tailgating. . . which explains why I usually go down to the other beach. That’s okay though. . . we got what we came after. Chris could scratch another thing off his To-Do List (a 25 year old’s version of a Bucket List).

Then we were off to the next lighthouse, but we were getting hungry. We wanted to go to our favorite place, but it wasn’t open for lunch (WTH!). So we mosied down the road trying to figure out someplace new to eat.

We’d seen a jillion billboards along the way for different restaurants. This one was funny enough to grab our attention.

So we stopped there to see what all the hype was about. $50 lunch later (and we both ordered the cheapest thing on the menu), we decided that Dirty Dicks was never going to replace our favorite Mako Mikes. The price alone was hard enough to swallow for lunch, but would’ve gone down better had the food been delicious. We both got the Fried Shrimp and Scallops basket with Dirty Dicks fries. And I swear to you. . . Dirty Dicks fries are Ore Ida Crinkle Cut fries that you can get at the grocery store for $2.99. A little disappointing.

With our bellies full, we headed off to our next lighthouse on down the road. We drive and drive.

And THIS is what we came to. Bodie Island Lighthouse looked like this. WTH! Why would they do something like this during tourist season? Chris didn’t even bother with a picture because he was so disappointed.

The day had started off with such a bang having a great time. But things were beginning to take downward turn. A not-so-delicious expensive lunch, a lighthouse that one couldn’t even tour or photograph, then on our way on down toward Hatteras Lighthouse, we missed it. I know what you’re thinking. . . how can you miss a lighthouse? We saw it coming up. We saw it. We saw it. Then we couldn’t see it anymore. Where did it go? We couldn’t see it anymore in front of us OR behind us. WTH! So we kept on going. There was another lighthouse down the road a bit in Ocracoke.

To get our bearings, we stopped at this little rest area on the side of the road where they have a map as well. The weather was even taking a horrible turn.

We began rethinking our visit to the Ocracoke Lighthouse. Did we REALLY want to continue on?

NOPE! It was looking ugly! But I managed to snap this just in the nick of time. Chris went CrAzY! He wanted to snap a picture of lightning. He put his camera on continous mode and snapped about 300 pictures of nothing before he gave up. Well, until it started raining harder. And I swear to you as we pulled away, two giant claps of lightning came out of the sky to our right like comas coming out of the clouds. Gorgeous!! Chris’ disappointment was rising again.

On our way back toward Hatteras, we found this gigantic sign for the lighthouse. Don’t know how we missed that one. But one good thing was that the weather had cleared up a little bit.

Even though we were too late for the climb, we WERE still able to get some photos. So the late afternoon wasn’t a total loss.

Since this post has turned out to be much much longer than anticipated, I will finish up our day tomorrow. I’ve got many more photos to edit.

See ya.

This is the last of the pies this week and I’m sharing yet another Peanut Butter Pie recipe. On the Deliciousness Scale, it runs a close second behind the Peanut Butter Fudge Pie. It’s just a little different. If you’re not into delicous creaminess of the Peanut Butter Fudge Pie and rather lean toward a brownie type peanut buttery goodness, then this is your pie.

I didn’t have leftovers of either pie, so I’m just sayin’. Here’s what you need.

MILE-HIGH PEANUT BUTTER-BROWNIE PIE

1 refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on the box
1 box (15.5 oz) Chocolate Chunk Brownie Mix
1/4 cup peanut butter chips
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbl water
1 egg
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) container whipped topping
2 Tbl peanuts, chopped (optional)
2 Tbl mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll pie crust; place in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate as directed on box. Flute edge.
In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, peanut butter chips, oil, water and egg 50 strokes with spoon. Pour batter into crust-lined plate. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, covering edge of crust with strips of foil after 15-20 minutes, until crust is golden brown and center of brownie is set. Cool slightly, about 20 minutes. Refrigerate 1 hour or until completely cooled.
In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread mixture over brownie. Sprinkle with peanuts and chocolate chips. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

It’s easy and it’s pretty. Not to mention yummy delicous!

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I’m on a roll with Lulu’s cookbook this week. Because the very next recipe I tried from the book was this Key Lime Pie. I carried to our pool’s opening day BBQ and they all thought it was a perfect way to start off the summer.

I’d actually never eaten a Key Lime Pie before. It always looked a lot like my Lemon Meringue Pie and I just never figured that it could be any better than that. Now that I’ve made it, I wouldn’t say that it’s better than my Lemon Meringue Pie, but I would say that it’s quite tasty for a Key Lime Pie. (I found out that they are indeed different in flavor AND texture) Still a hit! Here’s what you need.

KEY LIME PIE WITH GRAND MARNIER WHIPPED CREAM

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 Tbl sugar
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 Tbl cold water
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup Key lime juice
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar in a small mixing bowl. Press evenly into a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a small mixing bowl, dissolve gelatin in cold water, stir and set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine egg yolks and lime juice and stir over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until slightly thick and very hot. Be careful not to bring to full boil.
Add softened gelatin to lime juice mixture. Whisk well for 1 minute or until gelatin is dissolved.
Quickly cool mixture by placing saucepan in a large bowl filled with ice.
When completely cool, gradually whisk in sweetened condensed milk, stirring until blended well and mixture becomes thick.
Spoon into graham cracker crust and spread evenly.
Cover filling with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
When ready to serve, top pie with fresh Grand Marnier Whipped Cream and lime slices.

GRAND MARNIER WHIPPED CREAM

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream, chilled
2 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl Grand Marnier liqueur (optional)

In a stainless steel mixing bowl, combine whipping cream, sugar and liqueur. Whip with an electric mixer on high until cream holds peaks. Be careful not to over whip the cream or it will separate. Cream is properly whipped when you can drag a finger through it and a trough remains.

During my five minute vacation to Gulf Shores, AL last month, we all went to a place called Lulu’s (Lulu is actually Jimmy Buffett’s sister) and it just MY kind of place. . . very margaritaville-like on the Intercoastal waterway next to a marina with beautiful boats only owned by the very wealthy. It was a restaurant/bar(indoor and outdoor)/playground for the kids/souveneir shop. Translation; very cool place.

I took a ton of pictures, but sadly they were accidentally deleted by a cruel click of the mouse button. I wept. No, not really. But I was sure saddened at the loss of all my vacation photos. So I don’t have any to share of the restaurant/bar(indoor and outdoor)/playground for the kids/souveneir shop itself, but I DO have a couple of recipes to share from there. Of course, the souveneir shop had a cookbook by Lulu herself autographed and everything. And of course, I had to buy it! It’s such a sickness. But I am so glad I did. . . just for this recipe alone. Delicious!!!

If you like cheesecake. . . and especially if you like margaritas (which I do). . . you simply MUST try this. My oldest boy doesn’t even LIKE cheesecake, but he gave it a solid thumbs-UP! Here’s what you need.

MARGARITA CHEESECAKE

Crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
4 Tbl unsalted butter, melted

Filling
24 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sour cream
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbl sugar
2 1/2 Tbl orange liqueur
2 1/2 Tbl tequila
2 1/2 lime juice
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press crumbs evenly into bottom of pan to form a crust. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
To make filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, orange liqueur, tequila, lime juice and eggs.
Pour filling into crust.
Bake 50 minutes on center rack of oven.
Remove from oven and set to the side. Turn off the oven but keep the door closed so it will remain as hot as possible.

Topping
3/4 cup sour cream
1 Tbl sugar
1 Tbl lime juice

For topping, whisk together sour cream, sugar and lime juice in a small bowl. Spread topping evenly over cheesecake.
Return to the warm oven for 45 minutes to set.
Refrigerate cheesecake in pan until well chilled.
Run a knife around the edges of pan, release spring clasp, and remove cake.
Garnish with thin lime slices and lime peel.

Lulu’s suggestion is: You may as well make margaritas while you make this dessert. And heck, I like the way Lulu thinks.

I apologize for not having a photo of the finished product. Again, it was part of the deletion disaster. When I make this again, I will come back and add a photo.

Also, ignore the FOUR packages of cheesecake. It was poor math on my part dividing 24 ounces by 8 ounce packages. Thank goodness I came to my senses as I was mixing it all together. It was one of those “Duh!” moments. Everyone that knows me completely understands the “Duh!”. But they also know that this was one delicious cheesecake.

I think I’m going to designate this Yellow Jeep Blonde Pie Week and stick with this theme because I’ve made some doozies lately, as in OMG delicious! I found this one in one of my many, many jillion cooking magazines that I can’t help but buy if I see them in the store. (I think therapy may be required soon) This one was from a Pillsbury magazine. I’m really bad and can’t remember exactly which one, but I do give Pillsbury credit for this pie. It’s amazing!!

This Peanut Butter Pie surprised me more than any new recipe I’ve tried. I’m not really sure why because I like peanut butter and I like pies, and who doesn’t like fudge? I think it’s just that even though I cook a lot of desserts, I really don’t EAT them that much. (I’m more of a salty girl. Not that anyone cares really. Just sayin’.)

I made it, gave a couple of pieces to my mama and took the rest to work. EVERYONE loved it! In fact, one guy said. . . and I quote. . . “It’s like a party in my mouth”. He was so funny. So after all that, I had to try a piece. And I have to tell you. . . for someone who doesn’t eat very many desserts. . . this pie will change your life. It’s THAT good!

Here’s what you need.

DOUBLE PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE PIE

Peanut Butter Crust
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 cups crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup chocolate fudge topping

Peanut Butter Filling
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbl lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 Tbl chocolate fudge topping

Spray 9-inch pie plate with no-stick cooking spray.

Stir together 1/2 cup peanut butter and corn syrup. Add cereal. Mix until evenly coated. Press onto bottom and sides of prepared pie plate. Spread 1/2 cup fudge topping on bottom of crust. Chill 30 minutes.

Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk and 3/4 cup peanut butter until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into prepared crust, spreading evenly.

Place 3 tablespoons fudge topping into corner of resealable plastic bag. Knead. Cut small corner off bag. Drizzle over the top of the pie. Freeze 4 hours or until firm.

You don’t have to drizzle it like a sad spider web. It’s not a requirement. Have fun with it!! The only thing about drizzling with chocolate fudge. . . there is no eraser.

But truly, no one will care WHAT it looks like after the first bite.

It’s another “Trust Me” pie.

My first recipe right out of the gate (since my return from computer Hell) is an oldie, but a goodie. I so often forget about my old tried and true recipes from back in the day because I’m constantly trying NEW stuff. But this past weekend, I dug out one of my favorite Go-To’s. (In fact, it IS my mama’s favorite)

The ladies that I hang out with at my pool decided to grill out this past Saturday night. When we do this, everyone brings something to contribute. A potluck of sorts. Since I’m not a grilling efficienado (hockey pucks – that’s all I have to say about that), I leave that up to the ladies. I do the side dishes and/or desserts. SO – in my time management logic taking into consideration how to maximize my time outdoors and minimize my time behind INSIDE, a little nugget jogged right out of my long-term memory (cuz my short-term memory is starting to SUCK).

This pie is truly a golden nugget to keep in your recipe arsenal.
a.) IT IS EASY!
b.) It is quick. . . as in 10 minutes and you’re done.
c.) All you need is one mixing bowl and a measuring cup.
d.) There is no need to turn on your oven.
e.) It is a perfect Summertime pie for (d) alone.
f.) And it makes TWO pies at one time! You can’t beat that!

I really like the two pies at one time deal. . . even more than the quick and the easy. Quantity is always better, don’t ya think? I could take one pie to the potluck grilling and take one pie to my mama (She grinned and said, “I get the WHOLE pie?”). Not only that, but I could throw it together that morning before heading out to the pool for the afternoon and it will be ready by late afternoon. I just go inside long enough to retrieve said pie and back outside I go. It’s awesome!! You will love it. Now here is what you need to put this together.

MILLIONAIRE PIE

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 can Crushed Pineapple, drained
1 can Mandarin Oranges, drained
1 cup chopped pecans
1 large tub Cool Whip
2 Graham Cracker Pie Crusts

In large mixing bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice. Stir in the pineapple and mandarin oranges. Then gently fold in the Cool Whip. Pour into the two graham cracker crusts. Refrigerate for 4 hours.

And this is what you get. It’s a perfect, light, refreshing dessert.

Warning: When you serve it, people will ask you “What’s a Millionaire Pie? What’s IN it?” Just tell them all to trust you, take a bite, then decide if they like it or not. (People are so funny) Every single one of the six women at this pool asked me this, and upon that said first bite, each and every single one of them asked me for the recipe.

Trust me.

For the last year and a half I have been fighting a little known battle within the confines of my home. I didn’t want to talk about it. I was ashamed. I thought it was something that I could fix on my own. I struggled in silence and stuck with it for a long long time working to make things right, but finally . . . this past Friday. . . I gave up. I couldn’t take it any longer. I had no more fight in me. I suddenly found it completely senseless to fight so hard for something that gave me nothing but grief.

So I broke down and bought a new computer. Whee! Is this thing ever fast! No more continuous spontaneous rebooting while in the middle of something. All my memory slots and USB slots actually WORK. I can now actually upload pictures again!! **The heavens open and angels sing** It’s stunning really for someone who is so used to taking a bunch of crap from a machine, it always calling the shots, letting me know what it would and would not do for me, mocking me the entire time knowing that I’m a computer person with too much pride to let a machine win. The bastard had to GO!

That’s right. Tossed. Kaput! Bye Bye!!! Now maybe I can start posting to my site again. I’ve got recipes to share (I made the BEST Peanut Butter Pie recently that actually made me moan in delight), photos that I’ve taken (I’m actually learning how to use this danged old camera) and stories to tell (so much to catch up on). And even though it’s Summertime and I spend an obscene amount of time at my pool and/or at the beach, I plan to spend at least a little time uploading pictures and catching my site up to date.

I feel so alive and so free! Amazing what a new start can do for a person.