Some yummy hot drinks for a cold night

Check these out to warm up with! Sounds yummy!

Fluffy Hot Chocolate at Allrecipes.com

Hot Vanilla. Flip-flopped hot chocolate. Warm vanilla drink topped with chocolaty whipped topping.

Thursday mish mash

This post is just a bunch of different things going on. I apologize for the random thoughts and jumpy thoughts too!

First off, I have been BOO'd by Lions, Tigers and Boys, Oh My!

Boo!!!This is how the Blogging Boo will work...
Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "Boo-ed". Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Treat (picture) and tell them to "Boo" their friends. Then, put the picture in your side bar so everyone knows that you've already been "Boo-ed" and to send the pic to someone else...

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Here are some pictures of the Spirit and Lady Bug (couldn't get Lefty to sit long enough for a picture) sporting their new haircuts:

Mr. Man took them the other day to see his cousin. She owns a day spa/salon and so she got them all spiffied up and I got nothing! wahhhhhhh!

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The poor dog is feeling very violated after being spayed this week! She is still sluggish, but she is starting to come around.


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The kids, well actually just the boys, have been on fall break this week and Mr. Man took time off too. My boss is on vacation this week so I am stuck in the office holding down the fort while my family gets to do fun stuff! Today, they are taking the neighbors (ages 9 and 12) with them to go tour the Denver Mint. Lefty is starting to collect coins so he is beyond exited!

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Funny things heard in my house recently:
Spirit: Dad, how can you tell Gidget is a girl?
Mr. Man: Ummm, welll, er.... ummmm, well you see ... ummm, ok she doesn't have a wee wee.
Me snickering in the kitchen...a wee wee? We've never called it that. That is so funny!
Spirit: What are those bumpy things on her tummy?
Mr. Man: Well, those are what she would feed babies with if she had babies.
Spirit: What are they called?
Mr. Man: I'm not sure. Go ask your mom.
Paybacks for laughing at him I suppose! I probably deserved it! :o)
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Lady Bug: I want chocolate milk.
Me: Ok.
I start to pour it and she starts freaking out and crying. I am looking at her very confused and she says: Why did you make it brown? I don't like brown. Brown is a boy color. Ohhhhhh mom.
Me: Honey, chocolate is brown. So chocolate milk is going to be brown too.
Lady Bug - completely recovered just like that and no more tears: Oh, I didn't know.
Me: Obviously!
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Mr. Man: Honey (to me) I want you to make more homemade applesauce. I bought the apples already. I wasn't sure how many it took.
Me: Ok, how much did you get?
Mr. Man: 100 pounds



Well, we'll have applesauce alright. A lot of it!
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Lefty: Mooooooommmmmmmm! Can you come here?
Me: Ok. Where are you?
Lefty: The bathroom.
Me (opening the door): What do you need? (Thinking he must be out of TP or something)
Lefty: It realllllllllly smells bad in here.
Me (stupidly asking): What does it smell like?
Lefty: Poop. From my butt.


NICE! Boys are so much fun to live with. All this talk about bodily functions and then it is even better when we do the bodily functions at the dinner table (or worse, at the table when Grandma is over! eeek)
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Last night we started making the applesauce. Spirit wasn't feel well so he went to bed at 7:30, but Lady Bug and Lefty were a big help. Here are some pictures of them helping wash apples. Lefty was pulling the stickers off and then Lady Bug would carefully place them in the sink and I would wash them. It was so fun!

Homework Help

Spirit was told one morning last week before he left for school to be sure to complete his homework in the after school program because we had an event at the school that night and we wouldn't have much time in the evening to work on homework.

As soon as we all walked in the door that evening Mr. Man asked Spirit if he completed all his homework. I could hear the panic in Spirit's voice as he was trying to tell his dad that he had done none of his homework, not that he didn't get done, but that he hadn't even started it.

The after school program has a mandatory homework/quiet time. If the kids do not have homework then they need to sit and do something quietly. Spirit decided not to do the homework in his backpack, but instead he played a game with a friend.

I then heard Mr. Man raise his voice "What do you mean you didn't do it?" Then Spirit was pleading his case, which was weak at best. Oh my. I really thought he might lose his head over this one!

Sooooooooo, while I made dinner Spirit started the homework. Then after dinner we went to the school event, then when we got home he tried to finish, but didn't get his 20 minutes of reading done, so we got him up early the next morning to finish the homework!

Will this be a lesson learned? One can only hope!

Latest update on the dog

It has been one week since we brought the stray dog home and posted signs. We have received only two calls from our signs and neither one was looking for this dog. Both of those calls were in the first day or two. We have also driven through the area looking to see if anyone posted a sign that they lost her. No signs. No more calls.


Today we decided she is probably going to be ours. Forever. BUT, she has not been spayed. All along we kept saying that if no one calls for her we need to have her spayed right away. But how long do you wait for the original owner to surface?


My MIL called me yesterday to tell me that a woman who attends their church works with the Dumb Friends League and they host a clinic in the church parking lot once a month. TODAY happens to be the day. So, for $50 she will get all her shots and will get spayed. YAY!


Now, if for some reason the owner comes forward they owe me $50. Just kidding! I was hesitant to spend a lot of money on her in case the owner still surfaces. I don't know if we did the right or wrong thing, but for $50 it seemed like a good time. If, the owner surfaces now I hope they aren't mad that we spayed her!

Not-so-typical morning

I had been at my desk all of about 20 minutes when I heard some commotion in the hallway. There is a small window by the front door of our office that looks into the hall so I went to look out and there were 7 or 8 cops yelling all with their guns out and everything!

We had received a memo from our building management last week that we needed to be on the lookout for what the area police were calling the "Laptop Bandit". He was coming into buildings in our area and stealing laptops and digital cameras. (I wonder why they didn't call him the Laptop and Digital Camera Bandit...hmm, maybe it was too wordy! hee hee)

Apparently, a woman who works on my floor was on the elevator with a man that was dressed with a dark hoodie on and carrying a laptop bag. She said he was acting strange and wouldn't look at her when she tried to strike up a conversation. She immediately called 911 when he got off the elevator on our floor acting suspicious. Also, he had gone up to the 11th floor and was wandering around and someone there asked him if he needed help. When he left she called the building management who alerted our security guard. The guard was waiting for this guy as he got off on the first floor. He asked him what he was doing and the guy avoided him and started running out the building.

This is where the cops come in and take him down!

Pretty soon a detective comes in my office asking if we are missing anything. So I go looking and one laptop is gone, but I told the officer that the attorney may have it with him. So he left his card and told me to call him if we are missing anything.

When the attorney came in he told me he had taken it home with him last night, so it appears nothing in our suite was stolen! Thankfully!

I've told you that there are times I am in here alone. Now I am all creeped out. I do, though, lock up my purse in a desk drawer so that should always be safe. My boss said I should feel free to lock the door when I am in here alone. Phew! That makes me feel better!

Camping trip

This was the sunset just before we ate dinner. Isn't it gorgeous?

I had to work late Friday so on my way home I called Mr. Man to tell him I was on my way and he said

"Good! We've been waiting. We're going camping."

Me: "Ummmm, huh? Did you say camping? As in c.a.m.p.i.n.g?"

He said that he was borrowing his mom & dad's camper trailer and we were going camping.

First of all, this girl isn't crazy about camping in October (almost November!). Don't get me wrong, I like to camp, when it is nice. Call me a "fair weather camper" I guess!

So anyway, I convinced him that there was absolutely no way that I could get 5 people packed plus food gathered for a camping trip. It was already 6:00 pm. It was starting to get dark. I am not much for spur of the moment anyway, but a camping trip can not be thrown together when there is 5 people PLUS a dog now!

Before I got home my friend Michelle had called to see if she could take Lady Bug for the evening. So she met us at our house and picked Lady Bug up.

Saturday morning, the boys all took off to go to a soap box derby. They ended up and didn't stay because of the crowd. So they headed back home to get me to go camping. I got us all packed up and off we went to get lunch and Lady Bug. Then we headed to the camp ground. It was sunny, but chilly when we got there. Later in the evening it got real cold and windy!

Lefty at the campsite playing the ring game. The ring game was a lot of fun!




Spirit and Mr. Man roasting hot dogs for our dinner.

Before the wind and cold, we were able to roast hot dogs for dinner, we had roasted marshmallows for dessert, we played the ring game and the boys tossed a football around, we were also able to ride bikes. I even got to read a book for a little while. Then it got cold and windy so we moved into the camper. We played board games for awhile before going to bed.

Spirit roasting hotdogs.




Lefty and Spirit playing games.

During the night the camper was rocking so bad from the wind that I literally woke up several times just to pray the whole thing didn't tip over. I was really scared!

The boys in bed. (Somewhere in that blanket was the dog too!)

I woke up Sunday morning with a full blown migraine and could not move. I managed to pull myself together enough to go to town to get some over priced migraine pills which kicked in about an hour after I took them. I was a trooper and went to church, although I thought my head would explode during the worship service - seriously was not feeling good during that. We were camping close enough to a church we had gone to years ago so we decided to go there, after being gone for a couple of years. It was nice to see some old friends although my head still wasn't 100% so I probably wasn't as friendly as I could have been!

Then we went to lunch at a place that serves family style fried chicken and mashed taters. Many years ago they were a working farm. Now they are a restaurant, a petting zoo, they have gift shops and it is a really fun place to go! (Yep, THAT'S my kinda camping!!! Hee hee)


Then the boys took us girls home and they went back to camp again. The boys are on fall break this week and Mr. Man is on vacation from work this week.


While Lady Bug and I were painting our fingernails she said "Are we camping momma?" I said "We are doing what is called 'girls' camping!"

She and I had fun together. We watched Angelina Ballerina (twice) and a Dora movie. Then we laid together and read books before bed!


Fun times!

Au Gratin Sausage Skillet

This is a quick dinner and is so very colorful. My kids love it and my husband requests it often!

Au Gratin Sausage Skillet
INGREDIENTS:
1 lb fully cooked polska kielbasa, halved and sliced into bite size pieces
2 Tbls vegetable oil
1 pkg (5 1/4 oz) au gratin potatoes
2 1/2 c water
1 pkg (8 oz) frozen California style veggies (although I've done with different types too, this is our favorite)
2 c shredded cheddar cheese

In a skillet cook sausage in oil until lightly browned; drain. Add potatoes with contents of sauce mix and water. Cover and cook over medium heat for 18-20 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender but not done, stirring occasionally. Add vegetables; cover and cook for 8-10 minutes or until potatoes and veggies are completely tender. Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Update on the dog:

**SORRY for the horrible picture, it was all I had this morning!**

So far we received two calls from the signs we put up, one man was looking for a little black dog and another one was looking for a brown one. She was with us again last night and had a second really good night. She doesn't bark too much, which is nice; except for this morning when she barked as the kids were leaving for school. I think she just wanted to go too!

The kids named her Gidget. They had chosen, Otto or Gidget and I said Otto was too boy-ish. Then they said they could name her Autumn, but the more we all thought about it she just looks like a Gidget! SO Gidget it is.

The vet said she is most likely a Jack Russell Terrier & Chihuahua mix. If we end up with her we will take her in for a more thorough check up. The first vet visit was mostly just to be sure she didn't have one of those location chip thingys.

I really got nothing

I have a very boring post today. I got nothing. I hit these blogging blocks once in awhile and for whatever reason I am uninspired and life just doesn't strike me - doesn't strike me good, doesn't strike me bad, doesn't strike me funny -- just plain does nothing for me!


This is one of those days. Probably because I haven't been sleeping well. It has been real windy here and one of our trees kept scrapping my window last night. I woke up every single time with a jolt! On Tuesday night I finally got up at 3:00 am and went to the couch to start Book #3 in the Twilight series (I'm sure you've heard nothing about it! hee hee)


OH! But I just thought of something, Perpetual Chaos asked me to post my play dough recipe, so here it goes:


Play-dough
INGREDIENTS:
2 c flour
1 c salt
2 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 c water
food coloring


Mix the water with the food coloring. I like intense color so I do 6-10 drops probably. In a large pan, stir together flour, salt, oil, Cream of Tartar and water over medium heat. Heat until the dough starts to form a ball and pull away from sides of pan. Remove from heat. Let cool. Knead to get a good consistency. Store in a plastic bag or other airtight container. This will keep, unrefrigerated, for 2-4 weeks, maybe a little longer. This will also be a little sticky when it is warm, but after it is cooled completely it won't be sticky anymore.

Dog sitting

Yesterday a man stopped into the mortuary where Mr. Man works holding a cute little dog. He said he was waiting to catch a bus and saw this little dog running through the streets. He was worried she would get hit by a car so he wanted Mr. Man to call animal control to come get her.

The mortuary office manager wouldn't let him call animal control. She is a huge animal lover and is always taking in strays, but she said if she brought another dog home her husband was gonna kill her. So she was working on Mr. Man to take the dog home to us! She went out and had her vet look at the dog and she bought her a leash and a collar, a cute little shirt and of course some food and treats.

Mr. Man called me about 11 and said "we have a huge problem." he proceeds to tell me the whole story and adds in that he is falling in love with the dog (Note: He isn't a small dog lover so this is huge news to me!)

Evidently he didn't make it clear to the office manager that he would take the dog home so as the day went on she started worrying she would have to take the dog home with her. She was on the phone with one of the other mortuaries (for something unrelated to the dog) and told the guy the story and he said he would come get her.

When Mr. Man called this pre-menstrual wife of his, I cried. He felt terrible. I really wanted that dog.

I had to work late and when I called to say I was on my way home Lady Bug got on the phone and with the most excitement in her voice she said "MOM! We have a dog. A Real one!"

When I got home I asked Mr. Man what happened and he said the guy who said he'd take her ended up and couldn't because his wife said no.

Mr. Man posted signs up all over the area about the found dog. So far we haven't heard anything from anyone looking for her. We have explained to our overly excited children that we may not get to keep her. I'm sure they are praying no one calls for her!

She is house broken and goes to our back door every time she needs to potty. Her worst habit is she gets up on the table, like cats do. Yep. She hops up on a chair and then up on the table. Bad, bad dog!

Thrift Store bargain

I had a half hour to kill the other day and so I wandered over to the thrift store near my office. I didn't have anything in particular to get, just killing time. I met my friend Aubrey over there and we wandered around, neither one of us really finding anything.


Just then, a red plate caught my eye. I scooped it up to see it. It said "You are special today" on it in white lettering. My husband and I have been wanting one of these for those special day for the kids (birthdays, good grades, etc.) I have googled them and there are several websites that sell them; they run $25.00-50.00. I just never thought the time was right to spend that kind of money on a silly ol' plate.


Soooooo, anyway, back to my story -- I picked up the plate. It is in great shape, but man oh man it isn't marked. Aubrey said take it to the counter, see what they say. Then we notice a sign:

All dishes, cups, saucers

$0.49

unless otherwise marked

SCORE! we both said!

I marched towards the counter feeling so giddy inside. I showed the cashier my boring old, bland plate and asked how much it would be. She said "Forty nine cents"

YES! I said to myself, but to the cashier I casually said "oh. ok. I'll take it....I guess."

Yea, yea, yea! I got a $30 plate for a whopping fifty three cents (after tax) Woo hoo for me!

So, guess who got to eat off the special plate? Me! It was MY Special day for finding the plate for $0.53! I'm just kidding. I thought about it though, but then I thought it might set a precedent that I don't need around there!

It did make the kids start figuring out whose birthday is next and fighting over who is going to use it first....great! That isn't what I wanted!!

Weekend

This weekend Mr. Man was on-call and ended up working a full day on Saturday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous here!

Our neighbor brought over some play dough toys that her kids had outgrown. My kids instantly wanted to play with play dough and guess what? My charming 3 yo daughter had used it for her dolls food. There were dried up little balls and cut up strips in her play kitchen set.

I decided we could make our own play dough. I pulled out my books from the days of teaching in a preschool and found a couple play dough recipes. We wiped up 3 colors (I only had 3 colors of food coloring!). The kids played for hours ...seriously hours, almost Three whole hours of unstoppable play dough fun...on the deck outside, where there wasn't a mess for mom to clean up!

They had a ton of fun - it was great!

Then on Sunday we hung out and watched some football, then we all went on a bike ride (me with a low front tire so I really got a work out!)

Easy Popcorn Balls

Bonus recipe this week!

We are making these this weekend so I thought I'd post the recipe. I also am making these to give out to our neighbors this Christmas.

My husband's family has made popcorn balls for years using this recipe. It is made basically like a Rice Krispie Treat only with popcorn instead of the cereal. They are quite tasty. You can add food coloring (orange for autumn, red or green for Christmas, etc.)

Easy Popcorn Balls
INGREDIENTS:
3 quarts popped popcorn (about 1/3 c unpopped kernels)
1/4 c butter
1 (10 oz) bag marshmallows
food coloring (optional)

Put the popped popcorn in a large bowl or pan; set aside.
In large microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter on high until butter is melted, about 30-45 seconds. Add marshmallows. Microwave on high until marshmallows look puffy, about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Stir to completely melt marshmallows. Add food coloring if you desire. Now pour melted marshmallows over the popcorn and mix carefully until the popcorn is coated.
Butter your hands to protect them from the heat and shape into balls. You will need to work quickly because this mixture will harden as it cools. Place balls on waxed paper to fully cool. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap after they are completely cool until ready to eat. Makes 12-15 depending on the size of your ball.

Quick Update and a recipe for Breakfast Sausage Balls

Quick update on Spirit's homework issue from yesterday, guess what he did? He completed the homework during the after school program on Wednesday, so he got a hall pass and walked to his classroom and turned it in. When he went up to his teacher yesterday morning to tell her he lost his homework, she looked through her box and said "You already turned it in."

He was telling me this story when he got home and said he was really embarrassed for forgetting he had already turned it in! Poor little guy even cried over this!

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Now on to this week's recipe:
The title does not make this recipe sound all that good, but let me just tell you that they are very tasty. These make for a great on-the-go kinda breakfast and are quick and easy to prepare.

Breakfast Sausage Balls
INGREDIENTS:
1 lb ground pork sausage
2 c biscuit baking mix (such as Bisquick)
1 lb sharp cheddar, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine sausage, biscuit mix and cheese. Form into walnut size balls. Place on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Tough lesson, tough love

I caught Spirit (7 yo) crying by the front door this morning. I asked him what was wrong and he said he couldn't find his homework.

His homework schedule is the same each week. Monday through Wednesday he has math homework, spelling homework and has to read for 20 minutes every night. Every Wednesday night he has to do a book report of a book he has been reading. Each night we are to sign off on his reading log that he read for the 20 minutes. Math and spelling are turned in each morning. But, on Thursday nights he just has reading and is supposed to write his spelling words 3 times, which is due Friday.

So this morning here is what he was supposed to turn in:

• Signed reading log for Monday - Wednesday
• Completed book report
• Math homework from Wednesday night
• Written spelling words in a sentence

He could find only the reading log. No math. No book report. No spelling word in sentences.

We searched everywhere in the house. Could not find it. I tried asking him where he had last and he could not remember if it was at home, at school or the after school program.

Apparently, if they do not turn in homework they have to stay in from recess to complete it, hence the tears from Spirit. Mr. Man wanted to go talk to the teacher. He wanted to tell her it was clearly an accident and isn't there something we could do. I told him I didn't think he should bother. Spirit needs to learn that lesson. It is a lesson in responsibility. That's why they make them stay in at recess so that it sinks in a little. I told Mr. Man that the teacher doesn't want to spend her break sitting in the classroom with a child any more than the child wants to sit in there. It is called tough love, honey.

Maybe I was too harsh. Sometimes I am hard on Spirit because he takes so much after his dad. I can't tell you how many times I have spent my precious morning searching the house for Mr. Man's keys, glasses, Daytimer, or even his shoes. Yes he misplaces his shoes and we find them in some of the oddest places! I have also spent countless hours searching the house for Spirit's things, coats, lunch box, allowance money, his favorite PlayStation game. So days like this I shrug my shoulders and say "You will have to face the consequences."

Anyway, Mr. Man went to the school with the boys this morning and they checked with the after school program to see if he left it in there and they didn't have it. Mr. Man did not go to the teacher. He came home very sad, said he was going to have a terrible day because he wanted to make Spirit's day better for him.

Tough love, honey, tough love!

I had my coffee and now I have something worth posting about!

Sooo, a few cups of coffee later I am feeling much more inspired.

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. I have blogged about our loss before, but not with a whole lot of detail.

I was sort of thinking no one else would really remember that today is the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, then I started playing around in bloggy world and there are so many people mentioning it.

Five, almost six, years ago I had a regular doctor check up. I was 28 weeks pregnant. We had already had our 20 week ultrasound and found out it was a boy. Everything was developing just fine. No concerns. So as I sat in the waiting room, alone, I started realizing the baby wasn't really moving. I started trying to remember the last time I felt the baby move. I honestly couldn't remember, but with 2 other small boys bouncing around I didn't always get the chance to feel every movement like I did with the first pregnancy. So I tried to dismiss these feelings of something being wrong. I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong. My husband had dropped me off and ran across the street to pay a parking ticket and thought we'd be done about the same time. We were going to keep in contact by cell phone. So just as I decide I should call him to come back the nurse calls me in. So I didn't call my husband. She did the normal checking my blood pressure, etc. and then she goes to check the heart beat. She ran the thing-y (have no idea what it is called!) over my stomach, no heart beat. She moves it across my stomach to the other side, now up higher, now down lower. She asks me where she is usually able to find the heart beat, and I pointed to a spot on my stomach. She tried again. She gets a worried look on her face and says, I will be right back. I am going to go get your doctor.

The doctor came in and he tried, unsuccessfully, to find the heart beat. He went and got a newer ultra sound machine and still couldn't find it. He said "I want you to go down to radiology right now." So the nurse walked me down there. I got all set up and the radiologist started looking.

Just then, the door opened and in walked my husband. He said "What in the world are you doing in here?" and he kinda chuckled. I started crying and started to tell him they couldn't find a heart beat, but the radiologist spoke up and said "Here is the heart and it isn't beating. I'll leave you two alone now."

Even as I type that I cry. It has been 5 years and still stings just like it was this morning.

We sat and cried together for what seemed like hours, but honestly I have no idea how long we were in there. Then our doctor came in and told us our options. We could go the hospital now or first thing in the morning. We decided we needed to go in the morning because we would need to find someone to care for our other two boys. They escorted us out a back stairway so we didn't have to traipse through the waiting. I still wonder if they did that for our sake or for the sake of the other new moms sitting in the waiting area?!?

We started making some painful phone calls and arranging for the boys to spend a few nights with our nephew and his wife. They came to our house and picked them up. The boys were only 1 year and 2 years old so they were pretty much clueless as to why they were leaving, but didn't seem to mind either.

I spent the whole night awake wondering why. Why had I not realized he wasn't moving? Why did he die? What had I done to make this happen? Was I being punished for something? Had I not taken care of myself well enough?

We went to the hospital at 6:00 am the following day. They started to induce my labor about 8. About 3 pm I knew it was time. I told the nurse I needed to push. She paged and paged the on-call doctor who never responded. Then I told my nurse I just couldn't push. She told me I had to. I said "Please don't ask me to do that." But she just kept saying nice things and rubbing my arm. Then, without a doctor, she delivered him. I remember her asking if I wanted to hold him. The thought hadn't crossed my mind prior to that and I wasn't sure I could do it. She really encouraged me to do so.

She cleaned him up, wrapped him up, put a little hat on his head and brought him to me. He looked so peaceful. We had family there and some of them even held him.

That was the hardest day of my life.

Please light a candle tonight at 7:00 pm to honor all those little babes lost.

I got a whole lotta nothing to share

I am so blank today. Could it be that I have had ZERO coffee this morning?

YES!

So I was really gonna try to come up with at least a little sumpin to write about. I racked my brain and racked it some more. Still came up with nothin'!

You know, there was tragedy last night when Lady Bug couldn't find her dolly to sleep with. hmmmm, not too exciting.

Ok, so there is the fact that Spirit has a research project due next week and he is still undecided what to research. Hmmm, again, not at all that exciting!

Then there is the fact that we had parent/teacher conferences this week for Spirit and he is doing great. Reading at a 4th grade level (he is in 2nd grade) and his math skills are above where he should be too. The only negative she had on him was that he talks too much. Hmm, wonder where he gets that?

Lefty had a weird cold this weekend and then I thought he had pink eye because his eye got goopy, but then the day I was going to take him to the doctor it was all cleared up and no more goop, no more redness under his eyes. Nothing. It was as if nothing happened.

Then I thought maybe, just maybe, I could write about my addiction to the Twilight Series and how I can not seem to get a hold of book 3 and am dying for more of my new love, Edward Cullen. Then I realized, once again, that isn't all that exciting either.

Hmmmmm, guess I just will go grab some coffee and see what inspires me then.

Have a fabulous day!

I found it funny

So the other day at work, I was heading down the hall and my boss was coming out of his office. I've mentioned on this blog before that we have a small office. Most of the time it is just me and him or even just little ol' me here. It tends to be very quiet around here.

I guess he didn't expect to see me and it startled him. He jumped. When he jumped he expelled gas...no he Fa... no he toot... no he definitely let out a loud one! I instantly giggled. He looked shocked and went to the fax machine where he was apparently originally headed. He spent the remainder of the day in his office with the door closed.

I laughed about it all. day. long.

Weekend

For someone who, on Friday, said "I'm not doing anything this weekend." I sure had a busy weekend. It was all wonderful though and I don't regret any of it!

SATURDAY:

• Made banana crepes for my family and a couple of our family friends.
• Went to have coffee with a friend I haven't seen in a while.
• Came home to find two of my SIL's at my house - which was fun! They helped me decide where to hang a couple pictures that I couldn't quite decide where they should go!
• Made homemade applesauce, while Mr. Man made homemade salsa.
• Had my MIL & FIL over for dinner.
• Watched a movie as a family.
• Washed, dried and folded all of our laundry throughout the course of the day.

SUNDAY:

• Made broccoli cheddar soup.
• Went to church where my FIL preaches.
• Came home to watch football, eat soup, salsa and whatever else we could munch on all day (see next entry!)
• One neighbor brought me guacamole and another neighbor brought me zucchini bread.
• Took a long, hot bath and read a book while I was in there.
• Worked on crafts.
• Watched Six Feet Under and the movie Amazing Grace.

I didn't do dishes all day yesterday (ew!) which had its pluses and minuses! I had to get up this morning and clean up the kitchen! It looks really good right now!!!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Streusel Topping

These are melt-in-your-mouth-yummy-goodness! I made these for the teachers last year for the Teacher Appreciation breakfast that was hosted by the PTO. They were a huge hit! My SIL is coming for a visit in a couple weeks and I am going to make these while she is here!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins with Streusel Topping
INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING:
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbls brown sugar

INGREDIENTS FOR STREUSEL TOPPING:
4 1/2 Tbls flour
5 Tbls white sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbls butter
3 Tbls chopped pecans

INGREDIENTS FOR MUFFIN BATTER:
2 1/2 c flour
2 c white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 c canned pumpkin
1/3 c olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour 18 muffin cups or use paper liners.

Filling: Beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.

Streusel: Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly, set aside.

Muffin batter: Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth. Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Secret Ornament Swap

Head over to Abbilyeverafter to sign up for the secret ornament swap. Hurry! The deadline to enter is October 31st!

I participated in this last year and got an amazing nativity ornament set! I really encourage you to participate because it is so fun and exciting to get a new ornament for your tree!

And the award goes to...

Wendy over at Windlebug gave me this award! I am so honored! I just don't have a speech prepared for such a thing, so I will briefly thank my family for their support of my addiction to my occasional blogging, my computer for holding up under such pressure and my fellow readers (which aren't many!)

Here are the Rules :

1. You may only choose five people/blogs to give the award to

2. Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog

3. One has to be a new follower of your blog, or live in another part of the world

And the Award goes to . . .

Rainy Day in May - although she is much too busy to pass along the award right now because she is on the crusade to find a cure for breast cancer. She and I quickly became bloggy friends and have since grown closer (she even invited me to her house and made me yummy food!) She is a beautiful person, inside and out!

The Fam Five - she has probably already received this award like a gazillion times before but I award it to her again anyway! She and I have been friends for several years - she knows all my dark and dirty secrets! She is so beautiful and helps me to feel beautiful about myself (even when I gained a ton of weight!)

Perpetual Chaos - I award it to her because we have known each other for -- well forever! We went to school together, worked together, lived together... she has bailed me out of situations and been there for me whenever I needed her (except when we lost contact for 10 years... but then we picked right back up where we left off!) This woman is beautiful and has taught me so much over the years about kindness and love! Then there was the time when we lived together and I was trying to get dressed for work... I didn't even know how to put on panty hose and she so politely showed me how!

Moms Happy Handful - She and I have been sharing mommy stories for over a year. She is an amazing mom of 6 beautiful children --- and she looks amazing! Go check out the picture of her and her 19 year old daughter together - they look like sisters!

Mr. & Mrs. Smith - She and I are new bloggy friends! We are so much alike - except she is gorgeous and I am not! We recently were swap partners and I got the best gifts from her, it was like I bought the stuff myself!

WFMW - Book Bag

When we go to the public library each kid gets their own set of books and then ask me to help carry them home. In addition to that little problem, Spirit lost a library book two weeks ago (I think he accidentally returned to the school library instead of the public library, but I've asked the school and they say they don't have it and so I guess I have to believe them). And then last week we spent 30 minutes scouring the house looking for 2 of Lefty's public library books (fortunately I found those!).

I decided we needed a system, I started to say a new system, but we didn't really have any kind of system before so we needed something in place.

I went to the craft store and bought tote bags, the ones I bought happened to be a 3-pack which was perfect! One for each kid! I also bought some iron-ons and some fabric paint and fabric markers!

One Saturday we sat down and went to town. We ironed on cute little things, they decorated them and I wrote their name in fabric paint. They turned out cute! Sorry I don't have any pictures -- I am such a loser today!

To keep track of the book bags I told the kids that the book bags need to always be hung up on the coat racks in their room when they are done reading. Every time they take a book out they need to be sure to put it back in the book bag when they are done. This way when it is time to return books to the library we know where they are. We can grab the bags and head out. Then we can get our new books and put them right into the book bags!

For more Works For Me Wednesday ideas, click here!

Where do you keep your toothpaste?

So I was at the grocery store the other day, just to pick up a few essentials. There was an older gentleman wandering around too, and I had seen him in a couple of the same aisles I was in. I headed over to the pharmacy area and noticed him walking over toward the pharmacist. I heard him ask where they kept the toothpaste. I noticed an odd look on the pharmacist's face and I wasn't sure whether he was upset by the question or what. After a few seconds the pharmacist pointed to an aisle for the toothpaste. As the older man turned around to head that direction he made eye contact with me and smiled at me. I smiled back, but also had to chuckle (almost out loud)...

he had no teeth!

He walked closer to me and said "I didn't realize I left my teeth at home until I saw the look on that guy's face!"

We both laughed.

Actually, I am still giggling about that look on the pharmacist's face. It was classic!

Breast Cancer Awareness

As we all know October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I spent some time searching for some products I could buy that would show my support and also help fund research. Below are some faves so far!

Queenslander Tours- Mr. Man and I have a dear friend who owns a travel business. He does some day trips in Colorado and also lots of cruises all over the place. He is a small operation. He has a couple of people who answer phones, an office manager and then a few tour captains. This year he is sponsoring, for the second year, Cruise for the Cure.

They have a really cool fund set up for people who would like to donate some money to help sponsor a fighter, survivor or caregiver to go on the cruise. Last year I helped raise some money so that a woman could go on this cruise. So if you are interested in that you can contact (on the bottom of their website page is a link to contacting them directly regarding this sponsorship) them about making a donation to that fund.

This year they are going to the Mexican Riviera and one of the tour captains is the owner's beautiful sister, Freida. She has worked for him for years and in 2007 was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is a single mom of 2 adorable boys. Believe it or not her ex-husband moved back in with her (or she moved in with him, I can't remember) and he helped her through the chemo and raising the boys. I thought that was the coolest thing I've heard! Way to step up and help his ex-wife! Anyway, in February of this year she announced she is cancer free! Her friend's had a website up with picutres and updates of her progress, but they lost it and all it's contents. This is all that is left, which is really a bummer because there were some cool pictures of all her friends and the support they offered her!

So if you or someone you know wants to go on a really fun cruise click here for more information. These people are absolutely fabulous to work with, they are fun and will ensure that you have a good time.

NOW, for you crafty folk out there- check these out! They are just plain fun! I want some!

Or this fun quilt product by Jack Dempsey!

Then of course there are the fun giveaways in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month over at Rainy Day in May!

I like this website too. Made me giggle. Save the Tatas

How comfy do these look?

How fun is this shirt?

These items just touch the tip of the iceberg of all the stuff out there! I am still looking at all the different options and really having fun. I love pink anyway so it makes it more fun to cook, craft and dress all in pink this month!

Buttery Sweet Acorn Squash

I made this years ago for Thanksgiving we hosted at our house. We had several friends over who did not have family in town and then some of my own family were there too. (Side note that is in no way related to the recipe but this was the year that as we did the dishes we were placing them on one of those fold up tables that apparently was not locked in place very good and it crashed to the floor breaking several of my favorite crystal pieces. Needless to say, a lot of our wedding gifts were broken in that disaster!)

This is a great autumn dish and goes well with turkey or chicken.

Buttery Sweet Acorn Squash (serves 4)
INGREDIENTS:
2 acorn squash, halved and seeded
1/4 c frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
4 Tbls butter
4 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a baking dish with about 1/2 inch water. Place squash halves cut side down in the dish, and bake 40 minutes in the preheated oven.
In a bowl, whisk together the thawed orange juice, butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Turn squash halves cut side up in the baking dish, and drizzle evenly with the orange juice sauce. Continue baking 20 minutes.

Clearly I should not have tried to run errands

What was supposed to be a short 30-45 minute trip to complete a few errands turned into a full hour of little problems.


First off, I drove to the post office, as I turned my signal on to turn right into the parking lot a car coming the other way whipped into the parking lot (turning left in front of me) causing me to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting her. Nice!


Then, I was waiting in line to mail my oversized package and a lady standing over at the side counter filling out her paperwork jumped in front of me in line. I thought to myself "Self, that is no big deal. You aren't in that big of a hurry. Let it go *sigh*"


After getting the package mailed, I had to run to the bank. As I turned out of the post office parking lot though I went the wrong direction - opposite of the bank. Ugh. So I made my turns and circled back to the bank.


Then I decided I would run through a drive-thru to grab a quick lunch. I pulled into McD's and the line was extremely long, again I told myself it wasn't that big of a deal. I finally ordered my food and pulled through the series of windows to pay and finally collect my food. I looked inside the bag, but did not carefully look at the wrapper on the sandwich, all I noticed was that there was one sandwich and one small fry. I pull out of that drive-thru and get almost all the way back to my office before I decide to unwrap the sandwich (because my original plan was to just eat at the office). It isn't what I ordered at all. I mean not even the right sandwich with the right toppings. Ugh. I had enough time before I was expected back at work so I turned around and went back through said drive-thru.


I explain the problem to the guy at the window who apologizes and gets me a bag of what is supposed to be the correct food. I double check the food (by scanning the outside wrapper) and mosey on my way. As I get to a stop light I decide I am too hungry to wait until I get back to the office so I pull out the sandwich, and apparently they sort of threw it in the bag and didn't even carefully wrap it so as I pull it out of the bag it falls out of the wrapper and splits apart leaving lettuce, ketchup and mayo all over my leg.


Then as I am pulling back into the parking lot of my office building, there are no parking spaces available. Not even the ones along the far end. Not one. Because they had a bunch blocked with some construction trucks (they are re-doing the front of our building!) so I had to drive across the street and park then walk back to my building. I parked in another building's lot, but there weren't any "Tow Away Zone" signs or anything so I hope I am ok. (I could actually see my car from my boss's office window so I kept checking on my car all afternoon. Fortunately, no towing! Phew!)

Addictions

A couple of years ago one of my sisters told me I should create a Facebook account. I was wanting a new job and she told me she uses her Facebook account for her job as a recruiter for a large company. I created the account, but really did nothing with it. That was, until a few months ago, I received an email that a friend of mine had added me as a friend in Facebook. So then I accepted her as "my friend" and started playing around with my profile picture and updating my information.

Then just a few days ago my husband created a Facebook account, all because I told him that his cousin added me as his "friend" in Facebook. He said "That's it! I'm getting a Facebook account. Tonight!" And that he did. This morning he called me at work to tell me he was pretty sure he had more "friends" than me. I laughed and said "Whatever!"

I have to admit I quickly logged into Faceboook to see how many friends I had.

Later in the day, I had to check our family email account (we each have a personal email account and then we have a family one too) and there were a whole bunch of Facebook emails in there! He cracks me up.

I have to admit I was addicted to Facebook too. Searching for my cousins and aunts and friends. It was crazy for a little while. Now, Mr. Man is right there, searching for anyone he might know!

He just called me and asked me (in a very shaky, nervous voice) who someone was. He said "Some girl in Portland wants to be my friend." I asked who it was and he said he had never heard of her before. I said "Just tell me her name and maybe I know who it is." He tells me and I started laughing so hard. It is my nephew's ex-girlfriend! She is a very sweet girl though and I have her in Facebook friends too! I think he is afraid some of his ex-girlfriends are going to find him on there and he thinks I will be mad. There are only two of the ex-girlfriends I can't stand! So as long as they don't rear their heads then we should be fine!