Picture Day!

We took the kids to have their pictures taken on Saturday. There were too many cute ones to choose from!!! Here are the favorites that we agreed on (the con of bringing The Hubs with me is that I have to consider his opinion along with mine. haha). Hope you enjoy our Five Year Old and our Seven Month Old.

an idea that stayed as such

It's fall.  And for all my creative friends, that means cookies, and candy, and cupcakes, and pumpkin bread, and pumpkin scones, and everything else in between.  I have sampled a few treats, ogled their Facebook photos and blog posts, and finally I determined that it was time for me to make some "Orange and Blackish Looking Bark", not to be confused with Halloween Bark or Harvest Bark as mine takes no religious stand.  [NOTE: "Harvest" is a Conservative American Christian celebration where kids dress up in costumes and play games and get candy at night on October 31.  How dare you compare it with Halloween! By finding an alternate "H" word and hosting it at church, we have completely exorcised Satan from that ghastly (and ghostly) holiday.  Our Harvest Festivals celebrate the bounty of the harvest, and we do that by passing out packaged, processed sugar treats to children in face paint.]  I packed up the baby and headed to Winco Supermarket to pick up my ingredients. If you're interested, here is the recipe.

Winco is a great store with good prices and they have these bulk bins where you can load up on ingredients and just pay by the pound.  I was talking about this with some friends last weekend who were saying that the per-pound price on chocolate melting disks at Winco is cheaper than a couponed-Wilton-purchase at a craft store.  So I was ready to score a deal!  And even though I didn't have my ATM/Debit card, I figured that wouldn't be a problem because I had $15 in cash.  $15 would be plenty of money to buy chocolate melting disks, Oreos, and  candy corn! And look - cake mixes are on sale for $.79! I'll grab two and a can of frosting for $.99!

I combed the aisles of the store but I could not find any Halloween Oreo Cookies (the kind with orange frosting instead of white).  Bust.  I grabbed a package of white frosting cookies for $2.78.  Then I headed to the bulk section - candy corn for $1.38/pound!!  I shoveled it into the bag because who knew how much candy corn I should put on it, right?  Walking to the hanging scale to measure my candy, an older woman cut me off and as she did, she began to let out the longest fart in all of human history.  Literally the seconds ticked by (over 5, I SWEAR TO YOU) and her buns made her a one-man-band that would rival even Burt in "Mary Poppins."  As subtly as I could, I backed away and sought refuge in the coffee grinder.  Never has the aroma of coffee been such a comfort to me.  I watched her weigh her raw pumpkin seeds (strike one for clean eating), acting as if she did not just perform "Taps," and since she was taking her sweet, melodious time, I went to another aisle to get a scale and the chocolate.

The only kind of melting disks they had were bittersweet chocolate.  I couldn't remember if that was the right kind or how much I actually needed, so I grabbed two pounds. Holy COW - $9.30 for two pounds!!  Just as I was leaving to head to the check out stand with only 15 minutes until Pinkalicious was done with school, I remembered that I was supposed to drop off cookies to the preschool that afternoon.  I began to total up my purchases as I walked toward the cookies and discovered that I had already picked up over $19 worth of stuff!  It was in that pinch for time that I broke a personal commitment; I started taking stuff out of the cart and leaving it on random shelves.  You may think this is no big deal, but as a former Vons employee, I vowed I would never do it.  Well, vow shmow, because I had a kid to pick up!  I pushed the cart, I calculated on my phone, and I left a direct trail worthy of Hansel and Gretel from the cereal aisle over to the bakery section.  After much anguishing internal debate, I checked out with Oreos, bittersweet melting disks and peanut butter cookies for school.  At home that afternoon, I looked up the recipe for the bark and saw that it called for white chocolate.


Last night I grabbed a mug of milk and went to town on a hand-full of double stuff Oreos (which really is only four) and mourned for my idea of Orange and Blackish Looking Bark that is lost with my other attempts in the "Crap. Well, too late now" idea folder.  But it is with resolve that I write this today to commemorate my search for a new recipe which requires multiple poundage of bittersweet chocolate.  When I find a recipe this time, I plan to begin with writing the instructions down.

i heart anjelah

When I first started blogging (cast your mind back to the far away days of May 2010), I wrote about getting my eyebrows waxed at Hand2Love. You can read it here. Jenn, who I mention in the blog, later told me about the comedian Anjelah Johnson because what I had written was along the same lines as her sketch.  When I got home I checked out the Nail Salon routine on YouTube and I thought it was hilarious (just like Jenn)!  Immediately I looked up her tour and saw that she was going to be in Brea in August, which meant that I had an instantaneous date with Becka and Kacie!!  We had such fun that night though none of us had our cameras, so you'll just have to trust me.  Anjelah was great - I would totally recommend her if she ever comes to your area.  I would see her again!

Here is Nail Salon.  If you've gotten a manicure, I think you'll relate to this.



The other sketch of hers that I LOVE is from Mad TV. Bon Qui Qui is fantastic.  I love it more than Nail Salon. I can't post it directly since it's owned by MadTV, but click the link and it'll get you there!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  Sa-curity.

Since When?

Driving home after dropping Pinks at school, I was listening to the radio and heard a horrifying report about 250 dead bodies that have been found this year in the Arizona desert. They believe that these are people who have tried to cross into the US and died due to extreme weather and rough terrain.  When asked to comment, the Mexican Consul's response to this tragedy was that the US government needs to change its laws so more people can enter legally. This was not the response I was expecting, although I don't know why I'm surprised.  It is completely congruous with our cultural trend of shirking standards.

Problem: Too many kids are failing in school.
Solution: Teachers shouldn't give them bad grades.  Students don't need to get the work right; teachers should give them full credit if they try.  They're only 17 year olds.

Problem: Too many people are doing drugs illegally.
Solution: Legalize drugs.  Then people won't have to go to jail for doing what they're already doing.  AND, we can make money by taxing them.

Problem: People don't want to come to church and feel bad.
Solution: Don't talk about sin or a holy God.  Then everyone will come!  Surely the love of Christ is enough to cover the fact that we won't teach the Bible.

Problem: People are dying while trying to come into the country illegally.
Solution: Stop requiring so much to get in, America.


Accountability is overrated.  Certainly the way to deal with people breaking the rules is to eliminate the rules.  That will go over just as well in our society as it would in a kindergarten classroom.

Day at the Bay

The beach is my favorite place in the whole world - that's a stupid thing to say because there are beaches all over the world.  But pretty much, I could go to any of them and be happy.  Leaving the easy beach access of OC living to come to Vtown is #3 on my "Ugh" list about moving (#1 is my family, #2 is my dear friend Becka).  I'm always looking to get my ocean fix and thankfully, this was the weekend!!

It now takes us 3-4 hours to get to the beach, or "The Coast" as everyone in the Central Valley seems to call it, and is quite a venture, especially with an infant in tow.  But it's so worth it for us (and it helps that Mr. Monkey is a rockstar with traveling).  Pinkalicious, like me, is a total water baby and is fearless about the ocean. Cold is only a state of mind. The Hubs and I have always had to keep a tight leash on her or else she would just let herself float out to sea.  Until she's a full swimmer, we're not taking her out into the waves, but no matter, she'll take what she can get!

 I can't get this picture to turn, but I'm including it because it documented her first wipe-out by a wave.  She recovered herself and climbed out of the water for a minute, but was happy and ready to go back in.  Since then, she's been talking about how fun it was!!  I'm so glad that she is undaunted! =)

 Mr. Monkey and I were chillin' on the sand together.  He really enjoyed watching the waves!!

These two are so playful.  I love watching them roughhouse and laugh together! =)

As nerdly as her mother!

 Our first trip to Morro Bay with Pinkalicious was when she was 8 months old.  I took a picture with her in this spot.  Since then, every time we come, she and I always take a picture here.  It will be fun to look back on all the pictures over the years.

 The Flying Dutchman is our staple restaurant in Morro Bay.  It's right on the water where we can watch the boats sail by and the seals play, and the view of the sunset is wonderful. We love that it's family-friendly in atmosphere, food options, and pricing (and they totally have coupons online!! HeyO!).

Gotta have Clam Chowder!
(Kel, I can't eat oyster crackers without thinking of you!)

$10 for fish and chips made with freshly caught fish!
I heart seafood - and so does Pinky!

Are these guys not the cutest ever?! 

Happy Boy!

The best part about the drive home is the refueling!

The Great Debate, part 176

On Monday as I was driving home from the store, I noticed that my passenger side mirror was in a strange place.  I tried to move it, and I could hear the motor trying to move the mirror, but it was jammed.  Shortly thereafter, the mirror fell off all together, and now I have a dangling piece of plastic off the side of my car.  Excellent.  Three cheers for the fellow citizen who plowed into my car with their cart.

The issue at this point is how to reattach it.  The Hubs read online that the mirror itself will work fine once the plastic housing is back in place.

And it looks like there's just a broken plastic rod inside that was holding it together.  Three cheers for Japanese craftsmanship.  Surely all we would need to do is glue that part back together and it would be as good as new.


But wait!  I present to you, Exhibit B: The Driver's Side Door Handle (and me, giving a thumbs up to my own reflection).

This handle snapped in half in 2009.  The Hubs and I have tried everything to put it back together, including, but not limited to, hot glue, super glue, monkey glue, apoxy, and HubbaBubba Bubblegum (dried oatmeal leftovers, TBD).  In this quest for reunification, I have thus proved that Toyota Camry plastic is impervious to all forms of adhesion with the exception of the magic fairy dust they used to originally assemble their vehicles.  I'm sure it's sold by the ounce at a rate slightly above gold.  I was in a fury on  Facebook for a week over this, but have since surrendered my middle and index fingernails to the trials and tribulations of car ownership.

As my wallet has an aversion to the dealership, I have come up with a possible solution...

Duct Tape!!!

How easy would it be to slap on some duct tape and keep that rickety P.O.S. on my car FOREVER?!?!  

And here we have the great debate.  Am I really ready to be THAT person (not to be confused with THAT Barbie)?  If I tape my car, will my next step be cling wrap for a window replacement?  But can I really bring myself to spend hundreds of dollars on a lame plastic housing?!  What is the studious thing to do - keep my car as nice as possible OR not waste money on a cosmetic part of the car? Or, the third option, should I let it be and just include it as additional percussion while I thump along to "We Be Clubbin?"

To tape, or not to tape: that is the question:

Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing, end them?