I am taking it easy, I swear!

    I was going to make a dump truck, for the record, but when all was said and done and I took an inventory of my cake pieces, a pickup was so much easier and I could do basically the same thing. It's by no means perfect but Mordred said it was a "tuck" so that is good enough for me. 2/3 is chocolate with peanut butter cream filling, and the rest is a white cake with peanut butter cream filling. It has oreos for the wheels and crushed up ones in the bed of the truck. Pics when I get that far.
   In the morning I will be making chicken wings, (hot and barbecue), deviled eggs (which people get really crazy about when I make them, it's not all that difficult people.. hmm maybe I'll put my recipe on before I leave you for the night.), shrimp cocktail, pepperoni and cheese and crackers, and potato skins (which in all fairness I have never made before so I am excited about trying.) Yeah this is me taking it easy for my son's 1st birthday. His birthday is today, but he shares it with his great grandmother who turned 75 today so we moved the party a wee bit. Boy loves to dance and pushes himself harder than I ever will to catch up to his brother, but he is also so sweet and loving. 
     I haven't started my gloves yet nor have I continued with my previous project, on the other hand while cleaning today, E, the Wonder-husband, found 4 crochet hooks and a bunch of toys that go with crocheting. Score. I need to organize a place to put my stuff that the boys will not be tempted to defeat and get inside. I can feel that organizing bug coming, hopefully I can ignore it til spring I just don't have the energy for it at the moment. 
    Got the boys portraits done this week, specifically Balthazar's since it's his birthday. I have been much more lackadaisical than I wanted to be be I splurged and got a couple more prints than I usually do to squelch my guilty conscious. 
So here's that deviled egg recipe.


1 dz eggs
3 T mayo (I use Hellmann's, because no other mayonnaise exists, thank you. Yup I'm a mayo snob.)
1T mustard of your choice. (I used to make this with brown mustard, but E prefers yellow so I have converted for the sake of argument.)
Salt and Pepper
Paprika

Place 12 eggs in a pot and cover then with cool to tepid water. Put them on the stove on med-high heat. Let the eggs boil for as close to exactly 10 minutes as you can get and submerge the eggs immediately in very cold tap water. When you can handle the eggs, remove the shell and cut eggs vertically. Remove yolk and put in a separate bowl. Mix together thoroughly the mustard and mayo with yolks and add salt and pepper to taste (say: 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper) Put mixture in a zip lock and cut off one corner. Pipe a generous amount of the mixture into each hollowed egg and sprinkle with paprika. Enjoy!


Yeah y'all might get more recipes from me we'll see ;)
Night all.
~a

I'm being followed, better post again!

So Mordred had one word that he used, for almost forever. "Up". Everything was "up" To eat. To get down. To help with something. "Up". Shortly after he turned 2 though, we pilfered his beloved binky and what do you know the words started coming, "juice", "more", "help". Now mind you, the word of the day for food is "yum, yum, yum". But he's been wanting to identify other important things in his life too. Sometimes, though, we end up trying not to crack a smile at his innocent attempts. All colors are currently "boo!" and his cars, trucks, blocks, and just about any other give word is "caulk!" Nothing like walking through the mall and having your son shouting he wants to go see the "caulk"!!
 At the beginning of next month I will be 3 months back to work. I am working 3rd shift, and wow!, do I now like it. I have always been the kind of person that when I open my eyes for the day, I am up! There is no lounging in bed and staying in bed past 9, nevermind 10, often got me woken up on the very wrong side of the bed. I did not want to miss the day. Plain and simple. but now, I have to sleep in the daylight hours, while my kids play down stairs with E, my husband. In the afternoon, we trade off, he goes to work and I spend the evening with the boys. I wouldn't mind third shift, I like the idea of working while other people are sleep, it's sleeping while other people are awake I can't stand. So I am in a perpetual state of "I don't wanna!" But being back at work has obviously helped by getting a paycheck. Less financial burden on other members of the household? Yeah, I'll suck it up.
Tonight I am making dinner for friends, this is worth the mentioning since usually I go out of my comfort zone for this. At the moment, no idea what I am making.
Sunday is Balthazar's first birthday party. When Mordred turned one, he got a pirate ship. S o I am going to be trying my hand at making a dumptruck for B. Pics will be posted. I hope!
This morning I had the Genius idea that I could figure out how to crochet gloves, so my current project (that lacks direction and I am basically waiting for inspiration on.) may be temporarily shelved while I reinvent the wheel and try to make gloves.
So that is all for the day.
Believe, doesn't matter in what, faith is a good thing.
~a

Hello World

So, here it is, my blog. For the moment, it lacks direction, because I have no idea what I am going to post about, but I suppose I will work on the principle of blogging about the things I love. My family, Cooking, and crafts. These are my life-forces. The things that make it worth it.

I have 2 fantastic sons, different as night and day, but both are sweet and emphatic and have fantastic senses of humor. Mordred is 2, Balthazar is turning 1 next weekend. (Those are  not their real names, I am not that mean. Ok, yes I am but I am a tad more passive-aggressive than that.) I also have 2 highly intelligent awesome stepkids. I have been married to my husband since 2006, he is the strength I never thought I would find, focused on his goals, (yeah sounds great ntil that whole free will comes into play :P) and very loving. There are people too, whom I view as family, though there is no blood shared between us. So, no I didn't leave anyone out there.

Cooking, I don't know if there is a part of cooking I don't like. It is relaxing, it that it gives you structure to get a sure-fire resukt but enough free-reign that you may individualize anything.

I crochet, I sew, I scrapbook, I love pictures (especially of my boys.) I love learning all the time and I like to share what I learn.
So this is it, this is where we start.
~a