Homage to Bakerella & her amazing Cake Pops

Forget Wilton cake decorating classes. Kiss Martha Stewart goodbye. I've found some Easter goodness that explodes on the cuteness meter. I want to introduce you to the preciousness that is Cake Pops. Cake Pops by Bakerella, I believe, might be the answer to the Middle East Conflict. It could bring down the barriers between Democrats and Republicans. It will at least make you the hit of any holiday or birthday party. The "awwww factor" with these babies is enormous.

Introducing Bakerella's Easter Cake Pops...(drumroll please)

Can you stand it?

Can you say, "Buh-bye Martha!"

And "Hello Bakerella goodness!"?

By now some of you are thinking, 'I must make these!". Well, you are in luck because she gives you a full tutorial on several different posts. I would recommend reading about her Cupcake Pops first to get a really good idea of the process. Hmmm, I wonder if while I'm visiting family there might be an opportunity for us to try our hand at these babies?

Well, what are you waiting for? Click on all these fabulous links and get your butt over to Bakerella's. She's my cuteness muse these days...Anna's birthday is gonna kick birthday butt.

Menu Plan Monday ~ March 30

Image by escapethematrix via Flickr

Well, I can't say I'm ready for June Cleaver training school but I did did manage to prepare three out of four meals this past week. My eyebrows were not quite as perfectly shaped as my model here and no crack was ingested to get it done as it looks like from my example. But what I discovered is the slogan that I've heard for many years in the rooms now works in many a domestic area as well:

"If you fail to plan you plan to fail."

So how did the undomesticated Betty do? I hit three out of four. That, my friends, took a lot of willingness on my part to get out of my pajamas on Monday at a reasonable hour. I could digress right now and begin a little tangent about the term "reasonable hour"...because really, we all know it's totally subjective. But I have a plan to finish this post so no follies into flippant land are allowed at the moment ( Shhh, June is watching). The trick for me was to have a shopping list for the items I needed to prepare the meals for the week and actually go to the grocery store and buy them. What a concept!

And She Saved Money too!

I also found that shopping this way decreased my grocery bill significantly that week. I made fewer small trips to the grocery over the past week than I did before. Blah, blah, blah. We all know this don't we? So I'm going to move on to things more (or less) interesting...depending on your point of view, of course. Self-loathing is a much more entertaining topic than saving money. So let's move on to that shall we?

I discovered I felt better about myself at the end of the week. I had a little more spring in my step and a little more energy with which to waste on more household work. But, it did pay off in self-esteem dividends. Even if it wasn't recognized as stellar by the commander-n-chief, it was stellar in my little world. So I'm here to sign up for this week as well. I didn't get too many comments last week from the ranks...heavy sigh...and I thought I knew yee. Boy, I was expecting such banter and sarcasm from you, like none I have seen here in the south, but you left me dry...parched...I need a drink.

Could someone make Mama a Cosmo?

(Click on the logo above to see all the links of everyone participating)

So here is the plan for the week of March 3oth:

• Monday: Tuna Melts, Veggies & dip, chips (healthy meal of the week!)
• Tuesday: Ravioli & Cheese Bake, Salad, P's homemade bread
  
• Wednesday: Leftovers or cereal
  
• Thursday: Apple meatloaf, whole wheat Couscous with carrots & cauliflower (Thanks to Jolly Mom!)
  
• Friday: Dad's Amazing Homemade Pizza Night (seriously, he needs to open a Pizzeria here in our little town -drive that crap pizza place outa business)

Gavin starts his baseball games this week so these may get switched around if the level of insanity reaches a critical level. Next week I'll be in the Hoosier state letting other people cook for me...how great is that!

Now, step up your game and leave some freakin' comments on this blog...you know who you are!

Broadway Bound

Anna was feeling particularly dramatic the other night and wanted to be videoed. We had several takes of her pontificating about Halloween costumes, sandcastles, ponies, and trust. But in the end she wanted to sing "The Deer Song" as she refers to it. Do we have a Broadway Diva in our midst?

Wordless Wednesday 03/25/08

You know you're in Clinton when...

Just a few words in the picture and a few from me too.
Grandma Opal used to make me fried bologna sandwiches in her kitchen. I've never seen a restaurant actually sell them. Come on down ya'll. I'll treat you to lunch.

Menu Plan Monday ~ March 23

Okay, brace yourselves...
Are you ready?
I...am...attempting...(oh God - breathe deeply)...to do something domestic.
There - I said it.
On my quest to gain control of my life (Ha! Just seeing it on the screen makes me laugh.), I have decided to begin to plan, in advance (because that's what planning is right?) ,our evening meals...at least four of them a week. And you, my dear friends and family, are going to help keep me accountable for those four meals a week. How, you may be asking yourself, can I keep Kelly on task with anything let alone something that requires an inkling of domestic skill?! The answer is simple. A meme.

What? You mean you don't know what a meme is? Oh, you non-blog reading people you! Uh, actually, confession time here...I didn't know what one was until about, oh, a couple of months ago. Let's see if our little friend, Wikipedia, can help us out on this one.

The term Internet meme (pronounced /miːm/) is a phrase used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an inside joke.^[1] The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although this concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.

So I am jumping on an Internet meme bandwagon called Menu Plan Monday. This meme was started by Laura, the creator of the blog, I'm an Organizing Junkie. Now, dear readers, she freely refers to herself as "the freak". Given I am a bear of very little brain and easily distracted by shiny objects, anyone who successfully has an organized life is close to a demi-god to me...definitely not a freak. She herself wrote,"I truly believe that menu planning is one of the best places to start in your quest to get organized". I am going to take her at her word.

Currently, according to I'm an Organizing Junkie, there are close to 500 women who share what's on their menu for the week each Monday. So every Monday from here on out, God willing, I'm going to be posting my menu for the week's dinners. Your assignment, if you're willing to accept it, is to leave comments each week...how was the "chicken cacciatore"?...why would you serve that?!...mmmm, sounds yummy, I'll be there on Tuesday...those kind of things. And those of you that subscribe by e-mail and e-mail me comments instead of putting them on the blog itself, try commenting on the actual blog...it's kind of addicting. Yeah, ya'll know I'm a junkie of another kind right? I'm working on that one too.

Want to see links to all those participating? Click on the logo below



So here's this week's menu complete with links to recipes if I found them on the Internet:

• Monday: Spinach quiche, roasted green beans, frozen grapes
• Tuesday: Crunchy Parmesan Chicken Tenders, Broccoli, Baked Pomme Frites
• Wednesday: Leftovers
• Thursday: Whole wheat pasta with Vodka Sauce, Green salad with vinaigrette, Garlic bread
• Friday: Zesty Corn Quesadillas, Baby spinach & mandarin orange salad, (and Margaritas if I'm feeling particularly sassy that night!)

So there it is. As I'm typing this at 10p.m. on Sunday evening, I must admit that there is a bit of peace knowing that I don't have to scramble tomorrow. I have a plan. It and I may not be perfect but it is a plan and I am only human. Wish me luck!

Those Naughty Leprechauns!

Having married ethnically pure, it is nearly a requirement that St. Patrick's day must be celebrated in our little house. And thus the visit from the leprechauns began. When Mama was working, it was a trail of gold chocolate coins leading from the kids' bedroom to outside. Now that Mama got some time on her hands those leprechauns have stepped up their game!



The first thing the kids discovered when they awoke is that their webkins animals were all sitting on the paddles of the ceiling fan in the living room. Then the excitement really began because they realized the leprechauns had visited them. Running back to their room they began to follow the trail of gold coins and found several in their room and in the bathroom too. Those leprechauns had turned the toilet water green! Gavin wondered if leprechauns pee green...hmmm, quite a query to ponder don't you think? They followed the trail into the kitchen where they found that some of the milk had been turned green and Lucky Charms cereal was sitting by the fridge. Gavin refused to let us drink the milk stating, "It might be poison!". Those naughty leprechauns! Finally, the kids found little notes written by the leprechauns themselves and had left parting gifts of green tic tacs and green chewing gum. The notes revealed that our leprechauns' names were Doogal and Darby.



Anna announced, "Those leprechauns were very messy and naughty but I am amazed at that mess.". We all dressed in green and got Gavin to school. At lunch he discovered that he had bright green jelly belly pudding in his lunch box which he thouroughly enjoyed (between you and me, it looked toxic). Dinner consisted of Spinach fettucini with pesto, green salad with avocados, a bright green Mexican soda, and lime green jello for dessert. I'm sure enough green die was ingested that day to bring out the inner leprechaun in each of us.

How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day at your little house?

It may be 80 today but just last week...

It was starting to snow here in our little town. And we sat in our little house looking out the window at our beautiful view wondering, "Would they really cancel school over this?". Well they did, those crazy South Carolinians, who probably share one snow plow amongst all the counties in the state. So what do kids do in South Carolina when they have a snow day? Well, since there are no sleds to be found, snow ball fights and snowman building were the choice activities for the day.


By the end of the day, the snow was almost a distant memory. Even the fairy on Presbyterian College's campus was wondering where it went. Although, the air was still worthy of a winter coat there was barely enough snow left to throw a snow ball let alone build a snowman. I'm not shedding any tears. That's a new one for me and this little town, huh?