Shhh... April Fool!

I have a funny April Fool tradition with my kids. I make "food" that fools them! I thought I'd post this today in case it gives you some good ideas...

I must admit, I get my ideas HERE. This is what I've done in the past:

1. Sushi - use balls of rice krispy treats, wrap in green fruit by the foot, and top with a piece of fruit snack.

2. Grilled Cheese - slice a loaf of angel food cake and toast lightly. Mix orange food coloring into white frosting until you get the color of cheese. Spread between two slices of "toast".

3. Chicken Pot Pie - make a batch of vanilla pudding. Cut up Starburst and shape to look like peas, chicken, and carrots - mix into pudding. Bake flaky biscuits (flatten) or pie crust, putting a little foil ball underneath to give it a dome. Put the pudding mix in a custard cup (or pot pie tins if you have them) and top with the "crust".

4. Cupcakes - Make a mix of meatloaf and press into foil baking cups in a cupcake tray - bake. Mix up a batch of mashed potatoes and color pink or blue. "Frost" the top of the meatloaf.

I'm going to do the cupcakes tomorrow. Shhhh! Don't tell!!

Pre-teens say the darndest things

My kids crack me up. Regularly.

Today we were driving to the library and park (typical Saturday outing) and I mentioned to my kids that tonight is Earth Hour. I told them that I wanted to participate in this hour (8 - 9 pm) where all people and cities are asked to turn off the lights (and other electric) for one hour. It's an event to remind us about climate change. They decided it was cool, so we're doing it.

A few minutes later, my almost-13 daughter announces, "Hobos are saving Earth."

"What?" my son and I asked back.

"Yeah, you know," she explained, "hobos don't drive cars, they don't leave the lights on in houses, they don't waste water... they're saving Earth."

I couldn't help but smile at her logic!

Then... when we were heading home from the library and park, we decided to stop at the grocery store and cash the voucher we got from recycling earlier this week. I told them we'd divide the cash in three and could each spend it as we wanted for our Saturday movie snack. My daughter pulled out her cell phone to calculate dividing $6.75 into three.

My son (the math mind) teased her about using a calculator. He insisted that you needed to know mental math because you won't always have a calculator.

"Like," he began, "if you were on a desert island... and you had 6 coconuts... and you ate 1 1/2... and you wanted to convert that into a decimal..."

I lost it! I could just see him on a desert island and the most important thing is to convert 1 1/2 coconuts into a decimal! I laughed so hard I could barely drive into the grocery store parking lot!

Those were the kind of laughs that burn calories. I love these kids!

Ruby Slippers

OK, these were a total splurge! Well, they were a total bargain too. I was at Cost Plus World Market buying saffron for Easter bread and I came across these shoes.

I know, they are as unpractical as shoes can get, but I swear they were calling to me. Like Siren shoes... I walked past them and kept shopping, but kept coming back to them.

They were in the clearance area. So I checked the price. $1.75! It was all over then. I suddenly found myself at the register with saffron and red shoes.

Crazy? Probably. But, they're Ruby Slippers!

Beach Bathing

Thanks to a "redecoration fund" gift... I redecorated my bathroom! I was inspired by all the many shades of the ocean and here's what I found... The photos on the wall are pictures that I took at local beaches. The colors matched perfectly!

Now my soaks in the tub are kinda like laying on the beach!

Egg Art

The kids are with their dad for Easter, so we celebrated today. Oh, the fun of dying Easter eggs!

I am well known for my plaid eggs (6 colors in all different directions) and rainbow eggs, but this year I felt like being a purist. One color per egg. I did, however, make designs on each with white crayon.

Here are the results! My son's are on the left, mine are in the middle and my daughter's are on the right.

My favorite part of the whole thing is dumping out the dye when we are finished. I love how the color looks in the sink! So bright and colorful!

It reminds me of something I did in high school. I emptied out 5-6 glass bottles (old makeup, etc.) and filled them with water and food coloring. I put them on my window ledge where the sun could shine through. It was so pretty! I love colored glass and that was my way of creating it.

The BEST Gift

My kids gave me the best present for my birthday! It's a 14-page long card entitled, "35 Things that Mom is Good At" They typed it up on the computer and added pictures and everything! I thought I'd share the list here...

1. Dancing
2. Watching chick-flicks
3. Watching Star Trek: The Next Generation
4. Making sweet treats
5. Acting
6. Helping with homework
7. Helping with bad hair days
8. Taking care of us when we're sick
9. A good trip/vacation buddy
10. Spotting cyclops cars
11. Board game buddy
12. A great teacher
13. A great organizer and planner
14. A great singer
15. Great style
16. Good for helping in our wrong side of the bed days
17. Funny person
18. Good handwriting
19. Good for making boo boos better
20. Playing piano
21. Good card player
22. Good with animals
23. Makes the funniest April Fool's Day food
24. Good storyteller
25. Good writer and soon to be author
26. Good book recommender of what to read... and not to read
27. Good jewelry picker
28. Good bargain buyer
29. Good person to ask for a good old classic movie
30. Good business woman
31. Good person to turn your frown upside down
32. A good vocabulary
33. Mrs. Grammar and Spelling
34. A good smiler and hugger
35. Being a Mom

Isn't that just the cutest! Some of them I realize don't make sense unless you know us... and some of them are a stretch. :-) But it was so cute of them to come up with this list. I think I'll name it my new Book of Happiness because it makes me smile.

Green Food

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We have the tradition of eating green food for dinner on St. Pat's Day. (We don't do the whole corned beef and cabbage thing.) We usually have spinach pasta... only this year I decided to dye the alfredo sauce green. The two clashed horribly! But it tasted great!

This year's menu included, spinach pasta (and green alfredo sauce), green peas, green pears, and garlic bread. I tried to dye the garlic salt... it didn't work. Don't try that at home. We decided the garlic bread represented the pot of gold.

For dessert... brownies and mint green icing!