This is Ed after getting up at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning, painting the entire day until 11:45 at night, getting up at 6 a.m. Sunday morning and painted until 5:30 a.m. Monday morning and slept until 6:45 to get up and move furniture for the carpet guys. (and was up at 4:30 a.m. this morning to finish painting).











This is me after staying up until 11:30 Saturday night (after cooking and painting all day), getting up Sunday to go have a blast and exude a ton of energy leading 1-4th graders, running around after church for dinner and free drinks and staying up until 1 a.m. painting. (i was pretty much useless Monday).





My husband is amazing. I love working with him and I think we make a great team. :)

pop goes the weasel

I remember getting my mom a plaque for her 50th birthday that said:


Middle age is when you hear Snap, Crackle, Pop
and you're not eating cereal.


I've been snapping and crackling for the past few years, but today was the pop. Last week I celebrated the 33rd anniversary of my birth and today I am feeling every one of those 33 years. I had hurt my back last week bending backwards while painting the ceiling. It took awhile to heal and the pain was almost gone. Until today. While taking the garbage out with my hair icing up and my nose hairs freezing and dropping off like icicles, I slipped and righted myself only to hear the infamous pop. I managed to get the garbage out, came in, popped some red pills and turned on the heating pad.

If you can avoid it, don't get old. It's not fun and roses.

happy heart day

There are many things that make my heart happy. 3 in particular are:

1. My amazing husband whom I have loved, and has loved me, through many mountains and valleys, for the past 16 years.
2. My always thinking son who has now figured out how to unlock the bathroom door (from the outside) with a quarter.
3. My adorable daughter who loves others, pink, and dancing.

Happy heart day everyone!

monkey business

I've been wanting to use this piece of dishware ever since it was purchased at the amazing paper sale I and some friends went to before Christmas. This platter called to me. I heard it the moment I stepped in the door. It looked all lonely and forlorn sitting there, so I just HAD to buy it. Today I broke it in.

This fine specimen of a platter is holding today's first attempt at monkey bread. My eyes were weary looking for a recipe that used homemade dough instead of pop-the-can biscuits. Finally after searching high and low (more like up and down arrows) I found one that used home made dough AND used the bread maker. Double score!!

It is still sitting on the platter. Ooey and gooey. Alina's licking her chops and I'm typing as fast as I can so I can scramble over and pull that first warm, yummy morsel off the side. Gut feeling is it will be gone tomorrow.

yummy (healthy) treats

Now that the bread is gone, I needed something to snack on today. And I knew it should be healthy. Alina was asking for some crackers today, which of course we don't have any. I remembered seeing a homemade cracker recipe on 101 cookbooks. So I scooted over there and started perusing. In her post she said these tasty crackers would go well with midnight hummus. Hmmm...that sounded interesting. So I clicked on the hummus link and I actually had everything to make it.

So today I tried two new recipes. For the midnight hummus, I used black beans instead of the beluga lentils and only put in a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin instead of the 2 teaspoons it called for. I didn't have the semolina flour for the crackers so I used regular white four. They took longer than I thought to roll out, but it made SO many (at least 150+ crackers total) it was well worth it. I was wishing I had some parmesan cheese to sprinkle on them too, but alas, I used it all for the alfredo sauce I made the other day. Herbs I used were dill weed and oregano and spices were a turkey rub and paprika. Alina was eating them as fast as I was taking them out of the oven. Super easy! Yummy and I'm thinking better than store bought crackers.

Here are the recipes if you're interested.

Olive Oil Crackers
Midnight Hummus

yummy treats

Some new things that have been made over the past few months. And no, none are REALLY good for you, but that's why they're treats!!

Yummy gummy gum drops! Super easy and tasty to boot!










Teapot cake for Anne's baby shower













Cinnamon Swirl Bread (from Taste of Home's Contest Winner cookbook). I made this this morning and it filled the house with an amazing aroma.





No time for commentaries. Another piece of bread is calling!

brain is toast. i think it's all the paint fumes that have been inhaled over the course of the weekend. And I should be worried when Ed sprayed the crack sealant (it's like spray paint but for wall/ceiling cracks) my words were, "I really like the smell of that".