News & Updates

Damn, it's been a long time since I have been on here.I am not going to make excuses, it is what it is. Glad to be back though.

I will start by telling you that Jose and I are engaged. He gave me the ring on 5/22 and it is beautiful.

We are getting married 5-10-15. Jose picked the date and is firm. So happens that it is Mother's Day too but we are ok with that. There are also two birthdays that day, Jean Carlo and Bora...so we will have to do something special. It is going to be a destination wedding. Where you ask? Not positive yet. Round and round we go but where we stop, nobody knows...lol. That seems to be the big joke. Originally it was going to be St Augustine, FL. It's such a gorgeous place but it is an hour from the airport and we started thinking that might be an issue. I had a bed & breakfast lined up until the wedding planner there decided he only needed to get back to me when he wanted. We were going to go to the Hilton, which is beautiful but the price per plate was $150 and that is beyond what we can pay. So we started looking in airport locations in Florida but found nothing that really stuck out at us. That led us to look at other places.

There are three things that are not changing. The date is going to be 5-10-15, it is going to be on the beach and it is not going to be in RI. With that being said, we have entertained ideas in Virginia Beach VA, Myrtle Beach SC, Swan Island NC, back to Virginia Beach and now Ocean City, MD. Here is what I know. I really loved the idea of a bed & breakfast because we would all be together in one place, be able to spend time together but still have our rooms to retreat to. But there don't seem to be any bed & breakfasts big enough to have us all together or in locations that we want...namely on a beach. I like the Hilton in St Augustine because although it was a hotel, it has beautiful unique rooms. It doesn't just look like a regular hotel that you would stay at on vacation. I want something that fits our theme and is pretty. We even played around with the idea of renting a big house on the beach and just doing everything there. I have to admit that it sounded so good. We even found a place that might have worked but I don't want to be responsible for taking money from people for our wedding. It would just be too much stress on top of everything else. So our search continued.

Ocean City seems to have what we are looking for in all areas. As we started to really figure things out, we realized that we will need to drive. We will have way too much to transport to put it on a plane and paying for our family to fly would be crazy. So MD fits that issue perfectly. Ocean City has a hotel called Dunes Manor. It is right on the beach, another plus. This hotel is family owned and has some of the features of a bed & breakfast that I love. They have areas where we can congregate and spend time together. It has four restaurants where we can have breakfast together. It has tea time where everyone gets together again and in the evening they have a woman who plays the piano for another chance to gather with family, friends and staff. And although it is a hotel, it does not have a hotel feel. The rooms have been done in beach colors and they are bright an beautiful. Each room has an ocean view and a grand entrance that would make for some amazing wedding pictures.

So looks like it is MD for now. I really do love it and I hope that this is our final spot. I will keep you guys posted on more information as things get finalized.

Inspiration

This is what I am dreaming about my bedroom looking like:

Brownies, Brownies & Brownies

So I have become quite obsessed with brownies in particular. I found this recipe for brownie covered oreos and it has led me down a dark, dark path...lol.

It's simple. All you need is a pkg of oreo cookies and a box of brownie mix (plus whatever your brownie mix calls for). You make your brownie batter as the box tells you, then you dunk each oreo (one at a time) into the batter and let the access drip off and place one oreo in each muffin spot of a greesed muffin pan. Bake @ 350 for 12 minutes and they are done. As soon as they come out of the oven, you need to take a knife and go around the oreo or it will stick. Then allow to cool and remove. They are so cute. See the obsession? :o)

So I made my first batch. They came out perfect and I brought them to work. Everyone loved them so I started to think about the variety that I could do here. I got some great suggestions about the Halloween Oreo and the Christmas Oreo but they would taste the same so I was anxious to try the mint ones.

So I got my box of brownie mix:

and my mint brownies:

And made my new brownies:

What I have learned is that cooking spray is no good for these. It comes over the brownie and makes the brownie crisp around the edges as you see in these. Not my best batch but you get the idea.

Once I finished all the mint oreo cookies, I still had batter so I used up the regular oreo cookies too. But how was I going to tell them apart? I mean not everyone likes mint so I had to be able to say which ones were which. I heated up some white cocolate and drizzled it over the regular oreo cookies so that I could tell them apart. To my surprise, I still had batter left over (maybe I shouldn't have bought the family size brownie boxes...lol). So I looked around my kitchen and found this:

I bought the no salt added peanut butter and the family hates it. I thought that by adding it to the extremely sweet brownies that it would be offset but I don't think I was successful. I created these:

So when I was done, here was the trio that I had to offer:

In order they are brownie covered mint oreo cookies, brownie covered regular cookies with white chocolate drizzled on it and peanut butter brownies. Aren't they pretty?

Pictures

Yesterday I promised you pictures. I think that this all started when I took the cake decorating classes. It was four weeks for the first course and these were my projects.

The first week we practiced on cookies. Here is my favorite cookie that I decorated:

Then we did our first cake, sorry for the blurry picture.

And then we made cupcakes with different tips we learned how to use. I really hated that blue one. Some of the girls did such a great job but mine was horrible.

The last thing we did was our final exam cake which I am really proud of:

It appears as though I got the bug to make things after that. I made cupcakes for Jose's birthday.

then I made cupcakes for my neice, Brooklyn's birthday.

Then I made cake pops just because I felt like making them

And finally the girls at work started to get spoiled and started requesting things. This was the first strange creation.

These are chocolate cookie covered s'mores. They were not the easiest thing to make but once I got the hang of them, they were not that bad. They were a hit at work.

So this was the beginning of my baking obsession. That is what my daughters says. She says that I have become obsessed. I am just happy to have people appreciate what I do. Everyone at work has been happy with all my treats and it is wonderful to get such great feedback.

I will do another post on my brownie creations.

Baking and More Baking

I don’t like to bake.

Well…I don’t like to bake in the traditional sense. I mean, why do I need to measure out the flour, the sugar, the baking powder and everything else you need when I can go to the store and buy a box that already has everything in it measured out for me. Doing all that just has never really interested me.

I have always been more of a cook. You know, a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it comes out different every time but it comes out great. I like that if you don’t have butter, you can use oil or spray or if you don’t have chicken, you can make it with beef or shrimp. I am not very good at having all the things on hand and measuring. It’s a taste thing. I make it to taste, sometimes a little more and sometimes a little less depending on my mood.

So you can imagine my surprise when I find myself baking. I mean baking a lot. It started with cake pops. Then it was chocolate chip covered s’mores. Then it was brownie covered oreos. And some cupcakes and muffins mixed in between too.
Here is what I have realized. I don’t like to bake, I like to create. I like creations. I don’t just like to make brownies. I like the oreo covered brownies and I have tried the regular oreos and the mint oreos and even threw some peanut butter into some brownies when I had batter left over. It is all about the creation to me. Most of what I have been doing is from a box but I have doctored it up to be a new creation. Not my creations. I can’t take credit for them, but I have played with the ideas until they worked for me.

I can’t seem to get the chocolate thin enough on the cake pops to make them smooth the way that they should be but that didn’t stop me. As a matter of fact, everyone likes them just the way they are. I am excited about trying out the Halloween oreos so that I can make the brownie covered oreos with the orange crème. I am picking my brain at what I can sprinkle on top to make them festive on the outside as well as on the inside. It’s all about being prettier. You do eat with your eyes first after all.

So this past weekend I made the brownie covered oreos for our friends from MA that came to spend the day with us. They seemed to like them a lot. Then Sunday I made apple cinnamon muffins in the morning for breakfast and I made brownie covered mint oreos for a party that I went to for a girl here at work. I had made the regular ones before for work and she requested that I make them. I thought that it would be cool to try the mint ones and they were a huge hit. I had extra batter left over so I used up some leftover regular ones from Saturday and I drizzled some white chocolate over them so that people would know which ones were regular and which ones were mint. And I still had more batter leftover so I added peanut butter to those. My family wasn’t fond of the peanut butter ones so that is motivation for me to play with them a bit more until I can make ones they love.

I will post pictures tomorrow of all my goodies that I have been talking about today.

The 2012-2013 School Year

The 2012-2013 school year has officially begun. Begun…is that the correct way to say that or should I say began. Oh well, let me go on.

CJ and Nathan started school on Wednesday and Larissa started school on Thursday. It is really too soon to tell what kind of year it’s going to be but I will do everything in my power to make it the best possible year. Of course, I tried to do the same thing last year but that failed….literally. Honestly though, I think that both Nathan and Larissa gave up at some point making any efforts on my part or on the part of the school completely pointless.

I have signed up for MMS. That is a parental site that allows me to see what assignments they have due, when they are due and if they are handed in. I can also see grades once they are posted, or at least that is what I am told. So far, Nathan has three assignments due in Physical Science so I can sort of tell how the site works. I am not sure yet if it will be as good as I had hoped though. The assignments are listed by name but that means nothing to me. So I still have no idea what is due, just that an assignment named “the maze” is due on Sept 4th. Now I know what that is because Nathan told me but I am pretty sure that at one point, I am going to tell him something is due and he won’t know what I am talking about. Or Larissa for that matter.

Larissa seems excited about this school year. Apparently she never really like the kids in her class last year and all of her friends were juniors anyways so she will be graduating with them now. I just don’t understand my daughter. I am pretty sure that is not reason enough to throw away a year’s worth of education and of life just to graduate with your friends. But then again, there is little that I truly understand about the way that Larissa thinks of her education. She is looking forward to the yearbook and prom and graduation and her class ring. Most of those things she never got to do last year or even showed any interest in. Right now, I am just staying optimistic because that is all that I can do. I want to be supportive of the things she does. Here she is the first day of school. She hates her hair that she had to chop off because she destroyed it from dying it too much so she wasn’t thrilled to take the picture.

CJ loves his teacher too. He misses some of the kids that are not in his class anymore but he still sees them at recess and lunch so it’s not a big deal. He enjoys school and I hope to keep it that way. Watching CJ grow just makes me smile. He enjoys spending so much time outside and I love that he does. He plays with the neighbors each and every day. I wonder what will happen when the weather turns cold and it’s too cold to play outside. Here is picture right before heading off to the first day of school. He could not wait to get out the door.

CJ has started karate. He has had his first two meetings and his classes start next week. He will be going every Tuesday and Thursday. He can go as many times during the week as he wants at no additional cost. I love the karate school that he is enrolled in. I think that they will help him grow into a well-rounded boy. I really wanted Nathan to go too but he has no interest in it at all. I won’t push it on him. Here is CJ getting his white belt. They teach the kids that all things in life must be earned so he had to earn his white belt. I think that is awesome.

Nathan has been doing better on his meds. He has been playing with CJ and getting things done. He has already started his project that is due on Sept 4th and it’s not a rushed project, he is actually taking time to make it look really nice. I am proud of him and I hope that this is an indication of what the school year will be like for us. He still shows no interest in any extra-curricular activities but I am enjoying the small changes. The biggest thing is that it has not changed his personality. He is still a clown and full of jokes. I don’t ever want his personality to be masked by the meds. Here he is the first day of school. He really does not like to take pictures at all.

So that is it. That is how the school year has started. I hope to have some good progress this year and will try to document it all here. I hope everyone has a great 2012-2013 school year !

Preparing Nathan for School

Yesterday I took Nathan to the doctor. It was not his physical but it was an appointment to discuss his meds and get him to where he needs to be for the first day of school.

I have always struggled with the option of medication. I only wanted to use it as a last resort. Last school year, after failing several classes first quarter, I worked with his doctor to get him on 26mg of Concerta. That worked ok, no side effects and his concentration seemed to improve. On our first appointment back to the doctor to discuss how it has been working, Nathan mentioned that it appeared to be wearing off too early and he wasn’t able to get through his homework. So his medication was changed to 36 mg of Concerta but extended release. I have to admit that I did notice a good change in Nathan. He was not as argumentative at home and most importantly, he maintained his colorful personality…lol. Nathan is a comedian and a jokester and I didn’t want that to change because I have seen kids get medicated to the point that they are no longer themselves.

Second quarter report card was great. He got all B’s and C’s…which is great. He brought up every single grade. We had also taken away his laptop after the first quarter report card since we thought the amount of time he was spending on it might have been a factor in his grades as well. So I was happy with how that quarter ended. So happy that we gave Nathan his laptop back at the beginning of the third quarter as a reward.

Unfortunately, when the prescription ran out a couple of weeks into third quarter, we needed to go in for another evaluation to get a refill prescription and I had just started working and could not take the additional time to do that since I had already taken so many days already. Days ran into weeks and weeks into months and I was just so used to Nathan being back to “his normal” that I didn’t think it was a big deal. Well third quarter report card came and he had dropped in all his subjects again and failed many of them. I wasn’t really convinced that it was all the medication that had made him do so well because we had also taken away his laptop. Then he went off of the medication and he got his laptop back so I wasn’t sure what to think. Since I was still skeptical with the medication, I decided to keep him off the medication but take away his laptop again.

I got the confirmation that I needed. Even without the laptop and any distractions, Nathan failed his 8th grade year. I know that it is not entirely not my fault but I should have kept him on the medication. I feel as though I am hurting him by making him struggle. I had always thought of medication as a crutch and not as an aide.

I did a lot of thinking over the summer and I stared at his report card, I knew that I had made the wrong decisions. I made the appointment to take him back to discuss medication once again. So as I said at the very beginning of this post, yesterday we went to the doctor. We all made the decision to put him back on 36mg of Concerta and see how that reacts with him. He gained 14 lbs and grew 4 inches in the last 10 months so the same medication might need some tweeking. I am willing to take him as many times as necessary to get Nathan the help that he needs to be the best Nathan he can be this year.

This is going to be an amazing 2012-2013 school year !