Say What!?!

Did you (or your kids) ever have a MagnaDoodle? Inigo has one with magnets and it sits on the fridge. He frequently writes little messages on it...

We laughed when we saw this message:

This is a photo I took tonight as we were getting ready to watch American Idol. Thanks Dish Network for a roll-on-the-floor-laugh!!!

Exactly who is the star of American Idol?!?

Travellin' Through

Over the weekend we took a drive up the Interstate to a wildlife refuge. Right now the snow geese are migrating from the warmer areas in the American South and Southwest, back to the Arctic Tundra where they breed and spend their summer months. Apparently, Florin and the surrounding area is one of their flight paths and they stopped to rest from their 5000 mile journey at some wildlife refuges in the area.

It was an amazing sight! Even Buttercup, who is usually underwhelmed at things in nature (overwhelmed at things in the mall...) was sufficiently impressed with what we saw. When we got to "Big Pond" there were literally thousands of geese peacefully swimming in the chilly water (someone estimated that there were about 6,000). We aren't sure exactly what happened, but something spooked them and, as if they were one, they frantically took flight and took their cacophonous symphony to the air. (There are bald eagles nests near by and one of our fellow observers thought that maybe an immature bald eagle had flown in the middle of the flock. We think it looked like a hawk)

I am posting a video I took while we were there, and you can kind of get a hint of what it was like when they took flight, but this doesn't do it justice. Those birds just flew higher and higher and higher.... circling the pond and eventually, most of them moved off to ..... somewhere else. Whether it was another pond in the area or if they decided that they could keep moving north, we don't know.

It was interesting to watch. There was lots of panic, chaos and noise as they left the pond, but as they got higher in the sky, we could see them move into their normal "V" formations with their family groups. And even though there were thousands of birds flying above us, things seemed to be organized. There was an odd goose flying solo, trying to find their group, but for the most part, the skies were full of families, sticking together and helping each other out.

We told the kids to keep their mouths shut as they watched the bird fly and we're sure glad we did. Buttercup and I were enjoying the beautiful sights overhead when we heard a plop in the grass right in front of us.... Whewwwwww! A near miss!

This is when the geese first started flying

We think this hawk (or young bald eagle) started the melee.

The geese are starting to get organized!

Not all the geese flew away. These decided Big Pond was where they wanted to stay for a while.

We couldn't drive past this sign without stopping!

(Buttercup doesn't embrace the fact that she has red hair too, so she wouldn't get out of the car.)

Buttercup is taking a photography class in high school. She took this for one of her assignments. I think she did a good job!

I know this video is quite lengthy. I was so enthralled with the geese that I couldn't push stop when I was recording it. And I don't know how to edit. Watch as much as you like....

Addendum....

Tonight I was making (another) batch of this week's "As The Cookie Crumbles" entry.

I tell ya, when you find something good, you just have to run with it!!

I ran out of Rollo's and a quick trip to Walgreen's didn't give me any results -- not even in the Easter candy section!!! Argh!

It became apparent that I was going to have to improvise, so I grabbed my favorite chocolate candy.... Reese's Peanut Butter Mini's.

Why not?!?

I just want to let you know, that if you decide to make the Rollo's Cookies, feel free to turn them into Reese's P.B. Mini Cookies.

Mercy Agnes.

So good!!!

Eggcentric?

I have a quick question for you....

How do you take your eggs out of the carton?

Do you start on the left side and take them out in order?

Or, do you start on the right?

Could it be that you start in the middle and work to one end of the carton and then the other?

Does it bother you when someone takes an egg out of the carton and they don't take it in the proper order?

Buttercup and I laughed at each other when we realized that we take the eggs out of the carton in the same way.

Symmetrically.

We can't take one egg from one side without taking one from the other.

There has to be a pattern.

There has to be a design.

If someone (a.k.a. Max) takes one out of order, we start to sweat and have to rearrange the carton.

This is what my carton of eggs looked like when I pulled it out of the fridge.

Perfect.

Your Taste-Buds Will Rollo Over In Ecstasy

Ecstasy.....


The only word that can be used to describe this new cookie recipe. You can add to it words like Pure; Total; Complete; Utter; Divine; etc. etc.


I first tasted this cookie at a ward book group meeting. One bite and I was hooked. I was instantly taken away to that earthly part of heaven where there are no cares or concerns, where only happiness exists. That comfortable place where you want to snuggle down and savor each and every bite....



I was brought back to harsh reality after I had finished that one cookie.... I looked around me in alarm.... I wasn't in heaven, I was in my friend's living room and that plate of cookies was on the other side of the room. I wanted just one more taste of ecstasy, but the rules of decorum dictated that all I could do was stare longingly at them while discreetly wiping the drool off my chin.


I left that night vowing to acquire that recipe. I planned on printing it on gold leafed paper and putting it in a gilded frame. But life got in the way.... time passed and still, I didn't get the recipe.


Finally, FINALLY, last week I was got the recipe (THANKS MEL!!!) And I have made this my newest entry in "As The Cookie Crumbles."


Rollo Cookies (yields about 30 cookies)
1 Devil's Food cake mix
1 pkg. Rollos candy
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
Powdered Sugar

(I didn't have a Devil's Food cake mix, so I just used Milk Chocolate.... which was FINE!!)

Mix cake mix, oil and eggs together.




Roll a Rollo in the middle of a ball of the mixture.



Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet

Bake for 9-10 minutes at 350*.

(Baker's Hint: DO NOT OVERCOOK!! I baked mine for 8 1/2 minutes and they came out PERFECT!!)

Sprinkle with powdered sugar as soon as you take them out of the oven.

Find a comfortable place to sit down and enjoy this cookie!! Feel free to disappear into your own earthly heaven. And bring others along with you on your celestial journey. These cookies are so fast and easy to make that you can bring your best friends with you!

Brain Dump

It's been a while since I've dumped the random thoughts coursing through my brain. Please bear with me while I clear some space on my cranial hard drive:

Water. I'm drinking it. I used to have one... maybe 1.5 glasses of water a day. I knew it wasn't enough, but it worked for me. I am trying harder to be healthier. While that hasn't translated into the whole 'early to bed, early to rise' way of life (yet...) but I'm trying harder to: a) watch what I eat (more fiber, less sugar, less carbs, more protein) b) exercise more (getting to the gym 3 times a week NO MATTER WHAT and take a walk outside five times a week), c) pay more attention to what time I eat (no more snacks as I go to bed at 11:30 pm) and d) DRINK MORE WATER!!! Now I drink a minimum of 6 glasses a day and some days as many as 10.
Here's what I learned: If you drink more water you have to go to the bathroom more frequently. Holy cow. I used to make fun of people that couldn't go more than a couple of hours between bathroom breaks. NO LONGER!!! 'Nuff said.

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Does anyone else have "underwear dreams?" You know, the dreams where you are in public wearing underwear and ONLY your underwear? Usually there is someone you know -- non family (or a football team) -- close by and you hope and pray that by some miracle that person thinks you've got slightly see-through swim suit or shorts on? Because, apparently, these non-family members aren't smart enough to recognize underwear when they see it... Well, last night, I ice skated all the way through Florin streets in my underwear. It was horrific because my subconscious dreamer is finally realizing that my neighbors/friends are actually pretty smart after all, and I knew that they knew the embarrassing truth. Thankfully, no one laughed at me. But, even in my sleep, I was certain I was blushing.

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Today we went to the storage unit to get my scooter out. Our temps have warmed up and the snow is melting and, frankly, its going to be scooter driving weather before much longer. YIPPEE!! Sadly, we are having some problems with it. We didn't realize that we needed to weatherize it before we parked it for the winter, so when we got it started, it started leaking great gobs of gasoline. Enough that we felt it wasn't safe to keep it running.... (we also had to jump start the battery and we were concerned that there would a spark from the jumper cables). We decided to keep it parked in storage and find a place to service it. (insert sad face here) We'll have to wait a few more weeks to start driving "The Piglet."

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Here is Inigo's latest creative writing assignment. I think he's got the dramatic finish down pat...

"Once upon a time I made a ninja. He got away and he said (say fast) kill me, kill me. And I chased him but he was fast. Then he ran along. Then he met a leprechaun. The leprechaun chased him. Kill me, kill me. Then he came to a army man. Then he got shot. The end."

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Even though it's still pretty cold at night -- temps are lingering in the teens to low 20's -- I have been sleeping with my bedroom window cracked open -- about 2". I have been anxiously waiting to hear if the neighborhood owls have come back. Every time I drive past the tree where the babies were living last summer I look and see if I can see the gray feathers camouflaged against the green pine needles. There have been no signs... until last night -- or if you want to be technical -- this morning. At precisely 1:11 a.m. I was woken up by the gentle "Hoooooo HooHoo" of my owl! Yay! They're back!!!

The only sad thing about having them back is that I have fallen in love with the squirrel love that has been exhibited in my backyard this spring. I have a pair of squirrels that are giddy with each other... playing chasing games up and down the trees and across my yard... and I'd like to see them survive the feeding frenzy that will inevitably come as the baby owls start growing. Sadly, they probably won't. Last summer our squirrel population was DECIMATED... but I still hope they will live long enough to raise their babies!

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This is all the ramblings I have for now. Stay tuned for my next cookie post. It's another winner!

Songs of Angels

This is Buttercup's choir at their spring concert. They did such a great job!

**sniff**.... only one more concert before graduation!

Earlier this year, the director sent in an audition tape for the State Music Educator's Conference in the State Capital and only 10 choirs out of the state were picked to perform there. Two of those choirs are from our school!! They will perform this song while they are there this weekend.

We have such a great music program in our school!

(Wees, you will recognize the director. His wife is the pianist and his 3rd daughter is standing next to Buttercup -- on our left.)

News Flash!

Max and I sleep on different schedules. He's smart and healthy and motivated and a MUCH better person than I am. He's definitely an early to bed/early to rise kind of guy. I'm completely opposite. I HATE mornings and hate getting up. And if I go to bed early, it means I get up early and that's... well.... BLECH!!! So I stay up later than he does.

He's also a heavy sleeper. He has slept through children vomiting, me coughing my head off all night, babies crying.... I'm sure it comes from growing up in a small house with 8 (sometimes more children) living in it and very thin walls.

What's funny about all this?

He's also a sleep talker. He can be sound asleep, have a full conversation with me and not remember a thing the next morning. We have been married for 22 years and it has never changed! (He usually talks about work.)

Here's a "For Instance:" We were in the newly wed stage. Probably within the first 2 years of marriage. Max had gone to bed and was out of it! I came to bed and he rolled over and started talking. I knew he was asleep so I thought I'd play a joke on him. I said -- in an urgent whisper -- "Max. You need to get up and get out of the apartment! It's on fire!" He acted confused for a minute so I said it again.

Lo and behold, he got out of bed and started heading for the front door.

Of course, I was dying laughing! It was hilarious! He was almost to the door and I, in my fit of hysteria, turned him around and sent him back to bed and told him it was just a joke.

He didn't say anything other than a grunt and was back to snoring immediately.

The next morning, I felt bad. I had exploited this quirk of his for my own amusement and I was feeling some remorse. So with my eyes downcast and a contrite voice, I said to him, "I'm sorry I tricked you about the fire last night."

~~crickets~~

Feeling TERRIBLE and thinking that he was really mad, I turned my tear filled eyes to him to offer the apology again -- and was stopped short by his face.

Confusion.

"What are you talking about?" was his answer.

He honestly had idea of what I was talking about!

How would it be to sleep that soundly?

Back to my original story..... Last night. It was the same-old scene. Max is sawing logs and I'm relaxing, watching American Idol. I have this weird cough and one burst out of me. It startled him and he rolls over and -- still very much asleep -- asks if I'm okay. I pat his shoulder and tell him to go back to sleep that everything is fine. Then he says....

"I have chest hair."

snore.......

It's a testament to how soundly he sleeps because I laughed loud enough to wake the neighbors and he didn't move again.

I love you Max! When I said on my Facebook status that no one in the world can make me laugh like you, I wasn't kidding!!

The Age of Innocence

It was a sad day in our house yesterday.

Inigo was made aware of the "bird finger." He had been playing at a friend's house and when he came home, he indignantly walked up to me, held that finger up and said, "Mom, ClothingMaker said this is a bad finger!"

My heart instantly got sad. Like most moms, I like to have my children stay innocent as long as possible, especially when it comes to rude/gross gestures. Until yesterday, for Inigo, that middle finger was just a middle finger. There was no snickering if it got hurt and he held it up to have me look at it.... he used it to point at things all the time.... no implied or unimplied rudeness....

I should feel grateful that he made it 2/3 through First Grade before it was shown to him. Especially because he rides the bus daily. But still *sniff* that's one more chink in his innocence armour.

Springing Forward

The official First Day of Spring is this Saturday.

Spring is my favorite season.

I also love what comes after Spring...

SUMMER!

What you looking forward to as the earth tilts closer to the sun?

Here's what I hope to do this summer....

Swimming...

Playing ball....

Hiking.....

Boating....

Relaxing....

Being with friends....

Controlling the hairdo....

Bring on the warm weather!! I'm ready!!!

Chocolate Peanutbutter Heaven

No, that's not the name of these cookies, but, believe me when I say that it should be!

(If you're just joining me, I have decided to add something new on my blog.... I've decided to add a section of cookie recipes. (You can read why here.) Today, is my first cookie post!! Yippee! And I'm so happy to share this particular recipe with you.)

This is a new recipe I was led to in the cooking section of The Pioneer Woman's blog. She posted it on March 3, which happened to be a holiday named after me... What?!? You didn't know there was a national holiday named after Valerie the Witch? I was surprised too!! When I found out, with tears streaming down my face, I accepted the honor humbly and with great joy. Without divulging too much personal information (which I try to stay away from in this public forum), I will announce to you the name of this important day: NATIONAL PEANUT BUTTER LOVERS' DAY!!!

How did the-powers-that-be know that I'm the biggest lover of peanut butter in all the land? Could it be by the copious amounts of jars that I'm purchasing and storing like a squirrel in my pantry? Could it be whiff of peanuts that waft off my person as you walk past me? Could it be the fact that my words are always jumbled when I talk due to the fact that that I'd just imbibed another delectable spoonful of the sticky stuff? Could it be the fact that my food pyramid has peanut butter instead of fruits and vegetables on the bottom, most important, level? Could it be that my thighs are peanut shaped?

Whatever the reason, they named March 3 after me and for that I'm extremely grateful.

I'm also extremely grateful to the GENIUS that decided to marry my beloved peanut butter with the equally appealing chocolate. I'm sure that person is guaranteed a place of honor in the courts of Heaven.

These cookies aren't named Chocolate Peanut Butter Heaven, but their name is equally as good. I give you:

Magic Peanut Butter Middles

1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Cocoa Powder
½ teaspoons Baking Soda
½ cups White Sugar
½ cups Packed Brown Sugar
½ cups Butter
¼ cups Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 whole Egg
_____
FOR THE PEANUT BUTTER FILLING:
¾ cups Powdered Sugar
¾ cups Peanut Butter


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. In a large bowl, beat together the sugars, butter, and 1/4 cup of peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg. Slowly mix in the flour mixture. Set aside.

For the peanut butter filling, combine confectioners’ sugar and 3/4 cup peanut butter. Beat together well. Roll filling into 30 small balls. Try to keep the balls all the same size—around 1 inch.

For each cookie, use 1 tablespoon of chocolate dough and roll into a ball. It helps to flour your hands first. Squish the ball of chocolate dough flat and place a peanut butter ball in the center.


(I thought it was easier to flatten them in my very clean hands. I didn't have parchment paper, and when I flattened the cookies on the cookie sheet, they got stuck and consequently ripped when I tried to pull them up.)

Wrap the chocolate dough up and around the peanut butter ball to completely cover.


Tip: The peanut butter tends to squish out of the sides as you're wrapping. Try chilling the balls in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour to an hour before wrapping in the chocolate cookie dough.

Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Dip the bottom of a glass into white sugar and use the cup to lightly flatten the cookie balls. Bake for 7-9 minutes.

These cookies aren't a quick fix! If you want to prepare them to take to an event, make sure you allow plenty of time to roll all the peanut butter balls and then wrap them.

Also, I would err on the side of UNDERcooking them. They taste better as a soft cookie. However, if after they have baked and cooled, they are still too crunchy for your taste, I found that popping them in the microwave for 10 seconds makes them PERFECT!!!

**I found this recipe at The Pioneer Woman but ultimately it came from Stephanie at allrecipes.com**

As The Cookie Crumbles

I love to bake. It's probably the one thing that I do that I am pretty good at. I'm okay cooking --meals and such-- but I don't enjoy it. It's something I have to do. But when you ask me to take something to a pot luck, without fail I sign up to take a dessert.

I think my forte is cookies. I have been baking cookies for as long as I can remember. When I was a teenager, my dad -- who was on the high council -- hired me to bake several dozen cookies as refreshments for the singles dances he was in charge of. I bought my own supplies, kept them in a special spot in the pantry and baked my heart out. I didn't get rich, but I gained experience.

I even remember my aunt hiring me to bake several batches of cookies for a luncheon she was having. She had invited her literary or garden friends over -- one was a local food critic -- and I got to provide the cookies for that.

I loved it.

I have stopped selling my cookies -- although at one time I had a dream to open a cookie store -- but I still bake them regularly. I find that baking calms my soul, brings me pleasure and relieves stress. Baking has brought me through tough times fiscally and emotionally.

With this in mind, I have decided to try something new with my blog. At least once a month (more if I feel like it), I'm going to try to do a cookie post. I'll share some of my tried and true cookie recipes or I'll try a new recipe and let you know if it's good. Maybe you can share some of your cookie recipes with me and I'll give them a try. It will wreak havoc with my diet, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.... :)

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think if you try the recipes!

Family Theme Song

Does your family have a theme song? Ours does!! Whenever we travel for a long distance (i.e. over 30 minutes) we plug the iPod in and search out this song. All four of us join in and sing at the top of our voice. This clip has Garth and Wayne in it, but you could substitute Max and Me as Wayne and Garth in the front (I'm usually driving), with Buttercup and Inigo in the backseat...of course head banging is included....




Lately, however, we seem to be gravitating toward a new song:



This song is being played CONSTANTLY at home and in the car!!! We sing it in our LOUDEST voices.... thankfully it's still very cold outside and the windows are closed/rolled up.

Max hasn't fully jumped on board with singing this song -- he's a classics kind of guy -- so I can't say it's fully replaced Bohemian Rhapsody as our "Family Theme Song," but we've been having a blast with it!

I have one question however, how in the world do we get our hands on a sweet, baby blue Gremlin?

Preserving Through Printing

I began my first blog in November 2005. It's crazy to think that I've been at this for 4.5 years! Through the years, I have claimed -- as well as my fellow blogging friends -- that we are writing for our posterity... that our blogs are our journals. And, mine had definitely been my journal. I gave up my pen and paper journal that sits in the nightstand next to my bed. I do all my writing here.

The other day I was thinking about all this blogging I have done and I realized that it can't be for my posterity if these blogs don't ever get printed!! Sure, everything is saved electronically, but the files are in the hands of someone else, who doesn't care about them the same way I do. There is also the very real chance that I could lose the addresses of my blogs (I've had a few!) and lose all the information, stories and photos forever.

This weekend I began the process of copying my posts so I can get them printed. I looked into online printing and binding, but decided that the copy shop here in town can do as good a job as anyone, and probably cost less. PLUS, if there are any problems I can speak to a person and look them in the eye while it gets resolved -- hopefully to my satisfaction.

I decided to print the blogs off by the year. So my first printing will be 2006 with the addition of November and December 2005. I have copied and pasted each entry into a Word document, formatted it to my liking and saved it. Yes, there is probably a faster/easier way to do this, but this works for me....

It works for me because I get to go back and re-read my journal. These things only happened 4 years ago, but I forgot a lot of our activities in the intervening years!

I find it interesting that while my children have changed, I haven't changed so much. Most of my opinions are exactly the same. So far I have copied posts from February 2006 and 2007. I noticed that I wrote two posts regarding my dislike of Valentine's Day.... it made me realize that I probably should give it (and you) a rest!! (I haven't looked forward to see if I post my negative opinion each and every year.... Sorry, if I have!)

I still love American Idol and still write about it! I just copied a post from February 2007 and in it I was talking about Season 6. The Top 24 had just performed and I was completely underwhelmed. I made the prediction that a girl would win that year and... YUP! I was right! Jordin Sparks was in my top 3 girl choices that first week. Blake Lewis was in my top two for the men-- because I only liked two guys.

I have been pleased to see that my relationship with my daughter has improved by leaps and bounds!!!! There has been a lot of growth on both of our parts.... I was very reluctant to let Buttercup grow up and start gaining her independence. I can see the error of my ways now. Of course, she was going through the worst time of a young person's life... The Jr. High Years: the hormones, the drama.... augh! Time and maturity has softened all of that and just as she's getting ready to graduate, we have brought our relationship back to where it was when she was a little girl and I am happy to say that we are friends!

I have enjoyed re-reading all of Inigo's funny anecdotes: Putting his boogers back in his nose when a Kleenex wasn't available; hugging me and telling me that "You're a good woman"; taking his pants off in the middle of McDonald's Playland -- heck! He spent most of his toddler years completely naked running through the neighborhood!

I'm so glad I wrote them all down. I read some of them to him and he giggled uncontrollably at himself. It made me wish that there were blogs when Buttercup was little, because I wasn't good at writing down her little funny moments... (in my defense, I videoed her CONSTANTLY!! We have boxes of videos of her and hardly any of Inigo....)

I have also made sure to include any comments that my posts received. I think it's important to preserve the thoughts of those who took the time to come visit and read my blog.

My first year has 170 pages -- 80,718 words. That's a lot of readin' and writin'!