Ahh Summer!

Got a new bike and a trailer for Bean! We are enjoying the nice weather and having fun. I will be back soon!

Almost forgot

I am almost finished with my woodworking project. My last class was back in March. All that is left to do is sand and paint.












Bean thought her stuffed dog added a nice touch to the office organizer.


















Lessons I learned from this project:

1. Choose your wood carefully. I had help, but the guy was good about getting rid of unsellable wood to this novice woodworker. Instead of staining I am painting to keep the wood together.

2. Don't hammer or force in other wood while other pieces are drying. I actually lied to the teacher and said, "I don't know how that gap got there...hmm". If you look up close you can see some of my gaps, but luckily the biggest one is in back covered by the back piece.

3. Don't put the drawers in without attaching the knobs first. What is funny, I didn't do that, the teacher did! After quite a bit of struggle, a pocket knife did the trick of removing the drawers unharmed.

4. Be well rested before working with those big machines. I actually, took a night off, because I was so tired and afraid I might loose a finger.

5. Make sure you understand the dimensions. This office organizer takes up 1/3 of our desk. I guess I'll have to build a shelf or a side table for it next time.

MEME Tags

I was tagged for 2 memes. Sorry it took me so long to complete them. So here goes my first and last MEME post (I hope!)

Meme #1 -- Tagged by MommaVal

1. Post the rules before you give your answers.

2. List one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name.

3. At the end of your blog post, tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.

My middle name: Zinnia (not my real middle name, just wanted something shorter and more interesting).

Z - zzz lacking sleep right now, but when I was a kid, I could sleep anywhere at any time for up to 13 hours.

I - I love homemade ice cream. I often hint to my family that an ice cream freezer would be a great gift, but to this day I don't have one.

N - Nasty Boys - love that song by Janet Jackson.

N - Normal - doesn't describe me one bit, even though I have a semi-normal life (at the moment).

I - I have lived or visited all of the "I"states with the exception of one (my college internship fell through so I never went).

A - Aquatics - love water sports, with the exception of water skiing.





Meme #2 - tagged by Ainse

The rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I sky dived as a self challenge after saying, "I will never do that". Thats when I knew that had to be my challenge.

2. I do a pretty good pigeon call.

3. I will choose sweet tarts over chocolate any day.

4. I have been crocheting since I was 6 and I only have 2 projects to finish (I am pretty good at follow through, no matter how long it takes).

5. I had to wear braces on my teeth twice.

6. I drove through my neighbor's fence (age 12 - I shouldn't of listened to my older brother's driving instructions). My dad came out of the house fast and angry. Looked at me, looked at the car, then he looked at the fence and try his best not to laugh when he sent me in to talk to my mom. Mom listened to the story, punished me and sent me over to apologize to the neighbor to offer to fix the fence. The neighbor answered the door with tears in her eyes as I proceeded to apologize, boy did I feel bad... until, she looked at my dad and started laughing really hard. Boy did I luck out!


Ok, I tag laughingmama, San Diego Momma, A boy from India and John at EzGreatlife

I know I am not following the rules, but who cares!?

Tagged-Folks, take it or leave it, choose one, do both or don't do it at all. But you have been tagged. I won't be offended if you ignore this.

Cherry-Chocolate Chip Eggless cake recipe

Sorry Oprah 21 cleanse folks, this recipe has sugar and gluten....but it is eggless. This is an adapted recipe, I found on allrecipes.com , Plain Eggless Cake. However, I made a few changes. In the end the consistency was like cake made with eggs and very yummy.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 3 tablespoons of white vinegar
  
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 10 ounces jar of Maschino cherries diced (reserve juice)
  
• 3/4-1 cup of juice from the Maschino cherries (if not enough reserve substitute orange juice)
  
• 3 tablespoons almond extract
• 1 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 10 inch round pan or a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the sweetened condensed milk, orange juice, almond extract, vinegar, cherry juice, cherries and melted butter. Beat well with a electric hand mixer. While blending gradually add mini-chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan.
   
3. Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
   Note: I go the full 60 minutes, but it really depends on where you live and your oven. The top might crack a little, before the center of the cake is fully baked. The cracks don't matter if you plan to turn the cake upside down before frosting.
   

Mom left, but I "have to...."

Mom left earlier this week. Now it is back to my regular routine.

After the bra incident with mom, things here were pretty uneventful for the duration of her stay. That is if I don't count that her mothering aggressiveness was increasing day by day along with her verbal "have to" lists. I congratulate my husband for keeping his bloodied tongue between his teeth, give or take a couple of slips. However, I didn't do so well. Don't worry I behaved on the most part, just reminded myself, she will soon be busy again with my brother and sister's lives (HA-HA-HA!).

Since, mom has left I have talked to her on the phone almost daily. Each time receiving a list of "have to..." Sometimes, I hear them, sometimes I don't, most of the time, I just get frustrated for even listening to her. I guess this is what it is like for my teenager.

Anyway, there was one "have to" she mentioned a couple of weeks before she left. Prune the roses. Now, I thought those roses were my neighbor's, since they are on the property border along with the rest of her beautiful garden. She did talk to me last year about the roses, our first summer in this house, but I can't remember what she said. I think I still had postpartum mush brain (hmmm, can I still use that excuse).

One day, mother set out to prune the bushes. Before she did, I asked her to talk to the neighbor and make sure those were our bushes. So, she did and started in on the task of pruning the bushes. Now, I was feeling guilty for not pruning the bushes last year. If I understood them to be our rose bushes, I would have taken better care not to have unruly bushes beside the neighbors beautiful flowers.

Before leaving, my mother reminded me to finish pruning the rose bush, along with a few other things "you almost need a bigger clipper to take out all those dead branches..." So, yesterday, I set out to finish the job. Said,"hello" to the neighbor and her visiting friends before going about my business of chopping up the rose bush. If I could, I would just pull it up, but there was still some life inside the thick, dead thorny branches. After, I had a few thorns in bedded in my skin and a pile of dead branches up to my knees, the neighbor call out,

Are you going to take my whole rose bush out?
Your bush?! But my mother told me.... Ah my mother!
Your mother!
We will talk later

The neighbor laughed and went back to talking to her friends. I quickly cleaned up my mess and went into the house to call my mother.

Mom, you told me the neighbor said those were my rose bushes
She did... She said, those bushes are yours to prune as you like.
Mom, I don't think that means they are mine, I think she was referring to Little Bean's safety... now we know.

Eventually, I am going "to have" to face the neighbor. Yet, even more so, I am going to "have to" face my mother on her "have to" lists.
Or do I have to?

Nap time accomplishments

Whew, yesterday was a good day for getting a lot done during nap time!

1. Mowed the lawn (pat on the back)
2. Dug up dirt in front lawn and planted flowers
3. Watered flowers and plants
4. Ate chocolate
5. Bathed
6. Paid 2 bills

I think I have bragging rights, especially after mowing the lawn and not waking Little Bean.