It's a Snowday ~ Who Wants a(nother) Cupcake?

The twin's violin concert was rescheduled for tonite.  From the last snowday we celebrated.  Unfortunately, now there's a giant ice storm knocking down our door, so the concert has been cancelled for good.  Not before I'd made a giant batch of red velvet cupcakes for our family to enjoy at the pre-concert dinner, though.  What do you do with an entire batch of gorgeous red velvet cupcakes when company is suddenly not coming?  When you don't want to really, really have to run every morning of your life...?

You meet your best friend at the bus stop with a box of 6 wrapped in a pretty polkadot ribbon.  And when your neighbor shows up to pick up his son after the playdate, you load him up with a box of 4 also.  And that leaves 4.  None for you.  Cuz the family ate them all after dinner.  Didn't even leave you one. 

'Tis totally OK, cuz I ate something like 3 or 4 of them this afternoon before the early dismissal call even came.  I was planning to run in the morning anyway.

Head over here if you want a lovely (easy!) red velvet cake recipe with a surprising whipped cream frosting.  Click here if you like the cupcake liners (I LOVE them!  Dierberg's has them in the StL) and here if you want to check out my newest favorite blog!

Blessings!

~k

Project 365

Oh My Gosh!  Are you totally doing that too?!

No.  No I am not.  But Monday while Pooks was at theatre rehearsal, the rest of us visited my favorite bookstore (besides the library...where I spend just as much money apparently) and I browsed a book/journal all about Project 365s.  I think the concept is cool.  I even started a photo-ey scrapbook-ish one once, years ago.  I cut out the front of my home-version icee mocha box and glued it in there.  I snapped a picture of the kids in front of StarWars on the TV (the beginning of a new obsession back then), a house we fell in love with but didn't buy (go figure), plus maybe a few other things.  I think I made it about 4 days.  Maybe 6.

And that's why I don't do Project 365.

The book was pretty neat though - some girl painted her nails a different way every day for a year.  Like bacon.  She painted her nails to look like bacon.

Someone else took photos at 7PM every day in one city while his best friend took photos at 7PM in his city.  Then they blogged it.  For an entire year.

Someone else used a roll of toilet paper every day and used the tube to make African face masks.

OK.  I totally made that one up. 

But there were some craZy weird ones, I'm just saying.  (As if painting your nails like bacon isn't weird...Or maybe it's just creative and I'm weird...touche.)

The overriding admission among the writers, however, was that it was awesome to work on something every day for a year.  That their ability to look back over the course of 365 days and see how their project had evolved and what it said about them for the year provided a new sense of awareness of who they were.

Interesting.

I still don't think I would stick to it.

But in the interest of my own Project 365 - and no, that's not what I'm calling it - I've been diligently snapping photos all week to participate in Frizzy's Fab 5 Photo link up on Friday.  I found that I need to cut myself some slack.  I never feel like I play with the kids enough.  Or bake enough.  Or live in the present enough.  But what I discovered about myself is that I played every day.  I baked frequently.  And I love my life right now.

So, I guess in my own little way (my own Project 5/365 way) , I truly did see the evolution and what it said about me while providing a new sense of awareness of who I am.

Score.

And it only took 5 days.

So, without further adieu, here are my 5 photos (or collages, because I break the rules like that).

Little Bit decided she wanted to paint her nails.  Herself.  Blue (thank God it wasn't bacon...).  And so she did.  I love that kid.  And I love the little dimples that still grace her sweet knuckles.  Man she's a doll.  She did inform me this week that I didn't have to sign her up for preschool next year.  Apparently she does not like school.  "So you can skip it," she said to me.  Boy is she in for a surprise.

If you have friended me on Facebook, then you know I desire to dress more like Edie @ Life in Grace who has been said to "dress like a scrapbook."   I also love how this gal has an entire series of posts related to what she wears every day.  I am not that awesome to dress cool every day.  But, I had fun with it this morning.  And I went and spent the rest of my envelope at Cato today (one week into the 2 week envelope...so much for that resolve...), so I might take my picture again tomorrow.  Then it's back to jeans and t-shirts Sunday (and I don't mean the 7 for all Mankind variety). 

Seriously?  I don't even have to say a thing here.  I love this girl.

The Best Cornbread you will ever eat.  You can find the recipe here.

And finally, I realized this week that by the time I was Pookie's age, I was making my own batches of chocolate chippers.  Plus my own breakfast and packing my own lunches (that's what happens when your mom is a hard-working single warrior in the 70s.)  But my kids?  Wednesday morning this week, I poured cold cereal into a bowl and poured milk on top and called them to breakfast from their cozy warm spots on the couch in front of the TV.  *ahem*   So much for training up a child in the way he should go.  That afternoon, Pooks came home and I told her, "Go make me some chocolate chip cookies."  (Or something much friendlier, maternal, and sweeter.)  She LOVEd it.  And that batch of cookies was G.O.N.E. by bedtime.  Apparently, she takes after her mom.  She's a fabulous baker.  (And we all love chocolate chip cookies!)

It's Pinewood Derby Time!  More pics next week...Until then, ENJOY your weekend!
~Karin

Pretty Betty Makes Cupcakes

Man did we have a great night tonite.  I knew in December that about 6 weeks of Life were going to get craZy right after Christmas due to extracurricular schedules, but jeez-oh has it surpassed my worst expectations!  Tonite was the first night we've been in all night since the beginning January.  And not all of us were here - Meiners was out to dinner with The Grands and The Man had a business dinner.  But the rest of us?  The rest of us pulled up a chair and made homemade corn bread, finished long overdue homework assignments, and even got some multiplication drills in.  We (and by that I mean the kids) vacuumed and dusted and cleaned the bathrooms.  We (and by that I mean I) folded countless baskets of laundry...

It was a great night.

Only one thing was missing.  Cupcakes.  Seriously.  I have a longterm love affair with small cups of chocolate goodness.  I travel far and wide to enjoy an uncommon cake in a paper coiffe.  Last night I didn't travel far at all, however.  In fact - I visited my extra fridge in the basement and devoured the final cupcake from my baking extravaganza last week.  I enjoyed it so much I not only took pictures of it, I thought I would share the recipe with you here.  So, be-bop over and load up on milk.  Because these babies aren't for the faint of heart.  These cupcakes are for chocolate lovers.  I just wish I hadn't let The Man have that strawberry frosted one last night.  Cuz then I could've topped off a perfect night tonite...

Chicken Dip

Is it just me, or is that not just the funniest title?

Chicken Dip.

I just have to savor that one for a minute. Cuz it's either a description of me and the post I pulled down that meant something to me but that I feared might mean too much to someone else...

OR

...it's a recipe to THE most addictive and amazing appetizer ever known to MAN ... or JackSAN.



Nonetheless, while scoping out pics tonite for Pookie's Star of the Week poster, I came across me doing the photo recipe / blog / thang to my favorite food - and what I'm hankering for tonite (even though it's way too late and I don't have any chips. ... believe me, if I had chips, it wouldn't matter how late it was...).

:: Buffalo Chicken Dip ::

Here's my very gourmet way to tell you how to make it:

Cook up some chicken breasts in the microwave (about 1.5 pounds). Shred or cut it up into teeny tiny little bits. Buy some Syberg's Famous Wing Sauce (if you're StL or can get it - no other sauce compares to Syberg's, I promise!). Pour it over your chicken bits.

Spread a package of cream cheese on a pie plate. Spread chicken stuff over the top. Grate some cheddar cheese over the top and heat in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with Tostitos Lime Chips if you're awesome like me --- or your favorite crunchy chip-type food.

Yum-OH!

Big Daddy and I can make a MEAL out of this. And only talk about feeling guilty about it. We don't really - feel guilty - cuz this stuff is Dang Good!