The Best Cheesecake Ever. Ever.

Last night I made the best cheesecake I have ever made. Ever.  Well, it is the only cheesecake I've ever made, but it was really good.  Really, really good.  I read a blog called Whatever every single day and marvel at Meg's craftiness, the quality time she spends with her kids and her general awesomeness.  Plus she wears the cutest clothes, I wish I could shop in her closet.  Anyway, she is always talking about Pam's super delicious cheesecake.  Then I started seeing other people mention it on other blogs...all of whom read Whatever, I suppose.  Small world.  If all these people like it, it must be good, right?  I happen to love cheesecake, but since we almost never go out to dinner and when we do, we NEVER order dessert...let's just say it's been a LONG time since I've had any cheesecake.  And as I mentioned before, I have never attempted to make cheesecake before and was slightly afraid that it would involve far more skill in the kitchen than I am capable of.  But it was actually really easy.  Moo helped me dump everything into the Kitchen Aid.  I did discover that I need a new springform pan though.  Stupid one from Ikea leaked.  $4.00 pan from Ikea leaked, shocker I know.  Anyway, I over cooked it just a bit but it wasn't burnt or anything, just a tiny bit more brown than one you would get at a bakery.  But it was SO good.  This will be a recipe I make for company, surely.  Super easy, plus you are supposed to refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight before you serve it.  Perfect for company!  One less thing to make the day of!  Love that.  The only down side is that Toots and Daddy can't have dairy, so Moo and I are the only ones who can eat it...and she said she liked it, but I can't see her asking for it for dessert every night for the next week.  So this morning I took one for the team and had a slice for breakfast.  You know, so it won't go bad.  Sometimes it's hard work testing new recipes.  Really hard, tasty work.  Here is the link to the recipe:
Pam's Cheesecake featured at Whatever. Go check it out and while you're there, check out Meg's blog.  She's great, and you might find a new must read for your mornings.  You're welcome.

Norco Fair Time 2012!

 I love fair time!  I especially love our little Norco Fair.  It is this cute little fair that combines a Ranch Rodeo/Bull Riding competition with a regular old fair - carnies and all.  I hate the carnie part.  I will never ride carnie rides...there is something very unsafe to me about riding a ferris wheel that was not there half an hour ago.  Freaky.  And I'm not a big fan of rigged carnie games, although we do occasionally play them for the kids.  But I love the fair!  I love walking through the community competition building and seeing all the projects, canned and baked goods people worked so hard on.  You just know some little old lady has made that pie for every family party she has ever attended, and that there is a young woman working hard right now to perfect her recipe to beat that old lady next year.  I also love fair food!  I know, it's just a regular baked potato and corn on the cob...but there is something about the fair that makes it taste better.  The rest of the family had hot dogs with mustard, but I got a corn with butter and garlic salt (YUM!) and a baked potato with butter, sour cream, cheddar, chives and bacon (do I even need to say it?).  How could you pick a hot dog over those?  I will never understand men or children.

 The girls and I love the 4H level of the fair and always go to check out the animal entries.  We were a little late in the day, since we went after school, so we didn't get to see any competitions.  But we did get to look at all the goats, sheep, chickens and a few rabbits.  We saw a cute little group of middle school boys quizzing each other on pig parts for the swine competition the next morning and the girls spent forever trying to feed the cows some hay.  She wasn't having it, but just kind of looked at them and the hay they were holding while she chewed her cud.  Toots kept falling over trying to climb the little hay hill to get closer to the fence and the cow.

This year, Moo finally got to enter the Legos competition.  They have some fun community competitions for kids and the junior division is for ages 4 to 13.  Last year, Moo entered a drawing and a stick horse.  This year she entered a Lego Friends Treehouse.  She was SO excited to enter something in the lego category.  Each entry got marked with the number entry it was, Moo was number 11, so that they could be judged without the judged knowing who made them.  So when we saw them all out on the table and Moo didn't get a ribbon at first she was sad, but then she saw her number sticker and mistakenly thought it was her finishing place.  She said "Mom, I didn't win a ribbon but I got 11th place!"  She was so happy thinking she got 11th place, Daddy and I just couldn't tell her any different.  So if you see her, congratulate her on her 11th place finish.  I entered a hand sewn little mermaid doll.  The one Moo picked out the fabric for that I posted about a little while ago.  I didn't really think I had much of a chance because they usually have very specific categories like knitting, crochet, needlework, sewing, quilting, etc.  This year, all those categories were lumped together into just two - hand work and machine work.  Meaning that my hand sewn doll was competing against all the knitting, crochet, needlework and hand sewn entries.  I almost didn't enter it because last year there were some AMAZING knit afghans and a beautiful piece of needlework that I was sure would put me out of the running for sure.  But when I went to enter them, the ladies taking entries all comented on how cute it was and that gave me a little confidence that maybe I could compete for third if there weren't too many entries this year.  But second?  Never crossed my mind.  So yipee!  And even though this is a small fair, I'm sure if we lived out in a more "farmy" state, this fair would be a joke, I am still proud of my ribbon!  And it's already encouraging me to think of something great to make for next year!  Last year I got a first place for my zucchini bread in the silly category they added to the food competition for anything made with zucchini.  But I think this one means more because it's something I made.  I know I made the bread, but I don't know.  I don't know if that makes any sense, but I am more proud/excited about the second place in the sewing competition than I am at the first place in the zucchini competition.  And it just goes to show that I have NO idea what they look for in these competitions!  Last year I was sure my photo would win, didn't even place.  I entered the zucchini bread on a whim, since I happened to have a load of zucchini from my Mom's garden I needed to use up and was planning on making the bread anyway for the girls.  That got first place!  This year, I didn't think I really had a chance, but I thought Moo's cute little treehouse would place.  She didn't and I got second.  Like I said, no clue what they are looking for, these judges. 
Now to get thinking about what to enter next year...

How cute are these?

I was flipping through a magazine in Barnes & Noble the other day and saw these little beauties.  How cute are they?  They are made by Wolverine and called the 1000 mile boot (I think).  The article said something about their marketing during the Depression and that they could be worn for a thousand miles before needing to be resoled and that they could easily be resoled for a fraction of the cost of new boots - thus they were a great purchase.  They are still being made today and claim the same thing...but they are like $600!  Ah, the next time I find $600 lying in the street, this will be my purchase.  I would start wearing only skirts and tights with these boots - don't you just love it?

The new mermaid on the block

There is a new mermaid in the house.  The one with the pink hair is the one I made for Moo last Christmas (stocking stuffer) and the one with the green hair is the one I just finished sewing about ten minutes ago.  When I was getting all set up to make the mermaids at Christmas, I bought soft flannel in two skin tones (the pale ones above and a darker, tannish brown), five colors of corduroy fabric for hair and four colors of plain old quilting fabric for the tails.  I picked a more traditional look for the first mermaid because I was afraid that the girls wouldn't like them if I made them too funky.  But I let Moo pick the fabrics from my mermaid stash for this second mermaid and she went funky!  She really liked the "undersea flower" print (that's what we named it anyway) and was going to go with the pink hair again, but I suggested picking a different color so all her mermaids wouldn't look too much the same.  I thought she would pick the red or orange...something close to pink, but not pink.  But she picked the green and I think it's really cool!  I also used a tiny button as a hair decoration on this one instead of the rick-rack flower I made for the other one.  I think I like the idea of them all being totally different. 

Of course before this one was even done, Moo was asking for another one and Toots was begging for a number 2 too.  So now after a short break to let my hand muscles heal up (SO not used to that much hand sewing!!!) I will be making a number 2 for Toots.  Then I think I will make Moo a boy mermaid for Christmas and one for Toots...a boy maybe?  These are kind of quick little projects.  Three days max, if you spread it out a lot.  One day to cut pieces, one day to sew the parts and one day to sew it all together.  That's how I have to do it with the girls constantly needing me, anyway.  If I were alone for a day, I could probably make two in one day.  So cute and so fun for the girls!

Merida, Brave Merida

Moo and I had a date on the books a LONG time ago to see the new Pixar/Disney movie Brave when it got to the theaters.  We both really enjoyed it.  Moo because it was a movie about a strong, brave, adventurous princess and Mommy...well, pretty much for the same reasons.  I also liked the fact that this one did not end with her "living happily ever after" married to some prince and that it DID involve the MOTHER (for once not an evil step-mother or one who is MIA) and the entire plot of the movie hinged upon the mom/daughter not understanding the p.o.v. of the other.  Great.  Loved it.  Which lead us to this...

And this...

Moo decided she wants to be Merida for Halloween, so instead of buying the $50 costume at the Disney Store (no, that does not include the wig NOR the bow and arrow set) I made one.  We will either cave and buy the wig at Target or make the white headpiece she uses to cover her hair in the movie.  And I will gladly purchase the bow and arrow set because it is awesome to have something like that marketed to girls.  To make the dress, I just found a pattern for an angel costume (large bell sleeves and a giant bell body with an elastic neck), made it in blue and added a large gold band to the bottom.  Then I made a simple gold sash to tie around the middle and tacked it just a bit in the back because it kept coming just a bit undone and sliding down.  Since I just kind of winged it, it ended up being just about two inches too long.  But I'm going to wait to hem it until Halloween because with my luck, I'd hem it now and it would be way too short by then.  This kid grows like a weed!  Happy early Halloween!

In a funk

There has been a lot going on around here lately.  None of it too great, although I try to see the good every day.  It has been hard to see lately.  Family issues, money issues, kids acting up, little sleep because kids are now "learning" to share a room, summertime which means Moo is home 24/7 and is old enough to know that there is cool stuff to do out there but we are not doing it!  Ugh.  The Hubby's job keeps him busy - always busy, which means that I do a lot of this stuff - all stuff - alone. Recently, probably because of all the things mentioned above, it has been really hard for me to do it alone.  Some days I just want to crawl into a hole and let the dishes go unwashed, the laundry go undone and let the kids have a death match over the remote or doll or book or whatever it is they are fighting about right now.  But I don't.  I do what I'm supposed to do and remember that this too shall pass.  Soon enough Moo will be back in school and I will miss having her right next to me ALL DAY.  Toots will get used to sleeping in the new "girls room" and not cry out for me every two hours through the night.  Bills will get paid, things will get done.  It is not the end of the world even though it feels like it some days.  And I am not a martyr.  I take care of the house and the kids and the yard and the bills and the family stuff and everything else, but I am not the only one doing these things.  Even though it feels like that too sometimes.   And in just a little while, I'll be bringing home Gnomeo and Juliet (our new rabbits) and beginning a new adventure.  If you want to learn more about it, check out my other blog Cold Hands Farm where I post about all things rabbit.  So I do have that to look forward to.  This funk will go away.  It too shall pass.

A day in the life...

So I was just browsing the Internet, looking for a new blog to get attached to and I saw a post titled "What are you doing today?" where the blogger posted about what she was doing, then asked her readers to post in the comments about what they were doing or what a typical day was like for them. I thought it was interesting to read about how others spend their day. So I thought I'd post something similar, so here goes! Tomorrow is Saturday, so it's Farmer's Market Day! So as usual, Toots will probably wake up between 6 and 7 am. Then she and I will go out and I'll give her a bottle and watch some cartoons while we wait for Moo to wake up. Then it's breakfast time, get dressed time and figure out what's for dinner and do any necessary dinner prep time. Then we'll head out to the Farmer's Market for an hour. Then we'll head to the Sprout's nearby to stock up on organic baby food and maybe some soy ice cream for lactose intolerant Toots. Then we'll come home for lunch. After lunch, Toots will nap and Moo will work on her First Grade prep book and then watch a little t.v. I will do some chores in the afternoon, laundry, dishes, cleaning up, etc. Until it's time to make dinner. After dinner will be a little more play time, then getting everyone ready for bed, a story and a bottle for Toots. Then bedtime for the girls (who will shortly be sharing a room) and Mommy will finally get a little quite time. I usually have dreams of knitting or reading, but I'm usually so tired at that point that I just end up watching a DVR recording of Joyce Meyers or So You Think You Can Dance. And I usually fall asleep watching it on the couch. At some point I'll wake up because a child is calling, I'll deal with that, then tuck myself in and get ready to do it all again the next day! Well, that's my day, what does your day look like?