I Love This Thing!

It spoke to me from the shelf-buy me. As I reach for it I can see Lon roll his eyes. I have a problem and it's called if there's anything that has to do with cupcakes I buy it. It was only 5 dollars and it has already made my cupcake life that much sweeter. Now I only need five more for when I'm layering rainbow colored batter.

Our Struggle

Throughout the last year we have waited and tried and cried. I have spoke to, meet, and been comforted by many. Megan turned me onto this blog Ready to Be a Mom which in turned dropped me in the center of this

Tears and Hope [HQ]

Never forget how truly blessed you are, and never underestimate the pain that some people suffer, to have what you take for granted... For a better understanding of our journey through Infertility please watch this video. http://www.tearsandhope.com/

Length:7:47(taken from Ready To Be a Mom Blog)

I couldn't have said it or explained it better myself. To all those fellow couples out there dreaming of the babies you've lost and have yet to meet have hope, have faith, find strength in each other, we are here.

HB Melanie!

Melanie's birthday was this past week and her friend from work put in an order for a cake-with Reese's peanut butter cups please! So here it is. I have to admit for those of you who know me I was major stressing this cake. I wanted it to be perfect! Melanie loves turtles too. The sand is brown sugar-love it! HB Melanie!!!

Who's Johnny!

Apparently I've now become part of this I'm obsessed with cupcakes subculture. I hvae found a home with fellow bloggers and learning to sewers, and baking a messers. So I follow this blog called Cupcakes Take the Cake. They show pictures of super cool cupcakes people from all over that people have made. They also do reviews of new cupcake bakeries and show you what the cupcakes look like-love it. They also keep me posted on anything cupcake related. That's where I found out about Johnny Cupcakes. He's a designer, raised in Massachusetts-points for that. He has these cool stores where his t-shirts are sold and the displays are old bakery stuff-ovens and stuff ya know. His symbol- a cupcake with crossbones!!!!

This brings us to Monday at Crave cupcakes in Houston-yes I'm completely obsessed with their strawberry cupcakes. I keep wanting to try something else but they call to me. I mean come on they're pink! See below-notice the special fondant medallion?

Well they hosted a come and meet Johnny Cupcake night on his suitcase tour. Lon was so great-we showed up at 7:00 and left around 11. We waited in line for almost five hours waiting to buy a limited edition Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt. It didn't happen, I had to leave, just-could-not-take-it. We met some really cool people-shout out to Ernie and the mom in front of us with her tween and tennage girls-that's a mom! I did meet Johnny-that's him

Got a picture in front of his cupcake mobile....

And you can see me just for a second on his Houston vlog-right around 3:45-I'm wearing a white jacket, grey shirt, and have my blue coach purse. Oh Johnny. In the coming days I may have a cupcake and crossbones on my car!!!

Back To Basics: Day #9 Houston « Johnny Cupcakes

It's Alive-It's Alive!

My sewing machine works and I actually didn't have to use a seam ripper!!!

I love applique and my friend Dulce just put in an order for her littliest friend Giana! I hope she likes it! I can't believe how easy the ruffle was. I had to share with you all so you can see what I've been doing lately. I'm taking orders and open for business!!

They Were Crunchy!

Okay so I follow blogs..it's what I do and one thing I kept seeing coming up again and again was this Pioneer Woman Cookbook. Since I've tried to start cooking, I did make some horrible caramel corn, Lon bought me this book for my birthday! It was so easy! We have amazon.com wishlists and anything I've been wanting I add to it and he does the same and then when something comes up we can just order gifts off of each other's wishlist.

Anyway in between all of my papers for graduate school I decided to make the homemade potato skins. Wow they were awesome. And they were crunchy!

I love her book so much! It gives great step by step instructions with pictures. Those of ya'll that know me know I won't spend money on a cookbook when I can go garage saling this weekend and find some pretty good ones for 50 cents but this one is worth it. Oh and she has a website!!! Here's the linky!

Sewing, Sewing not Sewing

Okay so I'd like to put up a picture but I've been sewing and what no one tells you about sewing is that STAYING IN A STRAIGHT LINE IS HARD!

I've been working on applique-I understand that applique was probably not the easiest place to start but you know me. I did manage the following things.
1. I can cut fabric.
2. I can use backing and make the fabric stick to other fabric.
3. It looks decent until you look at the lines.
4. Oh and I didn't sew the fabric (a onesie and fabric) together making it unusable.

Hopefully I'll have some pictures up soon. If you have any ideas on how to learn applique-ie moving the fabric and keep the stitching somewhat even let me know.

Look Ma! I Made a Pillow!

Sewing School was a success! Now I'm hooked and I don't know what to do. In class I learned the basics-great for all of us who went to Catholic School and didn't have the option of home ec. I actually made a pillow-see above. Yes, I made that!!! So I have enetered another hobby, and what do I do when I enter into a new hobby? Shop for accessories of course! What am I going to make...hmmm...well Randi's having another baby!!!! It's a boy and there's the onesie I've been dying to try out...we'll see!!!!I'll keep ya posted!

Let the Love Begin!

I'm back at cake balls. This time Valentine's themed cake balls. I used the meltables by Wilton and I'm completely in love with them! I was thinking about making them into cake pops and creating a bouquet for V-Day. Put your orders in now if you want them in time. I love pink and sprinkles and chocolatey goodness on the inside.

Lon asks why are you always making cake balls and I don't get to eat any. The life of a husband-poor thing!

Meatballs,Meatballs!

I did it again. I cooked and neither Lon nor myself died. I'm completely overwhelmed by taking three graduate courses at once this semester so decided to cook a little side dish/ appetizer. I believe I got this recipe off of the Pillsbury site. They're covered meatballs. You'll need:

2 cans of Grands biscuits or three Grands Jr-whatever you have a coupon for

15 or so croutons crushed

1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese or a ton if you're me.

2 tablespoons melted butter

15 meatballs thawed

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Grease a cookie pan or use your very versatile cooking stone (I use it for EVERYTHING!)

Roll out the biscuits

Add cheese as pictured.

I told you I used a ton.

Push meatballs down into the center of each biscuit.

Pinch the biscuit up and around to cover all of the cheese and meatball and seal.

See the seals?

Cover the top of each biscuit with butter-brush it on ever so gently.

Add crushed croutons on the top. I put mine in a Ziploc baggie and whacked them until they're crushed.

Bake for 10-12 or until golden brown and there you go.

Happy Cooking. We're going to PF Chang's!!! Oh yea!

Need S'Mores?

Each week I'm trying to make something new. Last week it was S'mores brownies-so easy and I think with my couponing it cost me 1.50 for the batch. Now you know I didn't make the brownies from scratch because I'm working on making things from my stockpile. So you need:

1 box of brownie mix (follow the directions on the back regarding water, oil, and eggs)

1 bag of mini marshmallows or 40 large jumbo ones

3 Hershey's chocolate bars broken into small pieces

1-2 cups-depending on you of graham crackers or graham cracker crust

I baked the brownies plain and them pulled out five minutes early. First throw on the marshmallows, if you're using the big mallows like I did but them up first. They work as the glue some get them everywhere! Next spread on the chocolate and then grahams. Cook for 5 more minutes or until the mallows brown a bit. They are sooo good and something about the mallows just brings it to a whole nother level of goodness. I got this recipe off of a frugal blog and I can't remember where but to whoever figured this out thank you!!!

So I got married again!

The first time Lon and I got married we ran off to Vegas. That's right-at the Little White Wedding Chapel. I believe we were in the same room Britney Spears got married in. It was so fun, so risky, so us. I'm a devout Catholic though and while Lon and I knew we wanted to get married I was waiting for my annulment from my first marriage to come through. You Catholics understand.

So we agreed that once it came through we could have a blessing in the Catholic church. Super small and private much like the first one. Well my annulment came through this summer and we have been preparing for our Catholic blessing ever since.

Deacon Tim was nice enough to marry us again on our anniversary. So two years to the day we tied the knot again. I guess it's pretty finalized at that point. Thank you God for the blessing that is Lon. I couldn't have dreamed there was someone like him meant for me.

My Dad giving me away.

Deacon Tim-the man who went through the divorce, the annulment, and now my happily ever after with me.

The night ended with cake-made by me and bowling. More pictures to come once Marc sends the professional ones. These pictures thanks to Smelanie!

Monkey cupcakes

Melanie and I made the first batch of monkey things for Kim's shower. The monkey cupcakes. I'm so happy with how they came out I had to share them!!!

What'd You Get For Christmas?

Do you remember growing up and running to the phone after you opened all of your gifts to call your best friend and dish about what each other got? Well that's how Suzanne and I always rolled.Christmas 2009 consisted of lots of food, teenagers hiding their faces and refusing to hug people, and getting everything we wanted yet spending half of what we did last year. How that happened I'll never know!

I got my Flamingo Motel!!! I have been wanting this for two years now-why because I collect dept. 56 and have a deep love for flamingos. Lon got extra points for this after last year's mishap.

Lon got a dremel-whatever that means. He wanted it-I bought it.

Teenagers refusing to be merry until the opened their gifts.

And probably the best gift of all from my Dad.

Peppermint Twist

I have loads (well ok 7) orders of cake balls in the last three weeks. Considering I never dreamed people would actually be buying them from me I'm thrilled! Another tally mark for getting to stay at home for good! Here's the new kind-red velvet with cream cheese frosting, vanilla dip, and peppermint pieces on top. The red velvet cake dabbled into the dip and made it speckled which i thought was cool.

Oh and look what I bought!!! My first sewing machine. I'm scared-very scared but I did take it out of the box, turned it on, and read ten pages of the manual! I can't wait to take my first class. To all my other seamstresses out there. I wish you were here so we could share it together. I'm dying to know what everyone got for Christmas. That post will come in a couple of days. Here's to lazing about the house and vacuuming up pine needles.

Monkeying Around

I love monkey bread. It's sticky and sweet and messy and full of calories. I decided to try a "low cal" version this weekend. Here's how it goes:

Preheat 350

2 cans of Grands biscuits-12.5 ounces

2t cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar

2t vanilla

3/4 low fat caramel topping

Grease a fluted bake pan (bundt pan). Cut the biscuits into quarters(four pieces each). Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a ziploc baggie and place cut biscuits inside, shake, shake, shake. Place the cinnamon sugar covered biscuits in your fluted bake pan-layering all the while. Mix vanilla and caramel sauce in a small mixing bowl and spoon over entire pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and then flip-carefully.

It was soo good and only 250 calories a serving instead of 500! Remember it's a small serving but invite the family over. They'll eat it up leaving you with a clean cake pan for the next new dessert! I think the parents are loving the phone calls inviting them over to eat something every couple of days!

Stay tuned for more monkey themed desserts as I get ready for Kimmie's baby shower!

Oreo Cupcake Surprise

I'm trying to cook. Since now I can eat! At least Dr. Dunn says I have to eat so no more diet-but more maintaining!
In an effort to force myself to cook I have instituted family Sunday Dinner. This week my Mom and cousin Meredith came! I made sheppard's pie and a surprise for dessert! Check it out!

Lon's the taste tester.


A whole oreo baked into the middle.



Topped with oreo of course. Happy Christmas baking to all and to all a good night!

Have a Holly Jolly Baby!

As many of you know it snowed in Houston! I mean it has "snowed" before. If you are a fellow Massachusettian-you know that 1/2 inch of dusting that melts immediately is not really snow. This year it snowed and stayed for a couple of hours. I was at school subbing with Kimmie and we sent the kids home. For many children this will be their only chance to see snow so we were also excited for them.
I immediately called home and asked Lon to go take pictures with our new camera. Did I tell you I had been subbing to save up for a professional camera? I got it! Now I just need a beginners class and to figure out how to edit.

First snow for our doggies-notice the crazed look on Lacey's face? Also Hunter is no fool he stayed under the porch until Lacey checked it out-just like his mama!

And then he went Buck Wild!



So what have you been doing to get ready for Christmas? We got the tree-check, decorated the house-check, I just mailed cards-check, and I made cake balls for all my teacher friends at school-all 107 ( I went a little overboard) but I feel for ya'll-really I do. From ours to yours:


Notice how I'm not up on that ladder-thank you Lon. The bad part about having a nice camera that no one else is allowed to touch is I'm clearly absent from all photos.

I love them! Yellow cake, vanilla frosting, and vanilla dip.

Clearly Lon and I need to hurry up and have some children so we can stop pretending the dogs are our children.

Etsy Express

I can't believe it but I actually opened and Etsy store and put things in it-ahhhh! Here goes nothing! I'll probably spend more buying stuff at Etsy that I sell! Come on in!

Broccoli Cheese Cornbread

I was reading online this article about how the majority of women in their 20's and 30's don't know how to be domestic-cook, clean, sew, bake ya know all the things I'm learning to do. It was sad. It talked about the importance of knowing these skills and not just for women. You can only imagine how many men don't know the basics of keeping a house and a family. Not you Lon-never you! So I decided to open the cookbooks and make something.

It didn't sound so great but it had three things I loved in it-broccoli, cheese, and onions. I'm also slowly starting to learn to cook since soon I will be off my diet!!!!! I've also been super couponing and have a mega stockpile so I'm learning how to make things that utilize things in the stockpile. It's more of a side dish. Lon and I were surprised it was sooo good. I got this out of one of those Gooseberry Cookbooks-Almost Homemade-I have to admit I bought it because it was cute, but if you know me you're not surprises.

Here are the pics and the recipe.

Ingredients-

1 onion chopped

10 ounces of broccoli cooked and drained

1 bar of mild cheddar cheese grated (yes you can buy a bag and my arm got really tired, but they put wax on the bag shredded kind-yuck!)

1 cornbread mix(I used Martha White-super cheap!)

1/4 cup buttermilk

4 eggs beaten

1/2 butter(I used diet butter) melted

Preheat oven to 375

Combine all ingredients-doesn't matter what goes in and when into a large mixing bowl and stir.

Spoon into a 13x9 greased pan and cook for about 20-35 minutes-depending on your oven.

Eat it up!

PCOS update-We have our doctor's appointment Dec. 1st!!!! It will be the first time we've seen Dr. Dunn since I began losing weight in March.