Radio Silence

For all those who care (and I know all of you do), Jeff and I have been ill this past week(end). So much so, that in hindsight, I'm wondering if we should have gone to the hospital... Anywho, hindsight's 20/20, and I know we're both at this point still alive and seem to be on the mend. :)

I had posed the question last week as to whether or not we would/should slow down... little did I know that as I was typing that very post, a chest cold was beginning to overpower my immune system and would quickly claim victory over my healthy ways.

I have pretty much been out of commission since last Friday. This is actually the 2nd day I have woken up not believing in some part that I was dying... ok, not really, but I was able to wake up and feel like there was hope that I was getting better. From Friday to Monday evening, I managed to take 2 showers and cook 0 meals. The meals part may not seem too unusual for those of you who know me... but the shower thing, not like me at all. I like to be clean! :)

In any case, Jeff was sick with something else, something that at this point I know involves headaches and was not a cold like mine. I'm not entirely sure what it was, as I was wrapped up in my own misery, but I know he was sick as well. Duncan could not escape the germs that invaded our home, and he is currently on steroids to slow down his allergies and incessant sneezing and coughing.

There is one particular experience I wish to share with you... I began Lysol-ing the house as soon as I was able to get out of bed. I had a time in college where I kept managing to re-infect myself with whatever I had due to not immediately cleaning everything, and I assure you this will NOT happen again under my watch. :) So I was Lysol-ing everything... EVERYTHING. Let me tell you, I took this duty (tee-hee, I said "duty") so seriously that the only reason Duncan did not get Lysol-ed is because he was running from me. In any case, I put on shoes so I could head out to the garage and start delousing my car. I noticed there something small in my shoe rubbing my foot, presumably a fuzzy from a sock. I took off my shoe to shake out the fuzz, and low and behold, A SPIDER fell out of my shoe. A. SPIDER. FELL. OUT. OF. MY. SHOE.

Needless to say, it was NOT a good afternoon in our home. However, things are getting better, and I am on the lookout for more of our 8 legged friends. Oh, and the boys have been looking at me funny, as I have become obsessive about shaking out everything that I may think about putting on my body prior to doing so. :)

Hope all is well with you and yours! :)

Wedding Weekend

Hey all! This weekend was a jam packed celebration of all things good! We were lucky enough to celebrate love, Mommies, and time with friends and family!

For those of you who may have missed a few posts, my friend Kym got hitched! It was a crazy time in Manhattan. We got our nails did, our hurr did, and Kym walked down the aisle and said her "I do"s!

It was GREAT seeing friends whom we haven't in awhile... there were people there I had not spoken to since high school. Some looked a LITTLE bit different.... :)


My folks followed us back to the city to watch our first win at sand volleyball (well, and to spend Mother's Day with us)! :) Afterwards, they EVEN treated Jeff and I to yummy ice cream! YAY! :)

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC weekend, one which we are still recovering from! Perhaps one of these days we will be all caught up on sleep... NAAAAAHHH!!!! :)

Hope all is well with you and yours! :)

Mom's Birthday

Happy Birthday to a very special lady!!! :) Love you!

Ashli, with an "i"

Dear friends, it is with great regret that I am passing along this particular piece of wisdom.

1. Never, EVER trust a girl named Ashli... especially if her name is spelled with an "i"... AND ESPECIALLY if the "i" is dotted with a heart.

As some of you may have figured out, I am the Matron of Honor (I know, MATRON?! It sounds SO OLD!) for a wedding near the beginning of May. I had the great fortune of trying on my dress the same weekend of the shower. It looks GREAT! (... it's even LOOSE! WOO HOO!) :) There was, however, a moment of despair when I looked at myself in the mirror and realized my farmer's tan from the past 4 years was still visible with the cut of the dress. This was the moment I decided to sign up for tanning sessions at a local tannery.

Ashli, with an "i," dotted with a heart, did her best to sell me on the various packages. The best thing to helping me that was described? The "high pressured, no-burn guaranteed bed"... which the tannery was having a sale on. It spoke right to my heart. She assured me that she would be there the next day as I purchased the package and had my first burn free tan.

Now, I know fake baking is bad for you. Trust me, I get it. But do you know what else is bad for you? I can recall the images of every single girl in a bridesmaids dress that had tan lines or an improperly fitting dress I have ever seen. Evil versus evil. I only fake bake for certain occasions, and spread it years apart. Tanning = lesser evil, trust me.

I went back in the next day to meet *sigh* Ashli, with an "i," dotted with a heart, and she was nowhere to be found. Her... um... enthusiastic? co-worker assured me that the bed was indeed high pressured, no-burn guaranteed, and on sale. The total was slightly higher than hers, and even the manager when summoned agreed with me that Ashli, with an "i," dotted with a heart, has no basic math skills.

My first experience with the bed was pleasant. I was worried about burning, especially after I got in and had to consciously suppress the remembered aroma of vinegar haunting my childhood memories.

As a kid, I liked to be outside. My skin does not agree with the sun or allow sunblock to form an actual "block," and many sunburns were so severe that vinegar was used to lessen pain. As a direct result, I can remember being the "stinky kid" that nobody wanted to be seen with and had no idea they were so stinky or that nobody wanted to play with them. These realizations have come to me as an adult, and I look back at that time with fondness, so make no mistake that I am and have always been happy with my childhood. :)

My second experience was today. Ashli, with an "i," dotted with a heart, was present, and set the bed for me. She also led me to a different bed, farther in the back, and gave me instructions. After setting the timer for TWENTY FOUR MINUTES (yes, TWENTY FOUR MINUTES) and assuring me that this was a low time for new beginners in this particular bed, she left me to my demise.

The word of the day is "sunburn," my friends. Closely following that is "I knew I shouldn't have trust that b*tch at the tanning place."

Needless to say, I now have reason to refuse service (and/or RUN) from anyone named Ashli, with an "i," dotted with a heart, forever more.

Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Party Weekend

Overall, I'd like to think this weekend was a big success. This weekend, the fruits of my labors came together for Kym's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party. Of course, I could be biased about how great it went. :)

The festivities truly began last weekend, as I finalized details of the weekend, picked up what I thought was the last of the decorations and miscellaneous items needed, and bought the outfits I was to wear to the parties. Thursday, Jeff's Mom was nice enough to bake 2 cakes for the shower (chocolate sheet cake and carrot cake -- YUMMY!) for me to pick up after a LONG day of working. Friday brought driving, baking the last cake, seeing my family, and seeing Kym. I also had a few panicked moments when I was told some guests (who had not RSVP'ed) were coming into town (and may be bringing their children to the shower) where I ran back to Dodge to buy what was truly the last of the decorations and extra supplies for said guests.

All in all, the parties were a smash hit. I absolutely cannot thank my Mom for helping, the other bridesmaids and families members who helped decorate and put everything together, and the guests who came and made Kym's day memorable.

The festivities began Saturday at 11 as we decorated the hall and ended at 230 am when I arrived home after the bachelorette party. Yesterday, I made the 6 hour trek back to KC and arrived exhausted and exhilarated. Duncan had apparently been sitting watch at the garage door for my arrival since Friday evening, and wasted no time greeting me with puppy kisses, puppy cuddles, and puppy farts. Jeff was even excited to see me, too. :)

In all, it was AWESOME seeing my family and friends, and seeing the labor of the last 3 months finally come together into an amazing day for my friend. Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Read the Directions First Test

Ok, so any of those who know me know I struggle with few things... those few things just happen to be in large areas.

The other evening, Jeff and I decided to cook a raspberry swirl cheesecake... the recipe had been sitting on our counter with the ingredients in our fridge, taunting us for the last few weeks, as we have not had time to make it.

Jeff immediately took over the KitchenAid Mixer, while my particular job was gathering and measuring ingredients to add. 1 package cream cheese, check. 1 egg, check. 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice (or whatever it was... we like lemon and just always use a whole lemon), check. Pour half in pan and then drop in raspberry preserves, check... whoa, wait a minute. The raspberry preserves sunk to the bottom of the mixture like the Titanic. This didn't look right... and further more, why was the mixture so fluffy?

Well, upon Jeff and I intently reading the recipe again, we found the lemon juice was supposed to be "divided," my guess is to lighten up the preserves to prevent major sink-age. Also, the mix was simply suppose to "combine, but not mix the ingredients well." Oops, that would explain why it looked like Meringue (and yes, I had to look that up). Hmm... we decided to bake it anyway and see how it turned out.

DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER! The cheesecake ended up to be a disaster... it looks like someone got sick and vomited on top of burned Meringue... with a gentle heart and adventurous nature, my husband decided to dish it up and see how it tasted. Well, remember what I said it looked like....??? Yeah, tastes about like that, too. We figured it MIGHT get better with time to sit (like those, 'eat the next day because it tastes better after sitting' dishes). Nope. Still the same, if not a little worse.

Jeff had remarked upon finding our mistakes in the recipes that I may have had trouble with some of my schoolwork. The conversation went a bit like this:

J: "You know those read-the-directions-first tests we used to take in school? Did you ever have problems with them?"
Me: "Why do you ask, what what does it have to do with this?"
J: "Where you'd be the only one writing, and everyone else is just sitting there?"
Me: "Yeah...."

And then it hit me: Real life application of those tests to cooking. NO WONDER I'VE BEEN HAVING SO MANY DISASTERS (toasters aside, because I swear those 11 pieces of crap malfunctioned on their own!).

In any case, I tried to upload pictures of the "cheesecake," and even my computer rejected it. :)

Hope your day is tastier than ours! :)

Heather, Party Planner Extraordinaire

Heather, Party Planner Extraordinaire. Let me tell you, in addition to my domestic diva skills, I am also becoming quite the party planner extraordinaire. In fact, I could probably add both to my resume pretty soon. :)

As some of you know, I am the Matron of Honor for my dear friend Kym. As her wedding is quickly approaching, I have found myself ordering invitations, booking venues, and planning the ultimate good time in party games. In fact, I've even wrangled her fiance into helping with some. :)

As per usual, there is usually a setback in my abilities. As many of you know, when I cook the setback is typically the smoke detector. I am somewhat ashamed to admit that when it comes to party planning, doing too many things at once seems to be my setback... For instance, I was checking out Jeff's cousin's registry for baby items while ordering invitations, and included the location of the cousin's registry instead of the couple's on the invitations. Oops. At least it was a quick fix, and Kym was totally ok with registering for more cool kitchen gadgets at another location. God bless dear friends! :)

Hope all is well with you and yours!!! :)