cake pops, yum

Since my sister-in-law showed me these on Bakerella, I've wanted to try them. Saturday I invited over my niece and nephews so they could help me (thanks mom for letting us use your house). We had a GREAT time and they did a terrific job. I split the cake into 4 sections so each of us could make our own. As you can tell the youngest had a hard time keeping his yummy hands out of his mouth (his pops were sent home to his family). It was really easy. If you don't mind a small mess, it's a fun activity. While we were waiting for them to harden in the freezer we made blueberry muffins for the nursery snack and they rolled diapers for the diaper cake we were making for their friend's mommy. On Sunday my hubby and I decorated the turquoise pops to match the ribbon on the diaper cake. Monday I dipped the brown pops and sent them to work (the girls loved them.) They keep in the freezer really well. They do take some time, but they are sooooo worth it. They taste divine!

Here are a couple of hints...
1. Don't over add the Sour Cream frosting, more is not better.
2. Wax paper is wonderful!
3. I used the small Pampered Chef scoop to make even sized scoops and it worked great!
4. I liked using the double boiler much better than melting the dipping chocolate in the microwave (it could be because my microwave is hard to use since I have to stand on my tippy toes to put things in.) I found the chocolate stayed smoother and was easier to work with.
5. If you plan to use colors, don't use food coloring in white chocolate, it makes the consistency weird. Buy candy melts in the colors you desire.
6. I made chocolate cake and used white chocolate, milk chocolate and bitter-sweet bakers chocolate to dip the balls. They all tasted great!

weekend project

This was one of our fun projects this weekend. The lighting in the first picture was lame, but the bottom picture shows a better representation of the colors.

fun facts Friday

I love to play on the computer and learn how to do things better, faster and easier. You might find one of these interesting.

When typing a website address, type just the name of the site

example: blogger

and then press cntl enter

the computer will add the .com and send you directly to the page.

Have you ever wondered how people get a picture of their computer screen? (The Pioneer Woman does it all the time.) I always thought they took the pictures with their cameras. What a pain. But, nope they press the PRINT SCREEN (circled in yellow) key on their keyboard. Then open photoshop, press cntl n (to open a new document) and then press cntl v (to paste the picture). That's all. Not painful at all. It would be fun for doing things like this!

This next hint is one of my favorite for Photoshop. When you are playing with layers, saturation, etc. you get to work with a masking box (circled in red below). To make things more precise and exact (sometimes you can't remember where you have masked) press the \ and the masking area will turn red so you can see exactly where you are working. Play with it. I use it ALL THE TIME and I love it.

helmet head

This helmet is her newest obsession. She first fell in love with a real motorcycle helmet, but it was really heavy so she easily agreed to switch to this helmet (a Christmas present from last year). She wants to wear it everywhere. She wears it playing, to the store, out to dinner. As we were walking out the door for church last Sunday, I quickly used my body to block her view from it to avoid her asking to wear it to church. I didn't want to deal with the tears when I told her "it's not for church." I wish I could be more like her, oblivious to the stare of others who are trying to figure out why this child might be wearing helmet. Oh, please stay oblivious little girl and don't let the fear of judgement from others ever hold you back.

Dear Summer 2008

I am glad you are gone. You were horrible this year, probably the worst I've ever experienced. Sadly, you will remain vivid in my memories forever. Please don't give Summer 2009 any tips or tricks. My little girl had a really cute swimsuit this year and didn't get to wear it much because of your terrible tricks (it even looks cute on her over a shirt and a skirt stuffed up inside.) It was the perfect attire for cold smoothies, one things you couldn't take away from us. At least we are more prepared and continue to get prepared, just in case you Seasons decide to keep behaving bad. We don't want to deal with you and the economy at the same time. You Stank, stinked, and stunked. (just like those pesky skunks around our neighborhood who spray every other night. Kerri come take them to your neighborhood.)
Farewell forever Summer,
Autumn Lover

fun stuff

If you have a few extra minutes to surf and want a good laugh. Check out cakewrecks. I laugh out load every time I visit the site. The commentary is just as funny as the cakes.

If you are a mom, a do-it-yourselfer, a party thrower, or enjoy beautiful things. Check out these incredible dessert ideas by
Amy Atlas and be inspired!

climber

Since this is the only journal I keep, I didn't want to forget this one. It finally happened. She realized she could climb out of her crib. After a few successful solo attempts, she realized she could bring her blanket along. Last night her dad was putting her to bed and she threw a FIT. After their ritual, he shut the door and we could her her screaming. A few minutes later I thought I heard him open her door (he thought he heard me open her door). When he walked out in the hall, there she was, she had opened the door. She was furious when he stuck her back in bed. This went on 5 more times. I decided I didn't care if she slept in her crib, I just didn't want her walking around the house (because of her new obsession with climbing on the toilet). He went to check on her one time and she was cuddled up in her chair with her blanket. Not a big deal, but now he had to stick her in bed so she didn't follow him into our room. She finally gave in and feel asleep. Maybe it's time for a big kids bed.

100 books

I found this list on a friends blog and thought my other reader friends might enjoy it. I was surprised at how many I had read, how many I still don't plan to read and excited to be reminded of great books I want to read. HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU READ?
The Big Read is an NEA program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books, they estimate the average adult has read only six. I bolded the titles that I've read and colored the titles of the books I've really enjoyed. I'm way above the average 6, but no where close to half. If the literary masterpieces by geniuses such as Mary Higgins Clark, Clive Cussler, Eoin Colfer or Stephanie Meyer were on the list, I'd have most of the list in bold!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Elio
t21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Miln
e41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Some of the books I read in HS English, but barely remember them. I think I will have to go back and re-read some of the Dickens.

First day of Fall

What a joyous day. I love the Fall. I love it so much I would marry it (if I weren't already married). To celebrate this glorious day the phone company decided to fix our phone line and DSL that's been out since last Tuesday. Aren't they nice! Our babe is so happy she decided to run around the house doing summermucks (I'm not sure how she came up with muck, but she's not interested in saying sault.)

While cuddling on the couch yesterday, our babe was looking very intently at the Christus statue high up on an amoire. After a bit she pointed up to it and said "Jesus." "Yes, that is Jesus" I told her. Then (while moving her torso side to side, her way of confined dancing) she says "Jesus dancing." Well, yes I'm sure Jesus does dance.

help please

With all you smarty pants out there, there has to be someone who...

can tell me how to post comments in google reader or do I have to click into the blog?

I'm thinking ahead for Christmas cards and was wondering....How do you store your addresses so you can make them into address labels? I tried using Vista's contact thingie and I don't get it, so I put everything into Excell hoping I could get that to work. Before I go too far, any suggestions. How to do organize your contacts (street addresses info)?

22 months

Something new everyday...
*says please, thank you, your welcome and excuse me (she even makes sure I say excuse me)

*says "I pass gass, excuse me"

*says stop please (sometimes too much)
*loves to sing the Hello song
*loves to have mommy sing Grampa song, Granddad song, Sweetheart song, Grandma song, How much is that doggie in the window? (she makes the animal noises), Little Bunny Foo Foo, Temple Song, and Monkey Song over and over and over
*knows lots of colors and loves the color yellow
*knows some shapes
*loves shoes and shoe shopping
*asks to wear dresses
*sometimes has an opinion on what color she wants to wear
*likes to jump off things backwards
*does somersaults
*goes potty in the toilet (but far from potty trained)
*wears 12-18 months clothes
*loves to pray
*knows her parents and grandparents first names (self taught from hearing us talk)
*knows what town she lives in
*like to give an receive the mommy and daddy sandwich
*loves chocolate (me, "it's almond time"; her, "it's chocolate time")
*obsessed with her blankets (am I going to cut it in small pieces and pin it to the inside of her shirt when she starts school?)
*loves to "read" out loud
*naps on mommy's bed
*loves to cuddle before she goes to bed
*adores the men in her life
*knows who is a boy and who is a girl (but doesn't know why, I think)
*likes taking on and off her shoes

extra funds

We have a little pot of money we started when we got married that we call "The money we save because we don't buy...cigarettes, alcohol, lattes, and haircuts." It you calculate it, we save lots of money every week not buying those things. It's basically our excuse fund when we want to so something we shouldn't. Recently, I tapped into this fund. Ever since we bought this house I've despised our medicine cabinet. It's ugly. About a year ago I decided I actually liked the usefulness of the cabinet but still thought it was yucky. I figured it would be less yucky if we were to cut off the dressing room bulb lights and to inset the cabinet into the wall. That couldn't be too hard. All we had to do was trace around the cabinet, remove it, cut into the sheet rock, use a table saw to remove the hideous bulbs, remove a section of the 2x4, slide the cabinet back in, and then buy a nice light fixture. RIGHT! This picture was taken before we started.
Traced around the edges and removed the beast
Demolition, fun.
Oh crap, what the heck is that black tube and wiring doing in our way?
Of course, she wanted to help.
My little project turned out to be much bigger than expected. We called a friend to come asses the situation. We decided we would do the demo and he would do the repairing and installing. We ended up taking off the whole wall of sheet rock, removing 3 2x4's (what a pain, I wish I had a picture of me using my head to balance against the ceiling while I used the circular saw and the sawsal to cut through the boards. I don't think it was one of my brighter moments, at least I was wearing safety classes.) A weekend project ended up lasting 2 weeks and I can't remember the number of times I cleaned up the messes we made. Here is the cabinet finally set in.

After it was textured, the painting delima began. What color to paint?
Nice purple, it was my primer. I decided to go with a fabulous dark brown and then the darkness started to bug me so after 6 coats of paint...
BEFORE
AFTER

It doesn't really look any different, but different enough. I love it. I love having it inset into the wall. I love my light fixture. I even like my paint choice, it's a little darker than it was before. I have the best neutral wall color if anyone is ever interested.

My next project is to re tile our shower. I think I might have to dip into the money we save by no cable/satellite TV, no gas gusseling SUV, no cocaine and no bull fighting.

America

To me, THIS BLOG, has some wonderful pictures of the land I love. If you love beautiful photography, check it out. By-the-way, I'm talking about America and not Utah (even though Utah is nice too.)

welcome baby

This is my latest baby announcement. I made the top one first, but there were so many cute pictures of her that we decided to add two more. I like them both, for different reasons. It was so fun to make it for my husband's sister. After 4 awesome boys, she got her girl (my husband's sister was also the only girl with four older brothers). I wanted to wait and post this until after the cards were send out so I didn't ruin the snail mail for anyone and then I forgot. Better late than never. I did change all the names on the announcement for this post, but at least I kept them nice. Check out all her hair, it's amazing!

where's the doggie?

Seems she found another hiding place for her toys!

new hiding place

We walked out of the laundry room for a couple of seconds and when we came back in we saw her little foot hanging out of the dryer and her little voice say "I did it." She was pretty thrilled with her new little cave.

labor day weekend

I love Labor Day weekend! It's always a good excuse to work really hard or play. This year we played. We went away to a cabin for the weekend. We took naps, read books, went out to breakfast, walked through lots of open houses, had sushi, got a flat tire on the dune buggie, and my babe and I each jumped on the apex bungee trampoline. She was the star. People gathered around just to watch her tiny little body jump, laugh and say "I jump". Nobody even noticed the mom doing back flips and front flips (I was sore for days). She even did a few back flips with the help of her dad, but wasn't as thrilled with those, maybe next time.

we are a flowbee family

Her first Flowbee hair cut! She saw her dad getting his hair cut and asked to get her hair cut. For a girl who doesn't like loud noises, she did fantastic. Right now, only the the hair on the back of her head is long enough to cut (I refuse to let her have a mullet.) Just think, when she starts growing hair on the front of her head I could give her some pretty great bowls cuts!

finger/face painting

It started out innocent enough,
a little finger painting on the front porch ...and then those hands found the unsuspecting face

She had no idea what had happened, until I showed her what those fingers had done.
Shocked entertained
despairing

but, she got over it quickly and started to enjoy the Phantom Hulk



Then got back to painting