oreo truffles, chores and... yuck!

A little over a year ago, I found this recipe for oreo truffles.  I figured that they would be a great dessert to make because I really don't like oreos that much-so I thought it wouldn't be bad having them around.  I could not have been more wrong.  They are beautiful and delicious, so if you continue reading, be forewarned. 

Oreo truffles:
1 package oreos, crushed
1 8oz stick of cream cheese, room temperature

melting chocolate
tsp of crisco
sprinkles or other decorative toppings

Crush the oreos, the finer the better, and blend in the cream cheese.  Chill mixture until it's firm.  Form small balls with oreo mixture.  I use the small scoop from Pampered chef to keep the size pretty uniform.  Once they are shaped, chill again until firm. You could even freeze them for a bit. 

Melt whatever color chocolate you are using.  I love to use the golden oreos with semisweet baking chocolate (again-you have been warned).  Add a teaspoon or so of vegetable shortening to the chocolate (thanks to my friend, Kathi, for that tip) to make it look prettier and more smooth.  Dip truffle balls into chocolate and then place on waxed paper to cool-make sure you add the sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet.  You could also use more chocolate to decorate the tops of the truffles by putting it into a ziploc or pastry bag. 

Keep the truffles refrigerated until serving.  You should also stay away from the refrigerator during that time! 

In other news, we are in full swing with daily chores, and the flower pot system is working really well.  I love that I am a little removed from the whole process and don't have to actually tell my kids what they have to do each day.  My youngest actually told me that his job (that day- cleaning up the porch) wasn't so bad because he had just done it a few days earlier and the porch wasn't that messy!  Love it. 

A few people have asked me what kind of chores my kids have and how I decide who does what.  To answer that, I will first tell you that my kids are (almost) 13, 9 and (almost) 6 so their abilities and attention span vary greatly.  I try to match up their personalities and interests, if you can call it that, to the task I am asking them to do.  Here are just some of the chores they have:

dusting each room (separate chore stick for each room)
collecting trash from bedrooms and bathrooms
taking out recycling
cleaning front and back doors (both are glass)
bringing down the laundry and sorting for washing
putting laundry away
cleaning their own rooms
putting dishes away
dusting baseboards
vaccuuming basement (our only room with carpet)

There are more and I have some more ideas about chores for kids, but that's a sampling of what they are doing.  My youngest usually gets either the porch, or cleaning up our "shoe basket" where we all leave our shoes when we come home. 

In YUCK news, I came downstairs the other morning to find that I had left a wine glass on the table with just the tiniest bit of wine in it.  The gross part was that there were fruit flies all over it-blech!!!  So, I decided to use wine as my "bait" for this old school fruit fly trap (Andi, you were close on your guess). 

It actually worked and served as a bit of a science project for my kids on the habits and life cycle of fruit flies.  Of course, the best way to get rid of those pesky pests is to put all the fruit away, but I wanted to make sure there weren't any stray bugs anywhere.  The flies go toward the bait (in this case the wine, but jelly works, too) and then can't fly back up the cone.

Any guesses what this might be?

I have this vague memory of a show, a game show, I guess, from when I was a kid.  The host would show people (maybe they were celebrities or somehow famous) an item and they would have to tell the contestant what the item was.  The obscure item would be pretty much unrecognizable, and the contestant would have to decide which story to believe about the item in question.  Like I said, it is a vague memory at best-probably something I watched with my grandmother, who also loved The Price is Right.

So, can you guess the use for this? 

Sorry to say there is no prize for getting it right, and no celebrity guest star, but if you also remember that show, you will have my undying gratitude!  I will be back soon with the answer to this and a few other questions I have gotten this week, as well as the Oreo truffle recipe! 

The pile gets smaller for now

We are in the second full week of summer vacation and I have read 1.6 books-a pretty good start if I say so myself!  My first pick was gods in Alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson:

What a great choice to start my summer!  This book was a quick read, but wasn't "fluff" by any stretch of the imagination.  With fully developed and relatable characters and an intricately woven series of flashbacks, this book drew me in and kept me reading obessively until the very last page.  As good books often do, it also left me wishing there were a few more pages (those darn "reading group" questions at the end always make it seem like there is another chapter!). 

I love Southern Literature, Southern fiction-all things southern.  I took a Southern Lit. class in college and fell head over heels for Eudora Welty and others, all with the lush heritage and amazing language they could have only learned in the south.  Jackson's narrator couldn't have seemed less southern at the outset of the novel, but as I read on, I learned that Arlene was a bit a of nomad in her childhood and came a little late to the Alabama home where she spent her teenage years.  The story unravels like a phone call from a good friend with a crazy but enthralling story to tell.  One minute you are getting a play by play of her day, the next you are getting the backstory you need to make sense of it all.  I won't give details about the book, just go and read it.  I think her others will be in the pile of books that is getting smaller and larger at the same time. 

As quickly as I read gods in Alabama, I am reading The Life of Pi that slowly.  I know so many people who loved this book and Amazon, Paperbackswap and WeRead are all telling me that people who liked books I like also recommend Life of Pi, but UGH.  I won't let it defeat me, though and today is the last day of both Pi being on that liferaft and me reading about it-if it kills me I will finish this book.  I love some little pearls from this book, but it is way too much like science class for me. 

Read any good books lately? 

I will leave you with a picture of sweet oreo goodness.  I think I like taking pictures of these almost as much as I like making them, and let's be honest, eating them.  I made these for a fundraiser one of my friends did for her participation in the 3-day Susan G. Komen walk for breast cancer.  It was "yoga for the cure" and you can read more about it by looking at the blog in my sidebar:  yoga wisdom for everyday

Sweet summer so far

Well, we are nearly a week into summer vacation and it's going great thus far.  My kids already have that half-tired, half exhilarated look that is somewhere between beach bum and extreme sports enthusiast.  As for me, I am "tan," (according to my husband) which is no small feat for a person with 50% Irish heritage. 

One of my favorite parts of summer is my garden.  This being the third year we have lived here, it's actually starting to look a little presentable.  I have a sweet collection of coral bells in my tiny front yard that are in full, albeit miniscule bloom.  My lacecap hydrangea looks a little worse for wear after the epic snowstorms we had this winter, but it still got gorgeous, delicate lavendar blooms:

I went to my favorite garden center, Glicks greenhouse for their 1/2 price sale and loaded up on plenty of plants to fill in the empty spots in my side garden and backyard.  I filled my hanging baskets as well, with some favorite flowers:  lantana, sweet potato vine and this other one, whose name I can't remember but it looks like mini petunias:

I also got some annual black eyed susan, which are starting to bloom and are simply amazing:

We've been hit with heat wave after heat wave this spring/summer, so it's easy to forget that it is still June and technically on the 3rd day of summer!  I can't wait to see the growth in the garden this year.  It's time to get the pool bag ready again and pack lunches for the kids and me-life is so hard in the summer! 

A Quickie

You know those projects that kind of sneer at you from the corner, taunting you, almost daring you to complete them.  You know the type-the ones that really will only take a half hour or so to complete if, and it's a big, gigantic (if )you just took the time to do them, and had the necessary supplies on hand.  One of those projects has been staring at me for about 3 years.  It was shortly after we moved into this house that I decided to use a pillowcase to camoflauge the ugly and stained cushion on this chair that I got from my mother's house (thanks mom!). 

It's brilliant, right?  I mean-you can't really tell that it's a pillowcase-not even when you see the bunch of fabric hanging off the side of the chair.  Granted, it did cover the off white cushion which was stained and overall in need of help, but still-a pillowcase?  Not my best work. 

Last week, I was determined to get this chair off my back and finished once and for all.  So, after cleaning the local grocery outlet nearly completely out of snack food, we also went to the fabric outlet where I snagged a couple of remnants-one of which was destined for this chair.  I went to work, ripping off the old beige fabric, only to uncover this 70's gem:

If you look closely, you can see that the red velvet has nearly turned to dust and there are little red velvet particles all over my floor.  Don't look too closely, though because there is also regular dust on my floor.  I ripped through the velvet:

To find the foam underneath lacking in a little support and comfort.  After getting all the velvet and staples out, it looked like this:

Okay, maybe I didn't get out all the staples, but close enough.  I added a little batting to give it a little more softness:

Then, covered it in my cheap fabric remnant, so it looks like this now:

Not too shabby, for an old chair.  And it only took about an hour or so (well 3 years plus an hour or so) to complete. And now the chair won't be giving me the evil eye every time I walk by.

Chores made simple (I hope)

A while back, a friend sent me a link to this amazing chore organizer project on the equally amazing blog "How does she?"  Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I was able to marvel at her creativity, her skill with power tools and the genius of this simple system for doling out chores to (possibly) willing children. 

In the past, I have tried lists, written chores on scraps of paper and let them choose blindly and then eventually just given up!  I like the idea of the popsicle sticks because they should last all summer (at least).  I also like assigning chores because I can tailor the task to the child's age and ability. 

I am a firm believer in giving kids chores (just ask them, they will bore you with exaggerated stories of child labor camps) but often fall short in the consistency category.  When there is so much to be done in a day-homework, reading together, sports practices and other obligations, it can be just easier to take it on myself or even ignore it completely until the kids are at school or I can't stand the mess anymore.  I am really hoping that this very simplified version of the idea from "How does she" will help me stay on track this summer and give the kids the chores they should be doing.  Honestly, I am also hoping that it will save me from saying things like "Am I the only person who can bend over and pick up socks on the steps?"  Or, the ever popular "Can't anyone flush a toilet?" 

So, before I share these pictures, please go and look at all the details of the much more beautiful inspiration piece that gave me the idea in the first place-you will be blown away with her skills.  Mine, on the other hand, took a more simplified approach.  First, I considered using mason jars, but they are a little too tall for the popsicle sticks that will be the assigned chores, so I picked up a few of these pots:

Personalized them just a bit:

Next, I got the popsicle sticks-the wide ones that look more like tongue depressors, and simply wrote the chores on them in green (my favorite color) sharpie.  Alison actually included a printable template for the chores so that you can cut them out of paper and mod-podge them to the sticks.  For me, it's all about being done in the time that I have, so a sharpie had to do the job (and I must be quite a task master because I had WAY more chores than the template):

I've also added two clothespins to each flower pot; these are like gold around here.  One is for computer time and the other for TV and neither can be used until the chores are done (what's that noise?  angels singing?  I think so). 

TA-DA!!!  my chore assignment system.  Let the complaining, trading and bargaining begin!  Oh, and hopefully the eventual submission and cleaning, too!  I decided that because today is the first day of summer vacation, we would start out with just one chore each and work up to a few for each day.   

The Garden Tour

This past Saturday, a good friend and I left kids and husbands behind to go on an area garden club's home garden tour.  Each one was amazing in its own way, and we had a great time snooping around all the gardens.  I think I learned something new at each one that I want to incorporate into my garden at home. 

At the first house, the homeowners were so nice and answered tons of questions about all the plants and how they handled certain landscaping obstacles like planting on a hill and keeping the weeds down.  Even though their house (and garden) were the newest on the tour, it looked like a mature garden and not like plants plopped down into mulch-which gave me hope for some of my own newer beds.  Here is a shot of the landscaping near the pool:

The next house had a kids' dream garden, with two trains running through the yard.  It was a house similar to mine-a brick twin with a small yard, which was nice to see especially since our next destination was over 10 acres.  They had so many beautiful plants packed into that little in-town yard.  Of course, at my house we need to have some grass available for kickball games, but I loved the patches of larkspur and this cool idea made with rebar and old bottles:

Not sure if I can use it at my house  because rebar and glass plus about 12 kids average per day may not be the best combination, but it is a clever idea. 

Another home on the tour had these:

Which has me dreaming of more construction and a mini-vineyard in my postage stamp backyard.  Between the recent fence project and the raised veggie bed we built last week (photos to follow once we have dirt and plants in it) I don't think I'd better push my luck right now with a grape arbor, but it's an idea for the future. 

The next house was also amazing, with several buildings, barns, chickens a gorgeous pool and a plant sale that we took full advantage of.  There was also this little gem, that I thought was so cute:

Now, I will be keeping my eye out for a cheap birdbath to fill with a little succulent garden. 

The final house on the tour was truly amazing-something you just wouldn't expect to find in someone's home garden-a Zen Japanese garden that spanned a huge area on the side of the house.  Here are a few photos so you can get an idea what we were walking through:

That was all at someone's home-if you can imagine, not at a sanctuary or arboretum.  The house is actually for sale, which is kind of a shame because it's going to take a very special buyer to want to either keep up with this garden or take it out (which would be sad).  Besides the obvious creativity and work put into this garden, I was amazed at how they used salvaged wood and branches to build so many gates and benches.  It was the little touches and details that made the difference here. 

The whole day was so inspiring, and really made me look at my own yard and garden a little differently when we got home-I will have to "tour" my own space this week and see what's going on there. 

True house confessions

Now that we have been in our house for just about three years, I have to say it feels like home.  When we moved in, it kind of felt like it would never be ours and I found myself wishing for the old place-even though I really hated living there and renting for so long.  It took a while before this house became our home, before we got that relaxed feeling after being out all day, and before we had enough furniture to really qualify a few rooms as being made for their intended purpose.

But, now it's ours and it feels like home-all except one room that I have only been in 2 times in the whole time we have lived here.  That's my confession!  We have a room in the basement that hold the oil tank, and I went in it when we looked at the house and one other time-that's it!  Here is a photo of the door (and the floor in my messy office-but that's another kind of confession!)

So, what's your house confession?  I would love to know!

The summer is shaping up nicely around here

My kids can swim-all of them.  Even my youngest already passed the swim test and got his bracelet and can go down the 150 foot water slide at our local YMCA pool!  He actually did that last year, but I wasn't quite as confident in his swimming then.  If you have been home in the summer with your kids, you just might know where I am going with this.  Basically, I can read at the pool!  Books, actual books!! Last year, I was bold enough to bring magazines, but this year, I am reading books at the pool.  After years of swim diapers, baby pools, standing in the cold water and getting splashed and trying to manage 3 kids with different swimming abilities-I can read at the pool.  Of course, I will still swim with them, but the cold hard truth is that I don't have to!  This seems to be one of the milestones I don't have mixed feelings about-I am thrilled!

So, enter my own reading list.  I have gathered, from friends, the church library and the used bookstore, a good start to my reading for the summer.  A few were recommended by friends, one I don't want to read but all my book sites keep suggesting it and another I picked solely because I liked the cover art.  I won't divulge which is which among the books.  Oh, and one other is by a very favorite author, so I hope reading that one will be like visiting an old friend. 

Happy (almost) summer!

That was some storm

I wish I lived in Boston, so I could say that we had a wicked awesome storm last night and have it sound convincing, but I don't so I will share some photos instead.  We had two very hot and humid days, which sent us scrambling to put the window a/c units in our old house and me trying to remember exactly how to keep the downstairs of our house cool when it's more than 90 degrees outside.  We try to tough it out without the a/c as much as possible, but when you can't go to the pool, it's hard to cool off. 

So, here's what the storm looked like here:

Someone, although I am not naming names, thought it would be fun to go out and try to collect some hail. Then, that unnamed person got hit with some hail and realized that hail is just like cool, icy rocks falling from the sky so she got her kids and huddled under the gazebo on the patio. Then, that person may have yelled for her husband to help them (though not sure what she could have expected him to do). One of her children may have been running in and out of the hail and gotten a huge welt on the side of his body when a chunk of hail hit him. Of course, it's all speculation.

Here is one of the pieces of hail:

Luckily, this is what we got when it was over:

And, we got a much cooler day, to go with that rainbow! 

The Summer List

One of our very favorite traditions every Memorial Day is to make THE Summer List.  We all sit down together and make a list of all the things we want to do before it's time to hit the books again in August, which always comes around much too fast. 

This is the best list I make.  After all, most of the lists I make during the school year include things like pay bills, go to gym, grocery shop...you get the idea because you make the same kind of list every single day whether it's on a piece of legal paper, in your calendar or just in your head.  But the summer list, this one is different.  The summer list is a little bit of adventure, with things like go hiking, go to Knoebels, go to the beach.  It also has goals, like read 100 books (that was a contribution from my 8 year old last year) or ride a two wheeler.  The goals are pure fun and no one really cares if you don't reach them.  In summer, it's the journey that counts the most. 

I've already got a few ideas for my part of the list this summer.  With an almost teen in the house, I am starting to realize exactly how precious the time here together is and I want to make the most of it and enjoy every last drop of summer with my kids.  And, I want to finally use my ice cream maker-I think that might be first on the list. 

cupcake love

My oldest daughter was confirmed this weekend.  True to form, we threw a huge party, with everyone we know and had tons of food, lots to drink and some super-cute-time-consuming-but-totally-worth-it cupcakes!  We had to pick a symbol to represent her for confirmation and we chose the sunflower because it has heliotropism.  That fancy biology word means that sunflowers follow the sun-always looking forward and into the light, which we thought was just perfect for this independent and courageous girl of ours.

The bonus was that sunflowers are crazy gorgeous and I got to decorate my house with them:

We also used some paper flowers that I got on clearance at Michaels a while back (thank you Martha Stewart for this little project).  And, thanks to Target, I scored all the cute paper products and cute little paper balls for cheap:

And then, there were these little goodies that grew in my refrigerator (right next to the Mike's if you notice)

Oh, for cute's sake, these were adorable!  As I mentioned before, totally worth the time it took to make them.  And, really so easy.  With a few lessons in piping from my talented sister-in-law and a little trial and error, these weren't too hard to make.  It's just an oreo cookie and some canned frosting on top of a cupcake from a mix!  so cute-here' a close-up:

And, strangely, the light in the refrigerator is good for taking pictures-I will have to remember that.  I wanted to take more shots of these because they are so crazy cute, but I decorated them at night and then we were short on time yesterday before the party.  I really didn't want to greet my guests by saying, hold on-just one more close up of this really cute cupcake! 

my unofficial and very late movie review

Well, I did finally, after too many technical difficulties, get to watch The Time Traveler's Wife the other night.  I had actually planned to watch it on a night when my husband was working, but had trouble with the dvd player, so he humored me and sort of half watched it with me the next night. 

I am sorry to say it was 101 Dalmatians all over again.  The more I think about it, the more I disappointed I am in the screen adaptation (as they say).  I didn't really buy the chemistry  between Rachael McAdams and Eric Bana (though I did love her as Clare) and I thought he was pretty boring as Henry. 

The screenwriter took an interesting take, showing the movie mostly from Henry's perspective.  I think that decision made the movie much darker than the book.  It reminded me of other sad movies, like Leaving Las Vegas for some reason-maybe all the dark pauses between scenes.  At one point, I thought I was watching a made for tv movie and a commercial was coming. 

I also wonder if the movie took the plot it did because some of the book was a little creepy- like when Henry and Clare tied up and tortured the high school guy, or just Clare being in love with a man in his forties when she was still just a child.  What didn't really play out as too creepy in the book could have been super creepy in the movie.  Though I loved seeing "Burger" as Gomez, I missed the development of his relationship with Clare from the book. 

The moral of this story, I guess, is that books are just better.  I was thinking of some other books that were ruined when they were made into movies, and the first one that came to mind was "House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende.  Again, great book, terrible movie.   I suppose I will just keep reading. 

mulch ado about nothing

I would like to apologize for that pun, but I won't because I think it's hysterical. Must be the nerdy English major in me, or the product of listening to too much Wait, wait don't tell me!! but that's some good stuff!  Maybe I can get a job writing their limericks-I do crack myself up and it seems like it would be selfish not to share all this talent. 

Anyway, as you could reasonably infer from the title of this punny post, this weekend was all about yard clean-up.  After doing my Monday morning blog-browse,I've realized that we were in good company as it seems everyone was out in the pollen ridden air trying to spruce things up.  Thanks to my very strong husband and my skilled and very willing neighbor, our fence is well under way.  Remember this?

After some Craigslist help and more elbow grease from my husband, it looked like this (kids not included):

and, today, it looks like this:

It's definitely getting there, and while we didn't exactly finish it over the weekend, the hard work is done (by my husband-I had nothing to do with any hard work on this project.  I simply made runs to HD and Lowes for supplies)

We also weeded and mulched the flower beds in the front of the house and along the side:

and, now it looks (you should be ready for this) MULCH better! 

Don't judge a book by its movie

When I was nine years old, I went to see Disney's 101 Dalmatians in the movie theater.  If you grew up in the 70's and 80's like I did, you know that going to the movies was a  big, huge deal.  I can pretty much remember all the movies I saw in the movie theater as a kid.  My own kids, like most in the 2000's (is that what we call them) have their pick of kids' movies at any given time-on TV, in the theater, wherever.  They have nearly instant movie gratification.   

So, in the fourth grade, with my Dorothy Hamill haircut and probably running shorts and tube socks, I went to see 101 Dalmatians.  In preparation for seeing it, I had already read the book by Dodie Smith, The Hundred and One Dalmatians.  If I remember it right, I may have even had the book with me when we went to the movies.  Here is the original cover-not sure if mine looked like this, but it might have.

You see, there was this one part at the end of the book, once Cruella had figured out that the puppies were gone.  The shock of losing her potential new dalmation coat was so great that her famously black and white hair CHANGED COLOR!!!  The side that had been black suddenly went white and the white side went GREEN from the shock. I waited through the entire movie for that one part, and it never came.  I remember still sitting in my seat, watching the credits, while my dad tried to convince me the movie was over.  I kept telling him that maybe there would be more-I way dying to see that part. 

That was the first time a movie didn't live up to its book.  All the way back in 1979.  There have been many, many other books since that time that have been ruined once they hit the screen, but I have  been prepared.  The disappointment of 101 Dalmatians has served me well and taught me not to get my hopes up for the movie. 

So, tonight, after reading The Time Traveler's Wife I am going to watch the movie.  I am trying to keep my expectations low, but I really loved the book. We will see if it's Cruella DeVille all over again. 

ahhh... progress

Well, if I have learned anything from the last 3 (almost) years of home ownership, it's that we will never be "finished."  I know that somewhere there is someone who feels like they are finished with their home, but I have never met them and probably wouldn't like them even if I did meet them.  So, in the effort to feel some sense of accomplishment, I present my newly refinished sideboard:

Not only does it look much better than it used to, but it now houses a pretty groovy wine rack where the bottom two drawers used to be.  I was actually more than a little bit ready to give up on the wine rack idea and just paint the drawers and return them to their previous home, but I decided to give it one more try.  I am certainly glad I didn't give up because I was able to snag this little diamond in the rough for only $1.50 thanks to a local thrift stores 50% off everything sale.

Once I heartlessly cut off the hearts with my handy jigsaw, the rack fit perfectly in the space left available when Iremoved the bottom two drawers.  After a few impatient coats of paint from that same old $5 oops paint can, the results were pretty amazing.  I love the new hardware-and it defnitely helped this old sideboard make the transition from early 70's to vintage-y 2010 status.  Here's a great shot of what the cabinet really holds (besides the wine)

The art supplies is this cabinet are all part of my "keep it where you use it" theory of organization (to use that word loosely).  My kids do the bulk of homework, art projects, coloring and creative stuff at the dining room table, so having their supplies on hand is key to both easy access for them and simple clean up (let's face it, that's mostly for me).  Having the storage double as an attractive buffet for parties is just a bonus for me.  And, before we move on, let's remember what it used to look like (about 2 weeks ago):

And, for an even more shudder-worthy retrospective, let's see the same wall just a few days after we moved in a mere 3 years ago:

This post is linked to:  between naps on the porch-metamorphosis monday

Thanks to the genius of Craigslist...

We are one step closer to putting our fence in out back.  Our little postage stamp (as I like to call it) yard is in need of a facelift.  After living here nearly 3 years and spending a ton of time on the interior of the house, it seems like it's about time to start improving the landscape.  Enter, Craigslist.  I got the idea for this from young house love quite a while ago, from reading about how they transformed their (much bigger) backyard.  So, with enthusiasm and only a little trepidation, I listed our unwanted shrubbery on Craigslist-free to whomever would like to come and dig it out. 

Thus, our yard went from this:

To this:

The people who came to dig in the blazing hot afternoon sun only wanted the forsythia, not the unnamed "shrubs" that are back there, but it's a start.  I am going to give it a few days and see if anyone else responds to the ad and wants the rest of the shrubs (keeping fingers crossed).

In other news, the sideboard is nearly finished.  I still have to get some more paint on the very bottom of the legs and work out one more idea and then it will be time to sort through all the art supplies and get them back into their proper home.  Here is a sneak peek of the cabinet still in progress:

Happy Monday-it's a hot and rainy one here!