What to do on a Rainy Day...

Noah and I decided to make some Banana Bread on this wet and dreary day. I found this recipe in one of my Pampered Chef cookbooks.

Peanutty Chocolate Banana Bread

*2 cups all-purpose flour
*1 cup sugar
*1 Tbsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp. salt
*1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
*1/3 cup milk
*1/3 cup peanut butter
*3 Tbsp vegetable oil
*1 egg
*1 cup chocolate chips, divided
*1/3 cup peanuts, chopped (I used two packets of chopped peanuts that you get from McDonald's when you order a sundae.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom only of Loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add bananas, milk, peanut butter, oil and egg; stir until just moistened. Stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Spoon batter into pan.

Sprinkle peanuts and remaining chips evenly over batter.

Bake 60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. (A full 60 minutes made mine slightly overcooked.) Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Loosen sides and remove to a cooling rack. Cool completely then serve.

Happy 6th Birthday, Carlie!!

We just returned from our Chicago trip to celebrate Carlie's birthday. It may take a few days to get all the highlights posted. As a surprise we had a ladies only lunch at the American Girl Cafe. She said it was her favorite part of the trip. Glad to hear that!! My friend, Nancy, and her daughter, Brooke, still came despite just recovering from the stomach flu. It was great to see her again and finally see Brooke in person rather than just 3 years of photos. Grammy and Pawpaw R. came up with us. And, Grammy D. and Buddy drove up from Lexington to join us as well. The boys all ate at McDonalds.

If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. It is definitely very fancy & girly. The pampering for the dolls is never ending. The store has a doll hair salon, photo studio, and more clothing choices than I have in my closet. Lucy got her own chair at the table as well as a porcelain dinner plate and cup. And, if you don't have your own American Girl or Bitty Baby, they will provide one for you to dine with.

The meal was delicious. They start you out with cinnamon rolls, then bring out a tray of carrots, cucumbers and cheese pastry puffs with a variety of dips. You can select from about 8 different entrees. I had the chicken panini. It was fabulous. Finally, each person gets a dessert tray with a butterfly cookie, a chocolate mousse flower pot, and mini piece of cake. A great treat well worth the price.

Birthday Girl

Me & C.

The Grammys

Lucy joined us as well. Carlie made her the "L-U-C-Y" necklace she is wearing.

The picture of Nancy and I did not turn out, but she was there too. Great to see you again, Nancy!!

The Price to Be Hairless

Noah and I just returned from Costco to pick up a few things. I needed some new razors among other things. It's obviously been awhile since I have purchased razors because I had complete sticker shock. Twelve razors were $20.99. Yikes!! (yes, I realize I could have probably gotten the Bic one blade for less, but those things are like taking a machete to your legs. Yow!) I guess they will last a whole year, but that is over $1.00/month to have smooth legs. I wonder if it's worth it. My nephew went like 3 or 4 months without shaving his face and looked like a nut job Berkeley professor. Maybe I should do that to save a little green. I am part German, you know. Hmmmm...shave or don't shave??

Get Over Yourself

Seriously? Lindsay Lohan is suing E-trade for $100 million because she claims the latest baby ad is making fun of HER. Honestly, get over yourself. I have seen that ad so many times, laugh every single time, and not once do I think it is about Lindsay Lohan.

"Many celebrities are known by one name only, and E-Trade is using that knowledge to profit," Lohan's lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, said in a statement to the New York Post. "They're using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn't they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody's talking about it and saying it's Lindsay Lohan."

This is such a joke and needs to be thrown out of court. Maybe Tiger Woods should sue E-trade for the hilarious "Shankapotamous" golf ad because it is clearly about him. Whatever. Here's the "milkaholic" ad if you've never seen it...

Spring Cleaning

We've been doing a little spring cleaning this weekend. I'm not sure how much progress we are making. Yesterday, I made a pretty potent mix of bug spray to hopefully rid all of the Asian beetles or whatever they are that somehow find their way in through our kitchen windows. Another dose to come today. If I continue to see them, not sure what I will do.

I also face the dilemma of whether to get out the spring clothes or not. Once I do, I'm sure the temperatures will plummet. Maybe a few for now. I also HAVE to get the basement carpets shampooed this week before my mom returns next week and takes her steam cleaner back. Fixing chicken and noodles for dinner. Just have to finish picking apart the chicken, then boil the noodles. Laundry and ironing. Whew, busy day. I better get to work. All this while trying to get in a little NCAA hoops action today.

Photo from Flickr

What Would People Do?

Our current session of Financial Peace University has been going for five weeks now. We are hoping for some major life changes once again. There are 61 people in our class. About half are married couples. The total debt for the class (not including mortgages) is over $1 million!! Yes, I said $1,000,000. And, again, does not include mortgages. That's an average of $22,000/household of student loans, car payments, credit card debt, furniture payments, home equity loan, etc. What a heavy chain to be carrying around.

I started reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey so I could use it to supplement what we were studying in class. I'm already finished. It gives real examples of people who have been in financial bondage and were able to break the chains of debt and are now living financially free. I think I need to go on a crusade to get this stuff taught in every junior high and high school in the country to rid everyone from their sick entitlement mentality.

Anyway, something to ponder for the weekend that is an excerpt from the book...

"What would people do if they didn't have any payments? They would save and they would spend, not support banks. Spending by debt-free people would support and prosper the economy. The economy would be much more stable without the tidal waves caused by "consumer confidence" or the lack thereof. (Consumer confidence is that thing economists use to measure how much you will overspend due to your being giddy about how great the economy is, never taking into consideration that you are going deeply into debt. If the consumer were out of debt and living within his means, the confidence he would have would be well founded.)

Saving and investing would cause wealth to be built at an unprecedented level, which would create more stability and spending. Giving would increase, and many social problems would be privatized; thus, the government could get out of the welfare business. Then taxes could come down, and we would have even more wealth. Those who are worried about polarization, the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, need not look to government to solve the problem; just call for a national Total Money Makeover."

It's March...

...LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!!!!!

Maybe if you're lucky I'll give you 5 reasons to be very wary of picking Rock Chalk, Jayhawk to go all way as well as 5 reasons you should pick Rock Chalk, Jayhawk. This will be a very exciting tourney!!

Aunt Debra Comes to Town

We just finished a nice visit with Aunt Debra flying all the way in from Omaha to see us. She brought lots of fun things for the kids to enjoy. I was impressed that she was up for taking Zumba with me. I don't think she broke a sweat, but she sure gave some people in the class a good laugh. Give her a ton of credit for sticking through the whole class, and hopefully she will do it again.

It was nice to spend a good part of both days shopping. We trekked to several consignment shops and made it over to the Macy's that was closing. Debra found several items to take home, including a pair of supercute jeans for $14. She even surprised me with a shirt that I thought she was buying for her, but she bought for me instead. Thanks, Deb!! I was able to find a White House Black Market dress for under $25 to wear to my nephew's wedding this summer. I love it when people wear something one time and then consign it, that way I get a great deal. A few other purchases...

This adorable cashmere sweater I snagged for $12. I like finding things I know no one else will have.



Also got these Clarks shoes at Macy's for $14. I thought they were 60%off, and they ended up being 80% off! What a deal!!


Debra also helped with the kids so I could look for a new mattress for our guest bedroom. Now, all of you that come visit (hint, hint) will have a nice, new comfy mattress to sleep on. It is being delivered tomorrow.

Mattress shopping is hard work.




We like this one.

Ham for the cam.

Thanks for visiting Debra. We had a great time and hope to see you again soon!!

And, Here I Sit

I have been patiently waiting since 7:30am this morning for Laclede Gas to get here. They are supposed to be replacing our gas meter. Apparently, they do this every ten years and ours is up for replacement. I think they are replacing it because they think it is not reading our gas usage correctly. Since our gas bills are well below the norm, they probably figure the meter is broken. What they don't realize is that we keep our thermostat set at 66 degrees. Anyway, I am guessing they will still say the meter is faulty and try to back bill us. Why? Because the water company replaced our meter three years ago and said the meter was faulty and back-billed us over $100.

So, here we sit waiting for them to show up. I love the "they will arrive anytime between 7:30am and 5:00pm." Thanks for narrowing that down. Maybe I will pay the gas bill sometime between January and December.

We did manage to get some cookies made, read some books, play several games of Candyland, listen to Rush, read more books...

A few sprinkles please...

Ready to bake...

Lick the batter clean while we wait...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches... Yummy!

Netflix Pix

Here are a few good and not so good from the Netflix queue as of late...

God Grew Tired of Us-- Documentary following the lives of Sudanese refugees who make their way to America. Could have spent some time explaining they were Christians forced out of Sudan by Islam, but it is definitely worth renting.



Ghosts of Girlfriends Past-- Awful. Don't waste your time. Worst Matthew McConaughey movie ever.


Psych-- The best show available right now (except Burn Notice- still waiting on Season 3). Slacker Shawn has acute powers of observation and pretends to be a psychic as he and his best friend, Gus, help police solve crimes. Hilarious. Start with Season One.


The Time Traveler's Wife-- Has anyone seen this? I haven't and am debating whether or not to add it to my queue. Your thoughts are appreciated.

Shut Your Trap, Mullet Man

Some people are just sore losers. Case in point, Yevgeny Plushenko's complete lack of class and grace in winning his silver medal in last night's Olympic figure skating competition.

"For someone to stand on top of the podium with the gold medal around his neck with just doing triple jumps, to me it's not progress, it's a regress because we've done triples 10 or even 20 years ago," Plushenko said.

"You can't be considered a true men's champion without a quad," the 27-year-old told Russian state television RTR.

Questions for Yevi:

Did you even watch Lysacek skate? Do you understand the new scoring system? Do you think the Japanese skater who landed the quad should have come in second even though the rest of his performance was lackluster? Lysacek not only skated beautifully, but performed the majority of his jumps in the second half of his program. Each jump is given bonus points because it is extremely difficult when fatigue is kicking in. How many jumps did you do in the last 1:30 of your performance? Zero. Yes, you did a quad on your first jump and landed it. Bravo. Three or four of your other "triple" jumps (which you deem regressive) were sideways in the air or executed poorly. Maybe you should practice those more. It was obvious from the look on your face at the end of the program that you knew you hadn't done your best performance. To criticize instead of congratulate is just poor sportsmanship. One more thing... if you want progress, cut off your mullet. We haven't seen those in 10 or even 20 years.

Congratulations Evan, you deserved it!!!

Fat Tuesday (aka my birthday)

We had a great visit with Grammy and Pawpaw for my birthday. Their generosity never ceases. They took us to O'Charley's for my birthday dinner. I try to pick places where "kids eat free" because I think restaurant kid's meals are way overpriced. Anyway, our server brought us an ooey gooey caramel pie dessert. Not that we needed it since we would be having cake in an hour, but that's what Fat Tuesday is all about, I guess. The pie was fabulous.

The loot didn't disappoint either. I'm pretty fortunate to have siblings that never forget the birthdays and stay in touch. I say that because when my mom and I were at Costco, our checker was talking about her mom and how no one in her family ever calls her or her mom (who is 88 and quite ill) to see how she is doing. They basically never talk. That's weird to me, but unfortunately becoming more and more common in our society.

Anyway, we are gearing up for a visit from Aunt Debra next weekend. Then preparing for the big trip to Chicago to celebrate Carlie's 6th birthday, American Girl style. Fun times ahead. Now, I just have to squeeze in some time to fill out my NCAA brackets. It's all about priorities. If you need help with your brackets, here's a tip. Don't pick UNC to go all the way. It won't happen. They may not even make the tournament.

Purse/Tote from my parents. Love it. So cute.

Someone grab a fire extinguisher!!!

Carlie wrapped up blue bunny for me to "sleep with the month of my birthday."

Noah being Noah.

The party planner extraordinaire passing out presents.

I'm So There

Vegas called to let me know that Celine Dion will be returning to Caesars in March 2011! Gasp! Scream! I cannot miss it this time. Supposed to be a show with all her classic hits backed by a full orchestra. Sounds AMAZING!! Who's with me?? (Because I know Mike is just dying to go :-)

Olympic Excitement

The Olympics begin in just a few short days. I think I am one of few people who actually enjoys watching the Winter Games. My favorite is obviously figure skating, but I also love watching half-pipe snowboarding, alpine skiing, and speed skating.

Men's figure skating will be telecast on Tuesday, 2/16 and Thursday, 2/18. Thankfully, this is supposed to be LIVE. That means you can't go online and see who won the event before it is on television (like you could during the Turin Olympics in 2006 which completely ruins it.) My hope is that American Evan Lysacek wins.



Unfortunately, it will probably be this guy. Yevgeny Plushenko from Russia. The 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist. Russia always wins. Well, not always. I don't know, something about him, maybe because he won 4 years ago, maybe it's the not-so-manly hair, just don't want him to win.



All I can say about the ladies is that it will be the battle of Asia. The Koreans and Japanese pretty much have a lock on the medals. The two American skaters just don't have the difficulty or artistry the Asian girls have. Granted, they could fall or get hit in the knee with a baton, but otherwise, they are a lock for G,S,and B.

Ice Dancing. Mike hates ice dancing, but I think he will still watch it because he loves me. It's on 2/19, 2/21, and 2/22. I really, really hope Tanith and Ben win. I hope the Canadians are nice to Tanith since (even though she is Canadian) she is competing for the U.S.A. You remember the whole citizenship controversy in '06, right? Anyway, even though they lost the U.S. championships to Davis & White, I still want them to win. D & W are impressive though and display a great Indian dance which I think will be done on 2/21. Once again, the Russians (Maxsim something and some girl) are favored. Maybe they will fall.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Carlie has been anticipating this for the last several weeks. Finally, the day had arrived. The YMCA we belong to hosts a Daddy Daughter Dance, and this is its second year. Once again she was not disappointed. I remembered to send the camera with Mike so he could take pictures at the actual event.


I had to make the indoor pics black/white because we don't have enough natural light coming in to make them look good without a flash. Our next house will definitely have more than five windows total
.

Energy Food for lots of dancing...

YMCA dance

Daughter Loves Daddy

Meanwhile at home, Noah was doing his best impersonation of Hugh Hefner...