Parmesan Chipotle Shrimp

I am not one for creating new recipes - I can follow a recipe pretty well (it's just like a chemistry experiment - which is what I LOVE) but I'm not very good at just winging it.  This recipe came from combining some ideas I have made before.  And it's something that Mr. MOTH will eat - which is a HUGE check in the "pro" column.  Dude is pick-y!!

Parmesan Chipotle Shrimp

12-16oz small-medium raw shrimp (I used frozen)
1/2 cup mayo (I used light)
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese - grated
2 TBSP chipotle pepper sauce

Heat broiler.  Place shrimp on foil-lined broiler pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray (Pam).  Broil until nearly done - 5-6 min.  While shrimp are cooking, combine remaining ingredients.  I like it to be a little thick, so add more cheese if necessary.  Remove shrimp and top with Parmesan mixture. I used a small spoon and just dolloped it right on. Broil until lightly browned 1-2 minutes.  Serve hot.

Disney - Day 3

As much as Disney is our happy place, Epcot is Mr. MOTH's happi-EST place.  (In case you're wondering, he IS smiling - LOL!)

 

For the first time in forever (pun intended) we only took the boat ride (Living With the Land) once per visit to the Land Pavilion, unlike all previous visits where we rode it repeatedly while others enjoyed Soarin'.  This was a HUGE milestone for us - riding that boat until a child falls asleep was always par for the course.  My babies are growing up - we ALL went on Soarin' together!  And no one freaked out so that we had to carry them out sobbing and flailing uncontrollably! (Not that THAT ever happened.  Ahem.)

I was really excited to see this photo op as part of the photo package that we always purchase (because it's the ONLY way I get to be in any photos).  Unfortunately, the pictures taken by the Disney dude sucked.  Really.  As a matter of fact, every time we had that photographer throughout our trip, the photos sucked.  Sigh.

The kids loved seeing what housekeeping would do with our towels.  We may have taken one of the washcloth animals home as a souvenir.  And Little One may have asked if the housekeeper had been to our house when she spotted it in the kids' bathroom.  If only...



We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program...

Here We Go, Steelers!  Here We Go!

 

I'll be honest and say I don't have high hopes.  I mean, our Pitt football team managed to blow a substantial lead in the final minutes of the 4th quarter yesterday, but I will ALWAYS root for the Black & Gold (even if the individual players don't deserve my loyalty, the city still does).

Here We Go, Steelers!  Here We Go!

Disney - Day 2

Disney's Hollywood Studios.  My favorite park!  It has my favorite ride (Rockin' Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith) and the feel is just so...cool!  I love Old Hollywood and could spend all day just looking at all of the fantastic little details that make it so Disney.  It also has my favorite spot to get a dessert as big as your head coffee.

 

 A new show (that was supposed to be just for the summer but is still around...) was the Frozen sing-a-long.  I LOVED THIS!  My girls (like every other little girl on the planet) are huge Frozen fans so of course we own the soundtrack.  They can pretty much reenact the entire movie, verbatim, but I'm not ever allowed to sing along (if you could hear my singing voice, you would understand why...).  BUT.  This show is LOUD, the music is blasted AND there are 5,000 kids PLUS their moms (and maybe even a few dads) singing at the top of their lungs!  Little One told me NOT to sing but I did anyways! 

It was really funny and cute (even the boys enjoyed it!).  I'm hoping they keep it around until we can get back!

**I'm having some issues with blogger.  I had a post scheduled about my grandfather (it was the anniversary of his death), and it's...gone.  Sigh.  Stupid computer.

Times, They Are A'Changin'

I love writing down the crazy, goofy, silly, and sometimes insane things that happen in our life with four kids.  It's a great way to keep track of things I may (and sometimes, WANT to) forget.  That being said, I've done a pretty crappy job of it lately on here.  This space is my own (no, really, it's MINE - and there are VERY few things I don't have to share around here) and I haven't been owning it the way I want to.  Things happen and I forget to post.  Or I worry that I'll offend someone.  Or I think that maybe it's not worth the effort.

This year has been one of change, most of it for the better.  It started off in the most awful of ways (we lost my Grandpa on January 2nd) and I went into a funk (for lack of a better word).  I didn't want to run.  I didn't want to socialize.  I didn't want to blog.  I didn't wanna...anything.  I started using Young Living Essential Oils in March and that started the ball rolling in a completely different direction.  I can't quite describe why; mostly, it's because I HATE taking (and doling out) medications and I haven't had to do that nearly as much but a lot of it is because deciding to become a distributor has given me a purpose that I haven't had in awhile.  Sure, getting a paycheck is nice (REALLY nice) but I love that the product I decided to promote actually HELPS people.  There are a lot of great products out there that I certainly think are worth the money (Pampered Chef always comes to mind!) but they're not exactly improving quality of life (although a new pie plate would certainly improve the Thanksgiving dinner table...).  I can't guarantee that using Young Living will change someone's life but I KNOW that it has had a significant impact on mine - sleep (glorious sleep!), pain, inflammation, energy, mood, money (don't knock it - it works!), illness, infections, allergies, warts, skin care, and probably a dozen other things I can't think of right now.  (Sleep is happening on a consistent basis since we started diffusing lavender every night, but we ALL - ALL 6 OF US - stayed up until midnight last night which means *yawn* I'm too tired to remember everything)

So, the long of the short is that I want this space - MY blog - to include all parts of our life and right now essential oils are playing a pretty big part of it. 

If you've missed reading about our insanity, you're in luck!  I'm baaaack!  If you don't want to hear anything about YL (Young Living), your luck just ran out. ;)

I am part of the Lemon Dropper team.  We don't sell anything.  We just tell it like it is. 

Disney - Day 1(ish)

Our Disney vacation was pretty awesome but uneventful.  And by "uneventful" I mean no one got sick, there were no major incidents, and we all survived with very little fighting and bickering. 

The drive down was LOOOOOONG but totally doable.  We drove to South Carolina the first day (almost 12 hours in the car), had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's (I think?) and stayed in a pretty nice Courtyard by Marriott.  The kids all were on their best behavior at breakfast (they LOVE breakfast food but they're always a little shocked to have it at breakfast since I usually only make pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc. for dinner - who has time to do that in the AM?).  Baby Girl kept asking "How long until we get to South Korea?" and then she told me Mr. MOTH couldn't leave me in West Virginia because I don't speak Spanish. (????)

The second day of driving was much better.  South Carolina is pretty much a straight shot.  And by that I mean I could have put the car on cruise control and climbed in the back to watch a movie with the kids because the road never bends.  It was a little weird, actually, when you come from the land of hairpin turns, even on the interstate.

We arrived at Downtown Disney in time for a late lunch at T-Rex.  This has become a tradition - we don't go to the parks on our first day so we start the Disney immersion process at Downtown Disney. The strangest thing about this was that the kids all ordered their own meal - by themselves.  I felt so proud...and also a little useless. After lunch we checked into the Fort Wilderness Cabins (they only sleep up to 6, so when Grandma's with us it's not feasible) where Oldest Boy managed to plug the toilet immediately (It's a little embarrassing to have to call for maintenance within 5 minutes of check-in - and I'm not easily embarrassed).  We headed out to pick up our supplies for the week (which now included a plunger...) and then we settled in for Day 2 where we would be heading to Hollywood Studios.

"Memorial of Mercy"

I tend to steer away from topics that are considered controversial.  Not because I don't have an opinion (I have very strong opinions on darn near everything) but because I don't like confrontation. 

 

Youngest Boy asked to see this painting.  On Sunday, his best bud "D" told him all about it and the ensuing conversation brought tears to my eye.  I just let them talk, only adding my voice if they asked a direct question or gave an incorrect fact.  "D"'s mom gave a great description that was understandable at their 4th grade level and I let them go with it. 

 

Pray.  Now.

 

"Memorial of Mercy" by Nikki Bruni

Maybe you can tell a little better in this closer photo - each tile is a picture of a baby.

Folks always want to talk about the killing involved in war.  56 million deaths - what kind of war would that be?