Christmas Ideas

Do you need a passport for Caribbean cruises? I know you do for Mexico…but these new restrictions have me all confused!

Last year my husband surprised me on Christmas with a new laptop. For my birthday it was a shiny red Kitchenaid. This year for Christmas, I’ve decided it’s my turn to surprise and spoil him. I’ve been looking into some fun getaways for the two of us, but not knowing the new passport laws, I’m thinking my original thought of either a Blackhawk’s hockey game or a Bulls basketball game at Madison Square Garden…I know there isn’t a passport needed for either one of those!! BUT…would you rather tour New York City in a parka and boots? Or get a passport and lounge around on the deck of a beautiful ocean liner??? Yeah…I thought so!

Time To Update

For the past several years I have dreamed of having laser surgery on my eyes. I have worn eyeglasses since I was in the 9th grade, and how I would love to be without them.

Until that happens of course, I do need to get an updated prescription, and an updated look. I have wanted rimless, rectangles for months now, and I think I will be making my appointment with my vision center this week. Maybe we’ll call it my Christmas present to myself!

How strange will it be to look in the mirror, and see a different pair of eyes looking back at me? After eight years with the same glasses…methinks it might be a little strange!

Money Management At 11

I taught my oldest son a great lesson this week. He had been over playing with a friend and came home wanting to spend $20 of his birthday money to buy a used video game from him. I thought about it for a moment, and decided it was time to introduce him to the world of used cds and video games! We headed online, and found the exact same game for $5.00 and that included shipping. The only difference? He now had to wait four days for it to come in the mail. We won it on Monday, and it arrived Saturday morning—and that was with Thanksgiving in the mix!  Now if only there was an abundatrade.com for kids clothing! I would love to turn in some of their used clothing items, for bigger and better things!! But for now, video games will have to do!

He was thrilled, and got to keep $15 of his birthday money for something else he loves…baseball cards!

Computers

Do you remember the movie “War Games”? The W.O.P.R. computer with it’s tape drives took up an entire room in the Department of Defense. There are still a ton of computers out there that are that big, but house nice it is to have many “at home” versions like desktops and laptops. I don’t know where I would be without my laptop!

My niece is having her birthday in a few weeks, and aside from texting on her Blackberry…the girl is never without her laptop either. I was thinking of something like this fun cake, except with a picture of her instead. Hey, maybe a picture of her using her Blackberry!

Ain’t technology grand!!

Aspartame Poisoning

My family is littered with sufferers of fibromyalgia. My mom, my aunt, my cousin, and many times throughout the week…me! However, now I’m thinking I really may not be one of them. Most of my pain is in my upper arms in the back, and recently I’ve tried to cut out Diet Coke with Aspartame because it seems to poison the body and cause fibromyalgia symptoms. I have to say, I have only had Diet Coke with Splenda, except on a VERY FEW occasions, and I do think that my arm pain has gotten immensely better.

I’m not saying this is the cure for anyone else in my family that suffers, but for me, it was a great find. I just hope it really is a find, and that I’m well on my way to feeling better!

Big Girls & Cake

It seems like every post on this blog mentions a diet pill…whether it’s Decaslim or one of the other many, it’s kind of funny. But you have to realize, I’m a big girl! I haven’t always been big…that was my oldest son’s fault…but being big and working with cake…a diet pill isn’t necessarily as silly as you may think!

I have another cake due this week. It’s Blake’s birthday and we are going to Libby Lu’s–something like that. Hair and make up and most important glitter. Originally it was Build A Bear with a teddy bear dressed like a princess cake. Now I’ll have to ask tomorrow and see what her thoughts are. Now that the bears are gone, she may just chose the mermaid she had been wanting! We’ll see!

A New Look

My garage is now stuffed. It’s so sad, because there are no cars in it. We rearranged all of the tv furniture, kicked the two recliners out and the love seat, and brought up the big long couch. For some reason the puppy decided that the couch was his chew toy, and completely edible.

Although the garage is loaded until we can get the furniture hauled off, the family room looks much bigger with so much less furniture. We should have kicked it all to the curb months ago!

Cake Overdose

Each of these cakes I make take a total of 6 boxes of cake mix. The Optimus Prime cake took 12–because I started over 1/2 way through. Then after I cut the pattern out, 1/2 of it was left over. Can I tell you, my kids and I ate a TON of cake! By the end of the night I ended up throwing every leftover piece in the garbage. We certainly didn’t need the sugar rush the next day…we were already in need of some slimquick diet pills!!

Then, at the party Grayson decided he just hadn’t had enough cake over the weekend. So after polishing off two pieces…he asked for a third! I can’t even imagine! Luckily his momma caught him and said “NO”!

T’s Party!

If you look a few posts down, you’ll see the picture I posted for the cake I had to do for a friend’s son’s birthday party. So I thought I had better add some pictures of the finished product! This baby weighed like 30 pounds, with tons of buttercream frosting, chocolate filling and marshmallow fondant. Can you say there’s a huge need for alli weightloss pills right about now?

The kids had a great time at the party. Here’s just a few shots of some of the fun! We’d never been to one of the ‘inflatable party’ places before, and I have to say…it is definitely a cardio workout for us grown ups! Woo, can’t wait to go again!

Grilled Desserts Too!

Did you know that you can make a FABULOUS grilled pound cake on a George Foreman grill?  See, they are great not only for healthy grilling, but also tasty desserts that you would never think of! Sure you can make this tasty treat on a regular grill too…just double the cooking time!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 minutes
Ingredients:

* 10 oz. frozen loaf pound cake, thawed
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1/2 cup caramel ice ream topping

Preparation:
Cut pound cake into 8 slices. In small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and mix to combine. Spread on one side of pound cake and cover the butter mixture with chopped pecans. Grill cake slices on two sided grill for 2-3 minutes until cake is heated and pecans are browned and fragrant. Drizzle with ice cream topping to serve. Serves 8