Brownies

I'm in this cooking group on facebook and someone posted a recipe called 'slutty brownies.' So, of course, being the foodie that I am, I just had to find the recipe. They're called slutty brownies because they're so easy and so sinfully delicious! LOL Here is how I made them...

18 1/4oz  box of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie mix
18oz box fudgy brownie mix
24 Peanut Butter stuffed Oreos

Preheat oven to 350. Spray parchment paper large enough to overlap 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Mix cookie mix according to package adding a tablespoon of water. Spread onto parchment paper in baking dish. Layer the oreos. Mix brownie mix according to package then pour over the oreos. Bake 45-50 minutes. Using parchment paper, transfer to wire rack to cool.

The original recipe called for baking in a 9x9 pan and cooking for 30 minutes. I began checking mine after 25 minutes since I was using a larger pan.

They turned out so yummy!!! There are two missing cause I shared some with my friend at my bank. LOL

New Year

So here it is a new year. Happy New Year!!!! I'm going to really try to make more of an effort to post more. I will post my year...or at least the last 6 months...in review in a few days. When I have more time without interuptions. Until then...

Wow I am the BIGGEST blogging slacker! LOL I can't believe anyone still reads my blog. So here goes....kids are out of school. It's hot as Hades. When school does start, I'll have a junior in high school, a 7th grader, 4th grader and 2nd grader. Where has the time gone? LOL

Again...no school.

So we got some more snow. Eh an inch maybe. And there's no school tomorrow. I guess it's okay because tomorrow is Jimmy's last day working in Nashville. Starts his new job on Monday....32 miles away! I can actually go visit him for lunch now! Woohoo!!!! LOL

Anywho, I'm in the mod for lasagna. I think I'll make lasagna this weekend. Yum!

Really??!!

We were watching AFV tonight and there was a clip of this guy being dared to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon. He couldn't do it, of course. LOL Well my boys got the big idea to try it for themselves. @@ Jimmy told them not to bother, they wouldn't be able to do it. Did they listen? Of course not. So, me being the Mommy that I am, I broke out the camera and put it in record mode. Jay went first. Nope couldn't swallow the cinnamon. Explosion of powder.

Now one would think seeing as how Jay couldn't do it, Justin would give up. Did he? Of course not! LOL Justin, however, had me laughing so hard my cheeks started hurting. He put in a spoonful of cinnamon. He worked so hard to swallow...could see it in his face. I think his face turned a little red before the powder came exploding out of his mouth. As I'm laughing and telling him to get some water, he grabs his cup of soda, tries taking a sip but instead hurls. Somehow the cinnamon didn't like the soda because foam started overflowing the top. Didn't stop Justin though. He held on to that cup and ran to the bathroom. Poor kid. LOL

We TOLD him NOT to try it. I guess some things, no matter how stupid, they have to learn on their own. LOL I love my kids...they make me laugh everyday. LOL

Oops!

I missed a post yesterday. My internet kept going out. Our phone is through the modem so I had to borrow my neighbor's cell phone to call the cable company. A technician came less than an hour later. He changed out the modem and got our internet and phone working again. But he called someone to do something on the outside line. They said as long as we had internet it would wait until Monday. The tech that was here was ticked about that. Apparently when they call someone to climb the pole or whatever, they're supposed to come asap. So he said if the internet went out again to call and raise hell. LOL I laughed and said I would try but since the phone is through the modem, I doubted I'd be able to call until tomorrow. LOL As of now, the internet is doing just fine. Oh and he threw in a battery for the modem so if the power goes out we still have at least 3 hours for the computer. Nice!

Accomplishments...

I have a couple of picky eaters. But they're not picky over the same things. Justin is my pickiest eater. The ONLY fruits Justin will eat are naval oranges and grapefruits. (Not so weird cause I like grapefruit also.) He will not any vegetables at all. He won't eat any pastas, no potatoes. Well he loves the sweet potatoes my mother-in-law makes on the Holidays. He will eat bacon, sausage, hamburgers, hot dogs, bologna, ham, and some types of chicken. The chicken has to be made certain ways. He won't eat white meat. It's rare I can get him to "like" something I've cooked enough to ask for more. The other day, I made french's onion baked chicken (thighs and legs.) I just knew he wouldn't want to eat it. Hello....onions! But he had a leg. And asked for more! He said, "Ok the next time you make legs, you have to do it like this!" Will do, my picky eater, will do.

Another meal I've made that he begs for now is pancakes...with my not so secret ingredient...bananas. LOL I was making pancakes one morning a few months ago. I had one lonely banana on it's last peel and had the idea to smash it up and mix it in the pancake mix. I also add vanilla extract and cinnamon to my mix. Well I hid that I added banana to the mix. Jackson knew and his 5 year old loud mouth had to tell everyone. I denied it and said we didn't have any bananas. LOL Justin inhaled his pancakes and asked for more. He said, "The next time you make pancakes, make them just like this!" I admitted there was banana in them and he said he didn't care! YAY! It took me forever to get him to eat french toast because of the egg. But once he saw me cook them and learned the egg is just a moisture and not an actual fried egg, he devours those too.

I tend to get excited when I can get my pickiest eater to beg for more or to make it again. LOL

No school again tomorrow.

Ok the prettiness of the snow has worn off. Make it melt so the kids can go back to school! LOL They are driving me c-r-a-z-y!!!! They want to go play in it, but "it's too coooooollllldddd!" So they have cabin fever. I can't take them anywhere because I do NOT drive in the snow. Especially when the roads are icy. Nope, not gonna do it. Jimmy went to work today after missing Monday and yesterday. I was a nervous wreck until he called me. By then, I'd put the kids to work. And I mean to work! LOL We cleaned the entire downstairs. Let me say, we live in a 5 br, 2 ba house with a living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry room. The only rooms upstairs are 2 bedrooms. So believe me when I say they were busy. Oh I helped. LOL I swept everything in piles for them to clean. And I did the laundry. Surprisingly, aside from the laundry, we were done by 1:00pm. It was a good day til we finished working. Then they started fighting. LOL

No school again...

It stopped snowing. But the snow is still there. The roads are icy. So there was no school today...and no school tomorrow. Jimmy missed work yesterday because of the snow. He tried going this morning. Got about 10 minutes down the road and turned back because he heard on the radio about all the pile ups from our town to his work. He works an hour and a half away. Well not for too much longer. Soon he'll be working about 32 miles away. YAY!

So there's no school tomorrow. The kids have cabin fever. We're not used to weather this cold so they only go out for a little bit at a time. They really need to go back to school so I can mop my floors! I can't keep them still enough to mop while they're home. LOL They've been home for almost 5 days straight. Tomorrow we are doing some major cleaning. The entire downstairs! (Laughs devious laugh! LOL) Wish me luck we get it done.

Snow day...

Got up this morning to 8 inches of snow. More than we've seen since we've lived here. Jimmy called in to work. Turns out Nashville only got about 3 inches of snow. LOL The boys had a blast playing in the snow. Korinne didn't play, she couldn't find her gloves and I wouldn't let her use mine. I was using them. LOL Here are a few pics from today. Here's Lizzie with a mohawk Jimmy and Jay gave her.

Jackson all red nosed getting ready to throw a snowball at Jimmy.

Brownie after we put her outside for a bit. Isn't she pretty? I wish I knew what kind of dog she is.

Justin and Jackson playing in the snow.

Justin getting ready to throw a snowball at Jay. LOL Jackson's eating snow. We warned him to stay away from the yellow snow. LOL

It's snowing!

It's snowing here. A LOT! The kids think they still have school in the morning. LOL We didn't tell them school was cancelled before we sent them to bed. Well Jay knows, but that's because I woke him up to give Brownie a flea bath so she could come inside. It doesn't look like Jimmy will be going to work in the morning. So YAY I get him home another day. LOL Here are a couple of pics we took. We've taken 22, but I didn't want to overload the blog. LOL

This one is our footprints after letting Brownie inside through the back door.

Jimmy took this one playing with the camera. I'm holding a flourescent flashlight above the camera. Looks like it's daytime, huh? This was taken 15 minutes ago. LOL

New job!!!

Not for me, of course. I'm quite happy being a SAHM. LOL I mean for Jimmy. Starting the 17th, he will be working in Florence, AL. This is excellent news, even though we live in TN. This new job is 32 miles south of where we live. The job he'll be leaving is 85 miles north of where we live. Know what this means???? I can go have lunch with Jimmy sometimes. The drive to Florence is a straight shot down the road. No confusing turns. No having to change roads. No Nashville!!! LOL To say I'm excited about this would probably be an understatement. LOL

I'll still have to go to Nashville for Jackson's specialist appointments. But I'll have a cousin take me. Cause I still refuse to drive to Nashville. Jimmy's says we'll work on that. He can work on it all he wants, I'm not driving to Nashville. LOL

This and That

I gave myself a headache today trying to answer interogatory questions from the defendant's attorney. Some of the questions were the same, just worded differently. Just an FYI, we were involved in a car accident almost 2 years ago...and the other driver's insurance company is finally responding to our attorney. @@ I finished my part today. Now I have to finish Jimmy's part this weekend. The hardest part is getting addresses for the witnesses we're listing.

Anyone know how I can change my settings here so that my blogs don't post for East coast anymore? I'm in central time now.

Jimmy has a meeting with the owner of a bodyshop in Florence...yes Al-a-freaking-bama! LOL We live about 45 minutes from this shop, which would be a hell of a lot better than him driving an hour and a half to Nashville. I've got my fingers, toes, and even legs crossed that this is a better opportunity for him.

First day back to school

Oh it was sooooo nice and quiet! I went back to bed as soon as the bus left. LOL I got some cleaning done, watched DOOL and the Food Network. Justin came home and made homemade Lemon muffins for a 4H contest tomorrow. He did everything by himself. Ok, I grated the lemon zest and supervised the oven usage. I haven't had one, but the other kids loved them.

Now Jimmy and I are attempting to answer questions the other attorney is requesting. Be nice if they ask them in laymen's terms. @@ That'd be too easy.

One more day...

The kids go back to school tomorrow! YAY! They've been driving me crazy! Honestly, I will miss them though.

So dinner tonight...oven fried chicken, homemade mac and cheese and corn on the cob. Makes me hungry just thinking about it. LOL

It's raining where I am. It's snowing where Jimmy's working (Nashville.) Better there than here. I do NOT like that white stuff. LOL

Dentist and haircuts

My cousin, Jennifer, is a dental hygenist down the road from where we live. She called this morning and said she had a no show and to bring a couple of kids in. So I left Jay in charge of Jax and took Justin and Korinne. Justin had no cavities. Korinne has two. Very small ones. Looks like they just started.

There are a lot of hair cutting places in the town I live in. But I prefer one in my in-laws little town. So I took the kids there today and got Jay's and Jackson's hair cut. Not that you can tell looking at Jay. He was quite adament that only half an inch be cut off. LOL Jackson however, I wanted more cut off. Now I can see his gorgeous eyes and his looooong eyelashes. Justin has an appointment Saturday for a haircut. I love this place because they're a small business and they don't charge as much as bigger places. Mainly because when I tell them only half an inch on Korinne, they only cut half an inch. LOL And they remember people. They remembered Jackson had surgery in February.

T minus two days!!! Back to school with them! I can't wait! I mopped yesterday and there's already something sticky on the living room floor. @@

Peaceful Day

My mother-in-law loves me! She called this morning and said instead of Justin spending the night tonight, she was sending my father-in-law to pick up all the kids for the day to give me a break. Lord knows I needed one! LOL I kept Korinne home though because she's been running a fever since last night.

FIL got here just before noon. Which was perfect because I'd already had the boys scrub the fridges. LOL After they left, I mopped the floors...they really needed it! Korinne and I lounged around watching the Pretty Little Liars marathon. I had about 6 hours of one on one time with my girl. Aside from her being sick, it was nice having a mother/daughter afternoon.

The boys apparently had a great time at my in-law's. I'm proud to report they were all good while over there. They played card games, shot the BB gun (with FIL supervising) and had pancakes for dinner. Jackson was so excited this morning when I told them they were spending the day with their grandparents. He hardly ever gets to go over there without Jimmy or me. As soon as he saw his Granddaddy park, he shot out the door screaming, "Ok let's go!" LOL

Korinne's fever seems to be going down. All in all, it was a good day...a good day.

Time for school yet?

The kids have been out of school since December 17. They finally go back on Thursday. Thank goodness! They have been driving me crazy! "I'm bored." "It's too cold outside." Blah blah blah!!! Ok I'm with them on the too cold outside. But I can and do find them things to do when I hear they're bored. LOL It took the boys almost 2 hours to clean the kitchen because they were playing and wasting time. So tomorrow, Jimmy said they have to do the floors. LOL I enjoy delegating chores. LOL I'd like to say I don't think they'll take that long in the kitchen again, but I know they will.

New Year, new start?

Happy New Year!!!

So, I've decided to get back into blogging. Or at least try to. I'm really going to make the effort to post a day for the year. I make no promises though.

So here I go. Thursday night, Jay spent the night at a friend's and stayed up all night playing video games. Last night around 6, he was sitting up on the couch, asleep. Seeing as how we all love playing jokes on each other, Jimmy and I decided it was Jay's turn. I'd thought of painting his face with the scarce make up I own. Instead, Jimmy got two of our stainless steel pots and came marching through the living room banging them. I really wish I'd had a camcorder because the look on Jay's face as he literally jumped off the couch was priceless!!! LMAO Maybe an hour later, Jay was again asleep on the couch. Jimmy woke him up and told him to brush his teeth and go to bed. Jay mumbles, "I'm not the one brushing my teeth." Again, Jimmy told him to brush his teeth and go to bed. Jay said, "I'm not the one bruthing my teef. Justin is." Yes he said bruthing and teef. LOL

Anyway, today was a great start to the new year. I'm hoping this year is much better than the past couple of years. :)

Ramblings...

I've been dealing with WIC off and on for 15 years now, whether it's me being pregnant or my kids being under age 5. Jax is the last one. He had WIC in SC with special provisions because of his mild allergies. Since being in TN, his WIC for over 6 months has been normal because his allergies have disappeared. Since he's been on WIC, we've gone to the same store and gotten the same items. The only variations have been cereal and juice.

This past Monday, I went to the same store and grabbed the same items as usual. The Cheerioes wouldn't ring up so the new cashier was told to override it. The cheese wouldn't ring up so they brought me different cheese. When I argued over it (because I have always gotten individually wrapped slice...which IS allowed on our WIC) they brought me another kind. After being there for 20 minutes, I said whatever and went home. When I got home I noticed the cheese I was told to get was imitation cheese. That is NOT allowed on WIC. I knew the food list had changed as of October 1st, so I went online and printed out the new list. Imitation cheese was still NOT allowed. Ok aside from them making me take imitation cheese, they did NOT check my signature on the voucher against my signature on the ID card. And when I brought up the whole imitation cheese thing they got an attitude with me. For once, I held my tongue. After all, had I shown my ass, they could have reported me and gotten Jackson's WIC revoked.

Instead, Tuesday, I called the regional director's office and filed a complaint. She agreed that if a store was able to file a complaint against me, I had the same right. She had me take pics of receipt with imitation cheese package on my digicam and email them to her. (I'd already taken pics on my phone to show WIC office at Jackson's appt on the 19th.) She immediately faxed the pics I sent to the store owner. He wanted me to bring in the imitation cheese and exchange it whether they were opened or not. She told me the regional office was going to send someone to the store to properly train them on how to do WIC items.

Having been using WIC for about 15 years, it shouldn't be MY job to tell these people how to do their job. But I'm happy with the outcome. I didn't want anyone to lose their job. I just wanted them to do their job with WIC the right way.

On another note, Jax had an appt this morning with the plastic surgeon. (We saw the neuro-surgeon in July and he wants Jax to have surgery to close the gaps in his skull before he starts school next year.) So we left the house about 8:30am...had to stop for gas and then a potty break for Jax. We were 25 minutes late...hospital is an hour and 30 minutes away. By the time we saw the dr and got home, it was 2:35pm! But the dr was very nice and apologetic cause he had been running later than we had. Because Jackson's last CT scan was over a year ago, he scheduled a new one. DH told me I'd have to start driving myself to Nashville for these appointments, cause it costs him money to take a day off. I was willing to try until I got the call back saying Jackson's CT scan was scheduled for 3pm...meaning I'd have to drive home during rush hour traffic! Yeah sorry, that's not gonna happen! I'm willing to try for his follow up visit with the plastic surgeon on 12/9, cause his appt is at 9:55....and I'll be home before traffic hits. I'm hoping I don't get lost and have a panic attack. LOL

So...the day of his CT scan, I'll ride in to work with DH, Jax and I will stroll around the mall until it's time to head to the hospital. I already asked if he'll have to wear a helmet again, but the dr said he won't have any specific answers for me until he gets the results from the CT scan. His surgery isn't even scheduled yet and I'm already stressing about it!