Summer Goals (again)

So last summer, I gave myself a goal of reading 10 books and watching 20 movies.  I liked that goal so much that I decided to set that same goal again this summer, but per usual I didn't blog about it a couple of weeks ago when I thought of it.  So I'm off to a good start.  I've read four books and watched four movies and it's only been two weeks.  :-).  With a little luck, I'll have 6 more books read and 14 more movies watched by Labor Day. 

Dish 38 Marble Cheesecake

Well, you got a sneak preview of this in my chocolate lasagna blog.  I had only made cheesecake a couple of times before so I thought I'd try it again, but this time I would make a different flavor.  I found a recipe (can't remember where! think it was in one of my cookbooks) for marble cheesecake.  Well, mine wasn't as pretty as it was supposed to be.  It tasted fine, but mine did  not have the pretty swirl in the middle--I tried, I swirled and all, but when it was cooked, the pretty swirl was gone.  :-(   Anyway, I enjoyed it and my co-workers enjoyed the leftovers, though I think they are a little annoyed with me unloading all of my leftover sweets on them.  They keep saying I'm causing them to gain weight.   

Week 37: Chocolate Lasagna

Okay if we're being honest, some weeks I did not make a new dish and some weeks I made three new dishes.  It's all evening out in the end--though truth be told I may not get all 52 dishes made in 52 weeks, it might be 53 weeks because I have four more dishes to make in 5 days to reach my goal.  That doesn't make me a failure right?!?!?  Just slow???  I have plans to make a couple new dishes this weekend, but I'm not sure I'll do all four, but I'm sure going to try.  Anyway, the reason I mention this is because I made this dish and dish 38 for the same event...
  We finally managed to convince a couple of my fiancé's friends to come up here for dinner (they live an hour away from us).  We also invited a couple of his other friends who didn't need so much convincing.  :)  I had dinner planned out, but I was debating what to do for dessert.  One of his friends (and his wife) have two kids so I asked about allergies.  He said the only allergy was shellfish.  Not a problem, I wasn't planning to serve any.  So then I happened to mention some dessert I was making, that had peanut butter in it.  He told me his daughter was allergic to peanut butter!  WHAT?!  Peanut butter is NOT a shellfish, you said ONLY shellfish.  Grr, so much for that idea.  So I decided I would do cheesecake.  Guess who doesn't like cheesecake?  So your daughter can't eat peanut butter and you don't like cheesecake (well, I still did cheesecake, but we'll blog about that tomorrow or the next day), so much for my dessert plans.  I figured I could still do cheesecake for everyone else, but I needed another dessert.  I didn't want to do my usual cookies, brownies, cupcakes.  So I did what anyone would do in this day and age and I went on Pinterest.  :-)  Natalie to the rescue.  She had a dish on her pinterest page called Chocolate Lasagna.  (I like to tell her she is the reason I can't lose weight--not my lack of willpower, but the fact that she has so many delicious looking recipes on her pinterest page).  I told someone at work about my chocolate lasagna plans and she was completely grossed out; she thought it was real lasagna with chocolate on it.  NO, no, no, it was a dessert.  I gave her some leftovers to try and she liked it quite a bit. 
Anyway, the chocolate lasagna was a hit.  The adults liked it, the kids liked it, my co-workers who helped me eat the leftovers liked it.  Come to think of it, I should make it again. I think my friends would like it.  It's too late to make it for my 4th of July fiesta (which is actually being held on the 5th of July), but perhaps for the next gathering.  It's also not too hard to make.  If you're looking for a new sweet treat, I encourage you to make it.   

Thanksgiving in July and Christmas in July

My mother is quite crafty.  She used to do plastic canvas, sewing stuff, etc.  Now it's scrapbooking and making her own cards.  Her cards are really nice and I'm not just saying that because she's my mother.  Anyway, every once in a while she tells me I should make my own cards.  I did twice.  I made my own Christmas cards a few years ago.  One year I made my own Valentine's Day cards too. In April, as you know from previous blogs, I went to Arizona to visit one of my friends.  While we were shopping one day, I saw some cute Christmas stamps and after a brief discussion with my friend decided to buy them.  I decided I was going to try to make my own Christmas cards again this year.  Fast forward to this week.  Every year in July my mom and some of her friends do what they call "Christmas in July."  They all get together at her friend's house (one of Mom's friends) and they either have to wear something Christmasy or bring sometime Christmasy or something along those lines.  Apparently, some years her friend decorates a Christmas tree and they'll have Christmas music playing.  Anyway, the reason for this get together is so they can all make their Christmas cards.  Since they are all teachers, they have much more free time in the summer to make the cards than they do in December.  Come to think of it, most people don't have a lot of free time in December.  I've been invited a couple of times, but I was never available in the past.  Go figure this year I have no plans because I'm on vacation and no invite, but I digress.  So I decided since I had this week off, I would attempt to start my cards.  So Monday afternoon, I went to the craft store and bought ink, markers, cardstock, paper, etc.  While I was there, I decided to look for a new 4th of July decoration for my door.  I don't really like the one I have that much.  I didn't like what they had up front too much so I went to the holiday aisle and what did I see????  THANKSGIVING DECORATIONS!  Now I like Thanksgiving, but it is JULY.  This explains why I can never find Thanksgiving decorations in October/November when I look for them, you know when people are actually thinking about Thanksgiving.  When I was at the store, the 4th of July hadn't happened yet and they had turkeys up.  I don't want to be thinking about turkeys on July 1st--no disrespect to the turkeys or Thanksgiving.  And yes, the irony isn't lost on me.  I'm complaining about Thanksgiving in July and yet I'm planning for Christmas in July.  Anyway, the cards are not up to the quality of Mom's, but they're started.  I remembered why I don't usually make my own cards.  It is expensive and time consuming.  I was looking at my Christmas card list from last year and I send/give cards to nearly 60 people.  That's a lot of cards to make!  I think for Christmas 2014 we'll be cheesy and do a Christmas card with a wedding picture or something and the following year I'll go back to buying them at the stores.  If I'm smart, I'll buy them after Christmas 2014 so they'll be on sale and I'll have them cheap for Christmas 2015.  Anyway, I'll keep plugging away at the cards and maybe I'll have them done by Thanksgiving--you know around the time they'll be putting out the St. Patrick's Day decorations.  :-) Happy 4th everyone!  Enjoy your day!  Happy Birthday America! 

Random Lists: The Annoying and The Happy

Things that have annoyed me this week:

-People stealing our parking spot (what's the point of not allowing you to park two cars in your driveway if someone keeps taking your assigned spot?  It's not always the same someone.  It's been three different someones the past three times it happened this week)

-Rude drivers

-People who feel the need to take up the ENTIRE aisle at the grocery store so you can't get by

-Hotel prices going up $35 a night in less than one day (as in if we'd booked last night, we could have saved $70 overall)

-Not finding a new cute 4th of July decoration

-Staying up WAY TOO LATE trying to find a reasonably priced hotel

-Going to the gym at 5:00 only to find out the gym closed at 3 today (um, guess I missed that memo on Monday when I was there)

'Things that have made me happy this week:

-Having 11 days off from work!  :-)

-Eating pancakes with Mom at my favorite pancake place

-New recipe ideas from my friend Natalie's Pinterest page

-Planning a trip (minus the hotel business)

-Planning a 4th of July fiesta

-Having time to read a book

-Having time to catch up on my Netflix

-Trying new recipes

-People being randomly nice at the grocery store (clearly these were not the same people who took up the entire aisle) 

-Being home to watch Ellen (hey, what can I say, I like that show and I'm not usually home from work in time to see it)

-Having time to blog :-)

Week 36 Crab Casserole

Oh my gosh, this is so good!  And once again I forgot to take a picture.  I've made this at least three times now (that's how far behind I am in my blogging) and not once did I remember to take a picture for the blog.  I basically found this while looking through one of my cookbooks for a new recipe to make and blog about.  I don't like mushrooms so I don't use those when I make this, but the crabmeat, mayo, stuffing, onion, whipping cream, eggs, parsley, and stuffing mix all combine nicely for a delicious dinner (or leftover lunch).  I made it just for me, I made it for one of my co-workers when she had surgery and was home recovering for a few weeks (she said she and her family really liked it) and I made it one night when I had my friend, her husband, and two children over.  I'm not sure her kids liked it that much (they're only two-years-old), but the adults seemed to enjoy it.  So there ya' go, another good dish.  And for once a dinner that didn't involve chicken since I seemed to be on a chicken kick for a while there with all my dinners. 

Week 35 Old-Fashioned Blueberry Buckle

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of this one.  It was tasty!  Very much like blueberry bread.  I enjoyed this one.  I really don't have much else to say about this so I guess this is just going to be a short blog.  Now you can go do something productive.  :)