Honor

On Monday, to honor the boys I have waited for 7 yrs for my boys to be friends with, I made cookies.
Elise wore her chef hat that Gramma gave her for her birthday, that I then took to work and embroidered.
But why did I have to wait 7 yrs for these boys to come over?
One of the first Sundays our family visited Eastside Community 7 years ago there was covered dish lunch afterwards.  Me and my kids sat down with three kids about the same age.  I asked them some general questions and they answered nice enough and it came up that they were public school kids.  It also came up that they read....so I thought it was safe enough to ask them if they had read Harry Potter.
It wasn't safe.
They thought we were unsafe.
They have stayed away from us ever since.
Until last weekend.
Stewart invited them and a few others to play an airsoft war in the woods behind our church after the service last week.
Afterwards they wanted to hang out some more with us.
Monday they met back up at church to pick their fantasy football teams and then, said boys came back to our house.
I was taking a nap....practicing the soul training exercises from the book...when I woke up they were in my house playing video games and watching youtube.
I was so happy I made cookies.
I couldn't tell you the last time I made cookies.
Oatmeal Raisin with several batches that also had chocolate chips.
Not all of them had the chips because Josh enjoys them sans shock-o-lot.
The phonetic spelling doesn't look very cool does it?
The picture of Elise does look very cool doesn't it?
Josh took it with his new ....phone.
It was a $1.
We could either pay the city $30 a month to make personal calls on his work phone or add Josh to my plan and pay $25.  We chose the cheaper route and Josh now has a new toy.  He is very happy, he's wanted a phone he could play with for a long time.
I told the eldest brother the reason I made them cookies.
He thought I made cookies all the time and I couldn't have him going home telling his mother that so I told them they were in honor of his thinking we were safe enough to spend time with.
He said they've since read Harry Potter.
Then I think I saw the look in his eye that indeed, I still may not be safe.
Who rambles like this?
I do.
Thank you for stopping by.

Birthday Boldness/cheapness

Jenette inspired me to make a barbie birthday cake for Elise's birthday last week. I have no idea of she got the sparkling sugar on her cake so beautifully, mine just wouldn't stick.  The places it did stick were beautiful.  Thank you Jenette for encouraging me to try my hand at something I didn't think I could do.
While I was making the cake I had a question rumbling through my mind...
Should I be making a barbie cake with teenage boys in the house...naked barbie with icing covering her top parts and cake that was going to be cut away covering her bottom parts?  I told myself not to worry about it, but sure enough comments were made about how to get the icing off barbie when we were cutting into the cake and exposing Barbie's  d'arrière.
But the cake was good.  I used the Swan's Down Cake Flour 1-2-3-4 Cake Recipe.  For the icing I used the a simple pwdr sugar & butter recipe.
Elise specifically asked (several times) for an insulated tumbler like the starbucks one that Cathron got me a couple of years ago. I think she would have been happy if that was all she got.  I found a floral one at Steinmart for $5.  She also got an American Girl doll carrier that I found for $.95 at the Veterans Thrift store.  Living Social Deals had a $10 deal for $20 worth of stuff at Learning Express toys so I picked up a Melissa and Doug sticker/paper doll pad and a mermaid doll for her there.  It was a pretty inexpensive birthday, we'll see if I can do as well with Stewart's birthday next week and John-Thomas's birthday in another couple of weeks.

Peeps

For at least the past 8 years I have made Ressurection Rolls on Easter morning.  Two weeks ago I bought the marshmellows and crescent rolls in preperation.  Easter morning I got up at 5:30 to get everything prepped and....No Marshmellows to be found in the kitchen.  For 30 minutes I go through my kitchen, I wake Josh up and he gives it a good look too.
Gone.
Josh said that since one of the kids most likely ate the said marshmellows they didn't need the rolls anyway. But I had already laid out the crescent rolls and melted the butter...what to do?
Peeps are marshmellows right?
They worked great.
The kids didn't need peeps in their Easter baskets anyway.
Elise didn't remember why they were called ressurection rolls so I told her what it all meant and we had a special time in the kitchen.
Tip on the ressurection rolls if you should ever make them...
Cook them in muffin tins sprayed with pam, they maintain their shape and tomb like hole fabulously.

Fancy that

Thank you for asking, the bread turned out fantastic yesterday! It may be the best bread I have ever made, perfect for sandwiches or blatant munching... not that I would do that....
Bayly wishes she had some.
Gretta is just happy to get a hug, she loves hugs, and running and jumping up on my bed as soon as Josh gets up in the morning and curling up next to his pillow . He loves her stinky dog funk right where he lays his head, she is always looking out for him.
Did I mention I have a very forgiving husband.
Who needs jewelry when your husband gives you the gift of tolerance, forgiveness and indulges your pet fancies?
In case you were wondering, yesterday I did indeed throw out a bag of random stuff I had stacked in my room. Not that you would notice because Mt. SaintTooMuchStuff is still the predominant theme going on in there. But the important thing is that yesterday there was progress. Won't be any today so don't come back looking for more cheery news. I don't expect to make anymore posts this week...I did a dive roll on the trampoline during our lunch break and then tried to roll backwards and may have pulled a neck muscle in the process.
Why? might you ask would an almost 40 yr old woman being doing dive rolls that turn into backward rolls....wish I could answer that for you, or even tell you that it won't happen again...but as you know my memory is not that great.
Hope you're having a splendid day and if you get a chance try to make this bread.
FYI: I made mine in the bread machine.

Tastey Thursday

Pear blossom from last year, this year they aren't looking as good.
Sorry, no picture of the enchilada, that's blog basics huh?

A couple of weeks ago I threw a big package of ground beef, a jar of Corn and Black Bean Salsa and some rice in the crock pot to cook while I was out running errands. That night I think we had tacos with some of the meat and the rest of it I put in the freezer. Yesterday I used said defrosted meat combo to make enchiladas.
I have never made enchiladas.
My sister made them over Christmas and it sounded like she did it regularly.
...hmmm,
Why aren't I making them frequently if they are so good?
Yesterday I remember that the "Feed your family for $75 or less" cookbook had an enchilada recipe which of course I didn't follow completely but did use it to roughly figure out how to make the sauce.
I had one little can of tomato paste but no tomato sauce.
But, I did have one can of diced Italian tomatoes.
Also had a package of taco seasoning.
A little immersion hand blender action and...
Viola! Enchilada Sauce!
Delicious.
I was very surprised at how they soaked up ALL of the sauce...note to self...next time when I think I have put enough sauce on...put a little more.
Tonight it will be lentil soup.
What about you?

under construction

Could it be?
no, not really...I needed a picture and found this on Josh's work camera, I have no idea where or what it is.
I think I am going to start counting calories.
It may be easier than writing down the foods I eat.
Yesterday when I started this post I also started writing down the calories, ran out of calories for the day at 2. Didn't know how many calories were in my coffee creamer and since it is 60 degrees in our house I have been drinking A LOT of coffee...maybe I should rethink that.
Never have been the least bit interested in counting calories, after all that involves numbers and I hate numbers, and the adding....ick.
But, did you read this inspirational weight lost story?
It has been running through my head a lot,
unfortunately I forgot about it just now when Josh called and I was standing in the kitchen and found a pan of brownies in the microwave that the boys had made last night.
There's another reason I haven't wanted to count calories, exactly how many calories did I just eat?
But if I did it the way Shabby Scraps/Tiffany did it then it wouldn't be all that difficult. She did not count fruits and veggies, so if I ate mostly that then there would be less to count?.!
Oh, I don't know.
"I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow. "
Scarlett from GWTW
Just in case you would like to be amused by some more random Gone with the Wind quotes, here is the site for you.

This morning on Air1 they said that even though Avatar has made the most money of any other movie in history, it hasn't sold the most tickets.
Gone with the Wind still holds that title.
Stewart wanted to know what that movie was about?
I tried to share my enthusiasm for it with him but something got lost in the translation.

Ran across this site today when looking for a pumpkin puree/cake mix recipe...can't believe how simple that is.

Distractions abound and so this is not an organized post, who am I kidding, most of my posts are a hodgepodge.

Away

The picture is from our Christmas Day walk in Indiana but I'm feeling as cold as that picture looks...and even though I'm sure it is much colder there and where Tavia, Jenette and Sister Sherri live...hopefully their houses are keeping them warmer than mine!
It was 62 when I first checked the thermostat this morning, and while 66 is refreshing in June...I'm not feeling so refreshed right now...more like getting in bed under a bunch of covers and hibernating. I've tried 6 cups of hot tea, a wool sweater and haven't taken off my clodhoppers since dropping 3 of the 4 kids off at school.
Our regularly programmed schedule has started back, the road trips and family get togethers have come to an end until summer. Time to put my big girl panties on and start cleaning house...or at least unpack and put the suitcases away. Before I do that I think I may have to warm up with a trip to Publix to pick up something for dinner.
I'm thinking... lean pork cooked with apples and cabbage.
What do you have for dinner when you are tired of soup but want some warm comforting food?

Is it just me?

Ritz Cracker Pie and cookies before they went in the oven.

Tonight we are having friends over for dessert. Somehow in the planning of it all I forgot I was going to make carrot cake last night so this morning I had to decide quick like what needed to happen. Ritz Cracker Pie is not only quick and easy it is different and hopefully our guests will like it. My grandmother used to make that pie and I can remember asking her to make it for my birthday because I liked it that much.
For some reason I hate to bake just one thing, so usually if I turn the oven on I make it worth the effort and cook something else as well. Are you like that, or is it just me? Anyway, this recipe had been sitting out on the counter for a couple of weeks, with the boys salivating over it so I decided to make them. Unfortunately I licked the spoon and tried one of the cookies to see if it was any good...not really...so then I decided to try a warm one...well you know what happened. My only saving grace is that I did exercise again this morning, even though I slept through my crack-o-dawn-thirty alarm.