Michael's Birthday Cupcakes

Michael's birthday was almost two weeks ago, so, yes, I am a little behind. As I've said before, I usually make more elaborate cakes for his birthday. I love cake decorating, but I just wasn't feeling it this year. I couldn't come up with a good idea. Then I decided to do cupcakes because I could freeze half of them or more for later. If I bake a cake and it sits around, I'm just going to eat it and I don't need it.

Michael's favorite candy is Snickers. So I finally settled on Snickers cupcakes. The recipe came out of the 2008 Pillsbury Annual Recipes. The frosting is superb. The cupcakes were just ok. Michael and I both decided that they weren't our favorites. The frosting is caramel. If I were to do this one again, I would go with a regular chocolate cake with some chopped snickers mixed in and then this same frosting.

Here's the frosting recipe:
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1/3 c butter or margarine
3 Tbsp Milk
1 1/2 c powdered sugar

In a 1 1/2 qt saucepan, cook brown sugar and butter over medium heat just until mixture boils, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in milk. Let cool for 30 minutes. With a spoon (I used a whisk), beat in powdered sugar until no lumps remain. Add powdered sugar 1 Tbsp at a time until desired consistency is achieved. I think I added about 4. If you want to pile it on like I did, you will probably want to make double the recipe.

It's a pretty normal day here. I have a to do list the size of Texas and no desire to mark things off of it. Why am I so much better at making lists than I am completing them?

Happy Sunday!

I promise that I will do a recipe post tomorrow and take a break from these "fluff" posts. :) Michael and I actually got to go to dinner and a movie tonight. We went to the Movie Tavern so that we could combine the two. Watched Real Steel. I loved it...and not just because of Hugh Jackman. A little known fact about me is that I LOVE sports movies.....doesn't really matter what sport...hockey, baseball, football, even boxing. No, I don't like watching boxing or fighting in real life....I can't stand people beating up on each other but in a movie.....I don't know...it's different. Maybe it's because it isn't "real." Well, this movie, if you didn't know, is about robot boxing. Now, that is something I can get behind. All the fun of a boxing movie without the blood and stuff. :) You add Hugh Jackman to the mix and it's fun for the whole family.

I made a Mostacciolli casserole for Anne Marie (who was watching Joseph) and Joseph to eat for supper tonight. Anne Marie said it was really good and Joseph evidently ate a whole plate. It is out of a new cookbook I got at church a few weeks ago called "God Be With You Til We Eat Again." I love the title. We are going to have the leftovers for supper tomorrow and you may be seeing it on the blog this week!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I can't believe it's already over! Check back tomorrow and maybe I will post some yummy cupcakes or something. :)

I Love Resale Shops!!!

I did one of my all time favorite things to do without Joseph today: Resale Shopping!  Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with the little man, but he is a nightmare at resale shops. In the children's one he will just find toys he wants and he just doesn't have the patience required to sort through all those clothes to find the treasures. One of my favorites was having a 30% off your entire purchase sale this weekend so off I went!

I usually just shop at the kid's store but they recently opened an adult clothing resale store right next door. So I checked it out too. I found a few awesome things:

 Those suede heels are killer. I am in love with them. I already have my outfit picked out for church tomorrow and I'm wearing those shoes.

 The strawberry necklace is also adorable.

I didn't do too bad. 2 shirts, a dress, 2 pair of shoes, and a necklace for about $50.

I went a "little" crazy at Once Upon a Child....

But my child is going to be fully clothed for fall and beyond. I got 8 long sleeve t shirts, 3 button downs, 1 vest, 4 jeans, 2 cotton "play pants", a jacket, 3 toys (one was a toddler game system with 4 games) and 4 books for about $70.

Other than that I went to Target to get kitty litter. I love Target. I wish we would get one in Frankfort. If we had Target and a decent kids resale shop, I would never have to go to Lexington again. :)

Michael and I went and ran the Black Cat route again this evening. I pushed the stroller this time and did not do so hot. I just puttered out going up that big hill. I know if I train with the stroller I will rock it when I don't use it on race night. I'm putting Joseph in child care during the race. I am not trying to navigate a stroller through 1500 people this year!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!!

I love Fall!

I told ya'll that I went to Michael's and got some super cute Halloween/Fall decorations and promised I would show them once my cross stitch was finished. Well, it is finished!!! 

Pretty cute, huh? I will be honest. There were times when I didn't think I would like it. I didn't have a picture of the finished cross stitch and while I knew the general colors, I didn't think they would be so muted. But I like it. I think the colors work well.

So when I went to pick out some decorations, I immediately gravitated to the purple/black/silver Halloween stuff. I've always thought that color scheme was really cute. However, it really doesn't go with the cross stitch. Drat! So I brainstormed and decided to clear off the top of my hutch in the kitchen and make that my purple and black spot:

I already had the lanterns...they were favors from a wedding we went to (Thanks Justin & Caroline). The cauldron is actually a coffee mug and I picked up the black candle at Pier 1.

I got some black gerbera daisies and purple chrysanthemums. I already had the vase but jazzed it up some with some black sparkly ribbon. You can't really see them in the pic but I have some silver glitter branches poking out of the bouquet. 

I loved this sign and Joseph actually picked out the black bird. He has impeccable taste. 

This tombstone just fit so well that I had to get it.

I went with an orange/harvest type theme for the living room:

 And yes, I put in The Great Pumpkin DVD before I took pics. :) The good thing about this display is that I will just take the jack o lanterns and stuff off after Halloween and it will be just a fall display until time for Christmas decorations!

I love this sign!!

I swear the shelf is not as dusty as it looks!!! I could've sworn I dusted before I put the decorations up, but evidently I just did a quick dust of the edges!  The Mummy is a cross stitch I did a few years ago.

I just loved these little picks!

 

 Watch out for the pumpkin thief!!

 Forgive the state of the books in the pic. Joseph constantly decimates them so I only put them back orderly-like if we have company or something. It just gets too tiring and he tends to leave them alone if they are all disheveled like that.

We picked up this guy out of the clearance bin at Hallmark yesterday:

 He dances to Monster Mash. Joseph LOVES him.

 And finally.....

My gorgeous mums!!!

 

 I snagged this barrel at a yardsale last week.

The door hanging that I painted a few years ago:

Cooking with the Shaws - Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Forgive the really crappy picture. I made this for MOPS a couple of weeks ago and I had woken up late and barely had enough time to get to the meeting much less get out the good camera and stuff. So I snapped this with my phone.

This is not a coffee cake as you would normally think of a coffee cake. It's really more of a cream cheese filled pastry. It got rave reviews and I only had a tiny piece left and Joseph ate it on the way home. Thanks, Mary Carol!

Lemon Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

2 c plain flour
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 c margarine
1/4 c warm water
1 package dry yeast
1 egg
2 - 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp grated lemon peel or 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Powdered sugar

Proof yeast by stirring it into warm water. Let set for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix flour, salt, and margarine with pastry blender until mealy. Add yeast mixture. Add egg. Mix and divide into 2 parts. Roll out each part into about a 14 x 20 rectangle.

Mix cream cheese, sugar and lemon. Spread onto pastry leaving 1 or 2 inches of pastry around the edge, Roll up like a jelly roll and pinch edges together. Slit top to allow steam to escape. Bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

I had trouble visualizing this. I don't know if mine turned out how it was supposed to be or not. I will tell you that it confused lots of people because it looked like french bread. Either way, it was delicious. A few notes:
I used both zest and juice.

I made my dough and filling the night before and then finished it in the morning. I don't know if it was because it was cold or what, but it took more like 40 minutes before mine got done.

I forgot the powered sugar. I would have forgotten my head if it hadn't been attached that morning. :)

Is it time consuming? Yes. Is it worth it? YES! Even Joseph approved. And we know what a discerning critic he is.

It's been a busy busy day today and I am just now slowing down at 10 PM. So no life stories from me tonight. I'm out!

Pumpkin Pickin'

Joseph and I went to a pumpkin patch today with the MOPS group. We had a great time. We went to a pumpkin patch last year but Joseph was only 6 month old and didn't get much out of it really. Not so this time. This one was really nice with a petting zoo and various playgrounds. I picked up some apple cider donuts before we headed out. YUM! Enjoy some pics from the day:

 

So many pumpkins....so little time

Chasing Black Cats

I ran the Black Cat Chase 5K route tonight. The race is 24 days away. I have been meaning to run the route for a couple of weeks now but I actually did it tonight. I didn't have very high expectations. It's a challenging run with a steady uphill climb that lasts almost a full mile up to and around the Capitol. I was very excited to actually run all the way up to the Capitol and then pushed it to keep running all the way around it and then since it was a big downhill run from there, I decided to at least keep it up to the bottom of the hill. Well, I got a massive stitch in my side about a tenth of a mile from my goal stopping point and had to stop. I couldn't push through it...it was a bad one. I did start running again shortly after and didn't stop again until the end. My baseline time was 39:14 with having to stop for traffic and crossing the road a lot of time which I won't have to do during the race. I'm happy with that. Now to improve!!

In other news, I went to MOPS this morning and made Bernice's Orange Raisin Muffins. I honestly didn't think they were going to turn out and was already planning on going and getting donuts on the way, but they were great!

I finished my new harvest/halloween decor and will post pics as soon as my cross stitch is done. It will be in one of my displays.

Well, I had better get this posted. I picked up Transformers on the way home and we're about to watch it. Aren't you glad I'm in a better mood? :)