Christmas Baking - Week 1

Can you believe that there are only 8 weeks until Christmas?!?!  Me neither!  What I also cannot believe is that the Lowes in Rock Hill had a GIANT Santa inflatable on the roof this morning...and I heard Christmas music on the way into work.  Can't we get thru Thanksgiving at least!?! 

SO, since everyone is fast tracking the holidays, I decided to slow it down.  Every Sunday for the next 7 weeks, I'm challenging myself to bake something new.  By Christmas Day, I will know which of the 7 desserts I will bring to Christmas dinner.  My co-workers are now going to LOVE Monday's!

Week 1: Glazed Spiced Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients:

Bars:

2       Cups Fiber One Original Bran cereal

1/2    Cup vegetable oil

1/2    Cup Orange Juice

1  15oz. Can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

2  Eggs

1-1/2 Cups A.P. flour

1-1/2 Cups sugar

2 Teaspoons baking powder

1 Teaspoon baking soda

1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup chopped Walnuts

Glaze:

1 Cup powdered sugar

4-6 Teaspoons Orange Juice

Dry Team

Wet Team

Team Glaze

Directions:

1.) Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 15x10x1-inch pan with cooking spray, or grease and flour pan. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin or meat mallet (or crush in food processor).

no wonder people hate fiber

nope, still not appetizing.

2.) In large bowl, beat oil, 1/2 cup orange juice, the pumpkin and eggs with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Stir in crushed cereal; let stand 10 minutes.

when is this going to look good?

now we're talkin'!

 3.) Beat in remaining bar ingredients except walnuts on low speed until well blended. Stir in walnuts. Spread evenly in pan. If you lightly coat the nuts with flour before mixing in the batter, they won't sink to the bottom!

this smells delicious!

nuts.

4.) Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

thick batter!

lucky number 33.

 5.) In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and enough of the 4 to 6 teaspoons orange juice for desired drizzling consistency. Then put the mixture in a ziplock bag and stash in the fridge til the cake is done.

shot of OJ anyone?

  6.) Cut the tip off the corner of the baggie and swirl glaze all over the bars.

snip snip

smells like fall

 

Ta Da!!!

Here is where I got the recipe if you wish to make these for yourself.  They're rich, delicious and have a little over 2g of dietary fiber in each serving! 

Halloween Costume Part 3

Hours and Hours of work was put into what I thought was a winning costume...and I didn't even get to compete.  Apparently if you don't have your goodies showing, you don't even get recognized for being dressed up.  It's bull crap...but I guess that's Halloween.

Here's the completed costume:

Ultimate Grand Supreme

I will be wearing this again next year, and going to a bar/party with a legitamate costume contest...not the bull crap that Wild Wing in the EpiCenter calls "Halloween". 

Angry Toddler.

 

90's Fashion & Trends

As I stated in my intro to Nostalgia, fashion in the 90's was piss poor...but the good news is: we all looked like idiots together!  I don't remember when it happened, but at some point in the 90's I went from a little kid to a really confused teenager...hence "early 90's" and "late 90's" trends:

Early 90's Trends:

 (Think Elementary School)

T-Shirt Clips

Yes, the infamous T-Shirt clip...the best way to make an oversized shirt fit snugly over your stirrup pants.  They came in plain colors and the fancy glittery ones with rhinestones.  Don't deny it...you had some too.

Stirrup Pants

Speaking of which...stirrup pants: the worst fashion trend for a child with long legs.  No matter how much my mom and I pulled from leg to waist of these things, I could never stretch them out enough to where the crotch wasn't halfway down my thighs.  I'm pretty sure my mother cut the stirrups out of a lot of them for me...we just covered them up with slouch socks.

Slouch Socks

Ok, I'm onto something now...a full 90's outfit where one trend leads into another.  Slouch socks were a trend that some people never got out of...remember I live in Rock Hill.  Whether they're white or layered in colors to match your outfit, nothing was more important than getting the perfect slouch.

Keds

We called them "bobo's" in my house...as in the shoes that you could wear with anything and not care if they got messed up because they were $7.99 at Belk. I had them in pretty much every color...but the white, that's the classic shit right there!

Scrunchies

Classic 90's trend...and yet another one that some people can't get out of their heads (pun intended).  I had a million of these things...and I'm pretty sure my mom custom made a lot to match my sundresses that she also sewed for me.  Later in the 90's, scrunchies were worn on the wrist...even if you weren't planning on putting your hair up.

Banana Clips

If you weren't wearing a scrunchie that matched your outfit, you had a banana clip in to give that "waterfall" look.

 Late 90's Trends

(think Middle School) 

 

Hypercolor T-Shirts

Nothing cooler than breathing on your friend's t-shirt to see if you can make the colors change.

Umbro's

Whether you played soccer or not, these shorts were the Soffee shorts of the late 90's.  I had them in every color imaginable.

Flannel Shirts/Plaid Shirts

The late 90's brought a fashion trend that confused the shit out of most parents: Grunge.  Why on Earth would you want to dress like a bum?  Well, mostly because everyone else was.  Only rule, never button the shirt all the way up, and if you add a sweater tied around the waist...even cooler.

VAN's and Airwalk's

Another trend that went with a sport that you didn't actually have to participate in to appreciate the attire.  All my friends in Middle school were skateboarders and surfers, so the VAN's and Airwalk Shoes were seriously everywhere at Laing Middle School.

JNCO Jeans

Seriously, WTF were people thinking?  I had ONE pair of these atrocious jeans and my mother shook her head every time I wore them.

 CK1

Ahh, the "universal" cologne.  Don't lie...you had some too.

Mood Rings

Mood rings put Claire's Boutiques on the map!

Best Friends Necklaces

Another Claire's specialty.

Butterfly Clips

The more the merrier, right?  Oh dear.

Toys of the 80's & 90's - Just Toys

I realized in my thought process that I didn't really have "toys" in the 90's.  Those were the years that I was being all artsy-fartsy at the kitchen table.  So I expanded this list to the 80's and 90's.  Enjoy...

Sit n Spin

If I were to try and sit on one of these and spin myself, a few things would happen...

1.) I wouldn't be able to fit my ass on it

2.) I don't think I could get it to spin (see #1)

3.) If I could get it to spin, I would throw up.

Slip and Slide

Oh man, how much fun were these?!?  Even as an "adult" I want one of these!  It's amazing how resilient we were as children...run full speed through the yard and then belly flop right on top of a latex runway to be catapulted OVER the "pool" at the end.

Cabbage Patch Kids

OMG, I had a thousand CPKs when I was a kiddo.  I remember (very vividly) from our house in Wando Lakes that I had all my CPKs on my bed.  I must have just watched Huggabunch Kids for the fifty-thousandth time, because I thought if I put my mother's mother's hand mirror on the bed, I could jump through it with my CPK's and go to Huggaland... I was wrong.

Teddy Ruxpin

What a creepy bear...but it was really cool as a kid to have this thing read a book to you!

Stretch Armstrong

Ok, so I didn't have one of these, but Lance (Laura's Brother) did...and we always stole it from his room.  The curiosity in us wanted to stretch the hell out of it to see what was inside...didn't every kid?  We were never successful in breaking it in half...but we did manage to cause a small leak.  The inside material was disappointing.

Polly Pocket

Ahh...the toy that caused more little girls to cry and scream when their 1/8" sized Polly went missing.  

Trolls

OMG, I had a thousand of these too!  One for every occasion: birthday, Christmas, Halloween...hell yes!  

POGS

Ok, maybe these were not a popular as I remember, but I had THOUSANDS of these.  The object of the game was to stack up the POGS face down, each player contributing the same amount to the game from their collection.  Then, each person would take turns using a POG slammer (heavier POG) to throw on the stack.  Any POGS that were face up when they finished their turn were theirs to keep.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halloween Costume Part 2

I ended up drinking last night in celebration of the completion of my costume.  I'm SO glad it's over.

I left work yesterday and went to Kmart - certainly they would have tacky white shoes and cheap jewelry.  BUT, I struck out...guess they're sold out.

So, I went to the next white trash Rock Hill establishment: The "Gonorrhea" (Galleria).  After scouring the shelves of Claire's, I found the perfect earrings...but they were $16!  That's as much as I spent on the dress!  I moved on...no way in hell I'm spending $16 on a pair of earrings I will never wear again.  White shoes...surely they will be on a clearance rack somewhere in the Rock Hill mall.  Nearly giving up, I found RUE21...a teenie bopper store with a ridiculous amount of cheap jewelry and shoes near the rear of the store.  Low and behold...I found white shoes...for $5!!!

those socks are hot.

Jewelry time.  I was on a roll with my finds now, so I continued through the mall (if you want to call it that).  I found a store that I think was called "American Diva" that was ran by Indian women (Indian-like "holla holla" not "How").  It was worth a shot...and it ended up being my greatest find yet!  I found the perfect earrings for $1. (I forgot to take a picture of them...)

So, after treating myself to a Greek salad from Showmar's (to go) I headed home to start my sweat shop.

First, I sewed on the elastic banded trim on the shoulders of the dress to use as straps.  

oh we fancy now!

Then, I used the leftover tulle from the bodice of the dress to add cap sleeves to the side of the dress.

finally done.

 add the sash...

winning.

and a crown...

oh man...

And I'm done.


I'll have photos with the full costume on after this weekend.  It's going to be epic.

Halloween Costume Part 1

Ok, so I've been working on my Halloween costume for about a month now and I'm still not finished.  By "finished" I mean, I can't stop adding more crap to it.

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you already know I'm a reality TV junkie.  Love the shit.  Makes me feel really good about my life.  Jersey Shore makes me feel classy...Bachelorette reminds me that I'm not that desperate...Big Brother teaches me about social strategy...and Toddlers and Tiaras teaches me what NOT to do to my children.

So, I've committed to being a pageant child for Halloween.

The artsy fartsy in me came up with this sketch back in the beginning of September:

as if it's going to look like this...

First Task: find dress that can be bedazzled.  Found it at Ross for $16 on the clearance rack...SOLD:

wonder why it was on clearance?

Next: clear a canvas for beading and bedazzling.  The dress had tulle on the bodice that would be impossible to sew over...so I cut it off and ended up with a satin top:

looking back at this makes me laugh...

Then I went crazy...I bought sequin edging (already threaded), loose sequins, and loose beads at Hobby Lobby.

sparkles...

Then I really went crazy...because I realized I had to string all the damn beads before I could sew them to the dress.  I had to take 20lb test fishing line off my reel, which ended in half the spool coming off in my livingroom.  Then I started threading...

WTF was I thinking?

4 strands total...about 8' of threaded beads

After threading about 9,000 beads, I decided to use the sequin strands to outline the top and sides of the dress (mostly to cover up where I ripped off the tulle).  Then I just started tacking down pieces of the strands in whatever pattern it would cooperate with me.

thankfully it came with a sweet jewel

oh dear...I have to copy this on the other side

After successfully getting the same design sewn on the opposite side, I decided to use up the ridiculous amounts of threaded sequins to highlight the beading:

now we're talkin!

Onto the back...at this point, I just let the bead strands do their own thing and it ended up looking like a flower...kinda.

definitely needs more sparkle...

Ok, so for the most part, the dress has all the beading it can take...but I had all these loose sequins with beads to use.  So I did what every pageant mom would do...I bedazzled the shit out of it...

that's better...

why the hell not...

 Back to the front...

hell yes.

Ok, so that's all the pictures I have of the dress so far.  I'm working on cap sleeves and shoulder straps tonight and will share the final product tomorrow.

I've got socks from Kmart with lace on them for $4, but cannot find white shoes for the life of me.  I may end up spray painting some black ones...

My mom found a crown at a Halloween store in West Ashley for $3.99...it's a little snug on my head, but I'm planning on having hair so large it will just sit on top of it.

I bought a custom sash online for $15, that reads "Ultimate Grand Supreme".

I'm still pissed that I spent $27 on the petticoat, but it pushes out the existing crinoline in the dress to give it that extreme cupcake design.

Still working on Jewelry...not sure how over the top I want to go.

I borrowed some little girl purses from my friend Cathy's twin girls...not sure which one I want to use though.

I'm making an appointment for a spray tan on Thursday...I'm going to look ridiculous for a good week.

Last and of course not least, I have fake eyelashes and purple eyeshadow with bright pink lip gloss.

I can't wait to see how it all comes together!  It's been the most involved I've ever been in a Halloween costume...

...however, I will probably not be picking up guys that night dressed as a 5 year old.