Never 21

The actual title of this post was supposed to be

Forever Never 21

but they don't let you do strikethrough in a title.  Another thing to be angry about.

Now I better just warn you that I'm still quite upset.  Maybe I should wait until this is a month behind me and I'm not so angry.  No, that wouldn't be as interesting.

Try using a quote from "Runaway Bride" to try calm me down.

"I don't blame you for being mad.  Or furious.  Irate?"

"Livid."

Deep breath Heidi.  Inhale.  Exhale.

This is me.

Let's get straight to my story . . . several weeks ago Kate and I went on a little jaunt to the mall to look for a new coat for mommy.  After trying several other stores, we headed into Forever 21, and found quite a good selection.  I tried on a few, and found a gray one in a style that I liked.  Still not sure though, I decided to buy it, take it home and get Dave's opinion, and then decide for sure.

{Dave said, "That looks just like your other coat."  Note to husbands: that is not exactly what your wife wants to hear.  But that's not the point of this post.  After wearing it for a few more minutes I decided it was too itchy around the neck anyway, and I decided to return it.}

I take the coat back, in the bag, with the receipt, and the girl is very helpful.  "Is anything wrong with the coat?" she asks in a very chipper voice.

"No," I reply, "I just decided I don't want it." 

"Great," she says, "would you like to exchange it?"  

"No thanks," I say.

"Okay, then I can give you store credit."

"No, I just want my money back."  

"Well I'm afraid we don't give cash refunds.  We only do exchanges or store credit."

"Well, I don't see anything that says that," I answer back, starting to get a little annoyed.

"It's on your receipt," she says smugly, pointing to the no cash refund policy at the bottom of my receipt in small print.

"Oh, the receipt I received after I'd already paid for the coat?"  I question, just as smugly.

"Oh, well there's a sign right here . . . well, I'm not sure where it is right now, but it's always right here on the counter."

"Well, I didn't see it." 

After this runaround continues for a few more minutes, I finally ask for the manager.  The sales rep looks relieved, and runs to grab the manager.

"Yes, how can I help you?"  The manager gives me a very condescending look as if she's dealt with people like me a hundred times.

"Yes, I want to return this coat, and I want a cash refund, not store credit."

"Well, we don't do refunds.  It says that at the bottom of the receipt."

"Oh, the receipt I received after I'd already paid for the coat?"  Sound familiar?  And then, I kid you not . . . she said - 

"Oh, well there's a sign right here . . . well, I'm not sure where it is right now, but it's always right here on the counter."

"Well obviously it isn't always right here," I say, and now I'm really getting mad.  Furious.  Let's just skip irate and go straight to livid.

She looks at the bottom of my receipt and says, "Besides, Jason ran your transaction - he's our head cashier, so I'm sure he would have mentioned it."

Did no one teach this lady that the customer is a guest?  They have a wallet?  They can choose where to spend their money?  That you actually want a customer to return?  Because I've never worked in retail, but I thought that was pretty obvious.

"Well, he didn't."

The lady wouldn't budge and insisted that since the day Forever 21 opened its doors 25 years ago they've always had a no cash-refund policy.  The cash register won't even give cash refunds, she insisted.  The encounter ended with me angrily grabbing the gift card with store credit in it for the price of the coat and leaving in a huff.  Yep, I left in a huff.  I like that phrase, and it perfectly describes how I felt.

But this was not over.  I talked to Dave about it and he called Forever 21 (he's better at intimidating people than I am).  I'm not sure how he does it, but he is very good at talking people into things, including me.  When he called in to Forever 21 headquarters, a district manager agreed to call him this past Tuesday, meet us at the store, and give us a cash refund.

No wait, this gets better.  It's now late Thursday night, practically Friday.  No call.  But we're not quitting until we get our money back.  In the meantime, I'll just rant and rave in the blogosphere.

And may I just take a moment to rant and rave about stores that don't give cash refunds?  To me that says, "We don't sell quality products" loud and clear.  In fact, because they don't sell quality products, they have no faith in their own merchandise, which is why they don't give cash refunds.  They believe that given the choice, you'll take your cash and spend it elsewhere, which is why they'll only do exchanges or give you store credit.  And they'll put that policy at the bottom of a receipt in small print, and they'll hide the signs that are supposed to be at the checkout counter.  Grrr. 

I'll keep you updated.  In the meantime, you should join with me in my boycott of Forever 21.

Mini Me

What can I say?  Kate has learned from the best.

When I brought my chocolates home, Dave sampled one, giving Kate a little taste.

Then she dumped Dad and went straight to the source (the chocolates are in those boxes).

Notice how her tongue is already out.

Also notice her cute little ruffle bum.

Here's the wonderful little contraption we received from someone in our ward:

It's an M&M dispenser.

An M&M from one side.

An M&M from the other.

I have a love/hate relationship with the fact that they only come out one at a time.

Confession: sometimes I just unscrew the lid.

But Kate, well, she wasted no time figuring it out:

If I accidentally leave it out, I often a find a very happy little munchkin with red and green drool.

P.S. I just realized I haven't posted anything about Christmas on this blog.  It's like I'm a Scrooge or something!  But I promise I really do have the Christmas spirit - head over to Everyday Families (my other blog) if you don't believe me!

P.P.S. My favorite are my nativities - please be sure to take a look - click here!

Just Call Me Lucy

You may think that looks like Lucy, but it's actually me.  No, really.  I made chocolates.  No, I didn't go to the store, buy some, and say that I made them, I actually did it!  That's my big surprise, and it's one of the reasons I've been a little MIA.

I have to admit, making chocolates has been a life-long dream for me . . . my grandma used to make them when I was young, but she got to the point where it wasn't a physical possibility for her to continue, so I never got the chance to learn from her.  So when I found out that Dave's aunt makes chocolates every year . . . to be honest, that's what sealed the deal for me (just kidding, honey - love you!).

So out of the goodness of her heart wonderful, wonderful Rachelle decided to set aside some time to not only teach me how to make chocolates, but help me.  Did I mention she has 5 kids all under the age of 12?  She's seriously superwoman.  And she makes hundreds, no closer to thousands, of them every year to give away to neighbors and take to family parties and such - and she doesn't even make excuses like December is really busy or my kids don't take naps any more.  She just does it.  Superwoman I tell ya.

Let me tell you about this adventure - not quite over yet, but I was honestly too proud to wait and tell you.

The kind I made is chocolate maple - the fondant is maple, and then it's dipped in chocolate.  Really good chocolate, but we'll get to that part.

First, you bring all the ingredients (lots of good stuff like whipping cream and sugar and such) to a boil until it reaches a certain temperature.

Before you take it off the heat, you have to test it multiples times for the "soft ball" state.  I don't really know what I'm talking about, I'm just using impressive terms so you will be impressed.  Are you impressed?  You should be.

Like so.  

Once it's reached that phase, you pour it out into a large glass pan.

Like so.

Then you let it cool completely - usually in the fridge, or outside if it's cold.

 The next part makes me tired just thinking about it.  It's called "turning" the fondant, and I dare any man who thinks he has legitimate arm muscle to try it.  Basically you just keep the fondant moving - kind of like stirring - but you have to keep it all at the center of the pan.  Keep in mind - it's still soft, so it runs, but it's just hard enough to make your arm ache.  Once your arm has started aching, you have to do it for another 20 minutes.  Rachelle makes 4-5 batches of this stuff every year (plus all the other kinds of candy/chocolate) - are you starting to see why I call her superwoman?

When you're done, it reaches the "hard ball" state -

Like so.  At this point, you add the flavoring.

By this time, you're tuckered out.  You call it a day and hold off on the dipping once you've given your arm all sorts of recovery treatments.

Now we get to the REALLY good part.

CHOCOLATE.

And when I say chocolate, I mean chocolate.  We're not messing around here.

Yes, that is TEN POUNDS of gourmet chocolate.  And yes, it is taking up the entire cutting board.

When I saw that 10 lb. block, my life seriously flashed before my eyes.  And you know what I learned?  That one of those is maybe a tenth of all the chocolate I've consumed in my life.  Probably less than a tenth.  I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.  No, it's good.

So then you melt that chocolate, roll the maple fondant into small balls, and dip it into the extremely delicious chocolate.  The worst part is you do it with your fingers, and they get all chocolatey, and every time you stop you have to lick them off (and then wash them, of course!).

This is what the finished product looks like:

Voila, delicious chocolates!  Handmade!  By me!

(Actually, the two above were probably Rachelle's - they look way too beautiful to be mine)

Thus far, I'm really enjoying my chocolate making experience.  I only have two disappointments.  

1) Rachelle did not slap me and slather my face in chocolate.

 

Sad, because I really would have enjoyed that.

2) I did not work on a chocolate wrapping assembly line in which I was forced to shove large quantities of chocolate in my mouth, in my hat, and down my shirt in order to keep up.

But I did sneak a few when Rachelle went and picked up her kids' carpool. :)

P.S. You are welcome to come over and watch I Love Lucy reruns with me.  Just bring some chocolate.

Just for you:

Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce

So remember how I was drooling for days after eating at La Jolla?  Well, I wondered if I could somehow recreate their Salmon baked in Cilantro Butter Sauce.  I googled it, and TONS of recipes came up.  So of course, I had to try!

I have tried two so far: one very simple one - it's not the real deal, but does the trick if I'm short on time and some more complicated ingredients, and one that is more complicated, but very delicious, and still not that hard.  So, if you love cilantro and seafood, be sure to try this out - it can go with pretty much anything 20,000 leagues under the sea!

Cilantro Garlic Butter

1 lime cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Squeeze half of the lime wedges onto the fish, season with salt and pepper.  Bake the fish.  In a small saucepan, heat the oil and then add the garlic.  Let the garlic cook for about 2 minutes and then stir in the butter, remaining lime juice, and chopped cilantro.  Pour the cilantro garlic butter over the fish and enjoy!

Lime Cilantro Butter Sauce
Adapted from a recipe at laylita.com

1/4 cup water
1 medium sized shallot
4 garlic cloves
juice from 2 limes
lime zest (as much or as little as you want)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 serrano pepper (or more if you want more kick)
1/4 cup butter
1 bunch of cilantro
salt to taste

Put water in a medium-sized saucepan on medium heat.  Mince the shallot and garlic cloves.  Add the minced shallots and garlic, the lime juice, lime zest and cream to the water.  Let simmer on low to medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Chop the serrano pepper into fine pieces and add it to the sauce.  Then add a little bit of the butter at a time until it melts into the mixture.  Remove from heat.  Chop up the cilantro and add it, then pour all of the sauce into a blender or a food processor, until it reaches a smoother consistency (about 1 minute).  Add salt to taste.  Serve with any seafood.

A couple of things about this recipe.  First, can I just say how awesome it made me feel to cook with a shallot?  Yeah, it did.  That was definitely something on my bucket list :)  Second, I served this with tilapia and rice, but I know it would be delicious with salmon as well.  Third, when we had this, I really did think it was delicious, but I felt like it was missing something.  Oh yeah, the salt.  Oops.  Salt is a very key ingredient, and really brings out the flavor, so don't forget that key ingredient!

Delinquency

For those of you out there who read my blog, I have a LOT of excuses up my sleeve as to why I haven't posted for so long.  For example,

My dog ate my computer.

He is NOT as innocent as he looks.

I needed a mental health week.

Is it that obvious?

I have a solar-powered computer and it was cloudy.

Honest, it was.

I was kidnapped by terrorists and they only just let me go, so I didn't have time to do it.

 Look at the bright side, at least they let me go.

Or, it could be that I've been really busy.

Cleaning up after Kate.

Decorating for Christmas.

Christmas shopping!

 Watching Law & Order (at least I can admit I have a problem).

Seeing White Christmas at Pioneer Theater!  I'm gleeful about this :)

Working on a secret project that I will reveal soon.  And, if you don't already, after seeing this, you will think I'm awesome!

Anyway, please forgive my delinquency.  Please! Please!

With a cherry on top.

No, with three cherries on top.

I knew you'd forgive me.

Now, on to other matters.  I will be posting soon: some new recipes, book reviews, and a current event that's been on my mind.  And we all know how you've been dying to know what's on my mind.

Like literally, dying.

So stay tuned!

Dress for Success

 She definitely got more sleep than me.

It's a pretty famous saying: "Dress for success."  I'd be lying if I said this is the motto I live by.  My motto goes something more like, "You are what you wear."  You may be thinking, isn't it "You are what you eat?"  No.  Because if that were true, I'd be a morph between a Chex Muddy Buddy and a pan of brownies.  (Yes, I linked up the recipe, just in case you started craving Chex Muddy Buddies like I just did . . . everything is accurate except the part that says it makes 18 servings.  That's a lie.  It makes about 1 1/2.)

Back to my point.  You are what you wear.  Actually, I don't know if you are.  That would be going out on a limb.  I only know that I am what I wear.  Take today for example.  Last night Kate did not sleep well at all - turns out we have our 6th tooth coming in.  I got about 5 hours of completely interrupted sleep and woke up quite cranky this morning.  I didn't get to shower until about 10 am, and you better believe that when I got dressed I put on a very comfortable, broken-in pair of sweats.  Let me explain what that means . . .

It means that as soon as I can convince Kate to nap, I will run (yes, run) to the couch and try to catch-up on some of my sleep.  It means that I won't really feel like accomplishing much of anything today.  It means that I broke my no-t.v. rule for Kate and we just watched Playhouse Disney together.  And it means that today, hair and makeup probably won't be happening.

If I had accidentally put on my cute jeans, boots, and a nice shirt, today would have been very different.  I probably would have done my hair and makeup.  Kate and I might have taken a trip to the library.  I probably would have been motivated to put away all my fall decorations and get out the Christmas stuff.  And, I'd probably be feeling like a much better mom and person in general.

Sigh.  Oh well, I guess I should lay out my clothes for tomorrow ahead of time . . .

Am I the only person like this?  Please say no.

Marathon

 Image from marathondynamics.com

Running 26 miles . . . I don't think so.  The marathon I'm talking about is my Thanksgiving eating marathon.  I'm already training - trying to eat lots of extra food these next few days so that my stomach will be a little bigger on Turkey Day.

Part of my motivation stems from the fact that I was almost 8 months pregnant over Thanksgiving last year.  Not exactly conducive to eating your heart out, when your baby is squishing every organ you have (including your heart), and you can't eat more than about five bites in a sitting.  It's like having your stomach stapled shut.  Except worse, because you also have to go to the bathroom every five minutes.

So, I'm determined to make up for it this year.  I'm going to down food like there's no tomorrow.  Because you never know, there might not be.  Besides, 'tis the season to gain weight, right?

Here are my "keys to success" for Thanksgiving Day:

1 - Do NOT skip breakfast.  Trust me, I've tried it before.  It just shrinks your stomach . . . which is only good if you're trying not to eat a lot.  Not me.

2 - DO exercise in the morning, if possible.  This will boost your appetite.  If you're doing all the cooking, that pretty much counts as a full work-out.

3 - DO take a very large first helping of everything.  If there's a large group, you never know whether you're going to get seconds.

4 - DON'T worry about saving room for pie.  In case you didn't know, there's a dessert door that opens up (and is still empty) after you eat a meal.  It doesn't matter how full you thought you were.

Especially once you see this:

picture from kraftrecipes.com

5 - Make sure you get to take a nap.  Stake out your napping territory early, especially if there's a crowd.  You might even consider putting up a "reserved" sign.

picture from aaronpublishing.com

The NUMB3RS in My Life

Here are the numbers that describe my week: 

TWO:

 The number of days I've actually done my hair.  Eeek.

NINE:
The number of times Kate has bitten me.
(One - the number of times she has drawn blood)

ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE:
The number of Christmas songs I've listened to.  I know, I know.  I just can't wait until after Thanksgiving.

SEVENTEEN:
The number of mini Almond Joys I have eaten.  Yep, and I'm proud of it.

SIX:
The number of times I've been ecstatic about something sweet Dave has done for me.  Let me be specific: bought me new (nice!) knives, got up with Kate in the night, got me a beautiful Christmas tree (and didn't make me wait until after Thanksgiving), surprise cleaned the house, took me to La Jolla again, and is just pretty much wonderful and patient with me.

TWO: 
The number of times we have been to La Jolla Groves in the past week.  Yes, I somehow tricked Dave into taking me there again!

SEVEN: 
The number of dropped calls I've had.  AT&T . . . grrr.

ZERO:
The number of Christmas presents I have bought so far.  Not good.

ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY THREE:
Number of pine needles that have fallen off our tree since we brought it home 3 hours ago.  Number of pine needles Kate has eaten so far . . . inconclusive.

ONE:
Number of car accidents we've had this week.  Which means it's also the number of drivable cars we have right now.  Boo. 

Any significant numbers in your life right now?

Anything you can do, I can do better . . .

Okay, maybe not better.  But just as good.  Here is Pottery Barn's version of this fall wreath:

from potterybarn.com

Here is my version:

The pictures are of Ali and Aaron (my sister and her fiance).  I'm using it for her bridal shower on Saturday.  I'm so happy with how it turned out.  The Pottery Barn version is $44 . . . mine was about $6!  Yay for saving money!

Holy Jolla

Yes, that's pronounced "hoya" - don't worry, I made the same mistake.  I don't get Spanish pronunciation.  But let's skip ahead to the point.  Dave and I went on our date night to La Jolla Groves.





Sorry about all the blank space, I was holding down the "enter" button while I was daydreaming/drooling about this amazing restaurant.  What more can I say?  You MUST try it.  End of discussion.

By way of intro, La Jolla Groves is located in the Riverwoods in Provo.  It's only been open for a few months.  Everything they make is made from fresh, organic, locally-grown produce.

I had heard positive things about this place from several people, so Dave and I decided to see for ourselves.  And let me tell you, I wasn't disappointed.  We called ahead to put our names on the list (there was a 10-20 minute wait time for walk-ins).  Side note, don't you hate places that don't let you make reservations?  I do.

We were greeted by a very friendly hostess, and then escorted to a lovely table.  Here was our view:

Yes, those are lemon trees overhead.  They looked so good I wanted to pick one off and eat it.  If they weren't fake.  And if the lemons were apples.  But I loved the atmosphere!  The ambiance was really cool, and despite the fact that the restaurant was crowded and busy, Dave and I felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Now, don't get me started on the food.  Everything was an A+.  We started off with the Tomato Mozzarella Caprese - it's an Italian dish that I tried in Italy, and have loved ever since.  Beautiful and tasty!

Dave ordered the crepes, and seriously, they were a 10 out of 10.  And I'm not an easy critic - I can't remember the last time I had a 10 out of 10.

I ordered the salmon which came in a cilantro butter - divine!  I gave my own meal a 9.5 out of 10.  If you love salmon, you have to try it.

And finally, we couldn't leave without dessert.  Not when everything else had been so good.  And not when they had something called "Chocolate Mousse Cake" on the menu.  I admit, right here the picture doesn't look that good.  There's an explanation.  It looked so good, and was so good that I didn't even get to take a picture before my hand picked up my spoon and started feeding me.

For any of you who have had any sort of a chocolate lava cake before, this one tops them all.  And trust me, I know.  If there is a chocolate lava cake out there, I've pretty much tried it.  I seriously have been dreaming about this dessert ever since.

Other: they had delicious rolls with lots of different flavors, the service was great, and our food actually came really fast!

Prices: this is a little on the pricier side.  Appetizers range from $6-8, entrees from $10-15, and desserts from $5-7.  But oh so worth it!

Be sure to give this place a try.  It was so good, I was even willing to go online and review it, so everyone can partake of the goodness :)

Goodbye, Harry?

 Image from http://filmkuw.com/

Rumor on the street has it that there are several nude scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1).  Okay, it's actually not a rumor, it's a fact.  And I didn't hear it on the street, I heard it from my mom, who heard it from . . . well, I don't know who she heard it from.  But I didn't think it sounded near as catchy to say: "My mom heard from somebody that it's a fact that there is nudity in the new Harry Potter movie."

Back to my point.  I did some research on it, and here's what I found out.  According to an article at nydailynews.net . . .

"The director of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" - the two-part final cinematic chapter based on the series of seven books - says Daniel Radcliffe will do several nude scenes in the upcoming movie, one of them of the steamy variety. 

Director David Yates told Britain's Daily Telegraph, "Dan has appeared nude in the past. There are a couple of scenes in the new film in which he will undress, but we're still thinking about how to present it."

In the upcoming movie, Yates explains, a monster tortures Harry's friend Ron (Rupert Grint) with images of Harry in some sort of tryst with Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), with whom Ron is passionately in love. 

"We'll create something that feels very sexy and very intriguing to bring about a reaction in Rupert," Yates told the Telegraph of the scene." 

Read more here.

What???  Why in the world does there need to be a nude scene in Harry Potter?!?  A book that is categorized in Children and Young Adult sections?  This is absurd!

Now maybe I don't have all the info.  Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion.  But really?  I know that Hollywood basically believes that adding sex and nudity to anything will make it sell more, but as a devoted Harry Potter fan, I feel like I've earned the right to put in my two cents.  This is supposed to be a kids/family oriented movie.  It's pretty sad when the movie production team forgets who their audience actually is.

I suppose the scene might be relatively harmless and they don't really show much.  Maybe they just talked it up as a nude scene to draw another crowd.  But still - that's really annoying!

My family was planning to all go to the new Harry Potter movie together, but now?  Not so sure.  I'm interested - if you've heard anything about this, I'd be glad to hear your thoughts/input!

The Gestapo Part II

Dave returned home late Friday night (he was out of town Wednesday through Friday, if you didn't read the previous post, click here).  Since then, he's been going around the house singing, "I'm the Gepetto, I'm the Gepetto!"  I think he meant Gestapo.  Nice old Italian man who carves wood - the evil state police of Germany - practically the same thing.

One of the first things he asked when he walked in the front door is, "Did you at least save me one of the cupcakes?"  Of course I did.  I would never eat 12 cupcakes all by myself in 2 1/2 days.  Just 8.  There were 4 left when he got home.  He ate one, threw one in the garbage (he said he had to at least throw one away after I wrote that post about him), and gave me seconds to hide the other ones before he chucked them as well.

The outcome?  I'm officially addicted to these cupcakes.  I've been craving them all week.  Just in case you have too, here's the recipe:

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes: Make life easy on yourself.  Use a German Chocolate cake mix. 

Frosting:

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 beaten egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Cook the above ingredients on medium heat for 12 minutes, then add:

1 1/3 cups coconut
1 cup roasted chopped pecans (pecans can be roasted in the microwave for one minute on each side)

I like to chop off a piece of Almond Joy and place it on top for a garnish.

*These cupcakes are even better when they are warm and served with ice cream!

I'm a Fan

Dave and I are huge "Office" fans, and tonight we watched the episode where Jim confesses his love to Pam for the first time.  So adorable.  I think Jim and Pam might be the best TV love story there is.  So for all you "Office" fans, I just wanted to share this adorable video.  And the song is perfect.

The embed code had been deleted, but here is the link:  Jim and Pam

Kissin' Kate Kimball

Kate has two new tricks.  That sounds like she's a dog, doesn't it?  Let me rephrase: Kate has two new skills she has mastered of late.  One of them is waving.  Pretty much anytime you say "hi" or "bye-bye" she will now wave.  Go Kate.

Kate also has a new crush.  His name is George.  Curious George, that is.  Her new favorite thing is to watch this Jack Johnson "Upside Down" video on youtube:

She gets so excited whenever she sees the little monkey.  She dances, waves her arm, and bangs her head.  Unfortunately, the development of Kate's new crush corresponds with her other recently developed skill: kissing.  She will now give you a big slobbery kiss on the cheek whenever you ask.  Is this a coincidence?  I think not.  Granted, I'm grateful that Kate's first crush happens to be on a monkey, and a cartoon at that, but still . . . it makes me nervous for when she's older.  I mean, there are some real apes out there.

Ta Da!

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm starting a new blog about family.  I know, I know, I was soooooo nervous about starting my first blog, and here I am starting another one.  But here's what I've found: I love writing.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I started doing it on my blog all the time.  So I chose something that I love (don't worry, I don't think I'm some expert on family) and that I'm passionate about.  I'd love it if you'd check it out, comment, and share stuff with me about your families and what works for you, since I have so much to learn!

http://everydayfamilies.blogspot.com/ 

For Kids: Crayon Roll

I found this and love it!  I'm not quite ready to make one, since Kate is more interested in eating crayons than drawing with them, but I thought I'd share anyway!

picture from Life in Grace

For directions on how to make it, go to Life in Grace.  Talk about a handy gift for moms!

My German Chocolate Night Out, aka, The Gestapo is out of Town

Disclaimer: Don't get me wrong, I love my husband very much.  And I love having him home with me.  But . . . if he has to be gone, I might as well enjoy my night out, eh?

Okay, so maybe "night out" isn't a very appropriate description.  When your husband is out of town, and your daughter goes to bed at 6:30 pm, you're pretty much facing a "night in," but hey, let's not get technical.

I hate it when Dave travels, I honestly do.  And I've got 4 months of living without my husband to justify that hate.  However, if he is gone, you'd better believe that I'm going to make the most of it.  Let's start with a simple fact, and I apologize if I digress: Dave hates it when I make treats.  I know, I know, my talent of making the most scrumptiously unhealthy desserts you can imagine has gone to waste.  Just to clarify, he does like the desserts that I make.  He just doesn't like that he likes them.  Mostly because of what they do can do to the waistline.  He hates it when I make treats, he hates it when I buy goodies, or candy, or anything else that might be hanging out at the top of the food pyramid.  Namely, all of the stuff I live for.  Problem.

Thus came Dave's pronouncement: "If I find it, I'm throwing it away."  So let it be written, so let it be done.  Except for one little detail - the "if."  If he doesn't find it . . . well, I'm sure you see where I'm going with this.  I've become an exceptionally good "hider" - even given the very small square footage of our apartment.  Maybe it comes with the name.  For example . . . one of the best places I've ever come up with for my treat stash was in my closet.  In a bag, on a hanger, hidden amongst my countless shirts and skirts.  Brilliant, if I do say so myself.  But by the time Dave reads this, I will have moved it to another equally brilliant hiding place.

Now you see it.

Now you don't.

Pretty much, he's like the Gestapo (evil German police) and I'm a German citizen, trying to hide and protect the good things in this world.  Like peanut butter m&ms, and brownies.

So, what was my point again?  Oh yeah.  Dave's gone.  That means I can let the treats out of the bag, if you know what I mean.  I made German Chocolate cupcakes with my sister.  Mmmm, mmmm, good.  I'll have to post the recipe soon.  

Love 'em - you can see why.

I thought the "Give Thanks" sign in the background was quite appropriate, given what I was about to partake of.

I sat down to eat my delicious cupcake while watching two episodes of one of my all-time favorite tv shows - Law and Order.  It's too bad Dave doesn't get home until Friday . . .