It's Official - Summer Is Almost Here!

Wow! I have been a neglectful blogger lately. It's been almost a month since I have been here and I really have no excuse except that the May gray weather that is so common in my area makes me want to crawl into a corner and hibernate. Glad that we are seeing more and more of the sun lately (I would do just horribly in the Pacific Northwest), however what is after May gray but June gloom! Alas, maybe global warming is here to stay and I won't see as much this year. Come July I will be bitching about the heat so just stay tuned - I know there is no pleasing my DIVA self.

I welcomed in the beginning of barbecuing season with some great Jamaican Jerk chicken sandwiches and a Sunshine Lemon Cake.

I'm not really much of a cake baker but I was pretty proud of this one. The best part is there still some leftovers for the rest of the long weekend!

And speaking of long weekends who doesn't love them? Especially when you are staying home, hanging out with friends just enjoying your own backyard! Everyone is so much more relaxed and easy going. Life is good!

The Dinner Table!

A challenge has been thrown down to scrap a “top 10” list. I don’t need another one about myself as I seem to have been doing plenty of those lately. I was going through some recent pictures and found this one. I thought of "Top 10 Things Said At Our Dinner Table."

1. Plates! (that's Mark's line and it's almost always because whoever set the table forgot them)
2. What would you like, Laura? Mark always asks Laura and it cracks me up because it's not like I'm running a short order cafe. Dinner is what's on the table, period.
3. Hello, family! Nice to see you all! With the kids' work schedules we seem to say this more and more.
4. Give Andrew the crusty stuff on top. This happened last night as it does whenever we have anything with melted cheese on the top!
5. Who set the table? (Usually because something was forgotten. (see item #1)
6. Get a hot pad, no make that two, no three. And this is usually said while whoever is holding the dish is about to drop it from the heat!
7. Dad, just let me serve myself! I grew up having my dad do all the serving and as a result have given that job to Mark. The kids get impatient with him and let me know from an early age that this tradition won't be passed on to their kids.
8. No dentist office jazz music, dad. Sometimes he picks music that just puts us all to sleep and we have to put the kabash on his choice.
9. Do I have turn off that internet or are you coming? Usually said to either Laura or myself becasue we are the chatty ones.
10. Let the answering machine get the d#$% phone! You know the telephone solicitors have radar for when dinner is served.

It made me realize how much I love our ritual of family dinner time. Even as old as the kids are now we still manage to have a few nights during the week when we all get together. Hopefully after dinner tonight I'll get this photo into a layout!