I have been casually “called out” by my Dad about my lack of updates on the blog.  He commented last week that if I did not start writing more, he was going to permanently boycott Teenie Tidbits and never read it again.  I guess when you live in the north woods with no signs of life with the exception of a herd of deer that visit your yard nightly to feast on the corn you leave for them, you get hungry for a little entertainment!  So this update is for my Dad….

I was laid off from my job last week.  Don’t go feeling sad and sorry for me just yet.  I have actually enjoyed the first week so much, my husband is a little concerned that I may never work again.  Although that may have something to do with me skipping through the house in the morning, shouting “I don’t have to work today, I don’t have to work today…”  I have kept my house insanely clean, all of the laundry has been done each day (much to Mr. T.’s dismay) and I have enjoyed several long walks along the lake front with my best friend, Dewey.  I have even added to my cupcake recipes, had lunch with a Julie, had dinner with another Julie and scored my highest score yet on Bejeweled!  All in all, a very productive week! My friend Julie invited me out on Tuesday night for dinner and drinks.  She has obviously been reading my blog because it did not take her long to suggest Ron’s Place for a Pom-Pom tea and a 5 x 5!  Count me in!  We had a great time and I think we both realized that we need to do this more often.  She suggested maybe a Tuesday Night tea club?  Sounds good to me.

I have always wanted to be a Desperate Housewife but financially we have never been able to swing it.  When you are forced to make it work, somehow you can.  Once I got through all of the complicated unemployment gibberish, I started to find other ways to cut back on our monthly expenses.  We are going to be just fine. 

This past week, I helped Jordan and his buddy build a volcano for social studies.  We actually finished it about a week before it is due, which is a huge accomplishment in itself.  It turned out really good, and the boys are looking forward to “blowing” it up on Monday in class.  Before you look at it and say out loud, “that does not look like a volcano,” let me school you a bit, because I thought the same thing.  Apparently, there are several different types of volcano’s.  This one is a Shield Volcano, which means it’s appearance presents itself as a “hilly” piece of land due to the “accumulation of  fluid basaltic lava.”   That little piece of information comes right from their chart next to the volcano.  These two really know their volcano’s!

This past week was also School Spirit week at Jordan’s school.  Each day was a different theme.  Because Jordan’s best friend is very outgoing and crazy funny, he convinced my normally shy, reserved boy to go all out for a couple of the spirit days.  We can always count on little “Eddie Haskell” to bring many laughs to our day.  Here are the boys on “Decade Day” (choose a decade and come dressed accordingly.)

Duuuuude…aren’t they, like totally cool?

Here are some more photos from Spirit week.  This is from Twin Day.  Now, these two boys were certainly not going to go to school looking like ordinary twins.   Nope.  They were going to go as conjoined twins.  I laughed so hard that morning, I almost spilled my coffee when they came out from the bedroom.  When I dropped them off at school, they “fell” out of the car and all of their school mates were just cracking up!

So much fun!  And then finally, here they are on crazy hair day:

Now that I am not working, I really want to try to get this cupcake thing off of the ground.  I volunteered to bake cupcakes for the Art Auction held at Collin’s school Friday night.  Although I was not going to make any money from it, I thought it would be a good way to show people what I can do.  The incredibly talented Rhey Graphics made me quick little business cards to put out next to the cupcakes so I could start to spread the word.  I made three different types of cupcakes.  The first were a butter cake with a chocolate butter cream and bright colored sprinkles.  I thought these were really kid friendly.

The second kind were a chocolate devils food cake with a vanilla buttercream that I tinted fuschia.  I topped them off with some pastel sugar crystals.  I thought all of the little girls would love these due to the hue,  but truthfully I saw just as many little boys eating them as I did girls!

And the finale….my new Grasshopper cupcakes.  Although these morsels were very labor intensive, with steeping mint leaves in heavy cream on the stove, and then adding the strained mixture to bittersweet chocolate, I think they have to be my all time favorite.  I am not usually a fan of minty things, but these delicious cupcakes had just the right about of mint and because they were made from real mint, the taste was an earthy, true mint and not a candy cane, overly sweet mint.  I filled the cupcakes with the mint ganache and topped them with a vanilla mint butter cream that I tinted ever so slightly with a very pale, what else, mint green.

I think these beauties will be one of my faves for a long time to come!

Yesterday, I baked two and a half dozen red velvet cupcakes with a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, topped with shaved chocolate and a strawberry for my friend (Tuesday Night Tea Club)  Julie.  It is her Dad’s birthday, and they are celebrating with their family.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures before I delivered them.  I may walk over there today and ask to snap a few before their festivities start.  I was slightly disappointed with this recipe.  The real, original red velvet is made with oil, not butter.  The first few times I made them, the whole oil thing made me a little crazy.  They tasted fantastic, but adding so much oil made me cringe a little.  I searched for alternatives to the oil version and I finally found one.  I made a few alterations and the result were a beautiful cupcake, but a slightly dry consistency.  I guess it is the oil that makes it “velvet.”  I am still learning as I go!  I think next time I will go back to the oil version and just close my eyes as I add the oil!

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. T and I went to a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club out at the dog track.  It was a Wisconsin Beer and Cheese festival.  It was packed and at $25.00 a ticket, I am sure that the the BAGC are going to make out like fat rats, which is a really great thing.  I am not much of a beer connoisseur, but I did try a few that were pretty good and some others that were…let’s just say unpleasant.  One selection was a smoky chipotle beer.  I cannot remember the exact name, but I thought, hmmm….I like chipotle, so I thought I would give it a try.  One little sip and I was in line at the glass rinsing station to rid myself of that sewage. YUCK!  I liked the more simple, light beers. I did have fun with some of the names of the beers.  I sampled a “Fatty Boombalattie” and some selections from the Horny Goat.  Nice.  Do their mothers know that their brewery is called that?  I really liked the cheese and brat samples and I even found myself in line placing a few wagers on the dogs.  That was more up my alley.  And no, I did not win any money!  Once we got home from the beer fest, we went to our neighbors for an “after party” and had pizza and more beer.  I opted for a cocktail and I was the only one.  What is with all of the beer drinkers?  When I was a kid, men were the only ones that drank a beer, and women would drink wine, an “old fashioned” or as my Grandma Rhey would say, a “highball.”  Yes, the days of the highball are long gone.  Now men and women drink beer and I know several women that know more about beer than I would ever care to know. What happened to the choice of Miller or Miller Light?  I guess I am a little out of touch (and old fashioned!) when it comes to the new fad that is micro brews. We had a great time and enjoyed great company and a lot of laughs! 

When we got up this morning, we had about two and a half inches of cold, wet, slushy snow.  Back in December if we would have seen such a sight on an early Sunday morning, my kids would have cheered and immediately started to put on snow pants,  boots and head to the garage for snow boards, sleds and ski’s.  This morning, when I opened the living room blinds, the only thing that was heard was a collective  GROAN!  We thought it was spring…Mother Nature apparently did not get the memo.  Mr. T. is out snow blowing now.  He is thrilled beyond belief.  Just what he wants to be doing on a Sunday morning.  Oh well, I know the rest of the day will be spent in front of the TV.  March Madness, BABY!  It is here whether I like it or not.  I may head back to the kitchen for another round of Grasshopper cupcakes.  I have the fresh mint and I hate to see it go to waste. 

All in all, a great weekend.  And I don’t even have to spend the day cleaning the house!  I have all day tomorrow!  Yippee!

I love Valentine’s Day.  Not because I receive candy, chocolates or roses, because I don’t (sigh), but because I love GIVING my boy’s and husband a sweet Valentine.  This year, I bought Mr. T. a big heart shaped box of chocolates, mostly because I knew he would not buy one for me, and darn it, I really wanted some Valentine chocolates!  When he opened it, he said, “I’ll share!”  Damn right, you’ll share!  That was the plan all along!

I also got the boy’s a small heart shaped box of chocolates, one with a basketball on it and one with a baseball.  And I cannot forget the Napoleon Dynamite card.  We love Napoleon…one of our family’s favorite movies.  In fact, boy #1 and #2 once entertained an entire table of 20 somethings at a family wedding, doing funny spoofs from the movie. 

On Friday, boy #2 had a Valentine’s party at school.  His teacher sent a note  home asking for parent volunteers to bake cupcakes, to bring  juice and napkins and the like.  Boy #2 begged me to make my homemade (from scratch!) chocolate cupcakes with homemade chocolate butter cream frosting.  I resisted at first because they are a lot of work and I would have to bake them Thursday night, right during the premiere of the new season of Survivor.  In our home, Survivor night is holy.  We don’t answer the phone, we order pizza and turn the volume up over boy #2 talking the entire episode!   Don’t mess with Survivor night!  But because the boy really loves the cupcakes and because I am a sucker for his little puppy dog face, I agreed.  I was up until almost 11:00PM making them, but I knew how much it meant to the boy.   Here is the finished result:

And here is the mess that remained:

I can cook and I can bake, but I will not guarantee that I will be neat about it!  My Mom would say that I take after my Dad!  

Boy #2 was proud to bring them to share with his class and I guess that is what is important.  Now I am off to bake another batch along with some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for a little soiree at my brother’s house tonight.  Since I bought the heart chocolates for Mr. T., I think it is only fair that he clean up after me, don’t you?