Is it Friday already? Is it Friday already? What a difference intonation makes, right? In the summer, the days roll together like puppies playing in the grass. I find myself checking the calendar as if there is some kind of special delineation between summer week-days and summer week-ends. When there isn’t any activity planned, there’s no delineation whatsoever.
Like I said before, we have finished shuttling to and fro between camps and activities this summer. We are taking each day as it comes, making plans as it suits us. Today, we hit the Y, the playground, came home for lunch and are just lounging about. Ideally, I’d be in the hammock in the backyard, dozing as the girls played on the swing set, but seeing as we have neither a) hammock or b) swing set, I’m sitting here at the dining room table while the girls slog through their tutoring. Yes, I’m the mom that makes her children do math over the summer. That’s why my kids will be the boss and the others kids will be desk jockeys. I kid. . .or do I?
The promise of some screen time (laptop, DS, TV, whatever) dangles in front of them, the fattened worm before their gulping guppy mouths. I’m buying myself 30 minutes of solitude to catnap, read a bit, put more things in my Zappos shopping cart or any combination thereof. I’ve tried to entice the girls with Popsicles and the sprinkler, but if it’s not a regulation sized, chlorine filled pool with accompanying snack bar, they want no parts of it. Sure, we hit up the pool pretty regularly at the beginning of the summer and they’ve been fortunate enough to have had my brother take them just about every day during our visit to his house. The downside is, now that we’re home and with really nothing to do but go to the pool, I can’t do it. I’m about a month post-tenolysis surgery and despite my speedy recovery, the doc gave me a no go on chlorine for the foreseeable future.
This sucks for several reasons.
1. Swimming laps twice a week was really becoming my jam and not being able to do it is frustrating.
2. The girls really want to be at the pool and swim. I want them to become better swimmer and being landlocked isn’t helping their skill-set.
3. While I could take them to the pool, who the devil wants sit and watch while roasting rotisserie style on the deck, unable to cool off?
4. Hiring a sitter to take them to the pool or to stay at home with V while I take them to the pool is both expensive and still, not a lot of fun (see #3).
5. While the beach is an option, it, too, has it’s fair share of con, not limited to, but include sand in the cracks and crevices of the baby’s legs and in my healing incision. Not going to the Vineyard this year hasn’t been lost on the girls, either. They’re quick to point it out whenever someone else mentions their plans for going to the beach. I’m actually surprised as how much I’m missing the beach myself, long drive, ferry crossing and all.
So, we’re here in the house, with me extolling the virtues of the sprinkler and them shooting it down at every turn. They’ll consider the pop-jets at the mall, but only if they can have dinner out. The negotiations that I endure just to make it from lunch time to dinner time alone are staggering. We continue our back and forth, I dig up some water balloons. They’re promptly filled and thrown in the time it takes me to clean up the mess from filling them up in the first place.
So, back to my bag of tricks. Out come the crayons, paper, scissors, stamps and ink. They cut and paste, color and doodle. They move onto the library bag and I find them with their limbs artfully draped over the back of the sofa and the arm of the chair. The baby is sitting in the laundry basket surrounded by stuffed animals, her mouth furiously worrying her pacifier as she squishes a stuffed dog to her chest. All of a sudden, everything is calm and simple. Everything is quiet save for the turning of pages and the soft sucking on a plug.
Is it Friday already? Is it Friday already? I hadn’t even noticed.
Seeing as we aren’t beach bound this year, I thought I’d leave you with a very summery, beachy recipe. Happy Friday, y’all!
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Firehouse Crab Boil
recipe found here
3 to 4 cups crawfish, shrimp and crab boil seasoning (recommended: Zatarain’s powdered form, NOT liquid or bag versions)
3 lemons, halved
2 or 3 large onions, halved
5 heads garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise
2 dozen live blue crabs
6 pounds new potatoes
4 ears fresh corn, shucked, silk removed and cut in 1/2
3 artichokes, stem end trimmed cut into halves or quarters
2 pounds smoked sausage
1 package hotdogs
1 pound mushrooms
Directions
One day before you plan to boil the crabs: If you have a heatproof, submersible vessel that will hold 1 or 2 gallons of water that may be frozen, fill these with water and freeze until frozen solid.
In a very large (40 to 60-quart) pot combine the crab boil, lemons, onions, garlic, and 6 gallons of water and heat over high heat, stirring, until the powdered seasoning has dissolved. Add the crabs, potatoes, corn, artichokes, smoked sausage and hotdogs. (Everything should be submerged in liquid – if not, add a bit more water to cover.) Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Cook at a rolling boil for 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the mushrooms. Cover the pot and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add the frozen vessels to the hot crab boil and stir occasionally very gently to facilitate even cooling. This will prevent the crabs from overcooking and will also force them to absorb the seasoning from the crab boil. Let the crabs sit in the water for at least 1 hour before serving. You can let the crabs sit until completely cool, if desired, or you can serve the crabs warm.
Using tongs or strainers, carefully remove the crabs from the pot along with the onions, garlic, potatoes, corn, artichokes, sausage, hotdogs, and mushrooms and spread out on large platters or on newspaper lined tables for folks to enjoy.