• I just finished mowing the lawn. I mowed the front yard, the back yard, my neighbor’s front yard, and my neighbor’s side yard. When my OCD kicks in, you’d better look out. I’ll mow right over ya’!  

• I’m going to be seeing another new doctor tomorrow. I’m hoping this one will be good. The last one I went to was alright, but clearly seemed overwhelmed by the amount of issues I’ve got going on. I need someone who is strong and able to take the issues on and beat them into submission!

• I cannot get that freakin’ “Chocolate Rain” song out of my head. It’s not the original, thank God. It’s the Chad Vader version. I loves me some Chad Vader. His videos are SO funny.

• My Mom already lost her job. :sigh: The people sent her home today…telling her it wasn’t a “good fit”…whatever the heck that means. Here she goes again, though. The job hunt continues.  

• Do I even need to bother saying that I have nothing planned for dinner? It’s a given at this point, isn’t it? I never plan this stuff out.

• I’m wearing a pair of Lonnie’s boxer shorts (blue) with a v-neck undershirt of his. I look so feminine and dainty right now.       I was hot, so I grabbed whatever was close to put on!

• I surprised Lonnie with a bagel a little while ago. I toasted it and put cream cheese on half and butter & strawberry jam on the other half. I thought it’d be a nice gesture. Well, when I brought it to him, I got a, “Oh, thanks”…and that was about it. I said, “Hmm…I thought it was pretty nice of me to do that for you.” He said that it was and that he appreciated it. Once again - actions speaking louder than words.

• Smoked Almonds are the shiznit.

• My son’s Math teacher called a little while ago. He has a big, fat F in Math. Wonderful. Here we go again.

• I still have yet to hook my webcam up.

• I’ve got a hilarious Photoshop idea going on in my head. I need to pump that sucker out soon…Casey knows what it is. I’m sure she’s anxious to see it, too!    

• I gotta turn some music on before this whole Chocolate Rain thing drills a hole right through my frontal lobe.

• Okay, Danzig it is.

• We watched a movie last night. I can’t even remember which one it was. That pretty much says how much I enjoyed it, huh?

• Meh…Danzig is not hitting the spot. Time to look for something else…

• Skinless it is.

• Lonnie probably wants to smack me for paying some real music. I can’t help it. A person can only listen to that other jive for so long ’til they just NEED a fix of the stuff that makes ‘em truly happy.

• It pisses me off that I can’t bake my kid treates to bring to school on her birthday. They have to be prepackaged bullshit treats. Not cool. As if I’m going to poison my child’s classmates? I mean, come on! Isn’t that taking it a bit far? I want to make the most adorable cupcakes ever, but they won’t let me.    

• I am completely addicted to Plackers. I use those things at least twice per day. They make flossing SO much easier! I have ‘em in my purse, in my car, in my bathroom…everywhere I might end up needing them! They’re really thrifty, too! Totally worth each cent.

• GAH! I’m not enjoying this music, either! I’m so indecisive today. Gotta go look for something better….

• Okay, now I’m going with Devildriver. Most certainly not my favorite band on the planet, but darn it. I just cannot make up my mind!

• There’s a basket of clean clothes sitting on my bed waiting to be hung up. That is SO not like me! I can’t believe they’re just sitting there. I’m not even going nuts wanting to hang them up, either. I wonder if that new medication is starting to actually work. I kinda hope not. I mean, if it makes me lazy, who the heck needs that?!

• I feel like baking something. Cupcakes, a pie, maybe even some candy. Not sure. Just something. I’ll have to look through my cookbooks and my online sources.

• Alrighty…I guess I’m done babbling about absolutely nothing. Thanks for hanging in there with me. If not for you, my readers, I’d have a sucky life! You guys keep me going…especially those of you who comment. I love you guys!

I woke up early this morning so that I could make a treat for my family…Coffee Cake!  I decided to take pictures along the way so I could share them with my readers.

Soooo…let’s get started, shall we?    

First, I had to set the oven for 350° …

While the oven warmed up,

I sprayed pan with cooking spray …

Once I got all the dry ingredients together,  

I had to whisk ‘em in with an egg and some water…

Now that it was all mixed up properly,

I spread half of the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish…

 

Once there was a fairly level layer of batter

in the bottom of the baking dish,

I grabbed a measuring cup and filled it

with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar,

and other such numminess….

At this point, I sprinkled a lovely layer

of said mixture over the entire pan of batter.

Now that I’d done that,

I had to create different little globs of batter

on top of the cinnamon and sugar concoction…

Once the globs of dough had been made,

it was time to sprinkle more of the

cinnamon and sugar stuff over the top…

As you’ve probably picked up on by now,
there’s pretty much a layering effect going on here.    

Anyway….here’s what it looked like after I’d loaded up the glob layer with the cinnamon/sugar tastiness…

At this point, I grabbed a butter knife and swirled it around a bit…mixing the dough up a bit.           

I really got that knife in there and mixed it around a bit….

I was going for pretty much a marble looking effect…

So, now that all the layering is done,

it’s time to slide the Coffee Cake into the ol’ oven!

Can’t forget to set the timer!

And now that it’s in the oven,  

it’s time to make myself a big ol’ tumbler of coffee!

Can’t forget the Hazelnut creamer.

It makes the world go ’round! 

After a while had gone by and I’d already ingested a tumbler of coffee,

I figured I’d better check on the Coffee Cake

to see how well it was coming along…

Not only was it looking totally flippin’ killer,

but it was smelling soooo good, too! 

I was chillaxing and doing my best to be patient

when I finally heard the timer go off!          

YAY! Time to take the tasty treat out of the oven!!!

Ooooh boy! I can’t begin to tell you

how good that thing smelled!        

Here it is cooling on a rack!

Lastly, here is a picture of the sacred

Coffee Cake with a piece cut out of it…

I can’t express how good this thing was!  

My daughter and I sat on our stools next to the counter

and slowly ate our hunks of cake.        

Today is my 35th birthday!  It’s a little after 2:00 AM right now…I couldn’t resist getting on here and writing my birthday post. I’m such a spoiled brat like that!Getting older is the best! I love it. I mean, yeah…I hate the greys and the constant worry about my skin, but other than that, I’m SO happy to get betting older!  I wasn’t even close to being this well-rounded when I was 25…or even 30.  Life just gets better and better with each year.  I’m so happy that I’ve made it another year! It certainly beats the alternative - death.

There are people like my Mom who detest their birthday because it’s a reminder of their age. I will NEVER understand that way of thinking. Getting older is such a kick in the pants. Honestly. Not only do we get more wise with age, but we become more secure in our own skin.  I realize that’s a pretty general statement and there are exceptions to every rule, but yeah…it’s so true for me.

As for my friends…I cannot begin to tell you how much all of the birthday wishes mean to me. Matthew, Aadil, Angeliki, Henry, Casey, Amir…and a few others have ALREADY taken the time to drop by and wish me a happy day.  Isn’t that just so awesome?!  Knowing there are wonderful people like that out there who genuinely care about me makes me so happy!  I don’t know what I did to deserve to have such terrific people in my life, and I’m not about to go trying to figure it out!  I’m just going to be thankful and feel truly blessed to have the people in my life who are there everyday to lift my spirits, ask how I’m doing, and take genuine interest in my goings on!

I guess I’ve babbled enough. I just cannot thank everyone enough!  Not to mention the fact that I’m SO stoked that today is my 35th birthday!!!  THIRTY FIVE! Wow…on one hand it sounds so old…on the other hand, I’ve still got so much life ahead of me. I cannot wait to live that life, either. Especially with friends like you by my side to keep me going, lift me up when I’m down, and be there for me every inch of the way. I truly love each and every one of my good friends.  Thank you for making my life more fun to live!

• Sorry it’s been so long since I last posted. The whole back-to-school thing made me fall behind on everything. Thank goodness it’s all done and over with.

• I’m drinking Mocha Java coffee with Hazelnut creamer. It’s SO good!

• Lonnie just yelled at his computer. When he does that, he reminds me of my Dad. When I was a kid, I always knew that if I heard yelling coming from the garage, I needed to stay away. My Dad’s the most gentle person I know, but when he’s working on a car and something goes wrong…WHEW! Look out!

• I need to put my make-up on. I shall return…

• Okay, I’m back and looking a little better than I was ten minutes ago. I hate looking icky. I guess I’m shallow or something. I just don’t like feeling like I could look better than I do. My outlook seems to be better when I look half way decent. Is that shallow, or is that kind of normal?

• Speaking of human behavior, my son is taking Psychology in school. The first day of the new school year was yesterday. He came home and said that he thinks he’s really going to like his Psychology class. I wish they offered badass classes like that to me when I was in school. Maybe I wouldn’t have hated it as much as I did.

• Nah - I still would have hated it!

• I think I’m going to bake some cupcakes today. It’s been a while since I’ve baked anything, and I like to bake stuff for the kids so they have tasty treats when they get home from school. My kids’ friends always appreciate that, too.

• I’m in a pretty good mood today. Yay! Much better than yesterday. I was totally bummed out for some reason. I’m sure it has something to do with my kids leaving to go to school. I know I’ve said it like 2398473 times before, but I miss them SO much when they’re gone.

• I’m going to go make a cup of coffee for Lonnie.

• He appreciated that! I love doing stuff for him and the kids. It truly makes me happy.

• Lonnie’s friend, Chad and his wife, Becky are going to be coming over any minute. Becky is a photographer, and she wants to talk business with Lonnie. I’m not sure if she just needs business advice or what, but it’ll be nice to see them again. They’re super nice people…and very personable.

• I want to mow the lawn today, but I think it’s too soon. I’m trying to only do it once per week, but when it starts looking just a tad too long, I have to go out there and mow it down. I guess it’s the OCD.

• I’ve decided I’m never going to drink alcohol again. It honestly does nothing for me anymore. I never thought I’d say that, but it’s true. I just don’t enjoy it…and I shouldn’t be drinking it, anyway.

• My daughter is 5′ tall and weighs only 65 lbs.. I’m not sure what made me think about that, but when I really stop and think about it, that’s amazingly tiny. I hope people don’t ever think we don’t feed her enough. She literally eats more than I do. I’d pretty much do anything to  have her metabolism!

• We watched “Grindhouse” the other night. I didn’t even want to watch it, but I did and ended up liking it a lot! Quentin Tarantino drives me absolutely nuts. I can’t stand the guy…and normally don’t like his movies, either. There are a few exceptions…”Grindhouse” is one of them.

• I think Lonnie’s addicted to white boards.

• Okay, I gotta go work on a website now. Sorry again for not posting for a few days. I’ll do my best not to let it happen again.