Review: Silicone Muffin Cups

So today I was craving pumpkin muffins.  I do that.  BUT, I started Weight Watchers last week so that means making muffins with no oil.  Which means they stick like crazy to the muffin cups.  A while back I found some silicone muffin cups in the clearance bin somewhere (Target?  Safeway?  I dunno.)  Anyway, they had to be about a dollar for 12.  Something like that.  Anyway, I washed them and promptly put them in the back of the cupboard where they lay totally forgotten until today. 

Mmmmm...muffins.

The verdict:

Voila!

Awesome.  I didn’t spray them with anything at all and the muffins pop right out.  The toughest part is going to be retraining the kids  NOT throw the cup away and put it in the sink instead.  Dollar well spent.

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Public Service Announcement

My friend Stella sent me this:

(Unfortunately the picture won’t come through so I’ll go take one of my own.

 

Hey lady! Read the fine print!

Was this something we were supposed  to learn from our Mom’s?????   I can’t believe it’s been there all  this time.                      I  had to go into the kitchen and check this out for  myself. Whoever looks at the end of your aluminum foil box?  You know when you try to pull some foil out and  the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to  put the roll back in the box and start over. The  darn roll always comes out at the wrong  time. Well, I would like to share this with  you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty  Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it  and looked at the end of the box. And written on  the end it said, Press here to lock end. Right  there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the  roll in place. How long has this little locking  tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand  of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then  looked at a box of Saran wrap and it  had one too! I can’t count the number of times the  Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying  to cover something up. I’m sharing this  with my friends. I hope I’m not the only person  that didn’t know about this.   I know  you’re going to go and check your boxes, so  go ahead! Locked and loaded.

The traveling cousins return

…with ears!

Thanks Nanny and Grandpa!  We love our ears!

One year

So today’s the day.  One year ago I got the phone call that changed my life.

I can’t believe I saved so much money just by switching to Geico.

Grins.

Ok.  To say that the reality of what today is doesn’t weigh on me would be a lie.  But to be honest, I think I’m finally tired of writing about cancer.  Mostly.  I probably still will.  It’s part of who I am now.

But instead of focusing on that, I think I’ll remember today for what it was supposed to be.

Happy Birthday to my little nephew!

You know.  This guy.  One of my very favorite little people.  Have a great day at Disney World sweetie!

Hooray Loopy Earflap Hat!

I'm Bob. and I am wearing a very cunning hat.

 

Finished this hat for a friend.  LOVED the yarn.  Mirasol’s Sulka, a Merino, Alpaca, Silk blend.  Loved loved loved it.  Now I want one.

I used the Kim’s Hats pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I got the idea for the loops from a back issue of Holiday Knits (3 years ago maybe?).

*insert thought provoking insightful post here*

It’s January. 

We’ve got a new president. 

J is potty trained.  Sort of. 

It’s been a year since I auditioned for and started singing with Planina.

It’s almost been a year since I was diagnosed with cancer.

So where am I now?

I listened to the inaugaral speech for the first time in my life.

J goes on jags where he decides NOT to be potty trained.  And I have to do lots of laundry.

I can sing a whole bunch of songs in Bulgarian.  Which I thought was impossible last year.  And sometimes I can knit WHILE I sing those songs.  (And sometimes I can’t.  Heh.) 

I’ve come to consider Flefty and Righty accessories instead of part of my body.   Some days I wish I could take them both off.  Sort of like how you put on sweats after work.

Hats

So, the Denver Public Library is doing Knit for our Troops Marathon, and since I’m a joiner, I cast on one today.  It’s a really easy pattern and I challenge you to make one if you’re local.  Dig into the stash.  🙂  Because really, even if we don’t all agree on why the troops are where they are, I bet we can all agree that they should have warm heads.  🙂

MLK

I was lying in bed this morning, contemplating getting up, when L hopped in and asked, “Mama?  Why don’t I have school today?”  I replied that it was Martin Luther King Jr Day.   “Who’s that?” she asked.

Hmm.  How to explain the civil rights movement in kindergarten terms and under 5 minutes (about how long I had before she moves on to something else…)?

First, I started with this.  “Well, remember your friend, ___ at school?  A long time ago you wouldn’t have been able to go to the same school…”

“Oh!  Because she’s full day and I’m half day?” 

I decided to go a different direction.  Why explain prejudice to somebody who doesn’t have it?

Basically, I told her that what we do is more important than what we look like.

“How we are on the inside, Mama?”

“Yep.”

2008 in review: a year of first sentences.

I stole this from Laurie.  🙂  The first sentence of the first post of each month.  Kind of a trippy trip.

January:  I didn’t make it to the New Year.

February:  So M-Day is scheduled for Monday February 11th.

March:  Got the results from the ultrasound of my thyroid.

April:  Much more fun to watch than ultimate frisbee!

May:  It’s hard coming up with catchy titles.

June:  YOU CAN ONLY TYPE ONE WORD!

July:  Dr. Horrible. 

August:  As you may remember, I am the pirate mommy!  

September:  This is the promo that my hometown newspaper ran for Stand Up to Cancer.

October:  Three years ago today, you came to us.

November:  I saw this recipe on my friend Sarah’s blog, Sprucehill, and I knew I would be making it.

December :  I had a very nice Thanksgiving.

Stop the inscanity!

Heh.  Maybe I should bleach my hair like Susan Powter (sp?)

So Wednesday, I went in for my first post cancer mammogram.  The Breast Care Center (same place I gushed about at diagnosis) recently had a makeover so not only was it filled with the lovely ladies I dealt with last year, but it was pretty too.  When I arrived, they gave me a heated gown (heated!) to put on and a pretty locker to put my stuff in.  I got my 2 standard mammograms and went to the waiting room to wait for the results.  There are two kinds of women who get their scans at the Breast Care Center, ones that have had cancer, and ones who might have cancer.  Needless to say, some of them are nervous (see me last year!)  One woman wanted to know what would happen next for her, so I assured her that whatever the outcome, the nurses would take very good care of her.  It was weird being the comforting patient this year.  I was about 20 years younger than everyone in the room but in some ways felt 20 years older.  So, me being me, made some jokes and everybody seemed to be feeling better, when the nurse came in and wanted to re-do my scans.  Heh.  So much for making them all feel better.  Anyway, so they brought me in and did the same 2 scans, this time with a dome underneath it that spread the tissue out more.  And a 90 degree squish.  And then back to the waiting room.  And then yet another view (not for the squeamish) where they twisted it to the left and THEN squished it.  And back to the waiting room.  And back for the twist to the right.   The poor nurse kept apologizing but I understand that nobody wants me to have cancer anymore and frankly, it was not nearly as bad as it sounds.  SO.  After 7 squishes, the radiologist declared Righty clear.

Huzzah!