April's A to Z Challenge!

I'm doing it again!  Do you have a blog and want a challenge too?

A to Z Challenge

And She Created Marshmallow Mess and Declared it Good!

Following dinner this evening, I had a two year face look up at me and say, "Mommy, you make cookies now?"  How could I say no?  usually I make Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip cookies, but alas, no brown sugar and no molasses to make any....so, think mommy, think....aha, the 'inter-webs' shall save the day!  So, I found a chocolate chip cookie recipe that would also incorporate half a bag of marshmallows I came across.  Only, of course, I just used it as a general guide, pretty much doing whatever i felt like, so it became my own creation of sorts.  So, here is what I came up....not too bad, even though i did put in a bit more salt than was called for.  1/4 tsp was called for......i having little hands helping me, put in a full teaspoon.  Oh well, right?

1/2 c butter

1 c Chocolate Chips (or whatever you happen to have left from your last recipe)

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (or whatever)

1 c nuts (recipe called for walnuts, i had almonds...whatever)

mini marshmallows

Preheat to 400.  Melt the butter and half the chocolate chips over low heat.  Stir frequently.  Remove from heat.  Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs.  Mix.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add the liquid mix to the flour mix.  Mix well.  Add remaining chocolate chips and nuts.  Fold in the mini marshmallows.  Drop in heaping teaspoons (use an ice-cream scoop) on un-greased cookie sheet.  They will double in size so make sure there is room between them.  Bake 9 minutes.  Allow to cool for 5-6 minutes before trying to get them off the cookie sheet.  I personally thought they were going to be questionable, but they weren't bad and because the marshmallows puff up so much and then basically leave hollow spots, they weren't a very heavy cookie at all.  The kids loved them too!

Acronyms for "Old" People

While driving home today, my BFF (yep, LAC, I did it) and I discovered that we're 'old'.  She's a high school teacher.....automatically old....and, well, let's face it, it's been said I was born thirty and got older from there......by more than a few people.  I can't remember what started off the conversation, but we both discovered that there were several text acronyms that neither of us could figure out for a while.  I will admit, for a while I thought 'fml' was short for family.  No, it never made sense how it was being used, but I just couldn't figure it out.  Not to worry, my younger, cooler, hubby informed me.  Now, I’m just annoyed by it.  Nothing is that bad, really.  Then there is 'smh'.  Ok, so I just learned what this was today.  Yes, today.  I kept trying to figure it out, thinking that 'm' was for my (not totally stupid) but figure it was along the same lines as fml and I guess my vocabulary is just not that expansive when it comes to slang and cursing.  Ok, so a few I did know, lol, lmao, lmaorotf ...those are old though. I remember those back in the days of AIM.  Once upon a time kids......we had dial-up and this wonderful little thing called AIM and Yahoo Messenger....the end.  Do those even still exist?  There's also brb, brt, and then some that I’m not sure are actually legitimate text-eese......I just decided to start putting things in acronyms at work to throw off some of my more mature co-workers......keeps me feeling a second younger......DYK,  HO! (did you know, Hold on).  Then there are the text-eese that have apparently been accepted as mainstream English......OMG, WTF.  I'm pretty sure I’m missing a bunch and I’m pretty sure a certain hipper cooler younger sibling of mine will merely comment, SMH.  hmm....maybe my niece can school me?  So, now that this blog entry has turned far more boring than I intended, I’ll go.  TTFN! (remember that one?  Yeah, I’m with it)...

The list of one's i've learned:

FML - F*ck my life (totally unnecessary)
SHM - Shake my Head
BFF - Best Friend Forever
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
LMAO - Laugh My Ass Off
LMAOROTF - Laughing My Ass Off Rolling On The Floor
BRB - Be Right Back
BRT - be Right There
WTF - What the F*ck
OMG - Oh My Goodness/God/Gosh
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now

Meatloaf Cups

I'm not much of a cook, at least not the way my hubby is, but I figure, "I can read, so I should be able to cook", right?  I also have a few tricks up my sleeve that I learned from my Mom.  One of those is meatloaf.  I'm proud to say that this is one of the few dishes I fix and do it well and never use a seasoning packet or instructions.  Accomplishment?  oh yes!  So, I was on "that website" and saw a recipe for taco cups.  I thought, why couldn't I do that with meatloaf.  So, I did.  Now it is a family favorite.  I like it because they are easy to make, fun to eat, and portion control much?  oh yes!  So here it is.

Ingredients (or close to it)

1 lb ground turkey

1 lb ground beef

1 egg

a Splash of milk

Oregano

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Parsley

Any other spice or seasoning that you like

Bread crumbs - I like the Italian ones

Veg - some sort of vegetable cut up or shredded - the picture is one where I shaved a whole zucchini.  usually I shave a whole carrot, though.  You could use any leftover vegetables you want, though.  PACK IN THE VEGGIES AT ANY TIME!

Small Chunk of Velveeta or store-brand block cheese - I shop exclusively at Aldi, so I use their brand.

1/2 a pack of wonton wrappers

Directions:

Pre-heat to 350.

Place the wonton wrappers in 2 cupcake pans.  This recipe makes 24 of the meatloaves.  Do not spray each cupcake hole or you will have a mess!  Cut your cheese in 1 centimeter or 1/2 inch cubes and put one in the bottom of each wrapper.  This is not a necessary thing, it's just a little surprise!  

In a bowl, mix, with your hands, the two meats and the egg and the veggie.  Then add your spices.  Doesn't really matter how much of each.  I'm guessing I use about a 1/2 Tablespoon of each.  then add your splash of milk.  The mix should be kind of soupy.  Then add your breadcrumbs.  Go with about a cup at first, mix it in, the mix should firm up some so that you could scoop it with an ice-cream scoop and it would hold its shape.  Add a little more if you need to.  If you add too much and it is really dry, add a little more milk.

Then, with that ice-cream scoop I mentioned or a melon-baller, place one scoop inside each wonton wrapper.  The mix should distribute evenly between the 24 wrappers.  If you have a little left over, go back and see which ones need a little more.

Back for 30 minutes.   You can add the usual ketchup or bbq sauce on the top when you serve them or you can brush it on and back for another 5 minutes.

Tonight I served these with mashed carrots and sweet potatoes.  Lovely!! 

Enjoy!

Learning Colors

Jackson has been working on his colors for a little while now, but I thought I'd make him something to make it a little more fun.  I saw this a few years ago on Etsy and made one for my friend's daughter.  I should have gone ahead and made a second one then when I had all the good stuff, but I managed to find some suitable items in my craft room anyway.  I'll probably add to this set later one.

Went through my fabric box and found some scraps.  I only needed 6 in squares and decided to go with 10 colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, brown, white, and pink.

 

Then i sewed them together in one long strip and backed them in another piece of scrap material.  Luckily i found a long piece that was multicolored.  I sewed the back to the front in....umm...pillow style?  (right sides together, sew around the edge all but a small opening, then turn it right side out)  

when i closed the opening at one of the ends, i added a small hair-tie so i could roll up the strip and secure it.

Then i found some items in all 10 colors.  fun foam, buttons, ribbon, beads, and i made the things that look like marbles.  I just hot glued two of those flat plant marbles together with bits of colored sequins between them.

Made a bag, and put it all in.

Then, play time!  Jackson had fun matching the colors and each time he matched a color, we'd say the color out loud.

New Year's Goals

Happy New Year!!  Can you guess why I would be posting in this week of all weeks?  You should.  I'm claiming the 2,683,459th spot on the blogger board of posts about new year's resolutions.  I know lots of people who say the hell with resolutions.  Yeah, I could be one of those, but what fun is that?  Instead of resolutions, though, I'm going with goals.  Mostly things I know I can do, some that might be a little more difficult. I do try to be well rounded.  Ok, here it goes.

1.  Blog at least once a week - a popular goal I'm sure

2.  Be on time with Holiday and Birthday cards and gifts - I'm not counting the Christmas gifts that I still haven't sent to family in Missouri because that was technically a 2012 lapse, right?

3.  Send something homemade to first 7 people who respond to this blog and mention either Kids, Super Mom, or Beach in your response.

4.  Play more games with my boys - we made an attempt once upon a time to play a game on Friday evenings.  Probably a good place to start.

5.  Be a better friend.  Hmm....well, that's kind of generic and not very measurable.  I could just say I was a better friend, right?  Let's see...I have one friend who just gives and gives and gives and i never seem to have the opportunity to give back.  So, i'm going to look for a way.

    -  Take H&C's kids overnight at least 4 times this year
    -  Find any way possible to camp with the Carty's.
    -  Check-in at least once a month with friends I don't always see

6.  Find at least one more recipe that only I make and that passes the Chef Cooper taste test

7.  Complete the couch to 5k plan.  i may not necessarily run in a 5k event, but I want to complete the 9 week plan.

8.  Catch up the boys' baby books and scrapbooks.

Ok, I may add onto this, but i think it's a good start.  So,what's your goal this year?  Remember to check out #3!  We don't even have to know each other.  I won't send stinky cheese, I promise!!!

2nd Annual Laskey-Cooper Christmas Light Expedition!

A good time had by all!!

 Close to home...so there ya go.

This is not on a weeping willow tree....maybe a homage to Avatar?

Not special, but we had not seen the Abominable Snow Man, so there he is (the bright white light)....just use your imagination!

We ended up in a golf community in Stafford....so...Santa on a golf cart, ta da!

Classy

Creepy dancing Santa in the top window......after midnight, we're told, it's the full Monty

Classy.......except for the creepy angel in the top window

Local tree that my kids insist on driving by as much as possible

Not really sure why i took this pic

Big Lots special.........."give me one of everything", much?

Each year we go by, each year we try to take a pic, maybe next year it will work.

red and green festival

Another local house

And our favorite!  Had their own radio transmitter with sign directing you to which station to tune into....lights went with the music, of course.  To top it off, the guy living there came out and gave us candy canes.  probably trying to get rid of since we sat there for so freaking long!  

In case you are interested, this is at 20 Bridgecreek Ct, Stafford, VA