Final Fay Update...

Looks like we dodged the bullet on this one. The storm made landfall about 50 miles south of us on Marco Island. I know that 50 miles doesn't sound like very far but that puts us on the left side of the storm where there is way less weather to contend with.

It will still be a rainy morning with a lot of wind but nothing like it would have been.

Look out Jenn, she's coming your way!!!

To everyone in her path...be safe and my prayers and thoughts are with you!

As Always...

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Quick update

It's just after 3:00 AM and everyone is asleep. I just got up real quick to check the models and to see what was going on. I don't like when these things come at night. The noises outside are horrendous and it looks like it is just starting.

Last night was pretty uneventful. A bit of rain and a steady breeze. At about 2:30 the wind woke me up and that is the big thing right now. It's just really windy. I can hear and almost feel everytime a strong gust comes up and hits the front of the house. It hasn't started howling just whistling.

From the forecast models it looks like Fay may make landfall just to the south of us but a wobble in either direction can change all this. They are still saying that the worse will be from sunrise to midday.

Going to do some more rounds of the house and make sure the girls are tucked in nice and tight.

Will update again if possible when the sun comes up!

Judy

Go Away Fay!!!

Okay I need for everyone to take a deep breath and blow this one away from us.

All kidding aside. When I went to bed last night I felt pretty secure. During the day day yesterday all of the models had moved the landfall point of Fay up North from us. They were pointing to the Tampa Bay area and I felt a wee bit better (not for you guys up there). This morning I woke up early to get things organized for the first day of school for the girls and to check on this storm.

This is what I saw...

I swear the H is right over top of my house again!!!

It looks like now we would at least have an escape route. The other coast looks like they are in the clear for now so Miami might be a safe bet but seeing as it is a Category 1 we will be staying put. It looks like the worst of the weather will be midday Tues with conditions worsening starting this evening. I will try and keep you updated as we get more information.

Our local internet news station is nbc-2.com. You can follow the progress on this.

The kids need some breakfast to start their first day right so off to the real world I am!

Don't forget...blow real hard and send prayers and wishes for us down here!!!

As Always...

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Here we go again!

See the line crossing into Florida? Just north of our city!

Hold onto your drinks folks were going to be in for a bumpy ride!!!

We are now under a Hurricane Watch for our area. More than likely the girls first day of school is about to be canceled and they won't end up starting until later in the week or depending upon our power situation until the area gets cleared up.

This is one of those really weird storms that you can't really even evacuate from. The forecast cone (the big circles are where the storm is predicted to hit) covers pretty much the whole state. So as of right now we stay put.

Am I prepared? As much as anyone I guess can be. If I learned anything from Hurricane Charley it was that you can never be prepared enough. Batteries? Check. Water? Check. Food? Hahaha (we could survive months on our freezer and pantry alone!) check.

The one really strange thing I am doing to prepare is to make bread. In the aftermath of Charley the State made sure that we had water and ice but you could not for the life of you buy a loaf of bread. My family won't eat store bought bread so I am baking!

As the winds start to pick up tomorrow night we will probably loose power but I should still be able to charge my iPhone on our super handy, dandy tv/radio/severe weather/charger thingy!

Wish us luck, these storms are unpredictable as hard as they try to make the predictions. It may take a nice turn away from us. I'll keep you posted!

As Always...

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

What to do with left over steak?

Steak Salad!

We have been going full steam ahead this week. My poor Mom (leaves on Saturday) is going to need some time to get over this one!!!

Last night we had orientation at the girl's school. Seeing as it is going to be their first full year at this school we needed to be there for it. I think their teachers are going to work out wonderfully for both of them!!!

Anyway we had to figure out dinner around a 5:40 departure time for the school. I fed the girl's some left over pizza from Tuesday night before we went out and then made a salad for us adults. I decided that we would eat when we got back from the school. We had so much steak left over from my youngest ones birthday dinner the night before so we topped the salads with that. Pretty fast and yummy dinner!

T and my Mom topped theirs with mountains of Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing and I just used a nice light vinaigrette that I had made. Seeing as we didn't get home until around 7:30 this was a nice ready made meal!

***I wanted to thank everyone who left a comment on my post from yesterday. I always hesitate to put things on this blog that are really personal feeling like that but when you need a bit of support you guys are simply the best!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

A bit of a reflective mood today...

Youngest daughter blowing out her 6 year candle on the cake she decorated!!!
Happy Birthday Love!

So today is my youngest daughter's 6th birthday and I am just baffled by this. When did all of those years pass and where did they go? Yah, I have a bunch of memories but not my little baby girl! She was one of those little ones that just fit perfect...right up until now. I find that I have to move my head to hold her comfortably where as just a few minutes ago she just snuggled right in.

I always bake the girls a cake for their birthday celebration with us and their big treat is to be able to decorate it however they want to. This year my youngest one wanted a layer cake with strawberries and white icing. I ended up using a box cake (yep...with everything that I have going on it was easiest also she wanted a confetti cake). I did make the icing twice. The first one was the 7 minute frosting. Note to self-do not attempt egg white frosting in Florida in the summer time! Ended up with a powdered sugar icing that worked just fine.

We decided to have her birthday party last night with just us. We have orientation for the girls at school tonight and it would have been to rushed. What does a 6 year old care as long as she has cake and presents!!! For her special dinner she wanted steamed clams. Pretty cool huh? So we had a 100 clams (I swear she ate 50 herself), steak, potatoes, and salad...oh yah and cake too!

Anyway another thing that has made me reflective, and I feel so sick when I really think of this, but I need to put it out there, 4 years ago today we returned to our home after evacuating during Hurricane Charley to find our home destroyed.

We lost our roof which in turn means that you have lost everything inside. I lost photos, keepsakes, furnitures and all sense of security in my home. It was such a sad time for us. We had to move out of our house for 6 months while the whole interior was gutted and rebuilt. I'd like to tell you that it is better and stronger than ever but I will never trust this house again. 4 years later I still have not wavered from that! Oh sure the house looks way better than it did. Who gets the opportunity to totally remodel your house from top to bottom??? I guess what I realized was that a house is just sticks and stones it's what's inside that is important!

We evacuate for every threat. Pack up the car with our emergency bag that is packed from the beginning of hurricane season, load up the dogs and head away from the threatened area. Is this hard? Oh yah, but not as hard as staying. People lost there lives during that storm. 29 deaths can be attributed to Charley. I know what can happen first hand but at least we were safe. It scares me to think how lucky we were.

As Always...

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Super Cereal

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a new product that was showing up in the juice section of the supermarket. I am always looking for pure, fresh, all-natural food and this caught my eye! Tropicana Pure. It is being touted as the next generation of juices. Well whatever. Don't they all make the same claims? Generally I like to juice my own juices but I bought some of this.

Tropicana Pure 100% Juice-Raspberry and Acai.

Now we've all heard about the benefits of Acai by now. I actually like the flavor that it adds to juices that it is mixed with.

I came up with this to try and find something for the girls to help get them to eat a better breakfast. They loved this and I will be making it again and again!!!

Breakfast Quinoa – Super Cereal (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Tropicana Pure 100% Juice Raspberry and Acai

1 Cup of Water

1 Cup of Quinoa (rinsed)

2 Cups of fresh raspberries

½ tsp ground cardamom

¼ tsp cinnamon

1/3 Cup chopped walnuts

Honey as a sweetener

Directions:

· Combine the Tropicana Pure 100% Juice, water and quinoa in a medium sized sauce pan. Bring to a boil.

· Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.

· Turn off the heat and let stand for about 5 minutes.

· Stir in the cardamom, cinnamon and raspberries.

· This makes 4 servings. Top each serving with some walnuts and drizzle honey to taste.