Cootie catchers!

Hi guys!
I know it's already halfway through, but it's the week of love! In the school age group I work with at my daycare we are doing tons of lovie-dovie crafts. I spent about two hours Monday night working on the supplies for the two crafts I will tell you about tomorrow and the next day, but this craft is a classic that needs revived!
Cootie catchers. Please tell me at least a few of you remember making these in elementary school and writing a dozen silly things inside to make your friends laugh. In order to make mine fit the idea of Valentine's Day I went on pinterest and found these two outlines:

http://lilluna.com/free-valentines-cootie-catcher/ 

http://thecraftingchicks.com/valentine-cootie-catchers-free-printable/

The kiddos ended up working better with the first one that the second one, but I also think it would have worked out better had we printed these out in color, and cut the squares out for them. 

Then, we folded. You start by folding it into a diagonal triangle pictures facing out, then unfold and do the same on the other diagonal. Then, fold the paper in half like a book with the pictures inside, doing the same thing the other direction once one is done. 

Then, face the paper pictures down on a flat surface and fold in the corners so they meet in the middle like a star. This is why the first picture is better than the second, since there aren't any lines on the second. After that, flip it over and fold in the corners again. Make sure that you push really hard on your creases so that this last part turns out well. Fold the paper in half so your most recent flaps are inside, then unfold that last fold and do the same the other direction. Then flip it over and wiggle your fingers into the flaps on the back. It takes a little manipulation and pinching but then you have your cootie catcher! If my explanation makes no sense, here is a chart that might make it easier: 

https://babysitterblab.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/cootie-catcher/

This is a great craft to do with older kids whom don't necessarily love normal crafts. Even several of my daycare boys loved making these, which was a surprise for me. 

Well, gotta head back into the wild blue yonder (oh dear, I'm a dork). I will have a new post up for you by tomorrow night! 

~Blondie~

20th Birthday cake AKA Sugar to the Max

Hi guys! So yesterday I turned 20 and for my birthday I made myself a cake. For my birthday cake I used an online recipe (Found here: https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/foodie-tale-11267581/best-lemon-sheet-cake-2641022027 ) to try to duplicate a cake that my mom has made me for my birthday for as long as I can remember. I did some perfecting though, and here I am to tell you about it. :)

The recipe calls for....     1 box of lemon cake mix (along with the ingredients called for on the back                                            of the box)

                                         1 cup buttermilk

                                         1 3oz packet of lemon pudding mix (I used 3.4 and it worked just as well)

                                         Glaze: 

                                         4 cups powdered sugar

                                         1/3 cup lemon juice

                                         3 T Vegetable oil

                                         3 T water

Now for the fun part: my changes. I changed the recipe by adding a couple tablespoons of lemon juice to the cake mixture right before my final mixing (mostly because I bought the cheap pudding mix). The changes I wish I had made was the cut back the powdered sugar because I ended up with too much glaze, and also add more lemon juice to the glaze. It just didn't have the bite I wanted. 

So, onto how to make it. It's a pretty basic recipe. Mix the dry ingredients together separate from the wet, then slowly add the dry into the wet until it's all combined. Preheat the oven to 350, dump the mix into a greased 9x13 pan, and pop it into the oven for the time it suggests on the box. Make it for the longest time they give you, because this batter is very wet. 

Once you can put a toothpick in and it comes out clean, you're ready to go. Let it cool for a little bit (long enough for you to make the glaze), then poke some holes into the cake with a butter knife or something small. Not too many, just enough to let the glaze sink in. Once you've mixed up all of the ingredients for the glaze, pour the glaze on the cake. If you took my tips, you should be able to use all of it, and when you have no more gaze the cake should look like this: 

                        

I swear, it looks like more than it is. I let it sink in overnight and when I went to cut into it the next night it looked like this: 

Alright, there you have it. How to make a delicious cake for yourself (you might even share). I would recommend small pieces and a glass of milk for this delicacy. Or big pieces and pretending it's 0 calories. Either way, enjoy! 

~Blondie~

National cat day

Hi guys! So apparently today is National Cat Day, and I know I haven't written in a while, but I figured this could not be over looked. Cats are basically my life. So, without further explanation, here are some of the cutest cats I know.

First to be pictured in this lineup are some of my grandma's farm kitties. All of the kitties that have ever hung out on my grandparents's farm have been photogenic at the very least. It's actually quite entertaining to take pictures of them as they pose. 

These kitties, although the picture is terrible, are a litter of kitties that the black and white kitty above had. They were such sweeties, but unfortunately they were killed when my grandparents went camping one weekend. 

This kitty, as you can see from the tag, is named Vigo. He is owned by one of my best friends, and he has the kind of personality that screams "hold me! love me! Now!" 

Now this kitty is the black cat to beat all black cats. His name is Salem, and he is a cat that belongs to my best friend. He absolutely despises me, but when he sees the food come out he is the happiest kitty around. 

Second to last on my list is this familiar face, Onyx. He was quite the roommate this summer, despite the fact then when I tried to pack up he tried to go with me. 

Last but not least are my kitties from home: Chester (the poofy one) and Ella (The one that won't look at the camera). Chester is more likely to cuddle with you than Ella is, but he also cuddles because he thinks it will get him food. 

So, you've met my favorite kitties, what about yours? Do your kitties have crazy personalities? Fun little quirks? I'd love to know. For now though, back to being a college kid! 

~Blondie~

Pizza, cat, and the adventures of Sam & Susan

Hi guys! Greetings from nearly midnight in the apartment I share with my roommate for two more nights (that includes this one). I don't plan on posting this for a few days just so you have time to try my drool-worthy s'mores casserole, but I really wanted to put together a post about this story while it's fresh in my mind.
Alright, so I have spent the first two months of my summer with this fabulous gal:

Honestly, she's just the best. Sometimes, she just absolutely drives me insane but then there are nights like tonight and I remember why we're friends. Anyway, I spent my day extremely busy until late, and I hadn't brought my bike along so I texted Sam if she wouldn't mind picking me up after work. She agreed, and she picked me up and we went to the apartment normally. Yes, I sound boring, but I swear this is when it gets great. She sits down, I pace around talking about my day and at around 10:40 she decides we should get a pizza. One call to Little Caesars and we have a pizza ordered. *Awkwardly long pause as we both texted our respective friends* Then we realized that because LC closed at 11, and at that point it was 10:49, we should probably hurry. Yes, it is not that far because it's a small town and we live fairly close, but we still didn't want to get locked out.
Suddenly, I had the genius idea to bring Onyx along. I'm sure you'll remember Onyx, or on Facebook he's affectionately known as #Onyxthewondercat. If not, here's a photo selection to remind you who he is:

(Seen here he is cuddling with my writing. These were supposed to be nice and flat, and I think he knew that.)

 (Best cat selfie ever) 

(Disgruntled because I'm packing)

Anyway, Sam thought that would be a great idea as long as I put on his harness, which he hates. That is how, at 10:50 at night we were walking down the apartment hallway with a cat meowing and clinging to my shoulder. We must seem like terrible humans, but trust me that he's just a grumpy old man cat and he actually wasn't being tortured. 

We arrived at LC 4 minutes before they closed and we brought Onyx in with us. His eyes lit up like it was the best place he had ever been in, yet he still clung to my t-shirt like I was his life preserve in a rocking canoe. The cashier smiled and even said hello to him, which was funny as it is, but then we walked out of the pizza place and started to giggle. 

Let me preface this. Over this summer I have gone to Walmart at odd, late hours of the night multiple times. The first time it was after midnight and we were looking for cheap allergy meds, and the last time we were there we went shopping in the clearance section of the women's section and started debating what matched better with the jean shorts Sam just HAD to have. So we have done crazy things at late hours and we're used to it. 

Tonight though was the best. We drove back with a pizza on the dashboard and Onyx trying to look out the window as we giggled and talked to one of my poor friends who happened to be up that late. When we got back to the apartment we continued to giggle as we both cracked open Mountain Dews (at like 11:15) and started watching Pretty Little Liars. It was the best night I think either of us have had in a few days with all this working and busy-ness. Now, I must go finish packing because in less than 32 hours I will be an official couch surfer and that requires a lot of patience in my packing. I love you all! Stay beautiful! 

~Blondie~ (12:21 AM 7/22/15) 

S'mores Casserole

Hi guys! So I know I have been AWOL for more than a month, but I promise I'm going to try to get better. :) Yesterday I was craving something sweet, and I really wanted to bake, so I decided to grab some ingredients while I was grocery shopping.
So the recipe I used can be found at this link. I doubt that this is the original source, but this is where I found the idea from, so if anyone knows where the original source is I'd love to have it.
If you don't have a fire pit and you love to make s'mores, this is the recipe for you! The recipe uses Hershey's, but I decided to use Reese's since that's what I have on hand.

 This is all you need in order to make this recipe. I only ended up using one set of Reese's cups, but I'm sure you could use more. I used the large marshmallows (instead of the mini) because they were on sale with s'mores season still happening in the stores.
Before you do anything, preheat your oven to the temperature it says on the cookie dough roll.
Okay, so you want to start with a square cake pan. I sprayed it with butter spray primarily because I wanted to make cleanup easier. Then, you make one layer of graham crackers on the bottom of your pan.

You shouldn't even need a whole sleeve of crackers, and you don't have to make them very tight, either, just do the best you can. Next, take your tube of chocolate chip cookie dough and cut it open on the side. The instructions say to flatten it out on parchment, but we didn't have parchment so I tried it on foil but it wasn't worth it. Instead, I washed my hands and flattened it out piece by piece. These pieces you layer on top of the graham crackers. 

It won't be perfect, but trust me when I say it won't make a difference in the end. Take this and pop it in the preheated oven for 8 or 9 minutes. The cookie part should be pretty well cooked, but not all the way cooked because it's going to go back into the oven. 

While that's cooking, take out your chocolate. You could use Hershey's, but yet again I used Reese's because it gave me some peanut butter which was so good. In order to spread it around, I would cut it up into as small of pieces as you like. 

I had almost too much fun cutting my Reese's cups into pieces, primarily because I felt like a professional chef. You want these to be ready, no matter how much you use, the second they come out so they can melt before you put the marshmallows on top.

It doesn't look like much yet, but now you rip open that bag of marshmallows. You want to use them all, because the stickier the better. After all, it is a s'more! Arrange the marshmallows so that there isn't one marshmallow that is taller than the others so it will all come out golden brown.

Obviously, they will expand so don't worry if there are tons of gaps. Then, put the pan back into the oven and watch it like a hawk. For me, they ended up in the oven for about 8 minutes, and I checked on them every two or three minutes.

This should be the final product, then you cut them into squares (or giant chunks like my roommate and I did) and enjoy!

~Blondie~
PS I was worried about eating these cold, but they are just as good cool as they are hot out of the oven.

There once was a boy named Harry...

Hi guys! In case you don't understand the reference in my title, I love this video .
So, a few nights ago I was craving something warm, and I couldn't decide what to have. I Googled to figure out where to find recipes with what ingredients I have. That is when I came across this beauty:
http://myfridgefood.com/recipes/unapproved-recipes/butterbeer-latte/
This is so super easy it's ridiculous!
First, you start out with two tablespoons of brown sugar and two tablespoons of butter in a saucepan.

Then, you just let it melt down and stir it together. Don't let the pan get too hot for this, save the heat for when you're boiling it all. When the butter and brown sugar are combined, it should look something like this: 

Then, you fill the mug you are going to use with milk and add a dash of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla into the milk. This makes it easier to combine in the saucepan. You can easily do this while your melting the first part. For the cinnamon, don't put in too much, but I also wouldn't add in too little. The second batch I made I put in too much cinnamon and I think it would have been good if I had cut the extreme amount down to about 2/3 of what I put in. Then, you just dump that mixture on top of the caramelized brown sugar, and you mix it up pretty well. Turn up the heat and let it boil. Make sure to stir it occasionally, and once it has started to boil pull it off the burner or else you risk making a mess (I nearly did that with my second batch). You should have this:

Once it had cooled a little, put it in your mug and pop in your favorite Harry Potter flick!
Hope you guys are enjoying your summers!
~Blondie~

Ham and Cheese Pockets

Hi guys! Wow, so I meant to publish this post yesterday, but Wednesday I was watching Z and I got extremely sunburnt, so yesterday I wasn't motivated to move at all. Oh well! Today I want to tell you about my little invention. I call them ham and cheese pockets, even though I made them with turkey and cheese. Anyway, you start with a tube of dinner roll dough that looks like this: 

Then you split each of them with a small knife on one side. Just cut it about 2-3 inches wide and around an inch or less in, then use your fingers to push into the middle further to make a little pocket. Each one should look like this when you have finished: 

Then, take flat cheese and your choice of meat. I'm sure that this would work with any kind of meet, but my favorite is turkey, so that's what I used. Cut the pieces of cheese in half and the rounds of meat in half, then pair a half of meat and half of cheese together- meat on top- then fold it in half, making the meat in the middle like this: 

You should have as much cheese and meat as you have rolls, except in half since you only need half of each per roll. I only needed four pieces of turkey and cheese, which was easy. Then, you take the little square of meat and cheese and stuff it in the pocket you made in the roll. Once it's in, pinch closed the sides (so you don't end up with cheese everywhere) and place them on a greased baking sheet. I used a cake pan because I have yet to get a baking sheet for the apartment, so that works as well. Before you put them in the oven, they should look like this: 

Set the oven to the instructions on the rolls' package, then put them in for a time that's in the middle of what is suggested on the package. Mine said 11-15 minutes, so I started with twelve and they ended up in there for fourteen minutes. Your ending result should look like this: 

 

I'm telling you, they're delicious and SO CHEAP. If you are tired of plain old sandwiches, these are perfect for you. :) 

Alright guys, I love you all! 

~Blondie~