New Layout

Sorry I've been quiet for a few days. I finished the taxes on Monday. Unfortunately it took me most of the day to get everything organized but less than an hour to actually prepare the return! At least I had most of what I needed before I started. I only had to "hunt" for a few things. I mailed our state return yesterday. I hate it when they make part year residents file on paper!!!!! Electronic filing is soooo much faster and easier.

I've also been doing some scrapbooking (digital of course!) I used the same kit that adorns my blog. It's called "Bloom & Grow" by Zoe Pearn. There is a link to her store at the bottom of my blog, just click on the flower. I created the Funny Girl title using the "Painted Wood" action by Atomic Cupcake & the font "Cafe Rojo". The journaling font I used was "Highland Perk".

It's That Time of Year Again!

Today is the day of the year that I dread every time it rolls around. Like clockwork, I spend a month or two procrastinating. And then, when I really can't wait any longer, I finally sit down with my bulging file folder and stare at my computer screen for hours on end. By the end of the day...if I manage to finish, I usually have a monstrous headache and a little less hair on my head and a few more gray hairs to add to my every growing collection.

This year it will be a little easier. My wonderful, adoring husband took a vacation day from work to spend "Daddy - Daughter" day with our 2 year old. I'm really not sure what they're planning to do but it will make my day a lot less stressful to have my attention a little more focused on the task at hand.

I really need to start...so with that I bid you goodbye...
I'm off to do my taxes!

10 Years

Today is our 10 year wedding anniversary! It's really hard to believe that it's already been that long. We are letting our 2 year old have a "sleep over" at her cousin's house so we can have a nice night out. We're planning on going to dinner and then we'll be off to see a movie. I'm elated to wake up on my own in the morning instead of having a 2 year old wake me up at 6 am saying "Mommy, I'm hungry and firsty" (the "th" sound is still a tough one!)

An Experiment I Wish Would Have Failed!

When I heard a few months ago that it was possible to make chocolate cake in a coffee mug in the microwave, I have to admit, I was intrigued. I'm a sucker for chocolate cake...well...really anything made with chocolate. Last night I found the recipe in anticipation of trying it and was sadly disappointed when I realized that one of the ingredients is cocoa powder and I don't have any in the house.

Me? Give up? Just because I don't have the main ingredient? If you think I gave up, you have woefully misunderstood my love of chocolate! Not to be thwarted in my quest for chocolatey goodness, I scoured the internet for another recipe for "cake in a mug" to satisfy my craving. There were various concoctions with cocoa powder or cocoa mix and one that involved mixing cake mix and pudding mix together. All seemed to produce large cakes that baked up and out of the mug when all I really wanted was a snack size cake.

So I improvised.

I had seen a posting on a weight loss board about how to make a brownie in a mug with just brownie mix and water. If it could work with brownie mix, why not cake mix? I've had a lonely box of chocolate cake mix in the pantry for a while now. I haven't had the guts to make it because I know myself too well and it would disappear faster than the speed of light and my bathroom scale would bemoan my choice in the morning. (Yes, I love chocolate cake that much!)

It didn't take much trial and error...one try and the result was quite tasty.

4 Tbsp Chocolate cake mix (mine was the kind with pudding in the mix)
1 1/2 Tbsp water
1/2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp chocolate chips (optional but a nice touch)

Microwave on high 1 1/2 min

This made 1 serving that baked about halfway up in my average sized coffee cup. Just one word of caution though, the mug and the contents were very hot. I had to use a hot pad to remove the mug from the microwave and I really should have waited a few minutes longer for the cake to cool before eating it. I think next time I might also try using some non stick spray in the mug before adding the ingredients. Yes, I will be making this again!

It was the perfect snack to satisfy my craving & not as detrimental and time consuming as making and eating a whole cake! Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Adventures in Potty Training

I don't think any parent can ever "really" be prepared for potty training. I know I wasn't. I had no idea how hard this would be. Accidents, refusal to use the potty, hearing "I need to go potty" every 5 minutes only to hear "there's no more potty inside me" almost every time. We've gone from 1 Pull-up days to 5 Pull-up days and it keeps going back and forth. We are now officially NO MORE DIAPERS. Just Pull-ups day & night. I know we're a little less than 2 months in but I just pray it gets a bit easier each day.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. It took a few days to figure out how to work around some bugs on Blogger but I'm finally up and running.

We haven't used our CaringBridge site in so long and we had lots of requests from Minnesota (and elsewhere) for updates so I thought a new blog would make it easier on everyone! Chasing after a 2 year old is never easy, especially during potty training. So...the less work I have to do, the greater your chances are that I'll actually update this thing!