Ever had a bad day?

 I am sure everyone has had one of those days where nothing seems to go right.  What do you do about them?  Do you wallow by yourself or have that confidant to listen to your complaints?  

I am lucky.  Let me repeat that, for it needs to be stressed: I AM LUCKY!  I have an awesome family and set of friends (that are basically family) that I can go to with anything.  They know when to leave me alone, when to distract me, and when to let me cry - which seems to happen at the most inopportune times.  

If I want to complain about my journey, someone will listen.  If I am having a hard time with some aspect of my life I can talk it out with any of them.  I am fortunate.  On just my side of the family I have 4 grandparents, 17 aunts and uncles and more cousins than I can count, plus of course Brian, my own parents and wonderful sister + family!  And we all talk.  On days like today (it has not been a good one so far) I need to remind myself of my good fortune.  Life might not always go as I plan or want, but I will ALWAYS have someone there to support me through it (and smack me up side the head when needed).  

I am sure most of you don't read this blog, but for the few of you that do spread the word:  THANK YOU!  (Give that grapevine a work-out.)

Paintbrush Cookies

Dinner is done, the toys are semi put away and Stinkle's is still bouncing off the walls - an hour before bedtime.  What to do, what to do?  It is cold, dark and snowing outside so that is out... I know - THWOMP cookies!  

As a little girl my mom used to make paintbrush cookies for my sister and I.  Every Easter we would cut out our egg shaped cookies and go to town decorating them before they are baked.  It is the quintessential memory of a wonderful time with my mom and sister in the kitchen.  (Keeping in mind memories can be changed to fit your current mood - if I was angry I am sure I would be remembering Heather and I bickering about one or the other stealing the color the other NEEDED.) 

As we all know I LOVE to bake.  Getting Brian and Stinkles involved is just icing on the cake for me.  So with an hour till bedtime it was just enough time to make and paint some cookies!  Seeing Stinkles is a Super Mario Fan (and I didn't feel like cutting Tie Fighters) we made Thwomps!

Paintbrush Cookies

These can be made with any sugar / shortbread / roll out cookie recipe.  I will give you my sugar cookie recipe but feel free to use your own!

• 1/2 c Margarine or Butter, softened
• 1 c Sugar
• 2 c Flour
• 2 t Baking Powder
• 1/2 t Vanilla
• 1 Egg
• Dash of Salt

Let the painting commence!

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F and grease your cookie sheets.
2. Combine all ingredients except the flour and beat until fluffy.
3. Slowly add in the flour and mix until a dough is formed.
4. At this point you can chill the dough for a few hours or roll it out and bake it right away.  (I HATE chilling dough so I almost always roll it out and bake it - molasses cookies being the one exception to this rule.)
5. If you aren't chilling the dough be sure to generously flour your rolling surface.
6. Roll and cut out your cookies and place them on your prepared cookie sheets.  Be sure to leave enough room for the cookies to expand.

Paintbrush Cookies Paint

• 1 Egg Yolk
• Splash of Water (about 1 - 2 tablespoons)
• Food Coloring of your choice

1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well.
2. Using a paintbrush*, paint your design on your cookies.
3. Bake until the edges are golden brown
4. ENJOY

Isn't that the simplest thing ever?  An hour of fun for Stinkles - between making the dough, rolling it out, cutting out the cookies, painting them and finally baking the cookies.  We killed the time before bed without making a huge toy mess and he got to make his own dessert!  I hope he looks back on his paintbrush cookies with as much fondness as I do on mine!!

We even made a Chain-Chomp and some Boo's

*I think it goes without saying that you need to use a CLEAN, USED ONLY FOR FOOD paintbrush.  I actually use cheap watercolor paint brushes that I buy from the dollar store or christmas tree shop for all my cookie and chocolate painting!  I put this in just incase I get an email later on saying "my cookies tasted a little funny, should I have not used that acrylic paint loaded paintbrush?"  

FitBit

If you follow me on facebook or twitter you have recently been bombarded with my FitBit love! It is such a small and simple thing but it has made a big impact in my life.

The road to FitBit started about four months ago. I had just started on my journey and was feverishly downloading calorie and step counting apps. I had used a few calorie counting apps prior but none of them stuck. I decided to give MFP a real try and wanted something to keep track of my daily steps in addition. I downloaded a few pedometer apps for my phone yet quickly realized that was not the way go! They would either drain my battery or be complete JUNK! Now my phone isn't brand new, but without the pedometer program running I have no problem with the battery lasting all day.

So, after many disappointments, I started looking into stand alone pedometers. You would not believe the number of pedometers out there. They all claim to be the best, which do I choose? By this time I was well engrossed in MFP and decided to read some of the message boards to gather some opinions. I was surprised to see an overwhelming number of FitBit users! Don't get me wrong there were WW pedometer users and Fuel Band users but the majority were faithful FitBit users. I took this info and started asking the health conscious friends and dfamily their opinion and found even more FitBit users.

Finally, after all my research I settled on a FitBit One. Three months of contemplating and gathering information had my heart set on a FitBit One and then my head got involved. Why would I spend that amount of money on a STEP COUNTER?!? It seemed frivolous. I really wanted one but I just couldn't justify the expense. Enter Brian in the guise of Santa! The best husband ever supplied the perfect Christmas gift this year!

After some initial problems - the original FitBit I got had some hardware issues so it had to be swapped out for a new one - I am a faithful FitBit user. I am sure that I am still in the novelty period, but I can't wait to check my One at strategic intervals throughout the day.

I use it as a guideline for daily activity. After we put Stinkles to bed I take a gander at my step count and miles traveled for the day, if they are below my goal I need to get my butt in gear! It is actually a great motivational tool. Seeing a low number makes me want to bring it up, and seeing a high number makes me want to beat a previous high! In hindsight, I am kicking myself for waiting as long as I did to get one.

The FitBit itself is small. It comes with a bluetooth dongle, a charging cable, a sleep wrist band, and a carrying clip. It can bluetooth sync with an iphone, ipad or any computer with the required bluetooth technology. It charges completely in about 2 hours and seems to last for about 1.5 - 2 weeks on one charge.

The software for the One keeps track of steps taken,

floors climbed, miles traveled, calories burnt, and your activity level (which is a really cool flower). The One can also track your sleep- I have done this a few times and it seems pretty accurate! FitBit can also sync in with MFP and update my calorie count based on my actual acitvity for each day.

I know it doesn't sound like much but it is great to me! I have decided that the amount of motivation I get from my One was definitely worth the price.

Do any of you have a pedometer or heart rate monitor? If so which ones and why did you choose that one?! I am always curious even though I am thrilled with my One.

Adventure Suites

Have you ever been?!

We love it here.  The staff is amazing - friendly and very helpful.  The rooms are great - clean and perfect.  And best of all, they allow dogs.  Not just little under 50 pound dogs, but our gorgeous 100+ pound Selphie was welcomed with open arms!

We have stayed at the hotel 3 times now.  The experience just keeps getting better.  We have stayed in three rooms so far:  The Jungle, The Cave and The Treehouse.

The backyard

The very first room we stayed in was The Jungle.  This one I think is my favorite.  They each have wonderful points, but the shower in this room is probably the best thing I have ever experienced.  I also really enjoyed the shooting stars while relaxing in the hot tub.  The back doors are GORGEOUS and open to your own little porch over looking the beautiful back yard.  The views are breathtaking and also include the great Elephant Family that Adventure suites has out back.

Moving back in the room, it has a round king bed - not my favorite but it was comfortable.  It also has a breakfast bar with fun animal butt stools.  There is a black-lit "Gorilla Villa" that Stinks hung out in, but he was still young and not as rambunctious when we stayed in this room so it was a perfect size for him.  (Now that he is older I would have to choose one of the other two for him due to the many exploration spots - but that is ok things are allowed to be all about Stinks!!)
I mentioned it earlier but the SHOWER in this room is the best!  It has three shower heads - one on the left, one on the right and one directly above you - in a marble enclosed shower.  I think in the two days we were in this room I took 5 showers!
The hot tub was sunken into the decor - a nice touch in my opinion and there are many "jungle" animal statues spotted about the room.  My favorite decorative piece in this room is the branch light over the bar.  If I ever have a bar I want a light EXACTLY like that one!

The second time we stayed in The Cave.  Stinks LOVED this room.  There are two cave off-shoots for exploring in addition to the many stalactites and animals.  The cave off-shoots even have windows that open into the main cavern.

The Cave also has a hot tub (versus a whirlpool - each room at Adventure suites has one or the other), yet it wasn't as incorporated in the room design as in the jungle.  They did paint the walls to make it seem as if the section where the hot tub stood was underwater though.  This room also had an interesting shower - a waterfall.  Though it was nice, it wasn't anything compared to the multiple heads of the jungle.  The bathroom door, on the other hand, was a masterpiece in an of itself.

The Cave has a loft that contains a king bed and the two off-shoot caves are padded for kids to sleep.
We stayed in The Cave during the summer months so we didn't get to experience the heated floors or gas fireplace, but it does have those amenities as well!  All in all the Cave has some wonderful eye candy.  Unlike the Jungle, however, the room opens to the front side of the hotel so it lacks the breathtaking views and private porch.



Our last visit brought us to the Treehouse.  Stinks loves this as well, though he had to warm up to the idea.  He was so taken with the Cave that he was insisting that was where we would be staying.  Unlike the Jungle and Cave, the Treehouse is home to a whirlpool bath on the "Front Porch".  I was thinking this would take away from the room however Stinks spent a good 40 minutes "swimming" in the bath so I guess it was still wonderful.
The Treehouse is a visual feast.  There is a giant hollowed out tree that "holds up" the house portion of the room.  Inside the tree there is a small picnic table and kid sized chairs.  Stinks insisted on having all of his meals "picnic style" inside the tree.  On the outside of the tree there is the "front yard" which has a couple of lounge chairs and a carousel horse.  I don't know where the horse fits in to a "treehouse" but it was fun so we will go with it.
The house itself contains a king bedroom with a sticker plastered ceiling and a fun license plate collection.  There is a cool bridge that brings you over to Mr Squirrel's Nut Hut which Stinks called his room.  It is a padded room with a sky light - perfect for a three year old boy!
The bathroom in the Treehouse isn't as exciting as the other two rooms, in my opinion.  It did have a gorgeous hand crafted glass sink (local) and a fun glass block wall for the shower.  The shower itself had to jets about mid level that you could switch on, but they weren't super impressive to me.  Now the DOOR to the bathroom was another thing.  Like the Cave, the bathroom door was imported.  It was one of those multiple doors that have two smaller doors inside the large main door.  Stinks loved that!

The hill in the backyard is PERFECT for rolling!

All in all we have always been very happy with our Adventure Suites stays.  There is a nice fireplace out back for good weather as well as a grand fireplace in the lobby for bad weather.  They have a pool table if you are so inclined and their movie selection rivals ours!  They supply popcorn and cookies in the evening and a breakfast in the mornings that consists of waffles, eggs, sausage, bagels, cereal, muffins, fruit etc.  I will agree that they are a little on the pricey side, however where else can you spend that and get an experience such as these?!  If you are just looking for a room to lay your head then this isn't the place for you.  If, however, you are looking for an experience that your child will talk about for years I strongly suggest you check them out!

Turkey Day Favorites

I have at least three recipes that I want to share with you from Thanksgiving, but seeing they are all related I decided to do a "Thanksgiving Episode"!  We were fortunate enough to host this year for the Hubby's side of the family - there is no way my side would all fit in the house let alone have a sit down meal!  I was super excited!! Not only did I get to cook the turkey and ham, but I got to create some delicious side dishes and stage what I hope was a wonderful meal.  It seemed to go wonderfully so I am hoping to make our hosting into an every other year tradition!

Now for the recipes.

This year I decided to brine the turkey.  Now I have brined meats in the past with good success, but I have never brines a turkey.  Especially not for a main course holiday!  Of course I contemplated spending the $15/can on some Williams Sonoma brine but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I decided I could make my own based on my tastes and hope everyone else would enjoy it.

Turkey Brine

• 1/2 Gallon Water*
• 2 1/2 Tubs Veggie Stock* (*or enough bouillon/broth to make 1/2 gallon) 
• 1/2 c Salt
• 1/2 c Sugar
• 1 T Rosemary
• 1 T Sage
• 1 T Thyme
• 1/2 t Garlic 
• 1/2 Gallon Cold Water

1. Combine all ingredients save the 1/2 gallon of cold water in a stock pot.  Bring to a rolling boil and cook until sugar and salt are dissolved.  
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. While the brine is cooling prepare your turkey by removing the innards and giving it a good washing.  Pat the turkey dry and place it in a brining bag or large pail - I use a brining bag cause space is limited in my fridge.
4. Combine the cooled mixture with the 1/2 gallon of cold water, mix together and pour over the turkey.  
5. Seal up the bag or pail and place in the fridge for approximately 1 hour per pound of bird.  
6. Once the brining is complete be sure to RINSE YOUR BIRD THOROUGHLY or you will have a very salty tasting dinner.  
7. Stuff and/or cook your turkey as you normally would - keeping in mind that brined birds tend to cook a little faster than non-brined.
8. ENJOY

See, easy!  If you have a super large bird that the brine does not cover completely then you will have to flip it half way through the brining process (or simply double the recipe and use enough brine to cover the bird).  It produced a wonderfully tender and juice turkey with just the right hint of seasonings.  I was very pleased!  Forget spending $15 for a one time use can of brine mix - this will now be my go to for brining large birds!


The next recipe I am going to share is my stuffing recipe.  Now I grew up in a Portuguese family, which means that stuffing contained chourico or linguica.  Now Portuguese sausage is wonderful, especially with peppers, onions and some cheese on a roll, but it can be an acquired taste and I was cooking for non-Portuguese people.  (I should point out that I am not a huge stuffing fan to begin with, if I want to eat bread I am going to eat bread.  It doesn't have to be mashed and flavored :-D)  To that end I wanted to create a stuffing that still had the same principle of the stuffing I grew up with, but without the extra kick linguica would give it.  I give you:

Chicken Sausage and Herb Stuffing

• 14 oz Wheat Bread (about 3/4 of a large loaf)
• 2 T Butter or Margarine
• 1 1/2 c Onion, diced
• 1 3/4 c Celery, diced
• 4-5 links Chicken Sausage (I used Italian flavored)
• 2 1/2 - 3 1/4 c Chicken Broth
• Sage, to taste
• Thyme, to taste
• Garlic, to taste
• Salt and Pepper, to taste 

1. Toast and shred the bread into a large bowl.  I have found this is the easiest way to dry out the bread, but you can also cube it and bake in the oven or leave out on the counter over night - though this method has been met with varying success.  Set the bowl aside.
2. Remove the casings from the sausage links and chop into small pieces to facilitate crumbling.
3. In a large fry pan combine the celery, onion, butter and sausage.  Cook on medium high heat until sausage is warmed through and celery is translucent.
4. Add the sausage mixture to the bread bowl and mix well.  
5. Mix in the spices to taste and slowly add the broth until the desired consistency is achieved.
6. Transfer the stuffing to a lightly greased casserole dish.  Now you can either bake this dish now, or refrigerate the stuffing until Just before your turkey is done cooking.
1. To cook the stuffing immediately you should preheat your oven to 375 F.  Cook the stuffing to 30 minutes, removed from the oven and mix gently.  Return to the oven and cook for another 20-30 minutes until golden brown.
2. To prep the stuffing for future cooking just place in the fridge.  Remove the stuffing about 10 minutes prior to cooking to allow it to acclimate.  Seeing the stuffing takes about 1 hour to cook I find it is best to throw it in the oven during the last 20 minutes of the turkey cooking.  That way the stuffing will cook while your turkey is "resting".
7. ENJOY

Again, easy!  Now stuffing is mostly bread so if you are thinking that it is a lower calorie food I am sorry to burst that bubble.  That being said this stuffing actually comes in not as high and one would have expected.  I divided the recipe into 9 equal servings - which for this limited stuffing eater was a BIG portion - and came up with about 175-180 calories per stuffing.  Not bad for chickeny bready goodness!


The final recipe I will leave you with is one I am sure you have all made at some point in your lives - I just have a different twist.  PUMPKIN PIE!  Now I am NOT a pie fan.  I am pretty sure it stems from my hatred of pie crust.  I have always loved pumpkin pie but I would only eat the filling growing up and leave a big empty pie crust shell on my plate.  A few years ago I discovered how to remedy the empty shell issue - GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST!  I love graham cracker crusts.  They are the perfect answer to my pie crust dilemma.

Pumpkin Pie with Graham Cracker Crust

• 2 c Pumpkin , mashed or puréed
• 3/4 c Sugar
• 1 t Cinnamon
• 1/2 t Ginger
• 1/4 t Cloves
• 2 Eggs
• 1 can Fat Free Evaporated Milk
• 1 1/4 c Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 1/3 c Butter or Margarine, melted
• 4 T Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and 4T of sugar in a bowl.  Press the mixture into the bottom and sides of a pie plate and bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Set aside.
3. Increase oven temperature to 425F for 10 - 15 minutes or while you prepare the pumpkin filling.
4. Mix together all remaining ingredients save the evaporated milk.  Slowly pour the evaporated milk into the mixture and combine well.
5. Pour the pumpkin mixture onto the prepared graham cracker crust.  Reduce oven temperature to 350F and bake the pie for 40-50 minutes or until a knife in the center comes out clean.
6. Serve warm (or cool) with cool whip and ENJOY!

The best pumpkin pie ever all due to a graham cracker crust!  The calorie count of this pie reflects the lack of "classic" pie crust as well.  For 1/8th of the pie you are looking at 200 calories, where as with a regular pie crust you would be facing 285 calories per piece!

Honorable mention goes to my water pitcher.  I have never gone through so much water before.  Very simply I added some cranberries and sliced lemons to my water picture and filled it up - such a hit!


And there you have them folks.  My picks for Thanksgiving favorites.  I could have added in the zucchini bake, sweet potato casserole, molasses cookies, or even glazed ham; but this post is long enough as it is.  I leave you with this wonderful picture of us just starting to gather about the table for our feast! :-)

Cakes, cakes and more cakes

I love making cakes (like most sweets).  They might not be perfect - as a matter of fact those that aren't used for Linc or Casey's birthdays are normally just thrown together without any thought of perfection.  Almost three years ago I made Brian a "Toad Mushroom" cake for his birthday.  Now that Linc is older he is Mario obsessed as well.  This morning he requested a "Toad Mushroom" cake for his unbirthday. (For those of you that don't know what an un-birthday is, I wish you a very merry un-birthday to you - yes you!  And yes, we have cake on unbirthdays as well as birthdays in this house :-D)

Despite not entirely wanting a wonderfully yummy cake in the house, Stink's request was made so sweetly that I couldn't turn him down.  So we set off to make a mushroom house cake - and yes I do mean WE.  Stinks has recently decided he likes helping me bake, though I am thinking it is just so he can lick the bowl and beaters when I am done - I'll take what I can get though!  Once the cake was in the oven and Stinks had the bowl for licking I made the frosting.  It's best to keep Stinks out of this step or I would have one very hyper little boy on my hands!

Finally the cake was done.  Stinks wanted to help decorate it so we set out frosting the mushroom and making it's spots.  He remembered that Daddy had a green Toad Mushroom from the pictures on our photo frame so he decided on a blue toad mushroom house that Mario and Toad could visit.  Linc is thrilled which means I am too.  And now we have a picture of Linc with his Toad Mushroom cake to put with Brian and his!

I decided that seeing I love making cakes so much I would share my gold cake recipe.  It is just a standard no frills cake recipe that is super easy and just as yummy!  (Warning:  if you were thinking you were getting a low calorie cake recipe, think again!)

Gold Cake

• 1/2 c Vegetable Shortening
• 1 c Sugar
• 1 t Vanilla
• 2 Eggs
• 2 C Flour
• 1 c Milk
• 1 t Baking Powder
• 3/4 t Baking Soda

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Prepare your pan(s) by greasing and flouring and set them aside.
2. Cream together the shortening, sugar, vanilla, powder, soda and eggs.  
3. Add the flour and milk alternately to the mixture.  Mix until well blended.
4. Pour the batter into your prepared pan(s) and bake at 350 F until the cake is golden brown and a tester inserted comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan(s) and allow to cool completely before frosting.
6. ENJOY

The cake recipe makes 24 cupcakes or one "character" cake.  If you are making a layer cake it will make 2 8-inch cakes for stacking.  All in all it is a great and versatile recipe.  If you want to really make a splash, divide the batter into 5 or more bowls and tint them all different colors.  Then pour the batter one by one into your prepared pan and bake.  The result will be a colorful cake that will get lots of comments!  

Once I find them, I will upload some more pictures of my previous cakes.

Going to the dogs...

I can't believe this is the first post about Selphie Fi Beaglemation!!  I proudly introduce you to our princess - Selph.  I am sure I have mentioned her before, and some of you might be surprised to discover she is our dog.  She is a part of our family, not just a pet.  If you have never had the pleasure of living with a dog then you won't understand when I say that she really does make the days brighter.  She is lovely and faithful and just the best dog ever!  She is our little girl.  Stinks even calls her his sister - yes I know people think that is strange but like I said, she is part of the family.

Selph came to us as a rescue from Ohio.  She was put on a "Puppy Trail" and traveled across the states to meet up with me on my birthday 8 years ago.  She was so tiny and adorable we just fell in love immediately.  Despite her original claim to be a beagle, Selph is now the wonderfully protective and faithful 120 pound dog we love.  (Needless to say she is NOT a beagle :-D)

Now seeing she is such an important part of our family we do like to spoil her just as much as we spoil the Stinks.  We normally make her a homemade treat for her birthdays.  Her first birthday we even through a party - don't worry it was just us and her we didn't send out invites or anything like that.  This past year I decided to make her some peanut butter treats - cause have you met a dog that doesn't LOVE peanut butter?

PB Oat Balls for Dogs

• 1/2 c Milk
• 1 c Peanut Butter
• 3 c Oats

1. Mix the milk and peanut butter together until creamy.  
2. Slowly add in the oats until all incorporated.
3. Roll into balls and place in a sealed container in the refrigerator.  
4. Feed them to your puppy and watch their enjoyment!

I know that the recipe says for dogs, however they are obviously made with ingredients safe for humans as well.  I have tasted them - cause I taste everything I make for her, I am weird remember?  They aren't that bad, though if I was going to make them for human consumption I would most likely add some honey or agave for sweetness.  I have added carob to these before (if you add anything in you might need to adjust the milk to make them stick better) as a special treat for Selph.  She does seem to love them, but again - they contain peanut butter so why wouldn't she?!  They last for a good month in the fridge - if you can make it to the month mark, and they are freezable.

If you are a pet loving person like we are, give them a whirl for your dog.  In the meantime here are a bunch of pictures of our lady - isn't she gorgeous?!

The birthday girl turns 8.  She was relaxing on her big day!

"Did you hear that?!"

No worries - she was just playing here :-D
(don't mind the crazy amount of dog hair either - she sheds like CRAZY
when playing!)

Even Selph has a sophisticated palate.  She LOVES seafood -
sushi included!

New Ink Day!

"The only people that used to get tattoo's were sailors that got drunk in port."   - I LOVE my Grandfather :-D.

I have posted on this before - anti-ink versus pro-ink.  Seems like it could be a debated matter.  I recently had someone ask me why I would turn my hair blue and "why oh why" would I permanently "disfigure" my body.  My response was "exactly, it is MY body".

As pertains to my hair:  No I am not doing it to piss my mother off.  I am an almost thirty year old woman.  My relationship with my mother is NOT dependent on the color of my hair and to just burst that bubble - she liked it, it was her favorite color.  My parents might not "understand" why portions of my hair are now the color of a melted grape popsicle, but their opinion of my person would never be changed based on my outward appearance.  I placed the word understand in "'s due to the fact that I do not think it is the best word for the situation.  The reticence concerning my hair does not come from disapproval, it stems from the fact that it is not something they (my parents) would do for themselves.  It would be like me saying I don't approve of wearing lipstick - not true, it is just not something I would do for myself.  I will close out this "hair portion" by saying - I like it.  Brian likes it.  Linc likes it.  <- This is what matters.  The larger population might not "understand" why an almost 30 year old with a 3 year old son decided to dye her hair blue (or a nice bright purple now that it has faded), but that is the larger population's issue - not mine.  I didn't do it cause I want to shock people.  I did it because I have always wanted to, I like it, and I have a very loving and supporting family.  I was confident enough to dye my hair blue - celebrate it, don't dissect.

Now for the ink :-D  I am a fan of tattoos.  I would never be able to sleeve my arm, but that is just me.  I know plenty of people with sleeves and they look fabulous.  I am just not a sleeve person.  I prefer to pick smallish (compared to come) symbols with a purpose.  As I have stated before, my tattoos are thought out decisions of significance.

I have a very small shamrock on my ankle - a symbol that I have loved since I can remember.

I got this shamrock nine years ago.  (The picture is from today though!)
I love it!

On the inside of the same ankle there is a Claddagh symbol that Brian and I used in our wedding - it is even red and black, our wedding colors.  (If you got a pen from our wedding then you have seen the symbol!)

Sorry for the old picture, but it is not the easiest place to take a picture
of on your own.  So I grabbed a picture from when it was freshly done.

On the opposite foot is my favorite tattoo - Linc's footprint with his name.  The detail on my footprint tattoo STILL astounds me 2 years later.  I love looking at it an remembering how far Linc has come in the past three years.

Linc's footprint - don't mind the cut on my foot, a stick attacked me
while we were apple picking last weekend!!

Finally my new ink - a motherhood symbol on my upper back.  The symbol fades from black to green - which is Linc's birthstone color.  I was, originally, going to get a Dara (Tree) Knot on my upper back and the motherhood knot was going to be placed on my leg, however due to the size and detail I determined that the motherhood knot would look best in that placement.  I love it - which is good seeing it is permanent :-D.  It is still new - not even 24 hours old - so the colors aren't set yet but the placement and size are all I could have wanted.  The green color is coming in nicely and I am sure I will be just as thrilled with this tattoo as I am with my others.

Sorry for the redness in the picture - the tattoo was only
3 hours old when this picture was taken.  That is
also the reason for the green color not being highly apparent.

For the "permanent disfigurement", I am very happy with mine.  How is my decision to tattoo meaningful symbols on my body any different than a person's decision to pierce their ears? Or wear contact lenses instead of glasses? Or wear the color orange?  OK, I know I am generalizing and I am sure my naysayers will have a LOT of arguments for my examples, but if you boil everything down I really don't see a great difference.  My tattoos are important to me.  They represent great events, feelings, or aims in my life.  They are ME.  I don't look at them as disfigurements, I look upon them with pride.  Again, it might not be something a person would do for themselves, but that doesn't make it the wrong thing for me.  I am not you, I am me, tattoos and all.  

Again, please excuse the picture.  This is about 18 hours
into the healing process.  The green is starting to pop!
This picture shows you the placement - and my purple hair!!

Seems like yesterday...

HORRIBLE picture of me
But Linc and Brian are adorable!
(2012)

Today is the Hubby and my 6th wedding anniversary.  Which means we have been together for a grand total of twelve years.  There have been many changes in those twelve years, between college, apartments, a wedding, buying a house, and of course having Linc.

I have been having a lot of conversations lately about relationships and marriage.  I would like to preface this by saying Brian and I are in NO WAY perfect individuals.  We both have faults, some we embrace and some we deny, yet despite those faults (or because of them) we compliment each other perfectly - for lack of a better word.  I do not feel that my relationship/marriage is "work".  I don't get up in the morning and think "ugh I have to put some work into the marriage column".  I am sure that we both "work" at our relationship in different ways, however it is not a tedious thing.  It is not even a conscious thing.  It is just what has grown and developed in the past twelve years.

The twelve years have flown by.  It seems like yesterday we were visiting Old Stone Church, or living in the dorms playing MarioKart.  It especially does not seem like six years have gone by since our wedding.  Wow, we were in Hawaii six years ago - no wonder we are craving a return trip.  I guess all my older relatives are right, time really does fly by.

I won't get gushy here, so I will head off now.  Happy Anniversary Brian!  Here's to twelve great wonderful years so far and many many many more to come!!

From 2009, one of our many trips to Disney

Aww look at us, so little and cute!  (about 2004-2005)

Freezing on top a volcano in Hawaii, 2006

Kitchen Tools - Early Fall Edition

I have decided to share with you my favorite kitchen tools, for the season of course.  The early fall edition showcases my apple peeler/corer.  I had one of these nifty little guys from pampered chef (ok so it was my mother's that I "borrowed") and I hated it!!  It would never stay attached to the side of the counter and it just seemed like I would spend so much time trying to make it steady that I could have chopped and peeled my apples, by hand, ten times over by the time I was done.  I finally got so frustrated with it that I shoved it in a box in the back of a cabinet and promptly forgot it's existence.

Enter my incredible apple phase of 2007.  For some reason I went through a crazy apple cooking phase in 2007.  I wanted to make applesauce EVERY DAY.  Apple Bread was as much a staple in our house as wheat bread.  I don't know what it was, I was just apple obsessed.  The obsession grew to the point that I started thinking about that old pampered chef corer/peeler again - trying to think of ways to make it sturdier.  It happened to be late fall and Brian and I were at a Cracker Barrel grabbing lunch when I saw the answer to my musings - SUCTION CUP.  Right there on clearance at Cracker Barrel was an apple corer/peeler like mine but better.

I immediately bought one.  The peeler/corer has been a salvation ever since.  It sits on my counter year round.  Did you know that you can use it to make perfect potato slices as well?  The suction cup is not the strongest but it sure beats the heck out of trying to stabilize a C-clamp like fixture to the side of my counter.  It also beats the heck out of peeling a bushel of apples by hand!  If you are big into cooking with apples (or other things that need to be cored and peeled) then I highly suggest looking for one of these.  It was fairly inexpensive - I would say in the 5 years I have owned mine it has more than paid for itself.

What are your favorite fall kitchen gadgets?  I love finding new/better ways around my kitchen!

Bugs, bugs and more bugs

Mosquitos have become the bane of my existence.  Not that I was ever truly enamored with them, but since they have decided that Linc's three year old flesh makes the best banquet hall, I find myself thinking of numerous ways to ward them off.  We have tried everything!  From essential oils and long sleeve/pants to dryer sheets and commercial bug sprays.

Of course Linc's age was an initial limitation to the commercial products.  We heard "deet free" from a very young age and, seeing the mosquitos did not appear to understand that our baby was OFF LIMITS, we searched out alternatives for bug spray.  Our search took us some weird places.  We were told by a few people that dryer sheets in belt loops would keep them away - didn't work.  We were also informed that eucalyptus and clove essential oils were excellent at warding off mosquitos - not in our case.   So now that we have dryer sheets sticking out of our pockets, as well as tied into our hair, and we smell like we bathed in essential oils we moved on to the commercial deet free products.  I was so excited - All Terrain KIDS Herbal Armor - it seems to work!!  It smells wonderful, Linc doesn't mind getting sprayed with it, life is grand - we can go outside again!!  That lasted for about 4 months, then it was like the mosquitos became attracted to the spray.

Was perfect, until it wasn't

By this time Linc was no longer just getting giant welts from mosquito bites, he was starting to swell.  The swelling initially would take a day to appear and would disappear in about the same time.  Now it takes about 5 minutes for Linc to swell and it takes at least 48 hours for the swelling to go down (that is with the help of prednisone normally).  Around the time the swelling started appearing the "no deet" mantra from the pediatrician's office started disappearing.  They started suggesting "low deet" options, Off: Family Care, as long as we ENSURED that Linc would be washed down every night.  So we switched - it was better.

Our armor against the hungry bugs now goes something like this - If we are in our own yard prior to 3pm then he uses the low deet, after 3 pm we switch to a 25% concentration of deet.  When we are in the woods, we don't even start off with the low we just slather on the 25%.  What else can we do? I know there is no (reasonable) way to make ABSOLUTELY certain that Linc will not be bit, but I will settle for something that is safe for him to use daily and gives reasonable protection. We do avoid dusk and nights outside, but the bugs seem to find him at the weirdest times of the day - 11am, 2:30pm, 7am on the way into school - and in places that are not necessarily "breeding grounds".  I know this is a long and fairly boring entry, but as he got bit, yet again, this morning on the way into school I figured I would appeal to the masses for information.  What do you do?  What do you use?  Do you have any suggestions?

This one got his ear -
it took three days for the swelling to go down

Bite to the temple -
don't like it when they are on his head