Monday January 9th

Would appear to have been a difficult day 

for many people.

I could give you the run down, but why?

What I do want to share is this very funny coincidence.

Shanna posted on her Facebook page on Tuesday

that Monday had been a

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

This is the book Ava brought home from school on Monday:

How does that happen?

The good news is, Tuesday was better

and nobody will be

moving to Australia. 

Vegetable Platter

You know how a vegetable platter is 

usually all nice and neat and all 

the different vegetables

are lined up in a row?

Well, Christmas Eve I decided to change things up a bit. 

Shake it up, as it were.

This is a riot of vegetables, 

a cornucopia,

a melee,

a mosh pit, 

a celebration of all things

vegetable. 

It was met with mixed reviews. 

I kinda like it. 

Ava's Surprise Party

I invited all her best friends.

Well, all the ones I had ready access to

and whose mothers would allow them to 

come to some strange ladies' house

for the afternoon. 

This is not an original idea. 

Big threw me just this kind of surprise party

once upon a time. 

I had always wanted a surprise birthday party

so one year Big arranged all my Barbies 

around the dining room table

and had a 

Surprise Breakfast Birthday Party for me.

For the life of me I can't remember if I was

a kid or f I was an adult at the time. 

Either way I still remember how special Big

made me feel that morning. 

And still does. 

I hope Ava feels special. 

Oh, and Barbie still likes a good party!

Sloppy Mini Muffins

These were part of our Christmas Eve Appetizer Lollapalooza.

They were a new addition and it would appear they will be a keeper.

I couldn't even get a picture of the plate full of them.

Well, truth be told they were diving for the olive bread

but you get the picture.....

These are a twist on something I saw 

Sandra Lee make. 

It's just a Jiffy corn muffin mix that I baked in a mini 

muffin pan.

 You scoop out the center of the cooled muffin.

I used a serrated grapefruit spoon. 

(good thinking, huh?)

and then Sandra made a chili to spoon into the divot.

My mom had made sloppy joes the day before

and mom being mom, there was plenty leftover

to stuff my mini muffins.

(good thinking, huh?)

I topped them with some cheddar that I used

a microplane to shred so it was really fine and popped 

them in the oven to warm up and melt the cheese. 

 and 

WALA!

(that's for Shanna)

Grandparent Training 101

If this cake is any indication, 

Mike and I are well on our way to earning our

Grandparent Badge.

I allowed Ava to create it. 

Mike ate it. 

Coffee?

What coffee?

You mean I'm supposed to buy coffee at

Starbucks?

No thanks. 

Don't really care for their coffee. 

 Now then, their CD selection is second to none.

What a blast from the past!

I also got my favorite Christmas CD there a couple 

of years back.

Thankfully Lynne likes their coffee

and

walks with a credit card in her back pocket. 

Happy New Year!

I did not set out to do it. 

These sorts of things just come naturally to me. 

I am a born rule breaker. 

A swim against the tide  

and don't go along with the crowd kind of chick.

You know how the rest of the world is making

resolutions today to 

eat better, 

exercise, 

be healthy?

I chose today to do something for the first time.

Fry fish. 

I didn't do it on purpose and I got a bit of a kick

out of it when I realized what I had done. 

Trust me, my jeans were a bit tight at the New Year's Eve 

party last night. 

I need a good detox.

But for some reason the left over 

avocado chimichuri was screaming to be put on top

of a piece of tilapia.

Not the healthy baked kind I have been making. 

No, I needed to try a new technique. 

Why not bread it with some 

panko (healthy),

parmesan (little less healthy),

and then cook it in an inch of oil

(off the charts UNhealthy)?

Yea, well, scream at me later, 

this was fantastic!

Doesn't hurt that that chimichuri would make a shoe taste good.