Stampin Out Loud

Tuesday was my friend Laura's birthday. When I asked her what she wanted to do for her special day she asked me to take the day off of work and spend the day with her (in my jammies) and having a Stamping Extravaganza!

So that's exactly what I did.

These are the cards I made in between impromptu baking and snacking!

A card for Carl's upcoming Master's Graduation. A card because I liked the paper.
A card for Grandma's 80th birthday (cause I love her cookin!)
A card for DMIL's birthday. Agh.
A card for my friend Nikki who just found out she's pregnant!!!

Works For Me Wednesday

It's Works For Me Wednesday over at Shannon's again. Since I still have a cold this may not be anything that the rest of the world isn't already doing, but it works for us.

Menu Planning.

Not only does this practice save time, we have been able to cut our grocery budget in half. Apparently the aimless wandering around the market and the last minute meal planning was costing us much more than we realized.

Simply, every Saturday morning Hungry Husband and I sit down and talk about what we'd like to eat every night for the following week. Then we plan out the list and head to the market.

It helps us save on unnecessary mid week trips where we grab "just a few snack items" that inevitably go bad before we eat them.

Not a fancy plan, nor a great invention, but it definitely works for us.

GratiTuesday

It's time for a little shout out to the Lord, so you know it must be GratiTuesday, where I can be vocally thankful for something in my life.

I was all primed and ready to write about my recent cold and sing praises to my new drainage tubes that prevented a painful ear infection.

Well, that post isn't going to happen.

I have an ear infection.

A doozy.

I thought about calling this post "Janessa and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" but that doesn't invoke feelings of thankfulness and praise, now does it? (But it's a fun title so don't be surprised if you see it later)

Therefore, I'm about to put an incredible amount of spin on this day and try to show you that I can find something to be grateful about if I try hard enough.

I'm also going to try and do it without creating a marathon blog post.

I'm not sure I mentioned it here, but I have talked about my tubes many times. I guess I was a little misinformed about the purpose of my "tubes" because I thought I got them to PREVENT ear infections.

Isn't that your impression of drainage tubes? To drain the infection?

My bad.

Of course my ear infection started on Friday night, you know, because the ENT office was closed and my ears are very aware of my ENT's office hours.

Monday morning, before I even sat down at my office I called my Dr's office and got the LAST appointment they have available for the day. THE LAST APPOINTMENT.

Two O'Clock.

Did I mention it was the LAST APPOINTMENT they had that day?

Feeling very grateful for the last appointment I got everything done at work left my office at 1:45, making sure I'd make it to the Dr's office in plenty of time. I certainly didn't want to miss my opportunity to let Dr. ENT know how displeased I was that I have an ear infection with drainage tubes, for Jebus sake.

Well guess what? The military was playing war and the base was locked down.

For an hour.

One ENTIRE hour.

No one comes in.

No one goes out.

Did I mention that two o'clock was Dr. ENT's only opening for the day?

Did I mention my ears hurt?

Guess who showed up an hour late to her appointment begging for forgiveness and antiobiotics?

Tail tucked between my legs. Me.

Turns out I had a malfunctioning tube that only one person in the entire office could fix and guess what day she works.

That's right.

Monday.

And today is?

Monday.

So I am eternally grateful to Dr. ENT for allowing me to be late for my appointment and then for Ms. Garfinkel and her "Monday only schedule" (whatever that's about) for fixing my clogged up, malfunctioning, brand new drainage tube and preventing me from another week of pain while I wait for her to return on her regularly scheduled Monday.

Oh, and while I was in the waiting room I saw this.

I've had plenty of ear infections in my day but I'm pretty sure I've never looked this dead.

Is that not the scariest looking sick kid you have EVER seen?

Funny Friday

Quick Question

When you're sick, your brain has free time.

Mine came up with this:

Why do I have to refrigerate left over frosting in a can but I don't have to refrigerate the cake that I frosted?

One of life's bigger questions, no?

Can you help me with with this one please?

Works For Me Wednesday

It's Works For Me Wednesday again over at Shannon's and this week I had to ask my husband for help.  I have disconnected head (a cold) and seriously couldn't think of ANYTHING that Works for Me!

He told me that I do something he's never seen anyone do before so I'm going to share it.  Hopefully it's an original!

I make a lot of gravy (i.e. Marinara Sauce) from scratch and it's messy.  

Really messy. 

It has to boil for hours so sometimes the sides and bottom of the stock pot have sauce burns on them.  The kind you can soak and soak for hours and they never come off.  

I also do some serious baking once a year or so and my pans get burnt "yuck" on them as well.

Here's the fix:

Fill the pan with hot water and toss a fabric softener sheet in it over night.  The next morning just wipe it out.

Wah-lah.  No more burnt on anything and the pot shines like new.  

Just make sure you rinse it well before you put it away.  No one wants to eat Bounce flavored Marinara.  Mmmmmm k?

GratiTuesday

I typically remember that it’s Tuesday after I post, which means that I forget that I can do a GratiTuesday post, a post where I can give a big old shout out to God about something going on in my life.

For some reason, I'm having a hard time being grateful today. I have a wicked migraine (again) and the "new guy" at work is making me crazy. I feel helpless and overwhelmed as well as full of anxiety and frustration. I'm trying hard not to lose it.

So today it’s for mercy and grace that I’m extremely thankful, not to mention God’s excellent sense of humor. When God says that He’s got it, I'm sure He does, even if I can’t see it.

Fun Things

Here are some fun things you can do on a weekend, you know, if your husband is busy watching football and you are bored.

1. Go to your craft room and create a fun card for your Brother-In-Law's 25th birthday.  Try not to think about the fact that he is 25 and will not appreciate the time and effort you put in to the card.  Cringe when you realize he will likely throw it away since there won't be any money in it.

2. Start to clean out your hall closet.  Then become obsessed with labeling and organizing the closet until it looks like this:

3.  Shop online for hours ordering anything and everything that appeals to you knowing your husband has credit card use notification programmed on his BlackBerry.   Smile when you realize hungry husband will begin receiving messages on his phone regarding said shopping and will immediately want to spend time with you.

Funny Friday

Works For Me Wednesday

So today is another WFMW over at Shannon's and instead of saying what works for me I'm supposed to ask for advice.  

I wasn't prepared for this.

How could I be prepared to ask for help when, clearly, I think I know everything?

So I'm going to tell you a little story about my obsession with snack cakes.  

If you feel like you should be helping others with their problems, fashion or otherwise, head over to Shannon's and give her a hand.  

So, a few weeks ago I purchased some Hostess Ding Dongs at the grocery store.  Despite my disappointment that they no longer come in a the foil wrapper, I tried one anyway.

And, honestly?  Not really a fan anymore.

I don't know if the folks at Hostess have changed the Ding Dong recipe, but I found them to be drier than dirt.  Once I bit into that faux chocolate coating, the inner cake just fell apart.  I did something I never thought I'd do and threw away the rest of the box.

Mainly, because I knew, at some point, PMS would set back in and I'd eat the whole box in one sitting, all the while thinking how dry they taste, but who cares because they're chocolate?  I must have it.

I hosted my own snack cake intervention.

Then, at some point last week, a friend mentioned the Twinkie.  MMMMMMMmmmmm.  Twinkies.  Although I'm not usually a fan of the non-chocolate anything, it sounded pretty good.

So while I was at Costco last week, guess what I bought? 

That's right, baby.  The Twinkie.

I had barely gotten them out of the trunk when I opened the box.  The first thing I noticed is that this actually an oily residue on the inner plastic of the Twinkie wrapper.  This does not bode well for the amount of trans fats contained therein but likely does wonders for the moisture content.

I opened one and waited for my reaction.  It tasted like white bread covered in butter and sugar and it left some sort of residue on my tongue.  I threw the Twinkie in the trash immediately.  My tongue had an oil coating that would rival the Exxon Valdez.

Let me say I have NEVER turned down sugar in the history of the universe.  So for now, the house of Bottolfini?  No longer fans of the Hostess Snack Cake.

It's a sad day.