Quite possibly the stupidest facebook status I've seen for a long time

Other than the one that insinuated that my kids were half breeds and anchor babies.

"Serious London? 6 inches of snow and the whole country is shut down. Nobody can get in or out of London. Brian and Liz are stuck there until Christmas Eve. No trains, no buses, no rental cars. Ridiculous. It happens to be winter all over the world people. Get a clue. God bless America! (And let us know if you have any transportation connections in London!)"

This is by the same woman I complained about a few years ago who didn't seem to understand how custom sewing seemed to work. Problems I have with this statement:

1) Europe is being hit with the STORM OF THE CENTURY. Meaning there hasn't been a storm this bad since before the Titanic sank. So London is supposed to buy a bunch of snow removal equipment that 99% of the time they won't use?

2) She seems to conveniently forget that it was just last week that the Salt Lake City airport was snowed in and no planes were going anywhere and people were being delayed 24 hours +.

3) When pointed out to her that snow plow patents are held here in the US for right-handed driving, and that if England bought snowplows, they were merely push the snow into the middle of the road, not really solving the problem. She responds that this is more proof of "how screwed up their country is." It has never occurred to this person that the reason they have traffic on the left side of the road dates back to Roman times when horseback riders on country roads would hold the reins in their left hand, leaving their right hand free to fight with their sword if necessary. Traffic on the left side of the road has been an English law since 1756, which is...I dunno...35 years before the US was even a country.

4) It is only winter in the Northern Hemisphere. For the Southern Hemisphere right now, it's a nice summery climate. Not only that, by snow only covers 45% of the land mass of the Northern Hemisphere, which is only 40% landmass anyway, so snow only falls in 20% of the Northern Hemisphere. So it seems like most people don't have to "get a clue" because, well, it just doesn't happen.

5) Parts of the US shut down too. My sister in law blogged about how the school district canceled school on the mere THREAT of snow. The streets in Seattle can't be plowed because they have mental dots on the road that hit the snow plow, so they just pack the snow down and enjoy a game of car hockey.

6) This is my favourite part: What does America even have anything to do with it? I know that this is a difficult concept for people around here to grasp, but hyper-patriotic statements don't take place of logical arguments. Saying God bless America is nice and all, but since it doesn't pertain to the argument at hand, let's just leave it out, 'k?

Besides, England gives us great comedies like this (warning contains language and hilarity):

I got this today.

It's freaking awesome. See ya, AT&T and crappy Mythic.

The list that never gets an shorter

Sewing projects to finish:

Liam's blanket
Alana's blanket
Gwyn's present (5 months late-Sorry Gwyn!)
Sam's jacket (also 5 months late-eep!)
Red patchwork dress

To do:

Justin's vest
Alana's crib covers
Open cardi
Jason's Regency costume


Projects that I keep meaning to do and probably never will:

Alana's crib bumpers 
Blue dress
Red dress

Busyness and Christmas Crack

Sorry for the non-posting. I've been unbelievably busy. I have:

-Survived the Thanksgiving housecleaning, shopping, cooking, eating and leftovers. Thankfully (HA!), Justin's wicked stepsister decided not to come, making dinner actually a pleasant experience.
-Survived shopping and decorating for the ward Christmas Breakfast (I was on the activities committee) and made 8 dozen caramel pecan rolls (recipe is on the sidebar).
-Crocheted 5 hats for Justin's cousin (she's in the oncology ward), 1 for Alana and 1 for me.
-Finished Mindy's scarf (can I get a picture of that? I forgot to get one before I posted it)
-Knitted scarves for Liam and Alana. Alana loves her and Liam hates his.
-Finished Christmas shopping for all my siblings and their brood. Thank goodness for Costco.
-Half finished Christmas shopping for Justin and the kids.

So on to the fun stuff. I've heard of this recipe and I needed a quick treat for an event, so decided to give it a shot. It's great because it uses stuff most people keep in their pantry. I used a half sheet pan, so it ended up being a little thinner. I'd do it in a regular cookie sheet or double the recipe. It's called Christmas Crack for two reasons. One is that you "crack" it like toffee and the other is that it's very addictive like, well, crack.

Christmas Crack


About 1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar (dark brown apparently does make a lot of difference, we made it with light brown and it was still good)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans


1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C)


2) Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and line saltine crackers in single layer


3) In a saucepan combine the sugar and the butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes (Do not stir). Immediately pour over saltines and spread t cover crackers completely.


4) Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts. Cool completely and break into pieces. (We threw it into the freezer to cool it down faster. Took about an hour)

Other ideas I had for variations:

-Substitute saltines with 2 cups crushed pretzels mixed with 1 cup melted butter.
-Melt the chocolate in advance and mix a some creamy peanut butter in.
-Use butterscotch chips instead of or in addition to the semi sweet
-Use mint chocolate chips
-Substitute peanuts, cashews, almonds, etc for the nuts.

I heart David Yates

Last Friday, Justin played hooky from work, we dumped the kids in daycare, and then went for sushi and Harry Potter. It was fun and we had a great time.

I also have to say that the Harry Potter movie was FANTASTIC. The scene with the radio was the best impromptu dance scene since Witness. It said really close to the book where it counted, and where it deviated there were usually a good reason. Some things bugged me (spoiler: they were supposed to kill Wormtail!!) but I think that it's competing against Azakaban as my second favourite.



So I'm not really fond of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore because I think it's very evident he's never read the book or has any idea what is going on. However, this clip from Top Gear is the FUNNIEST thing ever. (By the way, Top Gear is easily the best car show ever.)

I think I just had a nerd overload

Guy who has way too much time on his hands

But still pretty awesome.

http://www.fancyfastfood.com/

Cults or Yet Another Conversation with Justin

After mocking Boy Scouts and comparing them to a cult, especially the jamborees:




Justin: So you don't belong to any cults? Like Mormon Mommy Bloggers? Actually more like the Anti-Mormon Mommy Bloggers.

Me: That's like putting a bunch of anarchists together and telling them to organize.

Justin (thinking): Cults you belong to.....

Me: I belong to a cult. It's called Relief Society.

Little princess

 Or things I've been working on while I should have been getting real stuff done.

Alana's Christmas dress

She'd thrown the ball down the stairs.

If you're interested

I finally got around to updating my other blog:

http://theknockedoffcloset.blogspot.com/

Heaven-Raspberry cupcakes

A local bakery (which shall rename nameless because I don't know how crazy their lawyers are) has the BEST cupcakes on Earth. I'm not a huge sweets person, but these cupcakes are AMAZING. They consist of a pound cupcake, dipped in white chocolate, with a raspberry filling, then a cream cheese frosting, topped with a raspberry lemon whipped frosting. Since I don't have unlimited funds to spend on $2.00 cupcakes, this is my knock off recipe:

1 mix Betty Crocker pound cake mix plus all ingredients on back of box

1 package white chocolate chips
1-2 Tbsps shortening

1 10 oz jar seedless raspberry jam

1 8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
Zest of 2 lemons and juiced (approximately 1/2 cup lemon juice), divided
1 lb powdered sugar

1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp sugar

Raspberry and lemons slices for garnish

1. Mix cake mix according to instructions. Pour into 18 lined standard cupcake tins. Bake 11-18 minutes at 350 F or until lightly golden. Cool.

2. Melt white chocolate and shortening in microwave, being careful to avoid any water, until smooth. Dip bottom half of cupcakes in white chocolate and set on parchment lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate to harden.

3. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Add half the lemon zest and all the juice, beat until mixed. Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time until completely mixed. If necessary to thin, add a little milk or lemon juice.

4. Beat whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in 1/2 c seedless raspberry jam and remaining lemon zest.

5. Warm remaining raspberry jam for 15 seconds in microwave, or until jam easily drips off a spoon.

Filling cupcakes can be done a variety of ways. Most common is the cone method, because it doesn't require anything but a knife. However, the thing that I found most helpful?:

That's right, a poultry baster syringe. Completely useless for poultry, but I found it's GREAT for filling cupcakes.

6. Using whatever method, you prefer, fill cupcakes with raspberry jam, approximately 1 tsp.

7. Spread cream cheese frosting over top, taking care to "seal" in filling.

8. Spoon whipped topping into pastry bag with star tip and swirl frosting onto cupcakes. Garnish with raspberries and lemons.

The result:

Lovely gooey raspberry center.

There you go. For approximately $6, you can make 18 lovely cupcakes that would normally cost $32 plus tax. Not necessarily the easiest, nor cleanest, recipe in the world, but soooooo worth it.

Proof

We only made it to about six houses for Trick or Treating. It was pouring when we left, and then it started to HAIL. Luckily, I had the foresight to put the kids into the wagon, so they were covered for the majority of the time we were out. I lost Alana's hat on the way out and had to find on the way back too. Anyway, here is proof that Alana's hair is VERY curly (this is after we got caught in the rain):

Ignore the snot. It seems like my kids are never not sick.

Halloween pics

 The best pictures I could get. Enjoy the blank expressions on my kids's faces.

Apparently, Liam was a vampire gangster

The kids's total confusion after the first Trick or Treaters left.

HA! Try stealing my pumpkins now!

We didn't carve pumpkins this year. We didn't carve pumpkins last year, nor the year before that. You want to know why? Because stupid teenagers in this neighbourhood steal the pumpkins and throw them at the mailbox. I'm so tempted to do this (click on it to enlarge):

I'm not fond of Halloween. But it does mark the beginning to some of my favourite holidays: Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Kind of Cool.

I wonder what Utah is going to be. Can you make right wing xenophobes and bad air into a dress?

http://stateofdress.blogspot.com/

Gak.

Every time I search for True Blood or the Southern Vampire Mysteries on Amazon, it keeps telling me I might like Eclipse. Um, no.

Facebook also keeps telling me I should like Glenn Beck because I live in Utah. Ugh. NO.

I'm about to have a freak out:

I have no other place to write this down

So feel free to ignore it.

Sewing projects to finish:

Sew buttons on Liam's vest
Add another growing stripe to Alana's dress
Nikki's ren dress
Gwyn's present (3 months late-Sorry Gwyn!)
Sam's jacket (also 3 months late-eep!)
patchwork dress
Button and buttonhole on Alana's dress coat

To do:

Alana's peasant blouse
Justin's vest
Alana's crib covers
Mindy's present
open cardi
Liam's costume

Projects that I keep meaning to do and probably never will:

Alana's crib bumpers (yeah, she's 18 months; what's your point?!?)
Rail covers (she chews on EVERYTHING)
Blue dress
Elmo blanket
Coverlet for Liam's bed

Anagram

I was playing around with an anagram generator, and after a few names I couldn't help wonder if the creator was a Democrat:


Barack Hussein Obama II: OH! I AM A BRAINSICK ABUSE


George Walker Bush: BLUSH, WAR GEEK OGRE


Keith Theodore Olbermann: BLANKET TIME-HONORED HERO


Glenn Lee Beck: CELL 'N' KEEN BEG


Sarah Louise Palin: LUSH PARANOIA LIES


Anderson Cooper: COARSENED PORNO


Michele Marie Bachmann: MENACE, CHAMBERLAIN HIM


But then I got to Joseph Robinette Biden Jr's:


SHEEP JOINT INTERBRED JOB






Other notable ones:


David William Donald Cameron: I AM LOW-MINDED, CORDIAL VANDAL


Kim Jong Ill: MIL JOKING


Golda Meir: E.G. I AM LORD


Felipe Calderon: DEPLORE IF CLEAN


Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy: UNHAPPILY RANSACKS ZEALOTS


Shimon Peres: POSERISH MEN

Things happening here

We all had food poisoning for all of the last week. It sucked. I'm still not over it either.

I bought Alana a petticoat. Justin is mocking me mercilessly.

Last Friday, it was 90 degrees. This Friday is supposed to be 62. Welcome to Utah and its schizophrenic weather.

I noticed both the kids didn't have coats, so I went shopping on Saturday. Yikes, it's expensive to outfit two kids.

I discovered Bulfinch's Mythology is a good companion book to the Harry Potter series.

Liam may not be able to talk, but he knows how to click and drag on my computer, close Windows, and pause the DVR. Oops.

Stolen unabashedly from Di's blog

With her permission, of course. Photography done by Djamila Grossman.

This is the wedding dress I did for my friend Di. Aren't she and her hubby adorable?

Liam the mute

Well, not quite mute. Just a little less talkative than other people.

I took Liam to a speech therapist today. I've been worried about his speech delays for about a year now, but I decided I wouldn't do anything about it until he turned three. Based on what I was reading, speech therapy doesn't do too much good before then because it could just be personality/comprehension problems. He took a while to warm up to the SLP. She started to play with him, and eventually Liam decided that she was okay. Sometimes a meanie when she would insist that he name something before she would give it to him.

The verdict? Liam is in the less than 1 percentile for his age. Yup, you read that right. The only way he could be worse was if he was completely mute. No, not really, but I feel like a complete failure as a mom right now. The SLP said that there were a lot of contributors. First is that we're trying to teach him Korean at the same time. Second is that he's male and a first child. Third is that his captive audience is only 18 months old and not much of a talker herself. Also apparently when I talk to Liam, I have a tendency to ask a lot of yes or no questions, which means he not having to express himself verbally other than monosyllabic words. The SLP also said that she didn't expect that 1 percentile to be completely accurate because it took a full 20 minutes before Liam said ANYTHING. Hard to access someone's expressive ability when they don't talk. She also said that Liam is also obviously very bright, sweet, helpful (he kept putting the toys away when he was done), and curious. He's just not much of a talker, but hopefully the next 4-5 months will show some real improvement before we move into the next set of goals.

Fascinating

I love anything that has to do with the Titanic (including the movie, but mostly for the costumes. Don't hold it against me.)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8016751/The-truth-about-the-sinking-of-the-Titanic.html

Thanks Di!

Random Alana pics

I found this horse in the classifieds for next to nothing. We gave it to Liam for a birthday present. Fortunately, he was willing to share with Alana, which is good because it's now become her favourite toy. Incidentally, we've named it Epona. Our incurable geekiness strikes again.

Alana loves hats. This was her attempt to put it on herself.

Alana showing off her pettiskirt.

Too cute to keep until October

This is 3 years old

I can't believe it either.

I wish I was this brave

I'm a pretty eccentric Sunday dresser. My ward is used to me showing up in skirts with long trains, mermaid sheath dresses, and other weird formal dresses. I saw this picture a few years ago from the 2007 Vogue shoot in Africa with Keira Knightley. It's lovely skirt by Peter Som (one of my fav designers). I wish I was brave enough to copy it and wear it to church:

To see the rest of the shoot go here: http://www.vogue.com/feature/052207VFEA/. I also loved the Marc Jacob ruffled dress and the shirtdress.

New Sushi Cat game!

http://games.yahoo.com/game/sushi-cat-the-honeymoon

Dress a day

Pretty cool.

http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/

I'm in love.

see more My Food Looks Funny

Full of that life affirming crap I usually avoid

I've had a bad couple of days. The kids have been fighting, it's been hot, and worst of all: nothing I cook seems to be turning out right.

Yesterday, I tried to make cold oven pound cake cupcakes (you don't pre-heat the oven; that's the cold oven bit). They were an unmitigated disaster. After an hour, they were still raw, they'd over flowed the liners, and they had collapsed in the middle. The pot roast I made was good, except I forgot the carrots until we were supposed to be sitting down, and I forgot to put the rolls out to rise, so they never made it into the oven.

Today, I decided after the failed cupcake attempt yesterday, I'd make lemon almond curd cupcakes to make myself feel better. The cupcakes turned out fine. They were the last thing to cooperate today. The lemon curd wouldn't thicken (fortunately this was fixable by throwing back on the stove, twice, and then into the freezer), and the buttercream dried out while I was trying to get the curd to work. Then the potato salad got made in stages, but I either kept forgetting what I needed to do and would have to put everything on hold while I boiled the eggs, chopped the onion, tried to find pickles, etc. Then the piece de resistance? I singed off my right eyelashes and part of my eyebrow while trying to light the grill to start dinner since Justin was late. I was lucky my hair didn't catch on fire.

So where does the life affirming stuff come in? I was thinking about the Persian rugs my mom used to buy. She told me the rugs would contain imperfections, sometimes put there on purpose by the weavers because only Allah could make something perfect. I used to lay on the rugs, studying them to find the "mistakes" in each one. I found at least one in most of them. They were still beautiful and priceless, despite the imperfections. So there you go, ladies and gentlemen. The past couple of days have just simply been my Persian rug. I'm off to eat a lemon curd cupcake and ponder the universe.

Bait and switch

If you're ever at our house and you pick up Alana and she puts her nose up by your face, that means she wants you to kiss it. But don't be surprised when she punches you in the eye immediately afterwards.

To Justin

Stop whistling the Lost Woods theme from Legend of Zelda, or it will be stuck in my head forever and I won't sleep and then I'll get cranky and homicidal and have to bury your body in my parents's backyard.

-Miranda

Bite me

I used to worry about protecting Alana from Liam. Now I'm REALLY worried about how to protect the rest of us from Alana. Justin pointed out a strange mark on Liam's arm that we realized was a bite mark with 8 teeth. I've now got a couple of divots on my hand from when I took Alana out of the kiddie pool and she did NOT want to get out. How the heck do you deal with a biter?

#Shakespalin

If you haven't heard about this, read this article, then go to twitter and search #Shakespalin.

My contributions:

"The course of campaigning never did run smooth."

"Now is the election year of our discontent,
Made glorious summer by this daughter of Idaho;
And all the clouds (of oil) that low'r'd upon our gulf,
A Cap in the deep bosom of the ocean buried."

"All that tweets is not English."

"Get thee to a Governorship, why would'st thou be a breeder of Tea partiers?"

"Thrift, thrift, Obama, the stimulus package did coldly furnish forth Cash for Clunkers."

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the incumbents."

"What's in a name? That which we call a Moderate by any other name would still be too liberal."

"More relative than this-the race's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the electorate of a King."

"A plague a' both your houses-Senate and Representative that is."

"Something's rotten in the state of DC." (Too easy?)

"Why then the world's mine oyster, especially at $75,000 a speech."

"How now? A leak? Drill, baby, drill!"

"I say put money in thy purse. It cannot be long that Sarah should continue her love to the rallies-put money in thy purse-You betcha."

I'm having waaaaaaaay too much fun with this. My name is Miranda after all. I'm sure I'll add more as inspiration comes to me.

Awesome! I'll take it!

This website is pretty awesome. You enter some text that you've written, and it tells what author you write like. It has a pretty extensive list of authors too.

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Motivation

Does anyone have some that I can borrow?

While we were in Oregon:

The kids reminded me what water babies they are by trying to jump into every body of water they came across, including the ocean.

Their eczema immediately cleared up.

Liam's diaper rash went away.

I stopped coughing and sneezing (it's official-I'm allergic to Utah).

I stopped speeding (quite so much).

Alana's hair got curlier.

Justin stopped mentioning work every two minutes.

Can I just say that I sooooooooooooo do not want to be back in Utah?

Funny moment with my kids

It's been a while since I've blogged about them, huh? Sorry Mom and Dad! We're getting lots of pictures on our trip I promise.

Today Alana was starting to fuss to pick her up when she saw me (she's been really fussy on this trip). Liam was eating cheerios from a ziploc on the couch next to her. He glared at her when she started to scream, took a handful of cereal and stuffed it into her open mouth. She looked very surprised but ate it quietly. Yay, way to deal with the situation, Liam.

Shame on you

Shame on you if you are racist.

Shame on you if you advocate the "hunting down" of illegal immigrants.

Shame on you if you don't realize that these are people too.

Shame on you if you have ever called Latinos by derogatory names, including "animals".

Shame on you if you think you're better than them.

Shame on you.

Totally awesome

Hmmmmm

Today is Justin's birthday. Happy birthday!

Today is also the Primaries around here. I did not vote. Since the best that was offered to me around here was Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater, both of whom make Bob Bennett look like Chairman Mao, I didn't care. In 10 months I will hopefully be moving and leaving you to your fate, Utah.

On a lighter note, this website is hilarious.

Dear Glee (contains spoilers)

You had such a good thing going. You really had my attention and love. And then you had to pull that adoption crap at the end of the finale and now I'm pissed.

Rachel is only supposed to be 15. She's still a child. So when she says that she needs her mom, it's poignant. When her mom says that she doesn't want a relationship because "Rachel is too old" and then she adopts Quinn's baby, I get more than a little irked. Children do not have an expiration date. Children will always bond with their parents if the parents will exert a little effort. Thank you for perpetuating the social idea that only babies are worth the effort. Kids in foster care and older children will remain there because adoptive parents will only want infants.

I will continue to watch next season, but if you pull the same crap again, I will be forced to hunt down Ryan Murphy.

Sincerely,
Miranda

Another conversation with Justin

While watching the Big Bang Theory episode when Sheldon tries to condition responses in Penny:

Justin: "You really ARE Sheldon, aren't you?" [This is said often in our household, sometimes multiple times a day]

Me: "So?"

Justin: "So what conditioning have you done on me? What have been my rewards?"

Me: "I use positive reinforcement on the kids. I only use negative reinforcements or punishments on you."

Justin: "Great. You're Sheldon with a sadistic streak."

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. I am Sheldon with a sadistic streak.

Anniversary

Happy 6th Anniversary to hubby. You're still the one I'd fight zombies with!

NOT a bitter blog post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/25/AR2010052504396.html

So THAT'S how I became a Socialist

Ken just sent this to me thinking it would it make a good "bitter blog post":

http://heraldextra.com/news/local/education/article_7bccc151-cb34-5dd2-ae52-fab607b81b17.html

Screw you, Death Eaters....I mean Jan Brewer!

This is all I have to say on the whole Arizona immigration thing: I know two people who wanted to round up and tag people who were different. The Nazis and Voldemort. I refuse to carry around my passport (which 80% of Americans don't have) to prove that me and my kids are American citizens just because we're not white.

In sickness and in health

I've spent a good portion of this last week wishing I was dying. Liam started to get sick sometime last week and gave it to Alana. I thought the worst of it was over before we hit the weekend. Then I got REALLY sick on Sunday, Justin followed on Monday. We finally caved and took the whole family to the doctor on Tuesday. He looked at both the kids, told me both of their ears were looking inflamed (4 ears total) and prescribed amoxicillin. Justin got a drug that effectively numbed him from the nose down and I got codeine. Because I'm still nursing, they prescribed me.....a narcotic? Mostly, it didn't affect me badly except that I feel like my nose isn't attached to my face. Anyway, most everyone else is feeling better, I feel like my head and ears are about to explode. If it does, I'll do it over at my neighbour's who not-really-so-subtly told me she thought I needed to mow our lawn.

I'm sorry if anyone got it from me on Saturday!

Look how spoiled my kids are

Couple of weeks ago, I got it in to my head to count, clean and search for all my kids's toys. I told Justin to think of it as a census to find out what was missing. I threw all of them in to the study at which I was impressed by the MOUNTAIN:

That is all my kids's toys. No, not all OF my kids toys. There were several that are not pictured here like the kitchen and wagon. So what's missing: 1 train, 4 mini cars, 3 fish finger puppets, 5 animal finger puppets, and a bunch of duplos, and a V-tech baby blackberry. If I've been to your house recently and you've seen any of these, could you please call me? I managed to whittle the toys down about a third, which I will be donating to the Family Support Center in Salt Lake City. If you have anything you'd like to donate, please call me.

Dim Sum and New Moon mockage

On Saturday, I hosted a party/blogger meetup. It was fun. The attendees were Risa, Nikki, Shelly, Brooke and my new internet friend, Di. We stuffed ourselves with dim sum for dinner. If you don't know, dim sum literally translates to "little bit of heart" which sounds absolutely disgusting, but in reality just means little treats from leftovers in the kitchen. Afterwards, we watched New Moon without the rifftrax because we came up with plenty of our own witty diatribes. It convinced Nikki to never read the books, and Risa, the queen of corny terrible movies, to NEVER trust my bad movie night choices again.

Char siu bao, breading around pork filling

Pork potstickers, mandu, gyoza, whatever you want to call them

Scallion pancakes

Ha gow, shrimp and bamboo shoots

Hazelnut ravioli (recipe link on the right)

Not pictured: spring rolls

Mother's Day Cake

This weekend I did my first foray into fondant frosting. I made a cake for my mother-in-law.I used the marshmallow fondant recipe from Wilton. It was pretty easy. My neighbour suggested that since we live in a dry climate to only add half the powdered sugar and add the rest slowly. It worked out much better for me (thanks Jenny!). It was okay to eat; edible unlike real fondant, but I think I still indefinitely prefer cream cheese frosting. I had a little bit of trouble trimming the fondant off, which you can see at the bottom of the cake. I used the rest of the fondant to attempt cherry blossoms. I followed the tutorial off of this blog, but my flowers didn't end up looking very realistic. I ended up with my own type of stylized cherry blossoms, but I was still pleased.

Strawberry cream filling with sliced strawberries. 

Should have added more filling but was afraid the cake would slide around.

Internet games

I'm a sucker for arcade-type games. The thing is that I'm good at them. Tetris? I'm an expert. Zuma? I should be a some sort of hall of fame. Bejeweled? Bow to me, mortal!

So I found this funny game called Sushi Cat. It combines two awesome things, cats and sushi. I think it's hilarious to watch this gelatinous cat bounce around, going "nom". It's oddly addicting, but Justin now worries about my sense of humour.

Winner!

And the winner is Di! Email me so I can get it to you. I'll probably have giveaways in the future too, but I'm planning on selling these necklaces soon if you'd like one.

Giveaway!

I've been working with yo yo designs lately. It's been fun and a nice break from sewing. I've been making everything from scarves to evening wraps to jewelry. So as promised, here's the giveaway! It's a necklace and earring set. It's a silver taffeta with fresh water pearl accents. The necklace is 21 inches long. Both the necklace and earrings are lead and nickel free. Perfect for work, evenings out, or Mother's day is coming up!

Close up of necklace

Close up of earrings

So to get a chance at winning the set, you have to leave a comment with your name and blog address, unless I already read your blog, then just leave a comment. I'm always looking for new blogs to read! Private blogs are not eligible unless I have an invite-I actually want to READ these blogs. I'm closing the contest next Saturday, May 1st, at midnight PST. I'll announce the winner the following Monday morning. Good luck!

If it wasn't in Utah and if it wasn't twice as much as we could afford....

Justin and I used to live right next to this house in the Avenues. It was GORGEOUS but run down. I used to walk by it everyday on my way home from work. Sometime in that year, someone bought it, spend over a half million renovating it, and then put it back on the market for $1.8M. Since then, the bottom fell out of the market, and it's been for sale ever since. I check on it occasionally because I thought it was such an awesome house. Today, I looked at it and found that the price had dropped to 560K. Sad. I felt bad for the owner because they are obviously going to lose a bunch of money on it. Someday I dream of owning an awesome house like this, but it will probably never happen.

If I sound bitter

It's just because I am.

I had one of those days. One of those Oh-my-hell-I-don't-want-to-be-Utah-anymore-and-it's-taking-all-my-strength-not-to-pack-up-the-kids-and-head-off-for-my-sister's days. And if she hadn't been gone this weekend, I just might have.

I could barely get up this morning. I didn't take the kids to their class like I was supposed to because I looked outside and there was snow. Crap. I've spent most of the day watching Sesame Street and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (one of those was when the kids were asleep, I'll let you guess which). Double crap. Luckily, tonight is a crock pot dinner and then I plan on vegging and contemplating how next month marks the beginning of the absolutely last year I have to spend here.

I just might have to give up

and buy new shoes. I hate shoe shopping. I didn't like it before I had kids and I absolutely HATE it now. Chasing two kids around Payless isn't my idea of a fun time. So below is all the shoes that I own and the reasons they need to be replaced (starting in the back with the boots, heading right and down)

Boots: I'm not much of a boot person, but I decided with the 40 feet of snow we get around here, I probably should have some. However, I decided this sometime in March one year, so I got like two choises. Still, keep.

Black buckles: These shoes don't fit; they have 3 inch heels which aren't really conducive to chasing two kids around, and I've had them since high school (seriously). Toss.

Black ankle boots: Don't fit, pain to tie them, and I've had them since jr. high. Seriously. Toss.

Brown: I actually love these shoes, but the backs are wearing out and I used to wear them to the lab that I worked in, so I don't want to think about all the bodily fluids they're probably covered in. Toss.

Red heels: I bought these because they were so ugly I loved them (they had these Grecian ties that wrapped up the leg; I cut them off). They are filthy and the silver liner is coming off. Still I think I'll keep them if I can fix that. Keep.

Black heels: I love these ones too, but the lining is coming off these too. I need to find some good glue. Keep.

Black flats: I've had these shoes also since high school. They are extremely comfortable since they're Keds, but you can see where I cut off the bows from the front, and they have holes in them. Toss.

Black heels: The only closed toed heels that I own. Keep even though they're kind of ugly and uncomfortable.

Black athletic: I love these shoes but they're really dirty. They're very comfortable and I can wear them most places, but not to church which is where I secretly do want to wear them. Keep even though it looks like I spilled flour on them.

Gold ballet flats: These shoes got my through my pregnancies. They are filthy. Toss.

Green athletic: I bought these because I loved the colour. They looked like melted pistachio ice cream. They are filthy, worn out, and don't go with anything. Toss.

So I'm left with a pair of knee boots; three pairs of heels, two of which need fixing, and a pair of black athletic shoes. Hmmmm, think it's time to go shopping.

It's straighter this time

This is the cake that I made for my neighbour's shower. It was a French vanilla with a almond-lemon curd filling and lemon buttercream frosting. It was very well recieved (I had two pieces leftover).

Stay tuned....

I know my posts have been sporadic and blase lately, but I'm working on some really cool stuff and I'll probably be having a giveaway in the next week or two, so keep checking in. New Doctor Who tonight!

Why is it

I can dust, sweep, vacuum, and then swiffer and Alana will STILL find old crackers on the floor? I swear that she caches them somewhere for time such as these.

Awesomest petition ever.

Go sign this petition. Unless you've never seen the Doctor Who episode "Fear Her". Then it won't make any sense to you, you'll think I'm a major geek and avoid eye contact at all cost if/whenever we meet. But sign it anyway. We don't want any holes punched in the universe, now do we? New Doctor Who on Saturday!

Well, it's official

Alana is walking. Pray for my sanity.

In which I ramble. A lot.

Yesterday was my birthday. I wasn't sure what do for a post because I wasn't exactly happy about turning 25. I told Justin that even though I was married and had two kids, at 25, I might just have to start being an adult.

As usual, it snowed on my birthday and as usual, I was sick. This year it's just a slight cold, not pneumonia like my 11th birthday.

It was a good day still. I went up to Faith's sister house where her mom and sister proceeded to stuff me full of soba noodles, dukk boki, and ho dukk. I also got lunch and show watching a Korean household. Then for dinner my mother in law took us out for Thai food. So instead of the bitter "I'm gettin' old" post, I've decided to re-introduce myself. I know there are a lot of new readers to this blog.

Hi. My name is Miranda. At least my English name. My name originally was Baek Song-Hwa, hence the blog address.

I'm married to Justin. It'll be six years next month. Yes, all you people that did that math, I was 19 when I got married. I was a child bride, what can I say? This is our wedding picture that I uploaded on our crappy scanner. I made my dress, so I'm proud of it. My mom made the veil, which was my favourite part. It was 2 1/2 yards of embroidered chiffon with a rolled ribbon edge. This picture was taken at the Brigham Young Academy (Provo Library).

I have two fat babies, Liam (2) and Alana (1). They are 18 months apart. I stay at home with them, and they most definitely are a handful. People assure me it gets easier, but I think it's all a collective lie, just like Santa Clause.

I live in Utah. I hate it. I hate everything from the politics to the weather. When I finally move, I'll miss a few people, most of whom plan on moving out of the state too, and Rhodes frozen rolls. I currently am sitting my parents's house because they're in Korea and won't be back until next year. When they come back, we plan on moving somewhere else. The UK would be my first choise with Seattle being a close second.

I'm from Korea originally. I was adopted by an American family when I was two, but we continued to live in Seoul for a while after that. Then we moved to Singapore where we lived for four years. I actually didn't move to the US until I was almost 12, and the only place I've live is in Utah, which might be why my idea of Americans is a little skewed.

I'm good at sewing, a decent cook, and a lousy photographer. I'm a liberal, a feminist, and a smart-ass. I'm also Mormon, but hate green jell-o and Twilight and hunting, so I'm likely to be excommunicated. I went to BYU and hated every minute. That's pretty much me in a nutshell, but feel free to ask me reasonable questions!