Snacking at Our House: Chocolate Cake Balls

I did it again. I tried a variation of the famous bakerella's cake balls.

I used:
1 box Pillsbury Moist Supreme brand chocolate cake
1 can Pillsbury chocolate frosting
2 bags of Wilton candy wafers from Michaels

And this is how I did it:

After baking the cake I cut it into four big chunks, broke those in half, and crumbled into a mixing bowl.

Like so.

Then, using only a little at a time, I mixed in the frosting.

 

Rolled them into balls! Put them in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Prepped the candy wafers in the microwave.

Dunked 'em!

I started to fill this box...

I thought a few turned out ok. I liked the little sprinkles!

All filled up! At least 70 of these things made the trip to Athens for Patrick :)

Intro to Gardening: First Harvest!

I haven't been following this as much as I should have, but we are still gardening! We have already had our first "harvest." The beans below came out a week ago. They were a very pretty green. We have bell peppers that are almost ready. I think the parsley and basil are also ready, I just haven't brought them in.

Beans!

Tim ate them right out of the garden!

Snacking at Our House: Oreo Truffles

This is a recipe from the awesome and famous bakerella!  Mine didn't turn out the prettiest, but they taste very yummy.

You need:

• Oreos (I used reduced fat)
• 8 oz softened cream cheese (I used light)
• Chocolate for melting (avoid the morsels unless you are a pro, which I am not)

I used Reduced Fat Oreos...

Crushed all but 7 in the blender.

Mixed the crushed Oreos with the cream cheese, then shaped these Oreo balls. I then stuck them in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Dipped them in white chocolate! I tried to sprinkle some with the reserved Oreo, but they looked rough.

This was one after it hardened in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Pretty? Not really. Yummy? Of course! You can't go wrong with Oreo + cream cheese+ white chocolate!

Caturday Saturday: Father's Day Edition

I actually bought this shirt a few weeks ago on sale at TJ Max or Marshalls. I thought it would be cute for Tim's birthday. But, I decided it was better suited for Father's Day. So, I present...Jackson in his Father's Day attire:

"My Dad Rocks" cat t-shirt.

Jackson in his shirt.

Scooter with Jackson.

100th post celebration: 100 things I love about life right now

I know it has been a bit since I last updated. Part of it is because I've been super busy between my 10 hour work days and TWO additional part-time jobs for summer (yes, you read that correctly). The other part of the reason is because I wanted to think of something kind of neat for the 100th post. So here it is, I give to you a list of 100 things I'm loving about life.

1. I love that I spent the last three weeks with my brother and his family.
2. I love that despite the crazy crampedness of stuffing 6 adults, 2 kids, and 3 cats in one house actually worked.
3. I love coming home and hearing "Aunt Kelly's home" in a jubilant tone from Kylie and Scooter.
4. I love counting all the ways in which Kylie is just.like.me. Ahhhhhh!
5. I love how hysterical Scooter is when he dances to Michael Jackson's beat it.
6. I love the warm weather (just as long as the air doesn't die at work).
7. I love the three day weekends at work for summer.
8. I love lunch time conversations at work where I get to know just a little bit more about my work peers.
9. I love how supportive many of my coworkers are when I'm feeling a little down or discouraged about something completely nonwork related.
10. I love listening to NPR on the way home from work.
11. I love listening to a mix CD I made for the beach trip to Amelia Island.
12. I love thinking about planning our next vacation.
13. I love mini road trips with Tim.
14. I love singing in the car at the top of my lungs!
15. I love how Tim laughs at me and tells me I'm cute.
16. I love summer movies.
17. I LOVE the new X men movie!
18. I love Marvel Comics.
19. I love that Tim and I are total nerds for comic books (ok, so he's a bigger nerd...)...
20. I love Tosh.0 even though I know I shouldn't.
21. I love blogging, and hope I will keep it up. It's really relaxing and fun.
22. I love reading other people's blogs, so share a link!
23. I love watching the news in the morning, even if it is only a few minutes.
24. I love watching the cats in the morning as they go nuts over their daily dose of wet food.
25. I love my cats. Period.
26. I love to wake up on a Saturday morning in bed with Tim, Jackson and Elliot.
27. I love LIBRARIANS and LIBRARIES (and their spouses). They are often neglected, even though they work so hard.
28. I love coupons and the savings I've incurred.
29. I love swagbucks and mycokerewards.
30. I love using those rewards to make photobooks.
31. I love taking photos.
32. I love Claire's photos!
33. I love Auburn (always) WAR EAGLE!
34. I love baseball again. I'm playing fantasy baseball online and killing it!
35. I love when my mom hugs me good bye and sometimes kisses my cheek.
36. I love to watch my dad and Jackson interact. He treats him like an actual grandchild.
37. I love to make jewelry and want to make some now.
38. I love Diet Dr. Pepper.
39. I love thrift stores.
40. I love garage sales.
41. I love TV shows that make me laugh (Community and HIMYM)!
42. I love thank you notes.
43. I love that my husband has employment.
44. I love that I see my parents everyday, even if sometimes I wish everyone would let me have space!!!
45. I love to listen.
46. I love to talk.
47. I love to share.
48. I love to teach (most days). Even though it is incredibly exhausting, sometimes you really do make a difference to someone. And some days, they make a difference to you.
49. I love office supplies.
50. I love organization.
51. I love chaos.
52. I love Motion City Soundtrack on my ipod.
53. I love to veg out in front of youtube.
54. I love to watch movies.
55. I love to hold hands.
56. I love to eat dessert.
57. I love to watch my garden grow.
58. I love to measure my hair...soon I'll have enough to donate to Locks of Love.
59. I love to shop online.
60. I love to shop with Tim in stores.
61. I love Sour Patch Kids.
62. I love to grill out with the family.
63. I love swimming pools.
64. I love video games.
65. I love old friends.
66. I love new friends.
67. I love picnic baskets, even though I've never used one.
68. I love when Tim tries to do something romantic, like eating at the lake.
69. I love to sleep.
70. I love to exercise (when I'm actually doing it...sometimes it takes a ton of energy to get up and just go to the gym).
71. I love making lists.
72. I love setting goals.
73. I love making charts and excel sheets that plan out my life.
74. I love Bingo!
75. I love board games.
76. I love watching my husband sleep.
77. I love going a long time without talking to a friend, but when we do talk, we pick right up where we left off and it is as if time didn't matter at all.
78. I love crafting new crafty ideas.
79. I love thinking about the future and all the possibilities.
80. I love educational documentaries and other nerdy programming.
81. I love to fall asleep reading a book, and know that it is ok because Tim will mark my place.
82. I love softball! I want to play.
83. I love watching Katie play, and I'm praying she lands a scholarship at her favorite school (or mine). 
84. I love hearing crazy roommate stories from Sarah, and being thankful those stories are no longer about me being her crazy roommate ha! :)
85. I love hot showers.
86. I love cold sheets.
87. I love getting to know new people.
88. I love Jilly *wink*
89. I love checking email and facebook.
90. I love to study the web.
91. I love bright colors.
92. I love big t-shirts.
93. I love the smell of Tim's pillow.
94. I love hugs and kisses.
95. I love Columbus! (shocking I know)
96. I love volunteering.
97. I love talking to the Big Man Upstairs.
98. I love the peace you get from learning when to just let go of an issue and let Him handle it.
99. I love so much much much more than just these 98 other things...
100. I love LOVE!

And there you have it. A list of 100 things I'm loving about life right now. Maybe a few of those can give you a little insight on what's been going on during this absence from the blog. I promise I'll do better. :)

Happy Birthday Tim!

Today is the anniversary of the day Mom S gave the world a great big present in the form of the hubs. Yay!

So I made this to celebrate

I love you, partner in crime.

Caturday Saturday: The Calm Before the Storm

The cats were found this morning, chilling under the bed. 

Maybe they are hiding from the kids...or maybe they know what is coming later today: BATHTIME!

Eleven in 11: Evaluating May

Where is this year going so quickly? Each day seems to zoom by! May was an incredibly busy month for us and I hardly had time to blog. But, let's see how we did.

The breakdown:
1. Volunteer opportunity- Check! I am now an advocate. I am also interested in volunteering for the libraries in town. A dear friend of mine is a librarian and I know he busts his for his patrons. I'm a little saddened by what I've read recently about the funding for the libraries in town, so my philosophy is to always be part of the solution, and not just someone who complains. We'll see.
2. The weight loss one- Ugggg. I have hit a plateau, however, I'm not gaining. Which is good. I'm maintaining the net loss of 33 lbs. Part of the problem is that I'm no longer tracking points as strictly. But, also, I've slacked up on the gym. We have a good incentive though for me to press on and finish my ultimate goal. This fall we are going to NY for a family member's engagement party! 
3. Plan and take honeymoon- We went to Amelia Island. Collectively, Tim and I decided that we simply didn't ever have a honeymoon. While the trip was a FABULOUS trip, it just wan't a honeymoon. We missed the boat 3 years ago, and it isn't something you can just have 3 years late. It's ok though, we still loved vacationing! You can see our recent trip photos from here and here.
4. Trying four new recipes- I think we managed to do it this time:

• Parmesan Parsley Chicken
• Roasted Red Ranch Potatoes
• Cube Steak Rollups
• and another roasted red potatoes recipe, only this time tried a French Onion mix

5. Blog three times a week- Only had 12 posts, but again...we were kind of swamped.

6. Student loan- Check!

7. Savings!- Check! 

8. Read 52 books- I bought another book, this time Chelsea Handler's newest release...but I've still only made it through the introduction...

9. Facebook birthdays- I really am reconnecting with some folks because of this!

10. Visit 12 new restaurants- Koreana was soooo yum! I highly recommend!

11. Etsy- I think I'm going to use Fridays as a crafting day. Did I mention I now work 4 days a week? Yay! 10 hours is a little rough M-Th...but having 3 day weekends is a blast!

I hope many of you are getting to take some time off this summer to do fun things. I want to go to six flags at least once. Any takers?