Archive for the ‘hodge podge’ Category

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I remembered at 11 o’clock this evening that after Gavin’s kindergarten graduation tomorrow there is a potluck lunch in the kindergarten playground. I hadn’t made anything or didn’t have anything at home I could throw together. So I made a late night run up to the grocery store to rummage something together to make. I decided on my quick and easy, family favorite dessert. I call it “Pineapple Mush Cake.”  So I thought I’d do a first here in my blog and share the recipe.

Here is what you’ll need:

One 10 oz. Angel Food Bundt Cake
One 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
4-6 vanilla pudding cups
One 8 oz. tub of whipped topping

Step One: Break Angel Food Cake into bite size pieces into large mixing bowl.

 

Step Two: Drain crushed pineapple in colander and add to bowl with angel food cake.

 

Step Three: Add 4-6 vanilla pudding cups, 5 always seems to be my maximum.

 

Step Four: Fold ingredients together, then spread in a 9x13in pan.

Final Step: Spread whipped topping on top.

It can be served right away, but I always allow it to chill in fridge overnight or at least a couple hours. Use serving spoon to dish out.

I started making this at 12:15am and was finished at 12:30am, it’s that quick and easy. And it is soooo yummy. Very light and refreshing. You can even tweak it now and then by adding chopped nuts, or chopped maraschino cherries or crushed mandarin orange slices. If you make this for a get together, be sure to have the recipe with you because people will want it. I always bring a few copies with me.  This dessert can also be made as a diabetic dessert or low calorie dessert. Just use sugar free angel food cake, sugar free pudding cups, lite whipped topping and make sure pineapple has no added sugar.

Enjoy!

Why is it that a tiny little spider can totally freak me out? I know I’m like a million times bigger than it. I’m sitting here at my computer, no other light but the light from my monitor and out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. To my right I see a spider crawling along the edge of my desk. Now I had recently cleaned my desk, so of course there were no napkins or papers close by. So I had to reach with my feet to grab the garbage pail under my desk right where the spider had stopped and was looking at me. I pulled out a piece of paper from the pail and went for the spider. In the 1.3 seconds it took for me to actually squash the spider, all these scenerios played in my mind. “What if I miss him and he falls to the floor. It’s so dark. I won’t see him. I’ll be afraid to put my feet under the desk. He’s right on the edge corner. It’s possible I’ll slip. Oh just go for it. He see’s it coming. What if he jumps.”

Finally I attacked head on and I won. As I’m squeezing the crumbled up piece of paper with the spider inside, again I’m wondering.. “Is he dead? can he bite me through this paper? What if I throw him in the garbage and he isn’t dead. He’ll get out and come after me.” I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep two floors up knowing that he might be down here. So I took him to the toilet. There, he’s gone. Better flush it twice.

Friday night a couple girlfriends and I had a fun night out. It was a night that we all needed and was long overdue.  Bren and Shannon booked a room at the Windsor Hilton in Canada. They went over late in the afternoon and then I met them there. The hotel was just a few city blocks from Caesars Hotel & Casino, so we drove over.

The first 45 minutes of being there, we got completely lost. We were just walking around, having no clue where we were going.   Most of it was because of Shannons fear of escalators (this I only learned about her less than a few years ago).  In order to get anywhere in the hotel and casino, you have to take escalators. The hotel and casino are 2 seperate buildings with a small connection between the two. And in order to get from one to the other, you have to take an escalator.  So most of our evening was spent looking for alternative routes so that Shannon could avoid the escalators. We tried several times to convince her that nothing would happen to her, but she insisted her phobia was serious.  But we had so much fun. I never rode so many elevators in one evening.  One elevator we got on was double sided. The side that opened was not the side we entered through. And when the doors opened this is what we saw.  Brenda decides to push every button and every floor looked the same. I turned around at the door we entered through, leaned my face against it and just started shouting “hello? hello? anyone there?”  Brenda and Shannon were hysterical. Every where we went it was completely deserted. We were so far deep in elevators, it was like a maze. Finally the opposite door, the one we entered through, opened. And we were back where we started.

We finally found our way to the casino and more importantly, the buffet. I never ate so much in my life. It happened to be Seafood night at the buffet. By the end of our meal we had a mile high pile of crab leg shells on our table. I only wish I had snapped a photo of it. The three of us started reciting lines from John Pinette’s famous “Chinese Buffet” skit and laughing so hard we about peed our pants. You can see all the crazy pictures here.

In other news. My little problem solver is at it again.

I am so tired of winter. Normally I don’t mind these winter months, and probably wouldn’t mind the snow so much, but it’s this darn bitter cold. Why does it have to be so cold? We’ve had a whole winter’s worth of winter just in the last 4 weeks.

I hate when I have to take Gavin to school and I have to bundle up both babies to drive 4 blocks. I hate that when I come down to my computer, which is in the basement, I have to put on 2 layers of clothes. It’s probably one of the main reasons I’ve been a blog slacker, because I hate coming down to my cold basement. Right now I have a tank top on, then a flannel pajama top on over that and then a thick sweater over that. I have a thick pair of socks on with knitted footie slippers over them. I’m wearing jeans with long johns underneath, and I’m wrapped in a polar fleece blanket. All so that I can sit here and type about how much I hate being cold all the time.

In other news, we’re finally near the finishing touches of Gavin’s room. Gavin wanted a Superhero bedroom. So my mom and I spent countless hours painting him a Superhero bedroom. You can see the progression photos here.

Dave recieved his Stanley Cup ring about a week ago.  They get better and better with every championship.  Mind you, he didn’t recieve the exact ring that the players recieve, but instead, a replica with a little less.. sparkle?

The thing is a monster nonetheless. It’s nice though that the organization recognizes those that played a part in support of our Wings. Below is a picture of the actual ring that the players recieve and then pictures of Dave’s ring. Then last, I took a picture of it on my finger just to show the pure magnitude of this thing. Mind you, it doesn’t look as big on Dave’s hand as it does on mine. But it’s still huge.

Stumbled across this game while clicking away at blogs in my blog ring. Answer the following questions by googling images for your answer.

What is your middle name?

Where would you like to travel to?

Where were you born?

What is your favorite color?

If you decide to play along, please let me know so I can check out your answers.

A video is worth a thousand words.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itHBb1LZ2lU]

What is it about bacon? It’s like gold around here. Gavin had dinner at his grandma’s so Dave and I decided to have BLTs for dinner the other night.  Whenever we have BLTs, we always make sure to fry up an even amount of slices, don’t want anyone to have any more than the other, or god forbid, have to split a slice. Plus we always make sure to fry up a couple extra pieces for Gavin, because even though he’s already eaten, once that bacon aroma fills the air, it’s like a dog looking for a treat.

So this time for dinner, Dave fried the bacon, so he is the “bacon banker.” He’s got the plate of freshly cooked bacon on his side of the table opposite of myself.  And it goes something like this, “One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you, one for me.” At that point I am beginning to construct my sandwich. Dave says, “We each have 4, and there’s 6 left (3 each).”  Suddenly Gavin calles from the living room, one of his brothers had gotten a hold of the remote and changed the channel. Dave goes to change it back. I seized his opportunity to steal a piece of bacon from the banker.  Dave comes in and immediately must have did a quick count and asks, “Hey, did you take another piece?”

This happens every time we cook bacon. Next time it’s MY turn to be the bacon banker!

I started smoking again. I lasted 1yr, 5mos, and 27 days (7mos of that was my pregnancy with the twins, which is why I quit in the first place). Now, I admit I did have the occassional “social” cigarette. But those don’t count. Why am I smoking again? I discovered that the 4 and a half minutes it takes to smoke a cigarette is 4 and a half minutes that I have to myself. I get to sit in my own little corner of the porch and dwell in the bliss that is nothingness. It’s an escape. It’s a break. It’s freedom. The milkwell that once filled my breasts has about run dry. The twins only nurse once or twice in the night. I say this to ease my guilt. To make less of my failure. Dave says, “I can’t believe you went all that time and now you’ve ruined it.” Don’t put my name back on the smokers club list yet. Part of me believes this is only temporary. Especially when it get’s cold again. I had fun being a non-smoker and looking out the window at my smoker husband freezing his ass off for 4 and a half minutes just to get his fix. I won’t be the one in the cold, standing there in my pajama pants, winter coat, boots and fingerless gloves. I don’t want to be that person again.