Martha Stewart Watch Out

We've been getting strawberries a lot lately and the last batch I got from Henry's looked so tasty but after a few baskets, I decided it was time to mix things up (I think I bought like 6 baskets of them.) So I decided I would attempt to make chocolate dipped strawberries for the first time. I usually only try something new when I've actually seen someone do it first. Instead, I just called my sister about 13 times making sure I was doing it right. Then when I was all prepped and ready to go, I realized I had no wax paper and I couldn't leave the house because both kids were napping. Thank goodness my backdoor neighbor came to the rescue and so kindly handed me her wax paper over the back wall. They actually turned out pretty cool. They tasted fantastic and we didn't even get to finish all of them unfortunately with our quick departure to Utah last week. On the first batch I decided I cut the whole in the bag too big so the white chocolate was thicker than I wanted. Then,as you can see, in my attempt to make thinner pretty lines with white chocolate, the white chocolate had started to harden so it was getting harder to squeeze out and the bag totally busted open and pooed all over one of the strawberries. Other than that...I'd say it was a pretty good success!

Sleep...or lack thereof

Well, it's been an interesting few weeks since the little monkey discovered how to climb out of his crib. At first, I tried the Supernanny tactic of going in the room after every time he climbed out and sticking him back in. After 14 times, he gave in and napped. That worked for one day. Then, I decided to put a door knob cover on the inside of his room so if he got out, he was sleeping on the floor. That actually worked well a couple of times but made for short naps.(See him huddled by the door with the light on? He didn't even climb on his little couch I strategically left in there for him.)


We would have a few good days and nights and then a rough one when I would think, now WHY didn't I reorder the crib tent? After a few nights of regrets of not having it, I finally ordered 2 different ones to try out. One was cheaper so I had it sent to my house, and had the other sent to the store for free shipping charges. The cheaper one works great! Since putting the crib tent on, Cole's been doing really well...although it's hard to say if that is the only factor because he has been pretty darn tired every time we've put him down so he hasn't been putting up much of a fight anyway.
Then we borrowed a toddler bed. My plan was, before the baby comes, get him into a toddler bed and teach him to stay in it by telling him if he got out, he'd be zipped in the crib. After last night when, half asleep, Cole asked to get in his crib, I wondered if my brilliant plan was going to work. The baby won't need the crib until like September anyway I assume so maybe he's just not ready for it. We'll keep trying though. I'm not sure if he fell out of the bed or what, because when I checked on him before I went to bed, his head was at the foot of the bed.

Anyway, at least I feel like we've got the control back. We'll see what the week brings! (Awe, doesn't he look cute in a bed!?)

Mmm Mmm Good

As I sit here at the computer, I am enjoying a box...yes I said box, of chocolate melting, peanut butter scraping, cookie crunching Tagalongs. I'm sure the whole box will be gone before the kids get up from their naps (I have no pantry to hide in when I want a snack all to myself.) These suckers are staying out of sight from those kiddos. They are ALL MINE! Yes all....I have 4 boxes, one of which will be gone soon. I'm debating buying more....head to Rancho Bernardo people! Those girl scouts know where it's at. Mmmmmmmmmm...finger lickin' good.

Call me crazy...for cookies.

So it's girl scout cookie time and everyone seems to head for the thin mints....my personal favorite? Tagalongs....no, no, not Peanut Butter Patties, Tagalongs. You may say, "but they are the same cookie!" A contrar moofrar, I have noticed the difference. I finally learned WHY the two cookies that appear to be the same with 2 names, are really two different cookies to my taste buds. Turns out, there are two different manufacturers or bakers that supply the girl scout cookies. One is called Little Brownie Bakers, the other is ABC Bakers. You may also recall Peanut Butter Sandwiches being called Do-Si-Dos by Little Brownie Bakers, or the shortbread cookies, otherwise known as Trefoils by the Little Brownie Bakers. I made the discovery last year when I ordered Tagalongs (made by Little Brownie Bakers), ate through the 2 boxes in an ashaming amount of time, and then restocked from the girl scouts in front of the grocery store. When I got home, the cookie tray in the box was wrapped in foil instead of clear plastic. (Only something a sick and twisted cookie lover would notice.) Then came the first bite. Wait a second. The chocolate doesn't scrape easily off the wafer with a quick maneuver of my top teeth...and the peanut butter is bland....and the wafer is thicker . These are NOT the same cookies. Sadly, I was $4 per box poorer and ate the cookies so as not to waste, but did so dissatisfied. So this year, as the order sheet was passed along, I purchased two lonely boxes of Shortbread cookies and Peanut Butter Sandwiches, refusing to spend $4 per box on the less than perfect Peanut Butter Patties.
So it's a cry for help....I know the girl scouts in Temecula and probably all of Riverside sell cookies from ABC Bakery....rumor has it that Vista Girl Scouts sell from Little Brownie Bakery. I need to stock up before they disappear for good until next year. So until then, I'm on the hunt!!
Think I'm crazy....see for yourself http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/meet_cookies.asp

Need More Bread!

OK everyone, state of emergency, I have one loaf of bread left in my freezer and after we finish the last half of our current loaf, I will be rationing the last loaf to my children. So who's going to Utah, or who's visiting SD? Everytime I re-stock I buy like 12 loaves....but I'll take whatever you'll bring back!!! So.....who will it be?

An Arizona Adventure

A couple weekends ago, I was able to take a short trip to Arizona to take a much needed break from the kiddies. I can't remember what happened a few days before leaving but I'm pretty sure it entailed some sort of break down. So a short escape was just what the doctor ordered. Wendy was already making the trek for some photo sessions so Shannon and I hopped on for the ride. It all worked out perfectly. Wendy would do some sessions in the morning, while Shannon and I talked or surfed the net or worked on our nursing capes, and then Wendy would pick us up and we'd catch lunch (I could have eaten at a new restaurant everyday for months there were so many yummy places there) and then we would drop her off at her next set of sessions and take the car to go visit Shannon's brother (my brother-in-law) Jordan at ASU.
He just moved into the fraternity this semester so we braced ourselves for what we would see on our tour of his place. Jordan had to let us in at the door as it was locked with a code, when we saw him, there was something new about him. Jordan had gotten himself a little bling bling. YEs, each ear was sparkling with a large round rhinestone earring. I'll admit I wasn't too surprised, a little dissappointed, yes, but not really surprised. After giving him a hard time about them, he gave us a tour of the fraternity. (I looked REALLY out of place with my pregnant belly.) It pretty much looked like an abandoned warehouse inhabited by partiers. Random furniture greeted us in the hallways surrounded by papers and newsprint scattered all about. The halls were lined with empty beer cans and bottles, and we even saw a few floating in the pool. Nice. Jordan's room didn't have a curtain for the window so the last inhabitor painted the window black, yes painted it. Lovely pictures of fully dressed women graced the walls (Uhu right).
Besides all that, it was really fun hanging out with him and it was cool that he actually wanted us to hang out and see him each day we were there. The second day we came in his room to deliver a rediculous amount of yummy cookies which we drove all the way from home to deliver, made by his-- not so happy due to the new holes --but sweet as can be mother, but we vowed not to enter again due to the smell of stinky feet that overpowered the room (I think we startled him when we showed up and got in through an open door so he got no warning.)


Anyway, even though we ate only two meals a day (and had my zucchini bread in the morning to hold us over until lunch) we felt like gluttons after dinner...I've decided I can only take so much restaurant food meal after meal....but it surely was tastey. I just DID NOT want to step on the scale when I got home.
A long drive goes so fast when chatting with friends. We only listened to music in the car a total of maybe 30 minutes the entire trip. I really missed Dan a lot...and it started as we drove away, but I'm pretty sure he missed me more with the weekend he had to endure. Cole climbed out of his crib every two hours the first night, then he dealt with his overreactive wife over the phone on the last night when he sent a text picture of his own jimmy-rigged crib tent (which freaked me out but he didn't have to end up using anway because it scared Cole into staying in his crib without it...whatever works right?)
*Sigh* it was a much needed and much enjoyed trip!

Uuuuuuuuuugly partey!

Doesn't that just LOOK like a good time?!?! Well, it was...this is how we celebrated our friend, Wendy's 30th birthday party! Don't tell anyone I had two heaping platefuls of the food....chicken fried rice, veggie and shrimp tempura, crunch rolls (YUM!), salad, and punch! I couldn't get enough...and the way the food was displayed made it even more desirable.
I'll admit, it was rude, soo rude for Wendy to choose ugly clothes as our attire....and it was actually kinda hard finding something just right....but I'm pretty sure we succeeded wouldn't you say?

I thought Dan wouldn't be caught dead wearing this sweater but he totally sported it like a pro. I think he liked that it reminded people of something Bill Cosby would wear. And we sorta ended up matching too. Scary. I think this is the first picture of my pregnant belly on my blog. Way to accent it with hyper colors huh? Ayayay.
My favorite part was watching Wendy open her gift from a group of us. I knew she wanted it because we went to a store for her to get it a few weeks ago and it was GONE! She was so bummed...and that's when my plan started brewing. I called around and it was at a location where I was conveniently going to be the next day...so I snagged it and she LOVED it. (I almost had to keep it it was so darn cute!) It's so fun to get together with great friends (and not be the hostess!) Wendy's a trooper for hosting her own birthday bash....it was a huge success!

(Pictures courtesy of bluelilyphotography--for addition entertainment, view more photos from this uuuuugly party at bluelily.squarespace.com)