A Hoot of a Hat!

I got a little caught up in crochet this weekend and came up with this! I got the pattern on ravelry, and have already made a pink one, so it stood to reason that I should make a blue one too! :) Aside from the evil-genius grin on kiddo's face...wha'dya think?? :)

About Saint Bernards

In reading the book "Saint Bernards - a complete pet owners manuel" by Linda Walker, it reads;

"The Saint Bernard is eager to please, and makes a devoted family pet"

Bitch lied!

The chapter marked "preparing your yard" that outlines the steps to remove poisonous plants to protect your pet, should have read...Start by removing the poisonous stuff...your Saint will eat the rest!

The book goes on and on about what a joy the Saint Bernard is...what she doesn't explain is that they're a royal Pain in the A$$ too! Don't get me wrong, I Love her to pieces, but let me elaborate a little on where my frustrations lie...

Scenario 1 - Daisy is running back and forth behind my shrubs, chewing on them like mad! I immediately tell her no - she tops, smiles at me...and continues to chew on the shrub. I tell her "Come!" more running, more chewing and I eventually walk accross the yard to drag her into the house.

Scenario 2 - starts the same way...this time, though, I walk out to the edge of the deck, I wistle to get her attention and hold a cheese slice high in the air - BAM! I have her immediate and undevided attention and when I say "Come!" she prances in the house like a drag queen in stilletto's. (Saints are clumsy when they're young.)

Willing to please?? I do hope it starts soon...

Disney wrecked my kids!

My kids are behaving like cheeky and obnoxious dough-heads and it's all Disney's fault!!

When I was a kid, I remember watching shows like Little House on the Prairie, the littlest Hobo, the friendly giant, Mr. Dress up, Mr. Rogers, Gem, Danger Bay, the Cosby show, full house, gummy Bears…the list goes on. And of those shows…none of them taught me how to behave like a moron, speak with disrespect and generally act out like a baboon! Today's shows, however are teaching my girls that it's ok to leap out of your chair in the middle of class and blurt out "I'VE GOTTA PEE!" Because the grown up teacher is an idiot. Think of it for a minute…Hanna Montana, Wizards of Waverly, Zack & Cody (The creator of Z&C should be flogged for his influence on the young brains of our nation!) etc…of all these shows, which one demonstrates a child who behaves "normal"? A child who makes mistakes, creates mischief, suffers consequences and learns from them under the watchful eye of a stable parent? Well - that's easy - NONE!! Instead, they're all animated rejects who over emphasize their words and dramatize their points with the IQ's of turnips - and I just can't stand them! It got so bad that we even cancelled our cable...and I don't think it has made a difference!!

When my goons are being constantly infused with geek-speak…how, as a parent, am I supposed to un-do it? I think Disney should cover my therapy bill…or at least make a sizable donation to my liquor cabinet, cuz if my 7 year old greets me with "w'sup" one more time...

*the remaining paragraphs of this post have been removed by management to protect the author from bad things that might happen if she says them out loud*

No Saint Bernards were harmed in the making of this cake...

It's always kinda freeky when I find stuff and can't recall where it came from. I found these cake "attachments" in my cake cupboard and have no idea where I got them. (???) Oh well - I used them this weekend for a Princess cake for the CUTEST 4 year old on the planet!! :) she wanted a princess cake with ALL the princess's on it so this was perfect! When I started to build the cake, I was washing the attachments, though, and I think I'm missing 2 of the turrets, cuz there are 4 round castle roof things...but only 2 of the plastic tower wrap arounds?? Oh well - none the less, I plunked the other 2 tops on the back and it all worked out just fine :) I also got to try my hand at basket weave frosting again. It originally was flat-frosted and that was sooooper boring, so I had to add some texture. Even with the all white basket weave, it was still missing something, so I added the vines and leaves and voila! All done! :)

There was really only 1 snag...

When Lucy was around, she knew to automatically leave the kitchen the second my mixer slid out. She'd sit patiently in the next room, waiting for the odd scrap of cake carvings or frosting blobs, and when I was all done and the cake was boxed safely...she'd get to come in a "clean my floors. :) Those days are gone...

Typically, when I have a cake to do, I mix up 1 giant batch of frosting, then draw from that to mix each color 1 at a time. As they're mixed, I lay them out on the counter - side by side - until they're all bagged, and tipped and ready to use. So - I filled a bag with white for the basket weave...I turned and mixed a batch of pink-ish for the trim...I turned and mixed a batch of green for the vines...or at least - I think I did??? I piped the white basket weave, then reached for the pink. I decided to do the vines first, so that I could overlap the pink trim and hide the start of each vine. I set the pink down and reached for the green...no green!! ??!! WTH? I was positive I had mixed green!!! Hadn't I?? I looked in the sink, and there was my green bowl, scraped clean from loading the icing bag. ??! I must have put it down somewhere - but where? I looked around the kitchen, dining room, bathroom (ewe - I would never take frosting there but checked just in case) and nothing! Oh well - I'll mix some more but pipe the pink stuff first. I reach for the pink and IT'S GONE!!!!! OK - WTH?! I look all around, look under the table...I stand there baffled for 2 seconds and then it hits me - OMG! DAISY!!!!!!! I race into the living room, and there she sat, politely licking the pink and green frosting as though she were trying to woo it into submission! AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I had made an enormous batch of frosting, as I had a couple other cakes to do this weekend and wanted to make it up ahead of time...thankfully, It left enough for me to re-mix the pink and green!!! Anyway - the cake got finised in any case and I'll have to make an extra batch of frosting...I Love my Daisy-May, but I really miss the days of being able to walk away from a cake on the counter and not have to inspect it for tongue marks when I get back. :(

Admitting you have a problem...

Admitting you have a problem is the first step! lol

Look what I got for Daisy! :)

Is a Barbie without feet still a Barbie??

Cuz Daisy seems to be creating a ton of un-Barbies lately! :S The only thing worse is finding them in the back yard...tomorrow. (insert shudder here)

Blast from the passed!

When I was in the 3rd grade, I met my 1st ever BFF. Stephanie and I were like peas & carrots for the next many years. We were always good kids too. We never got into any trouble (together anyway) and pretty much walked the straight and narrow.

When we were 16, we took my old Malibu, and drove to PEI for the week. We rented a cottage and just hung out. When we tried to check in, though, the lady at the front counter refused to let us have the room because she was sure we were going to be partying and having boys over etc. (which was the furthest thing from our minds) Stephanie's Mom called the hotel and went up one side and down the other, until she consented to let us have the room we had already paid for...And - true to our word, we didn't make a sound the entire stay.

Over the years, she and I have stayed in touch. We both have families of our own and have exchanged fairly regular updates on which kiddo is how old and who's in what grade, what hubbies are doing and life in general. Today, we work in the same building for the same peeps and get to chat pretty much daily. :)

This morning, she sent me an e-mail and said she had something to show me…You'll never guess what she brought down!!

What a blast from the passed this was!!! :) I cant' believe how young I look!! It seems that the last 20 years have not been kind to me! Lol She - on the other hand - looks exactly the same (with better hair today though.) My only other thought is...What in the world were our parents thinking??!!! :) Oh to be young again!

Stewing over Fall

Regardless of my fondness for warmer weather, I do Love Fall. Mornings are crisp, the air is clean, the trees are pretty and, for me anyway, fashion choices are easier. (My entire wardrobe is built for fall). The other part that I love is the food! Fall seems to be the season of stews and pies and apple-ish things. Pickles and preserves...all of which are on my list of faves! Tonight, I decided to make the first Beff Stew of the season and am eating a sooper hot bowl as I type with one hand...which is a challenge really, cuz I'm having a hard time with the spoon! :)

I chopped up Potatoes, carrots, celery, broccoli...tossed in some peas and corn and made a HUGE batch of dough-boys! I seasoned it with sea-salt, ground pepper, sesame oil and garlic and (if I do say so myself) it's pretty freakin delicious! :) DH doesn't like thick stew, though, so I made my dough-boys in the electric frying pan and used a bunch of the extra broth. The end result is going to make me sick because I can't stop eating it! :) I plan to take a break, though, to make a HUGE banana bread tonight. :)

Did I mention I love fall?? :)

PlTA!

I Love my puppy but she can be a total pain in the ass! Holy crap! Tonight, she's ticked cuz we ordered poutine from the Diplomat and purposely blocked her access to our food with a laundry hamper. She sat there on complete alert and whyned and stared through our meal...at the end, kiddo gently fed her fries though. You'd think that she'd be happy but nope...in the last half hour (while I've tried to get a few minutes to myself) She found the cardboard container for the fries that kiddo left downstairs and tore that all to pieces, she chewed up a webkinz parrot, a starshine owl, 2 coloring books, a pen and I just took a mangled Barbie out of her face!!! AUGH! I love my puppy, but she can be a total pain in the ass!!

The final count down...

tick-tock-tick-tock Tonight marks the final sleep before my little "dream-stealers" start their respective journeys into grade 3 french immersion and grade 7 middle school. Unfortunately, I'm still suffering from ma Nyquil drunk and can't seem to get my head on straight. I've been battling this crazy cough for a week now (have I mentioned that I despise summer colds?). During the day, I've been trying to cough my face off so that at night I can turn it off with liquid codeine and some funky orange flavored miracle that when combined offer me a sweet 5 hour streach of cough free sleep...trouble is - I ran out yesterday. And because I have to piggy back it all with nyquil so that I can sleep...I'm a total zombie the next day...I've never been on nyquil so long before and I have to say that it is not a most excellent adventure.

On the home front, though, my baked beans smell very tastee and are crocking in the crock pot. I cheated and bought my spoon bread (oh well) but plan to teach 12 year old DD how to make rolls this afternoon...and now - if I can manage to not fall over from Nyquil enduced vertigo I plan to hang clothes on the line cuz tomorrow is back to school and honestly - who doesn't feel cozy and ready for dream land in line dried bedding?? :)

(*note - this post likely makes way less sense then I planned...but thanks to Nyquil the letters are dancing around my screen like a chorus line. I'm sure I'll get a chuckle out of it later - and may have to clarify a point or two...until then - I'm off to...to...what was I gonna do?*)

A perfect fall day...

Only one more sleep until Summer Vacation is over an my girls are back in school. Today was a lazy day, but I must admit that I've been out of my "groove" for months. This week (with back to school on the horizon) I made it a point to plan meals for the week and get lunch ideas from the girls. I swung by Michaels to pick up some white ink (for Christmas cards - I'll post those later) Then we went to the Country Pumpkin for some veggies and to the grocery store for the in betweens. When we got home everyone pitched in to clean out the fridge, freezer and cupboards and get dinner started. Now - Meatloaf is cooking with some fresh buttercup squash and baked potatoes...and even better still - I have yellow eyed beans soaking for Boston baked beans with spoon bread for tomorrow night! Yummmmm!!! I soo can't wait! I'm really looking forward to getting back into a routine - I miss routines - they're good and I like them. They make my life easier and although I would like to believe that I can be a free spirit who throws caution to the wind and makes decisions on the spot - or not...I'm a routine girl. I like predictability, and order and structure and when I have those things - good things (like baked beans and home made cookies) happen.

One more sleep till back to school yawl! :) I'm off to stab my squash - he he :)

Impromptu baking

So - after I wrapped up highlights, and cleaned up a HUGE Daisy-puddle, I peeked in on my fave scrappin site SnC where a fellow scrapper had baked some soooper yummy lookin cookies! And that's pretty much all it took - I had the baking bug!!! I dove into the cupboards, and within 1 hour I had 6 dozen of my most very favorite peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to consume as I see fit!

AND Banana bread will be ready in just about an hour!

Even better, is that the mess I made is very minimal!

And Squeezy face didn't wake up to drool on my feet or lick the countertop until I opened the stove door to take a pic of the banana bread!

Overal - a very productive evening if I do say so myself! :)

Back to School Highlights

7 year old kiddo has been driving my nutz for highlights, and I have consistently said no. Today, though, she cornered me in the dye Isle and pleaded for them. She was so excited about the idea of dying her hair I couldn't stand it for another minute and finally agreed. I'm sure the Isles of Zellers had never before heard such glee squeeled from within but there it was. I had said yes and it was too late to take it back. They didn't have the right color there so off to "The Mart of Wal" we went to buy indoor and outdoor shoes and...you guessed it - Highlights! I decided to do them myself instead of paying a fortune to have them done somewhere else, and picked up a box of "Light golden blonde" for the total summ of $5.49. I also picked up a highlight kit (the skull cap, brush and crochet hook to yank hair out form under the cap) and home we went. She sat patient and still while I foiled her hair ever so slightly. (Her big sister was the proud beneficiary of the rest of the bottle).

I only left it in for 10 minutes instead of the required 20-30 minutes (She's 7 remember?) And when I rinsed it out, she was bursting to see her hair. I played the sneeky card, though, and made her shower so that I could blow dry her hair and "reveal" the new glistening colors that would adorn her head and I have never seen that child bath so quickly before!! I must say - I don't regret a nickle and she couldn't be happier...or cuter - if I do say so myself! :)

1000 days of constipation...and peas.

Who knew fish could get constipated?? Not me! I was feelin pretty bad about Bubbles today and decided to google a treatment for floating upside down. I knew it had something to do with his swim bladder, but was never really able to find an explination and the treatments never worked. Today, though, I happenned upon a site that said he could be constipated and to feed him peas! WHAT?! Feed my goldfish Peas?! And so I did. Tonight, I squished a pea into the tank and he ate it!!??!!! COOL! Even cooler is that tonight, his belly isn't as fat and he's swimming like a normal fish!! Whoda thunk?! I think it's awesome that he's as close to normal as he has been in 3 years...but Man I suck as a fish owner...cuz I left the poor guy all bunged up for over 1000 days! Yeesh! Sorry little guy! :(

ANOTHER CAKE!!!

YAY! I can't wait to get my hands on my next cake!!!!! It's for "Little Princess" and I have been given creative freedom!! WOO-HOO!!!! And - I picked up these cool little doo-dads for it tonight!!! :) I've been dying to try them out and WOO - HOO!!! Today is the day!!! well - ok - next week is the day but still! Cake wires!! Aren't they cool!!! ??? As always - pics will be posted! :)