Action Pictures

GiGi posted a comment on Jennifer's blog that she had seen lots of sleeping pictures of the girls lately, and she wanted to see some action shots. GiGi, believe me, there is way more action going on over here than sleep. I know you experience that when they are at your house.

They love to play with their Leapsters. I can't believe they can do it, because I have tried and I can't. It is hilarious to listen to Karsyn, who is 2 try to tell me how to "make it work". She gets frustrated and will groan at it.

Here they are watching TV. I think it is so cute when they sit together, until they start picking on each other.

This was on Wednesday when Karsyn was alone watching Diego. As you can see, she has thrown all of the pillows off and is riding the arm of the sofa.

Here is an action shot just as she is getting ready to jump and roll. I have to watch her because when I am not, she will get on the end table and jump from there. When I scold her for jumping, here response is always, "But Lolly!".

Strawberry Cupcakes

Okay, I am going to cheat a little bit and post a recipe. It is looking like it is going to be 4 or 5 years before I get the cookbook finished. Tricia and Trena wanted the recipe so here it is.

I have the cupcake making down to a science. Walmart (Wilton) has the cutest cupcake papers with picks (packaged together) for all different seasons. For Easter they have bunny picks and egg picks. To fill the cupcakes, I use an ice cream scoop and fill them only half full. They come out perfect every time. For the icing, I use disposable Wilton bags with a "1M" tip.

With all of these tools, I can crank them out much faster than I ever did with my regular spoons and knives and they look so much better. Here you go:

Strawberry Cupcakes

1 White Cake Mix (NOT Pillsbury)
1 Small Box Strawberry Jello
½ C. Sugar
2/3 C. Oil
4 Eggs
1 ¼ C. Pureed Frozen Strawberries in Syrup (Process in Food Processor - Do Not Drain)

Mix dry ingredients together. Add remaining ingredients. Mix for about 2 minutes. Line muffin tin with liners. Fill half full will batter. Bake at temperature on box for about 15 minutes. Don't overcook. Cool completely.


Cream Cheese Icing

2 Sticks Butter
2 8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 2 lb. Pkg. Powdered Sugar

Soften Butter and Cream Cheese. Mix Powdered Sugar in well.

Valentine MeMe

Yes, I know Valentine's Day was last week, but I am still feeling "the love". I saw this on a blog and thought it would be fun to do, so here it is:

♥ How long have you been together? We have been together since June 15, 1973. That is the date we count, since that was the first kiss.

♥ How did you meet? When I was 13 (I really wasn't one of "those" kind of girls), my 8th grade football team was playing Pop's schools 8th grade team at my school. Since he was in 9th grade, he came to watch. I saw him and it was "love at first sight" on my part. I thought he was the cutest guy I had ever seen. For about a year and a half, I told all of my friends how madly in love I was with this guy. Finally, when we were both taking Driver's Ed, a friend of mine told him about me. He said he had heard about this girl that was crazy about him, and they arranged for us to meet the next night at a baseball game. I was beside myself because I was finally going to meet him. That was a Friday night, and we met up again at a baseball game on Monday night. We went for a walk and his famous line before "the kiss" was, "Are you going to torture me all night?"

♥ Who asked who out? Well, since we started "dating" when we were 15 and neither one of us could drive, there wasn't an official date for a long time. His parents would bring him over to my house every night, and my Dad would take him home. I would drive since I had my learners permit.

♥ How old are each of you? He is 51 and I am 50.

♥ Whose siblings do/did you see the most? That's an easy answer. He is an only child, so we definitely see mine more. All of our family lives close by, so we see them frequently.

♥ Do you have any children together? We have 4.

♥ How long did you date before you married? 5 1/2 years. We had to get out of high school and we waited for him to almost finish college.

♥ Did you go to the same school? No. That was always hard. Since he played football, I always went to his high school games instead of mine. We didn't go to Prom because you had to go to his school to go to the banquet.

♥ Are you from the same home town? I lived in my home town my entire life and he moved there when he was in 8th grade.

♥ Who is the smartest? He definitely is, without a doubt. I don't have a single college hour, and he has a Ph.D.

♥ Who is the most sensitive? He is.

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? I'm not sure of the exact mileage, but it would either be Scotland or Brazil. Both very long flights.

♥ Who has the worst temper? He does. He gets mad and 5 minutes later, he doesn't even remember what he is mad about. When I get mad, I remember it and have been know to give the "silent treatment" for a few days.

♥ Who does the cooking? If there is any cooking in the house, it is done by me. His idea of cooking, is to stand at the grill and turn the steaks over. I'm not sure he can make a sandwich.

♥ Who is the more stubborn? Me. I am not a horoscope person, but I am Taurus the Bull and I live up to the title.

♥ Where was your first date? Our first real date was about 2 months after we met. We went to see "The Poseidon Adventure". His mother drove us.

♥ Do you get flowers often? Yes, and the greatest thing is they are usually for no reason at all.

♥ How do you spend the holidays? With our families. We have my parents, his mother, my brother and sister, their spouses, 7 nieces and nephews, their 4 spouses, and 6 great nieces and nephews. Plus our family of 9.

♥ How long did it take to get serious? Not long, we were as serious as two 15 year olds can be.

♥ Who’s better with the computer? Definitely me. I am constantly getting summoned upstairs to fix something on the computer. He is technology challenged.

♥ Who drives when you are together? ALWAYS him. I have a hang up about that. Because my father always drove, I have always thought it was "wimpy" for a man not to drive. I don't want a wimpy man.

Valentine's Day

I am a sucker, but I love Valentine's Day. I don't care if it is commercial or that people say it is stupid, I love it. What is wrong with showing people that you love them? I hope that we don't do it just one day a year, but I don't want to miss out on that one day.


I have toned down Valentine's Day a little. I used to buy all of the kids presents. This year, I just bought them for the little girls and sent cards to my big kids. I know that Justin "loved" getting a pink envelope with hearts all over it mailed to his office. I bet he got a little teasing about that, but hey, at least he knows I love him.


Pops is so good to me. I think I got a card in the mail almost everyday last week. I even got two this week. He made dinner reservations 4 weeks in advance. I love that. It is great to know that someone loves you and thinks about you all the time. He loves to surprise me with little things. He bought a Motown Valentine CD and had it playing in the car when I got in Saturday night.


We went to Blue Canyon in Rockwall. We had to park a mile away and I got horrible blisters on the bottom of my feet (3 inch heels are not made for hiking). Pops ordered his steak well done and it came out mooing, and he got it back after I had finished my meal. The waiter spilled Dr. Pepper in my lap. I stood in the rain waiting for him to pick me up since my now bare feet couldn't make it another mile back to the car.

But it was a great night in spite of it all.

I Really Did It

Last week, I said I was going to work on publishing a cookbook. I have most of my recipes already typed. The big challenge is that I want to have a picture with every recipe. So, one week has passed and I actually have made two things.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Cinnamon Sugar Amish Friendship Cake

I am making progress. Only about 98 more to go.

For GiGi & Jennifer

This is for GiGi, because I know she loves to see any pictures of her girls.

This is for Jennifer, because bedtime with Karsyn is SO frustrating for her. Lots of getting out of bed over and over again and lots of spankings.

Karsyn was at my house on Monday. Around 12:30, her regular nap time, she went upstairs, got her blanket, came back downstairs and laid down on the sofa and went to sleep.

Jennifer, it is SO easy, I don't know what the problem is. I didn't do anything. :)

If only bed time was this easy.

Sushi Is Deadly

Jordan is really sick. She has a double ear infection, ruptured ear drum and bronchitis. She doesn't know how she got so sick. I DO. Eating raw fish and eel will make you sick every time. That is why I don't eat sushi. You shouldn't either!

RA

Strange title, I know.

Thursday, I got to spend the day with my FAVORITE middle daughter Jordan. She had the day off from work, so we decided to go to Dallas. About a month ago, she was trying to win tickets to "Fleetwood Mac" on the radio, 100.3 Jack FM. She didn't win the tickets, but she won a $50 gift certificate to RA in "The Shops at Legacy".

Since sushi is one of her favorite foods, she was so excited and she invited me to go along. Let me give a small disclaimer here, I am NOT a fan of sushi, but I am a fan of Jordan. I was excited just to spend time with her. We headed to Plano after stopping in Dallas a couple of times.

I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived at RA. I had no idea what it would be like, and I just assumed it was another restaurant tucked into a strip center. Wrong. It was beautiful and had a great patio. We sat outside since it was a great day.

We started off with "lobster spring rolls" and "crab cakes". They were great and I would go back just to get them. Most importantly, they were both cooked. I like my food cooked.

Jordan was thrilled with her salmon and scallop sushi and unaagi (eel). I have texture issues was not about to try any of them, even though the eel was cooked. It looked just like you had taken a eel and sliced through it, skin and all. It all looked very "rubbery" to me. She said it was great.

I had a "chicken teriyaki bento box". Not too impressive.

I am glad that we went at lunch. When reading other reviews, it looks like it is a "hot singles bar". I would definitely go back for the lobster roll and the crab cake. The price was great.

We had a $50 gift certificate and our meal totaled $50.61. A day with Jordan, priceless.

Goal For This Year - Cookbook

About 7 years ago, I made cookbooks for my family with all of my favorite recipes. I gave them to my sister, mother, sister-in-law, etc. for Christmas. It was good for me to have all of my favorites in one place so I didn't have to search my shelf of cookbooks for a certain recipe.

I have decided that I want to become just like Bree Van de Kamp (Desperate Housewives) and publish a cookbook. This weekend, I was reading a magazine and found a neat website that will publish your cookbook in a professional looking book. I am going to try to do this. I told myself that if I put in 5 recipes a day, I could get it done within at least a month. I'm not starting off very good. I have put 1 in since Saturday. Oh well.

The only glitch is that you can have a picture published with each recipe. That means, I have to cook each dish and take a picture. That is where the challenge comes in.

I think it will be fun, but it will probably take me til Christmas to finish. I think my family will enjoy the benefits of the cooking the most.

Nick & Sam's

I have been wanting to try Nick and Sam's for a long time, but I never think about it. I need to get a list going of all the restaurants I want to try. When I get in the mood for something new, my brain cops out and I can't think of anything. That is why when I read about a new place, we go that night.

I have to say that Nick and Sam's had the best steak I have had in a long time! The only other place that even comes close is Smith and Wollensky's, and they are several hundreds of miles away in Las Vegas.

I had the ribeye and it was so juicy, but the outside was charred with a nice crust and seasoned perfectly. They serve their steaks with their homemade steak sauce that was also great. For a girl that loves ketchup with her steak, that is saying a lot. There were a lot of steak choices with a huge price range. Their most expensive was $32 an ounce, with a 4 ounce minimum. I figure that is about $16 a bite. I can't imagine any steak worth that, but it would be interesting to try it.

The fun part is that we were with four other people, so we got to try lots of sides. We had the wedge salad with blue cheese and bacon. I would probably try a different salad next time. Their Nick and Sam's chopped salad has lobster in it. Yum!

Between courses, they brought out some caviar that was actually pretty good. We had broccoli, french fries, awesome creamed corn and lobster mac and cheese. It was all good, especially the fries. For dessert we had a molten chocolate cake and peach bread pudding with cinnamon ice cream.

I will definitely add this one to the special occasion list. We had a reservation at 7:00 and it was not very crowded. By the time we left around 9:30, the place was packed. The parking lot was full of Bentley's, Rolls' and Maserati's. I guess Dallas is not having a problem with the economic crisis.