Almost Done

Mark's first business trip is almost officially over. In not too long, he'll be home. I'm thankful - I'm more than ready to have him here.

With the exception of the alarm debacle, things went pretty smoothly. The garbage went out when it was supposed to. The littler box got cleaned. All meals were eaten. Work was uneventful.

I'll admit, though - I was lazier than I intended to be. I had a lengthy to-do list that got abandoned in favor of this:

Cuddling up in bed with the kitties and reading. Really not a bad way to spend an evening.

Things Don't Always Go As Planned

Take my burger cupcake for instance.

I set that post up last night. I was researching players for my fantasy draft, watching re-runs on TV and anticipating a good, albeit quiet, evening. And then, the alarms starting going off.

My first thought was that it was my cell phone - and then no, it sounds more like a smoke alarm - and then a woman's voice kicks on telling me carbon monoxide has been detected in my home. All I could think was, "Well, shit."

I went outside and called 911 and within a few minutes there were two fire chiefs, a cop and two big fire trucks blocking off my little street - and a slew of firefighters tramping through my house as I stood on the front lawn shaking.

As far as they could tell, there was nothing of concern. They took readings all over the house and could find nothing. Maybe the old air conditioning backfired. Or maybe it was a faulty alarm. After they sufficiently checked everything they could think of, they put the alarm back up and told me I should be fine and to just call again if it went off again.

Of course, one of the first questions they asked was, "Do you feel sick?" I answered no, because I really had felt fine before the alarm went off. As soon as they all left I went in and tossed my cookies - not from carbon monoxide poisoning, but from sheer nerves.

The toughest thing is that Mark wasn't around to make it all better. He left yesterday morning on a business trip. His first - my first time alone in the house. Makes for a great first night alone, huh? After freaking myself out for another half hour, I called my Mom to come stay with me and since she's awesome, she did.

I just needed someone else around. Someone else that could handle the crisis if in fact something else popped up. And someone to not feel sick so I could be sure my stomach was nerves.

Even still, last night was rough. Despite sleeping with every window in the house open, I kept waking up in a panic thinking something was wrong. To say I'm the walking dead today would be an understatement.

We started off the morning with a trip to Home Depot for a few additional carbon monoxide alarms (ours was in a bad place, more evidence that it truly was a false alarm) for better places in the house. They're now set up (and not going off) and the AC is back on and I'm not as worried about being poisoned while I sleep. (Three alarms can't be wrong, right?)

It just made me laugh to see the burger post pop up this morning. If only things had really been that smooth last night. If only...

Brownie Burger Cupcakes

Last night was my first draft of the Fantasy Football season and, in honor of that, I whipped up a little snack. I wanted something sweet but football always makes me think of comfort food. I think this was the best compromise:


Brownie burger cupcakes a la Bakerella! Yellow cupcake bun, a brownie burger, some green and red icing and sesame seeds.

The perfect draft dessert!

Rain Barrel, Pt. 2

Remember that bright blue rain barrel we made the other night?



We got some paint for plastic and I got busy making it a little less conspicuous.

Much better, right?

Up next: installing it.

Belated Birthday Bike

Even though my birthday was in June, I'm just getting around to picking out my gift now. Mark had given me an IOU to pick out a bike. With everything going on, we didn't really get a chance to do any proper bike shopping, until today.

I picked out this beauty:



Mostly white with just a touch of pink. It's designed for comfort and good for both on-road and trails. I'm in love.

It's officially on order and should be ready next weekend. I can't wait!

Rain Barrel, Pt. 1

Tonight, Mark and I went to a build-your-own rain barrel workshop. I have to say, I was really excited for this. I really want to make our home as green and sustainable as possible - and getting a rain barrel was high on my priority list. I've been eyeing them at Home Depot (for about $75) and waiting for some of the new-house bills to stop rolling in to get one.

And then, I ran across a small article in the local paper last week about this workshop. For $20, we got all the materials we needed and instructions on how to put it together. It was something we couldn't pass up.

The workshop began with a presentation on what an impact rain barrels can make. While I was thinking it would be a great way to collect water to water the plants in the yard and save a few dollars on the water bill, they're also being used to lessen the storm impact on local waterways.



They gave a quick demonstration on what to do.



And then let us loose with the barrels!



The whole thing was pretty simple - a few holes drilled, screwing in some plumbing fixtures and a little caulk and you're good to go.

The next steps are to paint the barrel (we'll be making it blend into the landscaping more) and getting it installed in our yard. I'm so excited about this!

Brownie S'more Bars

This was another dessert from Saturday, and another one for the keeper file. These were a huge hit. The original recipe (linked below), called for making the brownie part from scratch. I have a plethora of brownie mix in my pantry right now so I decided to use up a box on this. It worked well and made the prep go really fast.

S'more Brownie Bars

(adapted from Lemons & Love, originally from Kraft)

10 Sheets of graham crackers, broken in half, divided
1 box of brownie mix, prepared according to package directions
3 cups mini marshmellows
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Live a 9x13" baking pan with foil and grease the foil. Line the bottom of the pan with graham crackers. Break remaining grahams into peices and set aside.

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and pour into pan over graham crackers. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Be careful not to overbake.)

Sprinkle with mini marshmellows and chocolate chunks. Bake for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until marshmellows begin to puff. Broil for 30 seconds - 1 minute to toast up marshmellows. Press reserved graham crackers into marshmellows.

Cool completely. For easiest cutting, freeze for 20 minutes before cutting into squares.

Happy Birthday, Kali

According to the paperwork we got when we adopted the cats, today is Kali's first birthday. I thought it would be a good opportunity to share a few of the (way too many) pictures I've taken of her.

Like her sleeping in her cat carrier. She's the only cat I know that voluntarily hops into a carrier.


She also adores laundry. It's impossible to do any laundry without her wanting to "help".



She's completely taken to the new cat tree. Impressively enough, she's more graceful on it than her brother.



She's completely convinced that the dining room is her playroom. See all that mess behind her? Guess who is responsible. She's going to be sad when we actually get furniture for that room.



And, one of her favorite spots in the house - on the couch, on her Yankees blanket with her head on the pillow.

For her birthday, I decided to make up some homemade cat treats. They have so many toys and store-bought treats make her puke so it seemed like a good compromise.

I hate fish, so I spent a good hour gagging over the tuna dough - mixing it up, smelling it bake, cutting it up. And you know what? She didn't even like them! Go figure.

She got lots of extra cuddling to make up for it!

Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

I made this for dessert when our friends came over Saturday and it was fantastic. This is, without a doubt, something that I will be making again.

Strawberry Sour Cream Pie

(from Worth the Whisk)

1 unbaked pastry shell

1 qt. fresh strawberries

1 c. flour

1 1/4 c. sugar, reserve 1 tablespoon

Dash of salt

1 c. sour cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Hull and wash the strawberries, slice in half and set aside. Into a large mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar and salt. Add sour cream and blend just until creamy. Gently fold in berries; be careful not to over-mix. Pour fruit into pie shell and using a spatula, gently spread to edges but to not pack down. There should be air holes throughout. Sprinkle top with remaining 1 T. sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Broil for an additional 2-3 minutes to brown up the top.

A Friend-Filled Saturday

Yesterday was one of those awesome days where the only thing we really had to do was hang out with our friends. We had some of our college buddies over in the afternoon to see the house and barbecue. At night, we went to a birthday party.




Today is equally laid back. After sleeping in, we've spent most of the day just hanging around the house. I wish every weekend could be this relaxing!

Cool Find of the Weekend - What Would You Do With These?

Last night when Mark and I were out running errands, we noticed the local Blockbuster is going out of business. While the movies weren't marked down enough to intrigue us, we did end up coming away with this stack of goodies for $1:



They're the place-holders they put on the shelves behind the DVDs. Some are plastic, others are a thicker paperboard. We grabbed some from our favorite shows.



Some kids ones.



Some from movies we liked.



And some just for the hell of it.

Now, what to do with them?

I'm toying with the idea of framing a bunch together for my office (maybe just the movies-made-into-books ones?). A friend on Twitter suggested cutting them down to use as coasters - which would also be cool but wouldn't work for all of them.

I feel like we should throw a movie party so I can use them to decorate.

What would you do with them?

Goals

I've been thinking about goals a lot lately. I officially have less than 100 days until the end of my Mission 101 project - after more than two years of working off the same goal list, the prospect of being able to start again is both exciting and overwhelming.


I put together my 101 list on the plane ride home from Vegas. I was only a few months past college graduation and still settling into my first real, adult job. I was living at home. I wasn't engaged yet. It was this really odd period of feeling like I'd aged out of college but wasn't established enough to consider myself an adult. I wasn't really sure what I wanted my life to look like.


So, on the way home from Vegas I started jotting down everything I wanted to do. Everything that I wanted to accomplish to feel like an adult and everything I felt I hadn't had time to do in college. Some of it was terribly practical, like catch up on missed doctor's appointments and create an emergency fund. Some of it was stuff I really wanted to learn, like cooking certain recipes, knitting and quilting. A lot was purely for fun, like getting new luggage and reading more.


When I look at my list now, it's a reminder of exactly where I was when I wrote it. I truly wanted to pursue every single one of my 101 goals and remember the intent for each one.

More than two years later, though, the list has lost some of it's appeal. Nearly a quarter of the goals still need finishing. Would I love to be able to say I'm going to finish them all? Absolutely. Is it at all practical? No chance.

I can't really consider not finishing a failure, though. I completely underestimated how much life can change in two and a half years. While "get engaged" did make it on the list, there was no other marriage-related goals - and nothing at all about buying a house. Clearly, those two events took up more time, money and effort than I would have ever imagined - and subsequently cut into resources that could have been used for goals, especially traveling ones.


But, getting to the end of my 1001 days and not having the goals all done is making me wonder if I want to do another 101 list, or refocus my energies elsewhere. I don't know if I want to commit to another 1001 days - but I do love lists. And, there are a few larger projects that I want to tackle (like cooking through my cookbooks) that would be terribly overwhelming as one goal for the 101 list.

How do you define and track your goals? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Double Chocolate Kahlua Cake

My Mom's birthday is Saturday, but she and my Dad came down last night for dinner so I decided to make her an early birthday cake. A few months ago I had bookmarked a recipe for Kahlua Choclate Cupcakes that I thought would be perfect; she loves chocolate and loves Kahlua. When I actually read through the recipe this week, I wasn't as thrilled so I started searching around for something a little different.

This cake came out fantastic and got rave reviews all around - and thre recipe was from, of all places, eHow!

Double Chocolate Kahlua Cake

(adapted from eHow)

For cake:

1 box dark chocolate cake mix with pudding in mix (aka, Pilsbury)
4 eggs
3/4 c. oil
1/2 c. Kahlua
16 oz. container sour cream

For icing:

Can of chocolate icing
Kahlua

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously spray bundt pan with cooking spray. With an electric mixer, combine cake mix, eggs, Kahlua and sour cream. Pour batter into bundt pan and bake for one hour.

After cake is done, removed and has cooled completely, combine half a can of chocolate frosting with enough Kahlua to make it slightly runny (about 2-3 T.). Drizzle over cake.

Bachelorette Pottery

Remember my post about Janel's bachelorette party? And how we painted pottery?

Here's my before:


And after:

I was going for a Fall leaves look. In my head, the yellow was more gold and the leaves looked more leaf-like, but all in all it's not bad - and should be fun to display once Fall rolls around.

It feels like my honeymoon around here

Friday, Mark brought home these flowers because they reminded him of our honeymoon. While we were in Hawaii we went to the gardens at the Dole plantation, where we saw these:


And these:

And then, on Monday, we got a great package from Yvonne with a bottle of Maui Splash. You can't get it in NJ - she snagged us a bottle when she was in Hawaii.

It's pineapple wine. How awesome is that? We got a bottle on our honeymoon and I've been trying to track down more ever since.

Two Hawaii reminders in one week is enough to have me dreaming of the beautiful islands. I want to go back.

Congrats, Janel & Craig!

Janel and Craig's big day was yesterday and we had a blast!

Since they met in church, they really used the church theme. They personalized their ceremony to include a trip to the pew where they met and then the tables at the reception were all named after church words.

Mark was a reader in the ceremony and I helped out with set up and passing out programs and bubbles. We were also designated picture-takers. Craig acted as our official, unofficial photographer at our wedding last year so we would be able to have some pictures the next day.

We returned the favor but stepped it up just slightly - in between the ceremony and the reception we ran to Walmart and printed out all the pictures of the ceremony. Some quick work and we were able to hand them an album of ceremony pictures at the reception. They loved it!



That whole picture-taking thing was easy though - they were so smiley and ready to pose! They - and their whole bridal party - looked awesome.


And, we clean up pretty well too.

Congrats, Janel and Craig! Enjoy your honeymoon!

Fried Pickles

I love almost anything fried but I try not to eat things that are on a regular basis. I passed up at the fair last weekend and that was a big mistake - I dreamed of them all week.

I used those awesome refrigerator pickles I made earlier this week to whip up some fried pickles at home. They hit the spot!

Fried Pickles

(adapted from Insider's Recipes Master Edition)

Egg wash:

1 egg

1/3 c. milk

1/3 c. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 t. black pepper

1/3 t. hot sauce

1 t. salt

Flour:

1 c. flour

1 t. paprika

1 1/2 t. garlic salt

1 t. black pepper

Pickles

Oil for frying

In a small bowl, whisk together ingredients for egg wash. In another small bowl, mix together ingredients for flour mixture. Dip pickles in flour, then egg wash, then back into the flour.

Fry until golden-brown, about 1-2 minutes. Drain on a brown paper bag.

All Rehearsed!

Janel and Craig's big day is tomorrow - last night was their rehearsal. After work we scooted up to the church to meet up with everyone. Mark's going to be a reader in the ceremony and I'll be helping out with setting up the church.

Don't they look great together?


Because of our "jobs", we'll be sitting right up front - which gives us a great vantage point for pictures. I can't wait to see everyone in their wedding finest!


After the rehearsal we all went to a nice, Italian restaurant for dinner. We took lots of pictures of the families and told them it was practice for the big day!


Of course, we had to grab a picture with the happy couple too.

Tomorrow, they'll be in the newlywed club too!

Refrigerator Pickles

I kept seeing this recipe in my google reader getting rave reviews, so I finally broke down and tried it. These are seriously awesome. I don't think I'll ever buy pickles again!

Refrigerator Pickles

(From The Nerd's Wife originally from Annie's Eats)

3 c. water
6 T. white vinegar
3 T. salt
minced garlic
fresh dill
cucumbers

Mix together water, vinegar and salt until salt is dissolved to make brine.

Slice cucumbers.

Add fresh dill to the bottom of the glass jar. Fill halfway with cucumbers. Add more dill and fill the rest of the jar with cucumbers. Add minced garlic to top and pour brine over until jar is filled.

Refrigerate for two days and enjoy!

Cupcake Minions

Have you seen Despicable Me? Confessions of a Cookbook Queen whipped up some minions in cupcake form. When I saw them, I just had to make my own.


Some Twinkies, Smarties and licorice later, I have my own little army.

Too cute!

Sussex County Farm & Horse Show

This week is the Sussex County Farm and Horse show. My parents took us every year going up - it's a can't-miss summer tradition.

So, what do they have there?

Tractor racing. This one was done up to look like Mator from Cars - it's he cute?



And the 4-H clubs show their animals.


There are tons of other vendors and things to see. In the petting zoo, PJ and Mark made friends with the donkey.


We also got to take in my personal fair favorite, the pig races!


And, there was food - tons and tons of good food. London broil steak sandwiches, pulled pork sliders, chicken gyros, hot pretzels, ice cream, fresh lemonade and caramel apples - yum!

We had a great time hanging out with PJ, Melissa and Greg.

Do you have any summer traditions?