It was a sleepover as much as rush hour gets you there faster.

Friday night Wendy, Jana, MeLynn, and I got together for a sleep over at Jana's. There was a guest appearance by Melissa. It was so fun!

For dinner we had a lovely spinach salad and Papa Murphy's deLITE chicken bacon artichoke pizza. And then the real fun started.

Wendy broke out the Fry Daddy. (Though it's so cute and tiny it should be the Fry Baby.) We started with sweet potato fries. Yum! Then we dove in to deep frying pickles. So good! We used a recipe we found on Cooks.com. They were so divine!


After the savory we went for the sweet. We fried a Twinkie, Oreos, Almond Joys, Baby Ruths, Starbursts, and cinnamon bears. Each was delicious.


We stayed up till about 3:30, as per usual. Wendy and Jana introduced us to Kid History. Mostly we talked. Oh, and if there are any guy readers, we had pillow fights and braided each other's hair.

In the morning, which came all too soon, MeLynn made this so very yummy French toast for us. Just what we needed after a night of deep fried stuff. (: We all had three of these beauties. I could go for another half dozen or so right now.


We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Especially those who fry candy bars and make breakfast foods like this.

Thanks, ladies, for giving me a night out. It was needed!

I left the house and it was fun.

Last month Candice took me to a Jazz game. She got the tickets from a family white elephant gift exchange. Now that's an exchange I'd like to be part of!

Look how excited we were! For me this was the first time I'd left the house in a very long time.
Of course I took a picture of our feet. Funny enough I'm wearing the same socks right now. (They were a gift from my lovely friend Amber.)

If you've ever been to a Jazz game with me you'll know I spend all my time watching the Jazz Bear or looking for him. Part of the half time show was the Jazz Bear and tiny bears that followed him around. The tiny bears did little summersaults after the Jazz Bear did. I almost died it was so cute.

Our seats were so great! We were behind the hoops and close enough to get those annoying clappy things. They requested we "bring the noise." I assumed the funk would be provided by the Energy Solutions Arena.
It was a fun game with great company. The Jazz won! Plus we all got a coupon for a free taco because something or other happened at the game. (Blocks, three pointers, I don't remember.)

Tonight Wendy, I, and our awesome friends are getting together for another sleep over. I am so excited!! So stay tuned for pics and funny (to us) stories. I know, you can hardly wait.

Six Down... Thirty-Six to Go

I'm going to keep this post short because it's boring. Sorry. But I just had to say,

I've lost SIX pounds!

If you find them, just walk away.
I don't want them back.

Here's Your Sign

If it's going on both Friday AND Saturday, doesn't that negate the term "One Day Sale"?

Jessie and I have the BEST friends. This picture was sent to us by one who thought of it specifically for our blog. Thanks, 'Angelfish', for this submission!

For Sale: Things I don't need.... (I have a very high opinion of my standards.)

It's been a while since we've looked in the classifieds. There's only three today, but they're all good.

Bee hives. Have 3 for sale. Baseball size to basketball size. $30 to $80. Each on a tree branch.
Ask for Winnie the Pooh.

RCTC Ethics textbooks. The Elements of Moral Philosophy and The Right Thing to Do. Both by Rachels and Rachels. $20 each.
Ironically they are illegal copies of the original titles.

Cabela's inflatable pontoon boats, tons of fun for everyone. New, used only once. Blue and Green available. $300 Blue $200 green, or $450 both.
Imperial or Metric tons?
And doesn't the fact they've been used make them NOT NEW?

Nothing like a near all-nighter

In November I was lucky enough to play hostess to five of the most amazing women I've ever met. We've been friends since elementary school. We like to get together at least once a month. When we're really needing it we do a sleepover.

November's gathering was also in celebration of Janalyn's birthday. I made a cake. Which I ruined but resurrected. It ended up tasting like a giant Oreo. We didn't finish it that night and for that I'm very proud of us.

On one trip to the DI the gods of Fortune and Awesomeness smiled on Jana and she found a totally intact Girl Talk game. Yes, we play that most times we have a sleepover. This round's winner was MeLynn. (She got ten points for wearing a 'grown up piece of clothing' for the rest of the game.) Other fun dares were Wendy put lipstick on Candice's chin (she was aiming for her lips) and Wendy got a manicure where each nail was different.

We stayed up till about 4:00. It was so fun! I can't wait till we do it again. How about next Friday, ladies?

What Jane Austen really meant...

My friend in the UK posted a lovely picture of her English countryside and quoted Jane Austen's famous line,

"What are men to rocks and mountains?"

I mentioned how funny that line is when you see NO mountains there -- not in her picture, nor in most of England -- especially compared to my own towering Rockies. (Yep, that's right. I've just claimed them as my own.)

So she changed it to,

"What are men to fields and trees and mud and sunshine?"

Well, when you put it that way...

Not funny. Just warning you.

Last week I made bread. It was the first time in a very long time. Since I'd worked at Oakcrest. Before I started making bread I cleaned the kitchen really well. I was so proud of how lovely it looked I took a pic. Enjoy.


The recipe I used for the bread was from BHG. I wasn't very impressed. Does anyone have a good bread recipe they like to use? I need one for loaves of bread, not rolls. Buf if you have a yummy roll recipe feel free to share that, too!

Oh, also, this was the first time I'd used my Kitchenaid since I got married. I know, sad. But we lived in such tiny places with even smaller kitchens when we were in Rochester so the mixer got moved to odd places.

I've named my mixer. Does anyone else do this?

I'm still funny. Even in the UC.

Jeremy (clearing the table): What's with this fork and knife?

Jessie: They've been waiting for the spoon. They don't realize he's run away with the dish.

This is Your Year!

Today I read the funniest blog. It showed a list of New Years Resolutions the blogger has. I usually don't make them, so I don't have to worry about breaking them.

But I was reading some of our older posts a while back and came across a few labeled "from fluffy to fit". After all, we are supposed to be the Shrinking Betties, right!?! I figure it's about time I added to this theme... instead of to my fluffiness! So that's one of my Resolutions. To get more fit, less fluffy. About 40 pounds less. I know - having "Lose Weight" as a resolution is totally cliche. But it needs to be done.

However, I am not voicing this self-imposed challenge for sympathy. Comments like, "Oh, no! You look great!", "I love you how you are!", "You don't need to lose THAT much!", or "People shouldn't judge you on how you look" DO. NOT. HELP.

I am overweight. That is a fact. And I know it. Yeah, I know that I carry it well. I know I'm well proportioned, so I don't look as heavy as I am. I know that I am a child of God, who loves me no matter what. And I know a lot of other people that love me too.

BUT... And it is a big but (Ha ha)... I also know I don't like how huge I look in pictures. I know I hate weighing as much as my husband does - "If you fit into my jeans, I will kill myself!"... I know that I'm uncomfortable doing sports or other such activities., and I know to have a healthy BMI, I need to lose at least 40 pounds. Period.

Naturally, there's a plan for all of this. But I won't bore you with details. Just know that somewhere, sometime, someone's inner-skinny (mine) is working on revealing herself.