What do you call a fish with two knees?

A tu-knee fish!

Get it...a tu-knee, er, tuna, fish.

Har har har! My kids told me that joke.

Anyways, that's what the hubs is grilling right now. Yes, at nearly 9:30pm. We've still got a ridiculous amount of yellowfin tuna vacuum sealed in the deep freezer and he decided that we will have tuna fish salad for lunch tomorrow.

The celery, onion and other deliciousness is already prepped & waiting on the kitchen counter.

I just hope I give myself enough time in the morning to actually make myself a sammich.

Weekend Recap

It's Monday {again}. I'm another year older. And, I'm already yearning for the weekend. It's sad what my life has succumbed to. Just kidding, just kidding...I'm just feeling exceptionally melodramatic today for some reason. I really shouldn't considering I had myself a pumpkin spice latte courtesy of Starbucks this morning {I received two $20 gift cards to Starbucks for my birthday...my girlfriends know what I *need*!}.

Anyways...here's a rundown of my weekend in as few bullets as possible:

• Friday was the birthday. My birthday. After a day of working & some husband-induced stress {and a good cry...oh!}, we headed out for a fun dinner with friends & family at Shogun. We requested our favorite teppanyaki chef, Petey, and had a very yummy dinner & a big pot of sake. After dinner, we headed to Just George's to meet up with more friends & enjoy a few more drinks.
• Very, very EARLY on Saturday morning, the hubs went fishing. I didn't want him to go, but......ah, well. He headed down to Oregon Inlet, NC with our friend, Matt, and the two of them went deep sea fishing. They lucked out & had one heck of a fishing day! After all of the tuna was cleaned, they each brought home about 120 pounds of fresh tuna. Needless to say, I spent a good part of my Sunday vacuum sealing tuna steaks!
• Also on Saturday, my parents surprised me with a visit and took me {and the kids} out to lunch at Carrabba's. I had a delicious grilled chicken breast smothered in goat cheese & sun-dried tomatoes for lunch. After lunch, we walked around the mall, I did a little bit of shopping & we headed home. My parents left for home {they live in Fredericksburg which is about 2.5 hours away from me} and the kids & I got ready for dinner at Adam's mom's house. I made peanut butter cup brownies & we were off for a fantastic pulled pork BBQ dinner. I got to hang out with my sister-in-law, Krystal, which was a lot of fun. Adam eventually made his way over {with a huge bag of tuna in hand} and we had a late night grill session & enjoyed some perfectly cooked tuna steaks.
• Sunday came & went...it really did. Adam made a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon & cinnamon apples and then we headed to Wal-Mart for some groceries & then to the auto parts store for new brake pads for my car {can you tell what my birthday present from the hubs was?! It definitely wasn't a new pair of shoes for me!}. Once home, it was football, laundry, NASCAR, laundry, nap, laundry, football...yeah, the day pretty much went like that. We had tuna tacos for dinner and, before we knew it, it was time for bed & time to get the new week started.

I swear, weekends are too short. Congress, or whomever it is who ultimately gets to decide, should really consider either adding Friday or Monday to the weekend. Seriously.

I enjoyed my weekend...I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, too!

Psst...don't forget to enter my birthday giveaway!

Tears, Tantrums & Treats

It's been a while since either one of my children has had a full-blown meltdown and I suppose the hubs & I were long overdue for one because we were blessed yesterday afternoon.

After picking up the boy from the sitter, Aidan & I headed home for a quick pit stop. My plan was to turn right back around and head to Target. I pulled into the driveway to find Adam loading the fishing poles & tackle box into the bed of his truck. I knew he was going fishing. Aidan did not.

Let the whining commence...

Aidan followed Adam into the house. It all started with "I want to go fishing" and it escalated from there. The fishing chant continued. Aidan followed Adam throughout the house like a little duckling following its momma. Adam kept telling Aidan, "Next time. Next time." OK, no problem...or so I thought.

We get outside and it's time for us to leave {besides, Adam needed to back down the driveway and I was blocking him in}. By this time, Aidan is crying. Really crying. He had big ole tears running down his face and he kept saying over & over, "But I want to go fishing!" Adam promised him that he would go next time. {Side note: Adam was going fishing around dusk and into the later evening hours...Adam wasn't being mean...we just don't take the kids fishing on the boat at night.}

Adam hugged Aidan...squeezed him, loved on him, kissed him...and got him into the car. Instantly, Aidan arched his back and his whole body stiffened. Get ready...because here comes the tantrum monster rearing it's ugly head! {Any of you parents out there know that the arched back/stiff child combo is NOT fun...and it's especially not fun when trying to buckle your child into his carseat!} Aidan would NOT sit in his booster. Not.At.All. This whole time I was - and I'm almost ashamed to admit it - letting Adam deal with it. I was just sitting in the driver's seat breathing slowly & trying to keep calm. Adam shuts the door. Aidan's still not buckled. Aidan rolls down the window and proceeds to yell, "But I want to go fishing!" He kept screaming it. His tear-stained cheeks were red from frustration, but at least he was finally buckled.

We set off for Target. By this time, I don't even remember why I needed to go. I even second-guessed my reasoning for even going because:

1. It's never fun going anywhere with an angry child.
2. He will probably fall asleep during the ride there (because crying & yelling is exhausting, ya know) and
3. What was supposed to be a quick "in & out" trip could possibly turn into something longer.

The WHOLE way to Target - OK, so it's only a 10 minute drive from the house - Aidan's in the backseat crying and chanting, "I want my Daddy! I........want.........my.....Da.......ddy!!" Bless his heart. And, in between sobs & catching his breath, he started to yawn.

As we pulled into the Target parking lot, I quickly found a parking space near the building and I did what any desperate mother would do...I reduced myself to bribery!

Me: You know, Aidan, if you stop crying I just might buy you a treat when we get inside - that is if you are a good boy while we're in the store.
Aidan: But...{sob sob sob}...I can't stop crying!
Me: Well, just try. Wipe your tears and catch your breath. I know you're upset but you know Daddy will take you fishing next time.
Aidan: {more crying} But I want my Daddy....now!
Me: Oh, Aidan...it's going to be OK. Let's go in the store and see what we can find for you.

Yes, I'm not above bribery...no sir, not at all. We got out of the car and walked into Target. Our first stop...the snack bar. It's amazing what a cookie and an Icee can do for the upset soul! Our next stop...the $1 section {which some of it was half off!} for an Ironman paddle ball set. After that, the rest of the trip was a breeze. Not a single tear was shed and Aidan quickly forgot about Daddy and fishing.

---

OK, so I know some of you are probably out there cringing because I've just reinforced a behavior that perhaps should have been handled in a different way. But, to me, his fit was over something that WILL happen and his behavior wasn't ridiculously out of line. Besides, desperate times call for desperate measures.

And, you know how I rewarded myself (because, YES, I felt I deserved to be rewarded after an afternoon like that)?? Two glasses of Barefoot Zinfandel after the boy went to bed (stay tuned for a Barefoot giveaway this weekend!).

Chicken of the Sea

When the hubs goes fishing we eat like kings!

(gosh, that sounds awful...like I'm starving my kids we don't have any food in the house or something)

A few weeks ago he went fishing with some friends and we reaped in the bounty that was their day because, out of the three guys, only the hubs (and *ahem* his family) eats fish!

The Gorton's fisherman's got nothing on this feast...behold:

Fresh flounder - right from the Chesapeake Bay - fried (yes, fried) to perfection and served with home-made tartar sauce, leftover (I'm not ashamed) pasta salad and hush puppies.

God bless House-Autry for their Seafood Breader and their Hush Puppy Mix {with onions}...my pantry would be incomplete without either item.

SPADES

The hubs went fishing (again) this weekend - not much of a surprise, huh?

He & a few friends went out into the Chesapeake Bay (14 miles off coast) by the Chesapeake Light Tower...they had a blast reeling in some Spadefish!

Adam said they were a lot of fun to catch because they take the bait and then swim like crazy! Adam spent a bit of time this morning scaling and filleting the fish and we ate Spadefish (for the first time) tonight with our friends, Marc & Mary.

Got Fish?

I have been eating fish since Saturday. Seriously. No lie.

The hubs went fishing again last weekend on the Tuna Fever & he had a blast. It's always nice when you can get your friends & family together for an impromptu fishing trip...it's even better when the catch is as magnificent as the one shown above! They caught five yellowfin tuna and the rest is all mahi mahi (aka dolphin or dorado). I think they caught nearly 500 pounds of fish in all.

Sorry for the semi-crummy quality of the photo...the hubs took the picture on his cell phone and I received it while I was sitting at Doughboy's having a few drinks with my girlfriends. ;-)

Mother's Day - Take Two

It's just after 11pm and, as usual, I am up at the computer. The house is quiet. All I hear is the hum of the computer and a commercial on the television. Other than that, nothing else is going on. Nothing at all.

Because I am alone and I just don't feel like doing anything else.

The hubs has headed to North Carolina for, hopefully, a successful fishing trip. I am going to dream tonight of Yellowfin Tuna and dolphin (no, not Flipper, but Mahi Mahi or Dorado). The kids are with family - visiting with their great-grandparents who are in town from Florida - and they are spending the weekend with their aunt, er, great aunt.

Why am I here? That's because I have plans for tomorrow. Plans that were made LONG before this impromptu fishing trip came up. For once I didn't have to worry about making arrangements for the kids or worry about having to back out (yet again) on another commitment. The hubs actually took the initiative and got things all worked out. Granted, there were tears shed on my part mainly due to frustration, but I'm happy it's all worked out. Everyone is happy.

I know I am happy. Because I really do enjoy a quiet house.

Wordless/Wordful Wednesday - TUNA FEVER

How does the saying go...a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work? Well, this was a PHENOMENAL day of fishing for us! We caught our limit of tuna (Big Eye and Yellowfin) BEFORE noon and were back at the dock by lunchtime to show off our catch! Nearly 900 pounds of tuna was caught and, yes, I still have packages of vacuum-sealed tuna in my deep freeze.

We went fishing out of Oregon Inlet, NC on the Tuna Fever last August. It was MY first time ever deep sea fishing and let's just say I'm hooked. I was the lone female on boat full of testosterone and, wouldn't you know, out of the two tuna I reeled in one was a 76 pound citation yellowfin tuna! And, I was in good company catching citation-size tuna because four other guys on the boat (my husband was one) caught citation sized tuna as well!

For more Wordless Wednesday, be sure to check out 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordless Wednesday...and for some Wordful Wednesday fun check out 7 Clown Circus!

Honey, I just found out...

I don't know about you, but those are famous last words in our household. It doesn't matter who says it, Adam and I both know that when those five words are spoken the news following is either going to be absolutely wonderful or really, really crappy. I guess in this case the news is wonderful for Adam and semi-crappy for me.

Adam found out today that he's fishing in the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout this weekend. Adam and I would both like to take this opportunity to thank his father for NOT telling Adam that he was entered into a fishing tournament. Adam only found out because the girl handling the registration and such called him today to confirm. Well, golly gee...I guess I know what is NOT going to happen this weekend...yep, that's right...the kitchen won't get finished.

Of course, Adam says to me today that the kitchen would not have gotten finished this weekend even if he wasn't fishing. Here I was thinking Rockfish season was over and done with...well, that was fishing in the bay and not the freakin' ocean.

Ah, well...I suppose the good news is that Adam is fishing on Friday which means that he'll be able to work on the kitchen Saturday. BUT, knowing my dear, sweet husband there will be some other fishing related excuse come Saturday. This is why, my friends, I find this news to be semi-crappy.