Caramel Candy Corn...Love - Hate

So I'm at the local grocery store, minding my own business, when I walk up to the express line, and what do they have there? They have CARAMEL CANDY CORN. I can't stand candy corn, it's so sugary and over the top with sweetness. But this, this could be a whole new thing. Never mind that I just made the most incredible caramel, chocolate, oatmeal bars. So I had caramel on the brain. This caramel corn was speaking to me, it said "just try me, I'll change your mind about candy corn...I have a caramel flavor". So I bought it. I really wanted to say...Oh thank the candy gods, they've come up with a solution to the grainy sugary taste of candy corn by adding caramel. But noooooooo! It's still grainy, sweet and just too much. At least for me. So goes my love-hate relationship with cand corn. I really want to love it, but I just can't seem to get the tastebuds on board with this.

Goodbye summer

This is the old, old, very old summer house our family gets to use on vacation. Don't let it's looks decieve you. The kitchen is as big as the average large area rug. Approximately 12' x 14'. No dishwasher or kitchen cabinets, and the stove...well let's just say we grill a lot!

There is also no air conditioning. But where we are, there's always a breeze to waft through the screens, and keep us cool. Yes, the house is old, buggy, and just plain dirty, but me and the family wouldn't trade it for nothin'.

So goodbye summer house...we'll be back next year to dust, sweep, vacuum and grill :)

Playing just got a whole lot greener

Ok....is this not the cutest homemade kitchen you've ever seen?! Wondering what makes it so "green". I made it out of cardboard!!! Yes, ladies and gents, cardboard. Thanks to a wonderful pattern from Laura at fortytworoads who seems to be inventing all kinds of things lately! Check out her blog to find out all her latest plans. FYI, she just got featured in Craft magazine for this. Anyway, I'm just glad I happened across her shop on etsy, while looking for a play kitchen for the Kellster.

So here's my version. The instructions were easy to follow. Getting the cardboard, not so difficult with all the big box stores around. For some reason it was scary to cut the cardboard. I had been dumpster diving for the morning, and didn't want to mess anything up. But once I got going...man was it fun!!!

I'd say overall this was a weekend project. One morning to gather supplies. One afternoon to cut and glue together the cardboard. One morning to cover it in contact paper, and put together. Then voila...

Now you're not only going green, but you've made something sturdy that will last, and is so much more attractive than those big plastic kitchens :)

xoxo ~L

Need a hip new phone

So, I have this really, really, really old cell phone. Seriously! Believe it or not, I didn't even own a cell phone until just a few years ago. This is about what my current model looks like. I'm thinking of something a little smaller?! But I want to keep the fancy features of this one. Displays the number I'm calling and...well that's about it. Now I don't even own an mp3 player either. So I've narrowed it down to these 2 phones:

The LG vu

or

The Sony Ericsson 580i

I really like the feel and look (hey it's pink!!!) of the Sony. But I know how "hot" the LG vu is right now, what with the cool touchpad screen (Think iphone). Personally, for me, if I have to hold that phone to the side of my face it's just going to be a simulation of what Tammy Faye's (May she Rest In Peace) pillow, surely looked like. My makeup will be all over that screen ;) BTW, this will have to double as an mp3 player. You didn't really think I had one of those, now did you?

Anyone? Ideas? Pros or cons? Have one of these?

xoxo ~L

Breakfast of Champions?

It's not toasted, golden, buttery or even warm. Personally, just making it gives me the heebie jeebies, but my #2 son loves them. If you can't tell it's a bagel with cream cheese. A plain bagel with cream cheese. Can you tell it's not toasted? Yes folks it never saw the light of a toaster. No, the cream cheese is not melting as you spread it, becoming nice and gooey, because it's not even warm.

With 4 kids, you gotta figure one of them is going to be a little different when it comes to eating. This is only one of the things...

xoxo ~L

Let us not forget!

I've been thinking about this day for the last few weeks. I really believe from all that I'm seeing and reading, that many Americans in our country have forgotten how they felt this day, 7 years ago.

If they would really reach back into the recesses of their minds, and recall the outrage, gall, and despair we were all feeling, no one would be complaining about our current government!

Watch, and remember!



I pray that the victims and their famalies have found some peace. I thank the soldiers fighting for our country! I am proud to be an American!

Never Forget!

xoxo ~L

Sweet, sweet baby girls

Hi folks, Kelly here. Mom seems to be up to her eyeballs with homework, cooking, cleaning and trying to keep her sanity. Somehow she seems to think we all have a hearing problem.

Well, at least the boys do...not me :) I'm an angel, sent from up above! I never get into trouble or mischief! For those of you not aquainted with the lovely sweet nature of a baby girl, let me fill you in. We only shriek when we need something. We only throw a hissy fit when we need something. We only take all our clothes and diaper off (like Houdini) and run around naked when we feel like it. And can I just tell you how much FUN it is! I mean really...the birthday suit is just so freeing! I love to run and laugh and giggle while my mom pulls out her hair. Don't worry though, those spots are starting to grow back in:)


No, if you haven't had a sweet little girl baby in your casa, I suggest you beg, borrow or steal to get one of us! Well, not the steal part.

xoxo ~Kelly

Clean slate, so to speak!

Does this look familiar? Do you have a ton of stuff on your refrigerator? Mine is like everything else in my house...over run with CLUTTER. I always start the school year with the best of intentions. I tell myself I will only put up the things that I absolutely need to see at a moments notice! This would include the school calendar, and what?...What do you really need to see right away at a moments notice? Do I need the cutie pie picture of Kelly when she was 6 mos. old, and it was her first Christmas? Do I need the chronological pictures of the "kids" for Christmas cards since 2004? Bottle opener? Toys? Multiplication table? Nope, not needed.

I am trying to organize myself. The anxiety and stress I feel over the amount of clutter on top of every surface in my house overwhelms me sometimes. Yes, I have issues, but at least I know it :) I am proud to say I have cleaned up the front of my refrigerator! There's a trick...

Stainless Steel!

Now, I don't want to present the illusion that I have de-cluttered, hired a "family coach" and/or have become extremely organized! I honestly did not know my things wouldn't stick to our new refrigerator. OK, stop laughing. You're hurting my feelings. I know I'm not the sharpest stick in the woods. Is that a correct euphimism? Is that how you spell euphimism?

Just to "keep it real".

Don't even talk to me about the fingerprints, ok? I didn't say it was clean.

xoxo ~L

Abracadabra

Wondering if it's worth the money? Oh yeah, baby, it's worth it! I can not stand the fact that whenever I make a cake the center rises up and I'm forced to either pretend I'm a professional cake decorator and cut the "top" off horizontally. Or decorate my cake as a dome. I'm pretty much screwed with either option.

So when I saw these in the store, and I have seen them for awhile, I figured why not! I had a couple family birthday's coming up. Besides $8 didn't seem like too much to part with for a magic trick.

Please note the overall flatness of this cake. Oh, and the creamy frosting center...mmmm! Anyway, it worked! Inside the box, are 2 strips of a padded silver fabric. Think oven mitt. You soak them in water, ring out the excess, and pin them (similar to floral pins) around your cake pan. The beauty is you can use them on a 9x13 pan also. Just pin the strips together. Then cook as normal, and watch the magic begin :)

I'm no science whiz, so I don't even pretend to know why they work, just that they do! So feel free to use them. They are not a hoax.

No, I do not moonlight as a cake decorator. This is just a new obsession for me. Need that like a hole in the head:)

xoxo ~L