May the Fourth be With You

     This may come as a shock to some of you, but growing up I was a complete nerd.  (I know, right?!) I loved reading and learning so much; school was my favorite.  I made A's all my life.  (Until Nursing school, of course.)  In primary and middle school I was teased mercilessly for not being cool or popular.  I remember being called names, bullied, and even tripped in the hallways between classes.  At recess I would hide in the library, where I'd research anything from ancient civilizations to American history.  But that didn't always work, and some nights I'd come home very upset, and I'd cry to my stuffed animals.  On nights like those I remember being cheered up by the adventures of Bilbo Baggins as he went off in search of dragons and treasure.  On other occasions when I was made to feel bad, I'd perk up while watching Luke Skywalker use the Force to conquer the Dark Side with my daddy and big sister.  Sometimes, just daydreaming about what it would feel like to have superpowers, like the X-men, would make all the worries go away.  I didn't always like being a nerd, though.  I tried not to be one for a while, and I was miserable.  I wanted to be popular in middle school, but that would have meant giving up all the things that made me happy.  For a while I tried, but it didn't work.  It just made the misery worse.  Finally in high school I found people who liked me just as I was, no pretending, and no sacrificing the things I was passionate about, but I was still hesitant to let my inner nerd truly fly, having been made to suffer for it all my life.
     It's odd how paradoxical life can be.  As bad as I wanted to fit in while in grade school, that's how badly I want my daughter to stand out.  Even after all the torment I went through as a nerd, I'd love to see my daughter be one too.  And here's why: nerds, geeks, dorks, whatever you call them have one thing in common: passion.  They are incredibly passionate about the things that make them happy, whether that's science, technology, comic books, novels, Halo, Magic the Gathering, Dr. Who, Harry Potter, LOTR, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.   It doesn't matter what ignites their excitement, once a geek likes something, they let everyone know about it, and they pursue it for life.  I want my daughter to be passionate about life, and I want her to find joy in even something as trivial as a card game.  That's why I encourage her when she shows an interest in something to go all out with it.  You like superheros?  Superhero books!  Superhero coloring pages! Super hero costumes!  Oh, you're into Pokemon now?  Cool.  I'll buy two decks, and then we can play together.  What's that?  You were playing Star Wars at school with a friend?  Sweet!  Let's watch the movies, so you can accurately imitate a strong female character like Princess Leia.
     Being a nerd is something that I thought brought me great strife as a child, but now I realize that's only because I didn't embrace it at the time.  I hope my child enjoys her nerdiness, and embraces the fact that you can get really excited about a movie, or a scientific fact, or even a new trading card, and that's OKAY!  That's more than okay in my book; that's pretty cool :-)
    Coincidentally, this monologue is being brought to you on none other than May the Fourth (if you don't get the reference, you're excused).  You know...Star Wars Day?  And since the theme of the evening is revel in your nerdiness, allow me to share with you the epic lunch I sent Monkey to school with.  This is the lunch my sister deemed, "The most epic and nerdy thing you've ever concocted" (and that's saying something).

     This marvelous Star Wars masterpiece was so much fun to make.  I created Princess Leia by drawing a cartoonish version of her onto a sandwich bun using a food marker.  The Storm Trooper was made by simply drawing on a boiled egg with the same food maker.  Yoda was created by cutting a green apple in half; I then cut one of the halves in half again, and I soaked those three parts (the half and two quarters) in a bowl of water with a few tablespoons of lemon juice for about 5 minutes to keep it from browning before lunch.  I arranged Yoda's ears and face by using green grapes to keep everything in place.  Next I used the tip of a grape as a nose by securing it with a toothpick, and I added a pair of candy eyes using a couple of dabs of Nutella.  I threw in a handful of Wheat Thin Chips for good measure, and I sent Monkey off to school.  But, wait, there's more....

     I had to add this fun little note to the lid of Monkey's lunch box.

     Today was also Monkey's day to bring snacks to school, and I had a LOT of fun putting these together.

     I found Star Wars themed Teddy Grahams, although you could also use the chocolate Teddy Grahams as Ewoks, and I placed those in one snack bag per child.  Then I dipped pretzel sticks in white chocolate that I had dyed blue and red, although, the red turned out pink :-/  Monkey didn't mind though.  She knew which ones were for the Dark Side lol.  I printed out little labels from card stock that said, "Happy Star Wars Day", and I used those to staple the two bags together.

     Next I printed out little labels that said "Jedi Juice".  I let Monkey color the lightsabers before I enlisted J's help to tape the labels onto juice boxes.

     I had a lot fun putting all these together for Monkey, and she informed me that her classmates enjoyed playing with the mini lightsabers before devouring them.  Yay for organized nerdiness!

Happy Star Wars Day!  May the Fourth be With You! :-)

Happy Valentine's Day

     Lately Nursing school has been taking up more and more of my time, which means my amazing husband has found himself filling in my shoes more often than not.  He's been wonderful about it, and I've really been impressed with just how quickly he willingly took on my share of the load so that I could devote more time to my studies.  That being said, there's definitely been a huge learning curve, for both of us, and what would this blog be without a funny story or two (or more) of my sweet husband navigating his way through this new uncharted territory?
     Just about every pay day, y'all have read my stories of misadventures to the commissary, and you've heard (and ignored) my pleas to remind me to not bring my husband to the store with me in the future.  Well the other night, I decided to be smart and send my husband to the store by himself.  He asked me to go with him, but I declined because Monkey needed help finishing her homework, and I still had some homework of my own to take care of, so off he went to the store alone.  Five minutes after he left I got a phone call.  It was J, telling me that the commissary was closed (it was Monday, of course) and that he'd be headed to Walmart instead.  I thanked him for the head's up (as this would mean he'd be gone longer than expected) and hung up the phone.  About three minutes later my phone rang again.  It was J again, asking if Rouse's would be better than Walmart.  I told him it really didn't matter to me.  Rouse's is a tad more pricey, but it's locally-owned so I let him decide, and got off the phone in order to help Monkey with her homework.  Another 5 minutes went by and my phone rang yet again.  It was J.  He wanted to tell me he chose Rouse's and what would I like for dinner?  I told him I'd leave it up to him since he was cooking.  I told him I really needed to concentrate on my homework now that Monkey was finished with hers.  I reassured him that I trusted him to make these choices alone, and then I got off the phone.  Ten minutes later, it rang again.  Guess who?  J wanted to know if I wanted tacos for dinner.  He'd just grab some ground beef, since we had most of the other ingredients at home.  At this point I should have said "yes that's fine dear" and left it at that, but I was trying to finish up some stuff on my computer and I was not thinking clearly, so I said something bout having a burrito for lunch and not really wanting Mexican food again.  Then J started asking about various types of meat I may be interested in, and I lost my patience, asked him to figure it out, and got of the phone hastily.  At this point I realized I wouldn't get much studying accomplished, as Monkey was finished with her chores and getting bored, so as I got out the craft supplies, I called my sister because she had asked me to call her earlier that day.  As I'm filling her in on my husband's antics, I hear a beeping noise on the line.  J again!  I put my sister on hold only to have my husband ask me if I preferred flaky biscuits or the Grands.  Apparently he had settled on breakfast for dinner, and just wanted to hear my voice telling him that was a good idea.  I told him to stop calling me and just come home and start cooking.  I hung up, switched back to talking to my sister, and decided I would never send him to the store alone again.  That notion was only confirmed when 5 minutes later there was another beeping sound in my ear.  I didn't answer that time, and he finally stopped calling.  I think he missed me, because he came come with a King Cake and a bag of Hershey's Kisses with Almonds :-)
     As much as I pick on him, I am going to miss my husband this weekend.  He's going to his mom's so that Monkey can enjoy the Mardi Gras parades.  I stayed behind to study for my OB/Peds final exam.  The house is very quiet without them here.  Of course, this means my husband is getting out of Valentine's Day.  Somehow he manages to do that every year.  Oh well, it really isn't that important of a holiday in my opinion.  If it were my birthday or an anniversary, I may be more upset.  I was really more upset that I wouldn't be able to make special snacks and crafts with Monkey than anything else.  I did make up for that a bit, though, with these cute lunches and by helping her make some special goodies bags for her Valentine's Day party at school.

Heart Chef's Salad (Kinda)
 

     Okay this one didn't quite come out the way I wanted it, but it was still a yummy lunch, so I'm including it.  I laid out a couple of slices of ham, topped that with a layer of sliced Monterrey Jack cheese, and finished it off with a layer of salami.  I log-rolled the whole thing, and sliced it into little rounds.  I positioned two rounds each on a toothpick.  They were supposed to look like hearts when I did this, but I didn't quite get it to work at 0530.  Unless you turn your head and squint, that is.  I shrugged it off and placed the toothpicks on a bed of lettuce and spinach and added a few diced tomatoes and slivered almonds.  I included a bit of Italian dressing, some strawberries, a few Wheat Thins, and a NutriGrain bar.

Cupid's Lunchbox

     For this lunch, I simply cut two slices of bread and a couple slices of ham using a heart-shaped cookie cutter to form the sandwich.  I added a cheese stick with a sweet message written in permanent marker on the wrapper.  Next I threw in some celery sticks and a few crackers.  The final touch was a pair of Cupid's arrows that I made by threading blueberries, orange wedges, and strawberries onto a wooden kabob.

 DIY Lunchable: Valentine's Version

     I know I use this idea a ton, but it's just so versatile.  I cut two types of cheese (Colby Jack and Monterrey Jack) into heart shapes.  Next I cut turkey pepperoni slices into hearts.  I added a bit of blueberries and strawberries I had cut to look like hearts.  I also included some Ritz crackers (not pictured) for Monkey to make cracker sandwiches with.

DIY Mini Pizzas: Valentine's Version

     This is another one I've done before, but by cutting the pepperonis into heart shapes it makes it a special Valentine's lunch.  Included in this box was an English muffin cut in half, shredded Mozzarella cheese, turkey pepperonis cut into hearts, homemade pizza sauce, Wheat Thins, blueberries, and strawberry cut into hearts.

     I love making these special lunches for Monkey, and I hope one day she looks back fondly on the memories and sees that her Mommy just wanted to do something a little extra to make each day special for her.  Speaking of little somethings to make someone's day special, let me show you the little goodies she packed for her Valentine's Day party at school yesterday.

Aren't these goodie bags cute?

      First I found some cute goodie bags at Walmart.  Monkey picked out her favorite design.  We brought them home and filled them with the following goodies:

     First I printed off some hearts that said, "You are all 'write' Valentine!" on white card stock.  I let Monkey decorate the hearts while I punched two holes in the hearts to thread a cute Valentine's Day pencil through it.

     Next I printed off labels that said, "Your friendship blows me away, Valentine!" on white card stock.  I cut two slits in the label, and Monkey helped me thread Blow Pops through the labels.

   
     Then, I printed out these cute Valentine's Tic Tac Toe boards onto card stock, cut them out, and placed them inside snack-sized Ziplocs with ten Red Velvet M&Ms, five of each color.  Lastly, I added a label for each of her classmates to the outside of the bag.  You can skip this to make it easier on the teacher, but Monkey has a crush on one of the little boys in her class, so she wanted to make sure he got a specific bag.

     The baggies were fun to put together because Monkey was very involved, coloring, organizing, placing, and making sure each of her friends got a personal little Valentine from her.   The time we got to spend together making them almost make up for the fact that I won't get to spend time with her at the Mardi Gras parades....almost.    

A "Super" Birthday

      My daughter will be 5 years old in an hour and five minutes.  The school-age years are upon me, and I don't know what I'm going to do.  My little girl is getting so big, and there's nothing I can do about it but enjoy it.  To celebrate, Monkey requested a superhero party.  Okay, that's not entirely true.  She wanted a Captain America party.  Then she wanted a Hulk party.  Next it was a Spiderman party.  Finally I said that we were having a superhero party, and that was that.  I'm not going to lie, I phoned it in a bit this year.  I had someone else made the cake.  *gasp*  I know!  What can I say?  Nursing school is time-consuming, but I did manage to make a few odds and ends to fit the theme.

     First and foremost were the invitations.  I took a few shots of Monkey in her Spider-Man top (from Gap) and her homemade tutu (for a tutorial, click here) perched in the tree in our back yard.  Then I headed over to Shutterfly to do the rest, and this is what I came up with:

     Next I started off the decorations by keeping it simple.  I found out (through Pinterest, of course) that fake tattoos can be used on plastic or glass.  So I decided to use that idea to decorate the cups for the party.  All you have to do is follow the instructions like you would for skin, and the tattoos will stick to the plastic the same way.

     I'm a fan of simple these days, and what could be simpler than phoning a friend?  I called upon my wonderful big sister to make this awesome banner for Monkey, and she did a fantastic job!

     The most awesome thing I made were these adorable felt masks for the kids (and the adults) at the party.

     I even decided to go with the theme and don one that went with my dress.

Spider-Girl and Batmom

     If you'd like to make some for your own little one, click here.  They were super fun.  I was glad to have them on hand in case one of the guests missed the memo about the costumes.  My in-laws certainly got the message, though:

     I saw an awesome idea on Pinterest about turning regular bubbles into themed bubbles for a party by simply wrapping designer Duct tape over the regular label.  And they make Avengers Duct tape :-)

     We also played this awesome Hawkeye version of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". (I don't know what the deal is, but when you view the link the title is at the bottom of the page, but if you download it, it looks right.)  Of course, this was supposed to be a kids game...

     I was so excited to find Silly String at Walmart, and I had intended to have the kids shoot their "Spidey Webs" at various villains around the back yard (I was drawing on my games from Monkey's Toy Story party), but the adults at the party had other plans.  It was pretty much a free-for-all after that.  Even I got roped into it somehow, and Monkey had Silly String in her hair for the rest of the party because she refused to let me get it out.

   And to top it all off, I found a Spider-Man piñata at Walmart and filled him with goodies before letting all the little ones take their aggression out on him.  I must say, Spidey's never been my favorite super hero, but he sure can take a beating!  Those kids were relentless.

  And now on to the fun part: the food!  My favorite appetizer was this awesome food-edition of Captain America's shield, which was made up of blueberries, two layers of sliced strawberries (you could do raspberries and strawberries, but raspberries are a tad more costly), and one layer of white cheddar cheese, and a prettily cut out white cheddar star.

Ta-Da!

     Next I enlisted my sister's (and her Cricut's) help in making these cute food labels:

   Meanwhile, in a crockpot I had Teriyaki Wings cooking under the label "Bat Wings", but I don't have a picture of that particular genius.  We also had Pizza Bites shaped into a giant 5 for the birthday girl, and if you'd like to see the tutorial for that, go here.  They were super easy to make, and the guests loved them.  Plus you can shape them to fit any theme, and I made them the night before and simply stuck them in the freezer until the next afternoon.  We also made "Hulk Cookies" which were simply Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies dyed green. Then, using this awesome sugar cookie recipe that I found for last year's party, I cut out and baked gingerbread men, and then (with the help of an awesome friend) we decorated them to look like a few of Monkey's favorite superheroes.  

Our poor superheroes need to put in some quality time at the gym.

      I had planned to let the kids decorate their own superhero cookie, so I left about a dozen cookies blank and had icing ready, but then the party got under way and I completely forgot, but I think that would have been fun to see what sort of super hero they would have made for themselves.  Oh well, we were too busy having fun to be creative ;-)

   Finally I sent the kids home with some Hulk-style goodie bags filled with Avengers-themed Play Paks, a Spider-Man glow stick, a pack of stickers, and one of the felt masks I had made.  

     I made the bag by buying green paper bags from the party section at Walmart, and then I came home and glued the purple "shorts" to the bottom of the bag, making sure the waistline was nice and jagged first, and then I used a Sharpie to freehand the rest.  

     I had a lot of fun this year planning, and putting all this together, and I think I like this minimalist attitude.  It's rather relaxing.  And Monkey didn't seem to think anything was missing.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Recipe for Homesickness

     It's rainy here in south Mississippi, but I'm not complaining too much because with the rain comes cooler weather.  This morning should have found me running the annual Walk/Run to Remember in Baton Rouge, but because of J's work schedule and my looming finals I had to sit it out this year.  This is the first year I haven't gone since my family started participating in this 5k.  You see, the Walk/Run to Remember benefits the Alzheimer's Services of Baton Rouge, and my family participates in honor of my grandfather who battled the disease for years before he passed away.  It was weird not to be there this morning, but that's life I guess.

     I don't know what is up with me lately, but I've been having serious flashbacks to childhood.  Maybe it's this time of year, but I find myself calling my sister more and more in order to ask her, "Do you remember...?"  Maybe I'm getting a little homesick.  I haven't been home since July, which I know is a paltry amount of time for most Navy wives, but I live a mere 2 hours from home, so it's odd for me.

    I have found a coping method for homesickness, but it's doing my hips and thighs no favors.  I've taken to cooking and baking things I haven't had since I was a kid to make up for it.  I think I need to find another coping method or just plan a trip home before my pants no longer fit!

   At least one of my cooking escapades lately wasn't unhealthy, so that'll be the one I share with y'all.  Last night after carving pumpkins, I cooked up a batch of pumpkin seeds just like my mom used to make.

Pumpkin Seeds 

Pumpkin Seeds (about 3 cups)

3 cups warm water

1/2 cup + 1 TBS Kosher salt (or any other type)

Remove seeds from carving pumpkins, making sure to get all the strings off.  Rinse until clean.  Add warm water and 1/2 cup salt to a large bowl; stir until salt is mostly dissolved.  Add the pumpkin seeds, cover, and let soak over night. Strain.  Spread seeds out on baking sheet in a single layer, sprinkle with 1 TBS salt.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until pumpkins seeds turn white.  Remove from oven.  Let cool, and store in an air-tight container.

Enjoy :-)

   Now I'm off to go cook up a batch of some Chicken and Dumplings.  Nothing like a bowl of that to send me right back to childhood.  I may even sit Monkey on the counter and let her drop in the dumplings like my mom used to do with me :-)

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

   Four years ago today I married the man I loved.  Although my love for him then was as fierce as I could manage, it's a mere shadow of what I feel for him today.  After four years of marriage, not only is he the man I love above all others; he's the man I share a life with, a home with, a child with, and a story with.  He's the first one I want to call when I have some funny story to tell.  He's the first one I run to when there's a crisis.  He's the one that can make me smile, make me laugh, and bring me to tears with just a look.  Even when he's far away, he's still the voice in my head encouraging me to be a better me, to go after that goal, and to believe in myself.  I am so grateful for these past four years, and I can't wait to see what the next 50-60 hold.

    In addition to our anniversary today, Monday is J's birthday, so I wanted to make sure I sent off a care package with enough goodies to spoil him for both occasions.  That's why I was so excited when I found Cake in a Jar!

All you need is 4 Pint-sized jars and the cake mix of your choice.  Prepare your cake batter.  Spray the inside of your jars with cooking spray.  Then fill the jars up about 3/4 of the way with the batter.  Place them on a cookie sheet and bake for the time required in your recipe, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes away clean.  (You may have to adjust the time slightly.)  When it's cooked, remove from oven and carefully screw the tops on tightly.  You'll hear them pop as they seal.  Voila!  Cake in a Jar lasts up to 6 months!  I sent 4 jars of red velvet cake to my hubby with a can of store-bought cream cheese icing.  He can either share or hoard them for later :-)

   In his care package I also included a little photo collage Monkey put together:

And I packed a bag of my Homemade Granola in there along with a few essentials such as razors, vitamins, etc.  I haven't heard whether or not he's received it, but considering I sent it at the end of July, here's hoping.

Homemade Goldfish

   This morning I had the best waking-up experience in quite a while.  My morning routine is to check my phone, my Facebook and my Gmail account before I even put my glasses on.  It's been about two weeks since I've heard anything from my husband.  Apparently internet is not too dependable in his neck of the woods.  This morning, however, I was rewarded with not one, but two emails from him.  Inside were four videos he's been making over the past two weeks, just waiting for a day when he had enough time and signal to send them to us.  It really brought a smile to my lips.

   Apparently he hasn't forgotten our theme song, and he can't wait to get his ass back home, but until then, we're still truckin' along.  Yesterday Monkey and I had fun making some snack time goodies.  We tried out another Pinterest recipe, this one for Homemade Goldfish.  They turn out great, if not as pretty as the originals.

Here's what you'll need:

8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
4 TBS butter, cubed
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 TBS cold water

(Yeah; that's it!)

Combined cheese, butter, flour, and salt in a food processor.  Mix until it looks like course sand, like so:

Add water, 1 TBS at a time, pulsing after each addition.  Place dough on plastic wrap.  Wrap it up and let chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator.

Remove from plastic wrap, roll out to about 1/4" thickness, and cut out various shapes.  I used a knife to make the fish shape.  You can also make your own cookie cutters from aluminum, or you can use icing tips or small cookie cutters.  I love that you can make virtually any shape you wish.  I'm thinking hearts for Valentine's Day, snowflakes for Christmas, etc.  Anyway, once you get your "fish" cut out, lay them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until crispy.  The amount of crackers your dough yields will depend on the size of the cutter you use.  The original poster said she got about 7 dozen out of hers.  I didn't count, but that sounds about right.

Our assorted shapes

 My favorite part about these Goldfish is the fact that they're cheesier than the originals, and you know exactly what goes into them.  Enjoy!

Keeping Busy

   These days I find myself trying to stay as busy as possible.  I've had several family members attempt to help me with that goal by visiting, starting with my little sister, joined by my older sister.  Then came my Moma Deana.  She was quickly followed by my mom and little brother, who stayed behind with me after my mom left.  Even with all these visitors, however, I still find the month of July to be going by very slowly.  I'm looking forward to August, since it will bring with it my chance to be back in school, but it's still July.  So, I've been filling the time with projects as well as people.

   For my birthday, my mom gave me a sewing machine, and when she came to visit she helped me learn the basics, took me to get supplies, and even helped me begin a dress for Monkey.  I finished it today, and I'm so excited that it came out alright!

Ta-Da!

My beautiful model!

The iron-on my little brother picked out!

     The best part about this dress is that the material only cost me about $10!  I used three handkerchiefs you find at Walmart for $1 a piece, two pink camo ones for the front and back, and one black handkerchief for the bottom trim.  The iron-on was about $3, and the ribbon was about $4.  Talk about a bargain!  I didn't even have to buy a pattern or anything because my mom pointed me in the direction of this awesome website that has amazing tutorials!

    I've also been cooking up some goodies for my first care package to send to my husband.  Because it's a birthday box, though, I can't share everything I put in there yet, but I do want to share this awesome recipe for Homemade Granola.  Yes, J, if you're reading this you'll be getting a bag of it in your box.  The recipe is from Paula Deen's Holiday 2010 issue, but the recipe itself comes from her step-kids.  Here it is:

See, J?  It's all lined up by your box, ready to go :-)

Michelle and Anthony's Dried Fruit and Nut Granola

Here's what y'all need:
3 cups rolled oats
1 3/4 cups sliced almonds
1 cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup firmly backed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
3 TBS butter, melted
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 (7 oz) packages mixed dried fruit

Preheat oven to 250.  Spray a large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds and sunflower seeds.  In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, honey, melted butter, cinnamon and salt.  Add to oat mixture, tossing gently to coat.  Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan.  Bake for 1 hour, stirring mixture every 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool in pan completely.  Stir in dried fruit.  Store mixture in airtight containers for up to one month.

   My favorite part of this recipe is how much you can play around with it.  Take the dried fruit for example, there's so many to choose from!  This time I went with mangos, bananas, and strawberries, and it was perfect.  However you mix it up, you've got a yummy, customizable, healthy snack to get you through the day.  

Y'all enjoy and have a great night!

Movie Night

     I've decided that I'm a wimp.  My daughter and husband left at about 2:00 this afternoon to join my mother and father-in-law at their home for a weekend of fishing and fun.  I stayed behind for a bit of quality sister time, and although I'm immensely enjoying my one-on-one time with my baby sister, I'm also missing my little family already.  My daughter just called me for her "nigh-night" kiss, and I almost cried!  She was so sweet, and it just made my heart ache to think that I'm missing out on a real goodnight kiss.  I think I'm going soft.

    Ah well, like I said, I'm enjoying spending a bit of quality time with my little sister.  Well, I should say "younger sister" considering she won't be my "little" sister for too much longer.  She's already close to my height, and she's only 15!  Well, anyway, it's raining here, so we couldn't go to the beach like she had asked, so instead we had a movie night.  After dinner, we made Caramel and Candied Popcorn and watched Abducted (her pick).  She wanted to watch it because it starred Taylor Lautner.  Coincidentally, that's exactly why I didn't want to watch it.  She won out though, and got to enjoy her five minutes of shirtless-Taylor-Lautner-oggling.  That's honestly all I think she remembers from the movie, as a matter of fact.  Ah, to be young and obsessed with mediocre celebrities!

   Well, at any rate, the popcorn was a big hit where the movie was a flop.  My little sister had fun helping me make (and eat) it.  Here are the recipes so you can try it too :-)

Salted Caramel Popcorn
1 batch stove-top popping corn (popped according to direction on back of the package)
1 stick butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat.  Add brown sugar and syrup.  Stir until mix, and then let sit on heat for about five minutes or until an auburn color.  Remove from heat.  Add vanilla, salt and baking soda.  Let cool for a couple of minutes.  Then pour over popcorn.  Mix thoroughly.  Spread onto baking sheet.  Bake at 275 for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Let cool completely on wax paper.

Candied Popcorn
This one would be the perfect thing to get rid of all the left-over Halloween candy.

1 batch stove-top popcorn
4 pieces Baker's white chocolate bark, chopped
Your favorite candy; you can use M&M's, Resees Pieces, Ande's, Snowcaps, etc.  I let my little sister pick, so we ended up with these:

Whoppers and Mr. Goodbar

 Yeah, that's what happens when you put the teenager in charge of snacks. ;-)

So here's what you do:

Make you popcorn according to the directions on the package, set aside.  Melt the white chocolate in the microwave at 30-second intervals.  Drizzle the white chocolate over the popcorn, stir until coated.  Add your candy.  Stir some more, and then spread onto a backing sheet before popping in the fridge (or freezer) to harden.  Yum!

Well, this tired Mama is going to go shower and head to sleep because I just realized that for the first time since my child was 18 months old, I'm looking forward to a morning where I will not be awoken before 8 am.  :-D

I Want a Log on my Head

    My mom always told me that I ramble.   A lot.   I'm fairly certain she tunes me out too, but that's okay, because my ramblings have found a new outlet Mom, you know, my blog you haven't read yet...  :-P
 
   Yeah, my mom hasn't read my blog, but part of me is totally okay with that, because that means I can poke fun at her without her ever knowing.  Unless my sister tells her something...  Shhhhh!  Yes, I'm inadvertently speaking to my sister and my mom simultaneously through a blog that I don't think either of them actually reads. (And whoever can figure out that last sentence gets a cookie, because I'm still not sure if it makes sense.)

   Hey, look Mom, I'm rambling. :-D

   Why am I so preoccupied with my mom tonight?  O.o

   Oh, yeah, Duh!  It has to do with a recipe.  Go figure.

   Tomorrow night is another Girls' Game Night at my house, and I made my mom's spinach dip.  This stuff was always like crack at our house.  We would eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time, brunch, etc.  Please bear in mind that Mom was also the woman who would let us eat leftover birthday cake for breakfast for the entire following week.  So spinach dip as a main course?  No problem.  I think she actually found this recipe on the back of a box, but I can't be sure.

  So here's the yummy recipe:

1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 (16 oz) container sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 pkg vegetable recipe mix
1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 green onions, chopped

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, chill for 2 hours, then serve with your favorite "dippers".  We always used Wheat Thins.  If you wanted to dress it up a bit more you could put it in a bread bowl and have bread and veggies as your "dippers".

    This is going to be a short blog tonight.  *Insert short joke about my mom or my sister.*  I'm still running on those four hours of sleep, and it's doing things to me.

    I honestly have a new respect for my husband who went through training with less than this in terms of sleep.  He'd sleep four hours tops then wake up and run around with a log on his head.  Wait, that makes him sound like a loon.  I promise, it was what the military made him do.  Although, those guys haven't seen anything.  They should try running around after a two-year-old with four hours of sleep.  With a log on their heads.  Okay, I'm rambling again.

   Night y'all!