Distracted

So today is a new year with a clean slate to fill.

 I have been thinking of some great resolutions.

 Some positive changes I want to commit to.

 But, for some reason, the leftover Christmas goodies are still proving to be a big distraction.

 My focus isn't really where it should be.

 I think Ormie and I could be soul sisters right now.

    

Bet you can't guess what I need to work on this year.

Hope 2013 is going well for you so far.

Today I am thankful for

leftover potatoes that made making dinner quick.

the hope and excitement that comes with a new year.

Dropbox - it makes sharing photos with the oldest daughter a fairly easy experience.

American Creme Oreos

When I went to the store last week I was excited to discover that Nabisco has taken a step to help my family's Memorial day tradition seem a little more patriotic and fitting for the occasion.  There on the shelf was a package of  limited edition American Creme Oreos.

How patriotic is that?  Of course those Oreos had to come home with me in preparation for the upcoming holiday.

Today I took my required "Oreo Day" photo.

Notice how I worked hard to get the reflection of the flag in my picture.  Double points for patriotism!

Then I ripped open the package and sampled the cookies.

While I give Nabisco a high five for a fun idea, the end result wasn't all I had hoped for.  The hubby's first question was "Where's the white stripe?" So I ask, "Why no white stripe?" I do think all 3 colors found in the flag would have added to the filling and made it look truly American.

 I also have never been a big fan of the golden Oreos.  I would have preferred the traditional "chocolate" Oreo encasing.  I wonder who decided that "American Oreos" should be light and not dark?  Probably in our overly politically correct society there should be versions of both colors and several hues in between.  

Happy Oreo Day to my kids!  I hope you managed to find some kind of Oreo to partake of today.  I also hope you took a few minutes to ponder the sacrifice of  those who paid the ultimate price so we can live in a free country where I can discuss the color of cookies without fear of being labeled a subversive and being thrown into prison or transported to a really cold place. (Perhaps I have been reading a few too many books about the Soviet Union under Stalin rule recently).

Today I am thankful

that I was born an American.
for those men and women who gave their lives so I can enjoy the freedoms I enjoy here.
for unusually moderate temperatures that made being outside today enjoyable.

Kitchen Help

Tonight some of my friends and I helped in the kitchen at the wedding reception of another friend's daughter. It was a fun reception with good food and lots of yummy, yummy homemade cakes. The Hawaiian wedding cake with pineapple, coconut and nuts was my favorite. I know that because I sampled a few of the other ones too. A daughter of one of the friends came into the kitchen at one point, stood there for a few minutes and then said, "This is where the party is!" I hope word doesn't get out that the kitchen is the place to be at weddings, because then I might not get to hang out there as often. It is actually a lot of fun!
They had rented a photo booth for the wedding and all the guests could get their pictures taken. Then they cut the set of 6 pictures in half and you got to keep 3 and the strip with the other 3 were mounted in a wedding album where you could write messages to the newlyweds. It was a fun idea and the scrapbook turned out really cute. If any of you have a whole lot of extra money in the budget for your upcoming wedding you might want to consider it.
The kitchen help decided we needed to get our picture taken together. We gave the really cute pictures to the bride and groom and this is what we were left with. As you can see, we really had to squeeze into that photo booth.

Today I am grateful for

a daughter who makes me crepes for breakfast
another daughter and son-in-law who provided the fillings.
Good friends to help and hang out with.

One year ago today - The daughter's dolphin calling ability, Thursday night at the San Diego Temple

Mother Goose Popcorn

Sunday Evenings during my childhood often included watching the Wonderful World of Disney. This was before the age of videos or DVDs and if you wanted to see a Disney movie you had to either go to the movie theater or watch The Wonderful World or Disney on TV. The movies were usually 2 hours long and we had to wait a whole week to see the second hour.

Our Sunday Disney viewing often included a delicious bowl of homemade Mother Goose Popcorn.

I have very fond memories of helping make this favorite treat. Mother Goose popcorn is made by combining 2 cups of sugar and 1/2 a cup of canned milk in a saucepan and then cooking it until it reaches the soft ball stage. It's readiness was always tested by filling a small measuring cup with cold water and then dropping a blob of the syrup off the spoon and into the water. The blob was then pushed with the finger and if it formed into a ball it was done. If it just disintegrated it had to cook longer. I didn't like it when that happened. Licking the tiny drop off my finger, after it was tested, was one of my favorite parts of the cooking process. It was also exciting when I was chosen to select the color of the popcorn for the evening and I loved to add the food coloring a drop at a time and watch my chosen hue appear.


When my kids were young we use to make Mother Goose Popcorn every now and then, but it has probably been years since I have made it. Recently the youngest son has been asking me to make him some and today while I was grocery shopping I received a text request from him with a please attached. Since I was at the store and could buy some popcorn and canned milk I was a nice mom and said OK.

He popped the popcorn and entertained while I made the syrup.


I even let him choose the color.


Which was supposed to be purple, but ended up more pink.

Unfortunately, after he watched me make it he deemed the stuff unhealthy and severely limited his intake. Unhealthy or not I thoroughly enjoyed my tasty trip down memory lane today.

Cadbury Creme Eggs

While serving my mission in England I discovered the delectable delicacy - the Cadbury Creme Egg. I fell in love at first bite. I remember when the Easter season ended and I realized I would be in Utah when it was Easter again - Utah where they didn't sell Cadbury anything - I was very sad. I paid 13 pence apiece (why do I vividly remember this random detail) and purchased a few after Easter leftover eggs, hid them on the top shelf of my wardrobe and vowed I would take them home and enjoy them next Easter. Needless to say, I didn't have to worry about packing them when June rolled around and I returned to the states.

It was a happy day for me when one Easter, there on the store shelves in Utah (or was it Arizona by then?), I once again discovered Cadbury Creme Eggs. Even though American Cadbury Creme Eggs taste different than English Cadbury Creme Eggs, each year I have to buy at least one for old time sake, usually at the after Easter sales because I'm too cheap to pay full price. Today I bought my 2009 Cadbury Creme Egg, but I'm hoarding it away for a special occasion or a desperate moment when I need a sickeningly sweet chocolate fix.

I hadn't really looked at my egg closely when I watched this video on someone else's blog. I looked at my egg again. Yes, it is smaller, but then perhaps I have just gotten bigger. I don't know why I find this so entertaining, but I do.

Cherry Chip Cake with Cherry Frosting

My oldest son was very sad that he didn't have a birthday cake yesterday with candles to blow out. Since I am a nice mother I decided to make him one today. Better late than never I always say. This son's favorite kind of cake is Betty Crocker Cherry Chip cake with Cherry Frosting and it is what he has requested at least his last 10 birthdays. I am also a fan of this combination, but every time I make his birthday cake I think "this cake certainly doesn't look very masculine." I have attempted coloring the frosting a different color on occasion, but then it just usually ends up looking gross, not masculine. Today I decided to just go with the pink look and not care. However, I thought a 9 x 13 cake was kind of boring. When the girls and I took the cake decorating class I'm pretty sure I bought 2 round cake pans, but of course I couldn't find them today. I did find some small round pans that my friend had given us for Christmas one year to make individual pizza cookies though. I decided I could make a tall, small round cake. The cake ended up being 5 layers tall. It would have been fine, but I didn't have enough frosting to put it together so I decided to put some pudding in between the layers. I didn't feel like leveling the layers since that seems like a waste of good cake to me, so the cake was a little precarious. The pudding was too slick to hold the layers in place and ran out the sides and mixed with the frosting and that made the frosting too runny to stay on the cake as well. The cake ended up resembling a pink volcano in a pool of lava.
The oldest son, however, was happy that he had candles to blow out and the cake tasted a lot better than it looked.

Also, in the dark you can't even tell the cake is pink. I'd say it was a success!

Today I am grateful

that I don't have to make a living selling cakes.
that my oldest son is easily pleased.
for birds that collect spiderwebs from my window sills to pad their nests. It makes me feel like I am helping a fellow mother rather than just feel lazy for not cleaning the windows.
for a surprise phone call from my mom and sister.

The Deal

We have a problem in our family with the kind of words we use and the tone of voice we speak with. It has gotten to the point where pretty much at least half of the stuff that comes out of my mouth or my son's mouths seems to be sarcastic, facetious, unkind, impolite, contentious or just plan mean. I have been thinking for a while that we need to do something to change this, but I wasn't really sure how to help us stop. Today while the youngest son and I were waiting for his last (hopefully) visit with the oral surgeon he made a smart remark and I said, "I think you should see if you can go for a whole week without being sarcastic." His response was "What will you give me?" I told him I would kiss him on the forehead. That definitely wasn't going to cut it. "Will you buy me a car?" "Uh, No." "Will you let me get my driver's license?" "Nope." "If I go for a month without being sarcastic will you let me get my license?" I had to think about this one for a minute. First of all, the way things are in our home at the moment I would say the chances of him going for a month without being sarcastic are less than zero. Probably like a negative 50 at least. And that is not being sarcastic. That is the genuine truth. However, I could really enjoy an entire month of honest, polite responses coming out of this son's mouth. I was thinking it might actually be worth it. I wasn't going to give in too easily though so I upped the ante. "If you can go for a month without saying anything sarcastic, rude, or mean to any member of our family I will let you get your license." "This is going to be easy!" He was immediately checking his calendar in his phone to figure out what day of the week April 23rd was and entering a note that he was getting his driver's license on that day.
On the way home we stopped at Circle K so I could buy the son an ICEE in honor of his one year anniversary of giving up soda. He hasn't intentionally drunk any type of carbonated beverage since March 23, 2008. (He was tricked into drinking soda when he partook of the wedding punch at his sister's wedding reception last April before he was informed that one of the main ingredients happened to be 7up.) He went into the store to make his purchase and I waited in the car. When he came out I remarked "You smell like coffee. Have you been drinking coffee?" He quickly retorted, "All day, every day." I looked at him and he whacked himself on the knee. He pulled out his phone and changed his note. "On Friday, April 24 on I going to get my driver's license." Since then he has done quite well and I am thoroughly enjoying this welcome break from his wicked words. Now I just need to work on myself and his brother. Stay tuned to see how this episode of "Let's Make a Deal" turns out.

Today I am thankful for

a visiting teaching companion that makes the appointments.
a son that took out the trash without complaining and even gathered up the palm tree litter left by last night's windstorm without even being asked.
a husband that goes to the grocery store.
the last trip to the oral surgeon (I hope).

Cake Decorating 101

A Mom and 2 Daughters.
A very large bag of powdered sugar to make 6 bowls of frosting.

4 cakes (one didn't survive being taken out of the pan, so the daughter had to make a new one).
Good balancing skills to get all the cakes, frosting, and supplies to the instructors house.
A little instruction and a lot of practice.

3 cute cakes.



4 fun hours spent with my daughters and a lot of leftover frosting.
Who's going to eat all this cake?
Too bad I can't.

Childhood Memory

Tonight some of us went shopping at Target, one of my favorite activities. I especially like their end cap clearance items and their dollar bins at the front of the store. While digging through the dollar stuff I chanced upon an item that brought back some wonderful childhood memories. I found a package of 50 martini hangers. Now you may be wondering why martini hangers would be a part of a young Mormon girl's childhood. Actually it wasn't until tonight that I had ever had a name for these memorable items. I doubt I even knew what a martini was at the time. When I was growing up we use to take frequent trips to Midway to the Timp Freeze (I think that was the name of the place) to buy their soft serve sherbet cones. They were the most delicious things in the whole world. I loved the way they tasted, but even more I loved the tiny, plastic toy that came poked into the twirl. I seem to remember my brother enjoying the plastic swords the best, because they were great things to torture his little sister with, but I loved the animals and the occasional mermaid. I had a pretty large collection of the colorful little creatures at one time and I each and every one of them was important to me. Now you know why I love Target. All those wonderful memories for only $1.00. Now I just need to find me a sherbet cone machine and I can really re-live my childhood!

National Doughnut Day!

So, how many of you knew that today was National Doughnut Day? In honor of the event my youngest son and I took a field trip to the new Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop in East Mesa (right before gas took a 10 cent jump from $4.05 to $4.15 at the QT by my house). We are happy that Arizona once again has a Krispy Kreme and I am happy that it is far enough away that I am not tempted to visit very often.

I have a thought for you to help commemorate the day. I was listening to a talk on tape by Brenton Yorgason about marriage relationships. He had been counseling a couple who were contemplating divorce. He painted them a picture of the Mesa Temple with a cactus in the foreground and on the only spike on that cactus was a glazed doughnut. When he presented the picture, the wife asked him what in the world that was on the cactus. He asked what she thought it was and she said it looked like a doughnut. He told her she was right and when she questioned why the picture included a doughnut he told her this: "The only things you ever tell me about your husband are what he isn't, what he is missing. I want you to focus on what he is. I don't want you to look at his hole. I want you to look at his doughnut. He is a good provider. He has never cheated on you... When you eat a doughnut, you don't worry about the hole, you enjoy the rest of it. I want you to try to do the same thing with your marriage." Apparently that picture changed the couple's marriage and their lives.

Message to my Children - In relationships, try to always focus on the doughnut and not on the hole.

Happy Hour(s)

I had a fun day today. I've had a few too many of those lately and my house is beginning to show the effects, but that is beside the point. My oldest daughter felt bad that she missed out on the puzzle-putting-together party, since she was on her belated honeymoon, so she brought a puzzle and came to visit. She and I spent a couple of enjoyable hours completing it.


I wonder who the first person was to print a picture on cardboard and cut it into little pieces just so someone could put it all back together? For anyone who cares, I checked into this on about.com and found out that the first puzzle was created by an Englishman named John Spilsbury in 1767. He was an engraver and a mapmaker. The first jigsaw puzzle was a map of the world. Spilsbury attached a map to a piece of wood and then cut out each country. Teachers used his puzzle to teach geography. Another invention created for a valuable purpose that somehow got turned into a distraction. Puzzles really are kind of silly things and a waste of time, but a whole lot of fun. I'm sure there must be some mental value in putting them together. Don't you think?

Speaking of Happy Hour, I went to Sonic yesterday for my favorite diet coke with whole cherries and they charged be full price even though it was 3:45 PM which should have been Happy Hour - half price drinks. I bought other stuff for the kids so I didn't really realize it until later, but I was really sad that perhaps Happy Hour was a thing of the past. My sons were more than happy to go check it out today and I am pleased to report that Happy Hour is still happening! Puzzling is much more exciting with some liquid refreshment.

Brown Licorice

All my life I have loved Twizzlers brown licorice. It is one of my favorite treats. Recently I haven't been able to find it in any of the stores I frequent. I was really excited today when I was at Albertson's and saw they had some. I quickly bought a package. I made it all the way to the car before I ripped the bag open and pulled out a piece. Something looked wrong. There were holes in the ends of the licorice. Anyone who loves brown licorice knows the ends should be sealed closed. Also the sticks seemed to have put on a little bit of weight, but hey, who am I to judge someone for a weight gain. I was so sad when I took my first bite and realized that apparently the recipe has changed. This was not my much loved brown licorice, but an imposter. What was Hershey's thinking when they had to change a good thing?

Poison Cake

Today daughter the younger made the announcement that her elder brother has a date tomorrow. This was news to me. Well, the date included him serving lunch in the back of his truck and he decided to bake his favorite dessert, white Texas sheet cake. This cake is his favorite because it has almond extract in the batter and the frosting and he loves almond extract! He bought neon food coloring so he could make it a beautiful shade of pink - the recipient's favorite color. Just as he was taking the cake out of the oven and stirring the frosting for the last time she called and for some unknown reason he decided to ask her if she had any food allergies. I bet you can guess what her answer was. Yup, she has two and one of them just happens to be ALMONDS. I think he really wanted to cry. We all had fun giving him a hard time about trying to kill his date. As his family we thought it was only right for us to destroy the evidence, as in eat the cake, but he insisted that she was going to get to see it even if she didn't get to eat it. Maybe tomorrow we'll get to devour it. I can hardly wait.


Here is the recipe for the cake just in case you know someone who is allergic to almonds that you want to get rid of. It's also just plain delicious if you want to try a good cake.

White Texas Sheet Cake
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup water
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
In a large saucepan, bring butter and water to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in flour, sugar, eggs, sour cream, almond extract, salt and baking soda until smooth. Pour into a greased 15x10x1 inch baking pan. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until cake is golden brown and tests done. Cool for 20 minutes.
Frosting
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup milk
41/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Combine butter and milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; add sugar and extract. Mix well. Stir in walnuts; spread over warm cake.
Yield 16 to 20 servings.

Oreo Day!

Well, today is Memorial Day and I haven't given much thought to those men and women who have made such great sacrifices so that I can have the freedom that I enjoy. My 15-year-old son just finished taking a World History and Geography class online. This meant that pretty much every day he was sitting in front of the computer and I was sitting behind him - usually keeping him from escaping. Together we learned a lot about history, and war, and sacrifice, and how lucky we are to be Americans in 2008 even though gas prices are way too high. I am grateful for the opportunity he gave me to be reminded of these things (even though I wasn't all that grateful at the time).

Now to the title of this blog - When my oldest son was probably about 5 or 6 we had been telling him all day that it was Memorial Day and that was why Daddy didn't have to go to work. As dinner time ended he looked at my husband and me and said, "I've waited and waited all day and I want to know - when do we get the Oreos?" We were a little confused until we realized that he thought we were saying MMM...Oreo Day! We had a good laugh and went out and bought Oreos and our Memorial Day Celebrations since then have always included Oreos.