I wish

In my life I have wished for many things, but never in my life have I wished to be sick. Not "on my deathbed" sick, just sick enough where my head is clogged and I can't smell a thing.

To be sick this kind of sick is what I wished for the other night.

One of my goals for this year is to be more on top of cleaning. It's not that I don't clean the house. I do. But I always feel like I am playing catch up. Over Christmas break I found a cleaning chart on Pinterest. I will elaborate on this chart in another post, but it breaks down which chore to do on which day. It is so easy to follow, but I started off on the wrong foot with it last week. Everything went downhill after that.

By Saturday night everything had caught up with me. My mind was all over the place and I had trouble focusing on just one thing. I finally said "Fuck it" and plopped my butt on the couch with a pack of chocolate chip cookies and some episodes of Big Bang Theory. I stayed up much later than I should have. Finally at 1 in the morning I decided to call it a night. Morning?

When I reached the fifth or sixth step going upstairs, I smelled it. Shit. That's what I said and yes, that's what it was. I was hoping and praying that my son had gotten up to use the bathroom and did a poor job of wiping himself. Needless to say, I was wrong. Oh so wrong.

You see, my boy has issues with certain dairy products. He can drink milk, he can have ice cream, he can eat a piece of cake covered with frosting. But too much of a good thing and we're in trouble.

Once I got to my son, who happened to be sleeping on the floor, I realized just how much chocolate strawberry milk he had been drinking the past few days. Obviously the answer was too much. Cleaning up that mess and having to give my boy a bath was the last thing I wanted to do at 1 in the morning.

What I can't figure out is how the husband didn't realize what had happened way before 1 in the morning. When I questioned him, he replied that his sinuses have been ridiculously stuffed up.

And that, my friends, is why I wish I was sick too. And maybe that the husband wasn't so he could have dealt with that mess.

Sticky Situation

I took the past week or so off from blogging. With the kids being home, it was family time. And really, who has time to read let alone post when kids are running circles around them?

Well, that and my computer died and I haven't quite adjusted to typing on my daughter's. Going from a netbook to a desktop is more of an adjustment than you would first think.

I had every intention of writing a few posts last week. Those plans got pushed back to Saturday evening while waiting for the ball to drop. Vodka got in the way of that ever happening, which pushed my writing back to Monday. My plans for Monday evening were to meet up with some lovely ladies for a nice dinner and discuss my new job. When I came home, I planned on putting to "paper" what ha been floating around in my head. And then it happened.

The text no mother wants to get. Especially a mother who went through hell and high water to get her son a toy he really wanted for Christmas - a Leappad.

I was munching on some fried calamari while waiting for my Mahi Mahi to come when I decided to check my phone. With my son having a cold, I was waiting for a text from the husband asking where the cold medicine was. I noticed that my husband had call AND left a message. Assuming someone must be really sick, but not being able to hear him talk in the restaurant, I sent a text asking "What's up?" The response I got?

"Leap pad is damned near ruined"

Hoping the husband was just blowing things out of proportion, I naturally asked why. Gum was the answer to that question.

What the hell could my boy possibly do with gum to ruin an electronic device was beyond me, and quite frankly I wasn't sure I wanted to know details. Over the next few minutes I learned that Gojo had got most of the gum off the device. That led me to believe it was ON the LeapPad and not IN it. Thank goodness!

At this point I assumed things were taken care as best as they could be and I would deal with it more when I got back home. I thought I would end the conversation with "As long as [the LeapPad] still works. Take all gum from them asap." Apparently our conversation was not over. How do I know this? Because I then learned that the gum that was stuck on my boy's face and chest WOULD NOT COME OFF!!

What the hell kind of gum was this?!

Needless to say, my son is banned from using his LeapPad until further notice and neither child is allowed to have gum for a very, very long time. I'm including my daughter in the gum banning because for all I know, she was somehow involved. Just because a 10 year old should know better does not mean they always make the right choices.

It's never a dull moment in this house, but that's not to say I didn't learn something from all of this.

1. Hide any and all electronics when I am going out for the night.

2. Hide all gum and any candy that resembles gum.

3. Vegetable oil does wonders for removing gum from plastic.

I hope your Christmas break was better than mine. I do have many happy moments from our break. I promise to share them once I find and remove all gum from this house.

Creamy Beef Stroganoff - recipe

Last week I wrote a post about my son cooking dinner and the reaction I got when I bragged about it. It's still a sore subject, but I have moved on. At the end of that post I promised to share the recipe last Friday.

Last week, weekend included, was the week from hell. Crazy busy doesn't even begin to describe how I was. Because of that, I'm not sure if I can make it through Christmas. So before I completely lose my mind, I want to share this recipe for beef stroganoff that I found on All Recipes. Not only is it good, but it is so easy to make. So easy, my 6 year old made. Except for cutting up the beef and the onions.


Ingredients

• 1 pound beef sirloin steak, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (10 ounce) tub PHILADELPHIA Original Cooking Creme*
• 1/3 cup fat-free reduced-sodium beef broth
• 2 cups hot cooked noodles
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

*I used Italian Herb flavor Cooking Creme. The garlic flavor is good, too, but I would only use 1/2 of a tub mixed with 1/2 block of cream cheese. It is strong!


Directions

1. Boil noodles according to package directions.

2. Cook mean and onions in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5 to 6 minutes, or until done. Remove from skillet; drain. Cover to keep warm.

3. Add butter to skillet; cook until melted. Add mushrooms and pepper; cook 5 to 6 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.

4. Add cooking creme; cook and stir 2 minutes. Return meat to skillet; stir in broth. Cook 5 minutes

5. Serve over noodles; sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 4

My Tips

I buy a package of pre-cut skillet steaks, roughly 1/2 pound. I cut each strip in half. This saves on time.

I also buy a package of pre-sliced and washed mushrooms. Again, a time saver!

If you decide to make this, I'd love to hear what you think of this meal!

hosted by Amy from Keeping up with the Schultz Family

Come on get happy

Last weekend was my daughter's 10th birthday. As it is a tradition, I once again made her cake. Or in this case, cupcakes.

Browsing through Pinterest, my daughter and I came across 2 different cupcakes that she fell in love with. She decided on the sunshine cupcakes, and perhaps we will save the owl ones for another year.

With a little bit of patience,
sunshine cupcakes are so easy to make.

Items Needed:

1 box vanilla cake mix
1 tub white frosting
Yellow food coloring
1 tube of black icing
Decorating tips
Candy corns

*I use Cake Mate tubes of frosting because the company also sells a pack of decorating tips that screw right onto the tubes. Super easy to use!*

Make the cupcakes according to the directions on the box. While the cupcakes are baking, empty half of the frosting into a bowl. Add 10-12 drops of yellow food coloring. Mix well. Frost your cupcakes once they have cooled.

*Half a canister of frosting was just the right amount for 24 cupcakes. If you find you need more frosting, add some more to the bowl with a few extra drops of food coloring*

Once you have all of your cupcakes frosted, you can begin placing candy corns around the outer edge. I found that 6 or 7 candy corns were just enough. By placing the candy corns on first, you can now easily judge how much room you have to draw a face.

Finally, you can place your happy cupcakes in your brand new, super cool cupcake/cake carrier. Or maybe that's just me. I may only use this thing twice a year, but it was definitely worth the purchase!

One more thing, If you are not eating the cupcakes right away, I would suggest putting them in the fridge until ready to serve. I'm not sure what happened, but some of the candy corns were slipping off of the cupcakes by the time we got to my mom's house for my daughter's party.


Do you make cakes for your child's birthday? If so, what have you made?


If you have a recipe or craft you would like to share, I would love to feature you! Contact me at eumbel (at) gmail (dot) com

Quick pasta carbonara (how to)

That, over there? The cooking creme? It's my new best friend!

How I have never thought to use it before is beyond me. But now that we have met, I am trying to find as many recipes as I can just to use Cooking Creme.

Recipes such as Quick Pasta Carbonara. I'm going to share my version of this dish with you. The only vegetable in the original are peas. I have 2 kids and we all know how much kids love peas!


Ingredients:

1 box or bag egg noodles, approx. 1 pound
4-6 slices bacon (I went for 6!)
1 tub Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Italian Cheese & Herb flavor
1 bag frozen vegetables (I chose a broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix)

1. Cook pasta as directed on package. Meanwhile, cook bacon is a large skillet until crisp.

2. Remove bacon from the skillet with a slotted spoon, reserving 2 Tbsp drippings. Drain bacon on a paper towel.

3. Add vegetables to the skillet. Cook until they are heated through. Add the Cooking Creme and let simmer for 5 minutes.

4. While the vegetable mixture is simmering in the skillet, crumble the bacon. Add the bacon to the skillet in the last minute to heat through.

5. Add the vegetable mixture to the noodles. Serve and enjoy!

I have decided to make sharing a recipe or craft a weekly Friday feature. I can't possibly come up with something to share every week. I am opening up this blog to guest posters. If you have a recipe or craft you would like to share, contact me at eumbel (at) gmail (dot) com.

Crock Pot Steak and Potato Soup

While I may not be a fan of this cooler weather, I do love the meals associated with Fall. I also love crock pot meals that are easy to prepare. This is why Steak and Potato Soup is one of my favorite dinners to prepare.

recipe/image from Betty Crocker

Ingredients


1 lb beef boneless round steak

1 lb small red potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 medium stalks celery, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 T beef bouillon granules

1.2 tsp pepper

2 cartons (32 oz each) beef flavored broth

1 jar (6 oz) sliced mushrooms, undrained

1/2 C water

1/2 C flour

1. Cut beef into 1 x 1/4- inch pieces. Mix beef and remaining ingredients, except water and flour in a 5-quart slow cooker.

2. Cover and cook on Low 8-9 hours

3. Mix water and flour in a small bowl; gradually stir into soup until blended. Increase heat setting to High. Cover and cook about 30 minutes or until slightly thickened.



I stick to this recipe, with a few minor alterations.

- A bag of precut celery stalks. Ever since I was pregnant with my son, the smell of raw celery turns my stomach. Since these stalks are smaller, I can cut each one into thirds, toss them in the pot and be done. I use about half a bag.

- A bag of baby carrots. I cut each carrot in half, thirds if one is especially large. I use half the bag for the soup and the other half is for my kids to take in their school lunches.

- 6 beef bouillon cubes is approximately the same amount as 1 Tablespoon of the granules.


Because I am not a morning person, I usually prepare the soup later in the day and cook it on high for 4-5 hours. I slowly add the flour to the water, mixing quickly with a fork. I slowly add this mixture to the crock pot, cover, and continue to cook on high for another 30 minutes.


If you choose to make this soup, I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine.


____________________________

This post is linked to KludgyMom's I Love Fall Foods

How to ruin a potential friendship

Attend, as well as host, a Tupperware party.


In mid-August, a girl from a bar my mom frequents was hosting a Tupperware party. We shall call this girl Tami. Not wanting to go alone, my mom invited me. I was quite excited because I wasn't sure if Tupperware even existed anymore.

The consultant, we shall call her Barbie, was a little too bubbly for my taste. But that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy ourselves. We saw some of the newest products, had some wicked good salsa, and my mom even "won" a necklace. Quotes because she didn't get to keep the necklace, but she could keep what was inside the mini container of a charm. Provided she host a party, of course.

At the end of the party, my mom and I filled out our order forms and chose a date for the party. Guess who got suckered into co-hosting said party? Ya, this girl. We chose a date in mid-September and were told by Barbie she would contact us when she returned from her training in Disney (oh-la-la). She was leaving the following day.

Two weeks pass and my mom and I are beginning to wonder where our products were and when we would hear from Barbie. I turned to the Tupperware website, which happens to be crap. I have an easier time contacting blog owners than someone from the Tupperware corporate office! But I did discover that products take 9 business days to ship. We should have had our products by then, but decided to give it a few more days.

Week three. We finally hear from Barbie, consultant extraordinaire. She says our party is all set up and ready to go. She would send one of us books and order forms within a few days so we could try to get outside orders. I inquired about our products. Our products were shipped directly to Tami because we opted out of the extra cost to have them shipped to us. That little $4.50 option was never explained to us.

This is where everything really started to go downhill.

My mom didn't get to the bar until later that week, when she was finally able to grab our products from Tami's car. Tami had been driving around with our stuff for almost 3 weeks by this point. She had our phone numbers, yet never called. She knew my mom's "friend", who goes there more than my mom, yet Tami never mentioned anything to him. Our books and order forms arrived the following week, 4 days before our party. Two books, order forms we couldn't read, and 4 days does not do well when trying to get outside orders, thankyouverymuch!

By now I was ready to cancel the party, but I sucked it up. If I would have known Barbie was going to talk for 4 damn hours at the party, I definitely would have canceled. We only had 5 people, and that's including my mom and I! She's lucky the party wasn't at my house or I surely would have kicked her out, products and all. Well, most of them.

We closed our party a week later. There were a few more bumps in the road, but not even a week after closing, our products arrived. Thank goodness this debacle was over!

Or so I thought.

Because my mom ordered stuff from Tami, she returned the favor. But instead of giving my mom her order, she gave it directly to Barbie. They're like BFFs or something. We only figured out Tami's order by process of elimination. Since my mom doesn't go to Tami's bar very often, she thought she would return the favor by driving around with her products in the car until she saw her.

Turns out Tami isn't a fan of this being done to her. Tami wants her special water pitcher. Tami has called Barbie, who has sent a text to my mom as well as calling me. We both explained that Tami will get her stuff. We're not sure when, but it will be by the end of the week. I really didn't want to wait a month for my new pitcher either. Karma. That's all I have to say.

And after all of this, Barbie didn't seem to understand why I don't want to be on her team as a consultant. We could all use a little extra money, but sorry honey. I'm not that desperate!




Because I know at least one girl from my party who sometimes reads this, thank you so much for helping me out by ordering and booking a party. I really hope your party goes over just as well as mine did, minus all the talking. But please don't be offended if I don't physically come. I'm not sure I can spend anymore time in the same room as Barbie!

Chore Jar

When I was growing up, I had a list of chores. Some were only done on the weekends, while others were nightly jobs. Now that my midgets are older, I would like them to start pitching in around the house.

This is easier said than done!

A few months ago I thought I lucked out with having someone else wash the dishes. For almost a week, my daughter happily sang songs while she washed. However, she quickly realized this would be a nightly occurrence. Months later, I still require her to wash the dishes, but it's not without a fight.

My boy is the same way. He will do chores, but it has to be on his terms. Most times, having him do chores is not without a fight. I do not like doing everything around the house on my own. I would like the midgets to help out and teach them about responsibility. While browsing Pinterest, I came across a chore jar. I had every intention of making the same jar as in the picture, but walking around the craft store, I came up with a new idea.


Materials:

Glass or plastic jar
Wide craft sticks - amount needed depends on the number of chores
2 Small bottles of paint
Markers (I used Sharpies)
Sponge paint brush

1. Using the sponge brush and one of your paint colors,
dab paint and cover the outside of the jar.

2. Using the second paint color, paint half of each craft stick

3. When all of the paint has dried, label your jar and craft sticks

4. Place your completed craft sticks in the jar

As of now I have 6 chores, but I am working on a list of others to add to the jar. Variety is the spice of life, after all!

My plan for this jar is simple. Each Saturday, my midgets will each choose 2 sticks from the jar. Those are their chores for the day. The husband and I have talked about giving the midgets some sort of allowance for their chores. Ever hopeful me, I'd like to think that a sense of accomplishment will be enough to motivate the midgets to want to do their chores every week. However, I think money is going to be the best motivator!

Boo-tiful Door Hanger {how to}

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love to dress up and be someone or something else for a day. I also love the candy that comes with it. We all know kids can't possibly eat all of it by themselves!

However, if you saw my house during the month of October, you may not realize it was my favorite time of year. I am lacking in the Halloween decoration department. I could go to the store and by decorations to fill my house, but being a crafty person, I would rather make my own.



You don't have to be a super crafty person to make this wall (or door) hanger. All you need to be able to do is cut and glue. Here's how you can make your own!


Materials:

Wood letters - I used 6 inch letters
3 sheets of scrapbook paper
Black paint
White paint
Paint brushes - 1 regular, 1 sponge brush
Mod Podge
Orange yarn
Scissors
Wood ghosts
Black Sharpie


1. Paint the sides of your letters with the black paint



2. Trace the outline of your letters on the scrapbook paper. Cut the letters out.

3. Using the sponge brush, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the front of your letters and apply the paper letter accordingly.

Wait approximately 20 minutes then apply a thin coat of Mod Podge on the top of the letters.




4. Cut 3 strands of orange yarn. Tie each letter together. Making a loop, tie the final strand around the top of the B.



5. If you choose to add the ghosts, paint them white. After the paint dries, use a Sharpie to draw faces. Using a hot glue gun or regular white glue, add the ghosts to your hanger.


Happy Halloween!





Prompt #3 - Share a Halloween craft

Etiquette

I have been blogging for a while now. Coming up on 2 years this summer. I am by no means a big time blogger, nor do I necessarily want to be. I would love to get tons and tons of comments on every single post, but if that were to happen, there's no way I would have the time to respond to everyone. If I can't interact with commenters, than what's the point?

Even though I don't want to be a superstar blogger, it is nice to get my name out there. Doing guest posts and being featured on other's blogs is a great way to do this.

I've only been featured on someone else's blog a few times, but each time the process was relatively the same. Whether I added myself to a waiting list, such as with SITS, or a friend gave me the honors, the author always sent me an email. This email told me when my day would be and asked for something in return. It might have been a few links to posts or they might have asked me to write a new post they would publish on their blog.

Recently, I was featured on another blog. The process was completely different and quite frankly I wasn't happy about it. I won't list who featured me. As far as I can tell, no one was being deceitful and nothing was infringed upon. It's more being mad and not wanting to cause unnecessary drama. But I still want to get this off my chest.

I received an email that my day was coming up, but the button for the host's blog was not on my blog. It was an oversight on my part and I added it. I emailed this person to let them know and I was told my blog would be put back into the shuffle.

That was the last I heard. I assumed I would receive another email saying when my day was and maybe even asking for a post or links. Perhaps I was naive. Last week, when scrolling through my list of to-reads, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was my day. Immediately I clicked over to see the post about me.

Credit was given to me with a link back to my blog, but as I continued to read, the angrier I became. The post was the very first post I wrote. Not all of it, maybe 3/4 of it. This is not the post I would have chosen. It says nothing about who I am or what my blog is about. But what really got me were the names used in that post. They are not the names I use now in that blog. If the host actually read my blog, this fact would have been known.


Before you even ask, no I have not said anything yet to the author. I was extremely upset with this, but I have learned the it is better for me to step away and calm down before I open my mouth. I might think I get my point across, but it ends up reflecting poorly on me.

Now that I have calmed down, I'm concerned that if I do contact this person, I will sound like an ungrateful bitch.

For those of you have had guest posters, or even if you haven't, was this incident kosher? Not much attention was drawn to this post (to my knowledge). Should I say something, or just let it go?

Beauty comes with a price

I'm not exactly sure who set the standards for us women. Maybe it was a man. Maybe it was the media. Probably a little of both. Whoever it was, sometimes I want to punch them in their face.

Instead of being accepted for who we are, we must subject ourselves to torture. Sometimes we dress to impress only to make ourselves feel good, and we should feel good about ourselves. Other times it's to impress someone else.

I've been doing some thinking about the things us women do to make ourselves beautiful. Almost everything on my list comes with a price. That price is pain.


Let's start with shaving our legs. Don't tell me it's not painful. Have you ever had razor burn? Just as you turn in the shower to rinse the remaining shaving cream from your legs, you are met with the fires of hell from your toes to your hips. And don't tell me lotion makes it all better because it doesn't! And even if you are lucky enough to avoid the burn, the hot water will hit that one spot behind your knee where you cut yourself. Every. Single. Time. That also burns like hell!






Speaking of hair, let's move to our eyebrows. Tweezers were invented by the devil himself. Don't try to tell me that after plucking on a regular basis it doesn't hurt as much because that's lie. And have you ever plucked a chunk of skin instead of that one stray hair? You might as well just poke your eye out at that point!



And while we're on the subject of hair, who in the hell invented wax and thought it was a good thing to use on any part of a woman's body?! If you have never waxed, now is not the time to start. Recently I thought I would experiment with this whole waxing thing. Quite frankly, plucking and shaving is time consuming and I am not a patient girl. I didn't really process the fact that any part of a woman's body that can be waxed contains some pretty sensitive skin. After I pulled that stupid waxed piece of plastic off, I made the connection pretty fast. It hurt like a bitch! I'm really surprised the paramedics weren't knocking on my door because my neighbors heard me screaming.


Now these annoyances are typically things that we do every day, or at the very least a few times a week. Shaving our legs in the winter is optional (right?). Any kind of facial hair? It's gotta go!

Other annoyances aren't every day occurrences. At least not for me. Things such as dressing up. If you work outside of the home and have to dress up everyday, god bless you. I don't think I could do it. I've yet to find a dressy outfit that's comfortable.


Pantyhose would be one of those things. I try to avoid them like the plague. That little red dress that you love so much? I don't care if you're big or little, tall or short, it never feels quite right. Even though you look like a MILF!



Last but not least, we can't forget about those awesome black, strappy shoes with the 4-inch, could poke someone's eye out heel.


Within an hour of putting those sexy things on, your toes will be begging for mercy. Assuming you don't fall on your ass before that!


We are all beautiful and sexy ladies. I have no problems with doing things to enhance that beauty, but sometimes I wonder if pajama pants and unibrows are the way to go.

How to mobilize your blog

The number of people with Smart phones is on the rise. I am one of those people. I still primarily use my computer for internet browsing, but it's nice to have the ability to also use it on my phone.

This especially came in handy last week. Our internet has been, to put it nicely, shitty.

Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter are fun, but not necessities. I love you all, but like you, I do have a life in the real world. I admit it was nice to be unplugged, but I typed out a post Tuesday night that needed linked Wednesday morning. Wednesday is when our internet went out. It took some time to figure out from my phone, but I finally got my Pour Your Heart post linked on Shell's blog.

While I was on Shell's blog from my phone, I realized her blog has a mobile view. I have been trying to figure this out forever, so I finally asked Shell how she did. She sent me a link, but I still couldn't figure it out. I found a similar post on Blogger in Draft, and after reading through the comments, I figured it out.


How to Mobilize Your Blog

These instructions are for Blogger users.

First you should know there are 2 websites you can access your blog from. I didn't realize this and that's why I had problems.


http://www.blogger.com and http://draft.blogger.com


You want to go to http://draft.blogger.com and log-in from there. You have the option to use this as your default dashboard, but it's not necessary.


In order to activate mobile templates, simply go to Dashboard > Settings > Email & Mobile tab, enable the mobile template option and then save settings.

Here is a preview of what your mobile template will look like.

You will see snippets of your most recent posts. Tapping the arrow next to the post will redirect you to the entire post, where you can finish reading and comment. Really puts the pressure on to make sure your first few sentences really draw your readers in, doesn't it?