Friday Funnies

1. Remember how I just posted about my love for Nyquil? It has been brought to my attention that my brother, who's the pastor of our church, actually mentioned in a recent sermon that he knows "some people" who are actually addicted to Nyquil. I missed that week because I was out of town. But I only have one thing to say to that..."Hello Kettle, it's me Pot. You're black"!

2. Parker recently went to a Bible study where they were teaching about the fiery furnace. He came home and told me the three men in the fire were Shadrack, Meshek, and Aminuteago. He cracks me up! I was telling Brian about it, and I figured out that I grew up pronouncing it "Uh-BIN -di-go", but Mr. Fancy Pants (Brian) said he has always said it correctly ~ Abednigo. Isn't he just special?

(I just looked up these names to make sure I was spelling them correctly. Apparently, there are several different spellings for each of them. However, none of them are Aminuteago.)

How do you pronounce it??? I need just one of you to please say Bin instead of Bed!

3. One more little story for today that I've been meaning to tell you for a while. Back in May, I went to the Garth Brooks concert in Knoxville with a big group of family. Before the concert, I decided to go get a drink (and let's be honest, there were also peanut m&ms involved). I had noticed all the little whipper snapper twenty-somethings simply stepping over the empty seat in front of them instead of having to crawl over people to make it to the aisle. You see where this is going, right? I knew it was a bad idea before I even started. Unfortunately, I had a family full of cheerleaders who were encouraging me. I'm not even kidding when I tell you that my sister-in-law was LITERALLY cheering, "You can do it! You can do it!" The first foot seemed to go over with ease. As my 39 year old second foot tried to stick the landing, the chair quickly folded under me and trapped my leg as I fell so gracefully to the floor. At this point, my mom is up there yelling, "Her ankle is probably broken!" and my niece Megan was gently chanting, "You're ok, you're ok" as if I was a toddler who just fell off a swing at the playground. Meanwhile, other family members are laughing and thousands (maybe millions) of strangers are looking to see what other kind of pre-concert entertainment I might provide. I'm actually surprised Garth didn't add me to his tour line-up. I make a great opening act!

Please tell me you've done something embarrassing like falling in front of a stadium full of people!

Come On In And Sit A Spell

Well hello there to all of you who are new around these parts! I'm glad you're here! (Hi to those of you that having been hanging out here for a few years too.)

I started this blog in 2008 mainly as a scrapbook for our family. Unfortunately, after Claire came along, my time of making "real, hold in your hand with precious stickers and scalloped edges" scrapbooks ended. Two kids will do that to you. However, I couldn't stand the thoughts of not keeping a record for us somehow. Blogging was kind of newish back then, but I decided to give it a try. Honestly, it's a true miracle that this little blog has made it so long. Somehow, it's still alive and kickin'!

Like I said, I mostly post pictures of our family and the things we do throughout the year. I also like to share recipes and some of our travel experiences. Every now and then, I write something with a little more meaning and EXTREMELY OFTEN my super silly side comes out. I don't worry too much about editing and such, so please don't judge. #thankyouverymuch Feel free to leave a comment anytime if you have any thoughts or just want to say hi. I'm glad to have some new friends reading along! 

#CHRISFORBACHELOR

I interrupt these regularly scheduled Myrtle Beach posts for a very exciting announcement.

CHRIS IS THE NEXT BACHELOR!!!



Megan (my niece) and I have been running a behind the scenes campaign for Chris to be chosen as the next Bachelor. I have absolutely no doubt that the millions of text messages we sent back and forth to each other with #chrisforbachelor were the driving reason that ABC chose him. As Megan said, "We know how to get stuff done"!

Boom. Fist Bump.


I loved, loved, loved Chris last season. Next season should be a great one. He appeared to be such a nice gentleman when he was on Andi's season. Of course, there's always some type of drama or something on the show that I wish wasn't there, but I really think I will enjoy watching Chris as the next bachelor. If you haven't been watching, now's the time to start! I need people to watch, so we can chat about it!!! 

Places To Eat In Myrtle Beach



Through the years, we've eaten just about everywhere in Myrtle Beach. I'm not even kidding. We've found lots of things that were decent, a few we hated, and several that we go back to year after year. Of course, you can find just about any chain restaurant that you want too if that's your kind of thing.

It's a tradition for our family to eat at Ultimate California Pizza on the day we arrive in Myrtle Beach. There are several locations, but we have our favorite one. To be honest, the pizza is good. Not great. It won't knock your socks off, but there is a lot of variety for sauce and topping choices. We obviously like it enough to keep going back.



Many years ago, we discovered Pier 14. It's a restaurant located on the pier near where we often stay. Now here's the deal...We have tried different things. Most of them are average. However, the ribeye steak is out of this world. I don't know what makes it so good, but I promise it is delicious. I like my steak well-done, and Pier 14 is one of the only places that can cook it correctly without burning it. The seasoning is also perfect. Brian likes his steak medium rare (I like to call it bloody), and he loves the ribeye at Pier 14 too. We highly recommend it even though it's a little pricey, and the rest of the food is just average.



I'm telling you...it's delicious.
Not the green beans though ~ I think we all know how I feel about green beans.

The kids like to eat at Pier 14 too. They enjoy the food, and it always comes with a free Frisbee.

The view is also really pretty. Ask for a table by the window if it is available. After you finish eating, you can walk out on the pier if you want.

This was our view from the table this summer.



A few years back, we found River City Café. Then for some reason, we skipped it for a couple of years. We went back this year and wondered why we've been skipping it. It was REALLY GOOD! Claire even loved it, and she's not really a hamburger type of gal.

Brian and I shared this bbq bacon burger and cheese fries. This might be a good time to add that we don't worry too much about calories when we're on vacation. Ha! Every bite we had was delicious. These pictures don't do it justice. Even the ranch dressing was homemade and fabulous. Go there if you get a chance!!!



One night, we ate at Liberty Brewery & Grill. We had eaten there before and knew it was fine. We picked it out of convenience because we were planning to be at Broadway at the Beach all evening, and that's where it's located.

We actually just got some happy hour appetizers. They were ok. Eh.

See above: not healthy

Nowhere near as good as River City Café

Many years ago, we found a little cheesesteak shack called Clarine's Cheesesteaks. It went out of business a while back, and we mourned. Then we found a substitute that is almost as good. We've been going to Cheesesteak Factory (not to be confused with Cheesecake Factory) for probably about six years. Yum!

This is my sandwich. I like the white cheese on mine. You can't see it much because it's mixed in with the meat.

The homemade chips and ranch are really tasty. I don't care for their fries.
Get the chips instead!

This is Brian's sandwich. He got the cheesewhiz instead of the white cheese.

This is a kids meal. Both kids enjoyed it!

Also many moons ago, we found Sea Captain's House. I feel obligated to say that we never, and I do mean NEVER, eat at seafood buffets. We tried them years ago (when we were young and inexperienced Myrtle Beach eaters), and we found them to always be cheap, sometimes imitation seafood all fried and overpriced. Extremely overpriced!

The food at Sea Captain's House is always high quality and very good. It is kind of expensive, but not any more than the large buffets. Believe me, it is way better than any buffet.

They serve these hushpuppies to every table when you sit down. They are sooooo good!

Sea Captain's side salad was fairly standard.

I always order crab cakes. Like I said, they are expensive but good.

This is the main reason we go there. Brian loves their she crab soup. I have to agree that
it's the best I've ever tried.




Sea Captain's House is located right on the ocean and also has pretty views. They often have live music as well.


I want to add that we discovered this BiLo grocery store near our resort this year. Since we have a full kitchen in our condo, we almost always eat breakfast and lunch there. In the past, we have bought our groceries for the week at Piggly Wiggly or Walmart. Piggly Wiggly doesn't have a great selection and can be overpriced. The Walmart in Myrtle Beach is so ridiculously crowded. It takes forever to check out, and ain'tnobodygottimeforthat!!! I highly recommend this BiLo!

A few of the other restaurants we've eaten at in the Myrtle Beach area:

Flynn's Tavern (we really like this one)

Margaritaville (fun but the food is average, and there is always a long wait)

Mr. Fish (pretty good)





Valentine's Day

We had a fun Valentine's Day.  Since we were out of school for snow, we decided to go out to lunch and beat the crowds.  

My little Valentines

(Miley Cyrus pose ~ silly kids)

Don't judge me.  It wasn't all mine! Ha!

  Parker and Claire made each other Valentine cards.

We enjoyed just getting to be together for the day!

Memorial Day 2013

Memorial Day fell right smack in the middle of The Great Strep Epidemic of 2013.  Claire was just getting better, and Parker wasn't sick yet.

 

We didn't have any major plans so we headed to the movies to see Oz: The Great and Powerful.  I have to admit that I liked it more than I thought I would.

 

 Then we ate bad (translated: good) the rest of the day.  Pioneer Woman's rolls made another appearance.  This time we added garlic.  Good move.

 This is what my plate ended up looking like:

Let's pause for a moment of silence for those bacon and cheese mashed potatoes.

 

 I couldn't eat it all, but I gave it the old college try. 

 As if that wasn't enough, this happened:

Add caption

Can I get a witness?

I did only eat one.  Then I was very good the rest of the week.  Until the weekend came around.  That's another story for another day.

"Hey guys, can I have a smore?"

The Cocoa Creme Is Well Deserved

The truth is that I haven't been to school in five days.  Well actually, I've been to the physical school four out of the five last days, including Sunday.  However, I wasn't there during the school day with my class.  I already told you about my personal day on Friday.  Then yesterday, I had a class I had to go to across town.  I was technically working I suppose.  Then today, I had an appointment...

 

"Oh, no she didn't just put a picture of stirrups on the blog!"
"Oh, yes.  I did."

 Here's the thing, I had A LOT of time to kill while I waited for one whole hour and forty-five whole minutes for the doctor.  So, I took the picture.  And texted it to three people.  That's just how I roll.  I needed some people to feel sorry for me. 

 

Anyway, with that lovely appointment finally over, I was footloose and fancy free.

 

Brian met me for lunch at Fatz.  We had a little fellow from Fatz visit the school a few weeks ago.  He gave all of the teachers gift certificates, so I figured we might as well use them.  If I'm being honest (Simon Cowell), I've never been much of a Fatz fan.  It was pretty good though.

 

Then I ran a few errands, tried on some clothes, and picked up my free Chik-fil-a sandwich (no pickles).  I'm saving it for lunch tomorrow.  Don't tell me it will be soggy.  I'm willing to take the risk.  Cut me some slack...I've had a rough day (see picture numero uno).

I finally have all of my "chores" for the evening finished, and this is about to happen:



The artist formerly known as Hostess Ding Dong

I want to state for the record that I talked myself right out of that ice cream and oreos the other night.  But it's about to get real up in here.

 

Holla.