Enjoy Yourself!

Tonight as my family and I sat on the deck eating dinner, I noticed my eyes kept wandering over to the flag which is currently flying at half mast in remembrance of the people that recently lost their lives in the Kenyan shopping mall tragedy.  It made me remember to be thankful for my family, friends and readers. 

It seems lately, that as I rush around doing my daily routine I am constantly reminded to slow down and enjoy the things that make me happy and fulfilled.  So today, I put together a fire truck bed for Elijah.  My son is almost three and I decided it's time to give him some choices about what he wants his room to look like.  I had three ideas picked out.  Nautical, Jungle and Firefighter.  Firefighter won by a landslide. 

Over the next several weeks, I'll be working on re-designing his room from an infant nursery, into a big boy room.  Here's a look at what the nursery looked like.  I'll post pictures as we transition.

 

Take time today to be thankful for what you have and do something you enjoy!
 

Happy homemaking!

Crescent LoMonaco

The Coastal Homemaker

Half Mast

On the grill

Stuffing the patties

Cheeseburger assembly

Happy Cheeseburger Day!

Happy Cheeseburger Day!

It seems I'm looking for an excuse to have a party these days.  Any excuse.  Last Wednesday was National Cheeseburger Day!  Party time!   I had a few friends over last night and we made...wait for it...CHEESEBURGERS! 

Rule number one when it comes to entertaining, is to never try something new on your guests.  Always try it out yourself first to see if it needs tweaking before you share it with others.  I am a rule breaker!  I think it's perfectly acceptable to try something new when you have guests over.  You just need to know your guests and how flexible they are.

So last night, I had two of my favorite peeps and their awesomely well behaved teenaged kids over for dinner.  I decided to try two new things.  A recipe I made up, and a new stove top grill pan. 

I gained the inspiration for my recipe from those delicious (or disgusting for some) hot dogs with the cheese inside.  I used to love those things!  Smokey hot dogs cooked just right on the outside and delicious melted cheese on the inside.  Yum!  I made stuffed cheeseburgers.  

Ahead of time, I made two very thin patties for each serving, cut up, crumbled, sliced and shredded the ingredients and wrote everyone's name on a flat toothpick.  I gave everyone a pre-printed card with all the stuffing options.  I had them put their name on it and circle which items they wanted inside their burgers. I preheated the grill, stuffed the burgers, stuck each one with the corresponding toothpick and began the experiment!

Mistake number one.  Did you know indoor grills create smoke?  A LOT of smoke?  
Mistake number two.  Did you know said grill pan can overflow with grease, creating a really big mess?  

 

We opened all the windows and doors, turned on the fans, and invented new ways of trying to suck up hot molten grease as fast as possible.  Turns out my peeps are pretty inventive.  

Several paper towels, some aluminum foil and one melted turkey baster later, we all sat down to enjoy our individualized, stuffed cheeseburgers in a mostly smoke free environment.  We topped the night off with a cheeseburger cake I made earlier in the day.  

At the end of the day, it's not about what you eat, what you do, or how you do it...it's who you do it with.  And I'm pretty lucky to have such great friends to make the days more fun.  

Happy homemaking!

Crescent LoMonaco

The Coastal Homemaker

 

 

Cheeseburger Cake II

Cheeseburger Cake

Parties. They're not just for weekends anymore!

Weeknight Party!

Some of my favorite get-togethers are weeknight parties.  They spark creativity, have a more relaxed feel and make the week go by faster.  Who doesn't love that?

The key to a weeknight party is to keep it as simple as possible.  Everyone's tired after work or looking after the kids all day, and they have to do it again the next day, so don't make the party more work.  Last night I had a casual get together for seven funny, fun, girlfriends. 

We decided ahead of time to have a salad bar potluck; fast, easy and no cooking!  Also, everyone's covered.  Gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, fat free, low fat; you name it.  And we had at least one of each of those last night. 

Salad bars offer plenty of variety.  Last night's buffet included various types of lettuce, corn, black beans, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, blue cheese, gorgonzola cheese, walnuts, croutons, broccoli, tofu, beets, sugar snap peas, 4 types of salad dressing, hummus, chips, macaroni salad, rice salad...I'm sure there's even more I'm not thinking of. 

There was wine, sparkling water, iced tea and I also made my favorite red wine sangria.  This is the sangria that many people ask me to bring to their parties.  Delicious and refreshing.  It's so delicious, in fact, that I've decided to share this recipe with all of you...Scroll down for recipe.  You're welcome!   

The first girls arrived around 5:30 and the others trickled in shortly after.  As expected, we ate (a lot!), talked, told ghost stories, even played a game that one of my friends invented.  Eight grown women re-enacting versions of parties we used to have when we were about 13 years old (minus the alcohol, of course). The only thing that could have made the night better is if one of us would have remembered that yesterday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day!

 

The last group of girls left around 11:30.  So much fun, so little time!  See you next month, girls!
 

Happy homemaking!

Crescent LoMonaco

The Coastal Homemaker

Red Wine Sangria a la Coastal Homemaker!

1 bottle red wine

1/3 cup citrus vodka

1/3 cup triple sec

1/3 cup brandy

1/4 cup sugar

splash of grenadine

1 bottle lemon-lime soda

lots of cut up fruit.  options may include, pineapple, peaches, apples, grapes, lemon, lime, orange, blueberries, strawberries.

Add all liquor, sugar and grenadine together in a 3 liter pitcher.  Stir well to dissolve sugar.  Add fruit, squeezing some of the citrus juice from the fruit into the mixture.  Chill for two hours.  One hour before party, add the chilled soda and stir.  Serve chilled and make sure each glass gets some of the yummy fruit. 

Simple. Scrumptious.

Today was my son's first day back at preschool.  He goes three half days per week, which gives me time to do, well, to do whatever.

After I dropped him off, I went to the bank, came home, cleaned the kitchen, threw in a load of laundry, and paid some bills.  I glanced at the clock and noticed I only had half an hour before I had to run out the door and pick up Eli from preschool.  Time had quickly gotten away from me.  And I hadn't had lunch yet.  I couldn't bear the thought of grabbing fast food before I had to pick him up.  

I remembered, that the last of the tomatoes from our garden had been picked and were not going to last much longer.  I opened the fridge and grabbed the fresh mozzarella cheese and snipped a few basil leaves.  I sliced the tomatoes and the cheese, added the basil and drizzled some olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top.  Voila!  Lunch in less than 5 minutes.  Then I actually sat down and ate lunch.  How long had it been since I'd sat down for lunch?  Too long! I relaxed, took a deep breath, picked up my fork, and savored every last bite.  Simple.  Scrumptious.

Today just reminded me that the old saying really does hold true:   
Quality.  Not Quantity.  It didn't matter that I didn't have much time to eat lunch, but instead, it mattered that I made the most of it.  Make the most of your time.

 Happy homemaking!

Crescent LoMonaco

The Coastal Homemaker

Just 10 Minutes

I have two favorite times of day.  1. Morning time, when I get to see my son's cute little face and give him a big squeezie hug and a kiss, and 2. His nap time, when I get to put that cute little face down for a nap and have some time to myself!

Today when I told him it was nap time, he told me, in his infinite wisdom, "You can throw my big-boy bed in the bushes, because I don't like naps anymore!"  Big orders from an almost three year old.

I have read up on it, talked it over with other moms and my husband, and decided he still needs a nap at this age, but I think part of the reason I won't give in just yet is because nap time is ME time!  It gives me anywhere from 1-2 hours of uninterrupted, quiet time.  Time to get stuff done!

I once read a challenge to set a timer for 10 minutes and see how much of a project I could accomplish with uninterrupted, focused attention.  It's amazing how much I can get done it 10 minutes.  I still use this technique when I have so much to do that I don't know where to start.  I may blow through the house like a whirlwind, start a load of laundry, put dishes in the dishwasher, stash toys in their proper places, give one room a quick dust; whatever I can do in 10 minutes.  It still amazes me how much better the house looks in just 10, focused minutes.

Other times I use the 10 minutes for just one, dedicated project.  Fill a box with items to be donated, or thatch a patch of grass and throw some grass seed in it, for example.

Now imagine that instead of 10 minutes, you have 1-2 hours of free time!  What would you do with it?  The trick is to not get sidetracked.  Turn the TV off, don't turn on the computer and whatever you do...do NOT pick up that smartphone!  While all of those things seem so harmless, by the time you watch 10 minutes of your favorite show, check your email, "like" a few posts on Facebook, answer a few text messages and play your next turn on Words with Friends, you've wasted at least an hour.  (Do however, make sure to take the time and read Coastal Homemaker blog.)

If you can gauge how long your little one naps, you can probably guess how much time to allocate to your projects.  Just as important, though...you should allow free time for yourself after you've tackled some of the items on your list.  After all, people that work outside their home get a lunch time and a break every day.  So should you.  Remember, what you are doing is work!  As my mother in law says, "Being a homemaker and a mother is the hardest job in the world, but it's also the most rewarding."  She's right, I know.  It just doesn't feel like it everyday.  

Gotta go.  Nap time's almost over.

Happy homemaking!

Crescent LoMonaco

The Coastal Homemaker

 
 

A little background

Admittedly, I didn't used to take homemakers seriously.  How hard could it possibly be to stay home, take care of the house and the kids?  Isn't that why long ago, daytime TV became so popular?   Because homemakers have so much free time that they get to kick back and just watch their shows for most of the day?  Wow!  Was I wrong!

I used to own a hair salon.  Complete with employees, clients and retail.  I was responsible for all of it.  Managing, marketing, ordering, stocking the shelves, creating and updating the website, doing the books, and working full time behind the chair.  I was also the Chairman for our town's Downtown Business Association, was a Board Member on the local Chamber of Commerce, a Board Member on an internationally known festival, volunteered my time for a charitable organizations, wrote an article for the local newspaper (remember those?) and belonged to a couple of social clubs.  

Then, I sold the salon and my husband and I had a baby.  Morning meetings were replaced with morning feedings.  Lunch dates have turned to play dates.  I no longer whip up projects, I whip up eggs and oatmeal.  I love that I know (now) how to do all of these things.   



Most of the time, being a homemaker is great.  I get to be creative and resourceful.  I get to use both sides of my brain.  I occasionally even get to sneak in some time reading magazines while sitting on my front deck; my favorite guilty pleasure.  

But some days, being a homemaker feels so much more strenuous, stressful and exhausting than being at work full time.  It can be isolating, thankless and is never ending.  And while I now realize how important the role of Homemaker is, I can see in the faces of working people and people who don't yet have children, the same look that I used to have when I tell them I'm a Homemaker.  They don't get it.  Blogspot doesn't even get it.  Today when I registered for my blog page, the closest options I had to choose from for my industry choice were either "not specified" or "non-profit."  

My hope for this blog is to give you a glimpse into the life of full time Homemaker.  Other Homemakers out there will be able to relate and may possibly laugh and cry along with me.  I hope that people out there that don't understand the importance and legitimacy of Homemakers will keep an open mind and try to understand.

Happy homemaking!

Crescent LoMonaco

The Coastal Homemaker