Sometimes I fancy myself a confectionist

I watched The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe again a few days ago. It reminded me of my taste for Turkish Delight and all its confection sugary goodness.

The first time I saw this movie I went all in and tried to make the candy myself. And I've found that the process of making candy is usually far less attractive than the candy itself.

When I was finished I gave a piece to a very skeptical Lily who reluctantly took a pea sized bite. I'm ashamed to say, I couldn't bring myself to eat a single one. Finally after letting it sit in a plastic container on my kitchen counter for a month I ended up throwing out the entire batch.

My biggest mistake was when I mixed the ingredients while the sugar simmered which somehow created hundreds of little lumps. I didn't get take any pictures at the time but imagine a jelly like substance riddled with pimply little tumors. NOT the most appetizing thought. Second, I greased the pan so heavily that the candy was coated in a disgusting oil.

So I pose this to you. Those brave enough to have tried their hand at the candy making, TELL ME, how to do Turkish Delight sans lumps AND without jelly sticking to the pan.

And where in the "h-e-double hockey sticks" do you buy rose water?!

OMG!! The most beautiful shoes I've ever seen!

These are the most beautiful shoes I've ever seen. Notice the bee? The thorny heels are 18 karat gold and the silk petals are hand-dyed. The bee is made of gold, onyx and agate. Now, I'm off to acquire the $27,945 to call them mine........yah, that comma is in front of the 9 not the 7.

Photoshoot Epiphanies

I am totally loving the new Crewcuts shots. I wish I could have been creative enough to come up with this idea on my own but I might have to settle for copying them. With winter and temperatures in the 20s this is such a GREAT indoor idea.

Now, I'm not a neat freak but even I think this is gross....

This is what Brian lovingly leaves behind for me in the mornings. I think I feel my breakfast coming up.

*Lily's cute quote of the day:
"MOMMY, did you know that there's an earth called Pluto?!"

Sometimes she surprises you....

My daughter Lily (like probably many of your daughters) needs my attention at all times. When I'm in the middle of an important task she seems to need me the most. Today, she decided that she wanted to wrap Christmas gifts for her best friend Gracie. It turned out to be quite an ordeal.

First she needed me to get the wrapping paper down from the attic. Next she needed scissors and tape. Then she couldn't figure out how to wrap the paper. And when she accidentally tore it, all hell broke loose.

This was while I was frantically searching for my cell phone under chairs, inside drawers, inside purses, out in cars.

The last thing she needed were bows. But they couldn't be just any bows they had to be sticky. So, after searching our attic for those, I managed to find two. Just enough for her two presents. End of story? Well, almost. Soon after, she meekly sidled up to my leg and troubled me with yet another bow request. I had reached my wits end. But she assured me that it was for a present both she and Molly would really love.

The only bow I had left had come apart and had to be re-folded and stapled. FINALLY, after searching for the stapler (and extra staples because....of course....it was empty) I handed it to her, admittedly annoyed.

She took the bow and placed it on my hand, looked up at me and smiled. "You mommy," she said. "You're my present."

I was humbled. She can really surprise you sometimes.

That being said....this morning she climbed into my bed and told me, "Something stinks....oh yeah, that's because you're beside me."

Ooo La La

I don't know what it is lately, but I've had a hankering for a rotary phone. I love their color, their feel, the clunky sound they make when you hang them up, the tangible noise they make when they ring. I want one in every color and I want to take a million pictures of them and have one to match every room of my house.

Watching Life on Mars has made me homesick for my own rotary phone of my childhood. It was yellow and hung on the wall. It was made of bakelite thermoplastic and had some weight to it. We had it from the day I was born to my senior year in high school.

So, I guess I'm just feeling a little nostalgic for a simpler time. A time when you had to stay within a 3 foot radius to talk to someone. A time when you couldn't be reached if you weren't at home and the only channels to choose from were ABC, CBS and PBS. (remember how NBC never came in very well on rabbit ears). Then I remember iced cafe lattes, HD picture and the whole internet 'thing' and I realize that I could never go back. But still....they really look really yummy don't they?

Mid-Season Premiere TV Roundup

All you Lost Fans out there, get ready. I've seen various previews and I'm getting so excited for January. Not only will Lost be returning but Battlestar Galactica AND my new favorite Life on Mars. I don't know who invented the new "Mid-Season" finale but "Life on Mars's" was AMAZING!! I have it saved on my DVR and refuse to erase it. Although it could technically be considered a 'cop drama' it has a very sci-fi 'Losty' feel at times. If you aren't watching you should! I think its ratings are sort of so-so and these next couple months will determine whether it has a future or not. I was a bit skeptical at first but after last week's episode, I have to say, Jason O'Mara is the PERFECT Sam Tyler. In case you don't know the premise, Sam is mysteriously stuck in 1973. That's him in the finale being shot by the father who abandoned him 35 years ago.......he plays 'damaged' so well.

Lily

So often I'm taking photos of Lily in some themed scenario that I sometimes forget to take the everyday shots. I took this while zipping up her coat in the park. I thought it was a beautiful photograph of her. Mental note: take more casual shots of family!

A few of my favorite things

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Every year I become so involved in what I'm going to give my friends and family for Christmas (not to mention how I'm going to afford it) that when asked what 'I' want I can't do anything but draw a blank. NOT this year! Here are a few of my favorite things that I've been drooling over lately....yes that includes a hand vac (with kids under 4 you'd drool over a hand vac too). Hopefully someone in my family will take the hint;) Click on image to be directed to description.

Maize Maze

Last Saturday night we drove down to Amish Country and visited Cherry Crest Adventure Farms. It boasts a 5 acre maize maze. We tried it at night but had to leave early because Molly wasn't enjoying herself very much. Though leaving the maize maze proved harder than we anticipated, you can see Molly's frustration if you click the right photo. Perhaps next weekend, perhaps during the day.

Pumpkin Pickin'

We spent the morning at Ashcombe nursery which has a great fall setup including hayrides, hayslides, pumpkin picking and face painting. Lily was so picky about her pumpkin. It had to be small enough for her to carry.

What's on your ipod?

I'm always looking for new music. The songs on the 'regular' radio suck! Really....suck. Brian had purchased XM radio for me last Christmas and it has been a godsend. To me, it's definitely worth the $12 a month. I recently discovered an artist with a great sound. Reminiscent of ELO. You might have heard of him, a couple of his songs were featured on the 'Little Miss Sunshine' album. Sufjan Stevens. Right now, go to iTunes, uTorrent, whatever and download 'For the Windows in Paradise, for the fatherless in Ypsilanti'. It's ethereal yet earthly at the same time.
And if you have any good songs that you think I might like PLEASE leave me a comment and let me know. A new great song can sometimes get me through a rough day!

And now I know what 'bullpen' means....

Last Saturday Brian, me, his sister and her boyfriend attended a Phillies game. It was a very 'iffy'' day. First of all it POURED on our drive over. So the weather was a big 'if'. All you baseball fans out there might know a little bit about this but the entire excitement of the Phillies game depended on whether the Mets won or lost that afternoon. Depending on which, the Phillies would either clinch their division by the time we got there (thus making the game irrelevant) or not. I'm still a bit confused, not being a big baseball fan. All I know is fortunately that didn't happen and the Phillies clinched their division with us watching from the stands. That's them in the background celebrating. GREAT! And not a stitch of rain!

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Tuesdays Not Just About 'House' Anymore

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE House too! But if you've read my profile you know that I am a sci-fi nerd. You name it, I've fallen in love with it....Battlestar, Lost, Heros, Reaper, Buffy, X-files....And now FRINGE! This however, does not bode well for fringe. MANYof my former Tivo'd favorites now reside in DVD, plot lines never to be fully told. Carnival, Angel, The Invisible Man, Dark Skies, Now and Again, Dark Angel....the list goes on. But I'm hopeful! I've heard modest things about the recent ratings. But so far, it seems J.J. Abrams can do no wrong. So I'm really hopeful! He's totally sucked me in. Only two episodes in and I can't wait to see how John will come back from the dead, who will play William Bell and what will be Peter's reaction when he finds out about how he was conceived! OOoooo, I can't wait for Tuesdays!

....and the worst part was that I didn't get carded

Last night was the first time Brian and I have gone out since Molly was born. That's my sister. That's me being goofy. Before this picture was taken we laughed about old homemade videos, common annoyances and our own unique versions of 'the robot'. We left at 12:30 and I was POOPED!

Baby Steps

Molly stood on her own for the first time today! I grabbed the camera that was sitting beside me and took this. She couldn't figure out how to sit down without falling over. Brian reached out to her as if to coax her to walk but as she tried to take a step her legs buckled and she had this momentary look of panic as she fell. I felt bad for her but I have to admit that the whole thing was pretty adorable.

Ka Pow!!

I took this last year at the lake. Brian is such a goof.

End of the World!!!!!!!

Did anyone hear about the Doomsday device that they are powering up TOMORROW?! I myself am very interested in astronomy and the origins of the universe which this machine is supposed to help explain HOWEVER, there is like a one in a couple million chance that it will create mini black holes that will devour the earth thereby bringing an end to mankind....heck....all kind. What it is *supposed* to do is send beams of protons around a 17 mile ring, 11,000 times per second then crash them into each other as what would have happened during the 'big bang'. The questions that will be answered could possibly change the face of science (including time travel....seriously). The device has been in the works for the past 25 years so obviously, people have a lot invested in it, aside from the $6 billion....of course. Brian brought this to my attention a couple months ago and at the time a couple groups had tried to go through legal channels to stop them from using it but apparently it's happening tomorrow. Yikes. Well, if I post on Thursday, you'll that everything went okay. If not, I'm somewhere between here and oblivion. I found a post somewhere on the internet that I thought summed it up sardonically.
"Imagine you have a huge tanker truck parked outside a children's hospital. You don't know what's inside it, but you're fairly confident that it's either a cure for cancer, or 20,000 gallons of explosive nitroglycerin. To find out which, you have to shoot at it with an AK-47."

Read more here.

What Are Friends For?

When the new Batman movie came out I HAD to see it! Brian was away visiting some old friends from law school but my friend from childhood, Abi, was nice enough to accompany me even though I think she would have prefered to see Mama Mia. Here we are....giddy from sneaking brownies and McDonald's iced coffee.

Why I Envy my Children

They have the hair color of my dreams! I've tried and tried to get my hair to an ASH brown color. But, no matter what I do it looks like this. Reddish Brown. It's my Pacific Islander genes. So I pose the question to you....Does anyone know how to get rid of that red?

We've Finally Boarded the HD Wagon

This was my birthday gift to Brian this year. It was either this or a cruise. And since our old tv was starting to get fine white lines at the top of the screen I thought this would be the more practical choice. It's HD. And oh, how lovely it is. We get a kick out of switching the channels back and forth from normal tv to hdtv. Here's the Phillies in hd....but LOOK....here's the Phillies in noormall tv. Ugh. How did we ever survive?!

I went to Best Buy to pick up this tv and had a minor ordeal. Since, of course, I couldn't tell Brian about the surprise, I had to go to the store alone. I pulled the car up to the front where a brawny warehouse employee came out with my tv on a dolley. However, after many attempts we soon discovered that the box was not going to fit in the car. I then had the brilliant idea to remove the tv from the box and slide it in. He then informed me that he could not help me in any way if I was going to take it out of the box. Ugh. So....in front of the store....all 105 lbs of me had to open (without a knife) the box, then lift the 40" flatscreen into my car while all the Best Buy employees stood inside watching the spectacle.

One, Geek Squad guy coming into work insisted on helping me but was quickly thwarted by one of the other employees who promptly ran out and informed him that he could NOT help. I thanked him for being SUCH a gentleman. Overall, I guess I understand why they have that policy but as a customer, is it really worth having people struggle in the front of your store while you all stand inside watching? How must *that* have looked?

Molly's First Ride

Labor Day we all went to Knobels with Brian's parents and his sister, Caren. This was Molly's first ride. And kind of scary for me as she started squirming mid-flight.

The brown have it!

I spent all of Sunday sewing a new slipcover for our futon. The old one (see above) was disgusting. I'm ashamed to say that towards the end, this is how it looked right before I'd put it in the wash (this was the worst and the final straw). Bleach could get the stains out temporarily but within a couple days they were back....with their friends. I originally made the white cover a little over a year ago to match my IKEA armchair and ottoman (which have seen better days as well). I figured after a year of washing and bleaching I finally got my money's worth and bought fabric for a new cover, a more....how should I say....chocolate milk colored cover. The top picture is the finished futon. Looks good. Now, only three more pieces of furniture to go....sigh....

Lily the Lionheart

Brian, Lily & I on 'The Scrambler' at Hersheypark. Lily was quite the fearless four-year-old, asking when she could be old enough to ride the rollercoasters. Then actually riding one (a small one with no tall hills).......though we led her to believe she was in line for this rollercoaster which she happily accepted.

Say 'Cheese Curls'!

Last Saturday my sister and I went to the lake with lily and molly. Lily was whole heartily excited about getting in the water. That is, until she saw the sea weed floating on the surface. She clung to my sister like a rhesus monkey. Molly surprisingly sat in her floaty and had a good time. This picture was taken pre-sea weed swim.

A tisket, A tasket

For a long time I thought fresh flowers were a luxury I could not afford. However, after drooling over 'Oh Happy Day's posts about flower arranging and a bit of rationalizing, I decided that (as long as they last a week and I buy the inexpensive varieties), they were something I could splurge on. I'm no florist so to the amateur arranger my bouquet must look like a tangled tot's coif but to me, any fresh flowers in the house brightens my day!

NEW!! I had a couple people ask where I bought the chandelier. However, I had something very specific in mind when I was decorating and could not find anything even close to what I was looking for. So I made it myself. The only advice I can give is how I did it. I took a regular extension cord, cut off the plug, striped the wires and hardwired it into the ceiling. I bought a ceiling plate at Lowes and screwed four eyelet screws into it so that I had something to hang the black chandelier chains from (also bought at Lowes). From the chains, I hung two 3' wreath frames together with floral wire, then finally wrapped brown christmas lights (which were the hardest to find) around the frame and plugged them into the extension cord which I hid inside the chain. Complicated? It sounds a little but to be honest it was easier than I had anticipated.

Puzzle Sandwich

I saw this on 'the crafty crow'. Isn't this the coolest idea?

New Grosgrain Post

New Grosgrain giveaway!

Lily and Molly turn 4 and 1!!!!

Lily and Molly celebrated their 4th and 1st birthdays on Saturday. Here's a photo summary of how the day went.

My beautiful friend Abi


Lily Blows out her candles.


Me wearing one the prizes.


Lily discovers her big birthday surprise.


Gracie is such a goofball!


Who will be the last balloon standing?


Watch out, Katie's at bat!


Molly opens her presents.


Lily opens My Little Pony.


What a big sister!


Molly's got to wear shades!


My matching babies.