OVERNIGHT EGGNOG STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE AND ANNOYANCE

I am lovin' this coffee cake, super moist and totally filled the house with the smell of eggnog. The best part IT TASTES LIKE EGGNOG!

OVERNIGHT STREUSEL COFFEE CAKE from Betty Crocker

Once this coffee cake is made, it's stored in the fridge until you're ready to bake it the next day.

15 servings

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Coffee Cake

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 cup eggnog

1 container (8 ounces) sour cream

1 teaspoon rum extract

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Eggnog Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons eggnog

1.Grease bottom only of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, with shortening.

2.In small bowl, mix all Streusel Topping ingredients with fork until crumbly; set aside.

3.In large bowl, beat 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Beat in 1 cup eggnog, the sour cream, rum extract and eggs until blended. Stir in 2 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Spread in pan. Sprinkle Streusel Topping over batter. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

4.Heat oven to 350°F. Uncover pan; bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes.

5.In small bowl, mix all Eggnog Glaze ingredients until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over coffee cake. For servings, cut into 5 rows by 3 rows.

Makes 15 servings

Can't wait until the next morning to bake this yummy cake? You don't have to. Just reduce bake time to 30 to 35 minutes if baking immediately.

I am not sure if it is the lingering back pain or I am just a grouch this morning but everything is annoying me. K started the morning out (and let me just state for the facts mornings around here start 5am) playing with Legos. Ok, cool, but then he lets Legos fall on the floor, NOT cool because then A picks them up and puts them into his mouth. I said to K, hey you are letting Legos fall on the floor, please pick them up...nothing. I swear these boys have already perfected the tune-mom-out skill. Then said baby picks up Lego and inserts into mouth while toddling into the living room. Uh, K the baby just picked up the Legos and they are in his mouth, would you PLEASE PICK THEM UP NOW! GGRRRR...love is patient love is kind. This would be my new mantra, Corinthians-Love is patient, love is kind. A sort of groosefrabba for mom's. I figure one day I will either counted-cross stitch the passage out or some kind of sampler. Right now, the oldest is in the bathroom, and the younger two feel the need to hang around the door and bang on the door, scream, slide their hands underneath the door you know general peskiness. GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!!! Love is patient love is kind, love is patient love is kind. Breath in breath out...Ok where is the bourbon. Just kiddin' I am not much of a drinker these days.

TOWERS AND BIG GINGER COOKIES

Ok, I started my Christmas cookie madness, and I made Big Ginger Cookies. I like these cookies, but my husband loves them. They have an ingredient that I would have never put in a cookie, but it really works. What ingredient you ask? Well it looks like this...

Nope, it's not ginger although there is ginger in the recipe. Do you give up?

IT'S

WHITE PEPPER!
This are a nice zingy, almost slightly warm feeling cookie.

BIG GINGER COOKIES

2 1/2 C flour
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 C (2 sticks) plus 2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
6 Tbsp unsulfered molasses
1 large egg
1/2 C sanding sugar


Line baking sheet with parchment paper. In medium bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice, and white pepper; set aside. In electric mixer bowl with paddle combine butter and light brown sugar until light ans fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg; mix well. Add remaining dry ingredients beat until just combined. Form dough into ball and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Shape dough into balls and roll in sanding sugar then place on baking sheet. Flatten with the palm; bake 10-15 minutes.

LAZY LINDA TIP: coat the measuring spoon with cooking spray when measuring out molasses it makes it slip right off the spoon. Side note, your cookie height depends on how much you flatten your cookie before baking, I do not flatten very much.

Here is my great tower maker, the stacker to top all other stackers. E is obsessed with stacking, not blocks or Legos, but toys, all the toys get stacked, or are used to barricade off sections of the house.

He is awefully cute, but I still think 3 is a bit too young to have a fetish. LOL

BANANA BREAD AND SLEEPING BOYS

BANANA BREAD

This recipe came from my mom, I love this bread. It is a moist, banana-flavorful bread and the top gets this little sugar crunch after sitting for a while. I prefer the nutmeg in this recipe to cinnamon that many other banana bread recipes call for. Originally this recipe calls for a 350 degree oven however my bread was coming out with crust that was too dark (yucky tasting) and a middle that would fall. I had to turn up the temp for my oven to get the right result. I do live in a moderate elevation, but I do not think that my meager 1000ft should really affect baking times.

1/2 C shortening

1 1/3 C sugar

2 large bananas, mashed

2 Tbsp milk

2 eggs

1 3/4 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 C chopped nuts, optional

Cream together shortening and sugar; add the bananas and the milk, mix well. Add eggs and blend well. In a separate bowl blend together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; add to the creamed mixture. Fold in nuts and bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

LAZY LINDA TIP: If, like me, you are short on counter space and lacking a dream kitchen appliance pantry you cram extra appliances (in this case the food processor) in a cabinet. Instead of dragging out the food processor for chopping nuts I pull out my coffee bean grinder. I have 2 coffee bean grinders one for coffee, one for herbs, nuts etc. I like my nuts really fine cause the boys do not crunchy things in their sweets and the obliging coffee bean grinder pulverizes the nuts.

So as I mentioned above, here are the sleeping boys...E and K both in different stages of sick.



E

K

E has a fever, and while K has not had a fever for a few days yesterday he came home from school hacking something horrible. K did not get much sleep last night the coughing kept him, Mister and me, up all night. We put on the vaporizer with some of the Vick's VapoSteam, I made him mint tea with honey in it, and he took NyQuil. Poor thing is still recovering today which is why he is home. No more coughing, but his middle hurts from coughing so much and so hard and he is exhausted from lack of sleep. Wagers being taken on when A, Mister and I will collapse in illness.

TOILET TRAINING

Well, trying to at least. I am a subscriber to the listen to the child method. I wait for signs from E, anything and I get psyched when he wants to use the bathroom only to feel miserable when he declines to use one the next time. He teeters back and forth about peeing in the toilet or in his pull-ups. He has done BMs in the toilet, but prefers to do those in his pull-up as well. After having asked him consistently every morning if he wanted to go pee in the toilet and him responding everytime, "No I don't want to" I have decided that I do not want to change his wet diapers anymore. I told E this, that I am tired of changing his pull-ups when he is perfectly capable of using the toilet and if he chooses not to use the toilet I choose not to change pull-ups. I now make him remove his own pants, his own pull-up, he throws it away and puts on a fresh pull-up and redresses himself. I hope this provides the proper motivation while still letting him choose when he is ready to use the toilet full-time. I know that one day I will look back and not remember the days of potty-training but it seems so distant, like that day will never come. Two kids in diapers it alot of diaper changing, and at this point I am taking wagers that A will be toilet trained before E.

Something magical did happen here yesterday. K was home sick and the boys were being especially good. My mom and  I were in the kitchen going over how to bind a quilt, which is easier then most directions make it sound. I turned around and saw this...

The boys playing with the same toy together...



NICELY!

Miracles never cease...



TREPIDATION AND GINGERBREAD

I so need to freakin' clear out this clutter in the house, why oh why can I not seem to get moving? I think I will need everything, but then I do not use most of it... I am not a hoarder by any means, but I just seem to like to gather information, hold onto it then I purge in these random spurts.

I go to start clearing, and I stand around for a few minutes, not feeling in the mood to conquer it, not knowing even know where I want to start. I often think only if I had more room, but then would that make a difference?

This weekend was gingerbread house weekend. I made my own gingerbread and royal icing to put everything together.

Customize a picture collage

I am posting the recipe I used and a tip...make sure the royal icing is very stiff or else it takes forever to set.

CONSTRUCTION GINGERBREAD from King Arthur's Flour Cookie Companion

1/2 C vegetable shortening
3/4 C light or dark brown sugar
3/4 C molasses
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice or ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 C flour

In large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and brown sugar. Add the molasses, salt and spices, mixing to combine. Beat in eggs, baking powder, and baking soda, making sure to scrap sides of bowl at least once. Stir in flour. The dough will be stiff. Wrap dough and let it rest at cool room temperature for 1 hour; this will make it easier to roll out.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch and cut out gingerbread pieces (the book has an illustration but you can make your own templates on a cereal box to cut pieces) Bake the gingerbread pieces for about 20 minutes, until they are stiff and dry to the touch. Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes on the pan, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
While gingerbread bakes, make Royal Icing for the construction mortar.
Trim up cooked gingerbread pieces, assemble the four walls together and let sit for several hours BEFORE attaching roof.

ROYAL ICING from King Arthur's Flour Cookie Companion
 1/4 C meringue powder
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 - 1 C cool water
food coloring (optional)
in medium-sized bowl, whisk together the meringue powder, salt and confectioner's sugar. Add the vanilla and 3/4 C cool water and stir, or beat on low speed. The mixture will seem hard and lumpy, but the sugar will dissolve after 4 or 5 minutes and everything will smooth out.
Once the mixture is smooth, gradually increase the speed of the mixture to high, take several minutes for the transition. Beat at high speed until icing is fluffy. Add food coloring as desired. Keep icing covered with plastic wrap or damp cloth to prevent it from drying out.

K is the only one to complete his, I worked on A's house since he is too small and E fell asleep on the armchair at 3 pm. Yeah I was thinking the same thing a nap is a good thing but hours passed, dinner came and went, then I was thinking I am screwed because he has been asleep for so long. I was worried for nothing, he slept through the night and woke up at 4 am so it was not as bad as I had feared.

I have a sick K at home today, no school for him and another crisis calls, there is crying involved, oh wait that is me, I am the one crying. The kids are something else today I am telling you...

E'S DENTAL DEBACLE PART DUEX

Ok, so maybe a bit of my melodramatic tendencies are surfacing, it was not a debacle, it just FELT like one. Friday December 10th E went into the hospital to have dental work done. E, being the younger of the two going in for dental work, was the first patient. I kept a timeline of the day's events that began early morning for me at 4:30 am dressing myself and getting the things to bring with together.

5:30 am we left home, we stopped at the grocery store along the way to pick up some juice and jello for E  to have when he made it into recovery. We also had to stop for coffee at the Dunkin' Donuts, but to be sympathetic to E I did not eat or drink since he could not...no food or water after midnight.

6:20 am we arrived at the hospital made our way up to same day surgery and checked in. We only waited a few minutes before being called back to the recovery room area.

7:30 am E had b/p taken and we were given a gown for him to put on. E was not very cooperative, he was hungry, thirsty and did not want to take off his warm clothes for the foreign hospital gown. He went limp, thrashed about, screamed and cried. We talked with the anesthesiologist, and E's dentist.

7:45 am the nicest nurse came by and talked to E then gave me a gown to suit up into so that I could accompany E back to the OR. I carried my little gnome down the hall into that scary looking room, and laid him on the warming pad. He is so little. I stand next to his left side, talking to him as they put on sticker monitors, O2 sensors, and show him how to blow the balloon, which is really the anesthesia mask. After a few minutes of the mask E starts to fight, he thrashes about and they pin him down and all I can do is stroke his arm and tell him I love him, he is asleep now and I am escorted out.

8 am I am back in the waiting room we started in, and I am crying. I sew like a fiend, setting my total focus on the sewing while Mister runs out to Dunkin' for more coffee because our cups have magically emptied. I only look up every so often to check the clock. It seems like forever...

11:05 am I am called back to recovery, E is out of OR. I hear him before I ever see him. He is crying and unhappy with the IV in his arm. I walk in and they immediately get me a rocking chair and put him in my lap. He is so very hot from being kept on the heating pad, I love this little boy, and he is so unhappy. He begs and pleads for me to remove the IV, between passing out for short bouts of naps. The dentist says he did not have to do any extractions, just caps and fillings.

11:30 am we are moved into the larger room of recovery and E is in my lap, they give him juice which he proceeds to suck down along with 3 more glasses. He refuses the jello, my kids do not like jello. We watch the Disney channel and E naps a few more times

1 pm They finally remove the IV and we dress E back into his clothes and he goes to the bathroom to pee. We are discharged.

1:20 we are on our way home

A very exhausting day, and E did wonderfully. I now call him robo kid, because his cute little white molars are now capped with these shiny, silver caps...I do not like them, but they are a necessary evil. I will try to get pics, I have never seen caps on a kid before.

Today we spent the morning Christmas shopping, trying to keep it sane this year since Mister and I tend to overbuy for the boys. I wanted to bake gingerbread up for gingerbread houses but I ran out of molasses, damn stuff it sits in the pantry rarely getting used and then when I need it, I do not have enough. Tomorrow will be a trip to the grocery store.

WAITING

Waiting alot this week. Mister bought me a new camera for Christmas this year, and considering that this is the first Christmas in over 6 years we have actually bought gifts for each other, not just kids and family I am more then excited. It is nice to be able to get something that means so much to me, my POS Nikon leaves a lot to be desired. Once I get my new camera I will post pics of the ridiculous thing I have been using. Plus I have to capture a picture of my lemon tree blossoming before small fingers get to the flowers.

I got a call from the pediatric dentist yesterday and he went over the procedures for E's dental work on Friday. Every night I watch him sleep, making sure he is breathing through his nose. He appears healthy, no cold, no fever, but can one ever be too sure? So now we wait, wait until Friday to go into the hospital to have all of his cavities taken care of, I am just praying that when he gets into E's mouth and cleans out the cavities that he does not have to perform a baby root canal.

My big plan today is get some cleaning out of the way so I can play with the camera when it gets here. I know me and I will be worthless once the new toy arrives. SO I am off to bake some sugar cookies, a different recipe then my normal, and clean the hard floors. So hopefully I will have pictures of the finished cookies later...and probably a butt ton more as I will no doubt over do pics with the new camera.

Can you tell I am excited?

BISY BACKSON AND TEXAS SHEETCAKE

That is how it has been the past week, which is why I did not write this weekend. I have a feeling that the rest of the month will be much the same. This weekend we managed to decorate the Christmas tree, and mister bought me a Christmas present...a new camera, of course NOT Nikon. I am hoping to get this camera Wednesday/Thursday so I can start taking pics again.

I just made an outstanding Texas Sheet Cake that came from my mother via an aunt. Here is the recipe in case you want to give it a go.

TEXAS SHEET CAKE

1 3/4 C flour
2 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C water
1/2 C butter
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
1/2 C buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Icing (goes on hot cake!):
6 Tbsp butter
1/3 C milk
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
2 3/4 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Grease a 15"x10" jelly roll pan and dust with flour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Combine water, butter, and 1/2C cocoa in small saucepan; bring to a boil and stir. Remove from heat; pour into the flour mixture. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add buttermilk, 1 tsp vanilla and eggs, beat well. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 17-20 minutes. Place on wire rack once it comes out of the oven (it will pull away from sides of pan when it is done baking). Prepare icing by combining 6 tbsp butter, milk, cocoa in saucepan and bring to a boil, stir. Remove from heat and gradually add powdered sugar, and 2 tsp vanilla. Stir smooth and then pour over hot cake.

Just a note the icing will want to run down sides of the cake, so pour icing towards the middle part of cake and work it out to the sides.

So yes that is what I was doing today, in addition to the daily laundry, cleaning and dousing the house with Lysol in efforts to keep Evan healthy so he can have his dental work done. I also had to lay out some Geotrax for the young laddie because I said I would, so I also managed to go through some of the many clothes in Evan's stockpile, pull some too small out and organize it, sort of. I have not had any time to quilt today and I am behind. While I was baking the school called, and I was thinking since we have had snow squalls since late morning the kids were being dismissed early. Nope, it was the school nurse and thanks to my son she and I are on a first name basis, yes, she even knows me by sight. My son is a fast eater, that is being kind the child inhales food like a vacuum. He was back at the nurses because his stomach hurt. Of course he had already eaten lunch, so she stood him by the toilet and finished helping another child. K is not one for tissues, all that nose blowing takes too much time, so because he snorts it up the mucous decided to come out another way, and sans fever he is sent back to the classroom. Thank you school nurse it is nice to know what my son does all day at school. Poor lady I should really get her a holiday gift.

I had had better get to that quilting, much to be done before Christmas...

E'S SAGA PART I

So this morning we left the house at 7:30 am and headed into New York to get blood work and a physical done for E (three-yer-old). In our county we do not have a hospital so we usually travel into New York if we are in need of such an establishment. Sadly we have to use the hospital to have dental work done on E.

This all started this summer when I took K in for his regular check up and E for his first time at the dentist. K went first and came out the dentist said he has beautiful teeth and enough room for the adult teeth. I was beaming and relieved. I went with E, he sat on my lap in the dentists chair and what I saw on her flat screen TV was horrific. My lovely little middle son, with the deep brown eyes you melt into, eyelashes longer then should be legal and the most cuddliest son of three has HUGE holes in his teeth, chunks missing off sides of teeth. I felt a pit in my stomach, I felt queasy, heartbroken and like I failed my son. Yes, he owns a toothbrush and we use it daily with toothpaste. True E is more defiant then his brother ever was which makes for let's say a more interesting teeth brushing experience. He does not go down with juice, or a bottle but we do allow him to have a sippy of water next to his bed. All this rushing through my head I get a referral to the pediatric dentist because our dentist believes he would be less traumatized to be under general anesthesia to have the work done. GENERAL ANESTHESIA. I felt like I was about to lose the contents of my stomach.

I go home, call this pediatric dentist who could not get E in for another month. We set a date and wait as I watch my child's teeth rotting out of his mouth. I swear daily it looked like his teeth were getting worse but it could also be because I am a hypochondriac with the tendency to be melodramatic (well K comes by it honestly). We finally make it to that appointment and can I tell you I saw the man's mouth moving, but I hardly remember anything he said beyond; hospital, general anesthesia, crowns, caps, worse case baby root canal, 3 hours... I started tearing up, but did not want to freak my kid out so I did my best to act like a big girl instead of this sniveling ninny. The dentist said we could go elsewhere for second opinion (but I figure we got the same story from our dentist before we even got there so why go for yet another opinion). We agree to get on their list for dental work done in the hospital. They only do this once a month and only 2 kids get seen in one day. We get set for December 10th, that is our big day the day that I will probably be unable to eat (good because I can tell E I will forgo food until he is able to eat since he has to fast after midnight), I will cry myself to sleep the night before and have a permanent lump in my throat that will last a week.

The pediatric dentist has a phenomenal staff, they are sweet, and I can call them whenever I need to or ask any questions without getting the feeling that I am putting them out. They called my medical insurance to get a physical copy of an approval for coverage of the hospital and anesthesia. I have to say the medical insurance is a trip, when I called I was told that while there is nothing saying they will cover that, there is also nothing saying they would not cover the hospital and anesthesia. Let me just say for the record I had looked on-line at the benefits package to see what was covered and what was not and besides being pretty friggin' vague I was surprised to see that they DO cover sex change operations. I just want to get my baby's teeth fixed!

Today we had to go have blood work, urinalysis and a physical done because it is a week before the dental date. E was brave, he was such a big boy. We got to our blood work appointment and I went to do all the signing of ones life away that you have to do in these events. I get sent over to the blood work window and they hand me a urine specimen bottle and tell me the will draw his blood in a few minutes. I turn around and mister and E are no where to be seen. I walk into the other waiting room...nothing...I walk out of the door, down the hallway to look outside to see if they are by the truck...nothing. I walk back in, down the hall, into the office and I do not see them. I walk into the blood draw waiting room and finally I see them coming towards me. I told mister I had been looking all over for them, and he said they were in the bathroom, E had to go potty. Yes, mister took him to the bathroom and E went potty without getting a, ummm, sample. I handed him the specimen cup and said you will have to get a sample from him. We spent the next 10 minutes convincing E to drink his juice and the water from the bottled water dispenser. Then mister took E back into the bathroom and they were in there a while. The phlebotomist called E's name and I said that they were in the bathroom and decided to knock. Mister got him to pee in the bottle! He said he ran the sink and E peed, very little so they better be super careful and not spill. The blood draw was a little less exciting, mister restrained Evan as instructed and E barely cried, there were no tears. He got a sucker for being so good yes I thought that too...bad teeth, should he really be eating a sucker? Considering what an eventful appointment this was and we had one more to get through I could not see the harm. We answered a bunch of questions on family history and hopped into the truck to get to the doctors office because E had to have a physical from a doctor, not our pediatrician. The doctor visit went quickly and 2 weigh-ins, 2 height checks, 2 blood pressure readings and pulse checks later we got to go home and have lunch. The only thing left is to keep E healthy until next Friday, because he cannot undergo the dental work if he has a cold. This is easier said then done,
To Be Continued...

Totally off topic

Since I find myself like so many others today, stuffed with food I really do not want to write about Thanksgiving or food. I have something totally off topic to share. I was watching E and A, thick as thieves, playing under the table throwing cocoa puffs at each other then eating them off the dog hair-ridden carpet. The boys were giggling and really getting along, so naturally my thoughts went to our stroller. We have a side-by-side (2 kids) stroller, you know the jogging kind. The thing is awesome it is light weight, you can fit two kids in it and it is WAY easier to push then the other Cadillac-like strollers that I used to have. The one drawback, the kids sit next to each other, which in a utopia would be ideal because the older child would help the younger child and they would play together and maybe break out some show tunes to entertain me, maybe not. However, here in reality that is not what happens when the boys sit in the stroller together, what most often occurs is E (the 3-year-old) gets in and A (the 19-month-old) starts hitting E. Then E screams or yells at him after holding his arm and telling him no fails miserably. Then we all share a good cry. It is those times, the things you never think of when you start something, like a family that leave me mystified. Who would have thought I would have to tell someone to stop licking the fridge? Or what about all the times I have to remind K to get his hands out of his underwear; I swear he must think his penis is a worry stone. Life who could have guessed?

Well I am off now to ponder why it is they have a word for Turkey stuffed with chicken stuffed with duck and not one to describe a human stuffed with turkey stuffed with stuffing...turhumstuffin?

Why start blogging?

I am not sure why, but I figured I had so many thoughts running around in my head that maybe I might write them down. I figured I would be more apt to writing if there is the slight chance I might get some feedback. I have found a few blogs that I really enjoyed following and they inspired me to commit my ramblings to cyberworld, however dangerous that might be.

I am not sure how so many people I see on here manage more then 3 kids, but I am at my limit. Three boys, 7, 3 and 19 months are more then a handful for me. With 2 I had a handle on it, I did not feel outnumbered, when the third one made it home from NICU I quickly realized I was outnumbered. I just hope that they become productive members of society, and my house does not crumble down around my ankles before they leave home.

With Thanksgiving tomorrow I have been busy baking. This morning started out with my first try at homemade cranberry jelly, then using the leftovers to make cranberry bread (again an untested recipe) for tomorrow's breakfast. If that was not enough why not throw in my first attempt at homemade pop tarts and the pumpkin pie. Of course I have made pumpkin pie plenty of times and I love the recipe my mother passed down to me from my grandmother, however I could not just go with the tried and true but had to throw in a few changes. So either tomorrow is going to go REALLY well with all these awesome new recipes to add to my collection, or it will be a flop and the oldest son will be truly disappointed. K my oldest is a pumpkin pie lover. I have to laugh at myself because I am not one of those people that can change up recipes successfully, but that never stops me from trying. What better day to experiment on then Thanksgiving? Yeah not so much.

Today is the last day at school before the holiday break and K comes home really soon. So soon like I better get my butt of this chair get E and A's coats on and head down to the bus stop.

BRIEF INTERLUDE

When will the day come that I am not sticking my nose next to someones tushy in order to inhale deeply of the malodorous diaper fillings? Stayed tuned for that answer...

Well I have to feed K and the poor birds are starving because I keep forgetting to fill the bird feeder, but after this last visit from the bear I agreed with my mom that we should not keep it completely filled.

Recipes to follow after taste testing tomorrow