My Blog

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Martha Stewart KB Home Giveway Key 10/5/06

The KB Home Giveway Key is under the succulent plant. Good luck, suckers.

Homeowners at Last!

We are moving to a house! Yes indeed, after 9 years of renting, we are finally getting a house. I'd like to thank my noisy neighbors, without their crazy noises and smoking, we wouldn't have been irritated enough to pursue this. I'd also like to thank our apartment manager, Linda, and her husband, Dan, for coming into our apartment illegally and then lying about comments you made to us to the owner of the building. This left us really pissed and with ammunition for negotiating out of our lease.

So we are moving into a tudor-style cape cod. It is adorable! Built in 1937, it has lovely, floral crown moulding, hardwood floors, a fire place, a yard... Aidan is going to love it and so will his dad and me.

So now comes the job of packing and moving, something we just did in April. We have some loyal family who will be helping us with our 3rd move in as many years... So a big thank you to the people who have helped us tremendously with supporting us. This year started out so tough but has been filled with happy endings. Aidan did awesome with his open-heart surgery, Jeff got his PhD and we are moving to our first home!!!

Mike Herrmann was a nice guy

So I had some crazy dream last night about having lunch with a Supreme Court justice on the top of this tall building. She blew me off after I paid for her lunch but then I bumped into Mike Herrmann. I haven't seen him since 1989 when we graduated from high school. I don't know what he was doing popping up in my dream but it was nice to see him again. I don't want to look like a serious player on classmates.com to fork out any money to find out what he's doing but I hope he is well! He was a pretty nice guy.

Did I Give a Spider Update?

I don't think I did--the creepy wolf spider made its way into our apartment. S/he met a wind tunnel death, too. Another one made its way onto the porch and I've been afraid to go on the porch ever since. I water the flowers and do a crazy dance before I go in just in case some spider wants a free ride into our cozy home... shiver, shiver, heebs, shiver...

Junior Mints or Poop?

The short answer is: poop.

The longer answer is that Aidan had a bowl of Junior Mints and spilled them on the floor. I thought we picked them all up. A little time later, he handed me what I thought was a smushed Junior Mint. Fortunately, I didn't taste test it. He is a little constipated and his poop was little hard balls and one fell out of his diaper. Being a good boy, he handed one to me. Being a bad mommy, I freaked out and wrote about it on my blog (after giving him a bath and disinfecting my hands, of course).

The Chocolate Faced Chef

Well, Aidan has become quite the jabbermouth lately. So I guess it is time that he says an embarrassing public comment now that he is 3. Today we went to lunch with my mom and Aidan kept talking about someone having a chocolate face. I looked for someone with a chocolate mouth (kind of like a milk mustache, I guess) and saw that he was pointing to the chef in the restaurant (which has one of those open kitchens). The chef had a mustache and beard so I figured that was what he meant. Maybe you can see where this is going...

Then Aidan points at a waiter and says that he has a chocolate face, too! As you might have guessed, the chef and the waiter were African-American. I couldn't stop laughing long enough so that I could explain to Aidan about different skin colors...

Spiders - Yikes!

I finished planting all my flowers on our porch last night and started watering them. Along came a spider, a great big wolf spider with blue irridescent eyes and scared the bejesus out of me. Jeff was supposed to be keeping his eye out for it while I got the broom. Mind you, the broom was about a foot away from me and I was about a foot away from Jeff. In that time, he lost it. So now I'm scared to go out on the porch for fear of the Wisconsin Tarantula.

I'm not positive that it was a wolf spider but my searches on the Internet last night sounds that it might be. I prolonged me heebs during that late-night query. Even just writing about the dang thing is spooking me out...

Then this morning, Aidan discovered a spider outside of my closet. When I approached it, it creepily scurried INTO the closet. I got the vacuum and sucked it in and now I'm scared it is going to come crawling back out. I have cleaned up the house a bit in hopes that constant suction will kill the spider. No--I do not like killing spiders but mother nature has let me down. We had an agreement that we can live in peace and harmony with spiders in their space and me in mine. Obviously I didn't clarify that their space and my space cannot be one in the same.

Fat Free Pound Cake with Strawberry Glaze

Aidan's on a low-fat diet. He can't have anything with more than 3 grams of fat in it. This makes it difficult to have a great birthday cake. For his birthday party in a couple of weeks, I'm making angel food cake using a recipe from Martha Stewart (uses brown sugar in it). Yesterday, I made a fat-free pound cake for his actual birthday. I had my reservations but it turned out quite good! Thanks to the Recipe Link (http://www.recipelink.com) for the recipes.

FAT-FREE POUND CAKE
Source: Better Homes and Gardens Old Fashioned Baking
Servings: 12

1 cup fat-free sour cream
4 egg whites, whipped
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup unbleached flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven at 325 degree F. Prepare a 9x5x3-inch pan with cooking spray and flour; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, egg whites, and vanilla.

In another mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients just until moistened. Spread mixture into prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until cake tests done.

Per serving: 141 Calories; 0g Fat (0% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 3mg Cholesterol; 66mg Sodium

TO FREEZE:
Place unfrosted cake in a freezer bag or airtight container. Seal, label, and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to serve, thaw at room temperature about 3 hours.


STRAWBERRY GLAZE

1 pint fresh, ripe, cleaned strawberries
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp corn starch

Crush enough berries to make 1/4 cup; save remaining berries to garnish top of cake. Place crushed berries in small sauce pan; add water and bring to a boil, simmering for 3 minutes.

Strain juice from cooked berries, measure and add water, if needed, to make 1/2 cup liquid (you can add a few drops of red food coloring if needed).

Combine sugar and cornstarch in same pan; blend in strawberry juice. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils 1 minute; remove from heat and cool.

Cut remaining berries in half lengthwise and arrange on top of cheesecake in two concentric circles around edge of cake, approx. 1 inch from outer edge of cake. Carefully spoon thin layer of glaze over berries.

Tip: Use the best ripe berries with the most beautiful color.

Aidan Quote of the Week

My favorite quote this week is "Do you see the Good Mourning Doves?"