Coffee or Wine?!?!?

I am having a serious case of the munchies and have decided to have coffee or wine. Choices, choices...  I run the risk of being awake all night with the coffee, but, it has way less calories than the wine I drink.  So I guess it will be coffee.  Thank goodness I have a "one cupper" that makes coffee making a breeze.

And it works really quickly, too! The only thing bad about it, is it gets cold faster than regular pot coffee. I will probably have to microwave it a couple times or guzzle it down.

I am also currently watching the last part of "Hatfields & McCoys." This is a three part mini series on the History channel. It is really good!!

It is interesting to see these two families clash in such a violent way. I definitely have my opinion on who was more to blame for the fracas.  But, both sides are very much revenge motivated.

I made another pan of the best rhubarb stuff EVER! 

I mistakenly tried a new recipe for bars and was told by the hubby to not waste anymore rhubarb on anything else, but, the above.  The bars were really good and he did eat them, but, the definitely weren't as good as the cobbler.

And here's a little bit of coffee humor, since it's been a while.

That sounds like me!!! :)

Till next time....

Grilled Pizza and Waterfalls!

The hubby asked me what was for dinner and I said, "Pizza!" But, it was warm out and the oven was not a good idea. But, I had two frozen bread loaves that I had thawed, a half a can of crushed tomatoes, and a partial bag of shredded mozzarella/Parmesan cheese to use. Sooooooooo... I looked in my Mr. Food grilling cookbook and googled it and viola! I had a solution.

I sprayed a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray and placed it on a flat grill pan with holes. Then I rolled out the dough and plunked it on the grill. Once it was brown and hard cooked on the bottom I flipped it with another piece of foil and hot pads. I should state that I burned my finger something fierce in the process.  I wasn't sure how it was all going to work. I then put the toppings on it and let it cook for eight minutes more - or until the cheese melted. It started to burn in a small section so I shifted it onto a cookie sheet and off the grill, since it apparently was done. Here are the before and after pictures:

This is cooked side up and covered with pizza stuff.

Proof I did use the grill -- haha!

AND all finished and ready to eat!

The crust was thicker than my normal "homemade" pizza, but, that was primarily because I used two bread loaves. It was very good! I will definitely be doing it, again.  The pizza dough flipping was a little bit tricky, but, now that I've done it, it will be much easier. The Mr. Food recipe said use an already baked crust. That would probably be easier, but, I didn't have any of those.

For Memorial day we visited a local state park. The hubby and I visited this site last year, and decided to let the kids enjoy it, too. Sadly when we got there the "fun" trail was partially closed, but, we were still able to see the best part.

We had a picnic lunch, played a card game named "picnic Pitch" by C#1 and then decided to get some ice cream at a local spot on our way home. It was a successful day.

Here are some pictures of the "garden." Approximately Day #5.

The seeds planted here are sprouting. I don't have a clue what they are. I also have the bad habit of planting things wayyyyy too close together. Oops! Also my rogue lettuce is going craaaaaaaaaaaazyyyyy! I pick one leaf and it comes back with two or more. 

And some growage here. No idea what, again. It amuses me that all of the sprouts look the same. Making it very hard to differentiate.

C#2 and I planted some swiss chard, beets and a couple onions. But, again, I have a bad habit of putting things too close together. So, we will have to wait and see if it still works.

That's it for today. Till next time...

The Joy of Folding Socks.

And you all know there is no joy in folding socks. I have established folding laundry to C#1 and C#2 on a rotating schedule. They both, however, will NOT fold socks, unless I make it a separate chore or threaten their life. There are many a morning when one or two and sometimes three people are searching for socks to start the day. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I don't understand why they just won't fold the d@mn socks! How hard is it?!?

Anyway, C#2 insisted on watching cartoons and I told her she could IF she folded socks. After about 20 minutes, I went to check and she had folded a grand total of eight pairs. Really?!?!?! GAHHHHH! So, I told her to fold 20 more and then she could be done.  After giving her about 15 minutes, she had folded five more pairs, but, she mistakenly thought that counted as 10. Ummmmmmmm.... No. That would be only five pairs. She whined and complained and whined some more. *insert whiney little girl, I don't wanna voice here* "I can't find any more matches!!!"  So, I sat down and thought I would prove her wrong.

Thankfully she had switched from cartoons to "Mythbusters." A TV show to watch that wasn't going to melt my brain.  It was a very interesting episode and I will get into that in a bit....

In no time at all I finished her required 20 pairs and pressed on with the basket and folded 40+. Now everyone has wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too many socks. Who'd a thought?!? All that remained in the basket were some loners, that will probably forever be loners and need to take a trip to the garbage.

Random loner socks and a bunch of laundry cups.

I think I proved my point and will no longer get any argument from the peanut gallery. But, everyone knows that isn't true. *sigh* The joys of being a parent.

Back to the "Mythbusters" episode. It was about finding what had the most germs/bacteria on everyday surfaces. It started with a toilet seat and went to a kitchen sponge. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the sponge was going to be the big bad. Everyone knows that. But, it was interesting nonetheless. And the other team of mythbusters were trying to skip a car across a pond. That was highly entertaining, too.

Anyway, back to the sponge. I was at my BFF's house and saw her cut her Scotch-Brite kitchen sponge in half.  How come I never thought of that?!? I go through sponges like a madwoman, since they "go bad" at a very rapid pace. Cutting them in half not only extends the life of one sponge, it also makes it much easier to clean things out. Smaller spaces are no longer a challenge. 

Between the roasted peppers and sponge cutting trick I am feeling a little slow on the uptake.  Better late than never, I guess you could say.

Anyway, that's it for today. Till next time...

It's finally done!

I "hired" my sister, who I will now refer to as S#4 (sibling #4), since she finds my numbering system amusing, to help me clean the "library/catch all/craft" room. I posted pictures a couple blogs back.

Upon entering the room, we were startled to see ants everywhere.
WHATTHE-H-E-DOUBLEHOCKEYSTICKS!!!  After our initial shock, we started squishing and removing their icky dead carcasses. There is no food in there, but, I was told that ants like some soaps or something weirdo like that. After the ant slaughter was completed we actually got to work on the room.

I was reallllllly glad S#4 agreed to help out.  I have a bad tendency of half @ssing a job. What usually happens is I get really involved and look at the clock and realize "Holy SH*T!" I had other things I needed to do today or after an hour I am thinking, "There really must be something better to do, than this..."  Anyway S#4 kept on pushing through box after box after bag after bag after pile of crap after pile of crap. I told her from the start that I was not getting rid of anything. Not that there wouldn't be garbage, just this wasn't a clear out job. I actually called it a "sh*t shuffle." Not that there was actual sh*t, obviously, except for those d@mn ants!

Here is the end result:

The room basically looks the same, EXCEPTTTT, you can now actually see the floor. If you notice underneath the table are two very large containers FULL of paper packs and kits.  I guess I don't need to purchase anymore of those.

Again, the same looking, but, seriously, DO.YOU.SEE.THE.FLOOR?!?!? Why yes, yes I do!  And there isn't anything on it!!!!!!!!  We did move all of the rubber stamps to the this side of the room and filled up the shelves they were in with scrapbooking stuff.

 And then there were....

STICKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

S#4 got really, realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly sick of seeing stickers.  She started saying, "STICKERS!!!!!!!!" with extreme gusto after each find. I clearly don't have enough of these either.  Truth be told I also have three other containers chock full of stickers, too.

So... If anyone wants to do a good job with clearing out or cleaning up a room, hire S#4. She knows how to get it done. I helped too, of course.

The next day I went to visit my BFF and on my way I saw a BEAR!! I guess that isn't as exciting as it used to be, but, I was surprised to see it in the road. I considered driving down, past the road I needed to turn on, to get a closer look. But, I wasn't sure if my car insurance would cover "car mauled by bear" claim. So I went on my way. I did grab my camera out of my purse just in case I got a good picture shot. Which obviously didn't happen.

Anyway, my contribution to that days function was this:

Martha Stewart had a similar thing pictured in her magazine in a much smaller terrine.  All I could find were two smallish Ball canning jars. 

The most exciting thing about it was the roast peppers. But, that is only because I roasted them ALL.BY.MYSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How come I didn't know how easy that was?!?!?!? Of course, everything else in the jar was good, too. There wasn't any seasoning or dressing so we poured the salad onto a plate and doused it with dressing and chowed down.  The mix of ingredients was definitely yummy.  I think the thought was to make a portable salad thing to take wherever you go. The next time I make this I might add feta cheese. I think that would make it super delicious and then it wouldn't need as much dressing.

So there you have it. The last couple of days. Till next time....

It's Garden Time!

Well not actually a garden. I am far to lazy to actually stake out a spot to till the soil, compost the soil, love the soil. So I have enlisted the help of C#2 and now have five garden boxes and various potted plants.

Four of the five garden boxes were used last year and were overrun with weeds. I offered C#2 a monetary incentive to weed them for me, which she happily agreed.  I thought it was going to take some time to finish this job.  However, I don't think it took her more than 15 minutes. AND she did a good job, too. Not that I'm complaining, but, I thought the task would take more time and therefore get my money's worth?! I guess I should just be glad that I didn't have to do it.

She announced today that her current game system isn't working right and she wanted to upgrade. Truth be told she just wants what C#1 bought with his birthday cash.  C#1 hoards his money, while any money C#2 has burns a hole in her pocket.  Anywayyyyyyy... I thought that since she has something she is actually saving for I might give her incentive to do more jobs for me (aka watering/weeding). So it was decided to give her a weekly stipend for such a task and thus save money for her new game system.  She agreed, again, and now we will see how that works out.

When C#2 was weeding the garden boxes she found two lone ranger lettuce that decided to grow all by it's lonely.  She was careful to not damage them, so guess what?!? We have a little bit of yummy lettuce that required zero work on our part. YAYAY!

And then today my MIL asked if we had someplace for tomato plants and how many did we want. "Wellllll, ummmmmm. How many are you willing to give us!??!" In a totally not greedy, super excited, since I didn't have to plant, water, pet these fine specimens from the very start, way!!! 

We ended up with a healthy amount and with a couple pepper plants, and herbages to boot! 

C#2 and I spent quite a lot of time this afternoon planting these plants and also starting some lettuce and herbs from scratch (aka seeds.) Now it's all about the "watering and waiting (and weeding --blah) game". Kind of exciting. I am sort of starting to understand some of the "love" of gardening. Buttttt, there is a lot to be said for being the recipient of others hard gardening work without all the hassle.  

Here is our start. Day 1:

These are actually supposed to be filled to the top with soil. But, for some reason, I never buy enough.  The tomatoes never seem to mind.

I have no idea what is in this. Only time will tell.

Well that's it for today. Till next time....

I got my car back!! And I saved over $12.00 at Walmart!

I was very happy to get my car back on Tuesday AND since we had to venture out in the evening we went out to dinner at a local pizza joint. Win - WIN! I love when I don't have to make dinner and I do enjoy some real pizza!!  And what I mean by that is we did NOT go to Pizza Hut.

*Insert Gollum's voice from LOTR* "My preciousssss."

I have found that since this most recent fix, my gear shifter is working better than ever! I am thinking there was an underlying problem from my previous September fix and it was just a matter of time before it broke. If you add up the total from the September fix with the May fix that equals over $1,000! OUCH!!!!!!  It will be a sad, sad day when I have to get rid of this vehicle. I do like it so much.

I had a planned shopping trip and decided last minute to see if my Mom and sis were available for breakfast.  Being all spontaneous I called their house at 7:15 a.m. and a plan was made. We met up at 8:00 a.m.  They had a most excellent special of half a waffle, two eggs, two sausage and two bacon. Let me just say it was delicious! The waffle especially. It was definitely a great idea and we all enjoyed our food.

AND our waitress was especially good and I had three coffee refills! Whoohoo!!  I was all caffeinated and ready to spend.some. moneyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!  

And spend I did. But, like I said I saved over $12.00 at Walmart and that is always a fantastic thing!! And these are some of the items I saved on: coffee, cereal (super excited there was a Kellogg's cereal sale 2 for $5.00, so I actually saved on a whole bunch of Crispix!!), lettuce, pineapple, block cheese, pop tarts, eggs, shampoo, cottage cheese and artisan lettuce!! My children have nooooooooooooooooooo idea about the pop tarts, but, once they discover them, they will be gone in an instant. 

Like I said before, I am a horrible parent and let my children eat sugary cereal and pop tarts. So sue me!

Till next time....

Updates!

And here they are.

Car: Is done. Cost $375.00. It took an extra day, because, they had to order the part. I should have it back in my possession today.

Shampoo bottle:  I was handing out the "daily chores" and gave C#1 the job to wash the bathroom floor. Said shampoo bottle ended up on the dryer, so I plunked it in the garbage. It still amuses me that it sat on the floor for two weeks.  AND the reason I left it there is because I tired of picking up everyone's stuff.  Call it an experiment that I will probably have to conduct, again.

AND here are the answers to my BFFs Ginger's questions:

A.) No, I don't really need all those books.

B.) I am slowly reading a specific stack that wasn't pictured.

C.) See above answer.

And no. This is not another egg blog. It is a super excited blog that my eggs didn't run to the edge of the pan.  The stove has needed to be leveled for a while, but, I didn't complain about it. I just managed. Well the lovely husband, wasn't impressed  when he was cooking eggs and they definitely preferred to be on the side instead of the center.  And Viola! He fixed it! Whoohoo! The first time I fixed eggs and they didn't go to  the edge of the pan I was startled and amazed!! Who knew?!?!? It should be noted that I am, obviously, too easy to please.

Well that's it for today. Till next time.

Happy Mother's Day!

And cupcakes make everything better!

This is why I hate cleaning...

I had to clean up a wet mess in my "craft/library/junk/ catch all" room and for some reason have been slightly inspired to maybe finish the job.

What the H-E-double hockey sticks am I thinking?!?!  There are wayyyyyyyyyyy too many boxes of crap down there. 

I did manage to rearrange my scrapbooks and photo albums. I also stuffed my containers of stamps into a more concealed location which allowed me to actually "put away" the photo albums. Of course, before I could do this, I had to hoe out the bazillion books. Which I had stuffed three deep underneath the book shelves. OYE! That was annoying. And of course, I just triple stacked them into the book shelf, but, at least you can sort of get to them now...

It doesn't look tooooo bad, except that there are 4 or 5 boxes of crap in front of the photo shelf. I also put the boxed dvd series into the cleared off book shelf, thus eliminating a couple boxes. 

But, since I cleared out the book cases for dvds, the books are now triple stacked, like I mentioned before. I love "reorganizing" my mess.

And I have now stuffed ALL of these shelves to their complete capacity.  The ultimate goal for this section was to clear a space on the floor in front of the middle pictured shelf. SUCCESS!!  I know it doesn't really look like it's clear, but, believe me, it's clear. I actually cleared out a whole box of scrapbooking albums, pages, covers etc and plunked them to the shelf across the room (see picture.)

And then there is this mess. Believe it or not, at one point in my life I could actually scrapbook here. Spread out the entire album with my pictures, stickers and whatever else I needed and work. Now I can barely clear a space for anything.  Move the scissors and the stickers in the front and that is the space I use for the little stamping I actually do.

C#2 wanted to help me and I asked her to put the 8x10 sheets of paper in the magazine racks. That lasted less than five  minutes and she was officially "bored" with cleaning. Because cleaning is supposed to be fun - duhhhh... *rolling my eyes* 

After a couple hours I had enough of this task. Maybe I will get inspired, again, soon.  I won't hold my breath.  

And guess what this is????

Yes, an empty shampoo container. It has been sitting there for over a week. It is NOT mine. We all have our own shampoo, so I am pretty sure I know who dumped this empty gem on the floor. I am waiting to see how long it takes before someone throws it away. That someone NOT being me. I find it kinda humorous that it is still there.  I will let you know how long it takes to make it's way to the garbage can.

Till next time....

Oh Nooooooooooooooooooo!! Not again....

I was headed home from my BFF's house and clunked the car into reverse. It "felt" weird when I shifted it out of park, but, it seemed to work fine..... Until I got into the middle of the road and once I was able to clunk it back into park, the gear shifter would shift no more.

Whatthe

H-E-doublehockeystickspaininmy@sspieceofsh*tcarF@&#$&^*&!*@&K!

After many failed attempts at shifting it into drive I ran back into the house and was like, "I think I have a problem..." My friend and I headed out to the car to see if she had any maneuvering magic and I called my hubby. He told me to call the tow company and take it to our normal mechanic. My immediate response was, "Are they going to want to come all the way out here?!?!"  Granted it was only a town or two over, but, I was in a different state! Would they do that?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!WAAAAHHHHH! Time for crybaby bitch mode, again.

My BFF's hubby (literally) dragged my lovely car out of the middle of the road. It should be noted that my glorious "parking" job only inconvenienced the mailman, since traffic clearly isn't much of an issue, in their neck of the literal woods.

Then they called a friend of their's to see what he could do, since he was a mechanic, before I called said tow company and have to pay a small fortune to move this POS car.  Thankfully said friend was able to come right away and he knew how to get the car into drive. I had very specific instructions not to shift it out of drive, otherwise I would be stuck, yet, again.

I said a silent prayer, "Please don't let a road be closed, cows blocking the way, don't let me get pulled over, don't let the road be washed out, no Amish buggy party or any number of potential calamities to make me have to put the car into park and be stuck forevermore!"

And alas.... None of the above occurred and I made it to the mechanic with no problems. And the hubby was already there to pick me up, so I didn't need to wait. Phewwww!!!

Now it's just a matter of waiting to see how much this beautiful repair is going to hurt the bank account. Dagggnabbit! I will certainly keep you posted.

Till next time....

This is soooooooooooooo true.

Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk and Thor and Captain America, Oh MY!

After having a "Marvel Movie Marathon" we went to see the much hyped movie "The Avengers"!

And WOWEEEEEWOW!!! It was a good flick! Joss Whedon wrote and directed this movie which made it even more exciting to watch. 

I still haven't figured out which superhero I want to be. They all have such neato skillzzzz!  The action and humor throughout this flick was very enjoyable, too. 

And it only cost $13.50 for the entire family! And it was at the super nice, recliner seat theater!

I also watched the movie "Young Adult" (on dvd.) 

This was a movie about a 30 something, trying to get back her high school love. Let me just say Charlize's character was PA-THE-TIC! It's hard to believe that there are actually people who would behave this way especially after 20 or so years out of high school. Those people who still hold grudges and act like they're still in high school. Of course, I know it does happen. At my first high school reunion, there were those who didn't attend because of said grudges and hurt feelings. Seriously?! I'm glad I wasn't a part of any "group" and feel like I have to maintain a pseudo image.

I have and will be attending a reunion or two in the coming years and am sure to hear about those who are still this way. I guess some people never grow up or refuse to grow up or just don't know how. It's kinda sad...

Anyway, if you want to watch a movie about a pathetic adult, who hasn't grown up, watch this. It was mildly entertaining, but, not anything I will watch again. 

The "Avengers" on the other hand was thoroughly enjoyable and I would re-watch that.

Till next time...

"The Lucky One" is definitely a chick flick!

Not that you didn't already know that.

I was invited to a "Girls' Afternoon Out" with my Mom and her BFF.  And I love a movie, especially in the nice, comfy, recliner seat theater.

I was pleasantly surprised by this flick. After watching "The Vow" I was slightly skeptical of this one. It did not have stellar reviews, but, they were a teensy bit better than that aforementioned movie.

 The movie was entirely predictable, but, I was okay with that.  It did have a couple teary moments (at least for me) and it did have it's lovey dovey moments. It could have been a Hallmark movie (or Lifetime Channel), except for the sex scenes, which was why the movie had a  PG-13 rating. Although I wouldn't want my thirteen year old watching it.

And Zac Efron was hot!  Yeah, yeah, yeah... He's 10+ years younger than me, but, I can still think he's cute!

Anyway.... If you want to see a predictable chick flick with a hot guy, go see this one. It wasn't as good as "The Notebook." But, it kicks (the movies) "The Vow" and "Dear John" movie's @sses!

And then there was food!!!

And yes, it was good.

Till next time...

The whirlwind trip to Washington, DC.

I decided NOT to sleep, but, still didn't sleep much on the bus.

We arrived at the school about 10 minutes before we were supposed to, but, the buses didn't show up until about 1:20 or so. It was definitely a hurry up and wait event.

After all the luggage was loaded we piled into the buses and headed off. The buses looked like they might be comfortable. But, that was all a deception. There was barely room to move your legs and once everyone was seated and the people sitting in front of you put their seats back, it was almost impossible to move. Six hours of pure bliss.... Yay. *sarcasm - in case you didn't catch that* The goal was to get yourself crunched into the most comfortable - uncomfortable position.

We then stopped for breakfast where we had brownies and gummi bears and coffee.

On the first day we did museums and decided to save the monuments/memorials for Friday. This is some of what we saw:

Don't eat me!

 Mummies!

 Not sure what this was supposed to be. But it sure looks cool!

 YAY! It's the IRS!

And "The Air and Space Museum."

Then it was time for food, again. Cotton candy and a chocolate fountain!

 Chocolate covered pineapple, strawberries, marshmallows and Rice Krispie Treats!

 

And bed.... Finally.

We did a lot of walking on Day 2. And this is only a little bit of what we saw.

Lincoln Memorial

FDR Memorial. This section was huge and amazing.

 The Vietnam Memorial Wall.

 The WWII Memorial.

And once we were done with this, we went and got more food. Please note there is a serious time lapse, that is not seen. We actually went from the Lincoln Memorial and everything in between to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and then back to the Korean War Memorial and everything in between and back to the Air and Space Museum to finally be completely done at the Museum of Art (which we didn't have time to visit.) Phewww!

We then had more food at a Golden Corral in Maryland and headed home. We pulled in the driveway at about 1:00 am, Saturday. 

I think it will take me a week to fully recover. Thankfully my feet aren't too sore. Which is amazing.

Till next time....

To sleep or not to sleep....

That IS the question.

C#2 has a rapidly approaching class trip and I am the "chosen" parent for this adventure.  We have a very large list of things to bring, that must all be packed into one hotel bag, one bus bag and two "off the bus" bags.  It is going to be a very whirlwind trip. We leave super, super early  and come back super, super late the next day.

My question is -- do I go to sleep and hope to catch a few hours of shut eye or just stay awake and hope for some extraordinarily tired-tiredness?! We have to leave the humble abode about an hour after my normal bed time. It is clearly going to be very difficult to go to sleep early, since I don't like to go to bed early. What to do? What to do?

Anyway, onto another subject. Food! I was watching a video blog and they made a "Torta Rustica." I was very, very intrigued. I didn't have many of the inner ingredients, but, felt it was something I could "fudge."  After putting it all together and baking it for nearly an hour this is what happened:

Holy huge! And the picture doesn't do it justice. C#2 was highly impressed. And this is what was inside:

Let me just say it tasted A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had another 1/2 of a piece after devouring a very large first piece. I took many, many liberties. I stayed true with the frozen bread dough, mozzarella cheese, sliced ham and hard salami. And then I subbed in cooked mushrooms, swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon. The recipe is very forgiving and pliable!  Here's the recipe link: http://geekandsundry.com/flog-416-lillys-baked-torta-rustica/

And then I decided to be the nice wife and make C#1 and the dear hubby a pan of "Apple Betty," since we will be ditching them for a couple days.  Let me just say it was the best batch I ever made. I didn't take picture, because, I posted a picture of the same thing a few blogs ago.

Well that's it for now.  I can already feel the tired-tiredness. Till next time....