Things Handsome Boy will eat:
Grass
Leaves
Dirt
Paper
Plastic
Bugs
Sand
Bubbles
Coins
Lint
Fuzz
Crayons
Peanut shells
Fabric
Things Handsome Boy will not eat:
Actual food
Birthday cake? Blech, poison!!
Apr
14
Mar
21
Yesterday was my wonderful mother’s birthday. I won’t tell you how old she is, but trust me, she’s pretty old. Just kidding, love you Momma!
In honor of her birthday I decided to try out a recipe from a book I read recently. It’s a brownie recipe, called Brownies Plus, from The Cream Puff Murder in the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series by Joanne Fluke (great series by the way, I’m on book 13 of 16). I’ve also seen variations of this recipe on Pinterest, and adapted my brownies from the recipe in the book, as well as this blog. I, of course, added my own twist, and was very pleased with the results. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 box of your favorite brownie mix, plus add’l ingredients per package instructions (you could also use any regular brownie recipe you like, if you want to make them from scratch - I don’t have that kind of time anymore, thanks to Handsome Boy)
2 - 4.4oz Hershey Bars (the big ones!) (you can use any kind of Hershey bar - milk chocolate, dark chocolate, w/almonds, etc - I used milk chocolate because that’s what I wanted in my brownies)
1 package of peanut butter chips (like chocolate chips, only peanut butter)
Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees
1. Spray or grease an 8×8 baking dish lightly with cooking spray
2. Mix the brownies according to package (or recipe) instructions
3. Spread half of brownie batter in bottom of pan (you don’t have to weigh or measure, just eyeball it)
4. Top with the chocolate bars in a single layer (you may have to break them up a bit, but they should fit almost perfectly)
5. With the remaining brownie batter, stir in about half of the package of peanut butter chips (more or less, to your preference - with half the package, it wasn’t as peanut butter-y as I had hoped, more of just an after taste - I think I’ll use more next time)
4. Spoon the remaining brownie batter/peanut butter chip mix over the chocolate bars and gently spread to cover
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool completely - I know that will be difficult, but they are so ooey-gooey even once they’re cooled, it really is necessary
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures because we were rushing out the door to go to the beach. I guess I’ll have to make them again soon. Oh, darn 
For now, here’s a pic of Handsome Boy at the beach. Enjoy!
Beach trip on the first day of spring? THIS is why I live in Florida!
Mar
16
I hide books from my son. No, I’m not some horrible mother who refuses to read to her child. Trust me, I read books to him all day long.
Handsome Boy has a big basket of board books, which sits in the living room right next to a big basket of toys. There are 20-30 books in the basket (or on the floor surrounding the basket) at any given time. He is free to bring me any of these books and I will gladly read it to him.
Overturned book basket on the left, untouched toy basket on the right
Except, lately, I rarely get to actually read the books to him. See, Handsome Boy is 13 months old and is rapidly acquiring language. He wants to know the name of EVERYTHING he sees. So he points, and I name. He will point to the same thing 5 times in a row, and I will name it 5 times in a row. Then he’ll point to something else and I name it. Then he’ll point to the first thing again, just to make sure it’s still the same as what I told him 3 seconds ago. It sounds tedious, but I actually love this game, well, most of the time anyway.
What I love most is the look on Handsome Boy’s face, so serious, so studious. This is important stuff, and he knows it.
I see patterns in the things he points to. On practically every page of practically every book I can tell you what he’s going to point to first, and second. It’s rarely more than 2 things per page. He’ll point at those same 2 things, in order, every single time, for days, weeks even. Then, he’ll pick one or two new things, only occasionally going back to the original objects, y’know, to make sure I didn’t change my mind on what they’re called.
Now, to the reason I hide books. I didn’t forget about the purpose of this story. Shocking, I know.
Sometimes, Handsome Boy gets mad at his books. Not just mad, furious. I don’t really know why, and I never see it coming until it just happens, out of the blue. He’ll be happily pointing away, filing names of various objects away in his internal dictionary. Then it happens. He starts pointing harder, then harder, like he’s trying to push his finger right through the cardboard page. He grunts while he does this. Then his voice gets whiny and he starts slapping the book. He frantically turns the pages, getting angrier and angrier as he flips forward and back. He begins to yell at the book. He is furious. This book has somehow wronged him. I am at a complete loss as to why. What atrocity has this book, which he loved only moments ago, committed against him? By this point, he has drawn the book over his head and is getting ready to fling it across the room. I pluck it from his hands, and banish it to the hidden book pile, where it must remain for at least a week. By then, whatever indiscretion has been forgiven and forgotten, and it can once again resume it’s place in the rotation.
Pile of currently banished books
Once he discovers this hiding spot, I may have to move them to the freezer. There should be enough space next to my copies of The Shining and Little Women. (That’s a Friends reference, for anyone who isn’t JennPavrific)
Mar
16
I guess that’s a bit of an understatement. It’s been more than a year and a half since my last post. No excuses, well, other than that I had a somewhat difficult pregnancy which resulted in a very difficult baby. Sure, blog ideas have trickled through my sleep-deprived, half-delirious brain, but Handsome Boy did his part in preventing me from extracting those ideas and presenting them to all of you. Yes, all none of you who read my blog anyway. You can see why I wasn’t in much of a hurry.
But now I have a one-year old who will actually entertain himself for brief moments, allowing me to triumphantly return to the world of blog. Oh, and he gives me PLENTY to talk about. I might actually accrue a readership! Enjoy!
Handsome Boy and Tired Mom at birth, 3m, 6m, 9m and 1 year
Jun
8
I love love love love love my TDI Jetta. I love my 40+ mpg. I love getting more than 500 miles on a tank before my gas light comes on. I love knowing that when the gas light comes on I still have nearly 100 miles before I actually run out of gas. But… I HATE hate hate hate going to the gas station with a diesel car. First of all, my choices in where to fill up are very limited. I have to be aware of which stations even carry diesel, which can mean driving around for a while when I’m out of town (good thing I get that extra 100 miles!). Once I find a station which offers diesel, I then have to hunt for a diesel pump. I can’t just pull up to any open pump, oh no. In general, so I’ve found, only about a quarter of the pumps at a station have diesel. And sometimes they hide the diesel pump behind the building! (Although this last configuration doesn’t bother be so much once I find it – you’re about to see why).
My biggest pet peeve when trying to fill my tank is all of the ignorant people. I tend to go to my local Murphy station for the location and price. This particular station has sixteen pumps, four of which offer diesel. It’s a fairly busy station, but there are usually several open pumps at any given moment. But regardless of the number of open pumps, it is almost guaranteed that all four diesel pumps will be occupied by people pumping regular gas into their vehicles. Which means I have to wait, and wait I do. My average gas station trip takes more than twenty minutes! Thank goodness I only need to do this once or twice a month. So I pick a pony a get in line. I sit and wait patiently, ignoring the strange looks I get from people who wonder why I’m not choosing one of the available pumps. The pumper finishes up and starts to leave. Usually at this point I pull up and go about my business. But more often than you would expect, I get hit by the pump sniper.
The pump sniper is the jerk who completely ignores the fact that I’m waiting, floors it past the other open spots that I cannot use, and steals the diesel bearing pump from me. Pump snipers tend to strike when I’m already in a hurry, or otherwise annoyed. They fill me with a murderous rage, especially when they reach for the regular gas hose. When this happens, I begin to fantasize about leaping from my car and strangling them with the gas hose and pummeling them with the big, metal nozzle. This mental image often releases some of my frustration and I scan the station to see if any of the other diesel pumps has cleared.
Once I’m finally positioned in front of a pump, the real problems begin. Diesel pumps are notoriously filthy. I learned quickly to keep hand wipes in my glove box because my hands will inevitably be coated in grime by the time I’m done. It takes several attempts to find the “sweet spot”, that elusive point at which the nozzle finds the precise depth and angle it requires to pump without shutting off every ten seconds. From then on its smooth sailing. I stand without moving a muscle, for fear of slipping out of the sweet spot, and wait as my tank is s-l-o-w-l-y filled. I think diesel must be about as thick as molasses, since it takes an eternity to pump it into my car at every station I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. After I hang the nozzle back on its base, usually fighting with the hose and getting more grime on me, I clean up and get back in the car. I quickly calculate my mpg (that always makes me feel better), reset my trip meter, and I’m finally on my way, vowing to send Chad the next time I’m running low.
Dec
14
Great success! Despite a few minor setbacks, the first official OKDC camping trip was a blast. We got a later start than planned (not surprising to anyone, I’m sure) and had to set up the tents in the dark, but Chad managed to get a good fire going, and Alyssa had Christmas lights which we strung up across the camp, which helped with the lighting. When the ranger came by, we were told we had too many tents on the site, but GottiBoyTellEm managed to smooth things over, and we were good to go for the night. Once set up was complete, we enjoyed hotdogs and Chef Boyardee for dinner, and s’mores for dessert. Quiet time began at 11, and we did our best to keep our voices down, but after we decided to turn in for the night, we were invaded by raccoons. Chad and David did their best to chase them off, but they kept returning, chattering and whining, throughout the night. Chad had a little too much fun scaring them off, but it must have worked, because they didn’t give us any trouble the next night. Saturday morning we awoke and discovered a large bird walking around the campsite. He walked right over to GottiBoy’s tent, clearly ready for his walk. Later, we had brunch consisting of bananas, bacon and eggs, and more hotdogs. After we ate, we piled into the van and headed to the birdwalk. We didn’t see too many birds, but we definitely watched as GottiBoy birdwalked next to the birdwalk sign. From there we traveled to the nature trail and enjoyed the canopy walk across a bridge suspended 25 feet in the air, right through the tree tops. After crossing the bridge we climbed the tower and enjoyed a spectacular view of Myakka River Park from a dizzying height of 75 feet. It was a perspective we don’t often get to experience, and though the swaying of the tower in the wind was a bit unsettling, the view was well worth the venture. After completing the nature trail (and seeing a disappointingly little amount of “nature” along the way), we headed back to camp. I was still a little shaky from the tower, so I laid down for a nap, while the rest of the group explored the lake and concessions, then made a trip in to town for provisions. When they returned we started a fire, not as easy a task as it had been the previous night, and had an old-fashioned campfire cookout of hamburgers and (more) hotdogs. We considered attending the seminar on spiders at the main campfire, but ended up staying at our campsite. As quiet time approached, and the mosquitoes started biting, we turned in for the night. We awoke Sunday morning to rain beating down on the tents, and quickly began packing up. Fortunately, by the time we had the insides of the tents packed, the rain ceased, and we were able to break down the tents and pack up the campsite without getting too wet. Though it was an earlier departure than we had intended, I think we were all happy to get home and showered, and back to bed for some.
Nov
8
chad is pwning up the coups. we got 30 cans of campbells chicken noodle FOR FREE today from walmart, and another 10 cream of chicken @ $0.08 each. also got 8 boxes of betty crocker potatoes (4 cheese, scalloped, au gratin, etc) for $0.38 each.
