Pretty In Pink...

We had a baby shower for one of our co-workers last week and I said I would being a dessert. I know, I know, what the hell was I thinking? I don't cook so I have no right to let people think I can actually bring something that will be edible! Well, I saw this great recipe in Family Fun magazine and it looked so easy.....so why not?! It is for petite four cakes. Ok, it wasn't as easy as it looked in the magazine, but it wasn't too bad either. You buy a pound cake at the store. Step one and I was already having problems! I can't believe how hard it was to find stupid pound cake! I went to THREE grocery stores with no luck; where did I finally find it? WALMART! Figures, the land of everything goes. Anyway, the recipe says to cut the pound cake into 1 inch squares. My pound cake seemed really high and the top had a dome shape, which wouldn't help the petit fours have that square shape. So I started by cutting the dome part off the top. Then to add a little taste to it, I cut the whole cake in half, length-wise, frosted with white can frosting, and put the two halves back together. Now I cut it into squares. But the squares seemed too tall and I thought they would look funny once covered in pink icing. So I put them on their sides and the shape looked better, although now there was a line of frosting between the right and left halves instead of between the top and bottom...but I was going for looks so I forged on. Here is what they looked like before I covered them with icing...
So then I proceeded to make the icing from the magazine using powdered sugar, light corn syrup, water, vanilla and almond extract. Then I tinted it pink and began pouring over the little cakes which I immediately topped with candy silver balls....

They really looked great! I was pretty excited about how they were turning out. It was about this time my girls came foraging for scraps and I said they could each try one, and so did I. Uh oh. This icing doesn't taste all that great. It actually tasted a little cardboard-like! It was all sugary ingredients, how could this happen? Well, I still had about half the cakes to cover, but I definitely didn't want to keep using this icing. I had some melting chocolate and figured that would be a better option. So I covered the rest in chocolate and drizzled with white melted chocolate, tinted pink topped with silver balls.....

They seemed to go over well at the shower and everyone said they liked them...maybe they were just being polite, but at least they looked good, right?

Just Call Me Farmer Green Jeans...

Ta-Da! Here it is! Our first veggie garden!
I know what you're thinking....how many damn veggies are you going to cram into that tiny garden? No? Well, seeing as this is our first attempt at growing veggies, we're not really into rules about how to plant our stuff. The green plants to the left are our pepper plants we grew from seeds - don't fall over, it's true! Way back in February....when we get that first pepper from them it's going to be like Christmas! Then the big, leafy guy to the right is Bethany's cabbage plant. She got it from school and in the fall there will be a contest for the biggest plant....I'm guessing at some point the cabbage plant may take over the rest of the garden. Then you can see two rows of darker soil...this is where we have planted cucumbers, zucchini and squash. We also have a couple of planters with cherry tomato plants and more pepper plants. Now this raised bed is only 8ft x 4ft. My next door neighbor has one that I'm guessing is about 20ft x 20ft and he is a true gardener - in fact he did tell me that pepper plants need 1ft of space all around them and I'm sure if he reads this he will become anxious as he looks at the photo, trying to decide if there is, in fact 1ft of space around our pepper plants. I'll save you the trouble, we didn't even measure...we are kind of taking the attitude that if we get anything, we're lucky, but we don't have as much time as we'd like to put into the garden. I'm sure this will get all the gardeners' out there riled up, but that's just they way it is. My neighbor always has all kinds of great stuff coming out of it and he tends to it lovingly. Believe it or not, he actually entrusts us with its care when they go away....what are they thinking? It's quite stressful because I'd never forgive myself if I ruined part of his garden because I forgot to water it...I mean really how hard is it to remember to water a garden, right? We go away and he feeds our cat, feeds our turtle and fish...all we have to do is water the garden! Thankfully, we have done so successfully each time, and he always rewards us with treats from his garden...maybe this year we'll do the treating.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

I'm not really sure when it happened, because as my husband is sure to tell you, a gardener I'm not. We used to abide by the "you take care of the outside and I'll take care of the inside" rule...I suppose the fact that I don't cook and I don't have the knack for decorating kind of kills that rule. Somewhere inside me over the last few years, this need to garden has awakened...and I think I could get used to it. I used to love Stargazer lilies...I just loved their centers bursting with burgundy and pinks...and I even had some in our yard...however just as my husband likes to re-arrange our furniture every few months, he likes to re-arrange the flowers too. After one too many moves, the lilies never came back. That's OK, I found a new love....pansies. I don't know if it's all the different colors they come in, or their delicate little faces looking up at you, but I could not have a summer without pansies. We planted a bunch in our backyard last year, and I would have sworn they were annuals, but lo and behold, not only did they come back this year, but they have spread. I'm attributing that to my poor attempt at harvesting their seeds at the end of last season...I'm guessing many of the seeds ended up in the ground. Here are some of my favs:

You can tell in this next one it was starting to get dark out as I had to use the flash....

These rich lavender shades just get to me...

And then I turn around to find this character wanting to play....

Of course as soon as you make a grab for the ball, she does this....

pulls the ball away from you...what a tease! Now go out and get some pansies for yourself!

I've Got A Secret....

I'm a weeping cherry tree about 12 years old...don't mind the unkempt ground beneath me...my caretakers are very busy and don't always have time to tidy up...I usually just stand tall, season after season....

But recently I've been hiding something pretty special...I have to say I feel quite honored that I was chosen, but I guess I do have the perfect hiding spot for....

A Robin's nest! My branches keep the nest safe from the elements for the most part, and it's just high enough out of sight so that the eggs remain undisturbed...

I think I've been doing too much gardening....I'm starting to think like my trees! At least the Robin's picked a better spot than last year...last year the nest was on Mike's ladder that was hanging on the side of the deck so we actually had to borrow our neighbor's ladder a few times so we didn't disturb the eggs!

The Strange And The Funny....

THE STRANGE:

I did a double take the other day. We got the book of coupons from BJ's in the mail, so of course I was leafing through it to see if I could save $5 when I buy $100 worth of toothpaste or something idiotic like that...and I came across this:

I wasn't able to crop the photo but hopefully you can see the odd thing on this page is "personal watermelons".....huh? They realize this is going to make people go "Huh?" so they have a helpful photo of a "2 ct." package with 2 watermelons in it. I just don't see what the point is in having personal watermelons...it's hard to tell the size - maybe they are the size of an orange...all I can think is these were grown for really selfish people who can't eat a whole big watermelon and don't want to share it.

THE FUNNY:

OK, next I am going to tell you two stories, both true, both might make you cringe a little bit because they are a little gross, and both situations will require some time to pass before they are seen as funny.
The first involves me and my daughter. She recently got her period and it's still all new to her. I sometimes will try to impart a bit of wisdom on the subject to her, but she just tells me to stop talking - it is not a subject she will discuss freely. I have made a point of making sure she knows to dispose of her sanitary items by wrapping them in toilet paper and throwing in the trash in the bathroom. This is common sense. Well, I woke up in the middle of the night and stumbled to the bathroom. I didn't turn the light on (strike one) and I didn't have my glasses (strike two). After doing my business I had to blow my nose and the tissues are on a little table right in front of the toilet. When I grabbed for a tissue, it seemed like I had grabbed a bunch of them so I tried to shake out just one tissue, so as not to be wasteful, of course, and I saw something fall to the floor. As soon as it happened I realized I wasn't holding tissues in my hand...when I told my daughter this story I couldn't even get to the part where I was angry because she was laughing so hard.
The second story involves the family of my friend. It was when her niece was younger and still living with her Mom and Dad. No one was home and she and her boyfriend were in her bedroom having sex when she heard her mother come home. She immediately got up and started getting dressed...at the same time he whipped off the condom they had been using and also got dressed. Her Mother kind of figured out what had been going on and was trying to call her bluff on it, but she denied they were having sex; she kept insisting that's not what they were doing. The whole time both she and her boyfriend couldn't find the condom he had quickly thrown somewhere....that is until the dog came walking out with it stuck to his fur! Yes I can laugh because it's not my daughter!

Moonshadow Rising....

OK, when I was growing up Cat Stevens' songs were a staple of any music diet. I realize music isn't such a part of everyone's life as it was and is mine...however, I can remember many, many nights when everyone in the bar would sing in harmony if the band started playing a Cat Stevens song. I remember a particular night spent at a bar or two in Faneuil Hall in Boston and when leaving there was a guy playing acoustic guitar and had a small, albeit drunken, crowd gathered around him...he broke into a wonderful version of "Cats in the Cradle" and the crowd tripled and everyone sang along with him.
So tonight I happened to be watching the Steve Colbert show - I've never seen it before - and who the hell does he have as his guest? Yusuf! Uh, Karen, we're not following you here? Yes, because Cat Stevens dropped off the face of the earth back in the late 70's and converted to Islam...and changed his name to Yusuf. For 30 some odd years he has deprived music fans around the world of his talent so he could pursue "educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community"...during which time we have had some major events leading the US to feel quite poorly towards Muslims...so apparently Yusuf realized he really sucked at trying to do good for the Muslims and decided to go back to what he suddenly realized he does best...create music. The Roadsinger is his new album, and the name of the song that I have included a clip of in this blog. I read he spends half the year in London and the other half in Dubai...so it's safe to say he's not returning to music...anyone who can afford to spend half the year in Dubai doesn't need money! Part of me wants to be happy he has returned to making music and the other half wants to tell him....well use your imagination...for leaving us hanging when we could have used more of his feel-good songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilWPkgvDyNc

How Will I Ever Contain Myself!?????

OK, please take a moment to get your planners and a pen, especially if you are in the Boston area, although even if you're not, it's well worth the trip. June 9th - 11th will be the annual Scooperbowl! What? You are not aware of this event?! Blasphemy! I guess there could be some people out there not as fanatical about ice cream as me, so here's the scoop! (couldn't resist!) For 3 days, you can pay $8 and EAT ALL THE ICE CREAM YOU WANT....let me repeat that in case you missed it...for $8 you can walk around to all your favorite ice cream creators (Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Brighams, Hood, Haagen Dazs, etc.) and EAT ALL THE ICE CREAM YOU WANT!!! This is not a joke, I've been and now they actually have a pass for $15 that allows you to attend the event 3 different times! So for $15 you could EAT ALL THE ICE CREAM YOU WANT for three whole days! It's pretty awesome...yes each vendor has a limited selection, but there is always something for everyone....I am sad that I don't see Cold Stone among the sponsors...but I'm confident I'll get over it! The best part is the event benefits the Dana Faber Jimmy Fund so you can feel good about EATING ALL THE ICE CREAM YOU WANT! It's less than a month away....I feel like a kid at Christmas!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY....

This is to wish all the Mom's out there a wonderful Mother's Day! I'm not sure why I love this poem by Robert Frost, maybe because one of my favorite movie scenes ever is when Ponyboy recites this poem in the Outsiders:

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

I'm sure this poem means a hundred different things to everyone. One meaning I get from it is to enjoy everything while you can, because life is fluid. One fantastic moment today should be enjoyed for all its worth; once the moment is gone there is no retrieving it in all its glory.

Feel-Good Sites....

I know I have posted one of these on my blog before, but these are worthwhile so have a look:

www.theanimalrescuesite.com

When you go on this website, there is a large, purple button to click on. Don't worry, you're not going to start getting emails from them if you click on it, you won't get entered into anything, but you will help shelter animals stay healthy until they find their "forever home" and it costs you nothing. They actually have a pretty cool shop on this site as well and a portion of the profits go towards helping care for shelter animals. I personally like the dog bone paper clips, but so many cool things in this shop!

www.freerice.com

This site is very cool in that you get to play a game while donating rice to help feed hungry people...all while doing something to keep your brain juices flowing. Click on the link or copy it into your browser and it's pretty easy. You just keep answering questions and the more you get right, the more rice you donate. To the right of the questions, the site keeps a running tally of how much you have donated. There are 60 levels to the game and if you get one wrong, it will just give you an easier question; for each correct question, you donate 10 grains of rice. I know, I know, this doesn't sound like much, but it didn't take me long to get up to 1620 grains of rice...then again, I am a genius! Kidding! I only stopped because I needed to get to some other things but the main page tells you how much was donated yesterday and total to date that has been donated...pretty powerful numbers, I must say!

These last sites are to help you feel-good about yourself. As I get older I'm learning more and more how important it is to make time for yourself. It took me a long time to learn that you have to love yourself before you can love someone else, but I'm just learning that as part of loving yourself, it means taking care of yourself so that you can love others....holy crap I sound like a self-help book! Anyway, you know what I mean and here are two sites that I think can be helpful:

www.naturefind.com

This site allows you to enter your zip code and find parks and events in your area. Maybe some you never even knew were in your own backyard!

www.presidentschallenge.org

This site can be helpful in making yourself accountable for getting in some much needed exercise if you don't already. I just signed up....I'll keep you posted. I'm trying to envision Obama logging in every day, keeping tabs, "Why didn't she exercise today? Maybe I should send her an email...I'll just wait and see if she get motivated tomorrow." I know, sounds ridiculous....but it's me we're talking about here....hi, have we met?

So do you think this makes up for, yet again, poking fun of my religion?

Sermon Cliff Notes....Anyone?

Not sure why I used this photo...maybe because the flowers remind me of flowers you might see on the alter at church...they were actually sent to us when my Mother-in-law passed away..from my husband's employer...very nice.
Getting on with it...my co-worker and I were discussing church today. This is unusual for me, to say the least. I usually keep to a pretty strict code of not discussing the big 3 under any circumstances: religion, wages, politics. I have seen where all three of these topics, at different times, have made me view someone in a whole different light.
But, there I was, freely discussing my religion without a care in the world. I feel for the most part that this co-worker and I have similar views about the Catholic religion so maybe that's why I'm a little more free with my views with her. We were discussing different religions and she said how she had gone to I think a Baptist service and how it was fun!? Fun? At church? How can this be? Have they been hiding the fun church from me all these years? Do I have to get to a certain level of faith to be allowed in to the fun church...or maybe after so many good deeds you are granted a weekend pass? Damn this blog, I bet it's setting me back a few years from ever getting into the "fun church"! Oh, that's right. I'm Catholic. No fun church for us. All ritual, no fun. I remember in college one of my roommates went to a local church where they spent a few hours discussing how to put the scripture to use in today's world...how to actually apply it in every day life. Interesting concept. Every so often my church has a "class mass" where one of the CCD classes takes over the mass and say, all the 3rd graders will do the readings, bring up the gifts, etc. During these masses, the priest usually gears the sermon to the kids...so they can understand it. These are the best sermons, because I can finally understand them! Why aren't they all like that?! Usually I feel like I need the cliff notes to the sermon to figure out what I'm supposed to take away from it...hmmm, I wonder if I could market that?

Saving The Earth One Nip Bottle At A Time...

Ok, ok, ok. I realize that it says "April 22" and it's now May 4th, I'm a little behind lately...so sue me! What did you do for Earth Day, huh? Did you even think about it? I don't know why they don't just make Earth Day the Saturday closest to April 22nd every year - it's kind of hard for us working people to do much on a weekday - it's hard enough just to get through work! The Saturday after Earth Day I noticed a man and his two daughters out cleaning up along the road for much of the day - they bagged an impressive 20 some-odd bags of trash! For whatever reason my town's official Earth Day clean up wasn't until this past Saturday, May 2nd. Bethany and I trekked into town to register and get town-supplied gloves and trash bags before heading close to home. We had decided some time ago to clean up this area off the side of a back road, next to a bridge. Many people park here throughout the day to go fishing off the bridge - when I say bridge, it just looks like the road with water on either side, but it is raised and low boats can go under it. Anyway, if you remember my photo of the swan a little while back? When we stopped to take photos of the swan, there were ducks walking around, and they were so cute, but they were walking amongst a bunch of trash. Bethany decided that was where she wanted to clean this year. After completing the cleaning, my guess is that the trash is not left by the people fishing, but by people that I'm assuming are stopping there at night for a little partying. There were many, many alcohol nips ( I realize I'm letting the fishermen off easy here) along with beer bottles, fast food bags, coffee cups, as well as some curtains that apparently disgusted their owners so much they were thrown from the car? The worst thing we found, and didn't touch, were the remains where someone obviously couldn't wait to get to a bathroom....and it wasn't a bear. We did get a few people slowing down to give us a thumbs up, and a fisherman thanked us. And we get to drive by every morning knowing we made a difference. Queue the sweet harp music in the background....

Hopefully I'm teaching Bethany something out of all of this - truth be told, after about an hour she was skipping rocks and just pointing out where I missed the $%&*@ pieces of trash...after 2 hours I pulled something in my back lugging some big metal things from the grass to the trash pile and we called it a day. Oh well...we tried!