Forgotten Desserts

I made Monkey Bread for FHE tonight. I have to say - it was sooooo good!

I don't know why I don't make it more often. It's really yummy and it's easy to make and it's always a crowd pleaser.

Do you have any "forgotten desserts"? (Ones that are are really really good but for some reason you forget to make?)

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

Remember how I really dislike February? (Okay, not just dislike. Loath.)

Well, March is now sparking some enmity of its own. Mainly because I've been sick for just about ALL 31 days of it. Here are the stats:

• Number of colds: 3
• Number of bouts of flu: 2
  
• Number of UTI's: 2 (Which is bizarro because I haven't had one since I was 12 or something!)
• Rounds of antibiotics: 2
• Total amount spent on prescriptions this month: $2.40 (Okay, so that's not bad. I just wanted to point out that Wal-mart pharmacy rocks!)
  
• Number of times I had to remind my doctor that I am very allergic to amoxicillin: 2
  
• Number of doctor visits: 1 (Which is also bizarro because unless I'm pregnant, I never go to the doctor!)
  
• Number of days poor Lance has had to pick up the slack because I was too sick to do anything but lay in bed and wish for a quick and painless death: 1

So, on this last day of March, I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Hopefully April will offer a new, healthier, clean slate. Bring on Spring! Bring on the birds and gardening and warm weather and all things good outside! Bring on all the flowers and blossoms and... pollen. And ragweed. And hayfever.

Dang.

I don't know why, but I really like this picture of Josh.


It just seems to be a quintessential little boy pose.

Sometimes I wish my boys would stay little forever. Sometimes I wish they would hurry and grow up.

But today I mostly just wished I could stay healthy for longer than 72 hours strait.

Which wish do you think will be granted? (Based on the past month, I'm not putting any money on the one for good health.)

Off to bed!

Happy First Birthday!

Happy first birthday to my blog!

It's been a great year. Very therapeutic. Very cathartic. Very lucrative. Very fun!

In honor of the day, I decided to make my monthly cake. But since we were going to have a house full of kids tomorrow I thought cupcakes were more appropriate. I decided on Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting, courtesy of the Cake Mix Doctor, because they sounded AWESOME. (Okay, really, it was the first cake recipe I came across that I had all the ingredients for.)

Josh and Spencer helped me make the cupcakes. And of course they took one for the team and helped lick the bowl. (Way to sacrifice, boys!)


I overcooked the cupcakes a little bit, but no biggie since everyone knows that kids will eat cupcakes made of concrete if offered. But then I found out that the kids aren't coming. But no matter, because I'm sure the boys (including Lance this time) will take another one for the team and eat at least six each. (Or you can come over and help yourself - really!)

Here are a few of my favorites.


Could a blog hope for a better first birthday? Not this one. :)

And the Winner Is...

Thanks to everyone who entered my jelly bean counting contest. There were some excellent guesses and some not-so-excellent guesses. (You know who you are.)

So, how many jelly beans were there?


Who knew you could fit so many jelly beans into one jar? I'm sure we're all better people for knowing that. Be sure to only use this information for good, not for evil.

And so, the winner is:

Melissa T!!

Her guess was 333. Congratulations! You are the winner of the first "Like Karen With an "M"" counting contest! Eternal fame and glory are yours! And even better, you get the jelly beans! I am sure they will be the perfect addition to your new home. Shoot me an email with your new address and I'll drop them off next week.

Ten Minutes

Mommy is in a time out. (Her time out of choice is blogging for a few minutes.)

Why?

Because in the space of the less than ten minutes the following happened:

• Josh threw his fork at Spencer's face. I don't know if he was provoked or just wanted to see what would happen. For all I know he thought it was a game. Or war. Who knows. (If you look closely at the bridge of Spencer's nose you can see two fork marks.) ((Yes, Kyle, I took the pictures for you. You know why. Apparently history repeats itself in our children.))
• Josh bit his finger while eating his chicken nugget. I had to kiss it better six times. And no, the bits of pre-chewed chicken nugget could not be wiped off first.
  
• Spencer fell out of his chair. I don't know how or why. He just suddenly fell. This is not the first time this has happened.
  
• Josh walked right into the side of the table, head first. (He used to be able walk right under it with no problems. He must have not noticed his latest growth spurt.)

Mommy needed a time out from all the crying, whining, and fighting. Her lap needed a rest, and her shirt needed to be changed because it apparently becomes a tissue for sad little boys.

And now I feel better.

That Guy

I've been working out at the YMCA for a few months now. At least when I'm not sick or one of my kids are sick. (Which seems to be ALL THE TIME for the past month.)

Anyways...

My favorite time of day to work out in the mornings. Not because it's a good way to start the day. Because that's when some the of the most interesting people are there.

In the afternoons there are random people like me, plus a sordid cast of characters who look as if they haven't held a real job in several years. Kinda weird. Not scary. Just weird.

The evenings attract lots of college and high school students, who are more interested in looking good and showing off rather than working out. There are also a lot of middle-aged men and women, whom I assume come right after work. They always hog the treadmills.

But the mornings? The mornings lure in moms with young kids (like me) and, at the total opposite end of the spectrum, senior citizens. I love 'em. (The senior citizens, not the moms. Not that I don't like the moms, they're just not as entertaining.)

The older people come in a wide variety of costumes: some in total work out gear, replete with velor track suits and coordinating sneakers. Others come in jeans, t-shirts tucked into them with large silver belt buckles sneaking out from underneath large tummies. Or perhaps khaki shorts, plaid shirts, and a free baseball cap they've picked up from somewhere. And white tennis shoes. Always white. The ladies always have their hair done and make-up perfect. The gentlemen always have a hat of some sort.

But even better than their outfits are the ways they greet each other. The women are polite and smile while saying hello. Some of them (widows, I'm assuming, because this is the Midwest!) even flirt. (Tres, tres cute.) The men always shake hands or slap each other on the back and chat for a while, even if they're in the middle of working out. And even if they saw each other yesterday morning. (Which, undoubtedly, they have.) They totally remind me of Lance's Grandpa Red, who I loved. (WWII vet, L.A. firefighter for decades, set in his ways, great sense of humor, and always called me "sis" because he couldn't remember how to pronounce my name right. He's the only person I've ever forgiven for that.)

But my favorite person of all is a man I've nicknamed "That Guy". That Guy is totally popular. When he comes in, everyone knows he's there. It's like Norm on Cheers. And here's my favorite part:

When he sees someone he knows (which is about every 10 feet), he makes little guns with his index fingers and 'shoots' them.

It's awesome.

I totally love That Guy.

Anyone younger doing that would look like a dork. Really. But him? Totally perfect. I love it.

I totally want to be That Guy when I grow up. But I know it won't work. Something about a woman doing that just seems wrong.

So I'm just gonna have to get Lance to be That Guy. It'll take some work to be able to pull it off, but I'm pretty sure he can do it.

I'll get him started with some khaki shorts and white shoes, and we'll move on from there.

Punch Love

I have never seen a punch bowl that I liked - until now.

I am in luurrrrvve with this punch bowl from Crate and Barrel.

Somebody buy this for me, please. I promise I would make punch for any and all special occasions! Or maybe just because it's a Wednesday night.

A Baby and a Bucket - A Study

p.s. Don't forget to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar. C'mon - you know you want to!

Site Feed

I just realized that my blog doesn't support a feed. (Meaning you can't subscribe to it through sites like Google Reader.) And I can't figure out how to change that or even where. Really, I've looked everywhere. (On the dashboard, through 'help'...)

Any Blogger-savvy people out there have any ideas?

Happy Birthday Bloggie Contest!

My blog's first birthday is this Friday. Aww, my little bloggie's really growing up!

To celebrate, I thought I'd start a new tradition: Guess the Number. C'mon, you know you love it.

Guess the number of jelly beans in this pint jar and they could be yours!

Why jelly beans? Because they're bright and pretty and birthday-ish and were on clearance after Easter. Don't worry, these aren't the yucky, generic, waxy jelly beans of your youth. These are super-yummy Starburst jelly beans, which must be expelled from the house before I eat them all!

Why would you want a jar of jelly beans? Why wouldn't you?! You could:

• Eat them all yourself and not share with anyone. Not your kids, not your hubby, not your friends. Yours - all yours.
• Give them to someone else for their birthday. (The top is blank yellow card stock, just waiting for a message to be written.) What kid wouldn't love that?
  
• Bribe your kids and/or husband with them. (I'm not saying you should, just that you could.)
• Use them as a special Visiting Teaching treat. (You'd be very popular!) ((And it's all about popularity.))
  

So, post your guess by this Thursday at midnight. The person closest to the total number will receive: the jar (bow and all!) of jelly beans in the mail some time next week, their name announced for all to see on my bloggie birthday post, and eternal fame and glory for being the first person to win a "Guess the Number" Maren contest!

Your guess can go over the actual number and still win, because what is this, the Showcase Showdown or something?

Here are a few more shots of the jar, just to help you out.

Let the guessing begin!

Papa Lame-o's

Remember my complaint with Papa Murphy's a couple of weeks ago? Well I got this email from the store manager yesterday:

Maren:

Thank you for taking time in giving us feedback about your visit to the Lafayette Papa Murphy's.

We are using your comment to help our staff do a better job in customer service.

We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced. We hope you redeem your coupon for your free side item soon.

Thank you.

(name of owner)

Franchisee

First, the response was not exactly timely, was it? For what it was, it shouldn't have taken 10 days to respond to me! (The site said I would hear from them in two business days.) Those must be the most carefully crafted four sentences the man has ever written.

Second, that's it? All he could offer as that they'll help their staff do better? I'm not saying I wanted a free pizza or anything (although I wouldn't have turned one down!), but a coupon would have been nice.

Third, I can't believe he said that he hopes I redeem my coupon for a free side item soon. He didn't send me one - he's talking about the code I received for filling out a survey online. I can get a free side order with the purchase of a large pizza in the next 21 days. (Or, now, eleven days.) Right. I'm going to reward your bad behavior by buying another pizza so soon.

Dang. Well, I'll show them - I'm waiting at least a month before I buy another pizza from them! (That'll teach 'em.)

Haircut

I forgot to mention I got my hair cut on Saturday. I decided against anything new and to just keep growing it out. So I got a basic A-line; I lost a little length, but I don't care because it looks and feels so much better!

Easter Dinner

I had had grand visions of taking a cute family picture before heading off to church Easter morning. The boys would be in their cute new Easter outfits, I'd be in the super-cute dress I bought last week, and Lance would be in his same old suit because he doesn't like to buy new church clothes until I force the issue. But no matter, because he'd still be handsome.

This is the closest I got to that picture:
Spencer woke up with a cough that made him sound like an 84 year old with emphysema, so we couldn't in good conscience take him to church. And since I had to teach Primary, Lance had to stay home with Spencer. We got Josh dressed in his cute outfit, but he's teething again, and wouldn't stop chewing on the bat. *sigh* Someday I will have my cute family picture!

That evening was our annual Easter dinner. I always use china for because why have it if we're not going to use it! I also used the table cloth I got while in Jerusalem. (The shop keeper who sold it to me kept insisting that the embroidery on it was hand-sewn. This was so clearly a lie it was almost charming, so I bought it. But at a much lower, haggled price!)
Since my dang Easter eggs were a flop this year I decided to just use some asparagus as a centerpiece. I think it turned out pretty cute! I had grand aspirations of making little place cards with ribbon tied to individual asparagus stalks that I'd place on each plate, but that never happened. Oh well - maybe next year. (What am I saying - next year I'll get my eggs right!)
Speaking of dang Easter eggs, this is what happens to them at our house on Easter:
Mmmm... I guess it's okay that I had so many mistakes, because I love deviled eggs! I made the basic filling (egg yolk, mayo, mustard, salt & pepper), and then had three different toppings: chopped chives, a dash of hot sauce and paprika, and a small dab of homemade pesto. (Don't be too impressed - I actually had all of this on hand, so it's not like it was a lot of extra effort.)

Next, the ham. I have always wanted to make a traditional ham with pineapple rings and cherries on top, so this year I did! (I don't know that it was a life time goal, but it was certainly satisfying!)
Yes, that is a big ham. I purposely bought a huge one. I cut up the leftovers, freeze them, and then use them for the rest of the year. Mmmm... ham, the meat that keeps on giving. Lance was very happy at the size of the ham this year and had so many servings at dinner I lost count. As did Josh, who is a ham fiend. (I guess there are worse vices.)

We usually have our friends Josh & Elizabeth and Graham & Ashley over. But Graham and Ashley made some little excuse to get out of the festivities this year. (Just kidding guys - we really missed you!) So we asked our friends Rachel and Cole to come. (And no, Rachel, you guys were not second-best! I had actually been thinking about asking you to come before we knew the others couldn't. Really and truly! We're 'family' - of course we're going to spend holidays together!)

Elizabeth and Josh brought the traditional Lamb Cake.
Because everyone knows it's not Easter until there's Lamb Cake!

Here's Rachel and Cole - we totally wore Rella out, hence the jammies.
And here's Josh and Elizabeth. Elizabeth ate even more ham than Lance. Just kidding - their own little 'excuse' is due at the end of April.
A very happy Easter!

Primary Proverbs - Sharing Time

My class was in charge of Sharing Time yesterday. For those who might not be familiar with Primary, Sharing Time is a 15 minute lesson given to all of the children before they separate into their individual classes.

Since it was Easter I decided to put little objects into plastic eggs, each one representing a different aspect of the real Easter. Like palm branches, a cross, nails, etc. I got the idea online, but tweaked a bunch of it because I liked my ideas better. :) We would choose a child to open an egg, talk about the object, and then a child in my class would read a scripture for it.

I think it went pretty well, although it was sometime hard to tell since the kids were literally bouncing off the walls. I swear some of them had already eaten their body weight in sugar that morning.

By the time we were done, little Billy in my class was pretty wired. I asked him sweetly to sit down and fold his arms. To which he replied, rather snottily, "I don't want to sit down! I want to rough house!" And at that he started wiggling and trying to run around the room.

Before I knew what I was doing, I said "Well, if you want to rough house, that's fine. But you'll have to go rough house with your father."

Little Billy looked me in the eye, to see if I was bluffing or not. He judged correctly and sat down, folded his arms, and pouted.

Maren 1 - Little Billy 0.

Easter Morning

Guess how cool we are. Go on, guess.

We are so cool that the Easter bunny comes on Saturday for us.

Yes, we're that cool.

It's because of me. I'm so cool that the Easter Bunny came on Saturdays when I was a kid, too. All the other kids on the block were so jealous that we got all our goodies a day early, which is especially awesome in kid-dom. I like it now because 1) we don't have to worry about rushing off to church right after the kids have eaten their weight in candy, and 2) it helps separate the secular from the spiritual.

The boys were pretty excited, of course. First they had to check out what was in their baskets. I put little toys and a small stuffed animal in each. (No candy - that's what the egg hunt is for.) They also each get one bigger gift; this year I decided to get them toys to play with outside. A good idea in theory except for that it was snowing today. Stupid un-ending winter.

Anywho, Spencer got a t-ball set and Josh got a bubble lawn mower. Tres fun.


The inevitable fighting occurred. Bats were swung, balls were thrown at heads, mowers were stolen. Not surprising, and easily forgotten with a hunt for Easter Eggs!


The boys hunted for eggs and ate candy with a frenzy usually found in sharks who haven't eaten in a month. Josh was especially adept at cracking open an egg and stuffing the entire contents in his mouth within seconds. Spencer was better at actually finding the eggs; he was quite disappointed to learn that that didn't mean he got to keep all of them. (Sharing with a kid brother is hard.)

Lance spent the morning the same way he did last year.


He is a total stick in the mud. Yeah, I went there.

Here are a few cute clips of the kids. The first part is of them trying to get to the eggs that are trapped in the baby-proofed cabinet. (The Easter Bunny knew they'd freak out about it!) ((The Easter Bunny has a weird sense of humor.)) The second part is trying to convince Josh that he should eat a real breakfast instead of candy. It didn't go over so well.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Easter Egg Tragedy

Last night we dyed our Easter Eggs. I'm not quite sure why we do it with the boys, other than it's tradition and I'd feel like a bad momma if I didn't. And they really like it. But it sure is messy, and I feel like I end up doing most of the work. (Kind of like carving pumpkins at Halloween.)

The boys did have fun. We had a little stamp for the eggs, and they loved stamping their eggs chests, anything within reach... Spencer stamped a little too hard, cracked his egg, and nearly had a melt-down. But all was made better when we let him take the eggs out of the dye all by himself. (A real 'big boy' moment!)


The best part was when Josh was putting stickers on his egg. The egg slipped out of his chubby little hands (big surprise!), and landed on the floor with a loud crunch. Spencer would have burst into tears, but Josh just said, in his cutest voice ever "Uh-oh". Too cute.

We put the boys to bed and I got work on my 'grown up' eggs. Who knew the boys' eggs would turn out better than mine? (Cracks and all...)

Remember last year when I made these cool patterned eggs? They were awesome, if I do say so myself. So I decided to follow Martha's lead again and make these cool wax-resist eggs. Pretty, right? And the instructions made it sound pretty easy.

So I set up my little egg waxing/dying station. I decided to melt the wax in my electric fondue pot, which is pretty clever, if I do say so myself! But then I learned that I probably shouldn't use a plastic spoon to stir the wax, which was not so clever. (But kinda funny.) I started the eggs. Things were going well.


And then I got to the part where I had to get the wax off. The instructions said to heat them in the oven for five minutes and then use a paper towel to wipe the wax off.

No dice.

The wax wouldn't be wiped off. It just stayed or got everywhere. And then the dye on the shells got all funky looking from the heat. I tried just peeling wax off, but that didn't work either.

I spent a dang-blasted hour on the eggs, and they were supposed to turn out like this:


But instead they turned out like this:


@%&$#!!!! Dang.

It's totally tragic.

Okay, I know it's not that big of a deal. But it was a lot of work for the results I got. Plus, I always use dyed eggs to decorate the table for our big Easter dinner.

I can make homemade flapbooks, but these eggs threw me for a loop. Something's wrong here...

Martha, you totally let me down!

Peep Show

Peeps seem to be a common theme this month. Whether you like to eat them, explode them in the microwave, or put them on display, you'll love the Peeps Show Diorama contest at the Washington Post. See them here, and then vote for you favorite.

Imponderables

• Why does Spencer freak out so much if Josh says "No." when he asks for some juice? (Josh says 'no' to everything right now.) Why doesn't he realize that I'm the one who decides whether or not he gets some juice?
• Why can the boys not leave each other alone? One will be sitting down, being good, doing his own thing, and the other will come up and smack the other on the head. Retribution, escalation, and tears soon follow.
• Why do I bother buying Easter candy when I know - I know - that we will be getting plenty of it from family and friends? (At least this year I didn't buy my favorites, like mini KitKats and Cadbury Mini Eggs.)
• Why can I not find a cute dress that actually looks good on me? I literally tried on 12 dresses this morning: a third just looked terrible, a third were too short, and a third were too large in the bust. (If I nurse anymore babies I'm going to have the chest of a 10 year old boy. Attractive.)
• Why can Josh not resist crawling under the dressing room door, escaping, and running away, giggling, when I am down to just my skivvies? (How does he know?)
• How does such a little amount of couscous cover such a great amount of surface area when being eaten by a toddler?
  
• Why oh why did I cave in and let Josh have a Fun Dip after lunch today? (Okay, I know the answer to that one - because Spencer chose that from the haul he got at preschool today and I didn't want to hear the shrieks of Joshie anguish that would be imminent if he didn't get one too.)

Homemade Flapbooks

Josh has been going through a real flapbook craze - he loves 'em. So I figured that I should get him one or two new books for our semi-annual trek to Utah next month. Then I found this on Sk*rt. How awesome is that? (Answer: very.)

So I decided to make my own.

Because I needed another project. (No, I did! I was bored! And it was a good excuse to ignore the housework that I don't like. Which is most of it.)

I had 70 free photo prints through CVS.com, which, in my opinion, is the perfect price for any project. I also had lots of scrap card stock paper that needed to be used, so I didn't need to buy an old book. (See tutorial.) I used three layers of card stock for each page, which is just about as thick as a board book.

I went around the house and snapped a bunch of pictures. Then I searched our old picture files for 'faces' I could use. I used Photoshop (*angelic choirs singing*) to make everything look good and to make the faces the right size. I also erased everything behind the faces and filled it in with a color to make them less distracting. I made the covers and text pages on Photoshop as well.

I cut all the card stock into 5x6 pieces. (A one inch margin for the binding.)

I decided to follow the advice of the tutorial and used spray glue. It was really good for making everything smooth. But it was really messy and got all over my hands, so I don't think I'd use it again.

I used an Exact-o knife to cut out the windows. I taped the faces to the back of the windows. The cutting and taping took a while, but then again, I'm a perfectionist!

Then I took everything to Kinkos to get the books bound. (Two boys = two books, otherwise TRAUMA on the plane!)

Total cost: spray glue - $3, binding - $8 = $11. Not bad, for personalized books!

I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. Here are a few of my favorite pages.


What do you think? (I'm almost afraid to let the kids play with them!)

Basket Cases

Grandpa Viggo & Grandma Joy -

Thank you so much for the fun Easter basket. The boys were thrilled to open it and cried all evening when we wouldn't let them eat all of the candy. (A sure sign of gift success!) Lance and I are hoarding the good candy (truffles, chocolate, etc.), and I'm sure the boys will finagle their way into eating the rest.

We can't wait to see you next month! We love you!

Josh helps open the basket

The boys were both so excited to have new bunnies!

I think this cookie was the cutest thing in the basket - almost too cute to eat!
Super-excited Josh!

Egg-nose Spencer

Egg-nose Josh (whatever Spencer does, Josh does too!)

It's Here! It's Here!

My blog book arrived today. I totally love it. But before some pictures, a brief review of the process.

I used Blurb.com. You download their free BookBuilder software and then it 'slurps' all of your posts and photos into the software. And then you build your book. Pretty easy, right? Well, it's a bit more difficult than that, at least if you're a perfectionist like me. A few items of note:

• BookBuilder has specific set templates that you have to use. I really wish that you could design your own templates. I had to do A LOT of rearranging of text and photos to get things to look the way I want. (They start by putting every post in the same template, but I didn't really care for that template!)
  
• Your computer has to have a lot of memory, or BookBuilder will close all the time on you. Very annoying!
  
• There are lots of glitches with the software, most of which are too complicated to explain unless you've used the program. But, in Blurb's defense, I did have the Beta version and they are now on a new version. So perhaps these have been fixed.
• The binding in the very center of my book seems to be broken or cracked. I've emailed them about it and will give updates on what happens. (For what I paid for the book, I feel like it should be perfect!)
  

Anywho, it really was a lot of work. But I think so worth it. I consider blogging my form of journaling, so having it in print form is great. (Anything really personal I do write down - I just don't broadcast it to the world!) The quality (beside the binding) is excellent; it really does look like a book you could buy at a store.

Without further ado, my book!

The front cover

The inside cover flaps.

Copyright and Title pages

Some of my favorite pages, just to show layout. Yes, each page is a light blue.

I'm definitely doing more of these photo "bleed" pages next year - they look so great!

And finally, how it looks on my bookshelf!

I really am quite happy with it. I hope to enjoy it in years to come, laughing at all the goofy things I've said and loving all of the pictures of my kids and family. You can make any type of book in Blurb, and so I think I might try making vacation, wedding, or even cookbooks in the future. Maybe even a baby book, although that's a pretty lofty aspiration!

Final verdict: Blurb - love it! If you're serious about your blogging and about using it for journaling or personal history, it's totally worth the time, effort, and money.

p.s. Do I put this post in next year's blog book? Whoa - that's kinda like an M.C. Escher picture.