Frosty the Snowman...

Here's Ben singing Frosty the Snowman ... well, sort of...

And for those of you that need a refreshers, he's saying:

Frosty, the snowman
Was a jolly happy soul
With a corncob pipe
And a button nose
And two eyes made out of cooooooaaaaalll!!!!

Handmade Chanukah

Inspired by this lovely blog, I decided to do a Handmade Chanukah this year.

(Note to self: make this decision more than three days ahead of time because eight days is a LOT of days. I have a new appreciation for how long that oil lasted!)

Also, a tip, how about try an arrange your oven NOT breaking on you the first night, throwing a hitch in your entire plan.

ANYWAY... this is how Handmade Chanukah shaped up in its first year. Next year, will be better.
First: hat and gloves
Second: OSU t-shirt
Third: Chanukah party (no craft)

Fourth: Pillow pet

Don't ask me what animal this is. I haven't a clue.

Fifth: Drawstring bag with (storebought) chanukah dominoes

Here's a total cheat for a button hole inspired by Disney!

Sixth: PlaydoughSeventh: Pictures for grandparents

Eigth: Nothing. We were pooped. We were going to make a matching game. But, instead, we played games on NickJr.com ... I know, not exactly observant of us. But, overall, I'm happy with how things worked out. Now, time to start planning for next year.

Meet Awesome

He's a handsome, full-bred Frenchie, with a face that just melts your heart.

It's impossible to imagine that anyone would consider killing this perfectly healthy, loving kind little man. But that's just what his former owners, and breeders were going to do.

They'd caged him his entire life, kept him enclosed in a concrete run, and just used him as a stud dog. And after 10 years, they were going send this face to puppy heaven.

A kind volunteer from the French Bulldog Rescue Network, she took him in. And helped the network find him a foster home -- our home! Now he can play in the grass...

And learn doggie manners (like NOT marking) and playing nice and sharing food.

He's go up for adoption here and he'll soon find his forever home.

But, for now, we're lucky to have him.

Oh, the games we play...

...on Saturday mornings when we are bored.

Inspired by Made By Joel, making match games has been a most favorite (and time-consuming) activity.

You don't have to be as artistic as Joel -- basic shapes will do and you too can enjoy this:

And smiles like these:

Here are a few of my favorites (clockwise from top left): a smiley face match, shape matching, letter matching, patterns (see the missing square?) and a "fill in the face" game.

You could also make these in powerpoint and print a bunch off ... but I like making them up as I go. Or maybe I'm just lazy. But either way, you'll have fun.

And you'll have even more fun when you ask your son to smile and he gives you this face instead. (What is that face?!)

Pigeon Roost

I'm super late getting these pics up -- but Pigeon Roost farm was just too fun to not share.

It's here. And, quite simply, the best pumpkin patch experience you'll ever have.

You can go to the farm for free and pick out pumkins and pay by the pound, but for $5 you can go into the play area that is just packed with activities for ALL ages.

We stayed for about 3 hours and could have stayed longer if we had planned better with naps and meals. (Note to self: pack a lunch and go early!)

There's a petting zoo, hay ride, games with an old fashioned water pump, slides, human hamster wheels and more! Good clean fun.

And, of course, I took tons more pictures, but couldn't get my little guy to stand still... so this is what you get!

Pizza tips ... also known as Robin's Pizza ...

also known as every Friday during elementary school...

Did you have a Friday pizza tradition growing up? We did.

Friday meant pizza and being allowed to drink soda.

I know. We were totally easy to please kids.

But, now that I'm a mom, I think traditions like that are kinda' cool. (Sans the soda at two, mind you.)

It also makes meal planning way easy.

We probably split delivery pizza and "Robin's Pizza" 50/50.

Robin's pizza was just a store bought pizza crust dry mix (less than $1 for the store brand). But Robin would stretch a buck even further by mixing up two packets at once and dividing it into THREE crusts.

(Between Robin and my mom -- I was destined to be frugal.)

Then just top it with spaghetti sauce, cheese and whatever else your family likes to eat.

Of course, there was more to making this budget friendly meal delicious:
- You MUST bake it on a pizza stone. It makes for a crust with just the right crispness
- Sprinkle corn meal on the pizza stone before you put the crust on it, which prevents sticking and adds that yummy pizzeria crunch.


And now for my tip: roll the dough out on a brown paper bag. that means nearly NO clean up.

What could be better than that?

Happy Halloween!

Treat!

We finally did it -- carved pumpkins just in time for Beggars' Night.
(Never heard of Beggars' Night? You're not alone - it's a Columbus thing, as far as I can tell. Trick-or-treat happens from 6 to 8 p.m. the Thursday before Halloween.)

So... Brian has mad carving skills (... if you're going to do it, you have to do it right...) ... and me, in typical fashion just wanted to carve, take pics and eat ice cream.

Also, note to self: 2 year olds, can't actually carve. Oh, and they don't want to watch you carve for An. Hour. And. 15 minutes! So, yeah, suggest painting or putting stickers on pumpkins.

So here they are! Bet you can guess which one was Brian's.


Ooooohhhh... Ahhhhhh...

And, just one more thing. Does this happen to you? This would be the BEST picture ever... but [insert whiny voice here] it's out of focus. So I am sharing it anyway... damn fancy camera making us change settings... sigh..

Recipes for an ex-pat, second edition

Inspired by this post, I knew my next recipe should be made almost entirely of ingredients that could be stolen.

And so you get: tofu salad.

A go-to recipe since my return to vegetarianism, this is does not fail.

Use the ingredients you typically would for any other meat-based "salad" (chicken, tuna, etc.)... luckily most of the ingredients can be "acquired" free of charge from any well-stocked casual eatery. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
- firm tofu
- mustard
- mayo (or veganaise)
- salt and pepper or my favorite, Spike seasoning
- relish



then, just:


and mash is it all up... like so

And it's ready!

Make it into a sandwich, fill a pita, eat with crackers... Yum!

Peanut butter banana pizza -- a recipe post from be

Wash! Hands wash.

Peel da nana. I do'd it!

Peana buttew. Mommy hep peese....

Cut da nana.

Spwed. spwed. swped.

Spinkles and strawbebby jelly.

Yum!

Fall traditions

2008

2009

2010

Lynd's fruit farm.

Matroskya love

Remember this?

Well... ask and ye shall recieve...

My former work spouse found these little gems for me...

And these lovely ladies were bought on vacation in Florida (I know, I've been holding out on you.)

Sisters...

easy peasy recipe ideas for an ex-pat

If you know someone living in university housing in Scotland who is funny and sweet and smart and brave, then you should tell that someone that this is not a lifestyle:

I don’t have money so I don’t buy as much food, so I don’t eat as much food, so I get drunk faster, therefore not buying as much alcohol, and my pants size goes down and everybody wins.

You could also begin telling that someone about your fun, easy, delicious, nutritious recipe ideas.

I was going to make some of these, then take pics, then do a post, but seeing this post, made me skip right to the post step. There will be more recipes coming. Promise.

Microwave baked potatoes -- square meals:
- buy a ubiquitous potato
- poke it with a fork a few times
- nuke it in the microwave for five mins

This is your base. Mix with one of the following for a square meal:
1) Brocco cheese potato
- put fresh broccoli florets in a dish w/ a splash of water. Cover with a lid or plate, leave a little room for steam to escape.
- cook for 4 minutes and check it. add one more minute at a time until it reaches your desired tenderness.
- split your baked potato, stuff with broccoli, top with cheese.

2) Chili cheese potato
- buy canned chili.
- heat it in a dish.
- split your baked potato, stuff with chili, top with cheese.
- eat some veggie with it

3) Potato sammy
- split your baked potato, stuff with lunch meat (or haggis)
- top with cheese
- eat some veggie with it

4) Italian potato
- mix together ricotta, and some italian seasonings (like basil, oregano, salt and pepper)
- split your baked potato and stuff with ricotta mixture
- add meat (if you have it)
- top with spagetti sauce and cheese

Leftover hot dog buns

Do you have leftover hot dog buns?

Like, maybe, you went out of town and your husband had a bunch of people over to go to a tailgate... and he and his guy friends did all the grocery shopping and bought a gajillion (an actual number, I am sure) then got too drunk to actuall grill anything... so then you ended up with no less than .75 gajillion buns to eat in one week?

That didn't happen to you?

Well, maybe you still have some leftovers.

Here's what you do:

• Look up lots of recipes for Italian bread salads...
• The next morning toast a hot dog bun
• Take some peanut butter and spread it on the bun
• Put a banana in the bun
• Tell your two year old it's a "banana hot dog"
• Watch him devour it!

College girls

Lunch and smiles at Casa Nueva. Delish!

I have lots of favorites.

Like A LOT of favorites ... I love love love finding something that I can call my "favorite."

And Athens is, by far, my favorite college town. Hands. Down.

It's like college towns you see on TV -- brick streets, classic architecture, hippies, boutiques, jocks, townies, an active Greek community, college book stores, a ridiculous number of bars... I could go on...

And a few of my most favorite women in the world treated me to a fantabulous girls-only overnight in Athens last week.

Thanks, ladies.

Sometimes, girls just need lots of girl time reconnect, laugh and let down our hair.

Oh, and eat s'mores.

Ohio University's campus gateway.