All posts tagged the kiddo

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.

Busy Moms Choose Coffee

by Erin on November 28, 2011 in geekness, holidays, pure prattle with Comments Off

And don’t try to tell me they don’t. Ok, well, I’ll accept some form of caffeine, but I’m telling you, that’s a consolation prize. Coffee is where it’s at.

It’s been 5 months since I became a mom to two. I think—keyword *I*—I’m doing a pretty decent job thus far. I imagine it’s easier for someone to go to two/three/four kids while the kiddos are still young and you’re not out of diapers for quite a few years or set in your ways with various other aspects (like sleeping through the night). However, I will say that this here cutie pie to the left has been sleeping through the night for the past two or three months now. *phew* She even goes to bed on her own! That’s right, she lays down in her crib while awake and goes to sleep. AWESOME. And the best part—knocking heavily on wood—is that she goes to bed about 9:30/10:00 and sleeps until about 8:00/9:00. Yep. That’s right. Now you can see why *I* think I’m doing a pretty decent job so far.

Now, one would think that since I’ve got a ten-year-old and a five-month-old who both sleep through the night I’m functioning at 100% or even better during the day. Au contraire, mon frere (well, mes amis, actually). Half the time it’s like the walking dead around here, and believe when I tell you that’s not so big a compliment for zombies.

I think I’ve just been super swamped since August. We had something every weekend in October and November was pretty packed as well. Funny enough, we’ve only got one thing planned in December.

We did manage to squeeze in buying a new tree this year. Our current/old one is 9 years old and one of the ones you have to put each branch on one-by-one by color codes. No lights either. Pain in the butt. Christmas shopping is just about finished as well. And thanks to our annual trip to Hershey, the baby made out like a bandit with winter clothes.

Unfortunately our dryer is on it’s last leg. It’s not heating up all the time. I called the repair place and they suggested taking the vent tube off and running a cycle without anything on it. I did that and nothing but cold air shooting out. Broken. So it became a game of buy a new one or fix this one (5 years old). We chose to buy a new one. Only, we bought a dryer and a washer, lol. But you can’t beat 50% off! So now I’ll have one of the fancy front loaders with all the buttons and bells and whistles. Geek heaven. Too bad it won’t arrive for 4-7 days. So we’re looking at Wednesday the earliest.

AND I was just told that we’re in charge of crafts for the holiday party. I’ve got something up my sleeve and will be sure to share once I work it out. :)

Now, where’s that 4th cup of coffee?!

Four Random Words

by Erin on August 23, 2011 in holidays, pure prattle with 4 Comments

corner
kiss
cream
creeper

These are the 4 random words that I am to write about. Hmmm… lol. Let’s see if I can pull this off.

Corner: This one is actually an easy one. I sit sort of facing the left of my desk. Behind the left part of my desk is the corner of the wall (well, there is about a foot-and-a-half from the desk to the left wall) and I’m constantly looking at that corner. It’s dull. I need to come up with something to put in that corner while keeping it simple as I’ve got photos on the wall directly above/behind the desk. Can’t clash. I’ll probably hit up Pinterest or Etsy for some ideas.

Kiss: Another easy one… nothing better than a baby kiss! The baby is growing like a weed and it’s amazing watching her grow and expand on her personality. She’s definitely a baby that likes to make her presence known, whether it’s via soft coos or loud, raspy screams. But give her a big old smooch on the cheek and she’ll melt in your arms and try to kiss you back. Pure love.

Cream: This one made me think for a bit because I see ‘cream’ and immediately think of the color. And I’ve got nothing. BUT while I was walking past my entertainment center I spotted my newest Halloween additions:

That got me to thinking about Halloween and the fall and bam! pumpkin spice creamer. ;) So now I’m on a hunt for it. And Starbucks should be putting out their Pumpkin Spice Latte soon as well!

Finally, creeper. This one I am stumped on. My immediate thought is creeper = someone who creeps around. Which makes me think of the kiddo creeping over to the baby and trying to pick her up after I’ve told him not to. ;) But then I’m not so sure that’s what creeper is. But this is my ‘game’ and I’m sticking with someone who creeps. ;)

And now I’m off to inspect the house for damage from the earthquake (I highly doubt there is any; while it was felt, it was minor). My first one ever. And I did not like it. :/

Where did July go?!

by Erin on August 5, 2011 in pure prattle with 1 Comment

I am very aware of the fact that I’ve been a huge ass slacker posting here. And every year I always say will be posting more. Well, I’ve got a great excuse this time, I really, truly do:

Meet Addison, the newest love in my life. :)

Addison came into the world on June 17th @ 3:14pm, weighing in at 8lbs 12oz and 20.5″ long. Now 7 weeks later, she’s 10lbs 10oz and 22″ long. Being a Frank breech baby, she arrived via a some-what scheduled cesarean section. Some-what in that if she flipped there would be no surgery.

Recovery was fairly trouble-free and she’s growing like a weed!

Big brother is loving her to pieces and surprisingly, so is the dog. When she cries, the dog walks to me and looks at me as if to say, “Hey lady, your baby is crying.” If I don’t get to her quick enough, the dog licks her to try to calm her. Yeah, I’m not a ‘like being licked by dogs’ type person, so this is one to watch (plus, as much as I love animals, you never really know what may make them defensive and bite).

Tomorrow is a big day for us here… it’s the kiddo’s 10th birthday! Wow. I can’t believe that it’s been ten years (or that I have a newborn and a 10-year-old!). The husband and I also are celebrating 15 years together as well. Big day.

Hope you all enjoy yours!

Realizing You Are NOT In Charge…

by Erin on May 23, 2011 in pure prattle with 3 Comments

…pretty much sucks.

Today I had my 35/36 week appointment. As far as the baby looks, alls well. However, she is breech. Completely and utterly breech. No mistaking it for anything else, breech. She’s completely vertical. So we’re talking about a csection, which I’m not thrilled about. I’m not an epidural person. Heck, I’m not a needle person, never mind such a big one IN MY BACK. (I didn’t have one with the kiddo.) I’ve also never had surgery. So, yeah, not exactly happy about the idea. Although if we listen to Brian, a section would give me a “nice relaxing weekend away.” Yeah, because we all know how relaxing it is to sleep at a hospital. :( The other downside (although really, I’m not truly serious, lol) is that if I am scheduled on my due date and go in on my due date (that is, I don’t go earlier) then I’ll miss out on the season 4 premiere of True Blood! Argh! It’s Sunday night (the 26th). I won’t be released until Monday morning. :( Yes I could DVR it, but sheesh.

Aside from this bit of news, we’re pretty much ready for baby. We’ve gotten everything we need. I got a bunch of stuff off my registry and what I didn’t get we went out and scooped up this weekend. The only thing we’re lacking is diapers. I’ve got the box of newborns (in the newborn diaper cake above) from my mom. I should be getting another scan soon of the size of the baby and then I’ll take a guesstimate on what size diapers to buy next. I think I may just end up buying another box of newborns and a box of size 1s. NEITHER of which Costco sells (weird, right?).

I’ve got bags packed for the hospital and am just getting everything else ready to go. I can’t for the life of me find my battery charger for the Sony Cyber-Shot. I really want to bring that camera rather than the Rebel, simply because losing/leaving behind a $150 camera is much better than losing/leaving behind a $1000 camera. ;) I refuse to pay $50 for a new charger. So tomorrow I’ll be trashing the room looking for it. Fun.

On top of it all, the weather has been cruddy. Truly cruddy. :( This is our next 5 day forecast:

Not a pretty picture! Too many things going on with school and too many things to do in the yard (like get the new pool installed!). Argh. Wish mother nature would get it together!!!