1.2.3.

1.
I want to share this cute picture of Boo. Acting like a natural at the computer.

2.
Football and school have started. The long lonely days are here. :(  Boo and I just need to find lots of things to do and find things that take us out of the house without using the $$$. hmmmm. Ideas? We already do the park about once a week and walk almost daily.

3.
I also wanted to share a really simple recipe for Artisan Bread that my friend shared with me. I don't usually make bread except for breadsticks.  The mixing of the ingredients is easy peasy the only thing that really is a hassle is putting water in the oven with the bread.

Artisian Bread1 1/2 T of yeast
1 T regular salt
6 1/2 C of Flour
3 C of Water

Mix dry ingredients. (My friend likes to mix it in a icecream bucket but any Large bowl will do) Add water until all the flour mixture is incorporated.  Cover with cloth and let rise. (I let mine rise for 4 hours...I'm not sure how long you HAVE to do it for).

An hour before you want to eat divide out half of the dough and form it into a ball shape on a piece of parchment paper.** Let rise for 30 minutes.

Place baking stone and broiler pan in oven (i used a cake pan-something you don't mind if it gets beat up alittle). Preheat to 450 degrees.  Take stone out and place parchment paper and dough on the stone. Put in oven. Put 3-4 cups of water in broiler or cake pan.  The steam will make the dough crispy on the outside.

If you don't want to cook two loaves put the rest of the dough in the fridge for up to two weeks.

**I cut this recipe in half so I didn't have to divide the dough in half...I could pretty much just dump onto the parchment paper.

TRY IT! Oh by the way, my friend said wheat flour is NOT good in this recipe. Sorry healthy eaters out there. :)

Turn it Upside Down

If you chance to meet a frown, do not let it stay. :( Quickly turn it upside down and smile that frown away. :)

:(

I'm in a grumpy mood and feel like complaining but all I will say is I really hate little tiny garage sale signs that set you out on hunt through entire neighborhoods and never end up finding it... AND I can't stand child care groups taking over public places like the playground...seriously, THREE different child care groups on one playground...Boo never had a chance on that playground.

:)

Things that I love. Boo loves her sunglasses. And what is even better than her wearing her glasses everywhere is how she says it, haha, she leaves the GL off of glasses...so you're left with.... ***es. I LOVE IT! If we pass a stand of sunglasses in a store she says, ***es over and over. I think its hilarious when kids say naughty words when they have no idea that they aren't saying the correct word. Her friend loves to say truck, however his "Tr" comes out as "F". HAHAA!

:)

When I told Boo that we were going to go Bye-Bye, she picked up her teddy bear and baby and kissed them goodbye. Ahhhhh...

well thats it for now. Boo and I are going to head off to a GG's football scrimage. We'll try to keep on smiling. :)

In need of a giggle?

I don't think I'm a very funny person-that's just who I am. However, I realized that I need to laugh more often. Boo is usually my source of laughter but I've been enjoying shows, like the Marriage Ref, because they make me laugh.

I know I usually laugh at things that aren't supposed to be funny or that are just plain dumb.   I usually don't laugh at the same thing that others laugh at. I usually don't get it when others are "trying" to be funny. So when everyone else is laughing, I'm sitting there feeling awkward and "trying" to laugh.  haha....

Anyway, my brother just sent this link and I got a chuckle out of it. If you need something do go "haha" at, click Here.

P.S. Do I just say "laughter" wrong? How do we get "lafter" out of a l-a-u-g-h-t-e-r? There's no "f"! Shouldn't it be said like "daughter" but with an "L"?  hmm. Imagine if Laffy Taffy's were Laughy Taughy's....just sayin.

mmmm I'm lovin' it

I have to share my love for these Chewy Cookie Crunch Bars from Amanda's Cookin

 Cake mix, chocolate and white chocolate chips, peanut butter and rice crispies-mmmhm so yummy. As I write this GG said they aren't that fabulous, their good but he wouldn't crave them. Me on the other hand, I crave them- maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm a girl and have cravings. ... do boys even have cravings? I suppose they do. I guess I just assume cravings are a girl thing. hmm.

Another Recipe that I tried that I like and will probably make again for a brunch or something like that are these Fresh Fruit Bruschetta with Orange-Honey Cream from Our Best Bites

I was a little worried about cream because it uses sour cream but I think it turned out pretty tasty. It's a nice switch up from just a fruit bowl.

In her Daddy's Shoes

Too cute, right?

Confessions

I didn't know it until recently, in fact I would have said gross, but I like Vitamin D Milk! I never knew. I never thought I would like it. I'm a skim milk kind of a girl  but on our trip we were packing around whole milk for Boo so that is what I ended up having on my cereal. I couldn't believe how much it improved my cereal.  I hope it ends there. I have enough unhealthy habits that I don't need to be adding a glass of whole milk to my oreos.

I must also confess, I have been forgoing my fruit and yogurt as part of our meal and just been adding whipped cream to my fruit. SO Good! Who knew it was so good to be unhealthy! 

Speaking of unhealthy...I've got another recipe for you. Chocolate waffle cone...bowls. 

They didn't really turn out like waffle bowls, they were more like brownie bowls.  I got the recipe from the Idea Room. The recipe was for a waffle cone maker but she just used a frying pan like you were making pancakes. I had a hard time making it thin enough. Next time I'm going to try the waffle maker and see what happens. On a scale of 1-10 for goodness I give it a 6. On a scale of 1-10 for fun-ness (or novelty, I guess) I give it a 7. Its a nice swtich up for a bowl of icecream.

I also made chocolate syrup that my mom has made since I was little. I don't know if others like it but I love it! She would make it for Banana Splits on conference weekend and store the rest in a bowl in the fridge.** Naughtiness ALERT, shh don't tell.** I would sneak into the kitchen and quietly open the fridge and dip my finger into the chocolately goodness. (yes, my finger... We couldn't use spoons that would only produce evidence to our naughtiness...and I'm mean "our" becasue I know I'm not the only naughty child in my family, I had to learn it from somewhere!) I do like this chocolate sauce but the only thing that makes it less than absolutely perfect is that it becomes grainy from the sugar when chilled. Obviously that didn't stop me from sneaking a taste.

Chocolate Syrup
2-4 T butter
2 sq of Unsweetened chocolate
6 1/2 oz evaporated milk
1 1/2 C sugar

In microwaveable bowl melt butter and chocolate. No higher than 70% power. Stir every 30sec to minute.
Add evaporated milk and sugar. Cook until thickened and sugar is dissolved.

And you're DONE! YUM!

Hope you love fat too because I can't seem to live without it! :)

Random

Just random things we have been doing or I've been thinking-hopefully I'll just stop thinking about the books I've read now that I've written it down.

**I just finished a book. I didn't realize it was going to be a sad book when I started reading it. Everything was going really well (too well apparently). A good woman, married to a good man (they both have their flaws) but a good marriage. It wasn't until like page 100 that you find out that she had beat cancer 4 years before. I should have put it down there. She gets cancer again and dies.  I wept and wept for a fictional family. 

**On the Today Show, I saw they were going to be making a movie of a book I read recently, Sarah's Key. There is no way I will watch that movie. It was sad enough to read it in a book there is NO way that I could watch it played out on the movie screen. It takes place during the Jewish Roundup in France.  A little girl locks her brother in a cupboard to keep him safe. She takes the key with her but she didn't return that night....or anytime soon. So you watch her go through that pain of trying to get back and how it haunts her. SOOOO sad. I don't want to make you not want to watch it or read it but just know its sad.

*We're enjoying watching the Marriage Ref online. It's pretty funny. And I love that it doesn't degrade marriage either.  Couples share their argument and then three comedians decide who's right. Check it out.

*Boo has come to love Blue's Clues. She asks for it a couple of times daily. She has a notebook and crayon that she pulls out when its time to draw Blue's clues in the notebook. It is so funny. And she sits in her little yellow "thinking chair". She'll try to dance to the songs. I LOVE it.

*I got 6 t-shirts for $10 at Younkers the other day! Score! I love good deals combined with associate discounts and coupons! One of the shirts is oranged striped. I told GG that I feel like Steve's counsin (from Blue's clues, he wears an green striped shirt, if you don't know). Haha. But its cute and it was only $1.90.

Just a few more weeks of Summer...well one really. GG starts football stuff up beginning of August. :(   It's been a pretty good summer. Boo and I will have to come up with some fun activities and crafts (for me) to keep us busy this fall.