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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Amazing
What a precious gift my family and all those touched by the life of Kerry have been given...
Monday, January 23, 2012
Speechless
“When we lose someone we love, it seems that time stands still. What moves through us is a silence... a quiet sadness... A longing for one more day... one more word... one more touch... We may not understand why you left this earth so soon, or why you left before we were ready to say good-bye, but little by little, we begin to remember not just that you died, but that you lived. And that your life gave us memories too beautiful to forget.”
This past Saturday, January 21st, 2012, my family lost a beautiful, intelligent, talented and truly amazing member. She was 21 years old. Full of life. She had such a bright future ahead of her. And I'm not just saying that, because it seems that's all there is to say when someone is taken too soon. She was living a life full of promise. She was a top student and was truly unique. She LOVED music, and not the typical pop loved by so many girls her age. She loved the Beatles and classic rock. She loved to be just a little bit different. And it fit her. She was one of a kind, and yet EVERYONE loved her. She was never found without a smile, and could instantly put one on your face with her mere presence. She lived for her family, who happened to also be her closest friends. She was a light in our family's lives.
And I find it so amazing that I can say all of those wonderful things about her, because we weren't even close. She's an extended cousin, the daughter of my mother's cousin, and we're quite a few years apart. I was actually a lot closer to her mother. But our family is strong. Like, Steel Magnolias strong (you have to be a chick to understand). We don't see eachother all that often, but we're closer than most people are with their own selves. I had the honor of watching her grow into the spirit she became. And what a spirit she was.
She was one of three young people who passed in a tragic house fire early Saturday morning. It was a quick and furious fire. Four other people were able to escape. Our deepest prayers are that she passed peacefully in her sleep and never had a chance to see the madness around her. Please God, let that be the case.
Her two sisters, all only a year apart, are completely broken and lost without their best friend (she was the oldest). Her parents, who I call my aunt and uncle, are still in complete shock. No one can try to understand it, nor do we want to. We all want to pretend that it's just a bad dream. And if we never really understand, then maybe it will never be real.
RIP Kerry Rose. You are forever loved.
This past Saturday, January 21st, 2012, my family lost a beautiful, intelligent, talented and truly amazing member. She was 21 years old. Full of life. She had such a bright future ahead of her. And I'm not just saying that, because it seems that's all there is to say when someone is taken too soon. She was living a life full of promise. She was a top student and was truly unique. She LOVED music, and not the typical pop loved by so many girls her age. She loved the Beatles and classic rock. She loved to be just a little bit different. And it fit her. She was one of a kind, and yet EVERYONE loved her. She was never found without a smile, and could instantly put one on your face with her mere presence. She lived for her family, who happened to also be her closest friends. She was a light in our family's lives.
And I find it so amazing that I can say all of those wonderful things about her, because we weren't even close. She's an extended cousin, the daughter of my mother's cousin, and we're quite a few years apart. I was actually a lot closer to her mother. But our family is strong. Like, Steel Magnolias strong (you have to be a chick to understand). We don't see eachother all that often, but we're closer than most people are with their own selves. I had the honor of watching her grow into the spirit she became. And what a spirit she was.
She was one of three young people who passed in a tragic house fire early Saturday morning. It was a quick and furious fire. Four other people were able to escape. Our deepest prayers are that she passed peacefully in her sleep and never had a chance to see the madness around her. Please God, let that be the case.
Her two sisters, all only a year apart, are completely broken and lost without their best friend (she was the oldest). Her parents, who I call my aunt and uncle, are still in complete shock. No one can try to understand it, nor do we want to. We all want to pretend that it's just a bad dream. And if we never really understand, then maybe it will never be real.
RIP Kerry Rose. You are forever loved.
Friday, January 20, 2012
IHeartEtsy
...and who doesn't? Etsy has the same effect on my mind as Pinterest - what did I DO before it existed?
Today I made two purchases...quite a lot for the penny pincher I am.
The first was somewhat of an impulse buy, but in way was also thought out. I was just reading this post over on Our Little Beehive (a new favorite of mine) about eco-friendly and budget saving "unpapertowels". I had been seeing cloth paper towels all over the internet for months, and kept thinking to myself that it was such a great idea, but never looked into it much. Frankly, all the ones I saw looked pretty impractical for our house. Some were made with pretty fabric and/or fleece or lambswool. Some were shown stored right on the papertowel holder that just about every home has, but still seemed more hype and trendiness than actual practicality. Admittedly, I was probably being ignorant, but I just never thought it would be worth it. But sure enough, everytime I'm in the grocery store dropping 15 bucks on an 18 pack of papertowels (and that's WITH coupons, folks - gotta love NY prices), I swear to myself I'll look into cloth paper towels.
Fast forward to today, and I'm reading OLB's post. And I check out her link to the Etsy site where she bought her "unpaper towels". And they're not hypey (I swear it's a real word) or trendy. They look...actually... pretty practical.
AAAaaand I'm sold! I did not talk to M about it. I did not talk to my own brain about it. I just decided I was in. I went on over to Love for Earth (because OLB seems to have done their research and I didn't want to do anymore.Lazy) and started with the smallest package. I figure I'll start small so that M doesn't push back too hard. And that way if, for some reason, they don't work out in our home, it won't be a huge loss. One step closer to hippie status.
The second purchase was a little cutie that had been sitting on my favorite items list for quite some time. And when I impulse-bought those unpapertowels, I figured "why the hell not", got trigger happy, and purchased this little gal:
I think she'll fit in perfectly with my plate collection gallery (safe bet, considering it only consists of Chase right now). Actually, I found her when the Delilah plates went out of stock, but with no other plates in sight I never went ahead and pulled the trigger. The plate collection gallery saga continues...
That is all.
Happy Friday!
Today I made two purchases...quite a lot for the penny pincher I am.
The first was somewhat of an impulse buy, but in way was also thought out. I was just reading this post over on Our Little Beehive (a new favorite of mine) about eco-friendly and budget saving "unpapertowels". I had been seeing cloth paper towels all over the internet for months, and kept thinking to myself that it was such a great idea, but never looked into it much. Frankly, all the ones I saw looked pretty impractical for our house. Some were made with pretty fabric and/or fleece or lambswool. Some were shown stored right on the papertowel holder that just about every home has, but still seemed more hype and trendiness than actual practicality. Admittedly, I was probably being ignorant, but I just never thought it would be worth it. But sure enough, everytime I'm in the grocery store dropping 15 bucks on an 18 pack of papertowels (and that's WITH coupons, folks - gotta love NY prices), I swear to myself I'll look into cloth paper towels.
Fast forward to today, and I'm reading OLB's post. And I check out her link to the Etsy site where she bought her "unpaper towels". And they're not hypey (I swear it's a real word) or trendy. They look...actually... pretty practical.
The second purchase was a little cutie that had been sitting on my favorite items list for quite some time. And when I impulse-bought those unpapertowels, I figured "why the hell not", got trigger happy, and purchased this little gal:
That is all.
Happy Friday!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
55 Things
I was doing some computer cleaning here at work (yes, I do what I'm not supposed to do and save personal things to my work computer - I'm horrible), and came upon this littel gem. I know you've all seen this list floating around the interwebs, but I read it today for the first time in a long time and got a good chuckle out of it and thought it would be fun to share. I know there was a better title for it, like "55 Things for the Mature Adult", or something like that, but I didn't save it. Hopefully, you'll find something here to give you a little chuckle this Thursday morning. Oh, and I don't have a source, so if you know where it came from, please let me know. Obvi, I found it before the days of Pinterest...
1. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.
3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
4. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?
5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
6. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
8. Do you remember when you were a kid playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid inAmerica
9. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
10. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the fck was going on when I first saw it.
11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
12. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
13. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
14. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
15. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
16. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
17. Was learning cursive really necessary?
18. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
19. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
20. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
21. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".
22. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
23. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)...ummm...Goonies"
24. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
25. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
26. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
27. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
28. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
29. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
30. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
31. Bad decisions make good stories
32. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
33. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
34. If CarmenSan Diego
35. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
36. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
37. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
38. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to fall after leaning your chair back a little too far.
39. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
40. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
41. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
42. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
43. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
44. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
45. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
46. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
47. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
48. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
49. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.
50. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
51. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...
52. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
53. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
54. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than with Kay.
55. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner
1. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.
3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
4. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?
5. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
6. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
7. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
8. Do you remember when you were a kid playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in
9. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
10. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the fck was going on when I first saw it.
11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
12. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
13. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
14. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
15. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
16. A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
17. Was learning cursive really necessary?
18. Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
19. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
20. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
21. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".
22. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
23. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)...ummm...Goonies"
24. What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
25. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
26. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
27. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
28. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
29. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
30. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
31. Bad decisions make good stories
32. Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
33. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
34. If Carmen
35. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
36. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
37. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
38. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to fall after leaning your chair back a little too far.
39. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
40. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
41. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
42. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
43. When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
44. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
45. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
46. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
47. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
48. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
49. I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.
50. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
51. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...
52. It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
53. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
54. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than with Kay.
55. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard before dinner
Monday, January 16, 2012
Do you have a Dream?
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?"
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Recipe Share
Once the Goose started eating "with" us, as opposed to being fed either baby food or something slightly different, I wanted to start cooking good homecooked meals. M is the long-standing chef in our house, considering I hate it and he loves it and is also much better at it then me. But once I knew the Goose would be eating with us all the time, I somehow started to care, and enjoy cooking. All of my newfound cooking skills unfortunately have yet to be documented, as they've been taking place during my blogger absence. But I didn't think it would be fair to leave you completely high and dry. So here's some of the recipes that I found, tried and highly approve of. And on a serious note, what the hell did we do before Pinterest? How did we cook, dress, decorate, renovate and breathe? If you're interested, follow me here.
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| Crispy Cheddar Chicken |
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| Crockpot Buffalo Chicken |
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| Chicken Pot Pie |
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| Slow-cooker Pepper and Steak |
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| Homemade Chicken and Dumplings |
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| Chicken Broccoli Supreme |
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| Easy Crust Chicken Pot Pie |
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| Crockpot French Dip |
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| Broccoli Chedder Chicken Crescent Braid |
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| Chicken Cordon Bleu |
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| Pork and Mushroom Stew over Apple-Potatoe Mash (my absolute favorite of them all) |
I realize most of these aren't exactly healthy, but know that I always add tons of veggies either to the recipe itself or on the side, and always follow up with fruit. We're lucky - the Goose is generally a great eater. Some days aren't as good as others, but mostly we can get him a belly full of good healthy food. I also added/changed/altered some of these recipes slightly in some cases, but for the most part followed them pretty closely.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Chase
Remember, from back in this post, the Delilah plates from C&B that I was dying to buy for a plate collection gallery that were no longer available?
Well, every now and then I check around to find a trace of them, to no avail. And then two days ago I got the newest C&B catalogue and opened to the inside cover page...
The purchase button has already been pressed and he's on his way! I chose only two of the yellow (Chase comes in three colors - yellow, blue, green) because I’m hoping that if I decide later that I want the blue or green, they might still be around (the blue, green and teal Delilah plates were around for months after the yellow ones sold out). Also, I’m pretty indecisive about how I want the gallery collection to be be configured and how many plates I’ll want/need. So instead of going all crazy buying six or more plates in three colors, I just grabbed two yellows because there’s no way I’m letting them slip away this time. I figure this can be an ongoing project. It works better for me since, besides these two C&B plates, I don’t seem to fall in love with much anything else. Even more importantly, fundage is superlow around here these days, with me being part time and M not really being available for overtime b/c of his injury. All $$ is being closely watched, and home decor is definitely not a priority. This also means that each piece will likely be something I’m in love with since I took my time to gather the collection, and that the collection can evolve with my changing taste.
Right now the goal is to bring in pops of yellow to add to all the neutral blues and beiges we’ve got going on now. Besides our front door, I’ve been holding out, but these plates just sealed the deal.
Like I said, the home décor changes in our house are going to be slow-coming, but I’m pretty pumped about these plates right now and that’s good enough for me.
Who knew that a plate could cause so much excitement? To say that “times have changed” in my life would be an understatement.
...and laid my eyes on the Chase plate.
The purchase button has already been pressed and he's on his way! I chose only two of the yellow (Chase comes in three colors - yellow, blue, green) because I’m hoping that if I decide later that I want the blue or green, they might still be around (the blue, green and teal Delilah plates were around for months after the yellow ones sold out). Also, I’m pretty indecisive about how I want the gallery collection to be be configured and how many plates I’ll want/need. So instead of going all crazy buying six or more plates in three colors, I just grabbed two yellows because there’s no way I’m letting them slip away this time. I figure this can be an ongoing project. It works better for me since, besides these two C&B plates, I don’t seem to fall in love with much anything else. Even more importantly, fundage is superlow around here these days, with me being part time and M not really being available for overtime b/c of his injury. All $$ is being closely watched, and home decor is definitely not a priority. This also means that each piece will likely be something I’m in love with since I took my time to gather the collection, and that the collection can evolve with my changing taste.
Right now the goal is to bring in pops of yellow to add to all the neutral blues and beiges we’ve got going on now. Besides our front door, I’ve been holding out, but these plates just sealed the deal.
Like I said, the home décor changes in our house are going to be slow-coming, but I’m pretty pumped about these plates right now and that’s good enough for me.
Who knew that a plate could cause so much excitement? To say that “times have changed” in my life would be an understatement.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Smash Cake
For the Goose's first birthday, I just HAD to bake up the oh so trendy smash cake. Except I wanted the Goose's to have a little extra something. So I decided to make it an ombre layer cake.
It was actually not has horrific as I expected it to be, though took some creativity considering I have none of the proper baking tools besides the pans themselves (and even those weren't exactly right).
I try to make things from scratch, but cakes is not one of those things. Good ole Betty Crocker to the rescue. I chose white cake mix, so the colors would show best. I plucked out my blue Wilton gel icing dye, mixed the boxed cake according to the directions, separated two boxes worth into 5 bowls. I used more and more dye as I went from batch to batch to made the colors more and more saturated. Here's the creative part: I was making a mini cake aka a smash cake. So the cake was not going to be full size. But I only have full cake size pans (9" diameter?). So I put on my thinking cap, and got to searching. And I found an old thingamajig that my mom gave to me. Naturally, I don't have a pic of it. Essentially, it looked like a bullseye target contraption thingy that you placed inside a regular cake pan for checkerboard cake making - I think. The outer ring was the perfect size for my mini smash cake, and the inner ring wasn't as deep so it would only leave an indent. I know I'm not describing this well, so I will just give you a pic of the cake layers so you can try to imagine what I'm talking about (or maybe you are a baker and this thingamajig I'm talking about is something your very familiar with...who knows).
If you understand what I'm talking about or not, doesn't matter. Here's my 5 layers. Some were thicker than others, so I cut them down (not very well, obvi).
From here on out it was easy as pie...er...cake. Simple whipped white frosting in between layers...
Finished it up with whipped white frosting on the outside and handed it over for demolition.
Looking back, the ombre layers were so unneccesary. He wasn't a huge "smasher". And the little he did smash didn't really show the layers. I should have realized that an ombre layer cake is probably best when being cut to see the layers...not smashed. Oh well, I still loved that cake, and I know the Goose loved it!
It was actually not has horrific as I expected it to be, though took some creativity considering I have none of the proper baking tools besides the pans themselves (and even those weren't exactly right).
I try to make things from scratch, but cakes is not one of those things. Good ole Betty Crocker to the rescue. I chose white cake mix, so the colors would show best. I plucked out my blue Wilton gel icing dye, mixed the boxed cake according to the directions, separated two boxes worth into 5 bowls. I used more and more dye as I went from batch to batch to made the colors more and more saturated. Here's the creative part: I was making a mini cake aka a smash cake. So the cake was not going to be full size. But I only have full cake size pans (9" diameter?). So I put on my thinking cap, and got to searching. And I found an old thingamajig that my mom gave to me. Naturally, I don't have a pic of it. Essentially, it looked like a bullseye target contraption thingy that you placed inside a regular cake pan for checkerboard cake making - I think. The outer ring was the perfect size for my mini smash cake, and the inner ring wasn't as deep so it would only leave an indent. I know I'm not describing this well, so I will just give you a pic of the cake layers so you can try to imagine what I'm talking about (or maybe you are a baker and this thingamajig I'm talking about is something your very familiar with...who knows).
If you understand what I'm talking about or not, doesn't matter. Here's my 5 layers. Some were thicker than others, so I cut them down (not very well, obvi).
From here on out it was easy as pie...er...cake. Simple whipped white frosting in between layers...
Finished it up with whipped white frosting on the outside and handed it over for demolition.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Birthday
Here's my theory on first birthdays: kids don't remember them. But parents do. So while I hate to sound like I'm bashing all the parents who go nucking futs with themes and gifts and over the top parties for their kids' first birthdays, well , this is me being judgy. We didn't go big. We kept it small and full of the stuff our kid loved. Balloons and streamers. We started the birthday prep late the night before his actual b-day. I pulled out the balloons, streamers, and more balloons. I went ball(oon)s-to-the-walls and attempted to make our house look like a party store threw up. And, for the most part, we succeeded. Everytime M said to me "Uh, I think we have enough balloons", I'd blow up some more. And then he'd give me the side eye for hanging another banner of streamers - double sided in two tone colors to be exact. But then something happened. All of a sudden M was all "wait, we need just a few more balloons" or "are those banners long enough, maybe we should get the far wall too?". And then we had trouble walking in our living room because of all the balloons, so we decided we probably had enough. And the final touch? Creeping into the Goose's room while he was sleeping and hanging balloons from his ceiling fan. So that he knew from the moment he woke up that morning, it was going to be a special day. It took about 15 bucks in balloons and streamers to make the Goose's face light up and straight up make his day. (don't mind the lighting on some of the pics, the Goose was waking up bright and early back then...we're talking 5:30am - so it was DARK).
After we opened his gifts (wooden block set, some jumbly rubber things, and this truck from ikea) we had chocolate chip pancakes. Cuz the Goose is a LEGIT chocoholic. He inherited all of his dads looks, all of his mom's milky white skin tone and ALL of his parents chocolate addiction. No joke, this kid shakes if I'm across the room with a chocolate chip cookie and he can't get to me. Literally shakes, I've seen it.
We hung around the house, played, napped and then headed to a diner we love for lunch. Food and more chocolate ensued (bad parents?...or BEST parents? EVER). We got back home and did a little more playing, napped and then headed to a park to play. He doesn't like to do much but climb the stairs and try to walk off the second story slide, but he has a hell of a lot of fun doing it. We came home, had a nice dinner, and then came the ice cream cake. See, M knew I was making a pretty sick cake for his party taking place the next day (more in a separate post to come). But he just couldn't let the kid go without a cake and candles on his actual birthday. So he ran out and got a mini ice cream cake. TROUBLE. The Goose luuurrvved it.
And this is what happens when M tried to take the cake away. SADDEST face, I almost cried.
It was bathtime and then off to bed. We started prepping for the party the next day.
It was just both of our immediate families - M's parents, sister and hubby and two boys, brother and wife; my parents and brother. Small. Perfect.
M cooked up the Goose's favorite - lasagna. We had lots of appetizers and plenty of fun. Gifts were opened (one of our nephews had a birthday just a week later, as did I). It was overall a really great day. I couldn't help but wonder how I had so quickly gotten from having an infant to having a toddler in what felt like a matter of weeks. How could a year have gone by so fast? And how, on earth, had I lived the first 27 years of my life without this part of my soul? Not to get deep, but a day to celebrate the birth of your child, your first no less, is one where you can't stop feeling like the luckiest person in the world. That kid is my heart and his first birthday was such a deep reminder of the miracle my life is, that his life is.
What a sap!
Enough words (aka I can't type anymore because I'm crying)...here's the rest of the pics.
After we opened his gifts (wooden block set, some jumbly rubber things, and this truck from ikea) we had chocolate chip pancakes. Cuz the Goose is a LEGIT chocoholic. He inherited all of his dads looks, all of his mom's milky white skin tone and ALL of his parents chocolate addiction. No joke, this kid shakes if I'm across the room with a chocolate chip cookie and he can't get to me. Literally shakes, I've seen it.
We hung around the house, played, napped and then headed to a diner we love for lunch. Food and more chocolate ensued (bad parents?...or BEST parents? EVER). We got back home and did a little more playing, napped and then headed to a park to play. He doesn't like to do much but climb the stairs and try to walk off the second story slide, but he has a hell of a lot of fun doing it. We came home, had a nice dinner, and then came the ice cream cake. See, M knew I was making a pretty sick cake for his party taking place the next day (more in a separate post to come). But he just couldn't let the kid go without a cake and candles on his actual birthday. So he ran out and got a mini ice cream cake. TROUBLE. The Goose luuurrvved it.
And this is what happens when M tried to take the cake away. SADDEST face, I almost cried.
It was bathtime and then off to bed. We started prepping for the party the next day.
It was just both of our immediate families - M's parents, sister and hubby and two boys, brother and wife; my parents and brother. Small. Perfect.
M cooked up the Goose's favorite - lasagna. We had lots of appetizers and plenty of fun. Gifts were opened (one of our nephews had a birthday just a week later, as did I). It was overall a really great day. I couldn't help but wonder how I had so quickly gotten from having an infant to having a toddler in what felt like a matter of weeks. How could a year have gone by so fast? And how, on earth, had I lived the first 27 years of my life without this part of my soul? Not to get deep, but a day to celebrate the birth of your child, your first no less, is one where you can't stop feeling like the luckiest person in the world. That kid is my heart and his first birthday was such a deep reminder of the miracle my life is, that his life is.
What a sap!
Enough words (aka I can't type anymore because I'm crying)...here's the rest of the pics.
 |
| sick mullet |
 |
| love at first sight |
 |
| rethinking his love... |
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| and it's back on |
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| back off |
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| the smash cake |
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| apparently, cake was not enough |
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| Happy Birthday Goose! |
PS - I just re-read this post and realized I have not ONE pic of anyone else at all but the Goose. No apologies for that...it's HIS day!
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