Happy Halloween!!

Bad blogger!

Scold me. I deserve it. This week just seemed to fly by and I felt like I had no time to blog.

Here's an update on what we've been up to:

I'm happy to report that I'm officially back on the wagon. After my 33 pound weight loss dropped to a 26 pound weight loss, I got my butt back in gear. I went back to Weight Watchers last week and had an amazing 7 pound loss in the first week! I am hoping that I am able to jog regularly without my injury flaring up again. If you don't know about my injury, just use your imagination.

We carved pumpkins. Correction: Trophy Hub carved pumpkins. I was busy making treats for Peanut to take to BASP tomorrow (info to follow), Peanut thought the insides were gross and Bubba thought the insides were scary. Last year he actually cried.

Onto the treats. These are my absolute favorite Halloween treat to make. Here is my recipe for Oreo Eyeballs:

8 oz cream cheese (I always use light)

Package of Oreos - crushed completely in a food processor

Vanilla Almond Bark

M & Ms

Red decorating gel

Soften cream cheese and mix with crushed Oreos. Roll into balls. I always put them in the freezer to get them really hard then dip them in the melted almond bark. Decorate.

I was in a big hurry tonight so they're pretty sloppy, but I doubt the elementary school kids will care! They are so good. I did not taste test tonight, but Trophy Hub gave them the thumbs up. I have experimented with peanut butter and mint Oreos and those are good too. I usually make them at Christmas too and just decorate with sprinkles instead of m&ms and gel. Just make sure however you decorate, that you do it while the almond bark is still wet and it dries super fast. (The only exception is that the gel goes on better once it's dry.) Try them your way and let me know what you think!

What I love about Iowa in October

H1N1

UPDATE: I feel like I should clarify: I don't think the masks are ridiculous. Clearly if you have H1N1 you should be wearing a mask. HOWEVER, if you are deemed mask necessary, STAY HOME and out of my Target!


The dreaded H1N1 has hit our area pretty hard.

At any given public place, you will find several people walking around with surgical masks on.

Seriously? That's ridiculous.

And it makes me wonder - Are they protecting themselves from us or us from them?

I suck

I suck at a lot of things.

Putting away laundry? I suck. Being patient with my kids at bedtime? I suck. Going to bed early and getting up early? I suck.

But...when it comes to baking, I do not suck. So why is it that I suck at making cut-out sugar cookies? I am completely incapable. What's the secret? My dough is always too dry and I can never seem to get them the right thickness and end up baking them too long. Can anyone help?!

Obsess much?

So let's talk about my newest obsessions.

Welcome to Wednesday nights on ABC! Come on, who's watching with me? Modern Family and Cougartown and HILARIOUS. Lots of adult humor, so make sure the tater tots are sound asleep. I actually snorted. More than once. During both shows.

It has been a long time since I've watched sitcoms (are they still called sitcoms?). Seriously...probably since Seinfeld!? I've been stuck in dramas and reality shows. Oh, don't get me wrong. I still love me some Amazing Race, Survivor and Brothers & Sisters. But I have abandoned Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives.

Speaking of reality shows and drama, do you watch Flipping Out on Bravo? That guy is completely off the hook. Million Dollar Listing on Bravo is also very addictive.

What have you been watching?

Sunday in pictures

Look! My kids are in the same picture! Neither is running the other way. Neither is looking at my camera either, but beggars can't be choosers. It was a beautiful fall day! They helped Granny decorate with ghosts and scarecrows. Bubba loves this hat. I think it's pretty darn cute too. Although...everything looks cute on him!

We took Peanut's old bike to Granny's so he's still getting some use out of it although it's a bit too small. He was a wild man riding it down the big hill.

Pumpkin Bars

This time of year I always crave pumpkin bars, but I've never made them. So this morning I made them. They are sooooo good.

Here is the recipe I used:

2 c sugar

1 c vegetable oil

4 eggs

15 oz can pumpkin

1 t vanilla

2 c flour

2 t baking powder

1 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

Mix first 5 ingredients, then add dry. Mix together and pour into a 10 x 15 bar pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until center is done. Cool and frost.

Here is the frosting I made:

3 oz cream cheese, softened

6 T margarine, softened

3 c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

2 T milk

Enjoy! If you were my neighbor you would have some already.

Five Question Friday

It's Five Question Friday! Head on over to My Little Life to play along!

1. What phrase, or phrases, do you say a lot (holy cow, geez, seriously?)

I say "That's ridiculous" all day, every day.

2. Swimming: Are you a kamikaze off the boat, take the plunge from the deep end, or a gradual, slow submersion from the shore or shallow end kind of person?

I'm a plunger. Uhhhh that came out wrong.

3. Have any tattoos? If not, what would you get?

No tattoos. I'm not permanent in my decorating - that includes body art.

4. What is your favorite tree?

Favorite tree? I have to be honest and admit that I can't look at trees and tell you what kind they are. I like trees that are pretty colors in the fall. (Wow, that sounded really ditsy.) And I like world peace...and everything...and such as.

5. Two pronged question: What is your favorite non-physical thing about your spouse? What is your favorite physical thing about your spouse or significant other?

Non-physical would definitely be his sense of humor. Physical would definitely be his eyes. Hello?! Have you seen my husband's eyes?

How cool is this?

I headed on over to My Little Life tonight to see if she had her 5 Question Friday up yet. And instead I read about this totally cool giveaway. Go to her site to see what it's all about. I totally want this necklace (but with my kids names on it):

October 15th

Today, October 15th, is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrence Day.

Please pray for all the women (and men) who have felt the sorrow of losing a baby.

Birthday ideas?

The boys' birthdays are coming up so it's time to start thinking about how we're going to celebrate. Of course, smack dab in the middle of their birthdays we will be at Disney. Is there a better way to celebrate? I think not.

I still think they deserve to have a party with their friends though, right?! I'll probably have their party together again this year. Bubba is too small to have a ton of friends of his own and Peanut could care less so I'm going to capitalize on that as long as possible.

Does anyone have any ideas for a fun party? It will mostly boys - age 6. Goodness gracious. Some place that doesn't require a security deposit or one that doesn't have a "you break it, you buy it" policy?

A diet I wouldn't suggest

Want to know a quick way to lose 5 pounds? Vomit for 7 hours straight! Guess how the last 24 hours have gone for me? Augh.

Bubba got it Friday night. Peanut got it Sunday morning. No amount of hand washing and hand sanitizing was going to save me - I had it by Sunday night. Trophy Hub has intestines of steel and probably won't get it. But Lord help us if he does get it. He is the most dramatic vomiter I've ever known. Not that I've known a lot of vomiters. Anyway...

My mom gets an award for either bravery or stupidity for coming to visit on Saturday. (We'll see if she gets it to determine which she gets.) She scanned an article from the paper that suggests drinking 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar when you feel the stomach bug coming on to get relief. Have you ever heard of that? I thought of it a few times last night, but I'm just not sure I could drink that. Can you imagine burping that up when you already feel bad? ICK.

I hope all of you are healthy! I'm sure after a good night's sleep I'll be good as new tomorrow.

It's Oct 10th!

I'm not ready for this!

It's SNOWING!

Today's bumper sticker

"Don't let the car fool you, my real treasure is in heaven."

Obsession

My TV boycotting child has an addiction.

It's Monsters vs Aliens.

I bought it for them last week because Target had a coupon on it for $2 off if you bought batteries too. I just so happened to be at Target for batteries so I took it as a sign. It was a night when Trophy Hub was working so I put it in for them while I cooked dinner. At first Bubba didn't want to watch it (shocker) because he never wants to watch anything. To my surprise, he watched a good deal of it. And now, a week later, has watched it probably 10 times from beginning to end.

Wow, that sounds like really bad parenting, doesn't it? Most of that was on Trophy Hub's watch. There. I feel better.

Announcement!

You have all been begging me to reveal my new venture. Ok, so a few of you have been.

Drumroll please...

I have signed on a Tastefully Simple Independent Consultant! I am super excited about this! It is something that my friend Barb has been talking to me about for almost 3 years. I laughed for the first 2 years and really started to consider it in the last year. Honestly, it's not like I have tons of time to do this. But I LOVE the Tastefully Simple products and thought it would be fun! Like all things in life, it is what you make of it!

My mom first introduced me to Tastefully Simple about 3 years ago. She came to visit and brought beer bread (make with 7-up - not beer!) and spinach and herb dip. I was about 8 months pregnant with Bubba. I didn't know a Consultant, so I asked around a bit and no one else had a good connection. I was visiting a customer and saw she had some Tastefully Simple bags under her desk. Immediately, I said "Where did you get that?!" She gave me Barb's email address and my email to her went something like this:

You don't know me and I don't know you. But I'm 8 months pregnant and crazy. I need some beer bread and spinach & herb dip. Now.

Ok, so maybe that was enhanced for dramatic purposes, but that's pretty much what I told her. Barb has been a very sweet friend ever since.

My goal is to have fun with this. Period. If I can earn some cash and get the products that I use and love at a discount - score! I probably won't be able to do many taste-testing parties because of Trophy Hub's schedule and the tater tots. And everyone is just so busy these days. But everyone loves Tastefully Simple and catalog parties can be almost as fun! Food always makes a great gift too!

You can visit my website here.

If you have never had Tastefully Simple products, I would highly recommend the beer bread and spinach & herb dip. :-) The Almond Pound Cake is a very popular item and always a crowd pleaser. Most of the products only require you add one or two ingredients and most of them are found right in your kitchen (milk, water, butter, etc). There are also several products that you can use in your everyday cooking - seasonings, sauces, etc.

If you would like to place an order, you can do so right on the site or contact me and I'll do it for you! I even accept credit cards. High tech - huh??

Thanks to all of you who have known about my little secret and have been supportive!

Queen is stuck in my head

Another one bites the dust!

Remember when I said he was a bruit and got over things in a matter of hours? This poor kid has it worse than Bubba did. He's got aches and a high fever. You can definitely tell when his Tylenol kicks in though. He's off the couch and playing within about 30 minutes of his dose.

I hope he'll be better tomorrow. Either way, he can't go to school. I was surprised when I called him in this morning (my first time) that they wanted his symptoms.

I hate it when either of my boys are sick, but they are so snugly and sweet. When I got home today, I sat with Peanut's head in my lap, stroking his head and Trophy Hub was just like "Oh my goodness, that is ridiculous". I totally wait on them hand and foot when they are sick and Peanut is old enough to milk it a little bit. Because as you all know, I don't wait on them any other time!

My bet is that after a good night's sleep he'll be good as new tomorrow!