It's Raining!

So, yet again, it is raining. This season has had some rather, unusual weather. It makes me wonder what the summer will bring. I looked out the window to find that the trees now have leaves! I am not exactly sure when this occured, since when I took Brandy for a walk, just the other day, the trees were still budding. Perhaps, the buds were larger than I observed them to be. However, there are most certainly leaves on the trees. They are not completely open, and I am sure the rain is putting a damper on their progress. I forget how soon May will be here, so I guess it makes sense. I rarely go outside, so it's easy for me to lose track of time.

The birthday gathering came and went on Saturday. Kids were running around everywhere and the normal chaos that ensues with 10 year olds came my way. I did make a yummy hamburger cake, as promised.

I made the tomatoes out of gelatin and the shredded lettuce was tinted coconut. The sesame seeds were miniature marshmallows that had been cut in half. I used tinted frosting for the mustard and tinted strawberry jam was used for barbecue sauce. The bun was a butter cake and the burger was a devils food cake. It was yummy and it made me laugh everytime I looked at it. The kids got a kick out of it too!

I also made some yummy caramel apples. By the time I took this picture, the caramel had slumped off of the apples. I wish I'd taken a picture directly after I made them. Unfortunately, I was doing so many things that morning, in preparations, that taking a picture slipped from my mind.

Other than that, I've been working on a painting off and on since the weekend, and I hope to finish it soon. I may show a picture of it when I'm done, then again, maybe I won't? Until then~ Toodaloo!

Judy Blume and Other Things

'Tis late in the evening and realized that I neglected to talk about Judy Blume in my previous post, which is silly of me, considering. Then again, considering the title of my post, it stands to reason that I am a bit absent minded.
I should be sleeping, as I am tired and I have a busy morning ahead of me tomorrow. I felt that I needed to write about some of my favorite childrens book authors. For some strange reason, I have always confused Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I'm not sure why that is, but to this day, I still confuse them.
I know that Beverly Cleary wrote the "Ramona" books, while Judy Blume wrote books like "Blubber." Perhaps, I confuse them because they both had young girls as the major characters and they wrote for similar audiences. However, I think that if you read their books as an adult, you'll find bigger differences.
I never read the "Margaret" book that Judy Blume wrote. In fact, I think that a lot of her books I shyed away from as a young girl, because I was a bit skiddish about the subject matter of them. Last summer, my library was having book sales all throughout the summer. During one of these sales I grabbed the book "Blubber" and after reading it, I really wished I'd read it when I was a young lass. I'm not sure why girls act like they, sometimes, do. I think that everyone should read the book. It is odd, the movie, Mean Girls shows how girls behave when they are put together. When you watch the movie, you're sort of glad that you're out of high school. Then, you turn on the tv, and Bravo has they're own version in the form of the series Real Housewives. Oddly, a lot of the women on the show are single and I'm pretty sure they spend more time at parties than at home. At least, that is the bulk of what is shown- parties, fashion shows, and cocktail hour with the ladies. I guess the kids are with the nanny. So, that may not be what they do when the cameras are gone, and I'm sure the show is editted that way. I guess somebody thinks that seeing cat fighting at a party is more interesting than seeing these women actually being housewives.
At any rate, it's hard seeing grown women behave that way, and I wish they would all get a copy of "Blubber." I think that it would make them be better people. Maybe it's easy to revert back to behaving the way we did when we were kids. However, when you're an adult, with an adult heart and you read that book- everything comes back to mind. All the awful stuff you endured as a kid. It's harder as a grown-up reading that book, because we've all been there. The thing is, it reminds even the kindest heart to try harder. That's my thoughts. Until next time~ Toodaloo!

Are You There Sanity? It's Me, Ladytoesocks.

This title has been whirling through my head for the passed few months. This week is vacation week. I am not going away for the week, exactly. Instead, I am going back to Me! Today, I have dedicated the day to cleaning. I mean, clearing away all of the laundry, dusting, wiping down dirty surfaces, sweeping and washing floors.

This doesn't sound like much of a vacation, I know. However, it is very uplifting to remove all physical and tactile debris in order to emotionally and mentally relax. The rest of the week will be free for me to do low maintanance work. That way, I can dedicate my week to doing what I love to do. I will read lots of L.M. Montgomery books, I'll paint, I'll make sculptures, I'll bake, and I have cappucino while watching Steven & Chris.

I don't have any particular images for this post. So, I'm showing some garden photos from my garden. I think these pictures are cheerful, and evoke the feeling of Spring and Summer.

Later this week, I'll be hosting a birthday party for my nephew. I'm going with a carnival theme. I'll post about that when the time comes. Until then.~ Toodaloo!

A Task Complete

Well, I finished the quilt that I was making for my mother, last night. I tried to take a decent picture of it today. However, the one that I did take, somehow, got erased. Merlin clearly likes the quilt. I think that he'll probably try to claim it as his own, because that it just the way he is.

He couldn't understand why I was so determined to get a picture of the quilt. He was simply, minding his own business, taking a luxurious morning nap. When suddenly, a quilt was thrown on top of him as though he were some damned dirty ape! Pour Que? Perhaps it had something to do with him napping on the table, which is a flat surface on which I could lay a quilt onto. Hmmm.


At the end of the photo session, he was happy to look good for the camera.


In other news, I spent the day cleaning and that makes for a happier Ladytoesocks. This Friday school is off. So, I took today off, instead. I'll teach on Friday and get things done today. On those days when errands need to be done, it's really hard to squeeze in school and keep a kid focused. So, I'd rather get all of the stressful stuff out of the way for the week, which will make the rest of the week a breeze. I'll let you know how it all works out for me. Until then ~Toodaloo!

April Showers

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling soggy. On the bright side of things, I am able to get a lot of laundry and projects done. I'm nearing the finish line with the quilt that I am constructing for my mother. The other day, I assembled new book shelves for my bedroom. It's nice, because the clutter has gone away and I can, once again, relax in my cave. Also, my books and my DVD's are so organized now that I'm giddy.

Also this week, I made some magic in the kitchen.

After an exhausting start to the day on Wednesday, I decided to make brownies. Then I had an awful idea; rather than making the normal cheesecake marble brownies, I thought I'd make them be peanut butter cheesecake marble brownies. I don't know why I do these things! I'm just a sinister chef in the kitchen. These treats went fast. Remarkably there are a few left. However, in my family, we all want to be nice and save the last treats for others, so then they stay around longer until someone finally folds.

Also in the kitchen, I made a quiche using the left over ham and asparagus from our Easter dinner. This time, I used frozen pie crust. Honestly, some days I have so many things that I need to get done around the house, that making pie crust isn't fun and is more of a chore than anything else. I love quiche! It's one of those dishes that can be used for any meal and can be made in so many different ways. You could pretty much look in your cupboard and refridgerator and find random items to throw together in a quiche and as long as they are bound together with egg and cheese, it will come out delicious. There certainly are some things that wouldn't go together, like fruit cocktail and baked beans; but you get the idea.

So today, I'll complete the quilt, clean the laundry, watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice and then maybe read a little short story from Lucy Maud Montgomery. Also, Doctor Who will be on tonight. I think this is the last time for a while that they'll be airing the David Tennant episodes. Next week, I think, they'll be showing the new episodes. I think I might have to get the David Tennant episodes on DVD, starting with series two. I'm starting to get all misty eyed. Sigh.

I guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes. Until then~ Toodaloo!

Chocolate Guacamole

So, last weekend, out of boredom, I decided to be adventurous with one of my cookbooks. I pulled out one cookbook which uses trickery in the kitchen; i.e. adding vegetables to dishes without detection. Since I am not sure how copyrights go, I'll neglect to name the cookbook. I'll just say that you can find it in a lot of department stores and it is a fantastic and fun cookbook.

So, to the point.... I've used the recipes in the book before, but mainly, only the main dish recipes, never the desserts. Here is where the adventure begins.

The recipe was Chocolate Pudding. Only, it didn't include eggs, or milk, or even granulated sugar. It did have cocoa powder, powdered sugar and avocado---Jump Back!

The process of making the pudding was much less tedious than the traditional method. However, I did deviate from the recipe a bit and used a mixer to fluff it up a little.

Was it any good? Yes, it was very chocolatey; as such, I highly recommend this when you need a serious chocolate fix. Did it taste like pudding? Not exactly, this stuff was pretty dense and a little grainy. It actually tasted like brownie batter. So, if you like eating brownie batter, now you can do it without care. Did it taste like chocolate guacamole? It depends on who you talk to regarding this issue. Yes, initially, I could taste the avocado. However, after a few bites, it wasn't noticable. I think that if an unsuspecting consumer tasted it, they probably could tell there was something different about the pudding, but wouldn't know what it was.

More importantly, I had a 9 year old eating this whenever I said it was okay. So, if a kid will eat it, it was a success. He knew about the fruit in it, because he saw me making it, and was rather fascinated with the idea.

I think that if you added some flour and baking soda to the mixture, you could make some awesome brownies with it. I highly recommend this to my vegan friends because the only ingredient that would need alteration would be the margarine. That is an easy switcheroo!

In other news, today I am spring cleaning- sort of. My bedroom is getting cluttered, so I bought another set of book shelves. I think this will help me reorganize my stuff and then I'll feel less claustrophobic in my room. Also, I am nearly done with the quilt that I've been working on. So, all in all, it will be a busy week. Until next time~ Toodaloo!