SomeONE in my family gets to meet Charlie Batch of the Steelers tomorrow and someone DOESN'T. I'm officially sulking.

I'm not THAT sick!

Cough cough.... I'm not that sick. Really. Well, not compared to a few days ago, anyway.

Knowing this, when my son called from school to ask me to drop off a folder he'd left behind at home, I thought it would be no problem. I grabbed his NFL Steelers folder and dashed off to the middle school.

I arrived and the secretary was all smiles, but she pulled her SLEEVE over her HAND to take the folder! (Uh-oh!)

I said, "I'm not that sick, really!" (My voice only cracked and wobbled a little, with the most minor hacking cough at the end).

She smiled and just walked away with the folder. When she came back, I apologized and told her I wasn't really trying to pass along germs to her (more hacking coughs, gasping for breath, sniffing).

"Oh no!" she said, "I'm not afraid of a few germs! I don't get sick."

(Huh?)

She continued, "It was the FOLDER. I can't touch THAT. It's a (and her face sort of crumbled as she forced herself to say the word) STEELER folder." (I could hear the distaste in her voice.)

I started to laugh (and gasp, and choke a bit) and then I found out she's a COWBOYS fan. Then I really couldn't stop laughing!

The visit practically killed me. It certainly put my recovery time back a few hours. ;)))

Lights! Camera! LICE?

I tend to have nightmares when I am stressed. Last night I woke up, terrified of my dream, sure it was NOT a dream, and screaming, "LIGHTS! LIGHTS!" (So I could see if the horror of my nightmare was really there.) Unfortunately, I was not screaming clearly enough and Rob thought I was yelling, "LICE! LICE!" Needless to say, he did NOT turn on the lights. If it had been me, I would have turned on the lights FASTER in fear of lice. And yes, I could have turned on the light myself, but I was busy fending off a monster. So there.

True Beauty

"People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in,
their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within."
-Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

I Need a Baby

I need a baby. What? I'm almost 46 you say? Too old? HEY!

No matter. I just want the baby food jars so I can make these:



Aren't they cute? I saw them over at Be Different / Act Normal (awesome site) and I am now coveting a set.

If you are thinking about Halloween like I am, head on over to Kasia's blog and see the cutest pic of a baby in a Mario Toadstool costume that you have ever seen! (Okay, I WANT ONE!) :) hehe

Whooops!!!

Today I discovered, to my dismay, that it is not a good idea to shop online for shoes while waiting on hold for an insurance company to figure out your coverage for medical supplies.

Oh, how I love shoes!

Although, if you have a few hundred dollars sitting around, helplessly waiting for you to use it, I highly recommend this method of passing time while you wait... and wait... and wait. :)

Me, I just need to find a good book and let the shopping be. :) Well, except for those new suede boots... :)

Jalapeno Madness

Yesterday I was making macaroni and cheese and while testing the noodles, I dripped boiling water on my lip. OUCH!

(Let me just assure you, there are easier and less painful ways to get plump lips than by dripping boiling water on them!)

So, today I have a blister on my lip and what did I decide to do?

Why, make a recipe with jalapeno peppers, of course! Jalapeno poppers, from scratch, so you buy the peppers and deseed them yourself. Which, I had never ever done before. (Yes, I like them already done and in the freezer section of the grocery, usually. Pioneer Woman, I am not.)

And what is the first thing they tell you to do when deseeding jalapenos? WEAR GLOVES.

What did I NOT do? (You guessed it.)

And what did I sample (against my blistery lip) as I finished them up? Yep. That's right. Cream cheese doused in jalapeno pepper juice.

YOW! (You may have heard a commotion coming from WV today around 4 PM... that was me.)

You may have heard it again at 4:15 PM, when I forgot myself and sampled the cream cheese again. (But you'll be happy to know I came to my senses before touching my eye, which suddenly itched, since I couldn't scratch it, of course.)

I blame this entire event on Money Saving Mom who told me how to get FREE cream cheese at the grocery last week, thereby causing me to have to come up with multiple cream cheese recipes. :) (YUM!) Cheesecake anyone? Lemon squares? :)

So, what do you think? Were they worth the pain in preparation? ;)


Click here for the yummy recipe.

Happiness

Happiness is...

An air conditioner that spews out wonderful cold air into our home... especially the second floor, which, with no a/c, masquerades as a sauna.

My no-bake cookies will finally set up instead of sitting there in big ooey gooey globs. (Although, in my book there isn't really anything wrong with ooey gooey chocolate blobs EVER.) :)

I think I'll pop in a movie after I get dinner started (in my kitchen that will NOT heat up to 100' with the oven on) and enjoy sitting in a chair and not sticking to it.

Ahhhhhh.....

And, in addition to just enjoying the temperature in here, I get to enjoy being RIGHT about diagnosing the a/c's problem. Yep, I can look just enough up on the internet to be truly dangerous. :) I passed it along that the repair person should bring a new contactor for our particular a/c unit. Did he have it when he arrived? NO! Of course not. Hey, I tried. But I was happy b/c he still got it fixed after a quick trip to pick one up. I just wish I had some electrical knowledge so I could have saved the service fee and installed it myself!

Back to enjoying these wonderful temperatures... (some days it takes so little to make me happy)... :)

A Perfect Week to be Stuck in the 70's

What a perfect week for our air conditioning to start acting up.

Seriously.

It's a gorgeous week in the 70's. I'm loving it! (And I'm also loving it that the a/c repair person is arriving on Wednesday to save us.) :)

One of my friends commented on Facebook today that it was going to be in the 70's all week. One of her commenters replied, "I've been stuck in the 70's since jr. high school. I still wear bell bottom pants and listen to Tony Orland & Dawn on my 8 track."

I just found that comment to be completely hilarious. :) Makes me want to find my 8-tracks. :) hehe

A Thousand Reasons

"When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile." Author Unknown

(Quote swiped from my most wonderful cousin Kara on Facebook this morning.)

The Unusually Flattening Adventures of Flat Stanley

A daughter of a friend of mine gave me Flat Stanley so that I could chronicle his adventures in West Virginia. Silly daughter. Silly friend.

He arrived a month ago, but I am slow, so he ended up celebrating Rhubarb Pie Day with us instead of doing much in the way of hiking up hills, washing the pick-up, or coal mining.

I think he looks like he's having a good time, don't you?



Actually, TOO good of a time! FLAT STANLEY! I took my eyes off of him for two seconds and just LOOK! He is not so flat anymore!!!



Oh no, oh NO! I've ruined Flat Stanley! I told my friend and she was aggrieved, to put it mildly!



Fortunately, I was making a visit to Magee Women's Hospital the very next day and they have a machine guaranteed to flatten anything.

The technician was very helpful and even flattened him on both sides, just to be sure he was well and truly squished. How thoughtful!




















So, our trauma is at an end. Flat Stanly is flat again! Plus, he's gone to a place where no "man" EVER wants to go! Poor Flat Stanley! He may never be the same. (I'm also sure I gave the technician something to talk about for days!) ;)

A Perfect Husband in the Making

Okay, so Matt's only eight years old right now. Still. Read this and you be the judge. Will he be the perfect husband for someone someday, or what?

(Plus, he's just about the cutest thing ever.)

First of all, you need to be aware that our family joke is that dinner is done when the smoke alarm goes off. Ahem.

Here's the story...

For an after-school snack, I tossed a small pizza in the oven.

Then I left the kitchen for the 17 minutes it took to bake.

25 minutes later, I sniffed the air.

"Odd," I thought, "that smells like pizza! OH!"

(Flying dash to oven.)

Pull overdone pizza out of the oven and look up to see Matt watching interestedly. "Mom," he says sincerely, "that looks perfect!"

(It helps when you set the bar low.)

"Awww, thank you, Matt!"

My daughter Sarah walks in and mentions that she actually likes burned pizza.

Matt, not to be outdone, says, "Yes, it brings out the flavor of the pizza."

(Obviously, we need to watch less FoodTV.)

See why I love them?

Wrinkly Boys

What is it about BOYS and WRINKLES?

Mind you, I never buy anything that needs ironed. I am allergic to ironing. Honest. ;)


Downy Wrinkle Releaser is my friend!

BUT, when you are going to be on stage, SINGING a SOLO, in front of ALL your PEERS AND your FAMILY, do you really want to have on a costume that has been STUFFED into a string backpack for THREE DAYS?

Huh. Tommy, age 12, does.

He's going to be so unhappy when he sees it all IRONED and on HANGERS. :) heheheh ... I am SUCH an evil mom! ;)

And it ends with a Snuggie (could be worse!)...

Today is the day of my daughter's Strings concert. She plays violin. Want to know when I found out? Yesterday.

So, yesterday I told her to get her outfit ready for the concert. They have to wear a special white polo shirt and black pants. Pretty easy.

But...

You guessed it...

No shirt.

Gone.

We tore her room apart looking for it and it was just not there. Sarah can cope with a lot, but it was a really tough day for her at school. Her best friends turned on her and called her things like, "idiot" and much worse. (Seventh grade girls... save me from the drama!!! And the viciousness!!) Even worse, her chorus teacher told her that she didn't do a good job on her solo and it might go to someone else instead for the big musical next week. So, the shirt was kind of the last straw.

I didn't want her to have yet another thing to deal with, so I pulled things out from every corner of her room today looking for it again. Then I gave up and drove over to Goodwill thinking any old white polo would do for one night and at least she could participate. No white polos.

So, I drove to Target. I love Target. $6 later, I had a white polo. I drove to her school. I dashed in. I asked the nice secretaries to page her. I met her in the hall... and she was wearing AN OFFICIAL STRINGS POLO SHIRT.

(ahem)

I was a tad exasperated that she didn't CALL, but mostly just happy that she dealt with it on her own.

Then I gave her a SURPRISE. I had with me something she has been begging me for all month... a SNUGGIE. She wanted it for a school project. I refused to dish out $15 so I told her she couldn't have one. BUT, Target (I LOVE TARGET) had one for $7.50 on clearance.

She actually squealed for joy when I handed it to her. :) I love a happy kid, don't you? She needed that, I think.

All's well that ends with a Snuggie. :) (Evidently.) (And this school project better get an "A"!!!)



(And I wonder why I get nothing done around the house some days!!!)

A Flat Out Lying Meme (Can you guess?)

I just swiped this from Daisy. :) Thanks, Daisy! I think it's fun!

Meme: For If Truth Be Told

For this meme, according to the rules, I am to list seven wild or wacky tidbits about myself, at least one of which is true.

So this is my list. It is up to you to decide which ones are true and which ones are outright lies and products of my creative license.

1) I have 2 brothers named Scott.

2) I survived a 6.2 earthquake and a 3-day mandatory evacuation due to a crack in a local dam.

3) At one time, I had 33 collies.

4) Two of my kids are named after former students of mine.

5) I once worked in a castle for an entire summer.

6) In college, I was on the varsity tennis team.

7) When I was 10, I caught a wild chipmunk with my bare hands.


Now, I am supposed to tag seven bloggers to pass this on to, but since I don't actually like memes, and I know many others do not as well, instead let me just say that if you would like to participate, please consider yourself tagged. Let me know you are playing so I can come and read your list too.

Now, have you figured out which tidbits above are true and which are false?

I put the answer in the comments section. :)

(Thanks, Daisy, for the meme!)

It's a Sunny Day... Oh, how I love SPRING!!!

I have a confession...

Okay, so I have a confession. (shhh!)

I'm one of those people who plays Zynga games on Facebook. I know, I know. What a waste of time! But, in some instances, the games are quite fun! You think at first that they are almost like Solitaire, but they are not. For example, Mafia Wars is quite interactive.

I've even gained a very amazing friend through it... and she threw a party (and even invited me, a person she had never met, who was playing a fake MW game as part of her mafia). :) Life is short. Sometimes you have to throw caution to the winds. :) And it was the best party ever, complete with chocolate cigars, cool hats, and great music!



But, all that said, it still remains a FAKE GAME. There is no REAL mafia here. (eyes rolling!) Yet, I find that there is an increasing marketing strategy to try to influence people to use their REAL MONEY to play this FAKE (and FREE) game! How? By buying these gift cards! It's true! I saw one myself for sale at Gamestop.



What will be even worse is the day I see a gift card/ game card for Farmville. Use real cash so you can plant fake crops? NOOOOOOOO! ;) Surely, someone will draw the line at that? (riiiight)

After this, I need some coffee. In case you do too: :)



(But, you know, let me know if you want to be in my mafia on FB!) :) hehe

"I need a pig here!"

Have you seen the trailer for the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie where the evil Red Queen says, "I need a pig here!" And then a pig immediately throws himself under her feet, belly up? (It's such a cute pig, too!)

And she says, “I love a warm pig belly for my aching feet.”

I love those lines! She says them so perfectly, with just the right amount of practicality in her voice, like everyone has a pig to prop their aching feet upon.

Right now I could really use a pig belly for MY feet. I wonder if a collie would work just as well? :) Of course, I'd have to first convince Harley that he should lay belly up on the FLOOR not the cushiony couch. Ahem. On second thought, "I need a pig here!" (Definitely!) ;)

I am a bad, bad mom...

Yesterday, I walked out to my car, keys in my right hand, SLIPPED next to my car, and was unable to catch myself because I refused to use the hand holding the keys to catch myself (on my newish car). Can you imagine putting a key line on your own car? Too horrible to contemplate. I fell instead. Better to sacrifice my knees. And, OH, were they sacrificed. VERY painful. But, Matt (my 8-year-old) was with me, so I sucked it up and laughed it off instead of boo hooing and wallowing headfirst in the snow, like I wanted to.

Today, I walked out to the car again with both my sons. I made sure the boys were getting in the back seat (so I thought) and walked around to the driver's side. My neighbor was wobbling around in the snow around HER car and barely caught herself before she fell. We caught each other's eyes and laughed and shared falling stories.

MEANWHILE...

I heard a tiny voice say, "Mom, lock the door."

"What? Who said that?"

The voice again, "MOM, lock the door!"

(I catch on slowly.) "THOMAS? Is that YOU? WHERE ARE YOU?" Seriously, I realized I couldn't see him anywhere. He's 12 and was wearing a florescent hat, very easy to spot.

Matt chimes in, "Mom, he FELL."

"WHAT?"

The poor boy was huddled practically under the car because he slipped trying to open the front passenger door, WHILE I WAS LAUGHING WITH MY NEIGHBOR ABOUT FALLING STORIES.

Yeah. I felt terrible. He just wanted me to lock the door so he could use the handle as leverage to get up. That's right. He didn't want me to come over and help him. All I had to do was lock the door. Oh yeah. AND NOTICE HE WAS ON THE GROUND.

I am a bad, bad mom.

Just pile it on, Dull Gray Day, pile it on!

So, it is a GORGEOUS slate gray day today. Really stunning. A PERFECT day for cleaning.

(Hear the sarcasm?)

Almost made me stay in bed this morning, actually.

But, it was sooo worth getting up. Really.

I've cleaned the trash can, inside and out.

I've cleaned a mess left by my sick cat, the likes of which I hope to never see again.

I've cleaned mouse poo off of treasures accidently left in the garage when we moved. (Treasures which will now be wrapped in plastic b/c I still can't stand to touch them. Ick. Worth my time? Well, yeah. Treasures.)

(Are you thinking maybe the sick cat should spend some time in the garage?)

I've cleaned up the water in front of my dying washer.

(I ate 2 peppermint patties for moral support.)

I've scrubbed carpets in 3 rooms.

I've cleaned up collie fur from places I didn't know collie fur could congregate.

(Mental note: Shave the collies.)

I'm pooped, although I hesitate to use that word after the day I've had!

Someone help me!

A Tale of Woe... of Snow and Amazon and Cheese

14 snowy days in a row... 3 snowbound kids... uh-oh!

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But an Amazon box, filled with books for the tots.

Thank you, Mr. Mailman and Amazon, for saving the day! It was AWESOME! I could already hear the peace! And quiet! (A sound that quite possibly, after 14 days, felt better than having a entire bag of Dove chocolates all to myself. Possibly. Let's not get crazy.) ;)

So, in the excitement of delving into the Amazon box and parceling out treasure, I forgot about lunch. Cooking. On the stove.

Sniff. Sniff, SNIFF!

Would that be BURNING grilled cheese sandwiches? Tomato soup boiling over?

No problem. I can scrape off char.

In the process of scraping, bubbling cheese oozed out and severely burned my hand.

In my anxiety (and blinding pain) to get the sandwich on a plate and off my hand, I pushed a different sandwich onto the floor.

I was left holding the burning hot UNscraped sandwich while the scraped and ready-to-serve sandwich plopped on the floor.

Now you know why my golden retriever loves me. And why my family asks if dinner is done when the smoke alarm goes off. ;)

And why we better have school tomorrow. ;)

What they forget between third grade and age 45...

My daughter's Valentine's Days have been ruined forever.

They've been ruined since the third grade. It was a boy's fault, of course. We'll call him Dan.

Dan had been sweet on my dear daughter since kindergarten. I thought it was cute. Then came third grade.

Valentine's Day that year came in the midst of a snow storm. School was cancelled. No one was going out. Evening came along and we heard a large truck pull up out front. A snow-covered youngun' stood on our stoop absolutely laden with gifts to delight his beloved. It was ADORABLE. He had a large card (2 feet tall, at least, that he made himself), a huge stuffed bear, and FLOWERS.

HOLY COW!

How can any guy she dates ever compete with that? You should have seen my own husband's face fall! HA! Oh, I soooo enjoyed the entire thing. Rob considers Valentine's Day to be a Hallmark holiday and therefore to be ignored (lest you become a sheep, forced to follow the flock of Valentine's Day followers over a cliff of chocolate despair).

For the record, to me, Valentine's Day should really be about thoughtfulness and reminding the ones you love that you care deeply about them. So, it's not really about flowers, or chocolates, or cards, but about showing you care. Sorry, Hallmark, but we don't really need to buy stuff to show that. What we really need is a sweet third grader reminding us that sometimes you just need to make an effort, trudge through a bit of snow, make sure your sweetie feels loved. :)

I'm a .... ???

Happy Valentine's Day!



Love this song!

To take our minds off of the overwhelming snow for a moment...

Snow, snow everywhere! We've stopped trying to estimate how much we have. It's A LOT. The kids may go to school ONE day this week. Maybe. If they can shovel out the school buildings and restore power. It's rather amazing. Still, nothing as bad as what they've gotten on the coast. Back-to-back blizzards? Oh. My. WORD. They must be going crazy.

So, to take our minds off of all the white outside, how about an amusing little picture that tells quite a story. My munchkins, years ago, role playing. The longer you look at this photo, the funnier it gets. Smile and enjoy. ;)



What do you see that makes you smile the most? :)

A) Is it the stack of (wipes) containers that have been carefully placed to "cushion" her head?
B) Is it the lack of any covering?
C) Is it the patient's ability to listen to her OWN heart?
D) Is it the somewhat evil grin on Tommy's face? (hehehe)
E) Is it the high tech tape binding her wound?
F) Is it the high tech tape holding her leg up against the chair back?
G) Is it the "doctor" clothes worn by the surgeons (stolen from dad's drawer)?

Or, something else? ;)

Because Everyone Needs an Igloo

So, the storm has come and gone and now we have almost a foot of snow. We have really been enjoying it! But, I don't think anyone enjoyed it as much as my boys did. They started making a snowman but decided it wasn't turning out as planned, so they came up with the idea of an igloo. OH, THE JOY! :)

When they were done, they called me out for a photo shoot. They usually don't like my picture taking... saying things like, "Mom, is this another picture for your BLOG?"... and then hiding. But they are my very favorite blog fodder! What do they expect? :)

I was so impressed with the igloo. They had to show me all around and demonstrate how to fit into it (rest assured that I had NO HOPE of fitting inside). :)



My favorite pic was of their feet.



They've since added a flag and peepholes. We've been teasing them that some deer is going to come along and sleep in it tonight to get out of the subzero temps. I have a feeling they'll be charging outside first thing in the morning to check the status of their igloo! :)

Walmart, the Day Before the Storm

I went to Walmart today. The day before we are to get (possibly) 16 inches of snow. It was a zoo. But, surprisingly, people were NICE. Yes, nice. I couldn't believe it. I mean, except for the few crazies that were trying to get through express checkout with 1,987 items, it wasn't bad at all. One had a screaming baby, so I totally didn't blame her.

I was picking up a grand total of 3 items. Don't ask me why I needed to be out. I laughed at my total of $9.14 (at Walmart!). How is that even POSSIBLE? I never leave there with less than half a cartload! I explained my chuckle to the cashier, saying something to the tune of, "Why did I feel the need to come out in the snow to spend $9.14?" And she said, "Because it's EXCITING." She was completely straight-faced. She meant it! EXCITING. Hmmmm...

But there is something to her comment. Being out in treacherous conditions seems to create a bit of a "Survivor's Club" in the participants. People (the ones who aren't grumpy about the snow) seem more friendly, somehow.

For example, I was standing in the baking goods aisle, trying to read the expiration date on yeast (my new bifocals were brilliantly left at home), when a very nice lady (a stranger) struck up a conversation with me about bread baking. The day is not yet done and we've already exchanged a recipe via email. I actually know her family, so it's not that weird. :) Gotta love small towns.

Then, as I was pushing my cart with 3 items (I don't know why, but that just seems so funny to me! At Walmart!), I passed a man who wanted to know where I got my coat. My coat is at least FOUR years old and (sadly) at any given time probably has a dozen collie hairs on it. But, I told him Cabella's and he seemed pleased to know. He said he liked it a lot and thought his wife would too. He was wearing a hunting cap so I have the idea that maybe an excuse to go to Cabella's made him happy. :)

So, aside from some crazy drivers in the parking lot, and a few in the store (not driving) :), I quite enjoyed my foray into the pre-snow shopping "Survivor's Club." :)

What is it about me that screams, "CLEARANCE RACK?"

I was shopping at some local outlet stores and I walked by a store that I have never been in. Hmmm... They had a FINAL DAYS CLEARANCE sign in the window. WELL! Not one to pass up FINAL DAYS, I walked inside. :)

It was a Columbia Sportswear store. Now, I just bought my son a winter coat for $15 at JC Penney that was regularly $80. I was in DEEP CLEARANCE MODE. So, I walk through the Columbia store, thinking of buying my daughter a new (warmer) coat, and it becomes QUICKLY obvious that my idea and Columbia's idea of FINAL DAYS CLEARANCE differ greatly.

I just want to mention here that I didn't (for once) look scruffy. I have on a rather nice Cabella's coat and my good (non-scuffed) purse. I am relatively dog hair free (with three large beasts at home, this is a feat in itself). I am even holding large bags (showing that I'm obviously willing to spend!).

So, I am browsing. Salespeople offer to help. I decline. I continue to browse. I work my way back to the front door b/c I am obviously out of my price range.

BUT WAIT! They have suddenly identified me as A CLEARANCE SHOPPER and direct my gaze to the newly marked down CLEARANCE RACK. It is SO SPECIAL that employees are not allowed to purchase from it. WOW! (riiight) But, I start looking. I note the 75% off sign. I spy ... BOOTS! :)

It was really funny because I gushed, evidently loudly, over the rack to such a degree that there was a stampede to it by every other person in the store. I was lucky to drag my loot over to the register before someone else grabbed it! I mean, I nabbed $80 boots for $12.50! COLUMBIA boots. AND a pair of ski pants for my daughter that she's been begging for that were $100... for $15!!! That's like a TARGET clearance price! (And boy, do I love Target clearance!) When I left, the other shoppers had nearly emptied the rack. It was rather amazing. I felt like I'd won or something! :) How much do I love finding things we really need at rock bottom prices? A LOT!

It was perfect timing, too, because now we are expecting something like a foot or more of snow tonight and I see SLED RIDING in our future! :)

Well, What DID I Expect?

I just returned a pasta pot to Macy's. It was beautiful and $100, so I was looking forward to using what I thought was a quality kitchen product. After ONE use, I noticed rust spots in the bottom of the pot. RUST. $100 pot!!!

It is not as if I let the water sit in the pot for any length of time, either. I washed it out and dried it when the handles were still warm.

So, I found the receipt and the box (thank goodness I still had it) and marched it into Macy's.

As soon as I got to the counter, I heard an employee saying, "I can leave in 5 minutes." So, I thought, "Oh, she'll be right over."

(Waiting.)

(Waiting some more.)

Another employee walked by and eluded my stare, but then, several minutes later, realized that I had a BOX and I was waiting near a REGISTER. "A SALE!" he thought!

He called over the person who must have practically had her coat on by this time. She was grumpy. Now, if she had come right over when I got there, she would have already been done!

I told her what was wrong. The return was no problem. But then she turned it over and said to me (LIKE THIS WAS MY FAULT!), "Well, it's MADE IN CHINA, what did you expect?"

What did I EXPECT? Really?

I'd like to have a few words with the higher ups in the Martha Stewart kitchen products division. I really don't care where the item was made. If it can be purchased at Macy's (with a $100 price tag!) and Martha Stewart has her name on it, I EXPECT a quality product.

So, there is my rant for the day. I wish I had a good pasta pot. Does anyone have a suggestion of one they use and like?

One out of 6 ain't bad

Ain't? Ain't? Yes, I said ain't. It's the result of hearing "youns" instead of "you" for the past two hours. I really don't mind, but it has this gosh darn effect on me, daggone it.

(Taking off hillbilly hat and putting on my usual one...note I did not say "normal" one. :) I hesitate to read the commentary that word would dredge up when used in affiliation with me. :) hehe)

So, I'm back from my haircut and coloring appointment. There is probably some hip word for all that, but I don't know it. Hey, I finally stopped calling the place a beauty parlor and refer to it as a salon. One step at a time, right?

I now have hair that seems to be shaped like Dolly Parton's (on a pouffy day) and colored like Sarah Palin's. Only shorter.

Ahem.

No photos will be forthcoming.

Still, one iffy haircut out of six over the past year isn't bad at all! I still love the person who does my hair... next time I'm just going to ask her to step away from the hairspray...

(She really is talented... we just had some miscues this time.)

UPDATE: Just combed out the pouf and I actually really like it now! :) I'm so pessimistic with hair. It's really soft and I LOVE the new color. I got a whiny post out of it AND I like it after all. Win-win! :) lol

And it ends...

The season of Cake Fest is finally at an end! It's been a no man's land for my diet, let me tell you.

We started with a Twilight / New Moon party for Sarah, who had a Thanksgiving birthday this year. Two tiers of strawberry and french vanilla yumminess. The first cake. Devoured rapidly. Ignore the vampires. I almost made a blood red cake to go with the theme, but resisted. I think the girls appreciated that. :)





Note that I was NOT serving wine to 13-year-old girls. We had cranberry Sierra Mist in wine glasses (because when you turn 13, beverages in fancy glasses seem cool). You can see the evidence of this by the 2-liter bottle in the background. Hey, we are classy, too! ;) lol

Then we had Matt's birthday on Pearl Harbor Day. Of course, he had THREE "parties" so he had THREE cakes/cupcake trees. These were devoured rapidly but we were losing impetus as we got to to the last cake.

Here's the first cupcake fest:



And here is his cake on his actual birthday:



Now, I enjoy baking birthday cakes, but even I was losing steam at this point.

Along comes Christmas. Cookies. LOTS of cookies. I did not bake a SINGLE Christmas cookie and we STILL had trays of cookies (gifts). The kids LOVE this time of year. Cakes, cookies, what's not to love? ;)

I said no cookies were baked, but the CANDY we made, well... that is another story. May I highly recommend Oreo Truffles to anyone who likes that sort of thing? Super easy to make! Homemade caramels, orange-cranberry mini bread loaves, and peanut butter balls (they are really BUCKEYES but people who like WVU refuse to eat BUCKEYES, so I've been told to call them peanut butter balls. Hey, when in Rome...)

So, my diet made it to about Dec. 15, intact. No real blows yet, since we gave most of the candy away. Then I just lost the fight. Sigh. New Year's Eve... OINK.

Then comes January... our LAST birthday. Thomas loves Reese's, so we had a Reese's cake. This thing is too rich even for ME.

But first, we started with the cupcake tree at grandma's. (Note the extra awesome new Steelers shirt.) ;)



Then we went sledding to shed the pounds gained. ;)

We went home to THIS.



My dear daughter stayed up with me until midnight the night before putting this together! SOMEONE wouldn't go to bed (too excited about turning 12!) and we wanted the cake to be a surprise.

In case you doubt the richness, here's a pic of the inside... it has pudding, whipping cream, melted chocolate, and cocoa ALL IN THE CAKE batter. The icing has peanut butter, whipping cream, butter, powdered sugar, etc. Really. Four layers of cake... 2 layers of chocolate icing... one layer of peanut butter icing... all slathered in MORE peanut butter frosting... then decorated with Reese's miniatures. Not. Rich. At. All.



Did I mention that when we stopped to pick up VANILLA ice cream to go with it, Tommy fell in love with CHOCOLATE Moose Tracks ice cream and would NOT be dissuaded? Yeah. Well, it was his birthday.

This is how I ate MY piece of cake. You may note that I don't care for peanut butter.



I don't think I've ever eaten a piece of cake quite like that before. :)

So, the Cake Fest is over. Thank goodness! My diet can continue unabated at last! :) I've ordered Jillian's 30-Day Shred from Amazon. haha It will probably kill me.