Mint Cake

Oh how busy this week has been. Besides Justin putting himself out of commission I had planned a yard sale this weekend with my brother and getting it together has consumed most of my nights.

I am happy to say though that after a few nights of cleaning our garage hubby will finally be able to park his car in the garage again. This was a huge accomplishment in my book

But who want to read about yard sales and cleaning garages? Although I highly recommend looking thorough old boxes because I found a ton of stuff I thought I had lost, today is not a cleaning post.

You remember last week when I posted this delicious looking cake?

Well I found this delicious cake recipe here and decided that I would attempt to bake it. All I can say is my cake did not look this visually appealing.

I whipped up a box of white cake mix and separated it into four bowls and added 4 drops of green food coloring to one bowl and 2 drops into another.



Then I added 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract (I didn't have mint) into each of the bowls with the green food coloring and added 2 teaspoons of special dark cocoa to make chocolate.
(this is where I forgot to keep taking pictures)

It should look something like this when they are all blended.

I ended up making another batch since I wanted to make a two layer cake. I then spooned the different colored cake batter into 2 greased 8' cake pans and baked for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick came out clean.

I let them cool in the pan for about 20 minutes then transferred them to a cooling rack until completely cooled. I was running short on time so I covered the cakes in foil and put them in the fridge until I had time to frost them.

I felt like the mintyness of the cake would go great with chocolate frosting so I bought 2 tubs of chocolate frosting (yes I use store bought frosting sometimes) and went to work.



This is how it turned out. I'm not a cake decorating queen so yes it looks plain but it was oh so delicious. This would be a perfect after dinner dessert as it has that 'after dinner mint' taste we all love!

Oh Justin....

As Saturday was coming to a close I thought to myself 'My weekend has been so uneventful I will have to start brainstorming for a post on Monday.' I should have known better to think such a thing cause sure enough Sunday brought us all the excitement we ever wanted.

But let's start with Friday. The hubs got off work at a reasonable time so we headed out to see the Hunger Games. It was the first movie we saw on my must see list and I am glad we saw it. I didn't read the books but watching that movie makes me want to read the books. If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend it.

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Saturday was a full day with the nephew. We went to a church Easter egg hunt which he loved and we lingered at the park afterward so he could play. Then I dropped him off at my mom's so I could go to a bridal shower for a co-worker and man was it nice to have some girl time. I would share some pictures from the shower but I find them to be a bit too 'risk-a' for my blog so sorry chicas (I just assume most of my readers are female).

Now on to Sunday... Not only did this day hold enough action for us to last a month, thinking about it now it kinda makes me laugh.

Sunday morning, 8:30am, hubs gets up to take the pups to the park. Gets dressed, gets the dogs ready and heads out the door. I can hear him yelling at one of the pups and I was sure it was because they had run down the street. Then I hear what I thought was my name but I ignored it and snuggled back up in the covers. I hear my name again and this time I could tell it was hubby's voice and something wasn't right.

First thing I think is 'Oh my gosh, one of our dogs just got hit by a car!' I jump out of bed, run downstairs and find the front door wide open with hubby lying on the couch in a weird position. I give him that 'What are you doing' look and as I went to shut the door he says "I just dislocated my shoulder again."

Background info: Hubs has a bad shoulder and when he was about 18 or so he had surgery to 'fix' this. He is usually really careful with this shoulder but in July last year while playing basketball he dislocated it. They popped it back into place right then and there but he knew he would have to really watch it so he wouldn't dislocate it again.

First thing I think is 'Oh snap he is in pain, I am not dressed and I have no idea how to help him.' I kinda froze for a second before asking "What do you want me to do?" Sounds like a stupid question now but at the time it seemed legit. So I tried to call a friend of ours who is a medical student to see if he could come over to help but he was on call so off to the Emergency Room we went, after I got dressed of course.

Now I grew up and now work in a small town 15 minutes from where we live so naturally I said "Let's go to the Boulder City ER since they will have practically no wait." Sure enough we get there and they call him back within 10 minutes. Score! Unfortunately that left me filling out paperwork and then waiting for 20 minutes before they would let me back to see him.


This is what I came back to see. If you didn't realize it yet, your shoulder is not supposed to look like that. They put him in a 'concious sedation' before putting his shoulder back. They let me watch them do it and it didn't seem all that hard.


This is a before and after x-ray. I was amazed when I saw the before, I mean look at how not right that looks! He will now spend approximately 2 weeks sitting at home, doing nothing, since he can't work. Oh the joy of unexpected accidents.

Now that part of this story that makes me laugh is how he dislocated his shoulder. He said that a neighbor's dog was loose and our dogs ran over to him but he charged after our smallest dog Yeager (yes we have a dog named Yeager and no we don't drink). As he went to pick him up, Yeager must have jumped or something and the force of hubs downward motion with Yeag's upwards motion popped it out of place. The funny part...this dog only weighs 11 lbs.
Yeager 1, Justin 0.

He will be seeing an orthopedist to evaluate him and advise us if another surgery is needed.

Now the only thing I can think of is 'How can people live off of one salary?' Well if surgery is in store I will be sure to let you know...

Friday Letters

I'm linking up with Adventures of Newlyweds today for some Friday Letters.

Dear Friday: Did you know you are my second favorite day of the week? I look forward to your presence all week and am so excited you are finally here. If you can just speed up the time a bit I would be truly grateful, I am so done with work and want my weekend to start.

Dear Mom: I really don't like that you are moving to Texas. Are you sure you have to move? I will miss you so much and now every time I see you all I can think is 'I won't be able to do this with her in a few months.' I love you dearly and on the bright side this will give me a reason to take more mini vacations.

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Dear Weather: I appreciate the 75 degrees in March and ask that you park it here for the next month. Although I love the heat, I know 110 degrees is right around the corner and I kinda want this Spring weather to stick around for a bit.

Dear Pups: Do you really have to drag in every particle of dirt you possibly can into the kitchen? I do love a clean house but really you don't have to add to the mess, I don't like sweeping or mopping that much.

Dear IRS: Oh how you are not my friend! I give you money all year long then when tax time rolls around you want even more! Why must you always put a damper on April?

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That's all folks, my Friday letters. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Trailers

As summer draws closer I have been seeing a lot of movie trailers and they make me want to buy tickets for all of them right now.

Now I'm not really a 'Let's go see a movie' kind of person, that's the hubs, but I have to say there are some movies coming out that look really good. I usually will only see a movie after someone else has seen it and can tell me if it's worth going to but all these trailers are drawing me in!

The first movie coming out is Hunger Games.



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I didn't read the books and frankly I have no idea what the movie is actually about but the trailer got me hooked. All I really know about the movie is some girl volunteers for these 'games' and it's not something you want to volunteer for. I think it looks like a super interesting movie so now I want to see the movie and read the books.

The next movie coming out that looks worthy of going to is The Lucky One.

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Chick flick for sure but I mean it's based off a Nicholas Sparks novel so it has to be good right? I am a sucker for a sappy drama movie, with some eye candy, so we will definitely be seeing this in April.

Then there is Think Like a Man

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This looks like such a funny movie and who doesn't enjoy a good laugh. Just the poster makes me laugh. I will be getting my comedic relief from this movie for sure.

Moving into May we have The Avengers

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I love a good action movie and they fact that I see some good looking superheroes just makes the movie more appealing.

  

The hit in July is The Dark Knight Rises

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I've never really been a huge Batman fan but the hubs loved The Dark Knight so I know we will be seeing this one. Is it just me or are there too many Batman movies out there?

Side note: Did you know they are coming out with Men In Black III and another Spider Man movie... Don't know how I feel about that. I think there is a time when certain movies should just stop being made.

So there you go folks, these are the movies I think are worth watching through July. I can't wait to see some of them and the fall will undoubtedly have more must see movies. What movie can you not wait to see?

Would you like some cake?

Not to brag or anything but this weekend was all about me... Well at least I like to think it was since I celebrated my 24th birthday on Saturday.

Yes I was born on St. Patrick's day. No I am not Irish and no green is not my favorite color. Now that we have those questions out of way, lets get on with the weekend events.

Friday night the hubs and I went to P.F Changs for my birthday dinner and as always it was delicious. I mean how could this not be delicious?

     

After dinner we walked around The District (which is an outdoor shopping mall) and window shopped while enjoying the beautiful weather. Then we headed to the carnival that's in town to check it out. It was such a fun night!

      

Saturday was my day and I got to spend it with my nephew. Even though it was cold and windy we made it out to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade. Ian loved the parade and he loved the carnival even more!

    

    

After all that fun we headed home to bake a mint cake that I had to try since mint is my favorite dessert flavor, it's honestly the best! But how it turned out will be another post since it still isn't frosted. Oops...

That night I met the hubs at my mother-in-law's and enjoyed another delicious dinner with his amazing family. They are the best and my gifts were the greatest! We ended the night with a homemade cake and trick candles! (I was so wrapped up in visiting and enjoying my 'me' night that I totally forgot to take pics! My bad.) These pics I got from my awesome mother-in-law. 

Love this bag!

Sunday I enjoyed going to church, another party, a few more gifts and of course more cake! I'm telling you I had more dessert this weekend than I care to admit!

My birthday weekend was fantastic and I am so greatful to have such wonderful family and friends that made my birthday special!

Now enjoy the rest of the photos from my weekend...

 

                        

At ease...

I can now safely post this without the fear of some crazy person breaking into my house.

Yes I watch Criminal Minds way too much and the social networking episode kept coming to mind so I postponed this post til today.

The hubs had to go to Phoenix for a couple of days for work so I was home alone with the pups since Monday night. You know the saying you don't know what you have til it's gone? Well I know I have great hubby but having him gone just reiterates it.

I hated being home all alone, at night, hearing all these strange noises. Why is it that when you are home alone every noise concerns you?

Anywho, the hubs got back safe and last night I slept so well knowing he was there. Crazy how when we first got married I could hardly sleep at all cause of his heavy breathing but now when his is gone I kinda miss it..

Oh and because he is the sweetest hubby ever he bought me some sunglasses while he was gone. If you know me, I am always breaking my sunglasses and I won't go out and buy more but then I always complain about not having any. It's a vicious cycle.

Side note: TGIF! I can't wait to get my party on this weekend. Bring on the cake!

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One year wiser?

Today my nephew turns 4... FOUR I tell you! How is it that time flies that fast?

From this..      To this...

But he is at Legoland right now having the time of his life so let's get to the topic here....

His birthday preceeds my own which is in a couple of days (yes that is a reminder for all of you who forgot or didn't know). This only means one thing....
I am getting old!

Is it wrong that even though I am in my twenties I call myself old? Maybe I should stick to the whole I'm just another year wiser.. Because bigfoot only knows I don't want to add another candle to my cake (yes bigfoot).

Now my family has a thing for the month of March and Septmeber... Meaning most of our family birthday's land in these two months (so I guess they really liked July and January). In March we have my brother-in-law, step-dad, grandpa, nephew and yours truely all celebrating birthdays. September we have my step-brother, uncle, cousin, brother, mom and sister blowing out candles (and I'm sure I forgot someone).

Really people, are you trying to make me fat and broke 2 months out of the year? Geez...

Seriously though, I love birthday's...especially mine! (Hubs this next part you should pay really close attention) I love having a day that is all mine for me to feel extra special, cause let's face it, I'm special all the time. Having balloons all around, things decorated and gifts to open that are all done for me is the best!

 So for those of you who don't know what to get me (hubby), I'd be happy with a decorated car or a ton of balloons sent to my work or a singing gorilla-gram! I might die if I actually got a gorilla-gram, it would be hilarious!

But what should I do for myself? I mean it is my day so I should pamper myself right?

Extra day off to spend with the hubs.... Yes please!

The hubs had Monday off which is unusual so I decided to take off work as well so we could spend the day together! It was so nice to spend some quality time with the hubs. We work such different schedules that we don't get too much time together.

We started the day off with a hike which was beautiful. It was such a nice day but unfortunately we didn't stay out long. The hubs woke up not feeling great but went on the hike anyways cause he knew I wanted to go (such a sweetheart). He got sick out on the trail so we headed back home.

   

   

We of course had to bring our 'kids'. They love hikes!

The rest of the day was spent at home with a sick hubby on the couch and me passing time reading blogs and trying different crochet patterns. Not exactly the way I wanted our day off to go but what can you do.

We did end the day with some frozen yogurt, you can never be too sick for that! Now it's back to work... Is it just me or does daylight savings time just mess up your whole schedule too?