1.04.2010

{ camryn's corner }

I have no words.




No words to describe what you are about to see when you click here and read Camryn's new post.

It's a wonderful way to start out the new year.

With pictures like this:

And this:

What do these pictures have in common? It all has to do with a twisted and morbid family tradition that will have you cringing and laughing.

And re-thinking that invention you were about to patent. ;)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! We sure did!

It's back to old routine, and I will have another tidbit Thursday that should make you chuckle just a teeny bit...

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Happy Very First Monday of 2010!
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12.23.2009

{ a christmas laugh }

So what do you get when you add crazy Holiday Season with a dash of out-of-town visitors? Me forgetting to plug Camryn's hilarious post from Monday. And you know, until I read it, I never thought about what would happen if any of the reindeer get sick {aside from the retarded people who make movies about puppies pulling the sleigh- enough 'Buddies' movies already!}. Are there back up replacements? Second Strings? Understudies?

Why, yes.
Yes there are.

Slide on over to MMU to check out Camryn's clever post about Santa's Second String. You will be laughing- I promise. Because it's full of stuff like this:

These wonderful pictures are of the back-up reindeer. Ya know, just in case . . .

And if you want another dose of awesome laughter, please check out another one of her stories here. Please, please, please read to the end. I may have peed a little when I saw the last picture. The one of the cleverly decorated Gingerbread MAN. It's perfect for adding a wonderful holiday chuckle as Christmas nears {WAY too quickly, I might add}.

***

Christmas parties at our Church are always fun. The kids get to sit on Santa's lap and then create some awesome {but end up in the trash a few days later} Christmas Crafts. Santa always has a little something for the dear kiddos. Here is this year's 'gift':
Yes. Organic Chocolate from Trader Joe's. Mmmm....

{insert sarcasm here}

If you're gonna eat chocolate this time of the year, please make sure it is REAL. Swiss, preferably.

But I would like to direct your attention to a few things that adorn this fun and clever cardboard box. First we have Jolly Old Saint Nick.
Who happens to be hungry. It isn't easy keeping a figure like that.

So what do his Infamous Helpers rush over to him?
That's right. TOFU. Because that's what ANY jolly person would want to eat. I don't know about you, but if I was forced to eat tofu, I would not be chuckling ho, ho, that's for sure.

But my favorite part of this box is on the back. In the ingredients section. I laughed.
*sigh*

Good thing my kids think it's nasty.

'Cuz it is.

Moral Of My Random Story:

Please enjoy good food this year. Throw those diets out the window. Enjoy real chocolate, real mashed potatoes with gravy, real cookies, real cakes {please skip the fruit cake}, real eggnog, real whipped cream {of the heavy persuasion}, real cheese balls, real fudge, real candy canes, etc. Christmas only comes once a year, and it's high time we enjoy it right. I will be celebrating with my Cream Cheese Danish and Grandma B.'s homemade rolls. With butter.

I hope you all have the Merriest of Christmases! Remember to relax! Go to Pandora.com and listen to a plethora of fun Christmas songs right off your computer. Just try not to blow those speakers as you blast Jingle Bell Rock throughout the house. ;-)

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Merry Christmas!
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12.17.2009

{ this 'n that and some cookie baking }

Do you ever have one of those days where you have the desire NEED to make a cookie or two? That was this morning. After a wonderful {insert sarcasm here} day yesterday, I felt that making cookies today would make it all better. Since a good night's sleep didn't do the trick. {You know those kind of dreams where the world is ending and you have to grab your children and hide in some underground cave to escape the nuclear bombs that have evaporated your homes and the homes of your neighbors, and then when it's over you have to stay there because the country that bombed your beloved country is searching {on bicycles, I might add} for survivors to exterminate? You know THOSE kind of dreams? Yeah, there was no restfulness going on in the recesses of my brain.}

What kind of crap is going on in my subconscious?

Yesterday was interesting to say the least.

Imagine pee. Then poo.

My day was filled with both.

My daughter could NOT pee in the toilet without making some kind of nasty mess.

Then she clogged the toilet with her poop. YES. You read that right. My 3 year old clogged the toilet. Disgusting. I know you didn't want to read that, but I didn't want to have to clean it. And I don't like suffering alone. She flushed her underwear down the toilet too, but our plumbing seems unaffected by that 'clog'.

Then, while showering, she opened the curtain and let it 'rain' all over the bathroom floor.

Sweet.

Then I received a beautiful Christmas dress my mother made, in the mail. I called her to say thank you and to tell her how well it fit my daughter. As I finished up the conversation with my mom giving me instructions that this was a dry clean only dress, my dearest little girl ran into the room screaming that her dress was all dirty. I hung up, examined the dress, and said it was not dirty. She insisted it was, so I took it off, her bare bum staring me in the face.

Please, no.

I went to look at the back of the dress, and touched something soaking wet.

I lifted it up.

Sure enough. The white fur edge was yellow. {And yes, I had just put my hand in it.}

Dry clean only. Oh well. I washed it in the bathroom sink. Brand new dress. Not even an hour old.

And THEN she pulled the pom pom off the jacket.

Not even an hour old.

That's pretty much how the day wet. Cleaning pee and poop.

In fact, I will give you proof by showing you my bathroom. Here we go:

HAHAHAHahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Just kidding. I would NEVER do that to ANYONE.

So that's why I decided cookie making was in order.

I have a major flaw { shocking, I know ;) }. I am one of the most impatient people I know. If I want something, it has to be then and now. If I'm refinishing a piece of furniture, it's like pulling out teeth waiting for the primer to dry. If I want to make cookies, I will just start, not making sure I have enough ingredients to make said cookies. {I know I have the ingredients, I just don't check to see how much I have before I begin.}

I saw these cookies online. {From Tongue-n-cheeky.com}

So cheerful. I knew I just had to try them.

So I did. I grabbed my addicted to helping me cook sweet daughter, and our Holiday aprons:

This is all you get to see of me today. Trust me. I'm doing you a favor . . .

And we began. I had to add extra white sugar to my brown sugar because I didn't quite have enough {shocker}. Then we mixed:

And rolled:

And yes, that is my daughter wearing her brother's Lightning McQueen underwear because she went through every. single. one. yesterday. They are washing as we speak . . . write . . . read . . . whatever . . .

{And that bottle of baby lotion? Costco purchase from 3 years ago. I have a love/hate relationship with that store. Things last for forever, but then they last for forever. Like shampoo. Want to try a different brand? Well wait 9 years and then you'll get your chance.}

What do you do when your recipe tells you to cut the dough into 1 inch circles and you don't have a 1 inch circular cookie cutter?

Run to the toy box and grab a shape from the John Deere puzzle thing.

Yes, I washed it. With soap. And hot water.

I cut them out, and you can see my clumps of brown sugar because I didn't want to take the time to put the hard as rock golf ball sized clumps into a food processor, so I just smashed the stuff with a fork. Therapeutic.

You can always tell how good a cookie is by the way the dough tastes. I could have eaten the entire batch right then and there.

But I couldn't make the frosting for them because I only had this much powder sugar left.

Now here come's my shameful plea: Please make these cookies {properly} and tell me how it tastes? 'Cuz I'm not going out into public in my lack of good hygiene state to retrieve the rest of the ingredients.

And please tell me if yours went hard as a rock when they cooled. I realize I probably cooked them too long, but they were so doughy after the correct amount of cooking time that I couldn't get them off the pan. So I stuck them back in the oven till I could.

BUT, they do go well with a glass of milk. To soften them up. As long as you crumble them up in tiny pieces. And eat it with a spoon. Like cereal . . .

Would I make these again? Yep. I think it's only fair, since I slaughtered this first round.

So, if anything else, make these cookies just for the dough. Then eat it. By yourself.

Especially if you've spent the day cleaning pee and poop.

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Have a Wonderful Weekend!
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12.14.2009

{ camryn's corner }

As if I need to remind you, but Christmas is only 11 days away. ELEVEN. One-one. Are you ready?!?!
{I will take a moment here, and wait for everyone to calm back down and regain their senses.}

I don't know about you, but I feel like I haven't had the time to enjoy the holidays- they've come WAY too quickly. So here's the master plan to salvage what's left of the season:

1 | finish up Christmas gifts for students/teachers TODAY.*
2 | deep clean one room every day this week.
3 | wrap gifts {yes, there are NONE under the tree yet- they're all in my closet. I know that's dangerous leaving them there all vulnerable and exposed. That Mr. Smith is VERY sneaky.}
4 | wrap Santa gifts, stocking stuffers included this weekend. {I have a separate plastic bag for each person- I just wrap and throw them in there, then, on Christmas Eve, I just take 5 minutes to dump them out/in stockings and can head to bed and get that coveted sleep.}
5 | AFTER payday {on Saturday}, grab the last thing on my list for Mr. Smith.

{and this is exactly what I will look like when I go shopping- heels and all!}

If I can stick to the plan {I heard those snickers}, I will have all next week to feel the Christmas Spirit and focus more on the true meaning of one of the most amazing Holidays. I can do activities with the kids, make whatever cookies I want {or don't want}, and sit back and enjoy my last week of Christmas. Want to join me? Do you have a secret, a trick you might say, that you do to help you maintain your sanity through this amazing time of year?

Now, I would like you to head on over to Mean Mommy University and check out my fabulous cousin's post today. It will add a touch of Holiday Giggle to your Manic Day, the way Camryn cleverly describes Christmas Through The Ages. She has a knack for writing, and I know you won't be dissapointed . . .

{And YES, this means my internet and photo editing software are back on track! Merry Christmas to ME!}

*Easy Christmas gifts: make a glaze with powdered sugar and milk. Dip one end of a marshmallow in it. Then dip that into finely crushed peppermint candies. Once dried, stick a toothpick in the non-candied ends, and place them in a cute bag or box with packs of hot cocoa mix {Swiss Miss-$1 a box @ Walmart}. Boo-yah. DONE. And delicious. You just swirl your marshmallow in a mug of hot cocoa and enjoy!

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Happy Manic Monday!
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12.10.2009

{ stay tuned }

So I'm having issues with my internet and my pics. I have a story all ready to go, just waiting for technology to work properly. Yes, I realize that's an oxymoron. ;) I'll post as soon as I can get something to work . . .

12.07.2009

{ camryn's corner }

So, apparently, Camryn is a Chocolate Connoisseur. Not even kidding you. The woman is a genius. Her latest post is all about chocolate,


and cookies,
and chocolate and cookies,

and the proper way to loose weight,and more chocolate.

It doesn't get any better than that.

And please check out her thoughts on the family Christmas Card. I almost cried it was so beautiful. Head on over for a good laugh!

PS- Did you know that there are only 18 more days till Christmas.

{insert whining, crying, screaming, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth here.}

I'm ALMOST ready . . .

{insert snicker of insanity and delusion here.}

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Happy Monday!
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12.03.2009

{ sticking it to the . . . screen? }

I've seen this idea going around, but I don't post on Tuesdays. So I can't really be a part of Post It Note Tuesday {if it was Post It Note Thursdays, I'd totally be linking up, but rules are rules}. B - U - T, I will tell you that if you are interested {and I know you are}, check it out here at SupahMommy's Blog! Funny Stuff People. Join her on Tuesdays! You may become addicted. I may have to start posting on Tuesdays... hmmm....

Moving right along: