Cherry-o!

This weekend I channeled my inner Martha Stewart & worked it in the kitchen. Not only did I make strawberry freezer jam (YUM!!) but I made an awesome fresh cherry cobbler for dessert last night.

I'm posting the recipe today...far, far away from Trim the Fat Thursday cause I don't want to sabotage anyone.

Except for myself apparently.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and modified it a little based on some of the reviews. The original recipe can be found HERE.

Here's what you'll need:


1/2 cup butter
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk (I used skim & it worked fine.)

3 cups pitted cherries (I used Bing since they were on sale last week; that's why I decreased the amount of sugar.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice (Guesstimate since I just squirted directly in the bowl.)

Tip: Wear gloves & old clothes to pit your cherries. Cherry juice WILL stain your hands & it's quite messy.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the butter into a 9x13 pan and insert in oven to melt. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder & milk. In a separate bowl mix the cherries, sugar, flour & cinnamon. Remove the pan from oven and add the batter. DO NOT STIR. Then add the cherries evenly over the batter. Again DO NOT STIR.

It will look a little like this.


Bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown.

I realize that nothing about this picture says "golden brown" but the crowd was anxious for dessert so I didn't take any pictures before serving.



I'm one of those weird people that like crisp edges so I loved the corners where the butter almost fried the dough, however I would have liked a little more "cobbler" to go with the cherries.

Next time I might divide the recipe into two smaller pans, increasing both the cherries and the batter a little. And I would also cut my cherries in half. They didn't cook as much as I would have liked because they were so big. That's what she said.

Cherry cobbler & True Blood = The perfect way to end my Sunday

My first senior moment

Let me apologize in advance for my absence today but I'll be doing the "parent thang" this morning & taking the teen for his senior pictures.

We are NOT taking this outfit.


I'd say this is the first of many tasks ahead of us this school year. Senior pictures, college choices, scholarship applications, auditions, etc., etc., etc.

It's exciting and sad all at the same time. Exciting to know this time next year he will be headed to college and sad for us because he'll be headed to college.

I just pray that my meds keep on working & that I have the patience to deal with all of it.

~sigh~

This parenting gig ain't for lightweights.

"Trim the Fat" Thursday

Welcome to another TTFT where I didn't meet my goals!

Blah.

This is what I had planned on doing this past week:

1. Drink 4 glasses of water a day.
A lot of water was consumed this week- everyday in fact. But I know that it wasn't 4 glasses everyday. Blah.

2. Buy NEW vitamins.
I DID buy some new vitamins. They still suck ass, but not nearly as much as the others. They are smaller than my original multivitamins & I don't have to chew them so I'm trying to suck it up and just do it.

3. Take vitamins everyday.
Did & done.

4. Do 20 minutes of exercise 3-4 days a week.
Um, here is where my miserable FAIL comes in. I don't have any excuses...I just simply don't enjoy exercise. I might have even been lazier this past week then normal.

I have to find something to motivate me to get off my butt. It's stupid & frustrating because I know I need to do it, but the "doing" it part is not appealing.

Blah.

Goals this week:

1. Drink 4 glasses of water a day.
2. Take vitamins everyday.
3. Do 20 minutes of exercise 3-4 days a week.
4. Start tracking what I'm eating.

I'm keeping the top 3 & I have a feeling it will always be on my list. As for #4, it's time to take a look at what I'm eating. I'm not going to count calories this week, but I want to see when I'm eating.

By the time I get home in the evenings I'm starving & that means I overeat at dinner time. Not something I want to do so I've got to work that out somehow.

So how did you do this week?

If you are participating in "TTFT" don't forget to link up at Angie's place!

I'm Blitzing...but not very well

For all of you that are friends with me on Facebook, you may have noticed my current obsession with Bejeweled Blitz.


Probably because you've been spanking my ass at it.

Seriously, Kat what's your secret? How do you get scores that high? Jayme, maybe you can shed some light since you've also surpassed my score.

I NEED to know the secret. S & I are in a fierce competition to be the ultimate winner in our house. We've been battling it out for the last few days...first me on top, then him, then me, then him.

Is it getting hot in here or is it just me? *Ahem*

As of bedtime on Monday S was in the lead, but then a miracle happened. The tournament ended yesterday; meaning that all the scores reset.

Hallelujah!

Yesterday I played that game so many times my eyes crossed, but I managed to get to 45,500. Still so far from the 50k medal that I wanted. SO. BAD.


Although it was enough to stay ahead of S.

For one day anyway.

What's your current obsession? Are you competitive? Will you still love me if I never reach 50k?

**In case you missed my "hellz yeah" message on FB, I just scored over 64,000! Hey S- stuff that in your pipe and smoke it!**

Summer Vacation-Part II...The Haunted Version

After touring the battlefields at Gettysburg (Part I found here) we went into town. We had dessert before dinner (YUM!) & then decided to do a ghost walk.

The Dobbins House tour was recommended


so at dusk this guy took us around town to different places, giving us more of a history lesson than a "ghost" story. (Obviously I do NOT recommend the Dobbins House tour.)



Even though it was pretty eerie walking around at night, his stories weren't doing much to scare me so I started taking pictures.

He had spoken about orbs and I was determined to catch some on my camera.

(Click to enlarge)




This is S walking away and you can barely see an orb to the right. But then in the next frame the same orb is still there but very bright.




I knew that some of my pictures had orbs, but it wasn't until I downloaded them that I saw how many. I would say 98% of my pictures had at least one orb in it.

How freaky is that?!

So tell me, do you believe in ghosts? How about orbs? Do you think they are spirits or "just dust" as some believe?

Bits & Pieces

I woke up this morning to a raging thunderstorm. While I would have appreciated it yesterday morning when I had nothing to do...eh, not so much on a Monday morning.

I got soaked getting in the car and then had to fight the monsoon in order to get to work. Pair that with some sinus issues I'm having and it's just not a good start to my week.

Anyway, let's catch up.

I'm declaring victory over the gnats! I haven't seen one all weekend & would be happy to never see one again.

Two weeks ago my new neighbors moved in next door. He is a sheriff in our county & they have two kids. Guess that's the end of our nekkid "clown" parties.* (<--code word alert)

I had an attack of lazyitis so I didn't paint my shutters this week. After much thought I'm going to pass on purple & neon green, instead trying the classy black suggested by so many. Thank you!

I dyed the blonde right outta my hair last week. S said that he preferred the bleached streak but an overall color was much needed. To cover the {cough}gray{cough}. Now I just gotta decide if I want to do that again or go for something more drastic. I'm thinking hot pink...

Several bloggy pals have given me awards over the past couple of months that I have failed to acknowledge. My apologies to all of you...I horrible about not reposting them quicker but I DO appreciate them.

Thanks to April, Lana & Christina! (I hope that I didn't leave anyone out!)



*I'm totally joking about the "clown" parties. Pinkie promise.

What's been bugging me lately

This pesky little bug has been driving me crazy. Well crazier than I was to begin with.

Lest you did not recognize it from that very microfied picture, that is a GNAT. And the bane of my existence right now.


I swear I feel like that picture looks. A little "gnatty" and a lot aggravated. Those little bastards are EVERYWHERE.

We had a couple in my kitchen before we left for vacation so I created a homemade trap and caught them suckers.

Or so I thought.

But then I saw some in West Virginia.

At work they have been bugging me (pun completely f'in intended) all week.

Then yesterday there was TWO in my car. IN. MY. CAR.

Why the hell would they be in my car? I don't have fresh fruit in there. Hell, I don't have ANY food in there except when I get groceries, which is temporary obviously. Cause I like take it out when I get home & everything.

I'm starting to wonder if my skin is giving off some overripe banana scent. Maybe my shampoo reminds them of a moldy strawberry. Perhaps my lotion is just the right flavor of fermenting grapes.

I don't know but I cannot take it anymore.

Bugs watch out cause the Gnat Hunter is in the house.

**If you've ever experienced a similar problem with gnats, here is the homemade trap that I used. Fill a small, shallow dish with cider vinegar & a couple drops of dish washing liquid. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, making sure it is tight. Use a rubber band to secure if necessary. Then poke several small holes in the plastic wrap. (I used a fork.) The pests are attracted to the vinegar but then get caught in the sticky dish washing liquid & have a hard time getting out of the plastic wrap.