From Inmates to Playdates

Posts Tagged ‘eating’

As is usually the case, I have learned a great deal of random stuff this week. So, if you’re in the market for random, you have come to the right place my friend.

The only problem is that I have one eye on the 2010 Winter Olympics and one eye on my laptop screen. So, I hope you’ll excuse the fact that I am using the handy-dandy list to compile the stuff I learned.

1. I learned that barbecue ribs (or peas, or strawberry poptarts) is capable of causing heartburn. Really bad heartburn. The likes of which I have not seen since pregnancy. Blech.

And no, that is not a hint of any kind.

I’m just sayin.

In fact, the heartburn has reached a level that has sent me on the search for some tums.

2. A very determined stubborn four-year-old has no qualms climbing on top of a cozy coupe if it makes it possible to retrieve his beloved cowboy boots from the top shelf in his closet.

3. The very fact that my four-year-old is willing to use the cozy coupe as a ladder is proof that perhaps I should prepare myself for a future of possible probable disasters.

4. No matter how careful you are when painting, you will discover paint in places you would never expect weeks after the job is completed.

5. If you forget to add washing detergent to the load of laundry you are washing, the stains will probably not come out.

6. If your four year old is in the mood, you can get some awesome pictures of him.

See.

7. I like the name Kessa better than the name Kaydence, but not as well as the name Kendi. Our niece, Kessa is due any day. The name is growing on me.

8. TweetDeck is a lot better than Echofon. (For those of you not in the iPhone Cult Club, Tweetdeck is an iPhone App for Twitter).

9. When one decides to change her Twitter name from ‘Inmates’ to ‘JulieatInmates‘ she should work out all possible interpretations in her head or else a concerned blog reader might come up with this mess –  ’Juli Eatin Mates’

Dang.

10. Before changing a Twitter username, one should consider the fact that she has no earthly idea how to change the name on her professionally designed Twitter home page.

Double Dang.

11. It bothers me when the outfits (costumes?) of the Olympic Ice Skating Figure Skating pairs do not match.

Yes, Russia. I’m talking about you!

12. NBC has some really clever shows on the horizon (Parenthood, A Minute To Win It, and another one I can’t think of right now!). Likewise, the new show Undercover Boss is a refreshing change in reality TV.

13. When watching the 2010 Olympic Games while doing your weekly What I Learned This Week post, it is likely, your post will be random longer than you expected.

14. Thankfully, expired Tums are better than no Tums.

Okay, I’m done!

Visit Musings Of A Housewife to find out what others have learned this week!

Folks, every week I wonder if I’ll have enough junk information to share with y’all for Things I Learned This Week.

And every week, I surprise even myself with the ridiculous amounts of stuff I am still learning despite my 36 years on the planet.

And this is some good stuff, if I do say so myself.

1. The Pinewood Derby sponsored by the boy scouts is a super-duper big deal. So big in fact, that my sweet [seven year old, mind you] Stevie came home from scouts with a two page list of rules, regulations, and instructions pertaining to the design and assembly of the Pinewood derby car.

2. Likewise, the Girl Scouts are apparently pretty particular about the official start date of their annual cookie sell.  And, apparently their pushy mamas are ready to have a knock-down-drag-out if it means they can get one box ahead of the next gal.

Oh, Tagalongs, I cannot wait to be reunited with you!

In moderation, of course. (Ahem!)

3. If you are dining at TGIFridays and you decide to order the three course meal deal for $12.00, you should know that the amount of food that will be presented as part of the meal deal is more than enough for two people to share. It is a gigantic amount of food with portions large enough for two people.

4. If you and your hubby both order the meal deal at the TGIFridays and then decide that the remainder of both of your main courses will make a great lunch come Monday, you should probably remember to take the food with you when leaving the restaurant. 

5. Apparently the dryer in our home is not working properly. Because if it were, it would not be shrinking my clothes to a point that made them tighter in January than they were in December.

[McDaddy, perhaps we need to have this checked out!]

6. By clicking on the time-stamp of a tweet, you can get the URL link on Twitter.

7. When you have [dark] brown sheets on your bed, they will remind you of a Hershey bar every. single. night.

Or something else that happens to be brown.

8. If your seven year old zips his Carters jacket and the pull-tab breaks off of the zipper, the nice people at Carters will either send you a brand new jacket or fix the pull-tab and reimburse you for shipping.

9. THIS IS A BIG ONE.

If you own an iRobot Roomba and it decides to run only in a circle for the rest of its natural life, you should take the time to call iRobot and explain the situation. Once you explain your situation, you should fully expect the non-English-speaking-gal to attempt to sell you another Roomba at a discounted price. At this point, you should keep your cool, and be prepared to explain the situation again once the *English speaking manager guy takes the call.

STAY WITH ME, HERE.

Now, at this point, English speaking manager guy will again attempt to sell you another chassis for a discounted price. Once you let *ESMG tell you what he has to offer, you need to dig your heels in and stand your ground. After you get through the initial nonsense, you might want to mention the whole Boston iRobot Summit and the fact that you are a blogger with a blog. In a matter of minutes, ESMG will be asking where you would like your [free] new iRobot Roomba shipped to.

(My new iRobot Roomba showed up on my doorstep today!)

10. Peeling a banana from the bottom is easier than peeling it from the top and will actually cause the “strings” to adhere to the peel.

That’s it for this week.

You are welcome!

——

A big thanks to Jo-Lynne over at Musings Of A Housewife for allowing me to host Things I Learned This Week here at From Inmates To Playdates last week. I would also like to thank each of you who linked up to Things I Learned This Week here at my place. It was a lot of fun visiting each of your blogs.

I thought about saving this post for Wednesday.

But it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe a few of you might be wanting to know the outcome of my cookie exchange and whether or not my cookie earned me the cookie crown at the 2009 Cookie Exchange hosted by my BFF, Becky.

First, meet my cookie, which by the way is a really good cookie.

And here are it’s ingredients, minus the egg and the butter because apparently I forgot to add them to the picture.

OATMEAL CINNAMON COOKIES

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups of butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease cookie sheets.

In a large bowl, beat 1 1/4 cups of butter with 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy. Stir in the remaining contents.

Drop cookies by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

And now for the things I learned…

1. As you may recall, the first lesson I learned was to insure I have ALL ingredients on hand before beginning the baking process.

2. If the recipe calls for a wire rack, you should by all means understand that the wire rack is indeed an important step. Otherwise, you will be scraping the cookie and its crumbs off of the cookie sheet. At that minute, you will kick yourself for not following the stupid directions.

3. There is a big difference between Quick oats and Old Fashioned Oats. Not that I have any idea what the difference is, I just heard from my daddy that there is a difference. After my great baking saga of 2009, I also discovered there is a difference in the instant packets of oats, too!

4. You can make three different batches of cookies and they will all look completely differernt.

5. This is a really good cookie. Unfortunately for me, the first batch, the stupid test batch was the best batch.

6. It is never a good idea to make a new cookie recipe while trying a new recipe for dinner.

7. When ten women are vying for a cookie crown, anything [and by anything I mean, bribery, high-pressure tactics, and threats] goes.

8. Presentation of your cookies in a Longaberger basket will not have any effect on voting. But it should because do you see that Longaberger basket on the table? That happens to be the first Longaberger basket I ever bought.

9. Your seven-year old will be confused when you tell him there was not a 2nd and 3rd place finish.

10. You will feel half-sick after sampling all of the yumminess.

See. Lots of awesomeness.

And don’t you love this cute little presentation? 

 And now for the winner. 

Meet Megan (sister of my BFF, Becky) who brought some sort of double delight peanut butter 2009 Pillsbury bake-off winner as her entry.

Shouldn’t that be against some sort of cookie exchange law?

Yes, I think so.

But next year I am totally Googling the Pillsbury bake-off winner before submitting my cookie recipe.

And working on my high-pressure tactics.

Be sure to visit Musings Of A Housewife for more Things People Learned this week!

I seriously considered telling you about 13 things I want for Christmas, but coming up with thirteen things I’d like to have seems like a lot of work at this hour. My time would be better spent placing the gold beads (garland) on my Christmas tree so that it would be complete. I am kicking around the idea of attempting it solo because McDaddy is not here. While it may seem like an easy job for one person, perhaps I should let you know that our tree is 9 feet tall which means I would have to stand on a bar stool which means that danger is imminent because, well, I am clumsy enough without climbing onto a bar-stool and attempting to balance myself without falling off or tipping the stool.

However.

I have a condition called Iwantitdonerightnow, so it looks like I’ll be throwing caution to the wind and climbing on that bar-stool here directly.

Wish me luck!

But for now, may I present 13 things I could live without, in no particular order except the order they fly out of my head.

1. Olives – I don’t get it. They stink, they taste bad and they are expensive. That’s a triple whammy in my book.

2. Gnomes – Again, I don’t get it (them!) They are ugly and useless. The very fact that gnomes made this list, makes me shake my head wondering what made me even think of gnomes.

3. My Phone Ringing Before 9:00 am -  If you are not dead or bleeding, or calling about someone who is dead or bleeding, you should not be calling the McResidence under any circumstance. Period. Thank you, and Amen!

4. GEICO commercials featuring those stupid cave-men -Who came up with this marketing campaign? Whomever they are, they should be fired immediately. The caveman thing is the dumbest commercial campaign EVER!

5. LOL- I triple hate the whole LOL thing. You will never, and I repeat never, see my name associated with any LOL or OMG or TTYL or LMBO. They are showing up more and more on The Facebook. I do use these from time to time, or even this but never a three or four letter combo. 

6. ICY ROADS- I am a scaredy cat when it comes to icy roads. I have no confidence and I live on a big, freakin, hill, so, icy roads + me = danger!

7. CAPPUCCINO – I know I’m going to rile some feathers with this one.. Why anyone would spend $6.00 on a ridiculously high calorie hot beverage is beyond me. I like a good (cheap) cup of hot chocolate from time to time, but those expensive, over-priced (not the same thing!) high calorie hot drinks do nothing for me. I even tried a (very expensive) cup of hot chocolate at Starbucks one time. It was the worst cup of hot chocolate I ever drank and after two sips I tossed it in a garbage can. Big. Waste. Of. Money.

8. SPRITE and 7-UP - I don’t remember ever hating these lemony-lime drinks, but now that I’m an adult, I’d just as soon drink water than try to force this crap down my throat. If its a day or so flat, it’s ten times worse. Complete nastiness!

9. DUST – Sweet mercy, where does it all come from? The very second I dust the TV and its stand, particles land right back on the silly thing. The attempt almost seems useless.I don’t mind cleaning. I really don’t. I do mind dusting.

10.  HACKERS- With all of my heart, I firmly believe there is a special place reserved in a really hot place for those individuals who get their kicks from hacking into other people’s computer accounts. It’s no secret that I am as nosey as the next gal, however! However, those who hack into Facebook accounts, bank accounts, e-mail accounts, and any other account out there need to be banned from the internet for life. Even someone as nosey as me knows that there are limits.

11.  BLOGGER COMMENT BOXES WITHOUT THE NAME/URL OPTION- Okay, if your blog is hosted by Blogger, I have a question. When I try to leave a comment on a blogger blog without the name/url option, I get an error message telling me to please sign in to Google or something I can’t remember right off. I’ve signed (logged?) in to Google about three trillion times and it never ever remembers me. I get the same stupid message which I wish I could remember because I’ve been wanting to make this plea for a long time! So, my question (and you thought I’d never get to the question) is why do some of you opt not to allow the name/url option? (And yes, I am totally going on the search right now for a comment box like the one I speak of!)

Okay, I found one. It says Choose an Identity. GOOGLE ACCOUNT and has a place for a user account and password. It also has an option for Open ID. Only once you click on Open ID, there is no Open ID option. 

When presented with this screen, I have no idea what to do. 

If you are still reading, bless your soul, because I know its possible you might not be understanding any of this Number 11. 

Comments are hard to come by and I think bloggers should make it easy peasy for readers to leave comments. When I see that option, I just mumble something and go on my merry way!

Have you ever noticed that the further I get into my list, the lenghthier the commentary?

12. DIAL UP INTERNET SERVICE - Thankfully, we are blessed with The DSL here at the McResidence, however, there are still those who must deal with the ridiculousness of the Dial Up. It is beyond me how we can put a man on the moon or how we can offer shoes buy one get one free but we can’t find a way to provide DSL to every neighborhood in America.

Now, I recognize that I know very little about the infrastructure of the internet, however, (man, there are lots of howevers tonight!) I know that someone somewhere has the means and the money to make this happen.

13. ENERGY SAVING LIGHTBULBS- I’m just full of myself today.. don’t ya think?  I know there are a few of you out there who will not agree with me on this. Remember about ten (very long) paragraphs ago when I mentioned that I am a “wantitdonerightnow” kind of girl. That means that when I flip a switch, I expect the light to come on full force immediately. Not three minutes from now.

My word. I’m aggravated just thinking about these thirteen things.

Enjoy your Thursday, y’all!

Happy Monday, y’all!

We’re packed to capacity here at the McResidence as McDaddy’s brother-in-law, and three of his family members are staying with us this week for huntin’ season. (And yes, around here we say huntin’!) If you’ve spent any time at From Inmates To Playdates, you know that we are in the midst of remodeling our basement. That means that half of our basement is in disarray (I love that word!) and the other half is in semi-disarray. The good news is that our house-guests are four men, and they are here to hunt. They couldn’t care less what the accommodations as long as they have a warm bed and a toilet. So, my OCD levels are not as frigged up as they would be if those four fellas were girlfriends. Still yet, I have been swarping this week to get the basement in some sort of order.

We also had Thanksgiving and Christmas with McDaddy’s family this weekend. However, we did not party like rock-stars or eat like pigs. We did, however, enjoy being all together as we watched our twelve children play together. In fact, my favorite mother-in-law is here, along with McDaddy’s sister and her three kids and Tom & Jerry is blaring in the background as we wait for their arrival after a long, fourteen hour drive. Life is good!

And praise God it seriously wasn’t me riding the fourteen hours to get here!

It was not me who whined and begged [unsuccessfully!] for McDaddy to get the Christmas decorations out of the loft on Thanksgiving day because I do not whine.

Or beg for that matter.

It also wasn’t me who argued with the folks at Walgreens because they had M&Ms on a sale display table that they weren’t willing to give me the sale price for.

If you are a big-wig at The Walgreens and you happen to be reading From Inmates To Playdates today,  please understand that all M&Ms on an M&M display with a 2 for $3.00  price-tag should be included in the sale regardless of whether they are holiday M&Ms or regular M&Ms. 

Just sayin’

Also, it wasn’t me who scoured Toys-R-Us on black Friday for an hour looking for a second set of Incredible Hulk smash hands. It wasn’t me because surely I  the crazy OCD non-violence mama would never buy one set of these, much less two for my sweet boys who never hit or smack each other.

Dang!

Oh, and it wasn’t me who ate her weight in some kind of scrumptious banana pudding concoction that my sister-in-law, Bridget prepared for our family dinner.  Sweet mercy, I need to get that recipe. Maybe I’ll share it sometime.

And finally, it wasn’t me who found herself a bit emotional this week when we sold our beloved 4-Runner. Because seriously? Who cares about a car, right?

Good bye, 4-Runner. WeI will miss you around here! I knew once McDaddy got the itch for a truck, it would be you that got the boot instead of the heap, ahem, I mean JEEP.

I hope you love your new home! Since you are living just a few short miles from us, maybe our paths will cross someday.

That’s all I got for this week, folks!

Head on over to MckMama’s place for hundreds of Not Me! Monday posts.

I went hog wild this week.

In the kitchen.

With the camera.

That doesn’t mean that I got some quality shots, that just means that I was grabbing the camera at weird times snapping away at some grapes and some macaroni salad.

I like to eat.

I don’t enjoy cooking so much because it takes too much time and makes too big a mess.

But it comes with the job, I suppose.

And just looking at these pictures, makes me hungry and probably five pounds heavier.

Take a peek.

My first stab at home-made chocolate-chip cookies. They look much better than they tasted unfortunately. I’m not sure I got them mixed real well.

Here’s some macaroni salad. Luckily, it will taste better than it looks. [Dang, I should have went with the macro setting]

I’m not real sure what happened here with the grapes. I was trying to capture the stem, but instead I captured a great big shadow of some sort. I’m sure they are super juicy though.

My best shot at artsy fartsy. Big, bad Dr. Pepper with the gravy lurking in the shadows and my own goofy shadow in the Dr. Pepper bottle.

And now, on to the good stuff.

Some sweet, delicious peanut butter balls…

and some sweet, delicious coconut ball goodies

These almost look like sausage balls which would also be sweet and delicious.

Okay, I’m off to find something to eat.

Head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry for more yummy You Capture posts.

Next week’s challenge: Tell us a story, using photos about what makes you happy. [Which may or may not include food! Ahem!]

This was another easy, albeit eclectic week.

Real life?

Wow. What fun this was because? Well, because it’s fun to be me! I’m a blessed, crazy gal with three special fellas in her life. So, without further rambling, may I present to you, my real life…

This happens to be my dining room table.

And it happens to be covered with cars from the movie CARS. Meet Lightning McQueen and his expensive posse.

That little mess up there is equal to about one hundred dollars if you can believe that. Throw in those three Longaberger baskets you can see on my table and well, you’d have a lot more than one hundred dollars.

That, my friends is my real life.

And sometimes we throw caution to the wind and have these home-made goodies for breakfast…

I have two words for you. Scrumpt and Tious. Especially that one there at the bottom.

Okay, so home-made is a stretch unless you consider that I was home when I made them.

At any rate, they were yummy in real life!!!

And for a real look into our real life, take a look at this….

Our calendar stays pretty full! (Oh my sweet mercy, I love that MACRO setting!) The “X”s you see mean McDaddy will be out of town. Blah, blah and more blah!

That’s about as real as it gets around here.

We would rather be posing like this….

Than like this…

I love my real life!!!

There’s lots more real life over at I Should Be Folding Laundry. Head over there and check it out!

This great guy…..

Loves to go Off-Roading with the guys in the WV Jeep Club.

  Is an awesome dad to our boys.

   Joined the WV Air National Guard in 1991 (he was still in High School).

  Is the web-master of our church web-site.

  Was commissioned as an Officer (2^ndLieutenant) the same year he was commissioned as a husband.

  Is a Principle Service Specialist for Honeywell. That’s code for “Control Systems Genius.”

 Just completed a 6-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

 Works at home a few days each month.

 Travels for work more than he would like.

Likes to ski.

  Loves, loves, loves chocolate chip cookies.

  May not be able to tell you when or where something happened, but could definitely tell you what we were driving when it happened.

  Runs the sound-board at our church.

 Makes sure I have the cleanest minivan in the carpool lane.

 Comments on all blog posts involving his heap (ahem! I mean JEEP!)

 Had LASIK surgery 6 six years ago.

 Does it right the first time.

 Plays the drums at our church.

 Has a lot more patience than his wife.

Loves to ride his motorcycle even though he doesn’t get to ride it as often as he’d like.

 Would do anything for anybody.

 Watches Ice-Road Truckers, Grey’s Anatomy, Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Extreme 4X4 and Criminal Minds.

 Currently holds the rank of Major.

 Is the oldest of 5 kids.

 Would rather me write about someone other than him.

 Is adored by his wife.

Has a birthday today!!!

Happy Birthday McDaddy! I hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks for sharing your life with me!!!

I Love You!

If you’ve been with me from the beginning of this gig here at From Inmates To Playdates, you might have heard this a time or two. It’s so good though, it’s worth repeating.  First, let me apologize for the photography. Please keep in mind this is a recipe post and not a photography one.

Kristen over at We Are That Family has asked us to share our favorite holiday/entertaining/celebration tip this week. [I love the holiday WFMW button!]

With the holidays just around the corner, I scanned my brain for my best tip. I have a December birthday. Stevie has a December birthday. There is always a Christmas play at church in December and there are countless shopping trips. Throw in various holiday parties and Christmas dinners and you have a month that I barely remember when its all said and done.

You can pull this little tip out of your proverbial Thanksgiving or Christmas hat when you discover you have company coming and your cupboards are bare. [It's important to note that I would never use the words cupboards *IRL. Instead I would say cabinets.]

*In Real Life

 Warning: My culinary expertise may surprise you.

 Because while it is obvious from all appearances that I have a love for all things sweet, it is a well-known fact that I am not known for my mad skillz in the kitchen. For that reason, when I find something that works, and I mean really works, especially in the kitchen, I feel the need to share it.

And, for something to really work for me in the kitchen it must meet the following criteria.

•  fast
• easy
• fail proof

What can I say? I am a simple girl who knows very little about the kitchen.

So, without further ado, may I present Julie’s Fabulous Fudge.

Actually, I didn’t invent the recipe, but if you’re copying it over to a fancy little recipe card, I’d love for you to think of me when you make it. Otherwise, you can call it Libby’s Peanut Butter Fudge. Libby is my neighbor and she also happens to be the source of this sweet little goldmine.

Truth be known it’s real name is probably ‘No Fail Fudge’ or ‘Five Minute Fudge’ or ‘The Quickest Fudge In The World’.

You can call it what you want.

 Whatever it’s called It Works For Me! You can visit the link to find other things that may work for you too!

JULIE’S FABULOUS FUDGE

1 tub of vanilla frosting

 18 ounce jar of JIFFY Peanut Butter

 Peel the seal off of a tub of vanilla frosting. Microwave it for 20 seconds. Mix vanilla frosting and jar of peanut butter in a microwavable container and microwave for two minutes.

Stir and pour mixture into an 8X8 {Longaberger} Baking Dish.

Allow fudge to harden.

Enjoy.

 See, I told you it was quick and easy.

*For Variation: You can use chocolate frosting or add your favorite nut to the end mixture.

Head over to Kristen’s place for more holiday/entertaining/celebrating tips!

• A baby turtle
• Fossils
• Soft Serve Ice Cream
• Candles
• A tow strap
• Knock off Coach Handbags
• A Chicken
• Old glassware
• old paperback books
• antique furniture
• Lamps
• Little Debbie Cakes
• Earrings
• Peaches
• Boston Terrier Puppy

And just about anything else you can think of.

Who knew you could go to one place and purchase all of these things?

This was hardly a typical shopping experience.

I saw all types of people buying only the highest quality junk.

 At the flea market.

Why do they call it a flea market anyway?

Of all the junk I saw for sale, I didn’t see any fleas. Although it’s entirely possible that I missed the fleas. Between the people watching and the mouth wiping I did. As I wiped soft serve ice cream off of Alex’s mouth, chin, shirt and toes, I saw something I don’t think I was supposed to see.

And, I really wish I hadn’t saw it.

Because it grossed me out.

And it might gross you out too.

So, if your eating, I’ll give you a minute to finish.

Ok.

You done?

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

I witnessed a woman (wearing a shirt that said, “If mama ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy”) walk by a table, pick up a wooden back scratcher, ram it down her shirt, scratch her back, and put it back on the table.

I hope that made mama happy.

Cause it made this mama question her decision to visit the flea market on this day.

For starters. The simple fact that a used back scratcher is for sale at a flea market is straight-up nasty. Think for one second about the number of hands that have touched that thing. Not to mention the number of shirts it has navigated to scratch dirty, nasty, strange backs. And then it’s placed on a table with a little square pink neon sticker that reads $1.00.

Are you kidding me? Seriously, one pitiful dollar.

You could just throw the thing away.

Or if you really, really need a back scratcher, go to the dollar store and buy a pasta spoon.

Or nag your man like I do.

Next, is there a person out there that would pay a dollar for a used back scratcher? I guess maybe someone with an itch.

Although, I’m still scratching my head (not with a back scratcher) wondering what kind of person would pick up a used back scratcher at a flea market, scratch their nasty, skanky back with it and then put it back. I’m telling you, I just about puked. And I might have rolled my eyes.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that even if my back had 392 ants crawling on it, I would not for any reason pick up that back scratcher.

And um, I wouldn’t have asked mama to scratch my back either.

Cause I’d take 392 ants any day of the week.

Over mama’s nasty hands.

I’m just sayin.