14 DAYS OF LOVE - OUTTAKE

Strawberry covered chocolate cake.  I had a big fail on this project. Tastes delicious but oh my goodness, was it a disaster!

The plan was to layer brownie batter and strawberry cake in a cupcake liner.  Add pink icing and voila, a valentine yummy morsel.

Disaster #1 - You can't get the brownie out of the cupcake liner!!

I only have one muffin pan, so the rest of the batter I layered in a 9x13 and baked it.

Disaster #2 - although the toothpick came out clean, the brownie could have baked five more minutes.

Disaster #3 - you know when you mix cornstarch and water and it's either thick like glue or super runny?  That was my icing.

Disaster #4 - when I put the icing on the cake, it wouldn't spread without ripping up the cake.

Total disaster but super, duper good!

I HUMILIATED MYSELF AT WINCO

My son wanted an sub sandwich from the grocery store. I found the one he wanted but I thought the ham didn't look good. It wasn't nice and pink.

I put it back and grabbed another. The ham didn't look good on that sandwich either. I did this 5 times and all of them had the same problem.

So, I began to wonder. Does ham have light and dark meat like chicken?

I asked the lady next to me, "Is ham supposed to look like this?"

She replied, "That is roast beef."
Mortified!! How do you explain your way out of that?!

"I don't eat meat and this sandwich is for my son,"was all I could think of.

She replied, "Men love roast beef, so you're doing a good job."

True story.

I'M NOT SAYING ANY NAMES OR WHAT

exactly happened to our bathroom screen.BUT, the perpetrator may or may not be male, the first initial may or may not be 'L' and a homemade flame throwing device may or may not have been tested.

Never a dull moment around here.

HOMEMADE ZIPLINE

What a team these two are. Do you think we will be visiting the Emergency Room anytime soon?

PS - Don't you love how there is a hula-hoop in the center of the zipline?

LOSER LAURA HAS STRUCK AGAIN

The wee ones were invited to an Easter Egg Hunt this morning. We arrived with baskets, excitement and enthusiasm and guess what? The egg hunt was over - we were an hour late!
The handsome, very nice, little host shared some of his loot with the boys, which I thought was so sweet.
I bought the wee ones the Gulliver's Travels DVD to try to buy their love.

MUD

For those of you curious as to how much mud was packed under our van after "the spring of 2011 incident", here is a photo of some of it. After a 20 minute drive home, all the while loosing mud all the way, this is a sample of what Larry was able to get out from under our car.
He was one muddy man when he was finished.
You know I was shook up if I didn't get a photo of that!

GUARDIAN ANGELS

were at work today and we are so thankful. On our way home from the shop, Larry and I had a scary incident. We had just come over the bridge when a car on the shoulder of the road decided to do a u-turn right in front of us. We were driving 50 mph and had to swerve to miss them. We crossed lanes and ended up stuck in a recently plowed field. If we had not been forced to swerve, we would have t-boned the car. The car had in it's back seat, a 3 week old baby and another small child. Impact would have been on the baby's side. Thinking about what could have been for all involved makes me shudder.

The most frustrating part of the evening was when the lady who ran us off the road left the scene, she almost did the same thing to another car!

A friend of ours came when we called for help with his truck and rope, and we were very lucky to have so many people stop to offer their services. One in particular had a winch and saved the day.

The car doesn't have much damage, a large chunk of something came off from the front underside (possibly a vent?), and once we (Larry) got all the jammed packed mud off the underside of the car when we got home, all our warning lights on the dash went off and the car is running much better than it did on the way home.

KILL ME NOW

Mustache March has begun.

WE OPENED A CAN OF WORMS!

I wanted a new tub. We saved and this summer we purchased one that would fit the bathroom space. It's been sitting in our garage for 6 months. With a few pleadings and batting of the eyes, I requested the bathtub switcheroo be our first house project of the new year.
Taking out this tub and surround wasn't as difficult as we had thought, BUT THEN we realized we opened an expensive can of worms. We discovered a leak behind the wall and black mold on two of the walls.
Larry took care of the wall situation immediately, BUT THEN we discovered the leak had caused a lot of floor damage. While Larry was removing the floor and sub floor I was looking for in the deep holes between the joists for a time capsule or long forgotten hidden money from the original owners.
This "time consuming but not too difficult" tub installation has turned into bathroom drama and our lair is stressed. Hopefully it gets put back together quickly - we need that shower!

THE WEE-EST ASKED US

if he could have a kennel too. He's putting it on his birthday wish list.

PAC MAN COOKIE CUTTERS

Seriously, how cool are these cookie cutters?!They are 12 British pounds and I thought, "yikes, but they are too cool to pass up!" BUT THEN the shipping is 15 British pounds. Ugggg!!
$42.71 for cookie cutters - too rich for my budget. Dang! What a bubble popper.

WORST DAY AWARD GOES TO.....

ME!

Son #1 - sick
Son #3 - sick
My car - not my friend.
Other stuff - not my friend

I went to Fred Meyer and when I went to park there was a shopping cart in the way. I jumped out of the car to move it so I could park and when I did, I apparently locked the door and it shut.
My purse was in the car. My phone was in the car. My car was running. I was blocking traffic.

An hour and a half later, my humiliating parking lot incident was over and I had come up with a:

Top 10 List of Brightsides.

1. I have a new talent of directing traffic to go a.r.o.u.n.d. a car
2. My wee-est one wasn't with me.
3. It wasn't raining.
4. It was cold, but not too cold for a just a hoodie.
5. 7 out of 10 people stopped to ask if I was okay - some let me use their phone and some offered to buy me hot cocoa and a magazine.
6. My radio was on a Christmas channel and the volume was just loud enough that I could tell what song it was.
7. Thankfully, Larry's work isn't an hour commute.
8. I got to laugh at my humiliation with strangers.
9. I wasn't hungry.
10. I didn't have to pee.

I'm sure a few of you are wondering, "Why didn't she call me?!?"
Your number is on speed dial in my phone and your "name" doesn't work on stranger's phones. I think I have some memorizing to do!

PS - I didn't cry until Larry came to rescue me.

SHOPPING CART INCIDENT OF 2010

Ever have one of those days?
Yesterday was one of those days for me.
One of the days highlights was Landon getting his leg stuck in the shopping cart...

Being determined not to have the fire department come to the parking lot to release my hysterical son from captivity, I called our Super Hero Daddy.... Luckily, he was within minutes of us and being the MacGyver Eagle Scout man he is, used a tire jack and saved the day.....

I GOT A NEW PHONE BUT

we're not friends yet...
Does anyone have this phone? I have questions!