For Scott*

Hockey Time! Larry loves hockey. So yesterday morning when the email came around the office where I work that there were free tickets for the Red Wings game I jumped on them. It was not a regular season game, but it was still a lot of fun.

Larry had to take a call at the Joe. That’s my sissy phone he is talking on, not an iphone.

Here is Larry giving away our life savings for a pretzel.

Mmmm. That is GOOD. All this for $10.50.

The Zamboni has to be the best part of the game for me.

This next picture is for Nicole who likes to take pictures of random people. This guy sat down in front of me and this what I saw for the second period. The stadium was half empty and he had to pick this seat.

We moved.

Our row was empty.

We waited until the crowd left. Larry doesn’t like crowds. We took pictures while we waited.

The people mover. We didn’t ride it.

We had a fun night thanks to my Mom and Dad who babysat the kids and the free tickets.

Oh Yeah, Wings won in a shoot out.

*Our friend Scott is a huge Wings fan. He has moved to Ohio and he misses his Red Wings.

Coooookies

I love cookies. I love cookies so much that I can’t stand to bake them at home and not eat half a dozen…in one sitting…while I am making them.

My mouth is watering just thinking about the cookies I made on Sunday for church. If I bake for an occasion I can usually keep my paws off the goods, but these cookies Sunday were the best cookies I have ever made in my entire life. They were perfection.  Okay, now that I have built them up to be some kind of food of the gods, I hope this recipe does not let you down. Oh, and they are not healthy so you know they have to be good.

And if you make some call me. I’ll be there before they are out of the oven.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

(Or Cookies so good you’ll want to name your first daughter Julie)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup oatmeal

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

Cream together sugars, shortening, margarine, and peanut butter. Add eggs one at a time. Mix together flour, salt and baking soda. Add gradually to creamed mixture. Add oatmeal. Fold in chips.

Scoop rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on pan for 2 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Eat 6.

Thanks for the Bloggy Love

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I feel so much better now. I know people read, but sometimes it just feels like I am talking to myself out here which would not be a stretch for me.  You all are so much more interesting than I am. I need your comments to keep this blog entertaining.
And welcome Lois. Please don’t lurk in the interent darkness any longer.

And you would not believe the amount of hits I got this week looking for castle cakes.

Pink is my favorite color

Five Minutes for Mom is at is again. This time it is a pink Dyson. Go look.

Leave a Comment

I may need to start a blog about cakes because I get a lot of searches about cakes. Now that I have written cake three times in this entry I will get a few more. Castle cakes are in big demand and I mean a cake in the shape of a castle, not a castle cake made by a Castle Mom.

Blogs are funny. I don’t usually like to talk about what I write here with people I actually know. I know you read it  because sometimes I will be talking with someone and they will mention something I wrote on here. Sometimes I forget what I wrote and I’m all  How did you know that? Freaks me out a little. I know, I am crazy.

It would be nice if people who read all about the Castle’s lives would leave a comment once in awhile. Every day would be good. My mom gets an out because she doesn’t know how to comment. I’m lucky she just started reading a couple of weeks ago. I don’t think my brother reads yet. And I know Larry’s family doesn’t. So I can still write about them and get away with it. Kidding.

I was at a Bible study the other night and someone named Tracy mentioned something on the blog. I told her I would mention her here. I also have friends named Kim and Benita that like to lurk here. Hi Girls!

So I’m just sayin’ would it kill you all to comment?

For Alice

Since she asked so nicely I thought I would give you the secret to my cake making. It is called the internet. I love the internet. I get all my ideas from it because my mommy brain is so fried I can no longer think of creative ideas myself.

For Susy’s party I typed in “purse shaped cake” into google and got Betty Crocker and a lot of other sites. The one I liked best was Bright Ideas. That site is chock full of great party ideas.

Of course I couldn’t follow their directions exactly because that would be too easy. I used a 9×13 pan. I cut the cake into thirds and stacked it. I then rounded the top off. The cake was frozen so it is easier to cut. I pretended I was Duff from Ace of Cakes except without the electric saw. If you are going to cut a cake into a shape always freeze it first. You do not want to cut into a soft, smushy cake. Freeze it first so you can toss that cake around like a hockey puck. Trust me it will still taste great after it thaws.

I have an awesome cake decorators frosting recipe that is easy to spread and it makes a ton of frosting. There is nothing as frustrating as making a cake and running out of frosting at the end. It also tastes great. The recipe called for chocolate licorice for the handles. I could not find it anywhere. I used large Tootsie Rolls instead. I warmed them for 5 seconds in the microwave and then rolled them out. The trim and lettering was chocolate frosting.

I have a few decorators tip for piping. I use disposable piping bags. When I first started deorating cakes I just used plastic storage bags, but I found the 35 cents for the piping bag was worth it. Frosting exploding out of a plastic bag while you are trying to decorate a cake is enough to make you want to toss that cake across the room at your kid.

Who knew I could ramble on about cake making for so long.

The Cake

Chore Time

Don’t Try This At Home is having a Chore Carnival today. I thought I would throw my 2 cents in about my child labor laws and compensation packages.

I started making the girls watch Cinderella at a young age. She was a great example for them and they wanted to be just like her. They would spend hours on their hands and knees with rags washing the wood floors and singing “Sing Sweet Nightengale.” It brought joy to my heart.

We have always told the girls that since they belong to our family they are expected to help. The amount of help has changed depending on our family situation. When we homeschooled they did a lot of jobs because they were home all the time making a lot of mess. When they were at school and I did not have a job they did not do as many chores during the week because they were not there to make a mess. We had Saturday Cleaning Day. Now that I have a job and the kids are at school and Larry is at home we just make him do everything. (Just Kidding Honey!)

We love using Handipoints. The girls like the check lists and rewards. I like that I don’t have to nag them to help.

We do give the girls allowance. We give them their age in dollars for the month. Yesterday, when Susy turned seven, one of the first things she said was now I get seven dollars a month. We let them use this money how they would see fit. We have seen from this system which kid is the saver and which one is like her mother.

One thing I still have not mastered is the saving part. I am hoping to glean some insight today.

Isn’t there a movie I can just have them watch?

Letter to a Seven Year Old

Susannah,

You lost one of your top front teeth a couple of weeks ago. It was so loose you could twirl it around backwards. You wanted me to pull it out. You are the only of my three children that will let me pull out their teeth when they are loose. Your sisters are wimps.

But I didn’t want to pull that top tooth out. I kept putting you off saying it wasn’t quite ready to come out. But it was me that wasn’t ready to let that cute little baby tooth come out because I know what’s under that cute little tooth. I have seen it in both of your sisters. As soon as they got those two big front teeth any sign of being a baby was gone. You are my baby. You are not to grow anymore.

You are seven today. You are becoming so independent and don’t need my help as much anymore. Not that you ever asked for my help anyway. You can make your own peanut butter and jelly sandwhich and chocolate milk. You still leave out the peanut butter, jelly, bread, milk, chocolate and sticky knife laying on the counter but you do it yourself.

You like to use words like “actually” and “surely.” The other day you said you were “struggling” with something. I made you repeat it because it was just so funny how you said it. You have always been our talker. You get that from your father.

You seem to grow over night. You have almost caught up with your sisters in height. You have already passed Claire in weight and shoe size.  Last week I had to buy you a Ladies size 5 shoe. You were so excited until I explained that at this rate you will wear a size 10 in 5th grade. You started crying. “I don’t want clown feet!” I think you were picturing yourself with Ronald McDonald feet.

You love to hear stories about when you were a baby. Your favorite one is the night you were born. It’s one of my favorite too.

Happy Birthday Baby.

Love,

Mama

Canada, Eh?

Our sink is back together. Larry the plumber fixed it for $20. He was so nice. He didn’t even charge for labor.

He did make me do the dishes.

We went on a date last night to Canada. I call it a date because we were out alone, but it was really a speaking engagement for a Men’s Bake-off at a church in Windsor.  We were also the judges for the Bake-off.

When the girls asked where we were going and Larry told them a baking competition they asked if we were going to  be on TV. I think they have been watching a little too much Food Network.  Disappointed, they asked where it was. They were excited it was in a foreign country and we had to cross the border. One of the girls, when she heard we were gong to Canada, asked if they would be speaking Canadian there. Larry said, with a smirk on his face, yes they will. It will sound a lot like your speaking right now.

But with a few more “Ehs” thrown in.