Month: June 2010

delicious saturday

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I wish I had more energy to share photos with you, but alas… I am worn out! What a day filled with so many yummy things. This morning I made some maple walnut scones using a recipe I found on the Bisquick Web site. I’ve made scones from scratch several times, but this one was about a million times easier and came out just as well (if not better!).

This afternoon my friend Michelle came over and we made some blueberry-lime jam. It was the first time canning for both of us and it was so unexpectedly easy. The hardest part was waiting for the 21-quart canner to reach a boil. The jam is from the Ball Blue Book and it is pretty amazing. Next time I’ll experiment with cutting down the sugar a bit, but for the first time I wanted to follow the recipe perfectly.

Finally, I put together Laura’s birthday cake and frosted it. The frosting isn’t exactly as smooth as I’d like. In fact, it looks like it could have looked up some wrinkle creams reviewed to find one to smooth all those lines, LOL. But I’ll be covering up the top with chocolate-covered strawberries, so I think that will be OK.

It’s official: I’m beat. I’m going to clean up this kitchen, jump in the shower, and the crawl into bed. Big first birthday party tomorrow!

search keywords, revisited

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When I first started blogging I was obsessed with my stats: how many visitors I had, where they came from, and whatnot. Ten years later, I care much less about those things, but I am still fascinated by the search terms people use when they stumble upon my blog. Most of the time they make sense. They’re for recipes, crafts, things like that. Sometimes they make me wonder a little, like when I get a hit on a search for someone using my full name or my first name and the name of the blog. I can’t help but wonder why they’re looking for me. But then there are the ones that makes you wonder WTF? Here’s a selection of April and May’s finest:

  • i ve had the hiccups all day
  • how to make sugar bibs
  • generic Phentermine and sugar pills
  • spangbob fugar
  • i m pure sugar
  • knit pattern cabury egg chicken

But then there was this one that I found super sweet:

  • quick crafts for a friend thats sad

Aww 🙁 I really hope whoever was looking for that found something beautiful to make and was able to cheer up her friend.

shrek glasses recall

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I’m sure by now you all have heard about the recall on the Shrek glasses McDonald’s was selling as a promotion. Nice. Cadmium in drinking glasses (and I read that they were made here in the USA, not in China or elsewhere overseas). We don’t have any, but I know many people who do. (And I’d applied for a Shrek/McD’s house party where you got the glasses I think as part of the promotion — so glad I was not picked for that. I’d hate to feel responsible for handing these things out to my guests). It’s something new every day. If it’s not jewelry or drinking glasses or toys that contain toxins, it’s class-actions suits against the makers of diet pills, like an apidexin scam for example. It’s just disheartening, isn’t it?

when i was one i had just begun…

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In 365 days from this tiny, helpless thing in the hospital:

laura catherine

to this strong, loud, goofy, determined little lady in her room:

happy birthday, lulu!

For the past year I’ve taken a photo of Laura (almost) monthly. I open the blinds in her room and sit her with her purple monkey on the big chair and snap away. I did the same thing with both Jake and Noah and really it’s just amazing how fast a baby grows in a single year.

She’s tiny, no doubt. People don’t believe me when I tell them how old she is, but man — don’t let her size fool you. She has a strong grip, pinches like a ninja, crawls all over the place, and as of this morning pulls herself to stand up. She eats like a champ. She loves roast chicken, Uncle Mike’s BBQ ribs, black bean soup, potato soup, strawberries… and naturally, french fries. She has loads of personality, loves her brothers to death, and is obsessed with our cat. (If only she’d start sleeping through the night, but… we’ll get there).

Yup, it’s been quite a year! I can only imagine what the next 12 months will bring. Happy birthday, Lulu!

so thankful for a/c

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I like warm weather. But I detest humidity. And we’ve had a lot of it lately, including today. Ugh, the stickiness is awful. Last year we had all kinds of issues with out central air conditioner and I’m really happy it is working just fine now. We do have to have our filters checked, as a form of maintenance (basically they are the same as furnace filters, but for the central air system). We’re having quite a gathering of relatives over on Sunday for Laura’s birthday party and I just hope the weather settles down to something more seasonable.

nine

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On a humid, misty afternoon, nine years ago today, I said “I do” to my very best friend in this whole wide crazy world. It was such a perfect day that I often wish I could do it all again. Sure there was plenty of stress involved with planning the ceremony and reception, but the whole thing came off without a hitch. The rain let up just long enough for us to take photographs at the restaurant. The food was amazing. I loved our band. (We opted for a jazz band instead of a DJ.) Everything just went as smooth as could be.

The next afternoon we boarded a plane at LaGuardia and headed for our honeymoon in France. We spent three days in Paris, then took the train to Bordeaux where we stayed at the most amazing chateau for five days. It’s insane to think about the wineries we somehow got into — Ponet-Canet, Beau–Séjour Bécot, Beychevelle, Cos d’Estournel… Years later we’d understand just how lucky we were! I can’t wait to go back someday. If we had the means it would be so easy to say YES! to dropping everything here and living a simple life in St. Julien or St. Emillion. Maybe someday.

Next year, obviously, is our big 10th anniversary and we’ve been thinking of celebrating that by taking a trip somewhere (assuming we can unload the kids on the grandparents cough, cough). It could be fun to head to Vegas for a few days. We could even stay at the Paris Hotel as a little homage to our honeymoon! It’s definitely a possibility. I can see Drew taking the opportunity to check out rvs for sale and drive cross-country, but… yeah, I don’t really see that happening. A short flight sounds much more relaxing to me.

As for how we’re celebrating today, we’ll either be going out with the kids or ordering in (depending on the temperament of a certain little lady who will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow). That’s right, a year ago I was pregnant, ready to meet my baby girl in the morning. So even though this is supposed to be an anniversary post, I’m going to leave you with two photos: one from a year ago, and one from today. Because really, in the end, it’s all about love and family isn’t it?

Life never ceases to amaze me.

if dante had known of wal-mart…

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… Surely it would have found a place in his Inferno. I should have known better than heading over there the day after a holiday, but I wanted to cross a few things off my “to buy” list for Laura’s birthday party this weekend and for the Ball “Fresh Taste of Summer” House Party I’m hosting on Saturday.

At any rate, we still need to buy a couple gifts for Laura and I had a few ideas in my head, but ended up not getting anything. I wish there were a site like http://www.consumerpricewatch.org for toys. Ideally it would tell you where to find the best price locally. I’m heading back in that direction tomorrow anyway (and chances are I’ll be over there at least one more time this week), so I have time. It’s not like she’s really going to know if we give her a gift on her birthday, the day of the party, or a week later — that’s the beauty of turning one 😉

party planning

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It’s crazy to think that Laura is going to be one (one!) on Thursday. She’s such a peanut; she still rides in her infant carrier, LOL! But she’s incredibly strong. The grip on this kid is something else.

So I’ve gone back and forth about 10 times on what to serve at her party and I think I’ve finally decided on chicken Parmesan, ziti, and salad. Of course we’ll have plenty of apps on hand, too. But I can make the ziti the night before and heat it in the oven while the chicken parm is baking. Yes, I think that will simplify things immensely.

Image source: bettycrocker.com

I think I’m going to bake this chocolate covered strawberry cake for dessert, except I’ll alternate layers of chocolate and strawberry cake. My goal at every party we host is to have lots of delicious food. If our guests feel like they have to look into the best fat burner when they leave… well, then I’ve done my job 🙂

I just hope the weather holds out. I’d rather the kids play outside, so let’s hope that any thunder storms will hold off until the end of the party.