Wordless Wednesday: Little Rory Foo-Foo

  

Wordless Wednesday: Eggs-cellent!

More photos over at the Sarandipity blog!

Cooking with Sara: Irish Soda Bread

It's my day to cook for the food blog - watch out!

Happy St. Patty's!  I'm wearing my kelly green dress, and I kissed a (half) Irishman this morning for good luck.  Now, if only my hair were still red, I'd be all set.  I whipped up some Irish Soda Bread for the blog, and I have no idea if it turned out yay or nay.  I wrote more about it on the blog; click on over to laugh at me:

Easy Irish Soda Bread on From Blah to Ta-Daa

And then, scroll down to see Rory's club stamp and one of my favorite videos in the whole wide world....
:)

Stamped Tramp!

(done with nontoxic frosting spray and a stencil)

AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!  This is one my most favorite videos of ALL TIME.  Just so many things that are outrageously hilarious!!  Bo and I quote this video so much.

"I want da gold!"

"Coulda been a crackhead!"

"This is a special leprechaun flute here...from my great-great grandfather, who's Irish."

Cooking with Sara: Valentine's Sugar Cookies

Those of you who've known me for a long while have seen these cookies up close and in person.  Oh yes, I make them fairly often, and especially for the holidays I have cookie cutters for :)  And then at Christmas, we get all kinds of fancy and sandwich them together with seedless raspberry jam and call them the exceedingly fancy name of "Jam Cookies."  My my, how I love these babies.  Which is 15% of the reason why I'm reposting the recipe today.  The other 85% is that I was way too busy to get a new recipe whipped up this week, and rather than post nothing, I thought I'd drag out my very first Blah post because it's festive and cute and who doesn't love cookies with frosting?  Also?  Cookies and frosting.  There's really nothing more to say.

Valentine's Sugar Cookies on From Blah to Ta-Daa

Wordless Wednesday: Belated Merry Christmas from Rory

Cooking with Sara: Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

It's Thursday!  And that means it was my day to cook for the food blog!

Hello, my dears!  (Spoken in the most non-evil stepmother kind of way.)  We're doing a Thanksgiving-ish themed week over at the food blog, and I have to admit that it took me a long minute to decide what to cook.  Unfortunately, desserts were out, because two of the other ladies already posted recipes for them.  My mom's stuffing (aka dressing) recipe was out because it requires me to boil the turkey giblets in order to make it, which in turn, requires me to buy a turkey a whole three weeks before Thanksgiving.  So, that one was definitely out.  I always insist on making green bean casserole, but that recipe is on the can of french fried onions, so no.  Anyway, I was basically left thinking about mashed potatoes.  These guys are awesome because you can make them ahead (even 3 days ahead), and they still heat up fluffy and creamy and yummy.  And the addition of cream cheese and sour cream gives them a little punch of flavor that butter alone can't bring.  I highly, highly recommend.

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes on From Blah to Ta-Daa

Are any of you hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year?  We have an enormous dining table and service for ten, so I always try to finagle my way into hosting.  Plus, it's my one opportunity each year to make stuffing and pumpkin pie and that nasty-good green bean casserole.   This year, we've invited some couples over, but it may just end up being four of us at dinner.  I like a crowd, but I'll take whatever I can get :)

Punkin Pics

Our punkins.

(For those who haven't yet visited, that's the entryway and front door.)

(The door is big.  I'm not that small in real life.)

Because Dremels aren't just for home improvement projects.

View from our driveway :)

Happy Halloween from Rory

Meow.

Meerrowww?

sad kitty.

Where's my broom, woman.

Don't make me call up the flying monkeys.

Merry Merry Merry!

Remember me? Yeah, it's been like 42 years since my last post, and to be honest, I've really missed writing. So, I thought I'd stop in for a quick hello and show n tell.  I have oodles to tell you, but that will have to wait for a time when I'm not comatose from sugar overload.  Til then....

My tree!  (Photo taken while the sun was blazing through the windows.  And, yes, I'm complaining.  Christmas weather sooo isn't supposed to be sunny, dangit.)

Ack!  Scary early morning pic of yours truly.  And while it looks like I'm still wearing pjs, those are real clothes.  I swear.  If only I'd spackled on a little makeup first.  But oh!  That board - that's the thing to pay attention to.  Right.  So, that is for making the Cake Pops.  Bo had it made, and it's lasered with my logo on the top side...

....And with mushy gushy Etsy feedback on the other.  Bo went and had the laser wood engraver burner guys do my sweet comments all over the board to make me feel good.  And feel good, I do.  It seriously nearly made me cry.

Another pretty photo.  I'm unabashadley braggy about the thing.

And little Rory.  I couldn't not give you a photo of her, right?

My Christmas here in San Diego was sweet and relaxing and peaceful and wonderful.  Exactly the way it should be, ahhhhh.   And I hope yours was just as sparkly as mine.

Echo, Echo, Echo

....Anybody home?


(silence)


(mind-blowingly boring silence)


Yep, that about sums up my leave of absence from my blog. I wish that I had tantalizing tales of travel and fascinating people. But, alas, no. I spent my long weekend up to my ears in ants and bleach and dog hair. And then after I was finished cleaning until my clothes were soaked with sweat (yes, they really were because I'm gross like that), I showered and got pretty and spent hours making Cupcake Pops. Whew. Next time, I'm going to try my hand at relaxing over a holiday weekend. I'm the opposite of good at relaxing, so it may take some practice and concerted effort on my part.

Oh, I did do a ton of online shopping this weekend. I'm hoping that the shoes I ordered are nothing but pure fabulous, so I can show you some photos. Also, I found a new perfume that is Just So So Amazing And Good And So Me And Where Has It Been All My Life. It smells like a mix of my 2 favorite perfumes, so I was in heaven when I smelled it. I've already picked up the gift set from Nordstrom, and I'm beyond ecstatic about having found it. Next time you're at the mall, swing by Sephora or a department store, and smell Philosophy's Unconditional Love. Yep, that's what I smell like. Next best thing to a scratch and sniff blog, right?

Incidentally, today is 09/09/09. My sister, Magpie, loves stuff with numbers. Anybody doing anything cool today to commemorate the repetition?? I may just eat 9 donuts at 9:09 this morning to do my part.

I needed something to make me laugh at dinner last night. Bug-shaped pasta so did the trick!

Bloody bugs, hurrah!


(I warned you about the boringness, did I not?)

Holiday Homesick

4th of July Parade in Toppenish, WA. Mom and my uncle in the truck Grampa restored.

Today is really hitting me hard. Hard, as in tears at breakfast, and I'm floating around the house in a gray daze.

The underlying current of emotion is homesickness. It's the 4th of July, and I'm not home. I'm not home for one of our family get-togethers. Those kind that aren't complete without my mom's potato salad and the 5 pies she's made the night before. Without some kind of red jello salad, melting in the sun. Without hot dogs and hamburgers and regular dogs standing around, waiting food to spill off flimsy paper plates.

I'm not home to gather lawn chairs and head in to the parade. My parents are from the same tiny town, and their families have been meeting at the same grassy block on the parade route since before I can remember. It's our own little family reunion there, and all the old timers would stop by to tip their hats and say hello to Grampa and Gramma.

I miss the blazing heat. How can it be the 4th of July without the dire need to cool off in a swimming hole? It feels like May here, and the fact that it's Independence Day just refuses to sink in.

Most of all, I miss a sense of Home. Home, where you feel at ease. Home, where those you love dearly are just a couple of dirt roads away.

This homesickness is having me realize that my living in this city with one foot out the door is taking its toll. I absolutely do not feel like home here. I'm so set on moving away, that my house isn't decorated, and it doesn't exude "home" when I walk in the door. Living with the strong desire to be somewhere - anywhere - else has left me without roots. I'm floating along like a gypsy, without anything to make me feel grounded and secure.

Today has shaken me up. I realize that I need to make some changes. I need to get myself grounded and attached and living in the moment. And that starts now.