Returning to the Beginning

When I first started this blog it was for restaurant reviews. For reviews from a normal person out enjoying a meal prepared and cleaned up by someone else. I have decided to return this blog back to its roots. I will once again be giving my opinion for local - or not so local - establishments that serve food. And hopefully, good food. This will give me something to write about that I don't have to make up. I will just have to decide on the restaurant and what we will be eating from said restaurant. We are going to kick this off with Joseph's Pizza on Ocean Blvd in Atlantic Beach. Randy and I will usually go here for pasta and this past week we made a switch. It had been awhile since we had good pizza so we thought we would try it. I mean, it is named "Joseph's PIZZA". We knew we would have a wait so after ordering we took a walk on the beach. Right now is a weird time in the world as we are all just coming out of a world wide lock-down from a pandemic. Yes, a pandemic. Last week our beaches opened back up with limited times and restrictions and we knew based on the cars parked on A1A, the beach was going to be crowded. I guess we picked a good spot to enter for our walk as it was not as crowded as anticipated. We could see the crowds behind us near the Pier - which is where we would normally start - and we were quite thankful Joseph's was not on that end of the beach. After getting our piping hot pizza, we walked to the car, popped the hatch, laid out a blanket and had a little picnic in the back. I have a Ford Edge and yes, we were able to sit up comfortably. With the first bite, I knew we had found a good pizza joint. The crust almost melted in my mouth and it wasn't overflowing with tomato sauce. I have indigestion issues at times and can not eat a lot of the pizzas out there because of the sauce oozing out of the pizza. I am sure there is something that could have made this pizza better, I just can not think of anything. I knew Randy really enjoyed his half - I mean he ate all of it in the back of the Edge - so I told him he could have my leftovers. And man, the house sure did smell good when he pulled it out of the microwave for his lunch. SO whether you are looking for darn tasty pizza or pasta that is worth the drive, Joseph's is the place to go. They also have gelato and various Italian desserts. I can vouch for the cannoli. Yum.My!

All In A Day's Work

So....I spent Thurs baking. And making dinner. That is pretty much all I did while at work. Brennan had a Market Day the next day and he wanted to take cocoa frosted brownies - like the ones I made for his birthday. I got to work expecting to make a quick batch of frosting but Juliana had other plans. She thought it would be nice to make cupcakes as well. So I did. And a cake because I miss read the box and thought each box made 12 cupcakes. The made 24, so we had lots of leftover cake mix. Fri, I literally make the menu and grocery list for next week and picked up the boys from school. That is all I had time for. It was awesome. On the way home, I got groceries and made it home in time to join in on a #girlgang Facebook Live party. It would be nice to have a girlfriend or two but I just don't see it happening. I spent Saturday helping the hubs grout his parents backporch. I helped with mortar last weekend. I think he may finally be done with the job. It took longer than anticipated because of one day of high humidity which caused the mortar to not attached to the tile. Every piece he did that day had to be removed, cleaned, the ground had to be cleaned of dried mortar, and then those pieces had to be put back down. That was the day I helped last weekend. In the mix of all of that, we bought a house to rehab. I should say Myron bought a house. We went and looked at it and our offer was accepted. My prayer from the beginning of this would be that our first house would net 100k+. This one looks to be on course for that. God is good.

The Ease of It All

It really is much more relaxing and less stressful realizing that there are only so many hours in a day and only so much can get done in those hours. At work, I am staying on task without killing myself, realizing that what was once expect of me is no longer as I have cut back my hours and changed my job description. Any change to that, means it isn't all going to get done and I am okay with that. And my boss is more like a friend as I think I have become her only source of personal contact each day outside of her family. Yesterday she felt my pain with one of the kids who is a constant nag and likes to make sure you know of everyone else's shortcomings and diverts any negative attention away from themselves. You know, they get in trouble so they remind you of something another kid did. She is already dreading the summer. Ha! I on the other hand, am looking forward to my last day in that it will mean I am able to move forward in what I know God has for us in this next season. He has been preparing us and we are ready to move into it. What this next season is going to produce, is going to be awesome and we get giddy and teary eyed when we talk about it. When God is in it, how can you not?

Kitty Sneezes

Thanks to the crawl space under our house and the poor barrier blocking that space, we always have something under our house. That something is always driving our dog, Sadie, crazy. Like cray-cray crazy. Like I muzzled her yesterday because it was starting to drive me a little cray-cray. This something can be anything from a cat - there are plenty of outdoor cats in our neighborhood, to a possum to a raccoon, to an armadillo. Seriously, we have seen them all on our porch at one time or another. Today I heard what is under there right now and it seems to be a kitty with a cold. It can't stop sneezing. They are these cute little sneezes but man, is Sadie going crazy. I am really starting to feel bad for my neighbors. I mean, we thought our dogs were well behaved when we aren't home but if this cat is driving her crazy while we are here and I am able to get her - and the chorus of dogs that have joined her in barking - to hush, what kind of ruckus are they making when we aren't here. Thankfully everyone of our neighbors has dogs and they are use to one of our neighbors dogs being in their yard all day - and some nights - barking at everything that goes by there house. Did I mention we seem to be the shortcut for all the pedestrians and cars cutting from one main road to another? That means they are always barking, which is good in the sense that everyone is use to the barking. Except the neighbor with the braking dogs. He calls us to complain our dogs are barking. Go figure.

Go With It

I am learning to go with the flow with Juliana home from work. It is actually less stressful when I take the pressure off of myself when she changes the schedule. There are only so many hours in the day and only so much I can get done in those hours. Yesterday, it meant I picked up the kids from school instead of making banana bread and vacuuming, dusting, and mopping the floors. No worries. Will try to do it today. If stuff gets done, it gets done. If it doesn't, it doesn't. It has only taken me 4yrs to get to this place and now that I have an end date - she was laid off, which means I am being let go - it seems that I am able to see work this way. Literally, as long as laundry, lunches and dinner are made, the other stuff is just the fluff. I can't do it all. I just can't believe it has taken me this long to allow myself that luxury. lol Today is a new day. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. Not gonna stress.

Tile Tile and More Tile

We are currently working on tiling my in-laws screened in back porch. That is all I saw today - tile, mortar, spacers, trash. Glad I had time to help the honey. We have a couple of jobs to finish before we start our whole house rehab. Tomorrow I start The Miracle Morning. I have two accountability partners, my journal all set up, my plan in play and, hopefully, my honey on board. Tomorrow starts a new chapter, a new leaf, a new adventure. Looking forward to seeing where this takes me. Onward and upward are all I am willing to move towards.

Change Is A Brewin'

Looking back on the description of this blog, I had to laugh. It had one post and no followers. I am okay with that. However, going forward, that's not going to work anymore. The no followers part is ok. If I only do this for me, I am good with that. This blog is taking a turn and will no longer be what it was intended for - a local review of restaurants for a county - state for that matter - I no longer live in. This is going to be more on the observations I make in life. The stupid, the funny, the ordinary, the things no one thinks are seen. My daddy raised observant children. I might as well put it to good use. Let the spying, uh observing, begin.