Recipe-o-THIS-day

Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies

ingredients:
2 pkg (8 oz squares each) Baker's Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 butter (1 stick)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups nuts (optional)

chop 1 pkg of chocolate squares. put to the side.

microwave remaining chocolate pieces. stir until smooth. add butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs. stir until blended. add flour and baking powder. add chocolate pieces and nuts.

scoop onto ungreased cookie sheet, bake for 12 minute. cool 1 minute in pan, then completely on wire racks. ENJOY!

divided chocolate


cookies onto sheet


cooling cookies


Cookie anyone?

Here leee-zar leee-zar!

Ok, so today I came home from picking up the kids from school to a surprise visitor.
After putting the baby down on the livingroom floor, placing the diaper bag and purse on the couch, and watching Raye and Ryann dash for their bedroom; I entered into the kitchen. I stopped in mid step when I saw a small reptile on the floor. I must have screamed pretty loudly because the baby began to cry and the kids came running out of their room. I immediately picked up the phone for help, since Clifton wasn't at home. The first person I called was our babysitter Mariah. She's fearless and also knows a lot about (uhh) animals. The last time this damn lizard tried to enter into the house, she was able to help catch it and release it into the yard.

This time, however, it made it into the house, through the livingroom and onto the kitchen floor. It then began to squirm over to the cabinets where I tried to block it's path to the computer area, but the damn thing then started to run towards the stove. At this time the calvary showed up to try and help, but the lizard made a mad dash under the stove, where it remains.

I called my husband and begged for him to come home. I called my property management supervisor to request a new screen/security door be installed (one that is lizard-proof) and finally I called emergency pest control (yes.... I went there). My boss laughed and authorized the gate purchase; Clif arrived home and began checking his fantasy football scores and our babysitter decided it would be fun to try and continue to make me jump out of my skin. When pest control showed up I was already leaving to take Ryann to softball/soccer practice. I rushed back home, after dropping her off at the field and the pest control "guy" assured me that he caught/released our small visitor and there was nothing to worry about. PHEW!

While cooking dinner/washing dishes, I had a funny feeling and decided to ask Clifton if the creature was really caught. He ran into the bedroom (trying to conceal his laughter) before coming back into the kitchen and confessing that 'No, it's still in there .' Apparently he and the ()*&)@%^&*%# pest control guy decided that it would be best for me to see the damn thing crawl from under the stove, or better yet for Christian to play with it while entertaining himself on the floor in the livingroom.

I just hope it doesn't make his/her way into our bedroom/bathroom/clothes/etc.
Where the hell is my slingshot when I need it?

Recipe-o-THIS-day

So, rain never stops me from doing anything (except going to the park).

Today's recipe is vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting (add crumbled pieces
of Golden Oreo cookies, for added flavor).
*I got the idea (not the recipe) from the cupcakequeen (see blogpage to the right---->)

You can just use a box cake mix to prepare the cupcakes, the true recipe of this post is for the "frosting".

2/3 c butter (still cold)
1 tsp vanilla
4 c confectioner's sugar
4-5 tsp of milk

Beat butter until creamy. Add vanilla. Add sugar 1 cup at a time
(your mixture will be all 'beady' once all of the sugar is added. Add
milk last (this will make it creamy again, I promise). Top cupcakes and
enjoy.

frosting


cookie crumbs


finsihed cupcakes (with cookie pieces inside and out)


frosted cupcakes ready to eat!

Rain, rain, go away...

...don't come back another day! (isn't this bad English?)

As much as I love the rain, I hate what it does to a freshly washed car. Damn... and I didn't even get a rain check (my.bad.)

So today was going to be filled with Raye's soccer game (at 12) and Ryann's double-header softball games (1 & 3). Both were cancelled due to the rain (yay!). You'd think that we all just lie around the house and relax right? Not when the night before we were swindled (sp?) into taking home 2 MORE KIDS to spend the night (I seriously have to work on saying "no").

We decide to hose the kids down in the front yard; get them all dressed and head to IHOP. After contemplating waiting for a "rooty tooty" for 30-45 minutes, we left the parking lot and drove over to CoCo's (hey, their wheat bread is pretty good).

Stomachs filled with food, the kids decided to play the WII while the adults crashed.
We had the 'ITIS'

Relaxing

After last week, I truly need a relaxing weekend. This weekend wasn't planned for relaxation but thanks to rained out fields (for both soccer and softball) that's what it is turning out to be.

- Monday I had my mandatory property supervisor's meeting, in Long Beach, from 6-9p. This after 3 different practices, cooking dinner, cleaning the house and filing papers away.

- Tuesday was more or less Monday in rewind. The only difference was that I didn't have a meeting, however I still didn't have any down time.

- Wednesday began and 6am. I had to attend court for a lady I was evicting from one of my building. Ms. P.C. (I'll leave her name out of it) first decided to file a response to the letter asking her to vacate the premises. She obtained an attorney from legal aid, who at first told me to drop the suit ($2000+ in past due rent/damages/etc), and allow her to leave quietly. When I declined the offer, they threatened with trial. I was fine with going to trial, since I knew all my paperwork was in a row. One week before trail, I received a call from my company's attorney telling me that legal aid has not been able to get in touch with P.C. I asked if whether I still needed to attend court, and was told that I did if we wanted to persue out money judgement.
So, I show up in court (bright and early) on time. The judge decided not to take the bench until 45 minutes after the start time, and where was my attorney (not to mention legal aid or P.C.)? My attorney came strolling in right around the time our case was going to be called (lucky buzzard). The case was defaulted and my company was awarded the judgement. All of this took nearly 3 hours of my time and a visitor decided to show up right around the time I was exiting the building.

- Thursday began right at around 6a (again). I was being honored at the Apartment Association annual ceremony for 'property manager/supervisor of the year for 101-250 units,' at the Queen Mary. Like all award ceremonies (that I've attended) the food was cold and unseasoned; the coffee was burned; service was horrible; and too many politicians trying to get you to vote for tehm. After the breakfast was the trade show. If you've ever worked a trade show, you know how grueling it can be.... well, that's exactly what it was, grueling.

- Friday was yet another day. Filled with handing out notices, picking up lock boxes, checking the mail to see if any of the past due rent was received, and getting my car washed (yes, I did). After picking up the kids and running home to see my husband (who came home from work early), I made an early dinner and then the family headed over the the kids' friend's house for a little electric football and karoke.

Look at this...

He's crawling.... YAY!
September 18, 2007 at 7:40pm.
Daddy was laying on the floor edging him on. We were there to see it for the very first time.

Curse that damn Fantasy Football

This is the second week in a row that I've lost against my matchup.
What hurts more is that my own husband beat me.
I think the FF gods have it in for all women.

Final score Lipstick Jocks 100; Two Hand Touch Chumps 109

Aw shucks! Looks who's trying to....

crawl!

Sunday/Monday recap

Sunday morning, after a FONDANT-crazy night, I decide to make my husband homemade buttermilk buscuits. I picked up the recipe from this site. They came out pretty good, but I think it needs more butter in the ingredients.

After indulging in the biscuits and blackberry preserves, we headed out to LBC to stop by one of my properties (I have 30). Once we were finished with the open house, we headed over to Belmont Shores to take a walk. While doing a little window shopping, we ran into a couple of participants of the Avon Breast Cancer walk who wanted to know, if we knew, where the street Claremont was. Why? They were going to check out "Frosted" a new cupcakery to the neighborhood. Well, I'm always ready to do a taste comparison, so we followed them to the SPOT! It's a small location (seriously small 1/2 size of Sprinkles) and the selection didn't take my breath away (I think I'm just loyal to the big "S"). I do have to say that their carrot cake cupcake was good, but their red velvet did not have anything on Sprinkles. It is also my opinion that their cupcakes were smaller in size, and what's with the cherry on top?

Afterwards we headed home to watch some football (already in progress) and to finally cut THE CAKE.
First as back up, I baked another cake... a homemade (completely from scratch) carrot cake. I picked up the recipe from this site. I sprinkled walnuts on top of the cake to add my own "flare". Both cakes were good.

Today was quite busy. Me and Chris was on the go visiting properties, making bank deposits, filling out forms, checking on vacancies and preparing for a monthly meeting.

I'm almost ready to brag that LIPSTICK JOCKS kicked the "other" teams butt. I'll wait for the official score tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.

Fatansy Football Sunday

Dun-dun-dun-dun! (the sound of the NFL music)

Ok, so this week (in our fantasy football league) me and Clif are going against each other in a match up. It's "Lipstick Jocks" vs. "Two Hand Touch Chumps" (I mean "Champs").
In honor of this match up, I baked a cake using fondant for the first time. It was a joint effort between both teams.
We began baking at 8:15p, and we finished just before midnight.
Now we're officially enemies until after Monday Night Football.
Wish me luck (he kicked butt last week; his score was 104; mine was 86)

Here are pics from the night...

Me working with the fondant. I already added green food coloring. Fondant = $6.99/lb at Michael's....


Here's the cake...


Clifton working his engineering magic (I seriously think a pizza cutter would have done the job quicker)...man does that table look a mess....



The finished cake... and the cooks that created it... Yay, team!

Self sufficient!

So Christian is now at the stage where we can sit him down (with a few toys of course) and just let him play. Which by the way come in handy when mommy needs to do the dishes ;)

Guess who this is?

Soccer season has begun

I suckered Clifton into being one of the assistant coaches for Raye's soccer season. It's Raye's first year playing and he actually did pretty good today; he stopped 2 goals.

Anyways, it's official... Clif is on the banner.

Shopping cart companion

So, we had to go the store to pick up a few items.
It's fatansy football weekend again (me against Big Daddy himself - Clifton)
Anyhoot, Clif has a new toy to keep him busy while mom shops for all the goodies.

Lucille's is yummy

Hanging out with D.A.D. is always fun.
First business, then napping, then LUCILLE'S.
We headed over there around 4p, just in enough time to beat the traffic.
First up, DRINKS (Grandma's Back Porch Strawberry Lemonade - which is altered by grandpa).
Then our favorite appetizer the Shanghai ribs; with lots of biscuits and apple butter. Our main course was just as good; I opted for the jambalaya and Clif had a whole slab of baby backs.
Boy, that's some good eatin'

OMG, this just can't be?

After reading a friends blog, I decided to take this test. I just knew that I couldn't beat her 67% addiction. I mean I'm too busy during the day to really blog like I want to.75%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Free Dating Site

What if I could blog the way I want to. Sheesh!

One more day until the weekend!

I'm all to excited. This week has been KILLER!
Monday, Raye had soccer practice.
Tuesday, Ryann had softball and soccer practice. She also had back-to-school night.
Wednesday, Raye had soccer practice. I also had to braid Ryann's hair.
Tonight it's Ryann's softball and soccer practice.
Friday...........NOTHING!

I can't even get into all of the things that I've had to do for work this week.

This weekend proves to be pretty hectic also, but hopefully with 1 day to rest
in between, I'll be ready to go.

Wish me luck.

Recipe-o-THIS-day

Ok, so I love Rachel Ray's new magazine. There is a section where she gives you 7 meals for 7 days, which I love because they're really simple and easy to follow. In last month's magazine she had a recipe for a bacon, sausage and cheese turnover (you know, just like an apple turnover). It looked great and I wanted to try it. I picked up some pastry sheets in the frozen foods section of the grocery store and all the other ingredients.

Well, my husband wanted a 'breakfast' breakfast and then a 'breakfast' dinner all in the same day, which led to me using up what I purchased for this new recipe.

I then just decided to make some good ol apple turnovers from scratch.

Recipe (serving 6)

4 apples (granny smith and/or delicious red)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp flour
2 tsp cinammon
1 tsp lemon juice
1 pkg (of a 2 pkg box) pastry sheets; THAWED (but still cold)

preheat oven to 400
core and peel apples (I cut apples in 1/2; then each half into 4 pcs; then cut those pcs in 1/2) sorry if confusing
place apples in bowl
add ingredients
mix up mixture (should look sugary); make sure to mix well
unfold 2 pastry sheets at a time; fold sheets in half
spoon mixture in middle
brush butter on edge (glue)
fold over sheets; form a triangle
brush butter over top; cut off access
fork edges; cut a slit in the top

bake for 17-20 min, or until brown.

Week 1 Fantasy Football score

Ok, so I wasn't smart enough to pick a team who will be playing in Monday Nights 49er vs. Cardinals game, therefore I can tell you what my score is for week 1.
I was matched up against "ICEMAN" from my league, and the final score was 86-101; I lost. I was ahead in the first quarter of the game by 5. I thought I could just sit back and coast into a victory, and then T.O. (Terrell Owens) showed up to play. He ran up some yards and had a couple of touch downs.

T.O. took my victory

The way Fantasy Football works is you get to pick (in a draft) a certain number of NFL players to play on your 'fantasy' team (kind of like a dream team of players). Anyhoot, every week your team matches up against another team in your league (a group of friends/family that wanted to all play against each other). Your team gets points based on the results of the players you chose to be on your team (i.e. T.O. gets 1 pt per every 10 yards he runs; 6 pts for every touch down). My opponent, Iceman, had T.O. on his team, and therefore got all the points that T.O. got for his work.

Yesterday's DOUBLE header

So on Sunday Ryann had her 1st games of the Winterball season. She played to softball games in the blaring sun. The first game time was 1:00pm against Rancho Palos Verdes. There was no shade anywhere on the field, and the parents definitely felt the heat. Some of the girls on our team said they looked like a pack of Skittles in the outfield. There team had on mix-match jerseys (they just used the jerseys they wore during rec ball).
We lost the first game 2-1.

The second game began at 3:00pm.
We won the last game 8-3.

Yay Team!

Today's TRIPLE headers

So if you haven't already voted in my weekly question (see below column to the right) my weekend began like this:

2:00 am - bedtime (checking the blog, updating fantasy football pics, etc.)

9:00 am - wake up and begin breakfast (I also got uniforms ready for games)

10:45 am - leave the house for the first game

11:00 am - Raye's LAST (Gardena YMCA) basketball game begins.
We won 3-2; our season's record was 5-3 (that may not sound like much, but it was a good season)

12:00 pm - Raye game ends; and the after effects of Korean BBQ begins (don't ask)

1:00 pm - Ryann's 'scheduled' LAST (Gardena YMCA) basketball games begins.
We lost this game 26-17; our record at that moment was 7-2. We played this traveling team that has played together for 2 years. They gave us our only 2 losses.

2:00 pm - hop in the car to head over to Westchester YMCA to play Ryann's 'actual' LAST (Gardena YMCA) basketball game. Their team wanted to play our team.

3:00 pm - GAME TIME! We win this game 31-14; which improves are overall standings to 8-2.

I'm very proud of both Ryann and Raye for this season of b-ball.

Blogger's 'word verification' BITES!

Ok, it's like 1:50am in the morning.
I shouldn't be up (but I am).
I can hardly see (because I'm constantly rubbing my eyes)
I want to answer some posts (that my compadres have left on their blogs)

and what do I have to deal with???

Blogger's WORD VERIFICATION. I mean, maybe it wouldn't be so hard if the letters didn't run into each other and make it look like a "t" instead of a "f"

O Boy, now I know I'm ti-red.

Fantasy football huh?

So Clif asked me to join this fantasy football league with a few family and friends. Why not? I love football. I know football. Plus it'll be a way to sit and enjoy some time with Clif during the games.
Now you'd think that for a first timer (a virgin you might say) of the whole "fantasy football" fiasco, my hubby would sit me down and properly explain all that I may need to know (to be competitive that is). Well, you'd (and I'd) be wrong. Instead he explains it all to a neighbor (who has joined the league) to get him better situated.
Wish me luck. If you want to check out my stats, click here.... I'm the LIPSTICK JOCKS!
Hey, I had to think of something creative and a name that would inform whoever that I'm a LADY!
Fantasy footbal '07, here I come.

Korean BBQ night

So the fam-bam headed over to the Yellow Cow restaurant (where everyone knows our name) for some good old fashion Korean BBQ. Good food, drinks and conversation. It was a good Friday night. I have to say that I'm very proud of my mom and Ryann for trying out new dishes. Ryann has been to this type restaurant, whereas my mom hasn't.

Oh yeah, so the crazy looking lady in the photo is my mother. She hates taking pictures and will do whatever she has to to make a lasting impression (gotta love her)

Long night

You know you are tired when you sleep like this...

dmv workers suck as-pirins

Had to pick up the car registration for "X" (short for Xterra) today. Can I just say that I truly hate going to DMV? I mean, even with an appointment (of which I did not have) that process takes forever. Then have the nerve to tell you the wait times at other facilities as if to say, "Hey stupid? If you'd drove to XYZ your wait time would have only been 1 minute; but your dumb as-pirin chose this location of WAIT until we're done talking."

How much do those workers get paid anyway?

hot.damn.

This blog message comes to you at the beginning of yet another HOT ASS-EDED day in Southern California. I know that summer days are supposed to be filled with warm rays of sunshine, refreshing dips in a pool and a tall glass of ice cold lemonade.... BUT DAMN! Can a sista get a 5 minute break? This past week has been ri-dic-u-lous. Triple digit weather, rolling black outs (no electricity to run the a/c) and drinks that are not that cold once they come out of the frig.

Weekend Recap:
Friday - me and Chris just hung out with daddy (after not getting out of the house until after 3:30p) We went shopping for Ryann's 10th birthday (9/1)

Saturday - we hosted a huge breakfast spread with two of our neighboring families. The spread included: pancakes, eggs (w/onions, bell peppers and sundried tomatoes), biscuits, potatos (w/onions and peppers), bacon, veggie sausage, o.j. (for the kiddies) and mimosas (for those over 18+)

Sunday - Clif bought me some new "chonies" from GAP. They were having a sale and we were so obliged. *funny story, Clif was SURPRISE at the prices of bras!* I'm sure he won't be telling me to 'just go and buy 5 or 6 since you want some' anymore :(

Monday (Labor Day) - no B-B-Q for us. We headed over to my SIL house where grandma and grandpa were there to play with the little ones. CPK was our food of choice, however after waiting 25 minutes to only receive 3 out of the 5 entrees; another 15 to receive 1 other one; we decided we didn't want the last dish (poor grandma); paid the bill and WAS OUT!

Recipe-o-THIS-day

Ok, so since I'm going full steam with my bloggin' again, I've decided to give various recipes, periodically, for you all to enjoy. Here's my choice for today.

Vodka Gimlet (compliments of webtender.com)

1 oz. lime juice
1 1/2 oz vodka (your choice)
1 tsp. powdered sugar

Stir w/ice. Strain. Serve and enjoy.

Tequila Rose = G-o-o-d!

It seriously tastes like strawberry milkshake.
Check it out, it's in a black bottle.

Stylin' and profilin'

That's my boy!

Who's cheeks are fatter?

Chris or Clifton's?