All posts in pure prattle

Early Birthday Presents!

by Erin on February 5, 2012 in Challenge, holidays, pure prattle with 1 Comment

So, a photo of me, two years ago. That’s what this post is supposed to contain. So, there you go. Me, two years ago, in the photo to the right. ;) Not much has changed. Similar haircut though I have bangs now since the baby ripped the hair at the front hairline out. Wisps. That’s what I’ve freaking got now. And it’s red. I do wish my skin was nice like that. Pregnancy hormones read my skin the riot act and, well, it’s not nice.

My birthday is in 2 days. The husband made the mistake of telling me he got my gifts (due to the Super Bowl, we’re celebrating next Sunday). I suggested, since he gets home late from work, that he give them to me today. :) So he did. I got a cute Willow Tree figurine (The Quilt), which I think was wink at how the baby is so attached to me. I also got a Pandora charm for my bracelet. Purple, well, amethyst. (I am so lucky that I love purple and my birthstone is purple!) It’s very pretty. And the other gift I got was this:

Isn’t it adorable?! The blanket is really in water. It’s not fake ‘plastic’ water. It’s like a snow globe. :) It has a few meanings to me. One, we just got a new washer/dryer, front loading. That took forever and a day to get. Then, the whole patience thing. I’ll admit, I’ve got a short fuse and need to learn to be more patient. Also, the baby. It was 10 years of waiting to be ready to have another. And she was definitely worth the wait. :)

I’m so ready to start the new week. I can’t wait to make my birthday cake. It’s going to be fabulous! ;)

My Favorite Photo of my Best Friend

by Erin on February 1, 2012 in Challenge, pure prattle with 3 Comments

So let’s start off by saying, yes, I skipped quite a few days. But, I’m going to pick up where I left off as to not repeat and bore. ;) So on with day four: My favorite photo of my best friend.

Since my bestie lives far away, here’s an oldie but goodie (and I smooshed out her face in case she didn’t want it posted):

Ah, I miss you chica! (You can be her friend, too, and find her here.)

Today is also the first day of my birth-month. LOL I celebrate ALL month long. Unfortunately thanks to the superbowl, we have to celebrate on the 12th instead of the 5th (my birthday is on the 7th). <pout>

Now onto my first organizational attack (I’ve decided to grow up this year!): my desk. Until later!

Diet Soda Cupcakes? Yep.

by Erin on January 30, 2012 in food, pure prattle with 2 Comments

I’ve been super obsessed with Pinterest as of late. Not surprising as the site feeds into my pack-rat mentality. Anyway, I’ve been determined to try out some of the things I keep pinning. (Notice how I’m doing a good job of not even mentioning that I stalled on day 3 of the challenge? More about that later.)

So w/out further ado, here are my Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry Funfetti Cupcakes (w/frosting, because, what’s a cupcake—diet or not—without icing???).

And here’s the recipe. Are you sitting down?

1 box of whatever cake mix you like (though I’d stay away from the specialty ones like Angel Food or Devil’s Food)
1 room temperature can of diet soda of choice

Combine cake mix (in my case I used Valentine’s Day Funfetti) and can of soda (I used Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry) until it looks like regular cake batter. (It will bubble at first, it’s normal.) Then here’s what I did: poured batter into cupcake liners (regular old paper ones – actually mine were Halloween ones because I thought I had plain ones but I didn’t) 2/3 full and bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes. I probably could have gone 22 but I didn’t want to push it and ruin it (only had one cake mix on hand). I got 19 cupcakes out of the mix in the end.

You’re ‘supposed to’ eat them as is; no icing. I just can’t bring myself to do that. So I used Valentine’s Day Funfetti Icing.

They taste yummy! Not exactly like a regular cupcake (the husband ate them, but he’s dieting and was willing to eat anything with the mere mention of cake). But they will definitely do. I want to try a chocolate root beer with some kind of cream icing next.

So on with my major blog challenge failure. I had the best intentions, but it all went to hell in a handbasket. The kiddo got sick, the baby is teething, I’m exhausted and my eyes are shot to hell.

Apparently I’ve got two things going on: one being that I’m getting old. My eyesight is not what it used to be thanks to internet usage. Well, really, I’ve worked on computers since day one, starting at the bank and those horrible command type screens (ours was yellow-gold on black) and worked my way up to what I’m on currently. And since I work from home 6 hours a day, it’s a fair assumption that that isn’t helping matters. Anyway, my eyes are not focusing properly thus I’m having a hard time seeing, especially at night after being on the computer all day. (This resulted in eyeglasses.) The second issue is that I have high eye pressure that needs to be rechecked in April. Not fun. This will result in daily eye drops. <don don donnnnn> So not a fan of eye drops. But hey, if it saves my eyesight, I’m all for it.

So, between all this and just conking out at night, I’ve failed at the challenge. I’m thinking I’ll pick it up in a few days, so you’ll all have to forgive my ‘missing’ days. ;)

Ok, I’m outta here. Things to do, people to avoid.

30 Day Challenge, Day 3: My Favorite Store

by Erin on January 18, 2012 in Challenge, pure prattle with 2 Comments

Oh, this is a no brainer. I’ll give you one hint.

Yep. Oh glorious red one. Seller of all things you’d never need (and a few of what you do). I spend about $100 a visit, which if I’m not careful, could be every 2-3 days. And lord help me, I’ve now got a Target debit card. That’s right folks, I now save 5% on every. single. purchase.

I love my Target. Maybe I’ll hit them up tomorrow.

Stretched to my Limits!

by Erin on January 6, 2012 in pure prattle, resolutions with 5 Comments

So, here we are, January 6th. A Friday. SIX days into the new year and I’m already feeling like I’m being suffocated by various aspects of life. Whose brilliant idea was it to start kids back to school at the beginning of the year? They should give us an extra week to get over the holidays before throwing us back into the ring of endless papers and school work!

And, not to outdo any previous year, I had the best intentions of starting out all organized and stuff. You know, “Oh I am so going to be organized this year! That’s my resolution! If I do nothing else, I will be organized.” Yeah, that went right out the window.

On the positive side, I have discovered that the problem is not with me. It’s with time. There just isn’t enough of it. Well, that and coffee. There is never enough coffee either.

I’m also a miserable grump as I’ve started strict calorie counting. But I guess I can’t be too grumpy because I’ve already dropped 3 pounds. Though, something seems a bit fishy because that’s 3 pounds in 3 days. But who am I to complain?!