Where Have I Been?!?

Lost. Very lost. But I knew where I was. Sort of.
In the photo below, there might be a Walmart in the photo. There might even be an entire apartment complex...but you can't see them. Nope. Why? Because the trees are so thick!

You see, we were house hunting in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC, and this is what we saw. The whole time. We're glad we followed some locals' advice and brought a GPS to find things, because usually you will have passed the place you are looking for without even noticing it. On main roads, it wasn't much better. In fact, the tree scene was the same, but there were MEDIANS! Which meant--no U-turns. Sigh.

It's a BEAUTIFUL place. I love it. I'm so excited to go. But I'm glad we're renting for a full year before buying, because before I can go house hunting (and I'll really be hunting, like easter-egg style in these trees!), I have to figure out where the grocery store is. Preferably getting there without missing my turns. And the library, and the post office, and...and...and... they are all hidden. In trees.

Here's an aerial (kind of) shot of Durham:
See what I mean? But it's beautiful. Really beautiful.

To see LOTS of road views, check out this website.



Oh, and by the way, this is post #500. That sort of blew me away, too.

I'm In Love!

With this pantry. Look at how beautiful all the grains and beans are!!
Here's the place it's from: Design*Sponge.

Happy--Girls...Cake?

Ahh, see these smiles? It's because they know what is next. Oh. Yes. They. Do. Stephen sort of spoiled my post with his previous one. But it's OK. I still get to talk about THE CAKE. Oh, boy. It was yummy!


Here it is. So pretty. It was prettier in real life. Those sprinkles are gold dredges. They sparkled and shown next to the dark, chocolate frosting. Frosting that was super thick and rich.

See? See? Almost a whole 2 centimeters thick all over. And with the cherries in it? Mmmmm. For some reason, you can't SEE the cherries. Not even in real life.

Oh, and by the way, that impromptu millet salad with bacon, tomato & spinach was WONDERFUL! I dressed it with a mixture of mayo, sea salt, black pepper and balsamic vinegar. Sigh. I'd put up the recipe, but it really isn't one. It's sort of a "Hey, look what's in the fridge and make it rock!" dinner.

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/paper_dolls.htm

These are too cute! There are beach clothes, winter clothes, Halloween costumes, etc. Check it out!!

I am a bad parent

Last night, Jillian made me the greatest cake for my PhD graduation. It was chocolate cake with dried tart cherries inside and a fantastic chocolate frosting.* Payge has come up with the title 'happy' for cake. She can say cake, but she calls the cake happy. So this morning, when she first woke up asked daddy for some happy, it melted my heart and I couldn't say no. So yes, I am a bad parent and let my baby have cake for breakfast so she could have some happy.

*Zachary, who has the appetite of a teenage boy during the day, did not like the frosting - yay! more for us. Fortunately Chayce, who has the appetite of several teenage boys after bedtime, has a controlled appetite during the day. But I digress, revealing my cake selfishness.

My Big Fat Check!

So, I've been using Ebates for awhile now, but didn't want to go advertising it until I knew that it was legit. It is. I got my rebate check back from last quarter. I did a lot of clothes shopping (Children's Place, with coupons, of course! Making some pants for Chayce $1.50), and some other things. Anyhow, here is a link to check it out!
Ebates.com

Happy Saving!

Another Marshmallow Recipe.

http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2010/04/orange-blossom-water-marshmallows.html

I might get around to doing this sometime. Maybe soon. Maybe.

Use it Up!!

Well, it seems I've been absent! We're still here. And we know where we're going. But we can't tell online yet. You locals better keep it hush hush in my comments section! Stephen says.

BUT, that doesn't mean that I can't talk about what I'm up to.

I'm still taking time to run in the mornings, which is nice. It's my brain break, ya know? Even in the rain. In fact, I've been enjoying rainy runs. Does this mean something is wrong with me? Nah.

I've been trying to cook from our pantry more--again. Only this time, there's this odd sense of a deadline, so I need to use up the "least likely to travel well" stuff (ha, how's that for a yearbook award?). Today, that meant making a chocolate cake with dried cherries in it, topped with an experiment. I've been reading about making coconut oil frosting (melting the oil, adding the other ingredients, whipping it, then chilling) and so, I'm taking it on. Maybe cooking is my other form of relief. If it's nasty, I'll just whip up some buttercream. That never hurt anyone. :)

Perhaps I haven't been on here because I feel like there's nothing exciting to say. No big art projects, bathrooms not even made spic and span in any special way. I did re-paint the banister on our upstairs landing yesterday. I suppose that was fun, but I didn't feel particularly inspired to take pictures. The kids are watching PopEye, because I'm being a bad mother and letting this rainy day be an excuse to use the TV more than usual. They don't seem to mind. I'm sure the days I think I'm failing are their favorites, and the days that I just KNOW I'm building character, they dread. Such is parenting, right?

Now, off to decide what to use up next. Perhaps the millet. Millet pilaf with diced tomatoes and sea salt anyone? I think that sounds good. With bacon and spinach. It's like a BLT in a bowl. Yes, I did just pull that out of my head as I typed. Not too shabby. I hope it will really taste as good as my brain is imagining it.

Getting off the chair is so hard when you're 2

While talking with Jillian as she was getting ready to go sing in the choir tonight, Payge was having a snack. Oranges. Or so I thought. I came back down, and found her sound asleep, on the chair, as seen here: