Changing Layne

Here we go

2009-07-01T17:25:00.003-05:00

This is what I came home to today. There is no turning back now!

Cool treat

2009-06-20T15:01:00.008-05:00

I saw this cool summer snack at Gourmet Mom on the Go and I knew I'd found my new favorite dish to bring to BBQs this summer.

I followed Mandy's instructions but made a few changes. We used Watermelon Jell-O because, well, it just made more sense. Instead of mini chocolate chips, we used some chocolate sprinkles we had in our baking stash.

We also decided to do some cantaloupes and filled them with the new melon flavored Jell-O. The cantaloupes looked gross but tasted yummy. The watermelon slices looked and tasted perfect!

Next time I will use a sharper knife to cut these babies. Hopefully then they won't have the jagged edge look.

Looking over the photos I have taken so far this summer, I realized that I really do need a nicer camera. I think I have said it before but now it's time to seriously start saving...

YAY!!!

2009-06-05T23:12:00.002-05:00

I just had to take a moment to say that I have the coolest fiance' ever! He surprised me with Sims3 for our year and a half anniversary! It came with a 2gig USB drive in the shape of a Plumbob!
I don't dare open it because we have a busy weekend planned and I know if I get started, I won't want to stop.

P.S. Sorry for the poor quality photo. My digi camera hates me

Taking a break

2009-05-31T13:07:00.002-05:00

I think I am going to take a break from blogging for a bit. I know as soon as I publish this post I will probably want to blog again...
It's not that nothing exciting has happened, A has been smoke free for 6 months and Sis had her 30th birthday, but I am still missing my sweet kitty and I am putting in OT at work (which is mentally exhausting). I just don't feel like coming home to blog.

We are all doing well here so don't worry about us.

Much love,
Layne

My heart is broken

2009-05-22T23:11:00.004-05:00

Rest in peace my Princess. My Besst. My sweet Bess-a-bun. You gave me thirteen wonderful years. Thank you for being my constant. My furry little rock during the darkest times. Thank you for continually amazing me and making me smile. I hope you know how much I love you. I will miss you forever but know you are in my heart always.

I'm Back!

2009-05-20T21:47:00.002-05:00

Sooner than I expected thanks to Dan Fischbach! I have never met him or even emailed him (yet) but his tutorial on how to "Fix Windows XP Log ON/Log Off Loop" saved my computer and my sanity. It took forever and took a few tries but it seems to have worked. I had a ton of Trojans and a few other bad guys lurking on my computer.

It looks like Dan isn't blogging any more but I am going to try to contact him to tell him "Thank you!" I'd also like to donate some $$ since he saved me from having to call the professionals. I just need to decide on what I can afford to send... Hmm...

Not happy

2009-05-18T22:45:00.002-05:00

My nice new computer died this evening. Not sure what happened so I guess I will be taking it to a computer doctor after all. I am super unhappy about it... I am on A's laptop right now. I will probably be MIA for a bit until I can get things resolved or until I can get my wireless working on my dinosaur of a laptop.

I am sorry for the super grumpy post.

Let sleeping dogs lie

2009-05-18T17:38:00.006-05:00

Ever since Bess decided she wants to hang out in the living room 24/7, Piper has been able to hang out in the bedroom during the evenings. She wants to be near us so badly that she sleeps on the cold hardwood floor. This makes me sad so I decided to make her a little dog bed.

I bought some Gray fleece (to match the bedroom colors) and 6 bags of stuffing. I took some white felt and drew a dog bone. Then I used the left over iron-on letters from D's tooth fairy pillow to spell "PIPER" and stitched the bone on with pink thread.

It looks like a giant pillow but I think it turned out well. I am still learning how to sew a straight line but practice makes perfect.

Fun with Fondant

2009-05-16T20:47:00.023-05:00

My computer seems to have come down with a virus. I am doing all I can to keep me from having to lug this monster to the computer repair gal (Which happens to be A's cousin).

Enough whining and onto my excitement of Saturday. I have been watching Ace of Cakes lately and I got it in my head that I can make cool cakes too! Sure I can! All I needed was a recipe for fondant. I went on a Google search and decided on this one. it had a short ingredients list and it seemed fairly easy. I headed out to Wal-Mart to get some supplies...

The instructions say to use mini marshmallows but we had regular ones left over from the BBQ and they worked just fine. The fondant spreader and cake leveler shown in the photo turned out to be a waste of money. Neither of them worked but it could have been user error.

I used a Betty Crocker white cake mix and prepared it to the instructions on the box. While it was cooling I started the fondant.

I heated the (nearly, since a few were eaten with S'mores) 16oz of marshmallows and added the powdered sugar. Like the instructions say, I didn't need all 2lbs of the sugar. There was about a cup left over.

Since this was my first time, and we don't have a "heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook" (hint-wedding gift-hint), I had to kneed the marshmallows and sugar by hand. I made a HUGE, sticky, powdery mess over the entire counter. I also got a great upper body workout.

I added a little gel food coloring to a part of the fondant so I could make a design later. I was originally going to make a flower but I dropped the yellow fondant on the floor. I couldn't, in good conscience, just use it anyway. In the trash it went.

The fondant had to chill in the fridge for a bit so I went to shower the sticky white mess out of my hair... (no comments from the peanut gallery)

I rolled out the fondant to fit my cake. Next time will use the dining room table because the counter just isn't big enough.

I added a thin layer of frosting to keep the fondant in place. I started cutting out polka-dots with a cookie cutter. I wanted a simple look for my first cake...

And there you have it! My first cake with homemade fondant. I didn't have a proper knife to cut the fondant with so it is choppy around the bottom. I was going to make pink icing to cover the edges but I didn't have any plastic baggies to put the icing in.

A and I both had a piece and I couldn't really taste the fondant but A (who isn't a fan of any sort of frosting/sauce/topping) pulled his off.

I definitely want to try this again with a more elaborate design. I know what I have to do differently and maybe by next year, I will be so good I can make my own wedding cake :)

If you don't like clicking links, here are the instructions:

You can make a simple, inexpensive fondant at home using only three ingredients:

16 oz. mini marshmallows
2 TBSP water
2 lbs powdered sugar

First, sprinkle the water over the marshmallows and microwave them to melt, as if you were making crispy cereal bars. Now you must knead the sugar into the melted marshmallows. Its easiest if you have a heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook, but it can be done by hand as well. Do not use all the sugar unless you have to. The proper consistency will be about like PlayDoh. If you want to color the entire batch with one color, you can add some paste/gel food color in as you knead. You can also add vanilla or almond extracts or any other flavor you choose during the kneading process. After you have it well kneaded, you will want to wrap it tightly and let it rest for 15-30 minutes.

While working with the marshmallow fondant, have a bit of Crisco or some spray oil handy to keep the work surface, rolling pin, and your hands lightly greased. This will help keep the fondant from sticking and also helps the surface of the fondant maintain a glossy shine. If you find your fondant is still too sticky, knead in a bit more sugar.

To cover a cake, simply roll out a circle of fondant about ¼” thick and wide enough to cover the top and sides of your cake. Make sure the cake itself has a thin, smooth layer of glaze or icing, and then gently lay the fondant over the cake. Carefully smooth the fondant down the sides, pulling the bottom edge out as you go to avoid wrinkles in the fondant. Then, simply trim away the bottom with a knife.

Add decorations.

So much has gone on

2009-05-11T22:07:00.004-05:00

And I have nothing to show for it!

I was going to do a post about how A surprised me by mowing both yards but I accidentally deleted the photos... The yard needs to me mowed again already!

I knocked two things off my list of 101 things but I forgot to take photos...

My mom and I did the Relay for Life walk and A and I had a BBQ at the house. I am hoping to have more BBQs this summer so I won't check this one off yet. As far as the Relay for Life walk goes, we took a group photo and once I get a copy I will blog about the experience.

What else...

Mother's day was very nice. A bought me a Beanie Bear and we both teared up when he told me how much he loves me. I really and truly have an amazing fiancé. I love him more every day.
My Sis came down to surprise Mom. Sis, A, D, My Mom, A's Mom and I all had a nice dinner at our new Chinese restaurant. it was very yummy.

Other than that, I have been doing some over time at work. It sucks to be at work for suck long hours but the pay check sure is nice.

Now I am very tired and I think I will go to bed...

Still here

2009-05-10T19:50:00.000-05:00

It's been an exhausting few days. I will update soon. Don't give up on me :)

Welcome to the jungle

2009-05-03T10:28:00.004-05:00

It's been raining a lot here so we haven't been able to mow the yard. It's gotten out of hand and Piper is too afraid to go out there and pee! It looks like a mini jungle and I am sure it won't be any kind of fun to get it back to normal...

At least we cleaned up the big branches from the ice storm and you can't see all the tittle ones :)

DIY progress

2009-01-11T21:26:00.011-06:00

In case I haven't mentioned this before, A and I are trying to update my... our house on our own. We are both so scatter brained about it, it will be a miracle if we get one room completely done! We have been watching the DIY channel like crazy lately and we've been getting some great ideas. Now if we only had a budget of 30K per room like most of these folks have, we'd be in business!

I know I posted about my ugly kitchen, emphasis on the "ug", but peeling off the many layers of wall paper was getting me bummed. I decided to start on a smaller room instead. The "hall" is the smallest room in the house but it also has wall paper so I skipped it and went on to the bathroom.

The bathroom is tiny and has this mauvey-rose colored tile, sink and tub. The walls are nasty and sort of an off white and the laminate is okay but needs to be pulled up due to water damage. Once A and I can get some money together, this is the room we will blow it all in. Until then, I decided a fresh coat of paint and some new hardware would hold us over just fine.

When I got done painting I realized that the white paint just magnified how ugly the tile is. I won't show you an "after" photo just yet because I haven't painted the cabinet under the sink nor have I installed any hardware.

Don't mind the mess!

The purple stuff is spackle.

I also painted D's ceiling because A bought her a new fan. I am going to paint the fan blades as well.

What else? Oh, we cleaned the garage and rearranged the furniture in the living room and it looks a ton better. We are trying the "less is more" approach. A also started switching out all the outlets from off white to white and the light switches to these flat kind.

Very slowly we are seeing progress and that makes me want to keep going. I hope we can make the house look nice without having to spend too much. I just wish I had a knack for the design details to pull all the rooms together.

Dog tired after a long weekend!

Ice, Ice baby. Too cold. Too cold!

2009-01-27T18:25:00.010-06:00

Today we have what they call "inclement weather". These first photos are very pretty with the icecycles everywhere...

Well, the ice became so heavy that the tree branches couldn't support it anymore. The branches started to fall like rain. If you stand outside, even now, all you hear is the ice rain and the snapping of limbs. We lost power twice but it is on now. I made dinner as fast as I could, just in case. Praise GOD that we only have a few small branches on the roof. Our neighbors aren't so lucky. I don't see any serious damage from the windows but I am sure not going outside right now to investigate further. I am not sure we have a single tree left. We have some stumps and a huge mess of limbs in the front and back yards. We are truly blessed though because our fence is standing, the house is standing and we are cozy inside by the fire with full bellies.

Mom doesn't have power but she says she is fine. If she needs anything, we will go get her but she says it isn't necessary right now. She says she feels like a pioneer. Leave it to my mom to always look on the bright side of things!

Sis is fine. She made it home from work safely and she has power.

After this is over I think the neighborhood should have a chainsaw party. We will all have enough kindling for the rest of the winter...

Our poor neighbor's yard early this afternoon

Front of our house earlier this afternoon

Ice Storm continues

2009-01-27T21:55:00.007-06:00

Here are some photos from 7:40pm. I didn't want to venture out further into the yard because the bigger branches are now falling.

Here is the video I took of the transformer blowing.

We are going to go to bed and hopefully have a drama free sleep.
I will take more photos of the damage then.

The day after

2009-01-28T11:52:00.011-06:00

Photobucket Album

Here are some photos and video from our house this morning.
Thankfully our house appears just fine. We are one of the few homes in town that still has power, cable and internet. Thank you GOD! Phones are working off and on which caused some drama with BM. So D ended up going home with her. So, if you try to call and I don't answer, it's not because I am avoiding you, it's because I never heard the phone ring. If you leave a message and I don't call back, it's because I can't listen to voice mail or my calls won't connect.

The main roads aren't too bad so we went to check on a few "little old ladies" for my mom. Neither wanted to come with us. We will be checking on them again later.

Mom says she is still doing fine without power. She may try to venture out later to go get one of the "little old ladies" because I have a feeling one of them really wanted to come with us but she felt like she was being a burden...

Sis is fine but they called her into work so she is very unhappy. She doesn't live close to her job and although things aren't as bad up there, the roads are still slick enough to worry her.

One of A's coworker's and his family are coming to stay with us. I am not sure for how long so that will be an adventure.

I think those are the main points for now.

Another transformer catching fire

Check out some video of our ice jungle AKA back yard

Moving forward

2009-02-01T08:52:00.004-06:00

Views from the front door

It seems that most of the town has their power back.
I had a full day's work Friday which I needed.
Mom's power came back on around 7 last night.

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. The sun was melting all the ice and people were able to start cleaning up the carnage the storm left behind.
There was a whole lot of chainsawing, pulling and stacking going on.
A and I got the front yard almost cleaned up and we were going to start on the back yard today.

A few minutes ago Piper started parking her head off. It was a different bark than her usual so I knew something was going on. In a bath robe with nappy hair I went to tell her to hush it. There were at least three men in the back yard! Thankfully they were the electric guys coming to cut the tree off our roof and the power lines. They were worried that the tree did damage to the roof so A is up there taking photos for the insurance company. The electric guys wanted to make sure this got done so they wouldn't be blamed for any damage.

A is going to show me how to use a chainsaw. Hopefully I can handle it without loosing any body parts...

Edit: I misunderstood. The electric guys did cut the trees away from the wires but they didn't take the tree off my roof :(

So much to do...

2009-02-08T18:18:00.003-06:00

We did some more cleaning up in the yard today.
The front yard is as finished as it is going to get.
There was damage done to the privacy fence in the back yard (nothing bad enough that Piper could get, the gutter and possibly the roof. A was able to get the tree off the roof with out knocking down the power lines (he was afraid that might happen). There is probably enough damage to cost us a pretty penny out of pocket but not enough to cover the $1,000 insurance deductible. I guess we will find out when the adjuster assesses the damage. I called the insurance company because this was considered "catastrophic damage" so we wont get penalized for making a claim and the premium won't go up.

I am exhausted, dirty and if you were to look at my arms you'd think I was a cutter.
But I feel that we made some progress.

Now I am off to clean the living room and dining room and knock out some laundry...

Sewing Patterns for Dummies

2009-03-08T19:55:00.005-05:00

Yup, that's me! Not in the picture but the Dummy that patterns like this one were made for :)
I am sure I could have come up with my own pattern and save myself almost $9 but I need to learn how to follow a pattern. D told me that she wouldn't wear a skirt but she said she would wear an apron. We love to bake together and she is forever wiping her hands on her clothes. I figured we needed some matching aprons! If I can successfully make these aprons, I will post photos.

A and I finally started cleaning up the back yard ice storm damage. I can't remember if I mentioned it but it turns out that we had over $5,000 worth of damage to the roof, fence and ceiling. I received the insurance check (less my deductible & depreciation) so now we have to figure out what we can do ourselves and what we need to pay professionals to do. I really thought there wasn't much damage but the insurance company strongly suggested we have an appraiser come out anyway. I am glad we did. It's just a huge pain in the rump to have to deal with it all. Needless to say, our interior DIY projects are on hold again...

I am excited because my guilty reality TV pleasure's season premiere is tonight. I hate to love Keeping up with the Kardashians! (O.M.G. That's why their store is called 'DASH', KarDASHians!! I am such a dolt!) I really love the relationship the sisters have. You can really tell they love each other. Not to mention that they are all a hot mess!

Man, it's already 8pm?! Stinking day light savings...

And so it begins

2009-04-28T20:29:00.010-05:00

A had the day off today. I didn't think he was going to do much of anything since he had to have a tooth pulled and I figured he'd be feeling pretty miserable. Needless to say I was surprised to come home to find this:

YAY!! The remodeling of the bathroom has finally begun! I can't wait to try the pry bar!

~*~

On a sad note, I don't think Bess is doing that great. She has the runs for the 3rd time in two months. In case I haven't mentioned it, she 13 years old and has been fighting cancer for about a year now. She is painfully skinny even though she eats like a pig. I keep asking the doc if he thinks she has quality of life and he says that as long as she is eating, she is okay. I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place. I don't want to keep her alive because of my own selfishness but I don't want to put her to rest just because I am sick of dealing with the side effects of her cancer... okay I need to quit typing about this because I am getting super emotional...

Instead here is a photo of Bess in the sink and a very short video of what she was doing. If you can't tell, I was letting the water run for her to drink. I left and came back to check on her and she was lying in the sink with the water dripping on her but still drinking from the faucet. Silly kitty.

Oh and one more photo! Bess found a bag of Goldfish crackers and decided to help herself. I never had to worry about what I left out when Bess was secluded to the back of the house. I need to be more careful now.

101 things, I haven't forgotton you...

2009-04-03T17:59:00.005-05:00

There isn’t much going on around here lately.
I am very thankful for it!

We haven’t begun the demolition of the bathroom yet.
A couple of A’s employees called in sick so he had to cover for them on both of his days off.

As far as my 101 Things list, I have a few of them in progress but nothing done except for;

#6 Paint the bathroom

Why is this on my list?:
The original paint made the bathroom look dirty.

How did I do it?:
A had some left over wall paint and I had left over ceiling paint. It was pretty quick since the room is 5X8 and covered mostly by tile.

How did it feel?:
Pointless. Shortly after I finished painting we discovered a huge leak and now have to fully remodel the bathroom.

Here are some updated "before" photos. The walls & sink cabinet are painted and the new shelves are up. I didn't bother cleaning since it will all be ripped out soon. Between the tub and the sink you can see some of the nastiness we have to look forward to when we pull up the floor. I even made a little layout of the room for you.

I'm not a looser...

2009-03-10T21:23:00.004-05:00

We weighed in for the second time in our Biggest Looser Challenge. I. gained. a. pound. My coworker decided it is because Aunt Flo is on her way. Of course I agreed!

I took a quiz on the Calorie Count site. This is what it said about my eating habits;

Excessive Eater

You tend to overeat, which is very common in our society. As published in the Journal of Nutrition, Education, and Behavior, the amount of food we consume is proportional to the amount of food we get served. Unfortunately, the portions in restaurants and the size of products in supermarkets have both grown tremendously over the years. Super size, anyone?

Your Eating Habits
Despite the amount of food that you consume, your diet is most likely not nutritionally balanced and does not meet your daily values of essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals. There is commonly a link between satiety and health - foods rich in fiber and that tend to fill you up quickly are usually better than foods that you can eat a lot of.

The Solution
Calorie counting and food journals are an effective method against overeating. They help you understand where your calories come from, and which foods you should be careful with. To find out how many calories you should be eating, try our Expenditure Calculator. Also, it's a good idea to add some exercise to your daily routine. This will not only increase your calorie allowance, but it will improve your health and make you feel great!

So true. I have been overeating my low calorie snacks. If I eat 3, 100 calorie packs of cookies... What's the point? I am a mess.

I'm also getting a head cold and I'm trying to keep from staying home from work.
What a blah day.

I F-ing HATE

2009-04-09T22:35:00.002-05:00

Arkansas weather!!!!! That's all I have to say right now. I am going to try and sleep through the tornado season... cya in a few months.

Noblegarden

2009-04-30T21:19:00.004-05:00

Noblegarden is WoW's version of our secular Easter Holiday (At least I don't remember seeing anything about the resurrection of Christ while I was playing...). I didn't even realize they had such a Holiday until I logged on last night. I ran around hunting eggs till 2am. I won a few nice prizes like the dress and ears I am wearing in the above photo. My favorite prize is my new little bunny friend.

Children's week starts tomorrow and that is J's favorite WoW Holiday. I look forward to running quests with her.

97. Pay for the person behind me at the drive thru

2009-04-25T22:22:00.003-05:00

Well, I couldn't really get a photo of this one without coming off as a total freak...
Why is this on my list?: It's something nice that (should) make me and the recipient feel good.
How did I do it?: I knew I would do it at Sonic because it is the easiest place I could think of to pay for someone behind me without causing a drama. I just had a feeling that it was time.
How did it feel?: I felt a little silly at first when I asked the drive through girl if I could pay for the lady behind me. I told her to tell the lady to have a great day. I didn't ask the total so I was kind of relieved when she only ordered a drink! I may just do it again.