In my head (beginning)

"Can I do anything?"
I look up at him, leaning against the sink, not even looking at me. He asked because he's *supposed* to ask, it's the polite thing to do, not because he really wants to do anything for me. He wants me to say no. I briefly consider saying yes, asking him to make me some tea or get a cool cloth for my neck. Instead I moan "no" into the toilet bowl.
He looks at me as he straightens, I know I look awful, my pajamas have stains on them, I haven't washed my hair in days, my skin looks like hell.
"It's just morning sickness," he says over his shoulder as he leaves my tiny bathroom, not even big enough for a tub. "I'm heading to work. And, ah, you know how tired you are at the end of the day. I probably won't be stopping by this evening. You know, let you get some rest. So I'll see you tomorrow night?"
It's not really a question so I don't really answer. I hear the door close as I fill the toilet and empty my stomach once again.

Sunflower; 6

Cinnamon Swirl Bread; 5

Kebobs; 4

The Pub; 3

Sun Tea; 2

Brown Sugar Coffee Cake; 1

Scream!

I love the texture of homemade ice cream. Love it! So I was very excited to try out my $3 ice cream maker (from www.shopgoodwill.com ). It came with a recipe booklet and I decided to try making just plain, old vanilla first.


The egg and sugar all whipped up


Milk, cream and vanilla extract added and whipped until frothy!


My steal of a deal


Churn, churn, churn! It actually didn't take that much churning, only about twelve rotations, total. And I found out (online) that you can make it with a couple of Ziploc bags!


Ta-da!

So, final verdict? DELISH! I love this ice cream! It looks a bit runny in the picture but some time in the freezer firmed it right up (I wish some time in the freezer would firm my tummy right up!). I love my new machine and can't wait to try out some different flavors!

Okie Dokie Artichokie

I've wanted to try to cook an artichoke for a while. I kept looking recipes up online and finally decided to just do it!

I decided to steam it and use the leaves this time and try to cook the heart another time. So I washed it up, trimmed it up and steamed it up!

Here it is all trimmed. Some recipes said to trim the tips off of all the leaves but mine didn't have sharp points so I just left them. I pulled off the smaller leaves around the stem and then chopped the stem off. I steamed it in salted water for about thirty minutes.

It doesn't really look much different, just a little darker.
And the final verdict? Eh. I dipped the leaves in melted butter and scraped away. Now, maybe I was doing it wrong, but it didn't do much for me. There's not much "meat" on each leaf, more on the outside ones, and I think it's kind of an acquired taste. Franklyn really liked them but me, not so much.
I think it could have maybe steamed a bit longer but I don't think that would have made much difference. Next time, the heart!

"Outback" Bread

So, a few months ago I decided that, since Franklyn loves it so, I would try to find a recipe for Outback restaurant's bread (aka "Bushman's Bread"). I found one online claiming to be the REAL recipe, from a friend of a former Outback chef.


Yeast Activating

Now, admittedly I used the wrong kind of yeast (I used quick acting and it called for regular) but this was NOT Outback bread. It wasn't sweet enough, had too much rye flour and was just not quite right. So I'm going to tweak the recipe and try again.


Finished Product


If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I'll post it.

Starting from scratch...

I've decided on an actual direction for this crazy thing called "blog". I'm re-naming my failed attempt, "First Attempt". I'll be writing about my first attempts at things (hence the name). It'll probably be mostly baking, cooking and crafty stuff but I am open to suggestions! So, here goes!

doodle

These are my 3 favs. Ignore the last little bird in the second one, he was an error who wouldn't go away. Also, I couldn't get the birds to upload the right was, so turn your heads and I'll keep working on it!

new start

Ok, so, everything new. New outlook, new... Well i don't know what else is new. Maybe a new haircut? Whatever. Anyway, no more whining! I'm going to do more stuff for me. At sarah's suggestion I've started "doodling" (Well, I don't know that she suggested doodling spicificaly but she did suggest drawing so there you go). I've really been enjoying it so far. I'm not turning out masterpieces or anything but I'm having fun so there you go. We also got a new, really cool camera and I'm teaching myself how to use it. It's going pretty well so far, I think. Again, no masterpieces, but fun. I'm planning on signing up for a membership for the gym but have not done that yet, I think if I lost some weight I would feel better about myself so that's definately on my list. That's it for now. Woo-hoo!

feeling loved

except not really. having a really crappy week. i'm feeling ignored and taken for granted. woo hoo.

Poop

It's amazing how much of my life is centered aroung poo; looking at, analyzing, looking at, thinking about. "Is that normal?" "What is that?" "Why is it that color?" "When was their last one?"
I never would have thought that I'd spend this much time on poop. Actually, a lot of sentences start that way for me. In high school I never thought that I'd get married or have kids. As I got older I never thought that I'd have quit college. Then I never thought that I'd be a stay-at-home mom. Never thought that I'd live in Monticello. Never thought that I'd love being a stay-at-home mom. It's odd how things turn out.

cakes

Here are the frog cake and Max cake. Probably the only two that will ever be on here. Misty (my s-i-l) says that she has pictures of the guitar but I've never seen them, any pictures of the Hello Kitty cake are unfortunatly lost (it's the only one that turned out well) and I only have a bit of video of the star cake. So this is all you're getting.

Cake

I don't know why I do this to myself. Every birthday that rolls around I think that I can make some beautiful, sculpted cake for the birthday child. It never turns out how I want. I made a "Hello Kitty" for Railly one year, it looked good, since then I've mangled a frog, guitar, "Max" (from "Max & Ruby" the cartoon) and now a "red star with koka-dots" (polka dots). Pictures to follow (Maybe. And none of the guitar. None exist that I know of. It looked phallic.) Franklyn will get up tomorrow and tell me that it looks fine but, believe me, it doesn't. No more sculpted cakes. Ever.

Random Thoughts

~ Whenever I need a good laugh I go in the laundry room and look at the "small load" setting on the washing machine.

~ I'm seriously considering cleaning our light switches with q-tips (I did the interior of my car once, I don't think the switches would take as long).

~ I often wonder why my kids can't figure out how to put their clothes in the hamper but it takes them less than a day to figure out how to open the "child-proof" baby gate. I think Evenflow should hire my kids to test their products.

First Post

So, I've never done anything like this before and I don't really know what I have to talk about (except my kids, which is why it's "Mama Mary") but I though I'd give it a try and see where it went.
For those who don't know me (though, who is going to read this that doesn't know me? For that matter, who is going to read this that does know me?) I have three bio-kids and one stepdaughter; Railly, 9 (step), Isabelle, 4, Rikku, 2, and Lucian, 1. I don't think of Railly as my stepdaughter so if I call her my daughter forgive me. They're all "good kids". To other people. To me they're crazy, bossy, nut balls! I'm a stay-at-home mom so I'm with them 24/7. Literally. I have no life beyond them. I'm working on that and maybe that's what I'll write about. We'll see. But for now, I just heard Isabelle whisper to Rikku to open the fridge so I have to go. More later.