Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Creative Marketing!



You know you want to slap your troubles away.

Fantabulous Anything Cobbler Recipe

While I was house sitting I had one of those moments where you know if you don't eat dessert you might die. Since I was in someone elses house I didn't have any recipes with me...so me being the brilliant (rolls eyes) cook that I am...I invented one. You know what? It might have been the best darn cobbler I have ever had! Behold my findings:

1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cap-full of vanilla extract (cap-full as in I used the cap on the bottle of extract)
four-five grindings of nutmeg
1 smidgen of cloves
four-five strong shakes of cinnamon
1 cube of butter
1/2 bag of frozen peaches (or whatever meets your fancy Nancy)

I combined all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and then melted the butter in the microwave. I put half the butter in and stirred until it was mixed in well, then added the rest of the butter and stirred again. It had a light crumbly texture. I put the peaches in the bottom of a Pyrex pie dish and spooned the cobbler/crumble on top of the peaches. I don't use timers when I bake but I put it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for probably 15-20 minutes. Basically until the topping was browning.
I then proceeded to eat all of it by myself.
Diet FAIL.

I wish I had taken a picture but until I make it again, these will do. Just imagine if these two cobblers made a love child, that love child would be my cobbler:


Oh this is too funny.




This amazing man has created a way for you to have pet mice instead of house mice.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The silent hero.

Just when I thought my cup was full of humanity, along came this article. Breathtaking, inspiring, amazing, this will touch you to the core and leave you gasping for more. This young lady is my hero.

A little dose of crazy for the day.


Awesome.


This little booger is adorable (and so are his friends):





I hate to admit it but this caterpillar resembles me in the morning:


I guarantee you that this catapillar is the basis for the bugs life character Heimlich:

Coincidence? Oh I think not.


My Ranch Sitting Escapades :D


This is the road to the magical and amazing Blue Oak Ranch, where I stayed for a week. Below is a photo documentary of my adventures with their livestock.

PS I am totally going to squat on a secluded acre somewhere so I can live here forever. I have never been so happy.

1) Behold the magic of gardening. The flowers in the lower left are used to die the wool they get from their sheep. The sunflower seeds are also used for the same purpose. On the right you can see the bloom from an elephant garlic bulb. I love gardens! They also have olive trees, which are not shown.


2) This is what a Llama looks like when they are preparing to spit on you.

3) This is exactly what a Llama looks like while the are spitting on you. Not that I would know. *cough * sputter*

4) This is what a Llama looks like post spitting. I personally think he is magnificent. At first I thought 'how ridiculous is it that Llamas would spit to defend themselves?' Then I realized when people get in bar fights...they tend to spit on each other. Go figure.

5) And now for my favorite part of ranch sitting. The sheep:

6) They stay huddled up as a group (called a flock) with their faces to the ground looking at you. When you feed them, they run as a group with their heads to the ground from flake to flake, scuttling sideways like a crab. Can someone please make a cartoon of this?

7) This is Enrico the Ram. He is such a stud muffin.

8) I forget this Ram's name, but he has four horns. According to Spanish folklore ram's with four horns such as this one were deamed devilish, so now this is an extremely rare trait and hard to find since it has been bred out of the breed.

9) Behold this rare and splendid specimen:

10) Now for some pictures from my home garden! Yay! Below is my very first EVER tomato bloom. Woot!

11) I love squash. I could LIVE in squash. Below is a bloom from one of my yellow crookneck squash plants:

12) This is a row of Heirloom tomato plants that the Blue Oak Ranch was nice enough to give me. Anyone want some tomatoes? In a few weeks I will be stock full of em'.



Thanks for reading :-)






Sunday, June 21, 2009

I am such a FAAAANNNNN of this girl! Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsikgKo5WHM

She pretty much rocks my socks. And yours too. :D

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Llama llama llama DUCK.


I am ranch sitting for my mentor who has llamas and sheep. If you didn't already know this, llama's hate canines (dogs) so people use them to guard their sheep. Like this:

WELL, in my stupidity I let the two dogs follow me down to the barn when I fed this morning. Neither dog could give a hoot about the livestock, they were busy drooling over the squirrel holes and peeing everywhere (God forbid they not mark that tree and this bush, etc., etc.). However, the llama's noticed the dogs RIGHT AWAY. Thankfully there was a fence separating them, but the male llama instantly starting his warning calls to the other llamas and the sheep (the sheep were busy running around in their herd formation acting silly, my goodness I love them). Then the male llama ran up the fence where I was observing them. He put his face about 6 inches from mine and made all these chittering upset noises, clearly telling me what an idiot I am for bringing these oh so dangerous canines near his flock...then he pinned his ears back, like this:
And clearly told me: YOU are now excommunicated from MY flock. Then he turned on his heels and stomped away. Not even kidding. Best experience of my life. I love llamas! Especially ones named Alamo. :D

These are actually alpacas...which I think are even cuter than llamas. :D

Monday, June 15, 2009

Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal, yes?



Let's do the fork in the garbage disposal, yes?

I am loved...and this hat is SICCCCC!


Thank you @ the urchiness!!!! She was kind enough to make me this oh so siiiiiiic watermelon hat. She is a knitting machine, that one...and I love her.

Friday, June 12, 2009

It's so early, yet so good.


This is what I want for lunch. Recipe available at http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/


Thursday, June 11, 2009


Ridiculous. Stick a cookie in that mouth already.

Can't believe I forgot Pat Benatar.


Seriously though, I want to rock this blue eye shadow. Look at her fierceness in this photo! Loves it!!!

Things I love.




Coincidence? I think not.

No Guts, No Glory...besides...I could win a T-SHIRT!!

So...I found a karaoke contest online (stop laughing!) and decided to enter it...because I can win a t-shirt...and that totally makes up for the public mortification I am about to endure.
So here it is for your enjoyment (or horror):

Find more music like this on Cherrytree Records

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I hope to God that's Batman.

This is Annoying.

The Beautiful.



In his early twenties my dad sat on a pier bench wondering how he should start his life. A family friend soon approached him and offered him a starting position on a road crew working for minimum wage. For a college graduate this was a slap in the face, but with an ailing father, it seemed the only way to go.
Twenty five years later my father has worked his way from the bottom of a district to running it. To say he is accomplished is an understatement. Less than three months ago he was publicly applauded by the Board of Supervisors for doing a superior job - it was like watching the golden child receive his public honors, and was possibly one of the proudest moments of my life.
Yesterday, he was put on paid administrative leave for three weeks because someone filed a complaint. They won't tell him what it is, or who it is. All he knows is that he has to sit at home and cannot contact anyone at work until they decide whether or not to terminate his position.
My father is my hero, the caretaker of our family, and my best friend. Our family has gone through hard times, and he has always been our rock. My parents have been on the brink of divorce at least seven times, we have struggled financially, and we have over come painful family losses. Despite all of these hardships, my dad never lost that ornery gleam in his eye or his will to fight for what he believed in. Last night for the first time in my life, I watched something die inside my father. I watched a flame in his eyes die out, because hard work is supposed to pay off, dedication is supposed to make you rock solid, and you're supposed to have faith in the system.
America is bleeding right now, and until yesterday afternoon, I had no idea how it felt to bleed along with them.

Monday, June 1, 2009

For the love of Red Velvet Cake.


I want to make these cute lil' red cookies for July 4th, but I will make one half of the cookie blue. Cute!

This is possibly the most perfect slice of cake I have ever seen.

Let us make it a red velvet summer, shall we?


Classic Valentines Day velvet.

This isn't velvet at all...hee hee. But it's DARN CUTE!


I want to EAT. IT. ALL. YUM!

In reality my cake will turn out like this poor schleps did. :)

I love Apple.


I found this on cakewreck's twitter page. I am so going to make this pie. How could we have not thought of this idea before???


http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/ApplePie

I like this pillow too

Inspired by the urchiness :)

It has been a beautiful Monday morning for me so far, and I hope for you as well. If you haven't already found her, you must read the following blog everyday so that you too will be as inspired as I am : http://theurchiness.blogspot.com.
That being said, here are my loves for the day:

1) The Marmoset Song will give you a lovely smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oiLfTnrC40

2) I want to decorate my house in black and white with hints of yellow and here are some of my favorite things:

a) I want this bedspread as my wallpaper:
b) These are cute little tables:

c) I want yellow lamps with plain white shades:
d) What couch??

e) I must have this pillow: