Reading Is Fundamental

So I am making about 40 individual cheesecakes for a party this weekend. I spent ALL day today baking these cheesecakes in individual 4" aluminum pie pans, made sure each batch was perfect and followed the recipe to a T. No mistakes, nothing!!! I was SO proud! All that was left to do was the easy stuff, drizzling some milk chocolate and white chocolate on the tops of 40 cheesecakes!

I thought to myself at (9pm at night) this is easy! If I can make all these cheesecakes without a problem then surely I can melt some chocolate and drizzle it on these delicious desserts!!!

Well it would have been easy if I had remembered the most simple of all rules when it comes to do anything - read the directions.

I don't know if fatigue set in or just a bit of cockiness in thinking I can do this...but I thought I don't need to read directions. But lets just say I turned "Put 6oz of chocolate into a microwave safe dish and microwave on med-high heat for one minute" into "try to create a double boiler out of things you have in your house and end up turning your chocolate into what looks like chocolate crumbles or as we called it - dirt."

Yes, I BUTCHERED my chocolate, semi-sweet morsels b/c I couldn't take the 10 seconds to read the back of the bag where it SPECIFICALLY states how to melt your chocolate. (refer to directions above) Instead I turned what should have literally taken one minute to get beautiful chocolate into 45 minutes of my husband and I trying to figure how to melt the chocolate and why it turned into dirt.

We still don't know what happened but I got smart and read the back of the white chocolate bag and in one minute had a smooth white chocolate ready for drizzling. And instead I had to drizzle Hershey syrup over my cheesecakes. (still good, but wasn't what I wanted b/c syrup doesn't get hard like the morsels. )

So the moral of this story is ALWAYS read the directions no matter how simple you think your task at hand is going to be.



P.S. I will be posting this delicious cheesecake recipe on the food for friends website later this weekend! It is seriously the BEST cheesecake I have had! However, I will be leaving off the drizzle part.

Welcome (another beautiful baby is born)!!!!

Welcome to the world the beautiful Colby Chad J.

Colby was born two weeks ago to my very good friends Jennifer & Chad!!! This is their second boy (Brady is 4) and little Colby looks identical to his big brother (well when he was born)!

We are SO very happy for your family!!! I had a BLAST hanging out the other night and holding Colby! What an angel!!!

Also, Happy Birthday to Jennifer!!!! (her birthday is today!) What an amazing birthday gift you & your family got this year!!!

Lots of love to you and your family!!!

I Love....

I LOVE these "cookies"!!!!!

This week I went over to Wixey Bakery to place an order for a small cake to celebrate our one year wedding Anniversary in a few weeks. No, we didn't keep our cake. It tasted too good and I couldn't get over the eating of something that was a year old - YUCK!

The place we got our original wedding cake is three hours away so I decided to try this place as I have heard it is delicious! And let me tell you my friends - this place rocks!!!

I got an assortment of delicious sweet treats from the bakery for my husband and I to try and we are SO impressed! However, my personal favorite are these cookies above.

I don't know what they are called, I just called them black & white "cookies" but really they are a round piece of heaven! The "cookie" is really like a cake. I believe they use yellow cake batter to make a soft cookie type treat. Then (obviously by the pic. above) half the cookie has a hard white icing and the other half chocolate. YUM!

So I have to say, if you are in the area (in Toledo off Glendale) you must stop at Wixey Bakery and ask for these "Black & White" cookies! You will not be sorry!!

(By the way, the cake we ordered was slightly different from our wedding cake. We ended up going with a chocolate cake with white icing which is what we had before. However we added raspberry filling!!! We can't wait till Sept. 16 to celebrate and eat this tasty cake!)

Just Because!

This is a picture of our friend's Chris & Silvia's baby! Baby Ivan!!

I just thought it was the cutest picture and it made me smile today!

I Love...

I Love my new HP photosmart Printer!!!

I got it for my birthday but just had my parents up this weekend and FINALLY installed it! It only took me about 10 seconds to love it!!!

Besides being SO cute, small and shinny, it is a GREAT GREAT piece of equipment to have. You can plug it into your computer and work off your computer to adjust your photos or you can plug your digital camera photo card right in to the printer and work off it. It prints BEAUTIFUL pictures that are of such a high quality!

This is seriously a must have! I am going picture printing crazy!!!

(Thanks again mom and dad!)

AVOID!!! STAY AWAY!!!

What ever you do, DO NOT COME TO BOWLING GREEN this weekend!!! (not that you really would anyways)

This week and weekend not only are the students coming back to BG but it is also the National Tractors Pulls! Yes, all of those wonderful drunk tractor pullers will be in town as well as those drunk students!!! Oh, how fun!

(My husband is on his way home from work for lunch. It typically takes him 6 minutes to get to the house from work. Today it took him 15 minutes and he saw 2 accidents on the way. Crazy!)

Just Because They Make Me Smile!

These are my two "Wrestling Kitties", Belle & Sebastian. I just took these pics b/c 1) they are just cute and 2) it is 3pm and my furry friends are still napping the day away. (they have a hard life!)

I just had to put them up here because these two cats make me smile SO much! I think pets can be SO therapeutic and help our attitudes. How can a person be upset with anything when these two cuties are laying on either side of me sleeping!

CONGRATS!

Congratulations to my dear friends Jennifer & Chad who welcomed their second baby boy into the world today! Colby (middle name TBD) was born today weighing approx. 6lbs and was 20" long!

I am SO VERY happy for them and can't wait to meet their new addition on Friday!

Take care and once again CONGRATS!!!

They are back.....

- The roads are getting busier
- The stores are stocking up more than usual
- Hotels in town are all booked
- Gas stations and Liquor stores are increasing their alcohol supply
- Every day there are more and more people out and about (including more parents)
- The campus is looking in order & tons of signage is going up
- Restaurants and stores are busier than they have been the last few months
- The locals are running their last minute errands before the weekend comes
- There are moving trucks everywhere
- The town is in a mild state of chaos


Yes my friends, BGSU starts classes next week. The students are BACK!

So I bid farewell to the three months of peace, easy driving, no lines, emptier bars, and restful summer we had and welcome back all the students with open arms! Yes this is a slightly different attitude then I had in May when I couldn't wait to see the students leave. But it is all part of the cycle of life in BG and now, after some quiet, I am ready for their return!

I am excited b/c my sister is back, the town does get boring and couldn't survive without all those students and for the first time Terry & I are not living right next to the college. We are finally in a house away from the parties and noise that is the college apartment life! Plus it means Fall is right around the corner...and really nothing can get me down this time of year!

So again.....WELCOME BACK!!!!

What a Great Feeling!

This morning I got up and prepared a pot roast in our Crock Pot for dinner tonight!

I am excited b/c the house is starting to smell really good and it just feels good when you make food in a crock pot! At 6pm when my husband comes home dinner will be ready, the house will smell like I have been cooking all day long and we will be able to sit down and enjoy a great dinner with no fuss from either of us! It is PERFECT!!!

I don't know why I don't use our crock pot more often because really it is a wonderful kitchen appliance!

IT IS FINALLY HERE!!!

This is getting to be my favorite time of year....why you ask?!?! Well because the latest Fall fashions are arriving in stores! YAY!!!!!!!!

Fall is my favorite time of year and I LOVE fall fashions! Jeans, coats, sweatshirts, sweaters, boots, layers, EVERYTHING!

I have been in a couple stores recently and online and have noticed that summer clothes are finally making their way onto the clearance racks and fall clothes are finally moving in!

I am SO excited! Now if it could just cool down outside a bit to allow us to wear our fall clothes, I will be the happiest person (at least in the BG and surrounding areas)!

What is your favorite fall clothing item/s?


(P.S. I wish it was fall weather ALL year round! That would be perfect!)

A Soundtrack to my Life!

A couple months ago I had introduced the “challenge” that was set before me by one of my friends to create a soundtrack to my life. Click here. I put a lot of thought into this list but was distracted by some personal things in my life and didn’t feel like finishing my soundtrack. Well this weekend I got the urge to pull out my list and finally finish it!!!

I decided to create my list not just based on my favorite songs but more the songs that have had a strong emotional pull to me and take me back to certain points in my life. I have always been a loner and music has always been my outlet for my feelings. When I listened to this CD completed for the first time I was slightly surprised that I was flooded by emotions (good and bad), but that is the wonderful thing about music.

So anyways, here is my list. This list starts from when I was young until right now and the songs are all representative of certain times in my life! I also included 3 “bonus” tracks to my CD. The only reason they are bonus is b/c I actually did make a CD and those songs did not fit!!!

Also, here is my Sister’s list and A’s list if you want to see what they picked!

1. Tomorrow – Annie Soundtrack
2. Daydream Believer – The Monkees
3. The Streak – Ray Stevens
4. Dixie Chicken – Little Feat
5. Rainbow Connection – Muppet Movie Soundtrack
6. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm – Crash Test Dummies
7. Longview – Green Day
8. Wilkommen – Cabaret Soundtrack
9. Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton
10. Imagine – John Lennon
11. Paradise City – Guns N’ Roses
12. Where It’s At – Beck
13. Deconstruction – Indigo Girls
14. Hey Jude – Beatles
15. Summer Romance – Incubus
16. Big Eyed Fish – Dave Mathews Band
17. Have a Little Faith in Me – John Hiatt
18. That’s How Strong My Love Is – Otis Redding
19. In My Life – Ozzy Osbourne Cover
20. Famous Last Words – My Chemical Romance

Bonus Tracks:
- St. Louis Blues – Louis Armstrong
- Shine on You Crazy Diamond – Pink Floyd
- Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven

I Have an Unusual Crush!

(I had to post the picture with Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson because I adore Emma Thompson and Love Actually was one of my favorite romantic movies!)

Ok, so I am here to admit right now that I have a rather large and unusual crush on Alan Rickman. I know, he is more than twice my age, but there is just something about his voice, presence, and the roles that make me just love him!

Obviously his most recently famous role is Professor Snape in the Harry Potter movie....but I have loved him for awhile. Some of my favs are Die Hard, Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves, Dogma, Love Actually, a voice in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and I have just read he will be in Sweeney Todd! (P.S. I am SO excited about this movie)

I hope this doesn't come across as creepy! It isn't sexual or anything (sorry mom and dad). It is just I think he is a very attractive man and I have a HUGE crush on him!

So do you have any "unusual" celebrity crushes? Please, I can't be alone!!! :-)

Someone Finally Got it Right!

Ok, so I am hoping that other stores will follow this lead and start doing this with some of their styles of pants so that ALL women can be happy.

Apparently Lane Bryant (sizes 14 and up) has realized that not all women are the same size and have curves and came up with the "Right Fit" selection of jeans at their store. Now I don't care if you are a size 4, 14 or whatever, I think when it comes to the sizing of jeans/pants women have ALWAYS gotten the bad end of the deal. Too long, too short, don't fit the hips, don't fit the waist, to baggy, too tight.....You all know! At times buying a pair of pants can turn a pleasant day of shopping into a day of hell that is ended either buy an extreme workout or an extreme binge of chips dipped in peanut butter cup ice cream! ok, most likely the later ;-)

My husband can walk into ANY store and get his size pants without trying them on and they will fit great every time. I can go into three different stores and wear three different size pants! Ridiculous!

So anyways, Lane Bryant came up with a few different pairs of jeans and pants that are considered "Right Fit". You measure your waist and hips and depending on the amount of curve/body shape (are you a pear shape, triangle, circle, square, ect...) you get a certain color and size. The colors are designed for people who may be more curvy or not so curvy and keep in mind what problems they may have when buying pants. (bulges, gaps, baggy areas) They also have these in petite, regular and tall. So really these pants are designed to fit your body perfectly!

Genius!!! I mean seriously...why can't all department stores (or at the least online stores) have a small section of pants that are done in this way? Measure the waist, hips and inseam......and there are your pants!!!! I don't think it would be that hard and I already know many of my friends who would like this.....I know I would LOVE it!

Introducing....

This my friends is baby Ivan, Chris and Silvia's new baby boy (see below) !!! He is only a couple days old, but as you can tell by this picture he is going to be a big boy, just like his daddy (his daddy is 6'5") !!!

I love his face in this picture and I can't wait to meet him! Congrats again!!!!

CONGRATS!!!

Congratulations to our friends Chris & Silvia who had a baby boy this week!!! Mom & baby are doing WONDERFUL and I can't wait to see their little baby!!

Congratulations also to our friends Juan and Kiri who just found out they will be having a baby girl! YAY!!

Also my friend Jennifer should be having her baby any day now, so my thoughts are with her and I can't wait to meet YOUR new baby!!!

It is seriously baby mania around us and T & I are so VERY happy for all of you!!! CONGRATS!!!!