Sunday, March 27, 2011

Cinnamon rolls and Magnets (yes you read that right)

The house smells awesome and my table is covered in adorable magnets!  I made Cinnamon rolls from scratch this morning. They are delish, and they look awesome too.





It's ok to drool a little. I did. These were such a big hit I have been asked to make them again. 
So on the the next task, after some serious cleaning of our patio (they will be starting patio inspections tomorrow) I started making magnets. They are super cute and fairly easy to make.
check them out for yourself, the first picture is my coffee table with the mess all over and they other 2 are the unfinished and finished magnets.


Well it is off to sleep for this tired crafter.
good night world.  I will post more in the morning on the process for making the magnets. They are just too cute not to have.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Smells of fresh bread...

WOW!   I have my first ever loaf of fresh bread cooling right now. It was a long process but I am sure it was worth every minute. Surprisingly I didn't get near as messy as I usually get when I bake, I only had a bit of flour on my hands and it little bit on my left elbow.  I wish you all could smell this. 
 So I have included a few pictures. First is while it was in the oven... Second is after it was pulled out and I gave it a quick coat of butter.
If this bread tastes even half as good as it smells and looks it will be amazing. It is really hard not to cut into it tonight, well, I might just try a little piece.
I think I will try and find some more recipes for different breads to try.
goodnight all.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Anger and peanut butter cookies..

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   It feels good to get that out.
I had a pretty awesome day yesterday only to have it end on a rough note. My truck broke down last night...
I don't know how much it will be to fix or when it will be fixed. I am taking it to the shop tomorrow, but they say they are too busy to get to it until monday.  I have an idea of what it is, but it doesn't matter because none of it is good(or even remotely close to good). So, in my angry state last night I baked, Peanut Butter Cookies. I hadn't planned really to make them last night, I had thought about it, but wanted to shower and relax last night. Call me Angry baker. I usually have to find something to do when I am pissed off about something, cleaning is usually it. (only because it always needs to be done) It felt good to bake instead.
I prepped the dough, covered it and put it in the fridge to sit, took a shower and by the time I was making the dough balls and putting fork prints on them I felt like a different person. Well, maybe not different, but less angry than I had been. The cookies were awesome, even Max liked them. Poor dog had to smell all of this peanut butter and couldn't have any until I was done...lol (peanut butter is his fav)

I plan on making bread tomorrow night. I think it's time to find a job at a bakery. I think I am also going to try and teach the girls to make a few things, maybe they can help me make bread tomorrow after work.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Cake and dog treats...

YAY!  After an extremely busy weekend I am back.  Exhausted, but content with my progress. I (of course) worked, took the kids to swim, did some shopping at A.C. Moore and did some baking.  While I will never be a home wrecker, I will always be a diet wrecker.  I bought a few new pans while at A.C. Moore and wanted to test them, as well as bake a cake for a friend who just moved into a new home. I pulled out some old cook books and got to work figuring out what I wanted to do.  Something basic yet indulgent was the goal and I think I managed it perfectly. 
A double layer chocolate cake with an amazingly light and fluffy buttercream frosting and semi-sweet chocolate shavings on top.  It is pure awesomeness. Completely from scratch, this cake taught me a couple of things:
1. I NEED a stand mixer. No wants about it, at this point it is a NEED. My poor hand mixer almost died.
2. I need a sifter, like a real, larger size sifter.  using my little one it took almost 40 minutes to sift all of the dry ingredients
3. When done right, simple is great.
I ended up making 2 cakes, one a true double layer with 2, 9" round cakes and the other I used one cake but cut it in half and made it 2 layer that way.  The smaller of the 2 I kept for home while the other was packaged awesomely and prepped for our friend who moved.




On a foil covered round of cardboard and in a cake box. I added pink star clusters to hers. She came down to ride with me to our body pump class and I gave her the cake. She was surprised and happy all at once.  She agrees that I am a diet wrecker, but she loves it. Splurging is ok once in awhile, just can't do it everyday, I am also a firm believer that home made from scratch is always better for you.  I can pronounce everything in the cake and frosting, while most of the box stuff, you don't know half of what is actually in it.

I spent most of yesterday hanging out with Crankybear. We had to take my truck back to Firestone. Sunday night I was leaving Walmart and the truck started beeping like crazy and my indicator light said "low brake fluid".  So we took it back to Firestone since they just did the brakes a few weeks ago and they said that the washers were bad. They fixed it and for free, but we had a lot of time to kill. We went to Petco and got some treats for the dog and a new collar. I love clearance deals and especially when it's for pet stuff, so I found an awesome little tub of Gourmet Dog Treats for $2.   They are cranberry and flax biscotti made with wheat flour, eggs, dried cranberries, and flax.  Nothing fancy, but the dog loves them and so does Monkey.



Yes, this is a picture of our dog(eating the biscotti) and Monkey (eating the biscotti) and the cat looking jealous. Monkey is willing to try just about anything and she thought by the looks of the container that the treats were for her and Toad, but was shocked when I said they were for the dog. After reading the ingredient list I let her know that she could try one if she wanted and she squealed with glee.  A crunchy minute later she was raving about how good they were and asked for another...lol She promised to share with the dog, as I had originally bought them for him.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Spray paint and Goodwill

What a busy day!!!   I dropped the kids off at school and decided to go poke around the Goodwill Store that is conveniently down the street. I like wondering around goodwill, you never know what you might find. I usually don't buy anything, but sometimes there is something that catches your eye for one of two reasons: 1. it is awesome just as it is and with a quick scrub you have found treasure...and 2. it has the potential to be awesome with a coat of paint and a DIY ability to change it up a little.  Today was a treasure day. I not only found a couple of awesome pieces that just needed a quick (or long) scrub, I also found a great piece of potential awesomeness.
 First the new fruit bowl, needed a good scrub, but is beautiful and will work wonderfully.




New fruit bowl cost $1 and about 5 min of washing.
 NEXT-- new hair tie bin/holder. We were using an old easter basket to hold hair ties and brushes, but this is so much prettier.



New hair tie bowl cost $2, tarnx to take it from BLACK back to silver $4 and about a half hour of time.
Now last but not least the new mirror. I saw this and instantly saw how awesome it could be...



Cornflower blue, faded, and pretty ugly but nothing I can't fix. I picked up some black spray paint and went to town...

Unfortunately there was something wrong with the can so it sprayed EVERYWHERE...lol a big mess, but I still managed to get the job done.



Now it matches most of the other picture frames in the house and it will be duel duty.  I bought some cabinet handles (little round ones) that a brushed steel (plain but very nice) and I will put them on the bottom and use them as hangers for my keys. I am always laying my keys down somewhere and I can never find them, I wanted to find something that was decorative but I could hang keys on, now I have it.  I plan to hang this on the wall by the front door somewhere. It will be awesome.
It's been a couple of days, that bruise is getting better and things have been busy around here. Friday night was awesome. We went out to dinner at Red Lobster with Crankybear's mom, sister, and nephew. We were  celebrating his sister's b-day.  It was awesome to get out with everyone and have a nice night.  Hopefully we can do it again soon.  Aren't they a cute bunch?!  That would be Crankybear, mom and sister in the picture.

We had an uneventful weekend, the kids had swim, we didn't do much. Today isn't too eventful, Toad has an endocrinologist appointment this afternoon and Monkey has dance class tonight. Crankybear is working and I really have to get the ceiling fan cleaned off and laundry done today. wow fun.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Grab your sensor bars!!!

You get to see a peek of my thigh!   LOL

The other day while at a local grocery store some woman tried to run me down with her shopping cart, in an effort to avoid a painful hit with cart I swerved.  I swerved right into a free standing, refrigerated cheese case with none other than my thigh.  It hurt, but I kept walking and didn't pay much attention to it til that night while I was at Zumba class.  What a bruise?!?!?!   This all happened Wednesday and as of this morning it still looks nasty.  In the picture you can't see it, but there is a large painful knot under this bruise.  
Hopefully it will get better sooner, rather than later, but in the mean time....
Enjoy my thigh.   lol

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Rant, rant, rant...

People are always talking about why this country is falling apart, the causes for the economic hardship, the reason this country is on a fast track to nowhere.  I hear a lot of mess about politics, excuses, and blame, but the one thing I don't ever hear is the truth. I know that there are MANY factors contributing to why this country is falling apart, I would like to focus on just one today.  Call it what you will, I call it " A Lack Of Work Ethic" ALOWE for short.  This encompasses the self serving, instant gratification, "what can I get for nothing" attitude that a great many have ingrained into them from a young age.  It is sad and unfortunate that there are so many people that would do just about anything to get by without having to actually put any effort into it. 

These people with "ALOWE" are those people you work with that: show up late (and don't care), that don't care about the quality of work, that don't actually do any real work(until someone important is looking), that will take credit for the work that you did, that talk insane amounts of crap about you(how lazy you are, and what a crappy job you do when you do something). 

VERY easy to identify this group. It doesn't take long for them to show their true colors when someone higher up isn't around.  These folks also show a complete lack of respect for anyone or anything else.

These are the people that are causing a great deal of trouble. The come in all forms, and are not only a drain on the community, work place, government, and people around them, they are a drain on co-workers sanity.

Hopefully in time we can out-number these "ALOWE Civilians", make this country a better place, and bring back all those jobs that got out-sourced to countries where people don't mind a little hard work(they actually tend to thrive on it). There is nothing wrong with a bit of hard work, anything worth having takes effort. Sacrifices have to be made and while I would love to sacrifice the folks who coast through life doing little to nothing to get by and taking credit for the work that others have done, it is illegal.  I think that falls under that "it's illegal to kill stupid people" thing. 

 So, here's to hard work, a great work ethic, trying your best, and not bring loaded weapons to work.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Just call me diet wrecker...

I LOVE TO BAKE.  I can't help that I am great at making food that is not approved for any diet.  I decided today that since I didn't feel like doing anything else I would bake a treat for girl scouts.  Now awhile back I had made some crappy brownies out of a box and they were just terrible really, so today I made Rocky Road Brownies.  From scratch. Amazing. The girl scouts loved them and so did everyone else who has tried them. I love them.




These brownies(while heavenly) are not on ANY approved diet except the "see food" diet (you see it, you eat it). A thick cake brownie with mini marshmallows, and chocolate drizzle, and on some salted peanuts. I dirtied a lot of dishes and had powdered sugar and flour all over myself but it was so worth it.  
These pictures don't do them justice, unfortunately for you all, you will have to imagine how good they are.
Good night all.  Sweet Dreams (of my brownies, bwahahahaha)

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I can has brain transplant?!?!

The pediatrician has been a thorn in my side for some time now, but unfortunately with insurance and this clinic run the way it is I am left with very few options.  I was thinking if we could just stay away unless there was no other choice that we could get by, but I am seeing now that I really have to find another answer...

The most recent attack on my sanity by this woman  came tonight.  I had called Friday of last week and asked that a letter be faxed to the school nurse stating that Monkey is lactose intolerant so that she could have 2 juices with her lunch instead of milk. Thankfully Monday morning the nurse said she had the letter and would handle it. Now at this point I am thinking that this quack doctor finally got her crap together and is doing what we need her to do, I thought to soon.  Tonight I come home to find a letter on the table from the clinic, again I think "cool they sent me a copy too", again thought too soon.  I open it to find (yes) a copy of the letter that was faxed to the nurse. Now I know you are probably thinking "what is wrong with this?" well nothing, until you read the letter.  The names have been changed to protect the innocent. And I quote--

Ms. (nurse's name)
Our school

This letter is to notify that my patient Monkey Face has lactose intolerance, she only can has free lactose products.
Feel free to call meif you have any question.
Sincerely,
 SCRIBBLE(docs name)
 TYPED(docs name)

 My only response at this moment is MICROSOFT HAS SPELLING AND GRAMMAR CHECK!!!

 

Success!!!

I know it's silly, but I love to bake just so I can watch the enjoyment of the family and friends I share it with.
 So without further adu.....
I had cake and coffee for breakfast and the kids had cake and fruit for breakfast. Well I am off to get ready for work. Happy "Fat Tuesday"/ Mardi Gras.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Just as I expected...

I love Mondays. It went exactly as I expected. lol

I talked to Toad's teacher, it was an edited version of the song played in class, and she was honest about the lyrics no being edited until after they were printed because she was unable to find an edited version.  It was a nice little chat, but I explained my concerns and it seems as though everything is ok with the world. 

 Crankybear and I had an awesome breakfast at Chick-fil-a then headed out to Wegman's to do a little shopping and poking around. I love Wegman's. We looked around at everything we could and still didn't make it through the whole store. While I was wondering around I found an end cap dedicated to New Orleans. They had mixes and fixins for Red Beans and Rice, Cornbread, Gumbo, King Cake, and many more.  I decided to get something and with tomorrow being "fat tuesday" and officially Mardi Gras, I thought the King Cake would be best. (plus probably the only thing the kids would like)  As I type the King Cake is in the oven, and I am excited. I love to bake, and I miss New Orleans. 

After our Wegman's excursion we headed home, to put away all of our goodies....well the goodies we got for the kids..lol. I managed to convince Crankybear to come with me to the storage unit to grab the couple of things we needed. It was good that I took him, it would have taken double the time if I had gone alone. Got what we needed and then stopped at Walmart. I got my coffee creamer, some applesauce, and dinner.

 I didn't get the vacuuming done that I wanted, but I picked up the kids and let Monkey make dinner and help with the King Cake. She cooked an awesome dinner (chicken alfredo) and after dinner I dropped her at dance class.  With her at dance it was time for me to get my but kicked so I headed over to the gym for a body pump class.

All in all it has been a great day, I don't want to go to work tomorrow, but I guess I will survive.

So it isn't done yet, but.....




Goodnight all. see you in the morning.
I don't usually work Mondays, but I am still up early and getting the kids ready for school, I still have a bunch of stuff to get done, and it still always feels like I don't get anything done at all.  Today will be no different. I will try to get as much done as possible, it will seem like I got nothing accomplished, and tonight that will be ok. There are a couple of things that I must get done today. I have to vacuum, and stop at the store to get coffee creamer.
The floor looks a mess, and I want to vacuum off the ceiling fan, the coffee creamer can't wait, if I don't go today then tomorrow I won't have any for my coffee.  I also need to stop at the storage unit and grab a couple of things. Who knows what else I will do today. 

 The first thing I am doing is taking a few minutes to talk to Toad's teacher about the inappropriate song choice in class.
 I think I found just the picture to describe the day





Hope everyone has an uneventful monday.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sunday Comics!!!!

I felt the need to lighten up, so here is some Garfield.  I am thinking I may need to start getting the Sunday paper, $2 would be worth the comics and ads/coupons.

I have some coffee running through my veins, read some great comics, and now must get ready for work. At least (if I must work on a Sunday) it's only 4 hours, hopefully I will get some time to work on a great slouchy hat I am crocheting.  Enjoy the day folks!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Giraffes?!?!

Yup, a giraffe. I have crocheted a great many things, scarves, hats, slippers, purses, wallets, blankets, and the list goes on.  For as much fun as I have had with all of that, I think I have had far more fun with animals lately.  In an effort to create something different I started with one animal and due to the sensitive nature that is gift giving, I can't post it yet, but the second has been just as much fun and both were very quick and easy.  Wait for it....






So, adorable right?!  I know, I know, he is missing his spots. I was too busy at work tonight to get them stitched on and now I am too tired to bother with it. They will be put on tomorrow.  Toad has asked me to make a dragon. I found an awesome pattern I like, but it looks as if it were written by an incompetent hobo with a crayon.  We will see how it turns out though, I can't wait to get started on it. I have to go by the storage unit and get my plastic tote full of crochet stuff and yarn.  There is some bright green yarn that would make a great dragon.  Monkey is asking for my giraffe.(and whatever else I make and want to give to her) She hasn't made any requests for any particular animal herself though.  Maybe after some sleep and a strong cup of coffee I will have to motivation to finish with the giraffe spots and then I can get a start on Toad's dragon.
I am off to sleep.  Good Night world.

I get to decide when....

I get to decide when I allow my children to listen to music with explicit language. I get to decide when things are age appropriate for my children. It is not for anyone else to decide! I will raise these kids as I see fit!

Ok, sorry. Now that I have that out I can put down what happened to bring about such a rant. 
So, in the car this morning as I was taking the kids to swim lessons "I love my lips" from veggie tales ended and right after it is Black Eyed Peas--Boom Boom Pow (not the radio edit, definitely the explicit version). As usual I grabbed the iPod and flipped it before the song was in full swing and we then started listening to "Pirates who don't do anything" again veggie tales.  As I was changing the musical selection Toad pops up and says that her teacher at school let them listen to Black Eyed Peas--Boom Boom Pow in school the other day.  I asked her if it was the Kids Bop version that I let her listen to or the version that was just on the iPod that I changed. She said it wasn't Kids Bop. She also said that the paper her teacher gave them with the lyrics looked like someone had written a P over the T to cover up what would have spelled SHIT and make it look like SHIP, she also told the kids that the song said ship and not shit. 

What I would like to know is first, what does this song have to do with anything they could be doing in class, second, who the hell does she think she is to let them listen to something so inappropriate and then attempt to lie to them?!?!?!?

I listened to the song VERY carefully and counted, the word shit or shittin' is said 9 times! NINE TIMES! I allow the kids to listen to a lot of things, BUT when there is an abundance of explicit language one of 2 things happens: 1. they don't get to listen to it. 2. I find an edited version....i.e. Kids Bop, radio edit, non-explicit. 
The last thing I want is to promote things that are inappropriate for a 9 year old and 5 year old.

I will admit, I am no angel. I am far from it. I curb my language around the kids. Example: son of a bitch--son of a biscuit. Sometimes it slips and I say something I shouldn't in front of them, but as their MOTHER that is my choice. 

People want to talk all kinds of crap about the kids these days... mini thugs, juvenile delinquents, mouthy, no respect, no manners, trouble makers, running the streets. Then to top it off people want to ONLY blame the parents, that isn't fair. Some parents don't do what they should to raise the children right, but there are so many others who are involved in the children's lives that everyone needs to take a piece of the blame.  I don't think that just because Toad listened to a song that said SHIT 9 times, that she is going to be any of that, but IT WASN'T FOR THE TEACHER TO DECIDE THAT IT WAS APPROPRIATE.

Maybe next time she will decide that Mary Prankster singing her song "Mercy Fuck" is appropriate, or how about Nine Inch Nails "Closer". That's it, we will let them listen to "Closer" and then send them out into the world singing "I want to fuck you like animal, I want to feel you from the inside". 

Monday morning I am going to the school and confronting the teacher. I want to hear the version of the song that the kids listened to and see the hand out she gave them, if things are as Toad tells me, this teacher better start looking for other employment because I am going to raise hell about this.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

It's Been Awhile....

For starters, I would like to say that this year has started out very busy. I haven't had any time for anything crafty or creative and it was driving me batty. So I am back! I am going to the storage unit today to get my crochet supplies out again and I have been working on a few small projects lately.  One is a gift for someone so I can not reveal it here yet, but hopefully soon.  

I recently decided to play guitar. The transition from violin is fairly easy, I am learning the tab method now, but I have one small snag.  The guitar that I got (on craigslist for cheap) while awesomely acoustic with a great tone is a bit too big for me.  So now I am on a search for one that fits me a bit better. I like mine, but some of the reaches are almost impossible to make.

CrankyBear is doing well, Toad is doing an amazing job in 3rd grade and Monkey is reading beautifully now. Max is turning out to be a very well behaved dog and Squeaky is one oddball cat, but we love her. 

Well that is my update for now... pictures and new projects to come.
Happy Hump Day!