Big Ole Birthday

Just wanted to take a moment and wish my lovely friend Kate a very Happy 30th Birthday!! She brings me laughter and support and cookies with oodles of frosting!!! She is the kind of friend that makes you homemade chicken soup when you are sick and tells you when you need to hear something. She is a giver and a sharer and she is sassy and smart, and styley and all around lovely!!!! Wishing you every joy this year my dear Cake!!!!

Corners of my home

I have seen several sites do just a few photos of the corners of their home, I think I may do this regularly...it would be good for mindfulness and living in the moment...

The first photo is my favorite! I went in to file some receipts and glanced up to find a little conga line party going on in the castle...this brought a big ole goofy smile to my day! They even took the time to pose them all...what I wouldn't give to be in a happy little conga castle party!!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends and are able to ease into the week ahead!

Baby Dinosaur...

Ok, so dinosaurs was the theme at the little one's school today and so she came home as ellasaurus rex...and I was mommysaurus rex and himself was daddysaurus rex...

Lunch converstation:

"mommysaurus rex?"

"Yes ellasaurus rex?"

"I love you mommysaurus rex."

"I love you too ellasaurus rex."

Lunch was leftovers from one of my favorite restaurants here in Midland http://genjijapenesesteakhouse.com which is one of the only times in my life that I love steak!! And I think they put crack in the yum yum sauce just so I crave it... all around a good thing, even reheats nicely and the little people like it and the vegetarian in the family does ok there as well...

Went to book club last night, we had read this book http://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Raft-Blue-Water-Novel/dp/0312421850/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203704379&sr=8-2

It was ok. Interesting discussion but not so much a memorable book. The author was a bit sordid in life so some interesting biography information on him.

Found these really cool items on Etsy the other night...oh how dangerous Etsy is for me...very very dangerous!!!!

I have always loved Day of the Dead things so this really struck my fancy...http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9561900

I love these trees!!! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9500244

And I would own any of the jewelry here!!! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9692081

That is all for now!! Enjoy your day!!!

Joy Mail!!

Oh today had such a lovely end for me...after running and picking up the elder statesman from school and then running the monkey to gymnastics...I finally got home to find one of the best mail days I have had in a long time!!! As you can see above, the lovely Erin at http://bluebirdbaby.typepad.com , totally made my day, my week even with the arrival of the wonderful tote bag that I won in her giveaway a while back. As if that perfect little bag , in those really great colors was not enough she packed in treats a plenty!!! Did I mention I have never had Green and Black chocolate before??? OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!! It has been absolutely all I can do to stop myself from devouring the entire dark chocolate bar!! And there was also this to die for seasoned popcorn! I have been licking the bowl I limited myself to!!!!!!!!!! And as if the yummy goodness of the snackies was not enough there is a clutch in there that is awesome! The colors and style are perfect!!! I am blown away, in case you couldn't tell by her generosity! You bloggers are a cool group of folks!!!

And as if that little boon in a bag wasn't enough, my book I ordered from amazon, Three Cups of Tea arrived. And not only book goodness but our first http://netflix.com selection arrived. Of course it is a shoot em up for Himself not all the lovely artsy selections I have in queque for myself! But for a mail day all things lovely and good and best of all NO BILLS!! Yeah!!

Then the lovely Elder Statesman arrived home from Ballet, and we all sat down to hot cocoa together...dinner was a broken affair with all the running and classes...but I rejoiced in the time to hear her talk and see how her day went and hear how her views are changing and celebrate in her new reader selection the wonderful Frog and Toad books! And she just looked so grown up with her hair all pulled back and her snuggle clothes on...did I mention she has started doing her hair herself?? Sigh...it is just going too, too fast for me...she just looks like a lady not a little girl any more and I am not sure I will ever be ready for all that is coming...

Yumminess...

Ok so we didn't get a photo of the loveliness that himself made for the dinner...so I defaulted to a jewelry collection picture...not even close but there you have it...just can't post without a photo...seems wrong...

Ok so the yumminess...today was a day that I would be home for around 1 hr. so the odds of homemade goodness coming from my efforts was zero...we would have been looking at peanut butter sandwiches or maybe even breakfast cereal! So last night himself said to leave him out a recipe and he would make it for dinner!! The poor man should never say this to me!! I always find that one recipe that sounds really great but I have no patience to attempt and dangle it out there for himself. And bless him he dives right in and says here you go... tonight's was http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6863.0 It was so, so good! You can tailor the veggies to family tastes and the crust could be anything really but himself upped the whole thing a notch and made the one he found at the whole foods site Simple Pie Crust...oh let me tell you it was all I could do not to eat seconds, thirds, and fourths!! And even better, the lovely ladies both liked it and the elder statesman said she would like to take it for lunch tomorrow!! Yipee!! And to make this whole thing even better, with today's meat recall and the scariness that is the beef industry, it is a meatless event!!

Next I have a recipe for flour tortillas I am hoping he gives a go...oh yeah this is me upping the bar!! Homemade tortillas!!! Woo Hoo!!

Speaking of Who....many thanks to Soulemama for the Who bread recipe...it was most delicious and a nice treat at work today the hint of cinnamon is lovely!!

Can't stop Baking

Ok so I can't stop baking today!! I have to because I need to go to work but I am on a roll and am finally back in the kitchen! After all the ick, I haven't felt much like pottering around in there!

I received my new http://vegetariantimes.com magazine last week and there are months I make nothing out of them and months like this that I have flagged all the recipes to try! Today I made the banana chocolate muffins, and the French Pain D'Epices, I also have a loaf of WHO bread (compliments of http://soulemama.typepad.com) in the machine as we speak. The banana muffins got rave reviews from the little ladies (I haven't tried those yet) the Spice muffins are very layered and yummy, and the WHO bread will not be done till I am ensconced at work...but tomorrow morning breakfast will definitely be a toasted slice!!

Above are photos of the Barefoot Contessa's cake we made for Valentine's day I did change the frosting just a bit, it called for an egg yolk which didn't sound real yummy to me to eat some raw egg on top of such a lovely cake so I added a little olive oil instead and it was fantastic!! And the other photo is my little yummy aiding in clean up!!

Hope you are all safe and warm this dreary February afternoon! Wishing you smells of baked goods wafting through your home!!

A Day...

It was in fact a day...and it is in fact nearing over...

The doctor's appt. yielded antibiotics for a big ole sinus infection for me and a note for a day off work tomorrow...and we just watched the girl's movie choice A Quest for Camelot (Friday nights are our family movie night) which they are now re-enacting. And after they are safely tucked in their beds himself and I are going to watch Becoming Jane...and with any luck I will find a way to sleep tonight it has been eluding me the past few evenings...