Here's to a great 2010!

Love, Mama Lou

For the love of cake balls

Our technical difficulties have been resolved and I have been (re)attached to my laptop.  What were the difficulties?  I don't know.  blah blah blah gateway blah blah blah cables blah blah blah new modem blah blah blah splicing blah blah blah bandwidth.  Oh me oh my, I can't live without you wireless internet.

So I told you how much I love The Pioneer Woman, have I told you about what Bakerella gave us?  You've had cake balls right?  No?  Well, let me tell you, go make some right now so you can live the rest of your life with a fat smile on your face.  CAKE BALLS ROCK!  The cake ball variations... you name it you can have it. And they are so much fun on a stick!

Welcome to the cake ball:  Cake (baked and cooled in a 9x13 pan) crumbled and mixed with frosting.  Formed into balls, frozen and dipped in melted chocolate or whatever your heart desires.  See.... cute and yummy!

Kevin and Patrick wanted chocolate with peanut butter.  I also made Bakerella's classic red velvet with chocolate.
The most difficult part of the cake ball (other than eating all of them) is the dipping.  I used some dipping chocolate from the grocery store on my first round.  It was okay.   There wasn't enough for all of the balls but the chocolate did dry nice and hard.   I got candy melts at Michael's for my second round.   Mostly because Kevin wanted peanut butter.  It was worth it.







 Cake balls are absolutely perfect for kids.  The Cake Pops go the distance.  There is little or no mess with these things and they can eat three and feel like they got an extra special serving of dessert.  See how happy these kids are, make your kids cake balls....TODAY.

Oh and your husband and brothers-in-law may like love them too, maybe, just maybe.
My little homies (Taleen, Tayler & her friend, Tayler, the boys, Tylee) loving some cake pops.

The easiest yearlong project EVER

Last year, Thrfty Decor Chick made really cute gift tags from recycled Christmas cards.  As far as crafts go this is my speed.... Cheap, fast and easy.  Flashback to Christmas 2008.  Not only did I make a special trip to Joann's to buy a pretty punch, I kept the bin that is full of old cards out, and I kept my card storage out.  I was ready!  All year long.....  I finally got to it in late November (2009).  Not quite a full year after launching the project but pretty close.  I was able to work on the 2008 cards that were still hanging out in the Christmas card storage snowman, and that covered all of the gifts for 2009.

Tonight, I conquered several years of Christmas cards and found a $100 bill for my trouble.... worth the wait, no?  Oh and by the way, I was too lazy to get up and grab my camera, (sitting on the counter 4 steps away from my perch) so you get some marvelous phone pics again.  ENJOY, I'm such a slave for my art.

Meet my puncher.  Square.  I couldn't find the rectangle one like TDC's.  Can you see my Benjamin?  I sorted through hundreds of cards and letters and pictures.  It was kind of fun to see all of the memories from our friends and family.  I haven't been through all of the cards for a long time (ok never). 

I did this project with "help" aka Keith so you know it is easy (his favorite cards include Baby Jesus.  He would "pick" what to punch: Baby Jesus and help me line it up and punch it.  Then he would kiss Baby Jesus and run over to show his brother who would respond: I know what Baby Jesus looks like!).  You take a super cute card, because that is the only kind of card you all send to me.  If you are lucky the card will have several opportunities for punching.  This snowman card (KZ shout out!) not only has cute snowmen to punch but cute background too.

See look...  Cute with a scalloped edge x 3.    If I had a rectangle puncher or a different shape I am sure that I could get several from a card like this.  But that would require a trip out of the house and real clothes and *sigh* Riverpark is NOT vacation.  So, now you just punch a hole and write your recipient's name on the blank side and you are ready to gift.

About a thousand times.

OBSERVATION (free of charge): Christmas cards have changed A LOT.  As in, hardly anyone sends an actual card anymore.  Don't get me wrong, I love the pictures and creativity.  And I can't remember the last time I purchased an actual Christmas card.   Do you think Hallmark has noticed?

Milestones from Bad Mommy, you know you love it.

I know what you are thinking, three posts in one day, you better warn somebody.  I'm getting sick (see FB status update for the dets) and I want to make a dent in a grant proposal, so I blog.  You get it right?

I love my beautiful boys.  We had a great weekend and I just wanted to share two milestones.

Milestone #1:  Patrick lost his first tooth!  It has been wiggling for a couple of weeks, much to his consternation.  It finally fell out when we were in the car getting ready to go into the theater to see Peter Pan.  It was very exciting.  Also exciting?  All of the tooth fairies that hand out $10 for one tooth.  And then it is extra exciting to write about it in a book for school so everyone can compare notes.  Patrick got a dollar.   He is now the proud owner of SIX DOLLARS.  I told him to stop betting on the tooth fairy and start reminding me to give him his allowance.  Here's the proud toothless wonder:

This wouldn't be a Bad Mommy post without a bad mommy picture.  Can you see which one he lost?  Look closer.....

And quickly because I want to go home right now....

Milestone #2  SNOW.  This was a Keith Milestone.  My Great Friend Kaidie invited us to her dad's cabin in Shaver for an overnight with her sweet little boy Phillip.  We had such a great time! Amuse yourself with these pictures and know that now Keith is intent on learning how to ski.  "I get da googles and da skis."  On the Silky Side, Keith got so mad when I told Patrick to pound him with snowballs (bad mommy!) he had to take off his beloved gloves and shed his jacket to get to his finger and the silky tag on his pants. 

I LOVE CALIFORNIA.  God Bless it.

Merry Christmas do you wannabe my friend?

I already told you about my Johnny-Come-Lately obsession with THE PIONEER WOMAN (really, she needs all CAPS).  I'm fan number 3,924,210 (LATEly).  I made my first Pioneer Woman recipe this weekend. stand. by.  When she told me to try a new holiday tradition of delivering cinnamon rolls to my friends and family, well I did just that ("fan" isn't the right word for me, let's call me a "student."  I always listen to my teacher.).  I had my doubts, I've made cinnamon rolls before and find them to be a pain in the bun.  I also doubted the maple frosting.  I'm not a big fan of the maple desserts and treats.  I would never intentionally eat a maple bar (I know, I know, you love the maple bars).  ALL OF MY DOUBTS HAVE BEEN ERASED!

First of all, the recipe is really easy.  I made it and volunteered in Patrick's class and went shopping and made French Dip and took the kids to see Peter Pan.  And I am really not that talented, so this has to be easy.  Seriously, go now and see Ree Drummond @ The Pioneer Woman

My Highlights:

 You might have great plans for holly, berries and a beautiful bow.  Figure that out and prepare that before you are walking out the door.  Otherwise, you get this.  I did use my homemade Christmas tags that I recycled from last year's Christmas cards (simple, cute and cheap).  That's Thrifty Decor Chick.... Maybe I'll blog on that project later.  Anyway, all of the stuff I did on Friday coupled with waking up at 4:30 on Saturday didn't leave me time or energy to pull off the decorative bow etc.  Sorry.

Bring a washcloth.  Some people might eat three four cinnamon rolls in the car and you might think you have some type of cleansing towelette, you would be wrong.  Always pack a back-up washcloth or you will have to borrow a damp paper towel at every other stop (THANKS!).  The boys also wanted to get out of the car at everyone's house.  It was early and I made them stay in the car.  I know, I'm mean.   We did have fun singing and dancing and remembering special things about the next house we were visiting and of course discussing St. Nick and his friend Baby Jesus (we're trying folks!). 

Do all of your friends and family live in the same general vicinity?  Mine don't.  It took all morning to deliver the cinnamon rolls, I'm not complaining it was a great way to spend the  morning.  The only drawback to that is the lack of fuel in the Ford.  13.8 MPG?  That is very generous. I'm considering doing my own calculations.

You may or may not eat two rolls before you get the frosting put on the family pan and you may or may not eat two more before anyone is awake.  Take a shot of the pretty finished product prior to consuming half the pan.  Also, you have to put lots of frosting on (can you see how much is left in the bottom of the pan?  That's my mid-morning sustenance).  Trust the Pioneer Woman, drown them.  They will love you for it.

 I'm a Pioneer Woman wannabe.  More to come I'm sure.  I'm taking requests.

 

Back from Never Never Land

Lately I have been doing a lot of things on a whim.  In case you don't know me, this is very unusual.  But totally in character because most of the things that I have been doing on a whim are things that I have been contemplated for several months or years.  Last week, I decided to buy tickets to see Peter Pan at the CMT.  Of course the only shows were on the weekend which meant that I was rolling with only two of my three boys. 

Neither of the boys have ever been to a play or musical.  I was a little apprehensive but decided that it was worth trying.  Of course the production didn't start until 7:30, aka bedtime.  I don't know what I was worried about, the boys had a great time. 

Patrick learned how to crow and as soon as the curtain dropped he was asking if we could come back and see another play.  Through most of the second act Keith whispered, "I go up there now?  Mama, my turn to go up there?" 

Here are the boys in their outfits (I don't know why I was taking these pictures on my phone).  Patrick is modeling his new pea coat.  Keith is modeling the torture sweater (that's the one you scream about and try to pull off).

You can make that...

That's what my husband told me when I was soliciting his opinion on these super cute clip boards I found on etsy (I LOVE ETSY).  I was shopping for teacher gifts and thought the clip boards were cute.  He snorted and told me that I have all the materials to make them myself.  Huh, I hadn't thought of that.

So off I went to inspect my stash of scrapbook paper and supplies.  I was unimpressed and set out to purchase the things my husband was confident I already owned (snort). Patrick's teacher is on maternity leave so everything was multiplied by two because I wanted one for both his teacher and the sub.

Oh My Modge Podge (yes, I call it Modge Podge.  We are down like that), it has been too long my friend. Oh how will we work together next?

Paper (on sale at Michael's) $1

Clipboards $2.79 each

Ribbon (some of what I used I did have in my closet) $1

Mod Podge $5.99

I used the directions from the Michael's site.  And here we are.....

What say you?

NEXT PROJECT!!!! My balls!

I have always wanted to add a wreath to my light fixture.  I just never got around to it, this year we made an ornament wreath and it now adorns the fixture in the dining room.  I have a thing for bright Christmas ball ornaments.  Somehow, when they hang out together, they are even prettier.  I need more!!!!  But I'll wait.  This was a no-cost 15 minute project.  I used ribbon that I had in my closet and all of the balls were from my stash.  I love projects like this!

Next Project: MAKE-UP
My sister and I don't fight anymore.  We haven't had a real argument for years.  But if you asked our mutual friends they would probably tell you that we are prone to (public) sisterly squabbling, that they find hilarious no doubt.  Anyway, presents for our children are a sore subject.  Especially when I buy nail polish and chapstick for Abby (heh).  So when I saw what Emily at Not So Idle Hands created, I knew I had to create my own faux make-up for my darling nieces (x4).  And it is another cheap and quick project!

Step one: Buy make-up at the Dollar Store.  I would have used recycled make-up but I went on an unprecedented cleaning frenzy a few months ago and threw out a Walgreens worth of old make-up (yes, I have a problem).  I found these at the Dollar Store.  By the way, Dollar Store make-up STINKS!  Can anyone wear this without getting a rash????

Step 2: Find old nail polish (possibly buried with your button collection, as though I would ever mend an actual button).

 Step 3: Assess your strange preferences in nail polish and wonder what you would do if you still painted your own toenails.  Decide that you are grateful that your current love of red toes didn't span the years and also decide that although you might have had odd taste in blue and purple nail polish, it is paying off right now.

Step 3: Work with your partner to open all of the packages and remove the real make-up from their little dishes. 

Step 4: Coordinate colors based on the girls' personalities and pour.

Step 5: Oh and Ah over the beauty (that's your partner's job)

Step 6: Wait for it to dry.
One problem: the smell is a bit much.  Kevin wanted me to put it outside to limit the number of brain cells killed for this project.  It was pretty cold in the garage and the nail polish shrunk.  I am going to re-pour tonight and see what happens.

AND FINALLY:
The running joke in our office is about the one stapler that actually works.  We all pass the broken staplers around, swipping the only operational stapler from the current owners desk.  So, (since I'm the best boss ever) I bought each staff member their own (high quality stapler) and put a personal touch on each one.  I love this (mama lou original!)  Bling bling.   Hmmm.... What other office products need a little something?

 

I'm done!!!!  Off to our office party..... we're going to the MET! shhhh.......

Christmas Disease

I didn't get a chance to blog about my bright Christmas balls because I was working on Christmas cards last night.

This is about a quarter of the project.  I put the boys to bed early thinking about my list: ironing, teacher's gifts, wrapping, ball blog...... Every year I forget that Christmas cards are a season long project.  Excuse my letter folding (and writing for that matter, I wasn't feeling very inspired and almost went sans letter (even before my sister went without a Christmas letter (yeah, we're creeepily the same like that))).  Triple Parenthesis SCORE!  Point is the Christmas letter project ate up my night.  And this will likely make the ball post anti-climatic.

Anyway, the children were nestled all snug in their beds with visions of a guilty conscious in their heads.  You see I found a picture of Keith on Patrick's door when I was putting the boys to bed.  This particular picture had a huge red "X" through Keith's face. As in "No Keiths Allowed in Patrick's Room."  I didn't say anything about it, I just took it off his door and stuck it to the art wall.  On my way out of their rooms I noticed that the (dry erase) "X" had been replaced with two smiley faces.

About an hour after I thought the boys were asleep, Patrick came into the apartment with two questions.  #1 What day is Christmas? He was flustered that it is on Friday (movie night), I talked him down.  #2 He wrote a letter to Keith and slipped it under Keith's door and he is pretty sure that it is actually in Keith's room now and the letter said I'm sorry for arguing with you and I'm sorry for putting an X on your face, I love you.

How's that for Christmas spirit?

Meet My Mantel

Oh my goodness, Pioneer Woman almost made me forget I had my own blog to write tonight.  I finally get it, she's amazing.  Every time I read about her in the past I thought it was an Oregon Trails kind of a thing.  In case, you are wondering, it's not.

Last year I threw together a mantel a low-cost mantel.  This year I threw together a low-cost mantel.  I bought another strand of pre-lit garland from Target ($4 at the after Christmas sale). And a bit of extra greenery and flowers that I already had (hanging out in Rubbermaids with nothing else to do).  My skimpy garland bothered me all season last year, imagine my surprise when I realized that I owned the necessary greenery to make my garland full (Surprise! Can I get an inventory system or something?).  Kevin lent me his wire cutters and a clip clip here and a stick stick there.  Voila!  Full garland.  Next year? The mantel wants pearls!!!

It was Patrick's idea to bring in the Nutcracker collection. Love it.  I still wish that I had a larger mantel but we are all pleased with the result.  Merry merry ( I might add some candles and my silver candlesticks, we'll see).

And here is our 2009 Nutcracker, he has a feather in his cap (heh).....

Oh, I almost forgot.... The other mantel expense: mini-Nutcrackers ($3 for two boxes at Von's!!!)

And the whole look.... So I can show you my pet reindeer Teeny.  I always wanted a reindeer, I found Teeny hiding in the corner of Kohls last December 26....

There happened to be a commercial for Polar Express on when I took this picture.  It seemed appropriate so I didn't crop it. Keith's all-time FAVORITE Christmas movie, this year.  Oh and one more thing, red velvet ribbon is highly underrated.  I love it.  It is so luxurious.  Can someone send me a text when velvet comes back in style?  I want velvet socks, is that impractical?

Tomorrow? How many Christmas ball ornaments do you have because I have A LOT!

Santa Claus What's That? Who's He?

My boys love my singing....my musical performances.  Lately I have had Annie running through my head and through my repertoire for the boys.  It's A Hard Knock Life in particular. Maybe because all of my Pandora stations seem to play Jay Z (Pandora is smart, so smart.  I love Jay Z.  who else could or would sample Annie?).

This year we were blessed with a whole catalog of Callahan memories thanks to Kevin's Uncle Danny.  I never got a chance to meet Kevin's Grandma Callahan but Ginny seemed to love big fat Christmas trees and matching pj's.  She also liked to pose in very stylish clothes and she frequently took pictures of all the boys and her husband on the toilet!!!  I heart her.

 Can you tell which one is Kevin's dad?

 

Last year, we made a decision to divorce our fake Christmas tree.  It was a love hate relationship.  We bought that tree the same year we bought our very first house in 2001.  The dogs chewed through the box before we even got the box open, let alone getting the tree up.  The tree was never whole after Murphy and Marley had their way with it.  Every year Kevin spent hours getting all of the lights working and there were some years that whole sections remained unlit.  The relationship just wasn't working out and Kevin wanted a real tree.

So this week Kevin crammed all of his finals into a few days so we would have time to buy a Christmas tree before he went back to work.  We bought a tree that cost almost as much as our fake Christmas tree but oh my it is SO worth it.  Kevin was literally jumping up and down when we got it set up in the family room (the old tree sat in the living room facing the street).  Our tree is so perfect!

And I didn't actually spend $150 on gold and ivory decorations last December 26, but I had a lot of gold and white!  So much that I think we might have a gold and ivory tree again next year!  I was kind of impressed with myself.

Lest you think this is a Mommy tree....

 

I couldn't find my unicorn ornament (one of my favorites from my childhood).  However, I did get (one of) my childhood Christmas wishes.... A TRAIN AROUND THE TREE!!! I always wanted a train under the Christmas tree.  Always.  Cue Mom jumping up and down.  This train is the Hogwarts Express (or "the Harry Potter train" as Keith says) and Pop Pop Callahan bought it for the boys this summer.  Love it.  Tomorrow?  Meet the Mantel (alternate title: I See Nutcrackers)