To follow up...

Here is the result of my previous post...This little guy hopped on hubby as he was trying to walk in the front door yesterday morning! Hubby was kind enough to wait on me to run inside to get the camera, before he said goodbye to his little friend. Neither of us had actually seen a baby lizard that was this small before, this little one was probably only about 2 inches big

Hate it when that happens...

I had high hopes that I was going to be able to write about how this new recipe I tried worked out and was the most delicious thing we had ever eaten but I so can't! It wasn't inedible but the taste just didn't live up to the image I had expected in my mind. I used the Krusteaz raspberry bar mix to make cheesecake bars (the recipe is on the back of the box).. I have had great success with their mixes, we love the coffee cake muffin mix but this not so much!

The crust, which smelled yummy when it was mixed was very grainy and crunchy. You can see a lot of visible oats in the mix.

The little one and the dog waited patiently for me to prepare it. I promised them each a taste!

The finished product looks great but we discovered it is best if you just lick the cheesecake part off the crust and throw the crust away!

The crust was just too dry and crunchy for our taste. Cheesecake deserves a better crust!

In other news our neighbors brought these over for the little one! So sweet! I just love the embroidery! It is hard to tell from the picture but the blue towel is embroidered with brown thread which just looks so nice together.

We have a really nice couple who live behind us, their kids are grown and live a few hours from here. They love to visit Evelyn because their grand kids live so far away and they don't see them very often. She makes a good substitute grand baby for them!

That's all for now! Happy Friday!

Cleaning Up and being THAT mom...

Due to a moment of irritation in not being able to find a particular article of clothing I decided to tackle our closet. Here it is mid July and I have never gotten around to packing up the winter clothing. Our closet is a nice size walk in but like every closet it has its filling point. We had reached that point.

Even the little one decided to help me. Here she is sorting the hangers for me!

Three hours later the closet is pristine. Clothing is now sorted by type and color, and I am even giving the Oprah trick another try. I was watching Oprah one day when they had a show on keeping yourself organized and they said to turn your hangers all around then wait a few weeks and see what still has the hanger turned around. It is an easy way to know what you are actually wearing. This really works, I tested it on hubby a while back.

I am especially guilty of hanging onto clothes from decades ago in the hope they will either come back into style or fit again. I am determined at the end of next month to seriously clear out what we do not wear! Within reason...


On to the next topic... I found myself doing something today that I thought I would never do... I bought my kid this...

The little one has now decide to turn her nose up and all of her previous favorites. PB&J sandwiches, cheese toast, spaghetti, waffles, etc. have all hit the floor faster than the dog can keep up! So here she is shovelling in as fast as she can, craptastic instant mac and cheese!

I had always dreamed of having a kid who liked everything so that I could be one of those mothers that had a kid who eats healthy and is so easy to feed and at first it seemed as though we did. She would eat just about everything we put in front of her except green beans and green peas. Those days are gone my friends, we are reduced to cheap frozen pizzas, mac and cheese and assorted flavors of goldfish.

She does love fruit but that has to be limited due to the diarrhea factor (learned that lesson the hard way, never feed you kid watermelon , blackberries, peaches and strawberries in one day). I even bought fish sticks to try (suggested by my neighbor, mom of two) to see if she will eat those. We will be testing those for dinner.
I am hoping that this is a phase but knowing how picky I was as a kid I'm guessing this is only the beginning.

So for now its mac and cheese and I am slowly becoming THAT mom who feeds her kid food that isn't organic and super healthy, at least for now anyway.

The Red Light District?

I'm not sure what it is about our yard but it seems to make the wildlife frisky!

MMMmmm...Random Dessert Part 2

Continuing with the random dessert making trend around here I decided to whip up a banana pudding. Our Publix grocery store each week on Sundays and Mondays has a mystery penny item. So fortunately for me 2 weeks ago it was Vanilla Wafers. Since we had recently demolished an entire box of these I though I would try something different.

The box had an easy recipe on the side which I manipulated my normal way. Their recipe called for low fat and fat free items so I took it upon myself to make the full fat version!

Their recipe also called for vanilla pudding not banana cream but I neglected to read that part of the recipe. I assumed that for banana pudding you would use the banana flavor but oh well!


Halfway prepared! Looking yummy already!

Here is the little one taste testing for me. She approved!

The finished product...

I ran out of whole cookies so I just sprinkled the crumbled ones on top. It didn't win the beauty contest but at our house its the taste that matters!

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th!

Back from a mini vacay...

The little one and I went to Wilmington for a few days to visit the family. Sister and bro-in-law had flown in from Minneapolis for the week so we drove up so that they could admire the little one and also have a change of scenery. While we were in town we celebrated sister's birthday with a yummy yummy ice cream cake.

Looks like the cake decorator may have been tipsy though! Sort of how sister, bro in law and I were after hitting the bar for a few games of pool!

Here is Grandma and the little one soaking up some end of day sunshine.

It was great to see the family but nice to get back home in time for the holiday weekend, grandma gifted the little one a special 4th of July outfit so keep an eye out for the pics!