Pancakes...

Thank you Ms. Robin for the Corn Pancake recipe. I had them for lunch and for dinner - with your salsa and shredded cheese. I am one happy camper! It's Pancake Tuesday at our house. Mardi Gras for the rest of you.... I absolutely love Pancake Tuesday. I eat and eat and practically burst at the seams. It's lovely. I think if everyone ate breakfast for supper at least once or twice a week we'd all be a lot happier. Just sayin'. (Oh, and a hug or two couldn't hurt.)

In case you haven't connected Pancake Tuesday with Lent yet, let me remind you that tomorrow is the beginning of Lent. Ash Wednesday. The last couple of years I've tried to give up chocolate. It's harder than it sounds. I'm not always successful. I think last year I accidentally popped a truffle into my mouth only to expel it almost at once. It was a sad waste of a truffle. And it's almost impossible to cut chocolate out completely - try going to Starbucks and ordering a coffee without chocolate in it. It was alright when I was in Colorado as my local barista gave up chocolate too and knew exactly what type of Frou-Frou coffee I could have... *sigh* I miss her....

This year I've decided to go a little bit riskier. Take a deep breath. Sit down.... Alright, I've decided to give up coffee all together. I binged today and bought two large coffees. I might make myself a coffee before I go to sleep tonight. I will miss it incredibly. I reckon I'm going to be a might bit of a bi-yach this week. Warning to those who might be living in the same house as me, see me at pick-up, walking innocently on the street, etc. The headaches are going to be awful. I'm really hoping that by next week I'll feel like a new woman. Maybe a mad woman but a new woman just the same. I'm off to brew a cup. Just thinking about it makes me get the shakes. Wish me luck!

The husband and the kids have gone for a walk. Can you tell I was madly typing, trying to get this all done before they got home? Sheesh...

No time for that.

I do realize that it is now Wednesday and I haven't posted my Monday shopping receipt. I apologize. I hang my head in shame (I've been doing that a lot lately). Here's the thing, I didn't take a picture and there might be a few items that I'm not sure I want you to know about (by 'you' I mean the people who 'happen' upon this blog). So, if you must know. If you're chomping on the bit and just can't go another day without knowing how much I spent on things I didn't really need, the total was $73.31. But I did by wine and chips at World Market not 24 hours later and that was 30 bucks. There, that's done, lets move on shall we?

The reason I've been busy is because I'm starting that Spring Cleaning thing. The sun was shining and the birds were twittering and I got my butt off the couch! An amazing thing on its own no? I've also started doing the little things I had put off - getting a lamp for the living room, hanging pictures, vacuuming... One step at a time. I made headway yesterday and aside from a coffee table (highly overrated right?) and the molding that we keep saying we're going to do, I think I've finished with the living room. Today I'm going to tackle the carpet on the stairs. It's an irritating job. It involves removing staples and nails from wood. Blech.

Oh, and the trees are starting to bud here. I woke to a booger nose. You're excited to know that aren't you? Last year was perhaps the worst allergies I've EVER had. I'm not over estimating either. It was HORRIBLE! I even stopped drinking for a while and thought about locking myself in a bubble. I'm going to start with the allergy medicine now in hopes I nip this is the bud (no pun intended). Say a prayer for me.

Dog Bones and Icing.

BRACE YOURSELF!

This morning my son asked me what a Twinkie was. It's true. I hang my head in shame. He probably isn't aware of the names of any of the Hostess group. As a child of the 70's/80's, I feel like I have failed as a parent. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he doesn't know what orange pop (soda) tastes like either. You're disappointed in me aren't you?

Well, get over it! I've rectified the situation and all is well with the universe. While I didn't go out and buy a bunch of shortening based pastries, I did break out the butter and find myself a delicious little cake that I think you'd agree is a wonderful (if not better) substitute. The cake is super easy and the icing even easier - with time and perseverance. It tastes amazing. Oh, and yes, I cut the cake out into nice little dog bone shapes and filled them with the icing. Cute right?

Boy Crafts.

No pink fuzzy things around here! If you're a boy or have a boy living with or near you than might I recommend you buy Creationary. It's fun for the whole family and you can even drink beer while you play it - not that I would do that but some of you might.

The above photo is one of the 'creations' or as I like to call it "The Subtle Hint my son gave me while playing Creationary". It's the Legoland sign from California. Mr. A didn't even know there was such a thing. How that has escaped him for this long is beside me but I think he might be in denial. Just an FYI they're opening a Legoland in Tampa, FL in October. I wonder if we'll be walking under that sign soon...

Not quite Monday post.

These were some of the bags. I usually line them up on the counter to make me feel good about how many bags there are. You know 'bang for your buck' and all that. This week they didn't all fit on the counter - and that's not just because there's so many other items there (like dishes).... really....
Picture one. Yes, there's more than one this week. My cupboards were pretty bare. I'm really hoping next week is just a milk and egg week but I think we all know better. The kids just won't stop eating! I'm not sure what it is with kids, I mean, I know they're growing and learning and incredibly active but do they really need that much food?
Here's the produce. Look, I even bought the cheap toilet paper this week. There's also no wine or beer or any other type of alcoholic beverages. I may have to rectify that. The box O' wine that I bought last week is gone. In my defense it was only 4 bottles. That's really nothing for a professional like myself.

And now, I just know you're dying of suspense... drumroll.... this weeks grocery bill was a WHOPPING $182.70! I may have to start selling stuff. I'm already out of pears and the apples are almost gone. It's like those kids have never seen food before. Little scavengers.

We bid you Adieu.

We wanted to take you to The True North Strong and Free (ie. Canada) but you came 3 days too late. (To the people in this photo: I don't know you. I didn't ask if you wanted to be in my photo. The fact that you were wearing hockey gear and watching curling made me miss home. Now you will forever be my reminder of what it's like to be in a Canadian bar on a Saturday morning. Thank you.)
So instead we stuck you to a collage of license plates in the shape of the state of Ohio. (Can you find her?)
We used you to record the temperatures - which have since plummeted a whopping 33 degrees! There could be a direct correlation between the two. We may never know...
But then we were nice and we took you to see the seahorses at the Columbus Aquarium. They were sleeping so we had to be very quiet; as if we were hunting rabbits. We wouldn't really hunt rabbits because I suspect you might be a vegetarian.
When we were at the Aquarium we also saw the sharks. They weren't very scary and you didn't have to hold our hands. I think you may just have been trying to be brave.

Now you're in an envelope on your way back to Colorado. We hope you have a good trip and meet other 'flats' along the way. Say an extra special "Hello" to all the kids you'll get to meet when you get where you're going. And if you could, can you please give Ms. A a kiss for us and tell her we were happy she thought about us? We think about her and her family A LOT!

Not-so Wacky Wednesday.

When Mr. E turned 6 (only a month ago - oh, how time flies) we bought 1/2 dozen cupcakes from our new local cupcake store, Blue Frost Cupcakes. Although it pained me greatly to spend $13.00 on 6 cupcakes, I have to say that it was well worth it. They aren't very big but the cake is moist and the icing is delicious. I believe cake is just a 'extra' so it's always wonderful to find an icing that doesn't coat your teeth. You know what I'm talkin' about.
Speaking of coating your teeth, don't you just love gravy? Mmm... soo salty and yummy. In Canada we usually eat our french fries with gravy. Not a big deal just a cultural difference I suppose but one that I've gotten used to and even after being in the states for almost 6 years it's still one I can't get over. My friends love it when I'm in a restaurant and get into a long discussion with the waiter over whether they have gravy to dip my fries into and I sometimes wonder if they think I'm just making this stuff up. Note: sometimes I am... This time I'm not.

So when we went to Ontario a couple of weeks ago we went to our old university hang out, Morty's. I love this place. No doubt about it, they have the best wings EVER. Anyway, on the menu (pictured above) they have gravy listed right next to the french fries! And yes, I ordered them and ate every last bite. It's good gravy.