This really very well may be the best cake ever!!

Ok, I will not post picture or the recipe. To see it and get it so you can make it yourself, you need to go here. Trust me, clicking that link in the previous sentence back there is worth it!! Even if you have never ever followed another link on this page ever. Even if you are just lurking, take some action on this one. WOW! I am putting this recipe in my book, and I think I will call it "Ree's Chocolate Cake", cause, I got if from Ree, after all. TRUST ME, PEOPLE, YOU NEED TO CHECK THIS OUT!! Your hips are asking for it. I can hear them from here. They are joining the chorus that my hips are singing... "pad me, pad me" and the stomach is saying "feed me, feed me" and, and, you just have too...........

Conquered!!

Mostly, anyway...

It isn't done in a perfectionist sort of way, because, I dispute the fact that I am a perfectionist as one certain friend believes. So, no OCD ways here. My room is "done". Not spring cleaning done, but, LOOK!! NO LAUNDRY!!! *happy dance*

My corner is free and ready for my quiet time... yay!!


















Nothing extra on the bed posts. YES!!


















And LOOK!! My bike is free!! I wonder if this means I should use it. Probably would help getting those 10 pounds off, huh? OKAY, OKAY!! YES, I feel guilty!


















Now, the girl's room, I feel this is what PROVES that I am not a perfectionist or anything of the sort. *AHEM* She did it ALL BY HERSELF. Not mommy done, but it passes. OK, I admit, it WILL be getting a mommy clean in the VERY near future, but this week was just NOT conducive to mommy hoeing out little people's rooms and reorganizing and putting away properly and giving the "it-better-look-like-this-and-everything-better-be-in-its-proper-place-or-I- will-be-in-here-without-warning-with-a-garbage-bag-cleaning-everything- but-your-bed-and-dresser-out" talk. NO, Eye, that DOES NOT make me a perfectionist!!! Ask E!! Anyway, T did a good job. Perhaps pictures of the mommy job will follow - some day.

I am not bothering to include any updates on the laundry bins... I have yet to EVER have a day when every single one is empty, so, what's to show?? People can get through the door. 'Nough said.

Clean Clothes!

An update will be arriving shortly, but in the meantime, I thought you all would get an immense kick out seeing SOME of the clean and folded clothes. This is only after doing about one third of the laundry. Fear not, it is all put away in the proper places. I made sure. Big stacks, huh?








Here, take a closer look. Please note that the really tall piles belong to a certain little girl!! Hmm....

For Aunt E and LP

Dear Aunt E, LP, and Uncle D, too,

Well, we actually recorded the song for you, but, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to post it!! So, we will not be including our rendition of "I Love You" with the lyrics. Here's to you, LP:


I love you,
A bushel and a peck,
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap,
A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep about you.
About who?
About you.

Cause, I love you.
A bushel and a peck,
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap,
A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep about you.
About who?
About you.

I love you,
You bet your pretty neck I do.
Doodle-loodoo-loodoo
Doodle-loodoo-loodoo
Doodle-loodoo-loodoo-loo

Lots of Love,
Aunt E, JT, and T (oh yeah, and Uncle J, too!!)

Monday = Laundry

Or, maybe the title should be, "I Live With a Bunch of Slobs". Granted, I can make just as good of a mess as the rest of them, but, jeez, guys!!!!! And the main source?? Laundry! (I know, I know, it doesn't LOOK like a laundy mess in her room, but trust me, everything else was strictly a... mostly... laundry mess. And I'm not even bothering trying to show you the boy's room because #1 - size. #2 - by the time I decided this needed to be documented, you couldn't tell he had a mess to begin with.)

So, my "sick" kids (they both claim to have killer sore throats... we will see how the girl feels after "girl scouts" is mentioned... she has a meeting today. My money is on the fact that she will QUICKLY perk up. The boy won't care - girls are pretty but icky right now.) ... oh yeah, back to my story... So, my sick kids get a sick day today... BUT, the price they had to pay is that they had to venture into their rooms (isn't hers LOVELY?? Fire hazard, maybe?) and bring me ALL clothes that are not put away... God only knows what is clean and what isn't... And I've been beginning to wonder... where have all their clothes gone? Has a group of aliens come and looked around and decided that a six year old girl and an eight year old boy have clothing worth stealing?? I'm really wondering here, because I will do laundry, fold it and pass it off to them to put away and two days later they have "nothing to wear". Or, in the boy's case, what he is wearing is obviously dirty.... You would not BELIEVE the places these pieces of clothes were hiding! The girl kept coming with basket-ful after basket-ful!








Then, I got thinking... my husband occaisionally gives me the same "no clothes" song and dance, so I actually paid attention to the mess we call our room... yikes. Now, the hubby views my exercise bike as a clothes rack... I suppose if I was actually trying to USE said bike on a regular basis, perhaps I would have noticed... oops.






And the bed posts... also not supposed to be used for draping clothes... oops again.










And, my "corner"?? Oh yeah... that is where the CLEAN clothes are stashed. Big GIGANTIC oops. OK. So, my room is pretty scary, too. But seriously, it is the LAST thing on my list of priorities... Company doesn't go in there... I don't cook in there... we don't do school in there... I can get to my bed... ok, moving on.



So, today, I am attacking the pile of laundry. I just want to state right now that, while I have been slacking a *LITTLE*, and I really do only mean a little, our laundry baskets are never EMPTY, but they most certainly don't generally overflow like this... perhaps the slacking has been in keeping an eye on certain little peoples hiding spots for when they "clean" their room... Oh, but it is all changing!!! I'll keep you updated, for sure, but it will more than likely be tomorrow or Wednesday before you get to see the finished, put away, spotless results. Yes, it will probably take that long. I just hope noone tries to come over and visist today... the door is blocked by a load or two of colored clothes.

Are You a Slacker Mom

Funny... I don't feel like this most of the time... calm?? me?!?

If you, too, would like to find out what kind of mom you are (do some of us dare ask?? I must admit, I was scared...), click here.

Are You a Slacker Mom?
Your quiz score makes you: Zen Mom How do you do it? Even when explosions are all around, you are able to take a deep cleansing breath and chant your mantra "this too shall pass." You are a calming influence on your kids in a hectic world.

My Son's Proffesional Opinion Is...

This is the case history of mom, who is suffering from a boat complex. She also has abnormal fears of pants and brown schizophrenia. As a child, she had a colorful mother who never let her run outside and paid no attention to her sweaters. Also, the father refused to let her play Little League bar. When she was 32 years old, the pet dog ran away on a rainy night, which is why she sang at the moon during thunderstorms. It's no wonder that today she never leaves the light and spends all day watching horseshoes on TV while eating boxes of lion biscuits.

My professional recommendation:
Commit mom to a spa for a week's worth of skin baths, facial flowers and shiatsu girls with a big, burly hat.


Thanks, Aunt E, for the very fun book that allowed this very professional analysis and recommendation.