Posters that motivate!! LOL!!

You know you are cool if....

Another recipe

Blackberry Fool
Ingredients
Serves 8
2 cups blackberries (8 ounces total), plus more for garnish
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
In a blender, combine berries, sugar, and lemon juice; blend until smooth. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with a rubber spatula to push through. Discard seeds; transfer 1/2 cup berry puree to a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate; reserve for topping.
In a large bowl, combine cream and vanilla; whip until stiff peaks form. Gently fold remaining berry puree into cream. Spoon mixture into custard cups. Cover loosely and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to overnight). To serve, drizzle blackberry fools with reserved berry puree, and garnish with blackberries.

Great Cookie Recipes

From: www.marthastewart.com

SMORES
Ingredients
Makes 9
Vegetable oil, for brushing
4 packages unflavored gelatin
3 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus 6 tablespoons room temperature, plus more for pan
14 graham crackers, crushed to yield 1 1/2 cups crumbs
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
Directions
Brush a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with vegetable oil. Cut a piece of parchment or wax paper large enough to cover the bottom of the dish and to overhang the longer sides. Place the parchment in dish, brush with oil, and set dish aside.
Pour 3/4 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer, and sprinkle gelatin on top. Let stand 5 minutes.
Place 3 cups granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 cup water in a medium saucepan. Set saucepan over high heat, and bring to a boil. Insert a candy thermometer, and cook until mixture reaches soft-ball stage (238 degrees, about 9 minutes.
Using the whisk attachment, beat hot syrup into gelatin on low speed. Gradually increasing speed to high, beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish, and smooth the surface with an offset spatula. Set dish aside, uncovered, until marshmallow becomes firm, at least 3 hours or overnight.
Place 1 cup confectioners’ sugar in a fine strainer, and sift onto a clean work surface. Invert large marshmallow onto the sugar-coated surface, and peel off the parchment paper. Lightly brush a sharp knife with vegetable oil, and cut marshmallow into 2-inch squares. Sift remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl, and roll marshmallows in sugar to coat. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush a 9-inch-square baking pan with melted butter. In a large bowl, combine graham-cracker crumbs, 7 tablespoons melted butter, and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Using your hands, press mixture firmly into the prepared pan. Transfer pan to oven, and bake until the crust has set, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove pan from oven, and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Bring a medium saucepan of water to a simmer. In a medium heat-proof bowl, combine chocolate with remaining 6 tablespoons butter. Set the bowl over the simmering water, and stir until chocolate and butter have melted. Pour chocolate mixture over cooled graham-cracker crust. Using an offset spatula, spread chocolate mixture into an even layer. Transfer to refrigerator, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
Preheat the broiler. Cut chocolate crust into nine 3-inch squares. Top each square with a marshmallow, and place assembled s’mores under the broiler just until marshmallows turn golden brown, about 20 seconds. Serve immediately.

Chocolate-Strawberry Thumbprints
Ingredients
Makes about 3 dozen
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 6 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
4 ounces strawberries (about 6 medium), stemmed and finely diced
Directions
Sift flour, cocoa, and salt into a bowl; set aside. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth; set aside to cool.
Put butter and 1/4 cup granulated sugar into the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in yolk, vanilla, and chocolate. Reduce speed to low. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Refrigerate, covered, 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put 6 teaspoons granulated sugar into a small bowl. Form dough into 3/4-inch balls; roll in sugar to coat. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Press center of each ball with your thumb. Bake 10 minutes. Press centers again with end of a wooden spoon, making 3/4-inch indentations. Bake until slightly cracked and set, about 5 minutes more. Cool completely on racks. Unfilled cookies can be stored in airtight containers up to 3 days.
Stir cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a small bowl. Toss berries with remaining 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar in another bowl. Spoon cream cheese mixture into center of cookies; top with sugared berries, dividing evenly.

Anyone need a great career?

If anyone out there is in need of a career and want to work in Law Enforcement, I want to share with you the opportunities that we have at my work. We have a variety of open positions to apply for. If you let me know ahead of time, I can be a reference for you. We have good pay and benefits for the full time positions. Feel free to check out the website: www.adasheriff.org for more details. I love my job!

Another great photo of Rylan

This is another photo from the DIRECTV summer picnic on Saturday. This is the ONLY time you will see my son near a jail!!!!

A Day O'Fun at DIRECTV!!

We went to the DIRECTV employee summer picnic today and had so much fun. They had a nice picnic, entertainment and pony rides for the kids. I took lots of photos so here ya go...

They had this guy there that was giving demonstrations on how to lasso along with some horse tricks and knife tricks. It was fairly entertaining and also provided gun safety education to children.

Rylan LOVES watermelon. If that was all we had to eat today, he would have been very happy.

"Thanks Dad for helping me get on the horse."

Rylan: "I LOVE PONY RIDES!!!"

Great website for mothers...

I recently ran across this great website that sells baby products like car seat covers, blankets, nursing covers, etc. I really like the Blue Champagne cover for the carseats. It's a bit spendy for some of this stuff but I thought that you could probably get a cheap carseat, maybe even used one and then add the new cover- look brand new! Check it out for yourself....

http://www.mydesignerbaby.com/home.html

I should have fruit soon....

Check out my Watermelon and strawberry plants... they are growing like crazy! I hope to have fruit in another month or so...

I cut my hair...AGAIN!!

Don't ask me why but I felt that maybe I should have my hair trimmed nice a few weeks before the reunion so it will look nice. Well, I didn't realize that I would be scalped! I am still in shock 24 hours later and pray that I can do something with how short it is... I can't even put it in a ponytail. This is the shortest my hair has been since I was a little girl... probably like 5 years old or less...If you have any tips on short hair, I'm dying to hear them...

If you love...

Another episode of Flashback Friday!!

This is a photo of Jessika Walker, Jennifer Kelley and myself back in Fall of 1997 when we played on the Senior Girls Powderpuff Football team. I seem to recall that we got beat by the Sophomore-Junior Girls but it was fun anyways. I love that our 10 year class reunion is in 22 days! I can't wait to see everyone!

Sex & The City talk

So I just watched the episode "Ring a Ding Ding" and I'm SOOOOOOO disappointed that the writers made Aidan out to be a bad guy! Unable to make the marriage commitment, Carrie turns away as Aidan moves out of her apartment and her life. She finds what she assumes is a "goodbye letter"; but it's a letter from his attorney giving her 30 days to either buy back her apartment or vacate it. This is not an example of the Aidan that we all love. I'm disappointed that they would make him out to be the bad guy...

Something to check out...

For those of you that haven't heard of Google Reader before, you may want to check it out. It used to take me such a long time to check everyone's blogs to see if anything was updated. And the gals that like to go weeks or months without posting...it was always a disappointment. Then Jessika told me about this and wow! Now I can't live in blogging world without it! Google Reader tracks all of the blogs for you. You can subscribe to everyone's blogs on your blogroll and when you sign into Google Reader, it will tell you who has updates. It's fabulous!

Traveling: Where I have been and where I want to go!

I can't pick any one thing that really stands out in my mind as to why I enjoy traveling so much but I do. I don't mind flying but I really enjoy road trips. Unfortunately, we don't get to travel nearly as much as we want to but someday that will be different. I want to finish traveling to all of the states in the U.S.

I have been to these states:

*Washington *Oregon *California *Idaho *Nevada *Arizona *Montana *Wyoming *North Dakota *Nebraska *Utah *Iowa *Minnesota *Wisconsin *Michigan *Illinois *Indiana *Ohio *Kentucky *West Virginia *Virginia *Georgia and Florida

So I just need to go to:

*New Mexico *Texas *Kansas *Oklahoma *Missouri *Arkansas *Louisana *Mississippi *Alabama *North Carolina *South Carolina *Maryland *Pennsylvania *New York *New Jersey *Rhode Island *Connecticut *Vermont *Maine *Massachusetts *Alaska *Hawaii and Delaware.

I really want to go to Oklahoma where Roger was born and meet his family back there. New York, Hawaii and Texas are also on my list for favorite places to go.

Question of the week: What are Ten top things on your lifelong to-do list?

What are ten top things on your lifetime to-do list?

1. Have a house so organized that it looks like something you see in magazines. (I'd probably need to have a live-in maid that works 24-7 to accomplish this with the little ones running around.)
2. Equip Rylan with everything he will need to live a long, happy and successful life.

3. Travel! I'd love to go to another country, preferably Europe and I want to see the rest of the states that I haven't seen. (I'll blog about that soon.)
4. Have a body that I feel comfortable in.
5. Watch my children become parents.


6. Finish my college degree.

7. Learn how to play piano. (So that I can teach my grandchildren)


8. Become a GREAT cook so that I can host years of family events and dinners.


9. Tuck myself away in a small cottage on a beach somewhere nice and spend my days doing all of the things I enjoy.. Without worry!
10. Be the best wife possible to my loving husband.

My latest addiction: Sex and the City

Recently, I've been glued to my television whenever possible to watch Sex and the City. I've never really been a fan of this show and think that I've only watched it a few times as I always thought that they were too fake. How can women possibly have a life like that? Bouncing all around town from man to man and who would want such a life?!?! Not I. Maybe it's sure boredom or maybe it's a faze.. either way I think I'd like to watch it from episode 1 to the end just to see if I like it. I also want to go see the movie so if any of you girls want to make it a night out at a movie, let me know.

So far, I'm sad that she didn't end up with Aidan in a way because he is so attractive and down to earth. However, I guess it fits that Carrie and Mr. Big are in it together at the end?!?....

Let me know your thoughts...

A neat craft idea from Martha Stewart...

"Kids go through cereal fast. Make use of all the empty boxes by turning them into handy holders for their desks. Large boxes work well for books, small ones for supplies. Cut box with a utility knife at desired angle and height. Wrap decorative or contact paper around box to see how much you'll need; unwrap; cut. Secure paper with double-sided tape; trim excess."

4th of July recipes!

www.marthastewart.com
RED,WHITE AND BLUE PARFAITS

Ingredients
Makes 12
4 1/2 pounds fresh red currants, stemmed
3 cups sugar
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (about 6 3/4 teaspoons)
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
3 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 pounds fresh blueberries
2 ounces fresh currants, on the stem
Directions
Make the currant gelatin: Put currants and sugar in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until currants are very soft, about 10 minutes.
Put 1/3 cup cold water into a small bowl; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes. Add to currant mixture; stir until gelatin has dissolved, about 5 minutes.
Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl set in an ice-water bath, gently pressing out liquid with a spoon; discard solids. Remove from water bath, and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cool but not set. Pour 3 to 4 tablespoons currant gelatin into each of twelve 8- to 10-ounce glasses; set remaining currant gelatin aside. Refrigerate glasses until gelatin is completely set, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, make the panna cotta: Put 1/3 cup cold water into a small bowl; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes.
Put milk, cream, and sugar into a medium saucepan; bring almost to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Add gelatin mixture, and stir until gelatin has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Pour through a fine sieve into a bowl set in an ice-water bath. Remove from water bath; let stand, stirring occasionally, until cool but not set.
Spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons panna cotta over currant gelatin in each glass; set remaining panna cotta aside. Refrigerate glasses until panna cotta is set, about 1 hour. Repeat with another layer of currant gelatin and panna cotta. If either mixture becomes too firm, set over a pot of simmering water until softened.
To serve, top each parfait with blueberries and currants, dividing evenly.

Happy Birthday Rissa Rae!

Tomorrow (June 23rd) is when Rissa Rae will turn 28!!! Clarissa "Rissa Rae" and I have been friends since we were 12 years old. We went to middle school and high school together, we've been through breakups together, weddings together, childbirth together and many other exciting times in our lives. We plan to be great friends "even when we wear purple" (inside joke!)

To Rissa, May this be a great year with many happy memories! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Molly!

Just wanting to say a Happy Birthday to my friend Molly who lives in Michigan. It is her birthday tomorrow (June 23rd) and I'm sad that I can't be in Traverse City to wish her a nice day but I'll do it from far away...

Dairy Days is here!

This week is the annual Dairy Days celebration here in Meridian, Idaho. This celebration is always held on the third week of June and started in 1929. Many of you who are not from here may say "What are Dairy Days?" or think to yourselves "Man, those Idahoans sure are weird... they celebrate cows?!?!?". It is a very fun week filled with a lot of fun events, especially for the children. I remember what a big event it was every summer. It usually starts out with the local businesses here in town making fun cow signs to display in their front lawns or window displays. Its kinda neat to drive down Main St. and see all of the different displays.

The Dairy Days Festival begins on Thursday night in Storey Park with a Pancake Feed followed by a free concert by the Meridian Symphony Orchestra. The pancake feed is held in one of the barn structures at the park between the park and the speedway. They usually have pancakes, eggs, and fresh milk. The only bad thing is that the milk isn't as cold as I'd like it to be.

Friday night is the annual Dairy Days parade. I love the parade. It's always held on Main St. and makes a big loop through the middle of town and back to Storey Park. It's always neat because they hand out free milk cartons (usually chocolate milk) during the parade. There is always the shriners on their little carts, horses (lots and lots of them), the rodeo queens, dairy days princesses and many other things.

They also have a carnival set up by the speedway with a lot of rides for kids to go on and there is face painting, etc. Saturday morning begins with the annual “Milk Run” fun run at Meridian Speedway. Little tykes can participate in a ¼ mile run around the track, and then the older kids and adults do a 5K race that starts and ends at the Speedway. Other events include: the Dairy Princess Banquet, a carnival, a farm animal education exhibition and dairy cattle and dairy goat shows. I truly feel that this is a great family celebration and I can't wait until Rylan is old enough to truly appreciate it and enjoy it.

These photos were not taken by me.