Craving Chocolate

For the past few days my sweet tooth has been on overdrive.  The only thing that has saved me from gaining 15 pounds is that I haven't had time to bake and there is no chocolate in the house.  It's killing me.  

Really.  Killing.  Me.

Last night, I was searching through the refrigerator and all our cupboards for something sweet and unhealthy and I was coming up with a very depressing zero.  Then, I had one of those light bulb moments: I remembered that somewhere I had a recipe for "Chocolate Cake in a Mug."  It took some searching, but I finally found the recipe and quickly discovered that I did, in fact, have all the ingredients.  I might admit to doing a very short jig in the middle of the kitchen floor.

I got right to work:

I stood in front of the microwave for three minutes, watching the cake bake.

I had such high hopes.  I waited until the cake was only slightly less hot then molten lava before I took a bite.

The first few bites were eaten at such high speed (that cake might get away you know) that I didn't really even taste them.  But, once the initial sugar craving was satisfied, I slowed down enough to savor the rest of the treat.  Oh, what a let down.  Apparently my "bake by microwave" skills were lacking, since the kitchen sponge on my counter top would have had a better texture.

On the bright side of this failed experiment, I won't be gaining 15 pounds on Instant Chocolate Cake.

Watch Out Bugs!

When you have kids, people give you stuff.  Stuff like old fishing nets with no net.

When you have kids, they want that stuff to be fixed so that they can use it for all sorts of things like catching fish and bugs.

When you have kids, they want it fixed NOW so that they can catch bugs.

Well, the NOW part was a little slow in happening, but the fix-it part finally did.  It also seemed like a good chance to teach Ian how to use a needle and thread.  Maybe it will also inspire him to take a bit of care with his new tool?  

Maybe?  

Probably not.

Either way, I see some bugs in our future.....

Finger Painting

Toward the end of last week - Thursday I think - the kids were bugging me to paint.  I had my own project spread out on the kitchen table (a previously mentioned sewing project which I did manage to finish at 11:10pm Saturday night), so I set them up out on the patio with smocks and washable finger paints.    I didn't take any pictures of the decidedly un-artistic messes they made with the paints, but I did take some shots of Project #2: Cleaning paint off the patio

and Project #3: Cleaning paint out of hair.

As a preemptive step to all three projects, I had filled the kiddie pool with water to aid in cleanup.  

Best idea EVER!

Old Friends and New Babies

Hello old friend, it's nice to see you.  You haven't been out for a while.

Meet the new little guy.  He looks sweet, but he doesn't like you.  Sorry about that, but he feels that you take entirely too much attention away from him.  His plan to keep us separated includes eating frequently, spitting up, blowing out diapers (the ones that require baths are his favorites), and reasonless screaming.

His tactics are effective, since they have caused me to take a week to get this simple skirt cut out. 

(I think he may have recruited some siblings to help, too.)  

Be patient, old friend.  I'll plug you in soon!

Where Have I BEEN?

A few days ago my husband said to me "You have GOT to update your blog!"  He was right (see, I can say it), but due to technical difficulties I haven't been able to for several weeks.  However, those difficulties seem to have been sorted out, at least for the time being, so I can fulfill his request and let everyone know that we haven't been slacking, just because we have a new baby in the house.

Here is one project:

When we dug around our house to fix the foundation, the flower box on the center-front of our house had to be taken out.  This spring Aaron installed a replacement.  After the flower box was finished we planted some bushes and also seeded the front lawn.  I CAN NOT WAIT to have a mud free front lawn.

Here is another project:

This summer we are going to be redoing the living room.  Oddly enough, preparing for that project involves changing the location of the door for the basement stairs, which is in the kitchen.

Lest you think Aaron is the only one doing projects around the place, here is Big Brother Ian and his "Teach a Sister to Swing By Herself" system.  Believe it or not, his dragging her has actually gotten her to do it herself - perhaps as a form of self-preservation.

And one last project.  This spring, an inordinate number of birds have flown straight into our kitchen and living room windows.  I suggested making bird silhouettes to stick to the window so that the real birds won't keep kamikaze-ing into the glass.  Ian decided to make a "Scare Crow" instead, and Brynnie made a "Scare Vulture".  I think she meant Falcon, but she insisted on vulture.  Either way, hanging it in the window should chase away any self-respecting bird I've seen.  I'll be cutting out some black bird shapes to add later today.  I hope it works.

So, it's back to the projecting grindstone.  I need some new garden decorations!