Why yes I do

Have a sick sense of humour.

Click here to see why

Soccer Playoffs

Yes, this is what we spent Thursday evening, Friday evening and most of the day Saturday at, Soccer Play offs! Each of the girls teams played their best but didn't make it to the finals so we were able to sleep in on Sunday!

Here's a few pics:

Who Is Going To Be The Next Brownie Babe?

So I've found some great food blogs, one of which is Once Upon a Tart. And this blog regularly trys to find the Brownie Babe of the Month. So I though I'd enter the brownie recipe that my Mom discovered. They are the fudgiest Brownies ever!

In fact, these brownies are so fudgy that when you take them out of the oven they almost do not look cooked but they are! I iced mine with chocolate buttercream frosting but its not necessary at all, they taste just as good without it! Here's the recipe:

Incredibly Fudgy Brownies

1 cup plus 2 T butter
1 ½ cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup cocoa
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup pecans(optional)

Melt butter over low heat. Remove from heat, stir in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating with a whisk or spoon after each addition until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir into butter mixture with chips and nuts just until blended. Pour into 13 X 9 greased pan spreading evenly. Bake at 350 got about 25 minutes or until firm on the edges but soft in the center. Cool on rack. Do not overbake or they will become dry.


Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2 ½ cups confectioners sugar
3 T coca
¼ cup butter
2 T heavy cream(I used milk)
Vanilla to taste
In mixing bowl cream sugar , cocoa and butter. Beat in cream and vanilla. Add small amounts hot water or hot black coffee until desired spreading consistency is reached.

Canadian Idol

Ok, how could Canada not vote for Greg?! Tell me, how!? I thought Brian was going for sure or maybe Matt but Greg?? I can't believe it. I may have to boycott the rest of the season........ok maybe not!

I sure enjoyed the Queen the music this week although no one can sing like Freddie Mercury.

My favourite Queen song is The Show Must Go On. Click if you want to play it.

Queen Lyrics

Queen Music Codes

Music Codes by SongArea.com

New Chimes

Lucky me, I've received an early birthday gift.

Back in June when I was shopping with my Mom, Grandma and sister, we came across some chimes in Elmira called the Bells of Vienna. Sherry received a set for her birthday. Now normally I'm not a big chimes fan, but these are tuned to musical scales and the largest sounds like church bells. I thought about it awhile and decided I would like a set as well. So my Mom said she would get them for me for my birthday and our anniversary. I checked them in Elmira again and they didn't have the scale or colour I wanted plus they were pretty pricy. Mom had found them online at Buy Chimes and so I ordered them online. Even with the US exchange, it was still much cheaper and I got the scale(tuned to E)and colour I preferred. My order came within 10 days! I don't think the picture does them justice, you must listen.

Click this link to hear what they sound like!

Thanks Mom for the lovely gift.

Apples and Bananas

Brianne has had a craving for Banana Cream Pie for awhile now.



So today we made one. Brianne made the cooked pudding(no better kind). And,using pastry she had previously made with Gramma,I rolled out the dough and assembled the pie. It looks good and tastes even better!




And some of our apples were turning so while I was at it I decided to make an apple crisp. I haven't done that in awhile!

Hairspray

Just got back from seeing Hairspray........it is sooo good! You were right Grandma!

The look on Brittany's face when her beloved 'Danny' turned up as a heavyset woman was priceless! Both the girls enjoyed Zac Efron too!

Anyway the dancing, singing, costumes and set were great! And there was a good message to it as well, dealing with segregation that existed in the early 60's and was starting to breakdown. It was big news then to have blacks and whites dancing together!

I've seen Adam Shankman, the choreographer, on So You Think You Can Dance and I definitely am impressed with the work he's done on Hairspray.

Here's a link to an excellent review by Roger Ebert.

I would highly recommend this movie to everyone, its fun and entertaining and despite a serious undertone keeps you smiling throughout!

Random Acts of Kindness

I've been inspired by Butterscotch Palace who was inspired by Fairy's World. Put comment on my blog and I'll send the first three names a 'pay it forward' handmade gift in the mail. It will probably be something scrapbooked since that is why I created this blog in the first place, to share my scrapbooking, but now its evolved into a place to share my life and all my interests too!

But one thing you have to do in return is 'pay it forward' by doing the same thing on your blog.

Back To School Shopping

Well its just the beginning of August and we've completed almost all of the girls back to school shopping! That's because we'll be on vacation later this month and I don't want to be doing it then! When I told Brianne we should do the shopping this past Friday, she said, "at Kohls?". Yep, she's my daughter! So early Friday morning we headed south to Buffalo. After getting stuck in bridge traffic last year(try 3 hours!), I subsequently found a phone number to call that advises on bridge crossing wait times. On Friday morning at 8 am, the crossing time at Lewiston was already 1 to 2 hours! So we drove on to Fort Erie and crossed into Buffalo on the Peace Bridge. And it was one of the simplest crossings ever! I was asked where were we going, I answered Boulevard Mall and that was it!

So first we hit Kohls and spent three hours there. We actually got most of the shopping done there but had to go to Target and JC Penney too! But to keep our strength up we took a break at Applebys for lunch!

Then we got a few things at Target and went on to JC Penney. There they had a buy one get the second for $1 sale on what seemed like everything in the store!! Why don't we have sales like that here! So we finished up the rest of the shopping there. And I think the JC Penney at Boulevard Mall may be nicer than the one at the Galleria.


We went back into Canada on the Peace Bridge, no wait again and had another simple crossing. I was asked three questions one of which was, "did you find some good bargains?". So we paid no additional tax and the girls came home with shoes, jeans, tops and more. They are definitely set for the new school year!

Scrapaganza

I participated in Scrapaganza, an online crop, this week at Go Scrapping. It was so much fun! There were quick challenges to complete in an hour, games and weeklong challenges too. I won a prize of embellishments for winning a word scramble game, can't wait to get those in the mail! And I've completed some of the week long challenges too. The challenges got those creative juices flowing again! Here's what I created.



Four cards from one piece of cardstock and leftover paper and embellishments.



Uses Basic Grey paper and fancy cut scissors!


A Star layout with glitter and 'star' bling!

More Fun and Interesting Blogs

I find these blogs inspiring and fun!

Under The High Chair
Tales from Pixie Wood
A Little Hut
Little Spatula
A Blithe Palate
Sass and Veracity
Farmgirl Fare
Elisalou Designs
Once Upon a Tart
Is My Blog Burning
Tea and Cookies
Ooh You Tasty Little Things

Links have been added to Blogs I read!

The Deathly Hallows

Don't worry, no spoilers here!

I finished reading the seventh Harry Potter book this week and now have been feeling kind of let down. Not because the ending wasn't good but because now the story is over! I can understand why JK Rowling would have been emotional when she was done writing it, she lived and breathed these characters!

I did find the book a bit slow at the beginning but by about half way though it was hard to put down. And it was neat to see the way that the characters matured through the story!

And I have to say that as I read various chapters, I did think, "oh, that will make a great movie scene"!

So now I can't wait for the 6th and 7th movies!