I hope you all have a lovely day – I hope to spend mine reading and eating delicious food that I did not prepare. 
It’s My Birthday
May 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Seven Quick Takes: Mother’s Day Edition
May 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I wasn’t sure how Mother’s Day would be, since Mr. SJ tweaked his back on Friday and wasn’t able to do as much with the kids, but other than needing me to handle all diaper changes and dirty dishes, he did all right. That might sound awfully suspicious, but washing dishes is generally tough on him because the height of the sink is bad for him, and that’s also what gets him with changing diapers. Eh, just give me some time to sit in peace and quiet and read without interruption and I am quite happy to change the diapers.
I made myself the delectable King Arthur Flour Chocolate Indulgence cake that I discussed in my birthday planning 7QT. One of the nicest things about this cake is that it is way too chocolatey for Mr. SJ to want to eat it, so it’s all mine. Fortunately it freezes nicely too.
Mine wasn’t quite that pretty, but it tastes just as good as it looks.
I thought about taking myself (and the baby) to the library for a bonus visit – usually I go only ever 3 weeks (the length of time a book can be checked out). I was too lazy to want to drive down there however, and instead just stayed home.
I also passed on the opportunity to go to Target by myself (or just with the baby.) Again, the pull of my books was stronger than the pull of wandering the aisles in peace.
Because the boy is generally so insistent that he be near me, unless he’s working with daddy (mowing the grass, cleaning up the garage), his dad ended up taking him to a nearby park for a walk on Sunday to give me some quiet. Of course the baby woke up not 5 minutes after they left, so the quiet wasn’t quite what he was trying to provide.
Last week Mr. SJ was very weird about telling me that he was taking the boy out. They were going to the store. I was starting to ask him more in depth what he was doing because he was being so odd about it, and then I realized: Mother’s Day and my birthday are both approaching. I’m sure they’re going to go look for cards.
Yup, that’s what they were doing. The boy picked me out a very nice Mother’s Day card with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy wishing me a happy day. As Mr. SJ said, there was absolutely no doubt which card he would pick once he saw that one; only perhaps if there had been a Lightning McQueen one might there have been some hesitation as to which one would win.
My mom and mother-in-law pretty much always send me a card for Mother’s Day. Not this year, which made me laugh. However, one of my sister-in-laws sent me a really sweet card for Mother’s Day, and I wasn’t expecting that!
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
Mothers
May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I’m cheating a bit with the theme for this week’s photo, “Mothers.” Both my mother and mother-in-law live out of state, so I couldn’t get a picture of theme for the week. I am terrible at self-portraits so I didn’t even try getting myself in a photo.
Instead I photographed the two children that gave me the title of “mother.” I have renewed admiration for children’s photographers, because trying to get both of them cooperating in one photo was hugely challenging.
What did you do for Mother’s Day?
For more photos illustrating “Mothers,” visit Kent Weakley, who is hosting for Darcy at my3boybarians.
Toffee Turtle Bars
May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I love bars. They’re so much quicker than cookies to make; no need to scoop out individual balls of dough. Most bars freeze well, so they’re easy to have on hand even if you don’t have time to make a fresh batch. And usually once they’re baked, you’re done, unlike with cakes that so often must be frosted.
These bars were initially a disappointment. Tasted soon after they came out of the oven the shortbread base separates from the top and the flavor is bland.
Tasted the next day, after the bars have chilled overnight in the refrigerator, and the bars hold together well, and the flavor is fantastic. Slightly chewy thanks to the condensed milk, but with nice crunch from the nuts, and the shortbread turns into a delightfully crumbly base.
So, don’t make these expecting an immediate treat, but if you can plan ahead and let them thoroughly chill, they are delectable.
Ingredients
2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup toffee baking chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13×9″ baking pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, and butter. Mix until thoroughly combined, then firmly press into prepared pan to form a crust. Bake 12 – 14 minutes or until golden brown.
While crust is baking, in a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour over baked crust. Sprinkle evenly with the nuts, chips, and toffee chips.
Return to oven and bake until set and golden brown, around 25 minutes. Cool at room temperature, then cool completely in refrigerator.
Variations, Modifications, and Other Comments
I didn’t measure any of the nuts, chips, or toffee pieces that carefully, but I probably used less toffee chips and more chocolate.
Use whatever sorts of nuts you prefer. I adore pecans so that’s almost always my choice.
These bars freeze beautifully, so don’t hesitate to make the entire batch, even if you don’t need many. I almost never halve a recipe that calls for a can of condensed milk because I hate trying to measure out a half can.
I’d give credit to the original recipe source, but I don’t know it. It’s one that’s been in my recipes-to-try binder for years before I finally made it, and any original attributions were lost.
Review: A Wrinkle in Time
May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I read Madeleine L’Engle’s classic, Newbery-award-winning book A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet)
Unlike my husband, I wasn’t assigned to read it in school. Despite being a voracious reader growing up. Despite loving the fantasy genre, I never voluntarily read it as an adult.
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. I liked the character of Meg quite a bit. I liked her younger brother Charles Wallace well enough. I didn’t feel like I got to know Calvin that well, but he was an interesting character. However, nothing about the book got me super excited to find out more about the characters, and what happened to them in later books in the series.
I felt like there were too many occasions where instead of really explaining something, L’Engle instead had one of the “wiser” characters express frustration that the concepts just couldn’t really be explained in words. Jumbled bits of half-explanations were almost given, with the caveat that “There’s some things we just aren’t meant to understand.” It’s okay though, Charles Wallace has such a prodigious intellect that he understands and tells Meg that it’s allright. (yes, that’s sarcasm.)
Some of my frustrations with the book may just be because it was so groundbreaking, things I like and take for granted now were something rare and special, like having a girl be the main character and hero in a science fiction/fantasy novel. Maybe it only seemed so formulaic to me because it set the formula that many other books have followed?
L’Engle includes one of my most-loathed contrivances in children’s literature, the wise adult dismissing children with the equivalent of “you aren’t old enough/mature enough to understand, but meanwhile go off and save the world because you’re the only one(s) who can. You just won’t know what you’re facing.” But of course the wise adults have super-powers and can magically appear just when they’re most needed and/or provide some sort of prop with special qualities that can save the heroes.
There are so many times when I read books that are wildly praised and wonder what’s all the fuss, and this is definitely one of those times. The book was ok, but in no way is it even close to being one of my favorite books of all time, and I know of many people for whom that is the case.
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Create a Regular Monthly Budget
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I’m working my way through Tsh Oxenrider’s ebook One Bite At A Time, tackling each project in order. All previous projects can be found here.
Project 28, Create a Regular Monthly Budget, is one of my favorite sorts of projects from the book, because it’s something I already do. That’s right, it’s a super-easy week for me!
I am a Quicken fanatic. I have records going back to when I first graduated from college. I can see just how little I earned at my various jobs. I can see how much I spent on books, or meals out, or groceries, or …
Yes, I am a budget nerd, but it makes me happy.
I don’t actually budget in Quicken, although they claim to have that capability. I never liked their setup for working with sinking funds, and I use sinking funds extensively.
For true budgeting purposes, I use an Excel spreadsheet that I based on a template I found online. I have since modified it quite a bit, but it is my (money-related) brain on paper in the computer.
Our budget has lots of line-items, but I prefer it that way. Most lines I use as sinking funds, allowing money to stockpile until we need it for that purchase. For example, our home maintenance fund. I put aside a certain amount of money every month that is allocated towards home repairs and maintenance. Most months we don’t spend any of it, but some months we spend a lot of it. The spreadsheet lets me keep track of how much we have available for every budget line without me having to have separate baking accounts for every budget item.
Do you have a monthly budget? Do you follow it?
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Seven Quick Takes: Kid Edition
May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment
G has had no interest in drinking from a “real” cup, and I never cared enough to really push it. He’s got cups with straws that he uses for water, and a supposedly teeth-friendly somewhat spouted cup that he uses at meals for milk. I figured with warmer weather I’d encourage him to take a real cup outside to practice.
Until last week, when on a whim I asked him if he wanted to try to drink like a big boy. A little water in a cup, and he drank it down like he’d been doing it forever. He was so proud of himself too, running around all day repeating that he’s “drinkin’ like uh BIG BOY!”
Still no interest in using the potty like a big boy however.
His sister is walking like an absolute pro now. She will cross the room in a flash, and is also so proud of herself. She knows she’s accomplishing something impressive! It’s cute how she still has to hold her arms out a bit for extra balance. And she’s liable to PLOP down onto her bottom suddenly if she loses that balance.
My mother-in-law’s birthday was last week, and I prepped the boy for a birthday phone call.
“What are we going to tell Grandma?”
“HappybirthdayLoveYouSeeYouSoon!”
Amazingly, once on the phone he actually said it all! Unfortunately he wouldn’t say it when he was all that close to the phone, so it wasn’t super clear, but she claimed she understood it. It helped when he started repeating “LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU!” at length and volume.
He was also very excited to tell her his big news, already shared her in QT#1.
G generally has really good enunciation, but he’s got one quirk that I find so adorable I don’t correct him. He’s started calling balloons and bananas “palloon” and “panana.” He used to say them both with the “b” sound, so I’m not sure where the “p” came from, but it is so cute, and I know it won’t last long so I’m just smiling at it while it lasts.
If anyone ever asks for my children to be in a wedding again, please remind me to say no. Politely, but still. NO. It was so stressful worrying about whether or not he’d cooperate. Whether or not he’d throw a fit, or who knows what else to disrupt the ceremony. Would he even wear the clothes he was supposed to? They weren’t his usual:
Happily, he was GREAT. Walked down the aisle with the flower girl, carrying the little pillow that supposedly held the rings (the best man/maid of honor actually had them, so we weren’t worried about him losing them.) Then when he got up to the front & the stairs, he apparently set the pillow down and then put his head down on it, much to the audience’s amusement. Daddy pulled him aside for most of the ceremony (and the flower girl just about threw a fit because she wanted to go join G with his dad, instead of staying with her dad on the other side of the room), and then got both kids back into position for their reverse trek down the aisle behind the bridge & groom.
Unfortunately due to a sick baby girl, I wasn’t able to attend the ceremony or reception, which is why I say “apparently” above. I’m just going on what was reported to me.
And the clothes? I prepped him for it by talking them up as “snazzy clothes.” He was so excited to put them on, he didn’t want to take them off! He kept walking around talking about his “SNAZZY CLOTHES!”
So the wedding was on Saturday, and baby girl was sick. Sunday G was also sick, and was much worse than his sister had been. He spent a lot of Sunday snoozing on the couch or on me, and ended up staying up with his dad fairly late. He was clearly still sick because he never wanted anything for dinner, and even with all the napping, he still slept that night (albeit a late start.)
Not that I want my children to be sick, but since I was also sick, it was a good time for G to be lower energy & willing to crash on the couch. I couldn’t have kept up with his usual requests to play outside, or go for walks or whatever else he’d want.
For more Quick Takes, visit Betty Beguiles, who is hosting for Conversion Diary!
