Most of you who will read this are my beloved regulars and some newbies. But the rest of you are a bunch of bizarre creatures that managed to transport your way here via a search engine...and I'm not impressed with your avenues of discovery. I'm guessing a lot of 'you people' are actually a bunch of teenage boys because I was on to you when your search of both elbows touch belly button had me feeling right back in high school when I would be asked to try and touch my elbows behind my back. You may have given my husband a show, but I won't be fooled so easily again (oh but Branden says, "Thank you".)
I'm almost beginning to think that my site is becoming a question and answers section for idiots. This is obvious by the ridiculous search of do owls have whiskers. Of course they don't and if you had spent any time at my blog, you would have had the answer in a previous post! I suppose you are a bit more innocent in your quest than the searchers looking for baby owls in a bucket because that sounds a bit cruel to me. Why would you keep baby anythings (except fish or toads) in a bucket!?! Chrissy found that it wasn't all that odd by pointing out this blog to me. Ok, well I still think it's stupid but not as stupid as who needs brain cells anyway spongebob. I may take back my previous comment on 'you people' being teenage boys...maybe I should stick with 9 year old school kids.
I know that my in-laws read my blog so which one of you thought it would be funny to send people looking for the Sasquatch militia?? You know how freaked out Branden gets when you start telling Big Foot stories and how you want to go on a search to find one! I'm the one that has to comfort him at night and tell him "It's ok, we only have to worry about leprechauns here. Go to sleep!"
I am wondering if I should take extreme offense to those of you who found me from people that look like llamas!! I may have not had braces but I definitely don't have anything close to llama teeth! I also don't appreciate freak show faces and stupid face passport. You people are just mean...and disgusting: boobies and cheese, what are you? Some sort of male complex connoisseur, because if you are, you forgot the red meat and beer! I might give a thank you to whoever found me from stick figures in love because Branden and I are far from that thin but hey, I'll take what I can!
These last searchers, I will use in a sentence:
Attention over here to the flashing button where you can see crying baby Jesus because he has handcuffed ankles.
"You people" are weird. But I also like weird so thanks for the blog fodder! (except YOU boobies and cheese, you are just gross!)
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Herbs in my cookies make them automatically healthy right?
My family and friends are crying out for a recipe for my honey-basil cookies, so I'll share it today and give you another yummy recipe tomorrow. These cookies may sound a bit odd, but basil actually works well with some desserts. The recipe is from the Better Homes & Gardens 100 Best Cookies magazine that my Mom-in-law sent to me so it is American apparently. Oddly enough, they don't have the recipe posted on their website though, so I had to hunt it down and copy and paste it rather than take the time to type it all out. In the instructions, I have thrown in my own notes. This is a simple recipe, especially since we did it fairly well considering we don't have an electric mixer, hand crank beaters, or even a decent whisk. Our whisk is flimsy plastic and is basically good for mixing lemon juice into water. So here's possibly my new favorite cookie recipe. They are like sugar cookies but fancier!
Honey-Basil Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled (we used dried)
2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel (we didn't have an orange so we zested a clementine...not simple to do considering they are easy to peel!)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
Sugar to flatten
Preheat oven to 375F or 190C. Beat butter on high speed for 30 seconds. (or stir with a fork because you don't have an electric beater, and beat until your arm feels like it's about to fall off) Add 2/3 cup sugar. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, honey, basil, peel and vanilla. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour (get help from husband who has stronger arms and take shifts mixing in the flour. Stir until your combined 4 arms feel like they will fall off). Shape dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Dip the patterned bottom of a glass or cookie stamp into additional sugar. Flatten balls with glass or stamp to 1/4-inch thickness. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool on sheets for 1 minute. Transfer to rack to cool completely. Makes 48 (depending on how much you don't care about worm risks and eat the cookie dough while baking, and how many cookies you eat to 'test' your batches).
They smell fantastic and taste even better! We still have some left but they are tempting fate by openly sitting in a bag on my bed...
On a more funny note, I found this photo on Pinterest last night and someone had labeled it as "People are so weird"
I started thinking though, are they all just a bunch of nerdy tourists trying to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa or is it the world's most unconventional group of flash mobbers performing Thriller in fanny packs?
Thoughts? Ideas? Recipes? Funny tourist photos you are willing to be humiliated with share?
Monday, January 16, 2012
Monkey farts are making me fat
Thankfully we lost all the weight we gained from our last trip to the States before I discovered baking. Life for my thighs has become much more dangerous, since over the last 2 weeks I have found a really yummy and simple muffin recipe, made the most scrumptious cookies ever, discovered how to make my own ice cream with coconut milk, and tried the amazing art of making cake in a mug, in a microwave, in 2 minutes! So long skinny jeans, hello pajama bottoms!
Not wanting to be the only one to stuff myself, I decided I must share some of these with you! (I'm so considerate, aren't I) The simplest recipe has to be making ice cream from coconut milk. I must say though, the first time I ever made this I was a bit put off. This was what my facebook status read on New Year's Eve when I first tried making it:
Is coconut milk supposed to smell like a monkey farted into the coconut before the contents were canned??? This may ruin my homemade coconut ice cream recipe...I don't think coconut, vanilla, chocolate, and fart will be the next Ben and Jerry's flavor.
Not wanting to be the only one to stuff myself, I decided I must share some of these with you! (I'm so considerate, aren't I) The simplest recipe has to be making ice cream from coconut milk. I must say though, the first time I ever made this I was a bit put off. This was what my facebook status read on New Year's Eve when I first tried making it:
Is coconut milk supposed to smell like a monkey farted into the coconut before the contents were canned??? This may ruin my homemade coconut ice cream recipe...I don't think coconut, vanilla, chocolate, and fart will be the next Ben and Jerry's flavor.
I was slightly reassured that this was just a natural essence and would be fine. The more it froze, the less it tasted of monkey fart, which was nice I guess. Branden didn't even notice a thing but I did get a hint of it in the back of my throat...*gag
Thankfully, I didn't let my first time with this recipe put me off. Yesterday, we bought a different brand of coconut milk and it was totally fine! No monkey fart smell! I am slightly concerned though that a monkey really did fart into my original can of coconut milk, but we haven't had any symptoms related to monkey fart linked illness, so I think we've dodged the bullet. So here is my recipe for really yummy coconut ice cream!
1 can of coconut milk (preferably one that a monkey has not been near)
3/4 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla flavor
Easy peasy! Mix everything together in a big bowl until the sugar is dissolved, then stick it into a tupperwear container in your freezer! About every hour, give it a stir to make sure it's freezing evenly. You can also throw any candy pieces that you want to, or even put coco powder in it but this is just the base recipe. It's fantastic and doesn't really taste much like coconuts (for non coconut fans), and this second attempt didn't even have a hint of primate poo particles! I figure it's way healthier than regular ice cream...but that doesn't make it "healthy", so try not to eat the whole tub in one go. It may not have the exact consistency of ice cream, as it will get ice crystals in it, but who cares! It's tasty, easy, and I don't need an ice cream maker!
So tomorrow I will share one of my other recipes. Which would you be most interested in? The 2 minute mug cake, my honey-basil sugar cookies, or my snickerdoodle muffins? All are easy to do (even if you don't have an electric mixer, which I don't).
My other share for today, is this fantabulous band that a friend of mine shared on facebook. I could not believe how incredible this song is, especially since there are 5 people playing one guitar at the same time! It is a cover song, but I love this! This band, Walk off the Earth, does a lot of amazing cover songs and their originals are also wonderful! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Fishducky's Here Today!!!
This is such an exciting day!!! Fishducky won my competition last week so she wrote a post for me and today I share it all with you! Another exciting thing about today is that I found this gem in my inbox this morning:
HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?! You will see it around at some of my other favorite blogs but I feel so happy that I get to be a Ducky! Fishducky is so much fun and adds such joy to the blog world. She's not a blogger but she's one of the best commenters out there! I do have to admit that I made it a personal goal to get Fishducky as a follower. I didn't want to do obvious things and ask her to take a look at my site or anything but I wanted her to see my comments left on our similar blog reads and have her decide if she liked me or not. Branden even got into my goal so when Fishducky became a follower a few months ago, we were both overjoyed!
So without further ado, here is the brilliant Fishducky!
NO HAMSTERS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF THIS POST
Thank you, Maggie, for giving me this opportunity to brag tell you about my daughter, Nancy. I can do that without fear of editing hurting your feelings since you haven’t yet started your own family. Nancy almost had her own career in show biz, like her mother. She was a month or two old when she was selected to portray a baby (type casting) in “Bonanza” but she was too young to be covered by their insurance. In the 1935 movie “Carnival” I was the adorable baby that Lucille Ball (in the uncredited role of a nurse) held in her arms while everybody went “AAWWW!” That was my entire career. I believe Lucille Ball went further.
First, I should tell you what (I believe) made Nancy the genius that she is today. When she was a few months old, I accidently dropped her on her head. (TRUE) I believe this shook her brains into proper alignment. She is at MENSA level, & do you know, she hasn’t thanked me to this day! She began talking VERY early--& hasn’t stopped yet. When she was 13 months old, my husband took her to a family Thanksgiving dinner while I stayed home sick in bed. I was watching a TV show about children learning to talk & I started making a list of all the words Nancy knew. I got to 100 when I realized I could probably double that. True, she couldn’t pronounce all of them correctly—chicken noodle soup was “hickey noonoo hoop”—but she was quite verbal.
Words were like toys to her—she loved them. We had this routine—I would ask her these questions & she’d answer. When she was 2, we went to the pediatrician & did our routine for the nurse: “What do you call a doctor who takes care of children?” “Pediatrician.” “Who’s the doctor that takes care of animals?” “Veterinarian.” “Who’s the scientist who knows all about fish?” “Ichthyologist.” When the doctor came in, the nurse asked Nancy the questions so he could hear her answers. He grabbed her up & ran out of the room. When he returned I asked him where he had taken her--& why. He told me that his friend—another pediatrician—was waiting in his office to go to lunch with him. He took Nancy through her routine & then said to the other doctor, “See what MY patients can do!!”
One more quick story about our pediatrician: When he was checking our second child, right after his birth, he was looking at his fingers & toes & I heard him counting softly—1,2,3,4,5—1,2,3,4,5, etc. I asked him why he was doing that. He said that a few months before he was checking another newborn & counted 1,2,3,4,5—1,2,3,4,5—1,2,3,4,5—1,2,3,4,5,6! He counted again—no mistake. The child had 6 toes on his left foot. He hesitantly told the mother, who laughed & said, “Isn’t that cute—just like his daddy!”
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Emotional Housekeeping
My brain has been jello and can't seem to hold a solid thought. Which I do find a bit odd since I can't stand jello, or pudding, or anything slimy...have I mentioned that before? I think I have but again, my brain is like jello.
I have been meaning to mention for quite a long time now that I still have every intention of starting my other blog. Some of you may have noticed that I got the basics down but I haven't gone any further. Something isn't quite right with it yet. I am not sure how it's going to change but I feel like it's not ready for me to get into or maybe I'm not ready. I started a big intro post, which I like, but I think I don't see the whole of it, the full purpose, and how this will be a massive change from my typical blog life.
Currently, I am not happy with the title. I did a brain storm based on what I thought it was going to be about, and came up with a list of name possibilities. Branden and I both really like "Golden Rule Nights" and checked to make sure it was available, saw it was free, so I nabbed it that night. I'm just feeling like that's just not it. It's not just my night volunteering, especially since I've had lots to keep me from it lately, but I think it's more of just...me. This is weird though because that leaves things very open and vulnerable to just have a blog on my heart and my thoughts. Laughter is always my way of dealing with things and practically my way of life, so being serious is so uncomfortable. I do have serious conversations with people, but I always have to make them laugh at some point, as if to make sure that they have a pulse of joy in them.
I think I get this from my Granny, who is also the one I'm named after. Nothing ever gets that woman down. She's been widowed since I was about 6, has had cancer 5 different times, and made the most of her widowed years travelling the world with her other widow friends. She didn't have an easy life, and I've found out more and more as I have grown older how tough she has had it, but you wouldn't have a clue of it. This can drive some of the family nuts as they just wish she'd take things seriously and not make jokes about going in for chemo and radiation again, but I think she wouldn't be able to handle it if she didn't take it the light hearted way she does. I'm that way too. If I have a serious issue and become completely sombre and serious about it, I will go absolutely nuts and put myself into depression in a snap. I have to find the light side of things and I have to make people laugh about it. Laughing is better than crying.
So anyway, this new blog is a stretch and I don't know when I'll be ready for it but I know it's coming and I'll get it sorted as I know more. I'm such a people pleaser, and I know not everyone would be pleased by my heart, my thoughts, and ultimately my relationship with God. I don't understand why it has to be so controversial because it's my personal relationship and not something I would try to put on someone, but there's just something about the word "God" now days that gets everyone's hackles up. That's another reason why I'm keeping the two blogs separate, so if you don't want to read my heart and just want my humor then you can keep to the one site and don't have to have your hackles in a twitch if I happen to mention the biggest part of my life, which just so happens to be God.
This gets me to another thing. I finally read Elisa's book The Golden Sky. (For those of you who know nothing about her book, click on the title and read a bit about it before continuing here. It will make a lot more sense if you do.) When it first came out, I was sad that we couldn't afford to buy it at the time since money was so tight that food was even a concern. But last month, Branden had extra hours and we got Christmas money so when I saw that I could get it on the Kindle for $2.99, I jumped on it! Oddly though, I couldn't bring myself to read it for a while. I knew what it was about, I knew that Elisa had healed so much since then, but it was like I couldn't bear to read it and feel her pain, as if it would make her actually go through it all again. I know this is silly, but it was a struggle since I have really enjoyed getting to know Elisa over these past months and seeing her wonderful, optimistic spirit. I didn't want to see her hurt.
Finally, a few days ago, I started it. It took me in right away, and I found myself completely engrossed in it. I knew Zeke didn't make it, but I still kept finding myself rooting for him to survive, like maybe this time the story would change. Maybe it would be different and she wouldn't have to go through all the pain I knew she has gone through. Again, I know it's crazy but I've never read a book written by someone I know. There were times where I would be interrupted from my reading and realize that I had a constant stream of tears just pouring off of my cheeks. Then there was last night, when I couldn't sleep so I was up till almost 3am, trying not to laugh and wake Branden up because of her skunk story. It was an eye opener and a heart wrenching look at myself.
Sure, our situation over here in Ireland has not been easy and we've had lots of people tell us that there's no way they could do it and they have no idea how we have managed, but it all seems so petty in relation to losing a child, and then even losing a spouse for a while. I always think how lucky Branden and I are to love each other so much and think 'how well' we've handled struggles so far, so we must be able to take on anything. But it can change in such an instant. Yes, there can be restoration in some cases, but sometimes there's not.
I had a dream last night that was like watching a show of my life. Happily married to my dark, curly haired dream man, and then all of a sudden, I leave the room, come back, and find that he is gone and there is a blonde haired oaf there instead, acting as if he's always been there. It was like Branden was never there, even though I knew he had been there and I knew that I wanted him back, but for some reason I had to play wife to the blonde oaf as if Branden had never been there. It crushed me and I hated pretending to be happy, and I woke up in desperate hopes to see my brown, curly haired dream man, but remembered that he was already gone to class.
I know this isn't the point of the book at all but I did get scared of losing Branden. We have an entire lifetime of big scary things happening to us and one of those times may take one of us. It's a hard thought and I can't think about it without crying, but life is fragile and does as it needs to do, whether we understand why or not. I know hardships make us better and make us learn important things, but I like being a simple, ignorant girl, who's madly in love with her husband and nothing can make her see otherwise. Elisa came out of her hardships, and look at her life now. She is one of the most beautiful people you will ever come to know and she has such a beautiful family. I'm so glad to have read her book, even if it was hard, but I got to see how important it is to not waste a moment with the ones you love. You just don't know when God will need them back.
Tomorrow, things will be back to the typical Padded Cell style, and you will even get to read the writing left on the wall from a crazy regular...Fishducky! She won the competition last week as to what to change my Merry Christmas garland to so I will post her hilarious story tomorrow!
I have been meaning to mention for quite a long time now that I still have every intention of starting my other blog. Some of you may have noticed that I got the basics down but I haven't gone any further. Something isn't quite right with it yet. I am not sure how it's going to change but I feel like it's not ready for me to get into or maybe I'm not ready. I started a big intro post, which I like, but I think I don't see the whole of it, the full purpose, and how this will be a massive change from my typical blog life.
Currently, I am not happy with the title. I did a brain storm based on what I thought it was going to be about, and came up with a list of name possibilities. Branden and I both really like "Golden Rule Nights" and checked to make sure it was available, saw it was free, so I nabbed it that night. I'm just feeling like that's just not it. It's not just my night volunteering, especially since I've had lots to keep me from it lately, but I think it's more of just...me. This is weird though because that leaves things very open and vulnerable to just have a blog on my heart and my thoughts. Laughter is always my way of dealing with things and practically my way of life, so being serious is so uncomfortable. I do have serious conversations with people, but I always have to make them laugh at some point, as if to make sure that they have a pulse of joy in them.
I think I get this from my Granny, who is also the one I'm named after. Nothing ever gets that woman down. She's been widowed since I was about 6, has had cancer 5 different times, and made the most of her widowed years travelling the world with her other widow friends. She didn't have an easy life, and I've found out more and more as I have grown older how tough she has had it, but you wouldn't have a clue of it. This can drive some of the family nuts as they just wish she'd take things seriously and not make jokes about going in for chemo and radiation again, but I think she wouldn't be able to handle it if she didn't take it the light hearted way she does. I'm that way too. If I have a serious issue and become completely sombre and serious about it, I will go absolutely nuts and put myself into depression in a snap. I have to find the light side of things and I have to make people laugh about it. Laughing is better than crying.
So anyway, this new blog is a stretch and I don't know when I'll be ready for it but I know it's coming and I'll get it sorted as I know more. I'm such a people pleaser, and I know not everyone would be pleased by my heart, my thoughts, and ultimately my relationship with God. I don't understand why it has to be so controversial because it's my personal relationship and not something I would try to put on someone, but there's just something about the word "God" now days that gets everyone's hackles up. That's another reason why I'm keeping the two blogs separate, so if you don't want to read my heart and just want my humor then you can keep to the one site and don't have to have your hackles in a twitch if I happen to mention the biggest part of my life, which just so happens to be God.
This gets me to another thing. I finally read Elisa's book The Golden Sky. (For those of you who know nothing about her book, click on the title and read a bit about it before continuing here. It will make a lot more sense if you do.) When it first came out, I was sad that we couldn't afford to buy it at the time since money was so tight that food was even a concern. But last month, Branden had extra hours and we got Christmas money so when I saw that I could get it on the Kindle for $2.99, I jumped on it! Oddly though, I couldn't bring myself to read it for a while. I knew what it was about, I knew that Elisa had healed so much since then, but it was like I couldn't bear to read it and feel her pain, as if it would make her actually go through it all again. I know this is silly, but it was a struggle since I have really enjoyed getting to know Elisa over these past months and seeing her wonderful, optimistic spirit. I didn't want to see her hurt.
Finally, a few days ago, I started it. It took me in right away, and I found myself completely engrossed in it. I knew Zeke didn't make it, but I still kept finding myself rooting for him to survive, like maybe this time the story would change. Maybe it would be different and she wouldn't have to go through all the pain I knew she has gone through. Again, I know it's crazy but I've never read a book written by someone I know. There were times where I would be interrupted from my reading and realize that I had a constant stream of tears just pouring off of my cheeks. Then there was last night, when I couldn't sleep so I was up till almost 3am, trying not to laugh and wake Branden up because of her skunk story. It was an eye opener and a heart wrenching look at myself.
Sure, our situation over here in Ireland has not been easy and we've had lots of people tell us that there's no way they could do it and they have no idea how we have managed, but it all seems so petty in relation to losing a child, and then even losing a spouse for a while. I always think how lucky Branden and I are to love each other so much and think 'how well' we've handled struggles so far, so we must be able to take on anything. But it can change in such an instant. Yes, there can be restoration in some cases, but sometimes there's not.
I had a dream last night that was like watching a show of my life. Happily married to my dark, curly haired dream man, and then all of a sudden, I leave the room, come back, and find that he is gone and there is a blonde haired oaf there instead, acting as if he's always been there. It was like Branden was never there, even though I knew he had been there and I knew that I wanted him back, but for some reason I had to play wife to the blonde oaf as if Branden had never been there. It crushed me and I hated pretending to be happy, and I woke up in desperate hopes to see my brown, curly haired dream man, but remembered that he was already gone to class.
I know this isn't the point of the book at all but I did get scared of losing Branden. We have an entire lifetime of big scary things happening to us and one of those times may take one of us. It's a hard thought and I can't think about it without crying, but life is fragile and does as it needs to do, whether we understand why or not. I know hardships make us better and make us learn important things, but I like being a simple, ignorant girl, who's madly in love with her husband and nothing can make her see otherwise. Elisa came out of her hardships, and look at her life now. She is one of the most beautiful people you will ever come to know and she has such a beautiful family. I'm so glad to have read her book, even if it was hard, but I got to see how important it is to not waste a moment with the ones you love. You just don't know when God will need them back.
Tomorrow, things will be back to the typical Padded Cell style, and you will even get to read the writing left on the wall from a crazy regular...Fishducky! She won the competition last week as to what to change my Merry Christmas garland to so I will post her hilarious story tomorrow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)