Sunday Squash

On Sunday I was really craving some spaghetti squash. I had to pick up a few things at the store, so I picked up a few more veggies to go with it. As I looked for the spaghetti squash, I found an entire produce end-cap full of them, I was thrilled because usually there are only a few squash to pick through. I carefully examined a few to see which one I wanted to take home and ultimately devour. I found the perfect one, but it didn't have a sticker with the produce code on it (have you ever been at the checkout without a produce code? Then you know WHY I wanted one with a code). So, I found one that looked better anyway AND it had a code. Except the code said, "Golden Honeydew." Ahhhh, I had just wasted all that time on something that I, apparently didn't even know what it was! It looked just like a spaghetti squash. Believe me, I have had my fair share of squash and honeydew to know the difference, but they oddly looked so similar. But...I digress, I went to search for the squash. I looked and looked and then I looked some more, but couldn't find them. I saw a worker and was about to ask but then I remembered when I asked a question to a produce worker before, asking for a rutabaga, they brought me a bag of radishes, sooo....Then out of the corner of my eye, I spot ONE very lonely spaghetti squash all ready to go home with me. When I got home I put the squash in the microwave and sliced some zucchini and yellow squash. I grilled it on my cast iron grill pan:





Yum, it was really starting to smell good in here! I had some cherry tomatoes and mushrooms that I wanted to use up, so I roasted them:



There is just something about roasted tomatoes. The smell. The sweetness. So good! When everything was done, it came together nicely:



I drizzled some olive oil on top and enjoyed! It was a great meal!

Finally Friday

Even though it was a short week for Mason and I, I am still glad it is FRIDAY!

Here is my latest culinary project:




I am making my own vanilla extract. I have done a lot of reading on how to do this and once I finally broke down and paid the outrageous price for Madagascar Vanilla Beans, here we are. This is not a good project for a patient person (why am *I* doing it then?). At the very least, this will be ready to use in August:



I have read some articles from people that make their own that say they don't open this for FIVE years! C'mon, who can wait that long! Apparently it gets better with age (don't we all). I am anxious to try this. It is simple enough. Vodka, vanilla beans and time. Even though it called for regular vodka, I already had vanilla flavored on hand, so I just used that. I hope it won't make a difference. If all goes well, I may keep this up (and maybe even have a batch sit around for 5 years). I am tired of the cheap, imitation vanilla. It's time to get REAL!

Speaking of REAL, this is REALLY cool (like that segue?)
(hahaha!) SEGWAY!


Anyway, I am getting a little goofy now. I think this is a really cool cake (let me finish) for a creepy horror wedding (I am sure they exist!):



It is a Freddy Krueger cake! Oh, does it get any better than Freddy Krueger??

This and That

I WANT this!! Somehow I signed up for emails from a company that finds the best of the best products on the market and wraps them all into one email. Everyday. The latest products included kitchenware. I love this, maybe because it has two of my favorite things engraved in it (and I mean Johnny CASH!!):



It is a terracotta cooking dish. I have never cooked in terracotta and to be honest never even knew that one could! As I researched it further, I found out the terracotta has to be food-grade, a good old trip to the Home Depot won't work. I am looking forward to experimenting with cooking in terracotta even if it does not say "Mason" or "Cash" on it!


Snapple has always been a favorite drink of mine. I love to open an ice-cold diet raspberry tea Snapple and read the "Snapple Real Fact" printed on the inside of the cap. Recently, an all new series of facts have come out! I always liked little known, useless facts! Some of my favorite ones include:

#50 Mosquitoes have 47 teeth.
#73 The average person spends 2 weeks of its life waiting for a traffic light to change. (I think mine is double now that I have to wait for the traffic light at school...SO long...)
#98 When the moon is directly over you, you weigh less. (I really need to moon to be out at all times!)
#123 Beavers were once the size of bears. (WHAT??)
# 846 An average of three billion cups of tea are consumed daily worldwide. (I know someone who contributes to this number!)

For a more extensive list of facts to blow your mind, check out this blog



Well, Snapple is a good option (or iced tea in general) to drink because after I read this article, Mason and I WILL.NEVER.DRINK.SODA.AGAIN (or at least very, very rarely). I could not believe some of those studies. Gross. I used to be a diet Mt. Dew drinker and I used to love Diet Dr. Pepper, but no more, it is not worth it. Thankfully, water has always been my drink of choice.

I got so much accomplished today! On non-school days it is so tempting to go back to bed for a few extra minutes (ok, hours) of sleep, but today I brewed some Gevalia Expresso Roast. Within minutes of finishing my last cup (I won't tell you how many!) I was ready to start the day off with a bang! After I was done cleaning I lit my Mistletoe scented Yankee Candle and now the entire place smells like fresh pine trees! Not that I am ready for Christmas (it will be here before we know it, though), but I love the smell of Christmas trees, all year long!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

[Creepy Klowns]

What is wrong with me? Sometimes I ask myself that on a daily basis! A friend of mine was cleaning out her aunts house a few days ago. She casually brought up the creepy clowns that her aunt had as decoration. The next words out of my mouth still baffle me: "I LOVE creepy clowns!!". I don't love creepy clowns. Perhaps for a scary Halloween decoration, but I don't make it a habit to display creepy clowns throughout my house (that would just be weird). I suppose she took me seriously because the next night these were mine! Let me tell you the look on Mason's face was priceless. He kept repeating, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, please tell me you are not keeping these." I can not express how much I love spooky, scary, cheesy horror and such, but I have to admit, even these clowns give ME the creeps! That is not going to stop me from keeping them around (in the basement).

For added terror, I decided to edit the photo to look like it's been around for awhile, enjoy...




Now I feel like watching "It"

SWEET DREAMS...

Reading List

My reading list lately consists of funny, inspirational and common sense books. I found this book at Goodwill:



It is never too early to start figuring out what Mason needs to know before he moves away from home. As much as I love Mason and would do anything for him, not teaching him life lessons and how to handle them would be a disservice to him. We all know being a 32 year old man living at Mom's is not the life I want for my child. I am only about a quarter of the way through but some "tips" that I like are:

#39 They should know overcoming difficult times is how people gain self-respect.

#30 They should know they've worked all their lives to get exactly where they are now. Even if they're just sleeping on the couch.

# 94 They should know that boasting makes people wonder what's really wrong with them.

It is a good book so far, of course Mason will need to know a lot more that 1001 things for life, but it's a good start!

Next up:



This one took me all of 20 minutes to read, but it was funny! Sometimes I wonder how people make it through life (maybe their Mom didn't read 1001 Things Every Teen Should Know...). It is a book full of actual test questions that students decided to answer with humor! Here is a page:



Finally:



I haven't really gotten into this book yet, but the title says it all. I have been (very slowly) learning that I don't need to sweat the small stuff because I am not totally in control of my life. I understand that situations are put into our lives to make us stronger and to teach us life lessons. I think I will enjoy this book.

I finally got to look though Mason's Valentine's from his class party and I found this written on the back of a "Hello Kitty" valentine:



Mason and his friend, Tanner are the two in class that make everyone laugh!

I am off to enjoy the rest of my long weekend, the weather is beautiful (I actually wore flip flops yesterday!!). I would like to get outside, but what to do??

My Maine Dream

On this relaxing Saturday (I didn't wake up until 11:30!), I decided to brew some coffee and look at one of my all-time favorite sites. Realtor.com. I like to see what is for sale in cities that I dream of visiting (or living in). Today, as I searched Portland, Maine my heart skipped a beat. Just look at this house. Oh, the possibilities, the simplicity of this sweet little house. It looks so bright and airy and gave me a sense of calmness. I got lost in the moment imagining the cool summer breezes flowing through the open windows, the quiet nights in the backyard and the quaint little kitchen to try out new recipes. This is exactly what I want. Simple and enjoyable. I like to pull inspiration for small spaces on this website, also. I am back in reality right now, but later I plan to look up some million dollar coastal properties that I will drool over.

Loooooong Weekend!

I have a lot on my to-do this for this week, but I want to enjoy a nice long weekend! If you value your time and can't afford to spend hours online DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT click here. It is awful and wonderful at the same time. That website is AWESOME! I avoid it at all costs because it is so over-whelming to the senses! I warned you!!

I reused the Snapple bottles, instead of brewing iced tea to bottle, I made my own version of Starbucks iced coffee and bottled that. I hid them in the fridge, but someone found them! Mason loves iced coffee!

Some things that I need to do this week include getting Mason to the eye doctor, he is going to need new glasses. Also, baseball and football sign-ups are this week. Baileigh needs to get up to date on her shots, I am going to sort through old magazines and finally get two school projects done! Wow, now that is an exciting week!!

Have a great weekend, it looks like it is going to be beautiful!
Here's my little fur-baby, Trails, he really has the whole "lazy" thing down!

Good Food!

First of all, Happy Belated Valentine's Day! The new principal at Mason's school has lifted the evil "no sugary party snack" ban! YEAH! It's bittersweet for me since this is the last year Mason will have a Valentine's Day class party (sniffle, sniffle). So, I made these:



Yum!

Tonight I made veggie soup and homemade garlic bread for dinner:




Mason is not a soup-eater, so this was all mine!

Homemade pumpkin butter is simmering on the stove as I type. It smells fantastic in here! I found a few breakfast recipes that I want to try that call for pumpkin butter, so I thought that I should whip up a batch. It's the best!

This next item falls under the, "WHAT THE...." catagory:



WHAT THE heck are boiled peanuts (I mean, except the obvious). During my last trip to Wegman's (before Christmas), I found this in the ethnic food asile. I can't remember what ethnicity this can was under but I knew we had to try them! For the past two months everytime I open my cabinet I see these sitting there. I am afraid. Mason is afraid. These just seem too weird! I will be sure to update how they were, complete with pictures! However, that still could be another two months away! WHO boils peanuts....

Double Brrrr...

Wow! This cold snap can leave anytime now! Mason and I went out yesterday to get some things accomplished, one of which was a haircut (more on this later). We spent most of the day out and about. I had to return a Redbox movie (Shark Night and yes, it rocked!!). Giant Eagle has a Redbox that is outside of the store, so I decided to just pull up front (lazy, yes) because I didn't need to get anything inside. As I put my 4-way flashes on, I said to Mason that he needed to hurry up and run to return the movie before an officer says anything to me! As soon as Mason gets out of the car and sprints to the Redbox machine, here comes a security officer to my window. I rolled down my window and before I said a word the officer said, "Is SHE (SHE!) just returning a movie?". I could not contain my laughter, he was looking at me like I just left the loony bin! Between breaths I was able to say, "SHE is a HE, that is my son!!". The look on his face was priceless! He apologized and got a good laugh, too! Mason had made his way back to the car and even he thought it was funny (perhaps not as much as I did!). So, I informed the security officer that HE was getting a haircut later that day! Later that afternoon I took Mason to "the girl haircut place" and he got his hair trimmed. Then we made our way home in snow and white outs. I have driven in worse white outs but white outs on the highway are NOT fun.

Chobani Greek yogurt has new flavors!! Blood orange and Passion fruit. They are both delicious! Greek yogurt is amazing!

I have two papers to complete for Monday, two basketball games today and finish grocery shopping. The song, "Under Pressure" is playing in the background of my brain! We are going to collect on our FREE Papa John's Pizza today! During the superbowl Papa Johns was running a promotion with a coin toss and we choose the right one (heads!). That will be helpful for dinner tonight so that I don't have to worry about cooking anything between basketball games!

Hello!

That picture is from last year, but I love it! As I type, Baileigh is snoozing on the couch, barking in her sleep! I would love to know what dogs dream about! It reminds me of this video:



That never gets old!!

I had a semi-productive day today. I got my oil changed, it took longer to get an attendant to the counter than it did to actually get the oil changed. I bought some Starbucks coffee to brew at home since stopping at Sheetz before class is getting too time consuming! Have you ever seen Sheetz in the morning?? I stopped into BigLots the other day to find a great deal on Snapple, Trop-a-Rocka flavor! Yum! This is mine and Mason's favorite flavor. I am going to save the bottles and brew my own iced tea to have around for awhile.

That's all I have for now, Mason is due home any minute. I am sure that means we will have hours of fraction homework to do (insert dreaded feeling here).

Brrrr....

I guess we have been lucky so far this winter, but WOW, is it cold outside tonight! I went outside to take Mason to basketball practice and was not expecting to have to scrape ice off the windshield. I question myself time and time again why I do not want to move to a warmer climate when I make my move after Mason graduates.

I am enjoying basketball season but I REALLY can't wait until baseball season! Mason will have football sign-ups and weigh-ins in March and I am afraid that he will not make the weight limit. I don't know what to do, starving him seems so cruel (haha!).

In other news, I have a giant grocery-store list and we plan to shop on Saturday. I have some new recipes to try out. I started the year off by drinking a kale smoothie everyday and ginger tea. I feel great! I need to restock those supplies. I can honestly say that ever since I have been drinking them, I have not had a single sniffle! My days have been so busy, its been hard to actually make a decent grocery shopping trip. No basketball on Saturday, so we will be shopping instead. The worst part is carrying all the groceries inside and putting them away. I could do without that!

Stay warm!!

Lazy. Lazy. Lazy

Lazy seems to be a theme around here lately. I guess with the added pressures of school and Mason bringing home fractions for homework, most of our free time is spent lounging. That even applies to the cat! She fell asleep cleaning herself in the picture above! I have decided that tomorrow Facebook will not hold me hostage, I will not even log-in until all the cleaning is done! Yeah, we'll see about that one. Facebook = evil time-thief. I think it might be easier to survive living in a Turkish prison. [Jerry Seinfeld "Newman" voice] "Facebook"

The Giants won the superbowl!! It was a great game. The commercials were, once again, not up to par. There were a few good ones. There were more scantily clad women than I care for my 11 year old boy to see in a lot of the 30 second, million dollar ads. It just shows what society has come to. Less creativity and more skin is what sells, I suppose.


Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE inspirational quotes! I fill my house with them as daily reminders of how great life is even when it isn't so much. Sometimes the quotes are hand painted on canvas or printed on an item that was bought. However, most of them are hand written on the nearest index card or old reciept lying on the table, it adds character, ya know??!

Words that I live by:



Words that everyone should live by:



I really can't wait for flea market/yard sale season to get here! I have been on the lookout at the thrift stores for an old dresser to paint or re-finish. No luck. I have been feeling really creative on a redecorating level lately. Of course, I don't have the means to go buy all new, but even if I did that isn't my style. Unless we are talking about Pier 1. Let me tell you about Pier 1. That store actually makes me, the thriftiest of all thrift shoppers, think (if only for a few minutes) that it is ok to spend $450 on a side chair. A $300 framed mirror? Sure! Curtains that cost more than all the furniture in my house, combined? Not a problem. I love every single thing in that store. All the sparkle and glitter!! Don't get me started on glitter. When the Pier 1 catalog graces my mailbox, I act like a child in a candy store. I grab a cup of tea and get lost in the fantasy of having an entire house furnished with those items, some that I can't even pronounce. Thirty minutes later I am back to reality. Someday. Someday at least 25% of my house will be furnished with goodies from Pier 1!

It's Sunday (and it's SUPER)!

The countdown until game time is getting smaller and smaller! Of course it won't be as thrilling of a game (for me, anyway) but it's still the SUPERBOWL. Since the Steelers lost in a horrific two-second OT to end their chances for #7, I will be rooting for ABB (Anyone But Brady). It's still not a tough choice to root for the Giants because I have family that tend to live and breathe NY Giants, soooo GO GIANTS! I hope the commercials are better than last year! I will not remind Mason that the Puppy Bowl is on because I would rather poke my eyes out (and I LOVE puppies!!).

On to the menu. SuperBowl is always known for SNACK-TIME! I will be making veggie mini corndog muffins, chips & veggies with dip, tomatillo pizza, my famous (only to Mason and I!) hot spinach and artichoke dip and homemade brownies! Yum! I have "healthified" the spinach and artichoke dip and per Mason's request he asked that I NOT make "healthified" brownies again! It shall be a good night!




My (slight) obsession with Jimmy Fallon continues to grow. Comedy is so subjective. Of course there are comedians who have stood the test of time, but really I can only think of a few that are actually really funny. When I really got into SNL Jimmy Fallon was a cast member. He was memorable. I liked a lot of his skits. Only since he has had his own talk show did I really pay attention to his amazing talent. He.Is.So.Funny!!!! After I got laid-off from my job and before I got a plan for my life I was in a slump. For about two weeks my days consisted of watching the ID channel, forensic files and cold case files and watching countless youtube videos of Jimmy Fallon's comedy career. I could not get enough. Each one seemed funnier and funnier. I would stay up late to catch his 12:37am talk show every single day. Now, I usually DVR it (unless I've had some serious coffee consumption). He seems to top himself on every new skit. Have you seen The Jersey Floor skits?? He's a comedic genius and I really think he has a long-lasting career. He makes me laugh and we all need a lot of that in our life. He is doing a LIVE show after the superbowl tonight, I am sure it won't disappoint!

GOOD LUCK, GIANTS!!

Goodbye.

If inanimate objects could speak, I would love to know what this clock would say. This clock is older than most of the students in my college classes. I remember where this clock sat in the house that I lived in in 1987. I don't how I got this clock, I don't remember if it was a gift or if it was simply put in my room one day. All I know is this clock is at least 25 years old. I really can't say that I know of any other object that has been with me for 25 years. I was eight when I remember this clock appearing in my room. It moved with me to so many different places. It has a seconds counter on it when a button is pushed. For some strange reason I remember going through a phase in my teens where I slept on the floor and put this clock right next to me. I remember pushing that seconds button over and over again as I lie there trying to fall asleep. I would try to guess what "second" it was on. Then it went to Penn State with me. One morning I was supposed to be at work very early during the hectic holiday season. I was considered one of the most reliable employees, that was until I set this alarm to "PM" instead of "AM". Every time the lights flicker during a storm, the notorious flashing 12 would appear. I would have to reset it.




The AM/FM buttons stopped sliding, the alarm button fell off (I would have to slide it with a pen) and if the button was down too far, I would wake up to a loud, static filled FM station. Wow, was that annoying! However, this trusty old clock still stuck with me. I hated the alarm sound. It was so brash. I even dropped it a few times trying to find my way through a dark bedroom. During some tough times, I remember lying in bed just staring at the bright red time slowly tick by. A few weeks ago, the lights flickered. When I went to bed, the flashing 12 was annoying, so I unplugged the clock. It was never plugged in again. I decided that a 25 year old electric cord was just too risky to plug back in. The clock has been replaced with my cell phone alarm that is equally annoying. So, it is going out in the trash tomorrow. I feel a very strange feeling of loss knowing I will never see this clock again. I know that is weird but it's true.




Way to go, Inspector B25. You did your job well!

Caffeine. My Friend. My Foe.

Yesterday before school I stopped to fill up my car with gas and of course, grab a coffee. As I eavesdropped on the conversation between the cashier and the apparent long-time "regular" of the store (even though this particular store has only been open for a few months) I noticed something that I never see at Sheetz. Along side the regular coffee flavors, a light shined down, a warm breeze washed by and guided me to a particular brew. Although the label clearly stated, "High Caffeine", I read much more into it. I seemed to think that magic cup of joe would not only sail me right though my morning classes but it would clean my house and do the dishes that seem to taunt me on a daily basis. I pictured a beautifully clean house (you know, the kind of clean when company comes over), a cleaned out pantry and smells of a freshly scrubbed floor. I must have been dreaming. I have to give the coffee credit, it kept me up until 3am at which point I was cursing it. Next time I decide to grab a cup of high-octane I am going to make sure the label clearly states, "Motivation Included."





I won tickets!!! The local radio station was giving away quite a few tickets to tonight's Harlem Globetrotter's show and I scored some! I am so excited! Mason and I haven't been able to go out and do too much except rent a movie for awhile, so this is going to be a fun night. It has been kept secret, with a few clues. At this point he thinks he is seeing Scooby Doo on ice (WHY would I take him to see Scooby Doo on ice??). There is a subtle disappointment in his eyes every time he thinks he's going to see Scooby Doo on ice! Mom torture, it's priceless.



We have court side seats (ohh la la). Apparently there is going to be a basketball player there that is 7'9", WOWZA. I wonder if I can take my camera there?

That's all for now!

Guess Who's Back??

Nope, not Jack....ME!!!

So, the last post from me was somewhere around December 2010. 2010? Did 2011 not exist? I was up in the air on whether to update my audience (...crickets) on my entire 2011 or to simply start where I am today in my life. I have decided to not talk much about the events from last year, but a brief summary will do. January's events with my car or February's events with car rentals can totally be erased. March rolled around and the entire month was a lion, no lambs to speak of. April is a blur. May 2011 is when things just started to look up. Mason had the best baseball season, ever! There were times I only got through life by anticipating the next baseball game. June was filled with games, in July the divorce was final. In August we moved (just next door!), in September I lost my job. By October I was on a roll with motivation. Enrolling in an AP Chemistry class was just the start of it. In November my baby boy turned 11! He had some friends come over to play video games and to eat! December wrapped up a long year of change, I received an "A" in my Chemistry class, enrolled in classes and have a PLAN. Did you hear that? A PLAN!! I have never had a plan in my life before this. I would not have been able to get through any of it without the love and support of my family.

December 2011 marked another major event in Mason's life. He finally got to watch THE (and I mean THE) best 80's movie EVER made (it could possibly be THE BEST movie ever made, I'll let that up to you):




It brought a tear to my eye to watch my son enjoy this movie as much as I do (not really, but I wanted some added drama).

So, in between good days and bad days, crying, laughing and getting my life in order, 2012 was here in the blink of an eye.

So, here is the real reason that I decided to get back into blogging: English class. BUT, I actually did miss it. During English class today we were talking about journaling and blogs. We have to choose one or the other for a graded project. I journal all the time, I love to write. However, I am choosing to do the blog (an extra 10 points doesn't hurt either!). Even though I am a bit rusty here at this ole' blog, I decided to try to remove it from life support and see what happens. I hope I can bring it back to life, I know I love to bring a little bit of my life to my family many miles away. I think that they like it, too!

So, here I am. I'm back. Here's a picture of Mason on Christmas morning:



He needs to stop growing. Now. That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed! I feel like watching the Shining...