Dancing With Myself

I'm sitting, finally.

I really should be sleeping, I'm so exhausted. I worked on two cakes yesterday the entire day. They turned out great, better than I expected. Rodney says every cake I make is better than the one before, maybe so. Hopefully so.

I went to Old Navy twice this week. The first time I went was because I needed to return something I'd bought for Rylee the last time we were in Austin. I bought the wrong size on accident and haven't had a chance to exchange it since. I also had a $10 credit for something else. What a great week to happen to go to Old Navy. The entire store is on sale. Literally. I got Rylee this top I've been eyeing for a while now and a really cute skirt. I went back today to get some flip flops for the boy and happened to find some yoga pants that were on sale (and red!) and some of this favorite kinds of t-shirts (the baseball tee), so I purchased those things for him and another top for Rylee. Sadly, nothing for myself. I hate it when there is a huge sale and I can't find anything that I just can't live without. Then again, maybe that's a good thing. I did get a new bathing suit top, the BEST headband ever and a new tank top. We went to Target last night to find the newly released Traveling Wilbury's cd/dvd - when I realized they didn't have it, I wondered over and found some things that I loved instead.

Speaking of the Traveling Wilbury's...I really want that cd. Their stuff hasn't been in production in 15 + years. We've been watching this crazy music channel for the last couple of days and I've seen 3 Traveling Wilbury videos. It's been awesome.

So, I made another of NieNie's ---

WAIT! This channel is officially the best channel ever! "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac just came on!

All I have to say now is, MAC ATTACK! Jess, seriously. This cover band has been 10 years in the making. We need to do something about it. I'll get a bunch of scarves and weird dresses and you'll get a hat or two and a keyboard.

Back to what I was previously discussing. I made another one of Nie's recipes, the portabello mushroom and zucchini tacos. I also made some pico, some chips and some garlic roasted green beans. We had some mozzarella cheese and lite sour cream on top of our tacos...they were divine. I just want to say that every recipe I've tried of hers has been pretty easy and non time consuming. Which for me, is a really good thing.

mmm, you know you want some!





I took these of my child yesterday. She's so beautiful. Some nights after she's gone to bed and it's kind of late, I go into her room, pick her up and sit in the cushy rocking chair with her. I love the way she curls into my arms and the way she breathes so lightly. I also love how she talks to me when she's half asleep, she whispers and says "hi momma" even though she is barely awake. I went into her room last night and held her for a while. She's so long now. It's seems so weird to me how quickly she is growing up. I want her to stop. Rylee, stop growing up please.






Not a whole lot going on this weekend. Next weekend starts the month of craziness. Tomorrow we are having dinner with the Gruver-Hoovers. Jess and I will be cooking and grocery shopping together. The boys will probably be playing with the Wii or watching some dvd about drumming.

I'm so very tired right now. She's asleep, I should take advantage.

It's Raining, It's Pouring.

Wow. It has been RAINING today.

More on that in a bit.

Sunday afternoon I went shopping with Jessica. You can read a little more about it at Harvest Moon. I went telling myself that I didn't need to buy anything but secretly knew that I would find something I just couldn't live without. I did. I wish I could find pictures on Forever 21.com but they rarely have any of the items they actually have in the store online.

I found the skirt of my dreams. Seriously, of my dreams. It's knee length, black with white polka dots and slightly poofy. Now, if you know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE polka dots. LOVELOVELOVE polka dots. Even my Kate Spade has a polka dotted liner. I'm thinking about debuting it for R's birthday dinner next week at the Margarita Ranch. (by the way, I'm totally making a cake in a margarita glass for said event).

I also found a sweater/shirt that was on sale. It's my favorite type of sweater, black with a white collar sewn in (collar has black polka dots on it as well) and a tie that you can either make into a bow or just leave hanging.

Shopping was fun but short because I had to get over to the Shipmans to take over baby duty. The girls were asleep when I got there so I spent a little while entertaining Lisa and Suzy. We laughed about some boys we used to know and got pretty hyped about our upcoming trip to Schlitterbahn. It's going to be great and I can't wait. Well, I can wait on the wearing a bathing suit in public part but I'll get over it.

Yesterday I went to the new cake supply store I found near my house, which you can read about here and grabbed a few things from my favorite place, Target. I baked all of the cakes I needed to bake for the day, made dinner for Rylee and I (margherita pizza), got her into bed and cleaned up as much as I could. Rodney has band practice Monday nights, so it's just the two of us.

I finished up the cake today while my brother (one of two) was over. He was in rare form today. We were able to sit and talk without interruption for awhile because Rylee was asleep when he got here. It's weird for me to think that he's only two years shy of the age that I got married at. Not even that really. More like a year and a half. He agreed to go to the store with me because I needed a few things that I'd forgotten yesterday. We walked outside to what seemed like a monsoon. We got into my car and drove to the store through the rain. The parking lot was flooded AND we were both wearing flip flops. Needless to say, we were soaked upon entering the store. Once we got what I needed and were ready to leave, we were of course, dry. It was raining even harder. We decided to make a run for it. I had Rylee and he had the bag of groceries and my purse. We darted out into the pouring rain hysterically laughing the entire way. I could barely see on the way home and we were still laughing - so that made it worse. I made him stay here for a while until the rain let up a bit, which he did.

aww.





I started dinner while he was still here, playing with Rylee. Tonight I made NieNie's Mexican Lasagna. Can I just say that it was DELICIOUS? I'm not exaggerating by any means. R had THREE pieces. We had ours with a little bit of lite sour cream on top but it was just as great without it. I made a bowl for Rylee but she sort of had a meltdown tonight. Not really sure why, but for some reason she started asking for a pancake (she eats whole wheat pancakes plain, most mornings). We tried to show her that she had food in her bowl and attempted to get her to eat it but she wasn't having it. She was SCREAMING at this point and crying. Serious crying. Like she'd just broke her arm crying. I let Rodney eat and whipped up a batch up whole wheat pancakes while eating my dinner at the same time. She was happy. Normally I wouldn't give into this kind of behaviour with her but this time was different. I can tell when she's just acting out for attention or throwing a fit to be obnoxious. This was not one of those times. She was truly upset and I didn't want her to be any longer.

Anyway, the lasagna was fantastic. You should all definitely try it. Right now in fact.




Tomorrow I have 4 cakes to bake, Thursday we have swim lessons and cake decorating to do all afternoon and most likely into the evening as well.

My husband's birthday is coming up, as is our anniversary. I think I might just do an interview with that guy. He's a pretty funny dude.

A New Hope

That title sounds like more than it is.

Today we delivered an order (see Frosted Garden for more details) and headed to my parents house to pick up my dad, and youngest brother. My parents were out of town last weekend so we were unable to do anything for Father's Day on the actual day. We decided to take my Dad to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History to see the new Star Wars exhibit. My Dad and brothers are lovers of all things Star Wars.

Saturdays are a super busy day at museums, huh? It was packed. After darting through many a stroller, we made our way into the giant line to get tickets and waited for about 15 minutes before we had ours in hand. Then we had to wait for another 30 minutes to stand in the line to get into the actual exhibit. Rylee was not into that. She looks calm here but really, she'd been screaming, "WALK WALK WALK!" the entire time we were waiting. People were staring.



We made it into the exhibit and short of us all doing a song and dance, nothing was going to pacify my child. She wanted out. She wanted down. She wanted to RUN. I finally gave in close to the end and carried her a little while before making the handoff. The exhibit was pretty cool, I must say. I'm not the biggest nerd or fan when it comes to Star Wars but I've seen all of the movies and I can appreciate the story line and value it holds in cinematic progression. They had a lot of orginal costumes and models used in the movies. It was very neat and very strange at the same time. Rodney is not afraid of the wookies, as you can see.



Some of my favorite things seen were:

The lightsabers!



Darth Vader! (don't look at me in the picture, it's kind of awful)



Yoda!



We had fun. My dad had fun too. He was a history teacher once upon a time and we practically grew up in the museums of Fort Worth. I know he enjoyed doing this with us and we had fun as well!

After we finished that exhibit, we made our way down to "Kid's Space." It's in the basement and is also where all of the classrooms for Museum School are (Rylee will be going to Museum School when she's old enough). Kid's Space is pretty cool. There's a big water area where kids can pretend to fish and play with boats and do various other water experiments. There's a baby room that has some smaller toys, a big grocery store area that has little shopping carts, grocery items and WORKING checkout centers. There are old time-y phones on the walls and cars to play in, even a puppet theater. Rylee was in HEAVEN. That kid was going crazy. I love to see her when she is like that, she's so full of energy and enthusiasm and it makes it so much fun for me too.

Baby, you can drive my car.




Hello?



We grabbed my mom shortly after and went to eat Mexican food. I had vegetable enchilada's. Mushroom and spinach. They were great and I'm set on making them soon.

Afterward we went to a barbecue (no, we didn't eat anything but a few cookies) that was a going away party for a good friend. She's headed down to Austin. I made some cupcakes for it and I'll certainly post the pictures soon. The hubs is waiting on me right now, we're about to watch a movie.

P.S

I love these two very much.

Should be sleeping...

First, I gotta give a very heartfelt thank you to my dear, dear friend Jessica for making the banners and buttons for both of my blogs. They look great and I love them!

I've been busy lately making cupcakes and cakes and completing orders so I haven't had quite as much time to update as I'd like.

Thursday was a pretty busy day for us. We have swim lessons Thursday mornings with the Shipmans (Lisa and Rylee's bff, Hannah) and that takes up a lot of time and energy, even though the lesson is only 30 minutes long. I guess once the girls move up to Advanced Waterbabies or Aqua Babies and we don't have to get in the pool with them, it will be different. For now though, it's very exhausting. Both of the girls are definitely the stars of the class. Mind you, there are only 4 babies in our class...but still. They are both going under for 10 seconds at a time, which is a pretty big deal. This week our instructor had us try something new with them, where she held them and pushed them under, trying to get them to swim to us under water. Both of them did so well! I was amazed at how much Rylee kicked and swam on her own, it was definitely a proud moment for this mama and I know it was for Lisa as well.

We had our usual lunch date after swim class and this week we choose Jason's Deli. Some of my most favorite moments in the world are at Thursday lunches. Even if Rylee is screaming at the top of her lungs. I need those Thursdays. I need the break, I need the talk and the plan making. It's great.

I baked 3 dozen cupcakes, 3 dozen mini cupcakes and a 5 inch cake that afternoon for orders this weekend.

Wait.

Let's back track for a moment. I forgot about Wednesday.

I made the Black Bean Chili as I said I would that afternoon. Rylee and I shared some watermelon on the kitchen floor while things were simmering. It was the first time I had really given her a big piece of watermelon. She's tried it before and not really cared for it either way, but I'd really hoped she'd go for it this time. What do you think?



The color version of this picture is great too. I'll post it another time though.

The chili was a success. It was pretty easy to make, as were the whole wheat tortillas and the buttermilk cornbread. Everyone here loved it, as did I. It's definitely going to become part of our household menu. Rylee was all about it - she ate a huge bowl and then some of ours! Our good friend and Rylee's Godfather, Ryan, was over that night and even though he wasn't hungry, I'm pretty sure I counted 4 pieces of cornbread going in his mouth. He's awesome.




Later that night we went to his sisters house (they are in Spain) and swam in their saltwater pool. It was fun, except for the part where June Bugs kept landing on me. That part wasn't cool at all.

Okay, back to Thursday.

Baked all of the cupcakes and cakes and then made dinner.

Pepper Mostacalli. Well, my version of it anyway. Which should technically be called Mushroom Mostacalli, I suppose. See, the dude I live with hates bell peppers. It's a downer, I know. Still, he won't eat anything with them in it. Even if he picks them off, he can still "taste" it. I try to avoid them if I can. So, in place of the bell peppers I used button mushrooms. Came out pretty good! The other mouths I feed ate their entire bowls! Rylee especially liked the pasta.



Now, TODAY.

I think this might be the first time I have sat down today. Scratch that, I layed down on the couch with Rylee after lunch and we fell asleep. Me for 10 minutes, she for 2 hours (after I laid her down).

I have been decorating cupcakes all day long. That's what took me the longest, the cupcakes. The details on them took a long time, even though the design seems so simple. I swear, I kept looking up and noticing that the hour had changed. I finally finished with the cupcakes (50 of them) at 6:45 this evening. Rodney got home a little late today and we usually have leftovers or order out on Fridays, so no cooking for me tonight. We had Jason's Deli. I should seriously invest in a franchise. I had vegetarian vegetable soup and salad, r & r shared a baked potato. She also ate some of my soup. We took a break to watch an episode of The Office (also known as the greatest show on tv) and then it was back to work for me. I finished with everything at 1 am.

Lots of stuff to do this weekend, I guess it's bedtime!

First Post

Alright blogger, you've roped me in. As I sit here and eat my strawberry shortcake, I can't help but think what a goof I am for having this, second blog. In all fairness, the First Blog
is primarily for my cakes and other baking assortments. This blog is going to be for me. Vegetarian cooking, adventures in mommy-hood, swim class, the greatest bunch of friends on the planet...the basics.

Here it goes!

Today was a semi-productive day for me. I've been so busy making cakes in the last couple of weeks, it's been nice to have a moment to breath. (it all starts back up Thursday though!) I finally got around to folding all of Rylee's clothes (seriously why did I EVER think that kid needed more?) and re-organizing her clothes/drawers. You mom's out there know exactly what I'm talking about. Every couple of months, you have to go through everything and get all of the smaller items out of the drawers/closets and decide what to do with them. I usually do this every 3 months or so. That means I've done it 6 times. Seems like a lot more though. Some things I save (things I bought that I love or just things I love in general) in a large container, some things I donate and some things I sell at Kid to Kid or Once Upon a Child. If I do that, I either take the money and buy her some more STUFF or I put it in an account for her.

So, did that and then it was on to dinner. Tonight was an easy night for me, grilled cheese sandwiches, rosemary potatoes and green apple slices. Rodney just wanted plain American cheese on his (his taste buds are not as defined as mine) but Rylee and I had a little cheddar, a little provolone and a little bit of smoked mozzarella (on whole wheat, of course). To make the potatoes, I cut each baby red in half, tossed them with a little EVOO, sprinkled some coarse salt, black pepper and of course, rosemary over all and then roasted them for ten minutes on each side in the oven, set at 450 degrees.

I didn't serve Rylee any potatoes because I wasn't sure if she'd like them. She kept grabbing them off of our plates and eating them, so I guess that means she did.

I didn't take any pictures (duh!) but I can assuredly tell you that it was delicious! The hubs even commented a few times on how good the potatoes were.

In case you haven't noticed, we went vegetarian (or, as Jess would say, Pescatarian. we will still eat fish ocassionally not constantly though) and I'm extremely pleased so far. I was a vegetarian a few years ago so it's not that hard for me. It's not going to be hard for Rylee...we'll see how about the hubster. He's totally into it and doing well, so props to him! I'm so excited to get back into a healthy food lifestyle. It's so easy to get wrapped up in convience and fast food when you have kids and work to deal with. Unfortunately we've been eating for convience more so recently due to the rising demands of my impending baking business. All of that changes now. I'm excited, really excited and I can't wait to try some new things I've seen here at blogger!

Tomorrow night is black bean chili with whole wheat tortillas, courtesy of CuisineNie, whose blog I just found and adore!