Up Up and Awayyyyy

We are flying today.  Thanks Southwest Airlines for a great first flight.  One down and one to go.  Kansas City is currently hosting us until we get on our flight to St. Louis in about two hours.  We are looking forward to time with family and hopefully be able to take in a Cardies game.

'Til next time,
K

One Down and 2 to Go!

Cardies have won tonight.  Yay!  They are playing a three game series against the dreaded Cubbies.  For all you Cubbie fans out there... Sorry... nah....

Lookit' all that red in the stands.  Now, that is the Cardinal Nation.  They (the infamous they) say that St. Louis has the best fans!    We took the picture so we are not one of the red bits you see, but the guy taking a picture across from us has us in his picture decked out in our Cardie red!  Like this....

Oh, never you mind that the first picture is in the daytime and the second is at night.  It got dark FAST.. o' so fast.. yeah, that's it.  

So there you have it.. tomorrow at 18:00 mountain you better be parked in front of the Cardinals game and rooting for the Red Birds.

Fun Thing I found perusing the web

It's a wordle... This is an example of one that I put together.

I am sure you creative types can find a way to use this type thing for gift's etc.

Enjoy!

what you find when you go blogging!

I have had fun looking at all the wonderful tips and information on various blogs. It can be a full time job this blogging thing! On a blog I visited I found a new treasure trove of backgrounds. While looking around I stumbled upon this Dallie background. My Oz would be proud especially considering I was going to take his picture today all splayed out on the new couch! If he's there now... you'll get to see... if not I will have to catch him and snap his pic.
Nope, he's on the bed which has my favourite plaid cover on it :)

I am so excited about the new couches. I have one hint... plaid!

Based on that hint ... does anyone have the best ever Dalmation hair from furniture removal tip?

Ok, so I couldn't wait to show them off...
I love plaid and when I saw these on Craigslist I couldn't help myself. My fingers flew over the keyboard and the email was sent. The best thing... we got our old couches sold for the same amount of the new ... so we just traded. :)

Here's Kibbee... not doing much of anything but she would be sad if she knew Oz got on the bloggie and she didn't! She's snoring right now.

Snow is Cold

No, seriously, it's cold! Especially cold was the snow yesterday. Penny and I went cross country skiing and had so much fun. The conditions on the Cameron Connection trail were wonderful for 95% of the trail. The open sections, they were another story hoooowwweeee. When we left the temperature was hovering on the lower side of 20 and it was BLOWIE! With it so cold I had my doubts of staying warm. Layers.. layers are especially good even if they make one look wide :) I love trees! Once we hit the trail the trees became our friends and the wind... was no match. It was like a different day :) Knowing Penny as I do, I knew I didn't have to bring a camera. Knowing me like she does, she didn't have to do any research! Pop on over to her wonderfully crafty bloggie to see the pictures! If you are a crafter & especially a sewer/quilter take a look around. O' to have some of the crafty instincts of this lady!

click here ! do it now!

Kittie and I Have a New Best Buddy!!

When our noses were chilly on the wake up this morning and our
thermostat broke the bad news to us....

this was actually after we started warming again!

We called...

...and our new best buddy Steve came and rescued us!
He was very gracious considering we called him so early.
The diagnosis was made, swift action ensued and a new ignitor was installed. Yay!
Kittie immediately went to her new favourite place..(yes, that is the heating vent underneath her) at least until we stop seeing our breath in here.

Considering the temperature outside was in the twenties, it wasn't that bad, just a wee bit chillier than normal. Downstairs got to 52 degrees. Whooo hooo the middle floor is finally to 55!

Thanks new best buddy Steve for putting us to the front of the line of the jobs today!
Buckhorn Heating & Air is the best.
If you need their services, give them a call, they'll treat you right.

You know those days....

That call out
SOUP Soup SOUP!
I was just talking to my sis' in law and she mentioned having chicken noodle soup on the stove. The idea was planted and I ran with it. This is the view from my desk and it also inspired me to take action. I had to do something to thaw my fingers from just looking out there! Ha!
Woopsie, no before pictures, but the above became the beneath.
...and soon my bowl was filled with the yummie warm frothiness of Taco Soup.
It took all of 2 min. to boil water, gather & measure the ingredients, and 3 minutes to process. Nothing like instant gratification. 5 minutes to steaming hot soup.

....and about a minute to an empty bowl. YUM!

Yay Vita-Mix. I really enjoy this machine as it can do all sorts of things.
My most recent duh moment regarding this machine was ... onions. Yup, onions. Every time I chop onions (by hand) I cry and cry and cry! DOH, Why don't I let the V-M have a whack at it? Next time I had to chop/dice some onions out it came and may I just say it was a tear free experience!

vitamix goodness
no money has exchanged re: this product review... only a happie girl reporting a tear free experience.. Now, if anyone from Vita-Mix is reading this, feel free to send me a new tamper (hubbie accident-don't ask) and one of those nifty smaller containers!
Thanks in Advance!

The Black and White Cookie

Oh, the beautiful Black and White cookie!
I have had a hankerin' for these o' so yummie "cookies"!
Have you heard of these? They are the quintessential New York City treat.
I got myself on-line, found a recipe, read the comments, and set to baking! I love to bake cookies and usually do a good job of it. Cakes, now that's a different story, are much more of a challenge for me. This cookie is very cake like and I wondered how I would do so I made only half a batch. Good for me as this needs some altitude tweaking... of course, I should have looked at that first.

This was the result.
The pictures look ok but I can see some of where the vanilla side of the frosting did not quite cover. The chocolate covered wonderfully and is so very very very rich.

Overall I would report this first attempt as a success but I will still try other recipes or tweak this one. I know, I know, on the closeup the icings don't touch in the middle. Chalk that deficiency up to my need for instant gratification.. I couldn't wait to try. One of the keys to getting that good line in the middle is frost the vanilla side and let it set before frosting the chocolate side.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/black-and-white-cookies/
This is the recipe I (kinda) followed. After reading the comments I made some adjustments. Here are my notes for next time: I used the confection sugar-milk-vanilla frosting and it wasn't very white or the frosting I remember. Next time I will use the icing as listed in the recipe. For the chocolate I used the sugar, milk, vanilla, added unsweetened chocolate and melted over a double boiler. I can't believe I am saying this, but wow, too rich for this cookie. I will file it away for something more appropriate as the frosting was oh, so yummie! Some of the comments mentioned there wasn't enough lemon extract. I thought the amount listed was just right or maybe even a smidge too much. Because the cookies didn't raise too much I will try some altitude adjustments. I didn't have cake flour so I used the 2TBL cornstarch in the cup measure and added the rest AP flour substitution.

So there you have it... my first attempt at the nostalgic Black & White Cookie. Seeing as my dad works in NYC it may be possible to have some shipped in for taste comparison when I am further along in my quest for the best recipe.

I hope I don't have the same fate as Jerry Seinfeld!

Global Warming, Phooeeeey!

It is anti-global warming again in my yard! Translation: Snowing AGAIN! Because of all this I had to choose the green snow background to help me remember what colour the lawn is underneath all the global warming debris! a new background... and again, because I found one I liked better. HA!

HAPPEY

(so, I know I spelled it wrong but I typed it three times trying to fix the misspelling so I've decided to leave it!)
NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!

Seriously, It's Been How Long?

I am shocked at the length of time it has taken me to get into gear and get a new post on this bloggie. Oh, My, Heavens, I still have Thanksgiving "paper" up here! Eeeek. Moments while I go fix this!