25 Random Things About Me January 31, 2009

This is going around Facebook, and I absolutely love reading the lists of people I know. Here is my list:

1. I love to read.
2. I would nap every day if I could.
3. I had my tonsils and wisdom teeth removed within two months of my 30th birthday.
4. I’ve never had a broken anything (beyond heart) or stitches (except for during labor but those don’t count).
5. I used to regularly fall out of my office chair in Rochester because I’m so damn clumsy.
6. I’m a grammar and editing whore…Mr. Turk would be so proud!
7. I cried like a baby when I was 32 and a cap came off my tooth at work. My friend Jakki knew not to laugh and immediately called the dentist for me.
8. I’ve had two cavities in my life.
9. Intolerant people piss me off…really, how does a gay couple’s marriage threaten me or my marriage?
10. I miss my best friend from high school.
11. I would drink a cup of coffee and eat a generous slice of apple pie every morning for breakfast if I could.
12. I nearly moved to Italy with my son for a Roman dentist I was in love with.
13. I absolutely love being a mom, but sometimes I wonder why God let me be a mother when I miserably fail at it sometimes.
14. Even though my brother Jay hasn’t spoken to me in at least 15 years, I brag about his accomplishments whenever I can to anyone who will listen…YES he is an animator for The Simpsons.
15. If I could teach English, History or Business at a community college tomorrow, I would stay up all night long making lesson plans.
16. I love to cook for guests and my family, but can’t make gravy to save my life.
17. I would take a homemade ugly birthday cake any day over a purchased store bought one.
18. I am so proud that I earned two college degrees, started a career, bought a house and had a son all without a man. (Well, a man was involved for the latter but only briefly.)
19. I only completed my master’s degree because a family member showed up every single Monday night for two years to watch my son so I could go to school. They all came to my graduation ceremony too.
20. I am always surprised when my husband tells me I’m beautiful.
21. I was on speed dial with the principal my son’s kinder year.
22. My husband and I don’t share money. Absolutely none.
23. You couldn’t pay me to stay home and take care of my kids all day long. God didn’t build me that way.
24. When Jack wanted to know how babies came out and how babies got in, I told him.
25. I would be happy listening solely to National Public Radio and never listening to music.

I would add one more that I was surprised I didn’t before.

26. I love my step-parents and think of them as bonus parents not as people married to my parents.

Oh what fun! January 19, 2009

What a busy weekend we had.

We started with teching in the Pinewood Derby car Friday night. It was running really well and fast, so Jack and Aaron felt confident for the morning’s race.

Unfortunately, Saturday morning everything that could go wrong went wrong. The derby race was supposed to last between 1.5 and 2 hours, but 3.5 hours later we left. It was very painful for everyone, and I think it was really unfortunate for the boys because no one could hardly tell what was going on. Additionally, it seemed as if Jack’s car had been dropped over the night and was running horribly. It was a huge downer for all, but sometimes that is just how they go. Jack and Aaron had a good time working on the car, and Jack has a great looking car as a result.

My cousin Julie and her family – Dan, Maggie and little Owen – came down for the weekend as well. We had a great time swimming and playing Wii at our house. Dan curls, and they brought a game with curling. Unfortunately for Dan, he got stuck on my team. Troy’s team beat us handily two times. Dan and Julie are both allergic to cats and dogs, but they medicated themselves well before coming and were able to stick it out for a good 5 hours before leaving!

Owen kept busy by taking kleenex’s out of the box and dusting which, of course, I encouraged.

Jack has a little crush on his cousin Maggie. Two years ago, they were in my cousin’s wedding together. Maggie took to being smitten, and Jack and Maggie were awfully comfortable in the chair together for much of the evening together.

Sunday morning, then, I made homemade pop tarts courtesy of Chez Pim. We used traditional pie crusts with combinations of the following: Nutella, raspberry jam, lingonberry jelly, chocolate chips and cream cheese. I would make them much smaller next time as a little goes a long way AND it is nice two have two different kinds of small pop tarts rather than one giant one.

Once I started cooking on Sunday, I didn’t stop as I had friends coming over for an appetizer dinner that night. We had crab rangoon (in an open wonton shell), sausage stars (in an open wonton shell), edamame, spinach artichoke dip and assorted crackers, and mini pizzas on whole wheat crusts (tomato, feta and basil was one combination and tomato, arugula and fresh mozzarella was the other combination). These pizza crusts are going to become a standard in my house…I made the boys taco pizzas with them before company came and then polished the other six over the evening. I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make and how yummy!

It was a really fun night and lots of good food! We started the evening drinking mexican hot chocolate spiked with Kaluha or Bailey’s Irish Cream and then switched to wine.

Jack and I both had the day of for the MLK holiday, so we slept in late and cracked open the Wii Fit. That was really fun…Jack is very good at the hula hooping portion. Much better than I am. We took the dog for a nice walk and even went up to Marshalltown to visit my friend Dini with her two baby boys. Jack really was a very good entertainer of the boys.

Second Graders, Frosting Bags and (Avoiding) Walmart December 18, 2008

Its been more than a week, and I have survived 11 second graders making gingerbread houses, secret santa and a Mario Kart Wii shortage everywhere except for Walmart (which in case you’ve forgotten, I HATE…Walmart, not Mario Kart or Wii).

First, Saturday evening after Jack’s friend birthday party, I called my BFF and told her to remind me next year when I think it is a good idea to have a party with children at my house because it will be fun and cheaper than going someplace else. I told her to remind me that $100 is NOT too much to spend, that it is worth every single penny and that to interrupt me if I every start to talk about becoming an elementary school teacher. Since she already upholds this philosophy, it won’t be difficult for her to remind me. THANK GOD!

The kids weren’t that bad aside from all the wrestling, but 11 kids for two hours takes a lot out of you, particularly when you give them frosting bags with tips. Stupidly, I forgot that just because Jack has used a frosting bag and tip and knows that you MUST twist and hold from the top, it doesn’t mean that any other 8 year old know this technique. Thankfully, all the kids were able to make it to the sink before the frosting overflowed onto the floor.

These kids were genuinely fun, just maybe not ALL at one time while they are hopped up on candy and frosting.

Jack chose a chocolate chip cookie bar tower for his cake which saved me a lot of time and energy.

I chose to take part in Secret Santa at work because Secret Santa is fun. I like finding the right gift for my giftee. This year I’ve experienced two problems. The first is completely selfish and indulgent. I got what I asked for: mechanical pencils and Nutella. I was thinking those little packets the size of peanut butter packets at Perkins (say that 5 times fast) , but I got a regular 13 oz jar of Nutella.

Me+13 oz Nutella+a fork=6 oz of Nutella

Of course, I keep forks in a baggie in my desk drawer for my lunches. Of course, the Nutella jar was taunting me sitting there between my monitor and my keyboard.  And, of course, one of my favorite things EVER is being the first person to dig into a smooth, silky mess of peanut butter or NUTELLA! Aaron once got into a little pickle because he dug into the peanut butter without offering me the opportunity, but this is not about issues that I discuss with my therapist…

The second Secret Santa problem is this…my giftee’s wish list included a .5mm z4 Bic pen, movies and Scrabble. I thought the pen should be no problem, but I was wrong. A movie ticket could not be accommodated in the $10 Secret Santa budget, so I opted for specialty popcorn from a store nearby. Scrabble was a toughie…I was hoping to find some word-ie type of fabric to sew up into something fun. Unfortunately, I could find nothing word-ie that was not babyish as well. I found fabric with dominos, bingo and crossword puzzles, but not a single Scrabble related theme.

My next thought in Jo-Ann’s was buttons! Make something and sew on buttons that would fit the theme. Nothing. Ribbon is next to the buttons. Nothing. Scrapbooking supplies surely would have something suitable. Nothing…until I found these capital letter stickers that were BROWN and SQUARE. I found a pack of 8 blank greeting cards and two pieces of fun scrapbooking paper. With my 50% off coupon for the greeting card pack, my total purchase with tax was only $4.83. What a bargain!

I was counting on Aaron for help since he is typically far more creative than I am when it comes to paper items…remind me to post about some of his handmade Christmas cards to frat buddies. I needed him to make something that could resemble a Scrabble tile rack. Just as I suspected, Aaron came up with a pop-up three dimensional tile rack, but it wouldn’t quite work given the time constraints (about 60 minutes for 8 cards). While he cut paper, I dug out Scrabble and added numbers with black ink to all the tile stickers. The previous night, I searched for good 8 letter words (7 tiles PLUS the tile on the board). So, this morning, my recipient got a pack of greeting cards with a Scrabble theme.

Secret Santa left this in the mail room…

I’ll be looking for a used Scrabble game on craigslist.com because Santa’s final gift is this…

As it turns out, Santa has completed his shopping for the boys in our house, but mom and dad have not. I have had a serious lack of inspiration for Jack’s xmas gift after getting him the BEST birthday present ever – a new snowboarding sled and a helmet. Both of these boys have their birthdays in Nov. and Dec. so that makes it that much more difficult. I did get an inspiration the other day with Mario Kart Wii only to find out that no store in all of Des Moines had the game. I went online and everyplace was out – Target.com, Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com. Ebay was asking too much. The one place it was available was Walmart.com. I searched for another hour online…craigslist, facebook, etc.

For one hour I asked myself again and again if my boycott of Walmart should “ruin” Christmas. Then I thought, good god, I volunteer with the Cub Scouts despite my well documented distate for discrimination against gays. What more do I have to do? I succumbed to the motherly urge to not ruin Christmas only to find that my hour saved me and ruined Christmas – Walmart.com was sold out.

This morning, I searched some more and my last search (before Walmart) was proved fruitful! Bestbuy.com had it in stock, but you can never be sure at Bestbuy.com because sometimes items look like they are in stock only to have the out of stock show up at checkout. It looks like I saved Christmas AND avoided Walmart! Yippee!

Here is a picture of one of Jack’s gingerbread houses from school…he cleverly made a door that opens and put a waving gingerbread boy inside. In this picture, it looks like ET. I think he sorta looks like ET in person too.

Kettles, Carbon, Cocoa and Parties December 1, 2008

Well, tonight I attended an informational meeting on our soccer club’s board of director’s opportunities. There are plenty of opportunities there, but also a lot of good work that needs to get done so the soccer club can flourish and grow. As Jack appears to be turning into a gifted soccer player, it may be a good way to give back since I certainly canNOT coach and mowing lawns is not one of my favorite activities.

I’ll be ringing a Salvation Army bell this year with Jack, and Troy if he is here the weekend we ring. I first did this many years ago with my friend Peggy in Rochester. We froze our asses off because it was below zero if I remember correctly, but we had one person drop a $20 bill in the bucket! It was very exciting. Anyone can sign up online to spend two hours for a good cause!  Even if you get cold, you feel GREAT!

I’ve been seriously considering NOT sending xmas cards this year because of the carbon footprint and waste involved. The $80 or so dollars I would normally spend on the cards and postage could be dropped into a red kettle along with taking Jack and Troy shopping for Toys for Tots. I may make an email card which I know is considered tacky and sending cards to those I don’t have email addresses for. Tacky and give to good causes or not tacky and wasteful???

Since taking a job here in Des Moines, I have reduced my carbon footprint by 90 miles x 4 days x 50 weeks!!! Now, my carbon footprint for work is 4 miles x 5 days x 50 weeks PLUS 20 miles x 5 days x 50 weeks on MASS TRANSIT! Merry Christmas Earth!

I’d like to follow up on my last post about the new pie recipes. The chocolate pecan pie was NOT better than traditional pecan pie. It was not bad, but it wasn’t better. What is more is that I always forget that baking cocoa is a killer on the caffeine (i.e. my dessert kept me up until 2:30 am Friday morning which caused me to actually consider getting dressed and going out to the mall which had opened at midnight). The apple cream pie recipe was GREAT! I cut the cream in half and upped the sliced apples to about 6 cups and it was absolutely perfect.

My mom is coming this weekend to celebrate Jack’s birthday. I remembered tonight while cooking dinner that my mom loves the Christmas task I dislike – physically setting up the Christmas tree and flaring out all the branches. I love decorating it, but detest the boring details involved in the setting up process. I am so lucky!

Normally, we wait until after Jack’s birthday party to set up the tree (his friend party is Sat. the 13th) to keep his birthday his own, but he decided this year to set the tree up before his friend party because of his birthday party theme…I will be helping ELEVEN 2nd graders build gingerbread houses from graham crackers in two hours. UGH!!! I really should have asked my mom to come for that because I am going to need a lot of help. Jack wants two things for his party – building gingerbread houses and bobbing for apples OH and he earned enough points to invite ONE friend for a sleepover that night. OH and he also thinks having a drawing dragon contest is a good idea. When I told him that all his friends may not like drawing and focusing on the competition is probably not a good idea, he thought I wasn’t quite in tune with his friends and their drawing as I should be.

Did you read the part when I said ELEVEN 2nd graders – I usually have more than I can handle with my ONE second grader. What was I thinking? I was thinking that Jack turning 8 means inviting 8 friends which means having 9 second graders at one time over. That was overwhelming enough, but at least between two tables and a counter, I could physically position them all. Well, paring down the list from 10 to 8 proved so difficult that I caved, and we are inviting 10 kids over. Imagine frosting, candy and graham crackers EVERYWHERE! UGH!

Sometimes I am a good mom!

Lilly Bud Naturals and Food Group October 29, 2008

My friend Chersten started her own company, Lilly Bud Naturals, to provide human and environmentally safe cleaning products for the home. It all started from when her daughter Lilly was young, then Bud came along. Well, Bud’s name is actually Jon, but so is Jon’s dad but we call him Joey instead. At any rate, please comment if you have a son that you do NOT call Bud!  Everyone I know calls their son Bud as a nickname.

Here is the link to an article in the local Rochester (MN) newspaper! I don’t know how long the link will be live, so check it out fast!

Cher and I worked together for many years. In fact, she was my formal mentor after I started. She was in charge of taking me out to lunch occasionally to check in on me, make sure I was feeling good about my position, etc. It was great!

Eventually, Cher, Warren (another work friend) and I decided that we needed to formalize our love of good food and friendship. Thus, one afternoon at a potluck for a departing colleague, Food Group was born. We met for about two years about 8 times a year, almost every month, with three rules:

1. The host/hostess selects the menu along a theme, cooks the main dish and makes suggestions for accompanying dishes, dessert and wine. (That sounds like more than one rule, but it really isn’t since selecting the theme can really only count as a small fraction of a rule.)

2. EVERY recipe has to be NEW to the person who is cooking/baking it. (As far as I know, this rule was only broken once by someone I invited to a dinner party. Instead of making something, she bought it from the store. I shamed her relentlessly as a result.)

3. The host/hostess can invite anyone else to the dinner party outside of the core Food Group group. (Eventually, we added two others to the Food Group second layer, but they eventually broke up and it just became awkward.)

Food Group was truly a highlight for all of us as we ventured into new recipes, new food selections and shared friendship. When I invited Aaron as my date to Food Group, it was a big deal. (Normally, I selected a girlfriend to join me…it was a coveted invitation that I passed around.) One of my favorite times to hostess was when the theme was a traditional Hanukah meal. Give me a plate of potato latkes, some applesauce and some sour cream and I am in heaven!!

When I moved away to Iowa, it was the beginning of the end. Shortly thereafter, Warren moved away to Alabama. It truly was a great time as we all had growing families at the time.

I’ve decided that I am going to keep a thanksgiving journal in November…a written tally of what I am thankful for each day in November. Today, October 29, I am very thankful for the opportunity to have grown friendships over a love of food and wine!

Sewing, Cupcakes, Politics…Don’t Get Me Started October 5, 2008

This weekend has been full. First off, I’ve been VERY anxious about posting about my first attempt at making a skirt since 7th grade sewing class. Thanks to my stepmom’s help making some adjustments to remove the hem and still get the right length, I think it turned out really well! I wore it for the first time last Thursday.

You can’t see the beautiful designs, so here is a closeup. (I purchased the fabric like this!!) The edge is scalloped thus the need to remove the hem, and the fabric has butterflies sewn onto it. We also used 3 pieces of fabric (two back and one front) instead of four to eliminate the seam down the middle front. Zippers are really difficult for me and I can’t make them lay right unfortunately.

I was shocked to discover that the Simplicity pattern (9825) was twice the size of my off-the-rack size. This was VERY disheartening, but something to be aware of. Normally, I wear a size 5 or 6. The size 12 fit perfectly. I only knew this because of the measurements on the back…I thought I’d better take a look and compare before I go through the hassle of sewing something that may not fit. I am now making a size 12 dress.

I took Jack to Walking With Dinosaurs Saturday night…Troy wasn’t here this weekend, so he didn’t get to come with us. I bought the cheapest seats possible (third level) and used $10 off coupons for each seat, so this was the only way that we went. It was really neat! It is based off a BBC special and is real life sized robotic dinosaurs staged in an arena. Imagine Disney on Ice without the ice and the skaters, but with dinosaurs and a paleontologist instead. It really was something to see these dinosaurs next to a man. They always show you this in books, but it is entirely different in real life, even from the cheap seats!

One weekend ago, I left for work while the boys decorating werewolf cupcakes. Here are some pictures. They did a great job.

Troy found the recipe in his National Geographic Kids magazine. I just searched the website but couldn’t find the recipe online. The only thing helpful to know would be that you use a fork to make the frosting look like hair (using a sort of touch and pull method). The boys had a lot of fun. I got a book on gingerbread houses from the library so I think we’ll try to do something with that for halloween as well this coming weekend. Jack and I also have another Cub Scout cake auction cake to design, and we may try a gingerbread log cabin in honor of camp. We’ll see. I’ve never worked with gingerbread before.

Friday was a very busy day. I had lunch with Stephanie, and thankfully, she listened to me complain most of the time. It was so nice to see her again! She used to be my assistant at work, but her internship paid her far more than I could, so when they asked her to stay on, she left me.

Friday night, Aaron’s friends from college came over to our new house. It was the first time in a VERY long time we’d had them over. It was fun to see them all again. One couple brought Guitar Hero and that was fun! Aaron got a bit carried away, so I retired earlier rather than later.

This weekend in the Des Moines Register, they had an interesting article about something I’ve been wondering about for about five weeks – WHERE the hell Sarah Palin got her Minnesota accent!! I can’t find the article online, but evidentally, many Minnesotan’s left MN during the Great Depression and went to Wasilla, Alaska for opportunity. (Wasilla is considered the “bread basket” of Alaska.) So, the Minnesota accent is still strong there even though I never heard it like she speaks it while I lived in Alaska. It feels good to have that mystery solved though.

Now that we are on Sarah Palin, I have to sort of eat my words. In a previous post, I said I thought she was smart enough to pull this off…that it appeared as if she was truly quite capable of learning what she needed to know. However, after the Katie Couric interviews, I must say that if you cannot answer simple questions like what newspapers you read and what your running mate’s record is, then you are not capable enough to be a dead heartbeat away from the Presidency. At this point, I think that she has the potential to make George Bush look not so dumb. (I can’t believe that is actually possible.) Do I think she doesn’t know what newspaper she reads in the morning? No, I don’t think she reads newspapers because she is too busy getting her kids off to school and whatnot. I don’t blame her for that because that is what most moms want to do. But, I do not want a president who doesn’t read several newspapers every day and who only depends on aids telling him/her what to read from the newspapers each day.

With that said, when she is prepped and speaks from the stump, she really speaks well, appears confident and extremely knowledgeable. However, if you are not polished enough to do the political thing of answering a question by not answering a question OR by not revealing that you have no idea, then you shouldn’t be president or vice president. You shouldn’t be Speaker of the House or Majority or Minority Leader of the Senate either.

Speaking of Speaker of the House, I am getting VERY annoyed with Nancy Pelosi’s partisan remarks when they are unwarranted and non-value added as my friend Jakki would say.

Speaking of Alaska, I just finished Arctic Village by Robert Marshall. It is a book I have wanted to read since junior year of college. It is about Robert’s time in the TINY village of Wiseman, Alaska during the early 1930’s. This village is in the middle of BFE even today, much more so when there were no roads heading that way. It is an ethnographic study of the village made up of whites who came searching for gold and the native Alaskans who live there. It is more than an ethnography and really gets at the heart of what living in this area was like. I found it incredibly interesting, but it may be mostly because I am familiar with Alaska, the area and the goldmining experience there.

The Modern Mom Diaper Bag… September 10, 2008

finally have my camera back to show the diaper bag that I made for my friend Dini who recently gave birth to two cute baby boys! Unfortunately, I was unable to sew this prior to her baby shower, so at her shower, I folded the fabric into a little pocket which held the pattern. I wish I’d taken a picture because I rarely think of things that clever! The trick was remembering to take it back when I left.

I chose Sew Baby’s Double Duty Bag after looking over many, many diaper bag patterns. She wanted an open top, so that narrowed it down. This pattern is reversible, and I really liked this feature. I rarely use patterns, but this pattern was easy to follow.

I found the fabric at a quilting store. The fabric called for a waterproof fabric, but I could not find anything I liked that was waterproof. I absolutely LOVE this fabric – it screams modern mom! I have some scraps left and I’m going to do something fun with them!The quilting store also suggested a different kind of interfacing that I hadn’t used before and it really gave the bag a certain “thick” quality.

I added a carabiner because moms need places to attach things, particularly moms of twins. This was very easy and turned out really nice.

The changing pad is what is sticking out. I bought tablecloth material that matched the material for the wipeable side. It wasn’t great to sew with, but it will work out really well I think for ease of use. I added some interfacing on the changing pad as well so little Ryder and Dylan’s bums and backs will be comfy.

It was a lot of fun to make this bag because I was so excited to give Dini something handmade for her new undertaking!

I still am here! August 18, 2008

August has been crazy around here, and I am officially exhausted. Even Drake is tired!

Today, was Jack’s first day of second school!!! How did that happen? Here he goes with his friend up the street. I can’t wait to hear about his day!

I am very pleased to report completion off two major sewing projects of late. The first was a shopping bag for my mother-in-law. It is her very belated Mother’s Day gift. She knew it was going to be late (not this late though) because of the move. It didn’t take me long to complete, especially since I made up the pattern again. I took ideas from two of my other bags and combined them. I also made sure to enclose all seams since it isn’t lined. I can’t remember where I saw another blogger do this, but it was a great idea for a clean finish.

It did turn out taller than I wanted, but it will still work. Because it is so tall, the top folds in, so I attached two buttons and a loop to pretty it up.

The second project was my friend’s surprise birthday party this past weekend. I made table runners from a fabric that I had that I knew she would like. As is always the case, the ironing it is what is important!!! You can see the table runner underneath the cakes in this picture. I made the cakes as well with two new recipes that worked very well.

The cake was Betty Crocker’s Chocolate Fudge Cake and the mock buttercream was made with marshmallow fluff and was found in Country Living Magazine. Note that there are only two cakes in the picture. The third cake bit the dust because someone let me carry it outside without supervision. I twisted, turned and finally fell into two chairs and landed on my back. I did NOT break the cake stand, and the cake landed perfectly on the ground after first bumping my breasts. A couple of advil and a drink and I made it fine. The next morning, I could barely move though. Thankfully, today I feel good which is very surprising.

We also spent time in August with family and friends in MN, then took the kids to Wisconsin Dells. They had a good time with all the go karts, roller coasters and water slides at Mt. Olympus. I have fond memories of cheap hotels, fresh cinnamon rolls and family style restaurants from my younger days of visiting the Dells. The downtown was almost exactly as I remember it. The waterpark area had changed quite a bit. The Trojan Horse was the favorite go-kart track.

Tinkering School…Aaron heard this Monday on All Things Considered on the drive home. It is GREAT!!! This guy started this summer camp for kids to tinker. If they want to learn how a dishwasher works, they take it take apart. If they want to build a boat, they make a real, floatable boat. Parents have to sign a waiver saying that if their kids are hurt or killed, they will not hold the camp liable. This audio is hilarious…listen for the girl hitting the tree (repeatedly) at the bottom of a saggy zipline a ten year constructed. Jack and Troy would totally love this camp!

Cupcake Celebrations July 23, 2008

My intern for the summer has her last day tomorrow. Nazreth has been a huge help the past 8 weeks, and unfortunately, I am really going to miss her. Thankfully, she loves working with me so much that she wants to come back and volunteer for a while! (Well, maybe that isn’t the reason she wants to come back and volunteer, but it makes me feel really good to say that!

In honor of Nazreth’s last day, I made two cupcake recipes from Julie Hasson’s 125 best Cupcake recipes. (I took the boys to the library the other day and found myself in the cookbook section.) I wanted to make Nazreth something really yummy. I know she used to drink a lot of coffee and sort of had to wean herself down to one cup each day, so I thought the Malted Espresso Cupcakes would be a special treat. I like malt powder, but have never had it mixed with espresso or coffee. Julie assures “they are an exceptional duo.” I figured why not! Because I wanted a backup in case she hated my first choice, I chose the Best Chocolate Cupcakes. Since the boys were in need of a bedtime snack, I knew this would be a winner with them at the very least.

One thing that I really like about Julie Hasson’s cupcake recipes are that they are small batches – most are for 12 which is the perfect number because I will only end up eating about 6 if I make 12 rather than 12 of 24. I also like that her recipes are about whisking in things (flour mixtures get whisked into the main batter in three segments and the liquid mixture gets whisked into the batter in two segments). I have NEVER had such beautiful batters. That sounds really weird, but I can’t help it because it is true.

As any good baker, I had to test the batter prior to baking. The Malted Espresso Cupcake was interesting, but not dazzling. While the cupcakes cooled, I made her buttercream frosting recipe and halved it – left half plain and added some espresso to the other half for the Malted Espresso Cupcakes. The boys confirmed my suspicions – the chocolate cupcakes were terrific and we agreed brownie like. (I even baked them about two minutes too long and they were still great.) Troy had his cupcake topped with frosting paired with a frosting squirt straight from the bag into his mouth. Jack doesn’t like frosting much, but he tested the frosting and decided he’d have a squirt on his cupcake as well.

Once the boys were settled, I decided to frost the Malted Espresso Cupcakes with my espresso buttercream frosting. OMG were they AWESOME!!! I couldn’t believe it! The malt and the espresso ARE the perfect combination! My camera batteries are charging, so I’ll take a picture in the morning.

Speaking of cupcakes, I’ve lost 12 of my 16 pounds I’d set out for. I’ve remained stable for several weeks now at the 12 pound mark, and I can’t deny it anymore. The last 4 pounds are going to require MORE exercise. I increased my exercise initially by walking from the commuter lot at work. I park 1.13 miles away from my car. (Imagine I said we would never use the GPS!) I also used WeightWatchers.com to get my eating back in check. I am very happy that after about 6 weeks of tracking EVERYTHING I ate, I no longer have to use the points to calculate AND best of all, I am not constantly hungry!!

Speaking of exercise, I had coffee with a friend from MN. Peggy was in town because she is a driver for some friends who are doing RAGBRAI. (For those of you not in the IA know, RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bike ride in the world thanks to the Des Moines Register (newspaper). Thus, Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.) It is huge, annoying for traffic, motivational and cool all at the same time. You can do the whole ride from the western IA to eastern IA over 6 or 7 days OR you can do one leg or part of a leg. It makes me want to not mind a sore butt to bike next summer.

At any rate, Peggy and I were able to catch up, something we haven’t done for a very long time.

Tattoo removal July 16, 2008

Well, tonight Jack and I sat and watched two hours of The Baby Borrowers mainly because he was grounded from playing outside with friends for mouthing off from playing outside. He stopped into the living room to watch a little bit of Friends, then we started watching the show.

The show’s premise is this: teenagers who think they are ready to have a baby are required to spend three days each with an infant, then a toddler, then pre-teens, then teenagers, then elderly people. Tonight was toddlers first, then pre-teens. He thought these kids were “Just my style” (his style, not mine). One of the girls was 7 years old and threw tantrums like a three year old and was quite mean to her sister. I pointed out how ridiculous she looked and how pointless it all was. (I’ll have to get back to you on whether or not it sunk in.)

At one point this 7 year old had to stay in her room in a timeout because she locked “dad” and sister out of the house. The teen “dad” wanted an apology from her before she could leave her room. He tried to coax her into apologizing by eating popsicles with her sister and offers of pizza. She just went ballistic instead. Finally, she wrote an apology on a sheet of paper and shoved it under the door for “dad” to find. Jack thought this was very clever and said so.

Another teen parent couple were told that they behaved like friends, not parents. Jack asked for clarification on that, and so I filled him in on the difference. He then saw the previews for the teenagers next week and predicted trouble. I told him that I wanted him to be 15 and still be talking to me and giving me kisses even though it may not be cool. He did not commit to anything.

During commercials, we flipped over to Supernanny, a repeat I’d already seen, but I really hate watching commercials plus I may have an undiagnosed case of ADD, but we won’t go there. Supernanny provided a tip to parents about making an easy star chart and how it can positively reinforce good behavior particularly when a family gets stuck in a negative reinforcement rut. (Any mother of a high-spirited child can relate to this!) Here is the conversation that followed nanny’s tip.

Jack: What’s so great about a star chart?

Mom: Does it ever feel like I don’t talk about the good things you are doing and I only focus on the bad?

*pause for thought*

Jack: No.

Mom: Really????

Jack (after thinking he clearly said the wrong answer): No, well, eh sometimes.

I think that gives me permission to seek laser removal of my worst mom ever tattoo across my forehead for the tooth fairy incident.

On to less interesting things…

I’ve been carpooling for two weeks now because driving round trip to work 90 miles is seriously putting a dent in my checkbook. Stefani and I carpool twice a week which is great for both of our checkbooks, but she is a morning person, and I am not. She needs to be to work by 8am, where I would normally stroll in between 8:30 and 8:45. We meet at 7am which means I have to get up by 6am to leave by 6:50am. (Did I mention that I still make an english muffin breakfast and hot tea for my hubby??)

The first day I got SO much done before 10am I couldn’t believe it! The high wore off though by morning #2, particularly by night #2 when I was exhausted by 10pm. (I’m a night owl, so this is usually the time that I get a second wind and start cleaning for the evening.) I survived and here I am in the middle of week two. Also, she has given me some good cooking ideas.

We are taking the kids to the Dells (of Wisconsin), and so I’ve been talking about it. I am so surprised at how many Iowans have never been there! It is much better now that there are water park options for rainy days! The kids are going to love it! It isn’t Legoland California, but it’ll still be fun! This summer has been so crazy with the move, that it will be the only time we camp this summer. (We normally camp 5-7 times over the summer.) We will be able to try our our Therm-A-Rests out that we got for Christmas.

Another baby was saved in Iowa today because of the Safe Haven law. This is the law that allows a baby to be dropped off at a hospital and left without consequences to the person dropping it off. This, of course, prevents babies from being abandoned in unsafe conditions.

Iowa’s golden girl, Shawn Johnson, is off to the Beijing Olympics and is on lots of national commercials now. She is a 16 year old gymnast and current World Champion. Jack thinks she is on the commercials because she is from Iowa, not because she is an Olympiad. Unfortunately, our camping trip is scheduled during part of the Olympics. At least my world traveler friends, Carrie and Bob, are taking their kids to China for the Olympics!!! They will be taking in some gymnastics, track and field, BMX and much more! I am so jealous!!! The kids even are missing the first week of school!

Last aside…I love that Aaron, Jack and Troy all know how to properly use “well” (instead of “good”). They have no idea why (one is an adverb and the other is an adjective).