Sunday, February 24, 2013

Happy Birthday, Landon!

Today my baby boy is eleven years old. He is my one and only rebel child, love of my life, my pride and joy. Without even trying, just by being himself, he has taught me so many things. He has made me realize just how strong I can be. When he was nine years old, he climbed out of an upstairs window and up to the top of the house in 3 seconds, to rescue his cat, Lucky. (You will have to go back to April 15th 2010 to read that story!) In that situation, while I stood on the ground below, helplessly watching, he taught me to just breathe and hang on. It will be o.k. (Thank goodness, it was!!) He also taught me how to cope with life's messes. When you've had a horrible day, and you think you just can't take any more, and all you want to do is lock yourself in your bedroom and scream into your pillow....He knows what you really need is just a big bowl of ice cream, with your favorite topping and extra peanuts. Just the way you like it. And the words, "There. Doesn't that make ya feel better. Huh, Mom?" (I have to admit, it certainly does help!) He reminds me how fun life can be, and how it's o.k. to get a little wild and crazy and let my hair down. Not everything has to be all serious, all the time. It's o.k. to get a little dirty sometimes. Be a little messy. It's not the end of the world if everything doesn't go according to plan. Sometimes the best days, are the most messed up days. The past eleven years have been one wild and crazy roller coaster ride. Many ups and downs and crazy curves. But, you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. What a boring life we would have without Landon. Just an ordinary life, day after day. Today is the day my son was born. My life was changed forever, and I am the luckiest mom in the world.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

5th Grade Basketball


 
5th Grade Basketball
Lookin' Good!
Landon is the first one, front row, on the right.
 


Happy Valentines!

 
There is a game on Landon's ipod that he loves, called Minecraft.
I saw this T-shirt while shopping, and decided to get it for him for Valentines Day.
I could hardly keep my mouth shut when he decided to make his
Valentines box for school in the likeness of the game!
Somehow I managed and on Valentines Day I gave him the T-shirt.
He was surprised and happy. Me too. I finally got something right.
 
 
 



Monday, February 11, 2013

What A Difference A Day Makes

We got about 3,456 feet of snow last weekend. O.k. not really. More like a foot and a half. But, still...
Check it out!
 
 
Saturday
 
 
Sunday
 
 
Monday
 
Today when my daycare kids arrived,
one little girl asked me why I took the swings off the swing set!
 
 
 
 
I'm still not entirely convinced moving back
to Mn. was such a good idea...
 
 
But this right here, is the reason I stay.
The love of my life.
My amazing kid,
LANDON!!





Look At All That Good Snow!

 
 
This morning Robin Siegel came and scooped out the snow in
our North driveway, the easy way!
The kids were having a good time watching the action.
 
 
We see a mountain of cold, wet stuff.
Landon sees a perfectly good fort
just sitting there, already half way finished!
 
 
Lucky enjoyed watching Landon make his fort.
 
 
The big pieces were already there.
Ready to go.
 
 
Ahhhh....
This is the life.
 
 
 


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Etsy & Ebay

O.k. this is the last post about this! I promise. (Well, maybe I promise.) I keep going back and forth between Etsy and Ebay. I opened the Etsy store a few weeks ago. You can check that out here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSwedishCowgirl?ref=si_shop

BTW....I sold my 7th item today! It's my birthday and 7 is my lucky number! Hope that means that I am going to get lucky on the lottery tonight! Baahahaha....

Anyway, I posted a few items on Ebay, but didn't open a store. I have been selling a few things here and there. So, last night I decided to pull a few of the duplicate items that I had on Etsy, and open an Ebay store! You can check that out here:

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Swedish-Cowgirl

Feel free to pass along the sites to anyone you think might be interested. While there isn't a ton of fun in either store....yet, come this spring though, when it's warm enough to get out to my treasure shed....then look out! Let the good times roll....and shop.


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Hocky, Beer & Cottoncandy

Last night, I attended my first hockey game. Ever. It was FUN! We went with our friends, Ken and Nancy Derby. We don't get to see each other often, but when we do, we always have a great time.

 
Let's get this party started!
 
 
We had supper at a great little place called, Acapulco.
 
 
Tim got to wear a special sombrero because he was the birthday boy.
He also was given a wonderful dessert, which we made him share.
 
 
On to the game!
We had great seats and didn't miss a thing.
 
 
They played dodge ball.
It looked very painful.
 
 
They shot t-shirts into the crowd.
I wasn't a winner.
This time.
 
 
Everyone (who paid) threw hockey pucks in the hopes
of it landing on a prize. I'll have to buy one of those next time.
 
 
 
 
After the game we headed to "The bar."
Yep. That's the name of it.
Tried a little pink stuff.
 
 
And a little green stuff...
Had a little too much stuff.
 
 
This was our waitress. Ms. All That.
Well she thought she was anyway.
I was worried she might sneeze
and really let it all hang out!
(She didn't. Thank goodness.)
 
 
She brought Tim a glass of cotton candy.
 
 
 

Which we made him share.
 
 
Every now and then, they would light the bar on fire.
Now, how cool is that?
 
 
When we got back to our hotel, there was a pajama party going on!
These girls were a riot!!
 
 
 
They even found the birthday boy a piece of cake.
Which we of course made him share.
Who knew hockey could be so much fun?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Friday, February 1, 2013

Let Them Eat Peanut Butter Cake!

It's no secret that I'm just not a baker. I have a little trouble following recipe's and I only have two or three recipes that ever work for me. But that doesn't stop me from pinning 3,467 beautiful, mouthwatering pictures of baked goods, recipes included, on Pinterest. I love peanut butter and one picture that I had pinned of frosted peanut butter cake, just wouldn't leave me alone. It kept calling my name until I finally broke down and I just had to try it.

Pinned Image
It knows my name.

So, I skimmed the recipe and thought I had all the ingredients and set to work. When I got to the sugar amounts, I was blown away. (I didn't look at the amounts when I was skimming.) It called for 77 cups of brown sugar and 88 cups of white sugar. O.k. maybe not quite that much, but close. Since it was Friday and I am going to start my diet on Monday, I decided to keep on going anyway. Sugar be darned. Then I got to the ingredient, buttermilk. I don't believe in my lifetime, I have ever purchased buttermilk. But, I wasn't going to be discouraged. I simply hopped on Pinterest and typed in, "buttermilk substitutes." Low and behold, did you know that adding a little lemon juice to milk will give you buttermilk? I just happen to have both milk and lemon juice. So, after making homemade buttermilk, I was able to keep on going. I was a little worried how it was going to turn out, as every time I add or subtract or substitute an ingredient in a recipe, I end up with glop or glue. The cake mix looked pretty good and it poured right into the pan, smooth as melted butter. (It should. There was a whole freakin' stick of it in there!) I popped it in the oven and baked it according to the directions. When the timer dinged, I stuck a toothpick in and it came out clean. The top also bounced right back all nice and spongy like it was suppose to and miracles of miracles, it wasn't lop sided! (For some reason, all my cakes come out looking like a tidal wave.)

Isn't it beautiful?
I was so happy with my cake, but I still had this feeling of dread though, when it came to making the peanut butter frosting. I just didn't think that with my cake being so perfect, that the frosting would turn out well too. That was just asking too much from the baking fairies. Ya know? But....look!

I know. I'm blown away too.

The recipe said to pour the frosting onto the warm cake. My frosting didn't exactly pour, but it did spread very nice and easy. I thought for sure it was just going to melt into a messy, watery, glue on that warm cake....but...look!!


This is my cake!!!
And guess what??
It tasted wonderful!!!
I just love a happy ending.
Well...there's one more thing.


I was so busy reading the recipe, that it wasn't until I was half way through, that I even noticed what was printed at the top of the page.


Crap.
I like to think that I am beyond that, and I have no worries. But I sure would hate to be one of those freaks that you see on the Maury show. I can just see it now...
"She got knocked up at 85 and didn't know it!
She says it was the....peanut butter."








Welcome To The Neighborhood, Dude!





Had a little scare today. I was looking out my window for the UPS guy and this guy was standing in front of my house, in the street, leaning on a suitcase. Normally, I wouldn't give it a second thought as there are all kinds of crazy living in our town now. But, since it was 40 below and he was walking with a friggin' suitcase...well, my little red flags started waving. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots from my windows. Whatever was in the suitcase was super heavy as he could only go a few yards, before he had to stop and rest. I put these pictures on facebook, hoping someone would recognize him and give me a reasonable reason for hauling a suitcase in the dead of winter, down the street. No one knew him. Some thought I should call the police. I wasn't sure if it was police worthy, but was a little concerned because if he was homeless and if he knew the house next door was vacant...well...ya know? So, I did call the cop shop. I told the dispatcher what I saw and asked if she could tell the big guys and if someone could keep an eye on my corner as we were going to be gone a few days. She called me back a little later and informed me that the police had followed the suitcase tracks to a house (I do not know which house) and that they knew who he was, and he had just moved here. Sigh of relief. Another post was made on facebook to update everyone, and then someone posted that they had seen the guy in the grocery store and that he had bought a ton of groceries. So, that explains the heavy suitcase and stopping to rest. Well, that's small town livin'. Ya ain't gonna get away with nothin' around here. Welcome to the neighborhood dude, from the crazy lady down the street!