Teaching Money Matters

Yes-Yes is really excited. He has saved up quite a bit of money and really wants to go spend it, like right now. One thing I hated to hear when I was a kid was "save your money" because as a kid you're like, "for what?!". LOL The worst is that he's into Nerf guns and Wii accessories at the moment. I really can't stand the Nerf thing. It's all just useless plastic to me and a total waste of money. The video game stuff I can understand more since I like the games too. The only thing is all of a sudden he says he wants to buy an XBox. *sigh* Like we need another console. I'm really trying to get him to save up more to get a laptop so that we don't have to fight over computers. I think that's money better spent since he can use it for school too. It won't be long before he has to use one more than he does right now...and I won't have to fork out for it either. LOL

Family Feuds

There has been a lot of junk going on in my family for a while but the last few years it has been climaxing. I'm hoping that it all just blows up and i done with soon. It all stems from my grandma's worsening condition and her living arrangements. She has dementia and the last few weeks she's been on a rapid decline. That in itself should be the bad part but of course, there always has to be one person making life more miserable.

Right now the tiff is over where to move her to. The home that she's in right now is not suitable for her condition and her needs aren't being met. There are four siblings trying to make the decision but like I said, one has to hold the whole thing up. Realistically, she should have been moved a YEAR ago but because of this one person (who also controls everything important) we can't do anything yet.

This whole thing is just SO incredibly draining. Every time there's contact with this person you just want to scream. There's always finger pointing, slander, and rude remarks. Life should not have to be this difficult, especially when it comes to family but my family is not of the ordinary and it's just a mess. I know a lot of people go through all this kind of stuff when something like this happens and I still just don't understand it. Control freaks really just need to stop.

The Next Generation

I've been feeling old lately. It's kind of weird...being the child of baby boomers, it kind of seems like there's some huge age gap but there isn't. I'm not sure how to explain that one. LOL I think something that makes me feel it even more is that DH is older and is always complaining that something aches or bothers him. The last few days haven't been all that good for me either. I think I pulled some things in not so normal places so I'm hobbling around too now. Then I see all those commercials over and over again for term life insurance. Well actually there's lots of the same commercials over and over that are driving me nuts like that one for some diabetes service. All they say is "you don't have to code your meter anymore!". UGH. That one drives me nuts. I mean, how many times can two people say the same thing and not think you're overdone?! Then it just reminds me that it won't be long before I need all this stuff that they're advertising. Well, here's to getting old...and let's do it in the best possible way!

Loving the Heat

It has been SO nice here the last few days and it's still getting warmer. No-No's really happy because she can wear nearly nothing and go running around outside. Not to mention that she doesn't have to wear slippers anymore in the house. She's always been a barefoot girl. lol I'm kind of bummed because I bought her tons of flip flops last year and her foot actually grew lately so she doesn't fit them. The worst part is that I can't get rid of them because they're so cute. I don't know how I can hang onto something brand new. I have to start looking at some for myself too. God getting old stinks...I have to look at something more like Olukai instead of the cutesy things because my arches aren't what they used to be. Omg I'm not even 30 yet! Sssh...it is coming up though. Oh man!

Oops!

I totally had forgotten to say that I hope everyone had a happy holiday! I wish we could have gotten to go some where during spring break but alas, we didn't. I'm pushing really badly to try to go to Disneyland some time this year. I seriously need a vacation from life right now. They're having a deal to get 2 nights free so I went to Disney.com to look and guess what? They're all booked for the 3 resort hotels! I'm so irritated. I'll have to see if an agent can get something since they can see what's available and I don't have to keep trying to guess. What a pain that is! Anyway, the last time we were there we had decided that we were staying in one of the cool hotels the next time. lol I'm tellin you...we're SO going if it kills me!

I Need More Motivation

Isn't it funny how you get motivated for a time (usually short) then it disappears and you're back to square one? That's me and my diet. I figured out that working out wasn't so bad if I was watching a show like The Biggest Loser. It would pump me up and I'd be fine for hours. I haven't worked out in weeks. Why? Because I'm too dang lazy. My sleeping went all wrong, and like with everything else, every time I try to set aside time for something all kinds of stuff decides to pop up right as I'm getting into it. Talk about a pain. Maybe if I could find a diet pill that works I could actually keep losing weight instead of staying in the same spot...fat chance. LOL

Another Animal?

While we were out today, Yes-Yes and I saw a ton of some of the cutest dogs ever. We're cat people but are split with No-No and DH who like dogs. Currently we have two cats, a rabbit, and a goldfish. Of course the other two would love to get a dog if we could afford it. If I actually did agree, which I more than likely won't, it would have to be a smaller dog since larger dogs freak us out. LOL There's no way that we could afford any more animal supplies right now. The cats eat like none I've ever seen as it is and the rabbit is always running low on food.

Yes-Yes got curious to what all a dog needs and found a site where they really categorize things well so you know exactly what you need for a specific type of animal. I had to look at the cat stuff to see what the prices were of that self cleaning litter box. There's so many more than just the Littermaid now and some are really advanced. It's pretty funny. Yes-Yes and I checked out the dog products and were rather disappointed as usual. There are always so many more accessories for dogs than there are cats. We do always get a kick out of all the different dog carriers and stroller things that people have for them. I often wonder how much space people need to store all of their pet food though. I knew one lady that had dogs, cats, birds, and chickens! Good-ness...she must have had a barn in the back full of stuff!

Happy Easter!

As usual I'm still up trying to catch up with a few things before tomorrow (later today). At least dessert is done and I'm not up because I'm baking. Man, those 7am nap times before everyone came over were pretty rough. And even better is that we aren't having it here so I'm not running around like a chicken trying to clean the house!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday whether you observe Easter or not. In any case it's a good excuse to get together with family!

Update: Lemon Tiramisu

So I tried my version of the lemon tiramisu recipe I had posted. It needs a little tweaking but it was seriously AWESOME! DH hates lemony desserts and he loved this one. YAY! I wanted really badly to take a picture for you but I forgot and I came down today and it was already gone! This was the third day of it being in the house. I'm making a big one for Easter for sure now and another small one for home while I'm at it so there'll be a picture of it soon.

In other news, I've already lost another two pounds this week. Another YAY! I may need some sort of appetitesuppressant for Sunday so I don't eat myself sick. I've been so good about calorie counting and stuff that Easter food is really gonna break me I think. I have to be sure to be good until then for sure.

Dont' forget...new tiramisu recipe and picture coming soon!

Spring Break(?)

I hope everyone is having a decent time, at the least, on their Spring break. I know some have had it already and some haven't had it yet. Either way I hope it's better than mine! LOL

I've been working, cleaning, and totally running out of time. We're supposed to take a day trip tomorrow and sadly I don't want to go because I have so much to do here. I still have to highlight my hair, cut Yes-Yes's, make a dessert for Easter, do laundry, on top of working and dealing with No-No's constant tantrums. I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting because sooner or later I end up remembering something else...like, we need to go look at tv stands too. I hate our stupid three pieced one. Yeah, THREE pieces! It's a cabinet type thing, that sits on a circular swivel thing, which sits on a base. It's the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time, and no, I didn't buy it. We "inherited" it from my father-in law that decided to get a new one and since ours was a massive thing I agreed. If I knew it was like that I sure as heck wouldn't have said yes. Geesh.

Uninvited Advise

One of my friends sent me this thing for a slimming pills review. I was semi insulted before I realized that it was because I have tried a lot of different things to lose weight. How quickly we forget and become defensive. LOL I kept thinking that it was because I am fatter but I was like, omg I'm SO not THAT fat!

That all reminded me of this one time that my Grandma got this weird thing in the mail once. When I was young and lived with her, my favorite thing to do was go get the mail and newspaper everyday. One day I gave her this piece of mail that didn't have a return address. She opened it and inside was a newspaper clipping about being overweight and some kind of weight loss product. I can't remember exactly. Anyway, it was super rude and I just remember sitting there going wth?! My poor Grandma...how embarrassing is that?! She was never fat or overweight. She did have a little pooch on her lower belly that never went away but other than that she was always tiny. I wish we would have found out who it was...man people suck don't they?

Missing ER...Already?!

It's so sad. I haven't watched ER regularly for a couple of years now because I kept forgetting but now that it's gone I'm already wishing that it wasn't. I swear that was one of THE best shows ever. The characters were so dynamic and each actor played their own with such confidence. The rest of my fam says that we should buy all of the seasons on DVD so that I won't miss the show too much. That would be a nice Christmas pressie huh? LOL *sigh* I REALLY hope that this Southland show that they're replacing it with is just as good. Third watch was good but evidentally didn't fly since it was cancelled not long after it started. Yes, I did shed tears during the ER finale and couldn't believe the whole thing was ending. Man, I'm pretty pathetic. LOL!

Sexy Sleepin

I'm really proud of myself...in the past 2-3 months I've lost almost 15 lbs! Yay Me! LOL It kinds of sucks a little because I had just replaced my one pair of jeans with two and I'm already not fitting them all that well. Sometimes I think that I've stayed fat, when I have been, because I was scared I wouldn't have anything to wear or money to replace things. At one point I thought about asking people to donate a dollar and sponsor my weight loss. LOL!!! I know, it's really sad. DH is getting happier though since I haven't worn anything cute like my babydoll negligee to bed. Instead my sheep and cow jammies came out of the drawer. LOL Yeah, I do have some others that don't have animals on them but who doesn't love cutey cartoony animals? Okay, apparently it's not all that sexy is it? LMAO!

Hello Spring!

It's time to take out all of No-No's clothes and evaluate what still fits and what doesn't. I hate doing this. Not only can I not let go of all her really cute clothes, I end up finding out that she needs way more stuff than I had originally anticipated. Even worse, right now we can't hardly afford to buy food, let alone new clothes for the kids. At least her brother isn't growing as rapidly and she's a tiny little peanut so she still fits some stuff. I wish there was a wholesale clothing store that sold good stuff and not the cheap junk that falls apart before they can grow out of it. All the good clothes keep getting more and more expensive. At least with the economy the way it is there's always tons of sale stuff, it's just a matter of beating everyone else to it.

Easter Traditions and Lemon Tiramisu Recipe

Every Easter I'm expected by my extended family to make some sort of fantastic dessert. I'm not sure exactly how this started but it seriously got to be too much for me. This year I'm making a lemon tiramisu to keep things simple. I've been so overwhelmed by this in the past that I'd end up awake and still baking at 7am! Craziness I tell you.

I saw a really yummy looking dessert on a PBS show with Lidia Bastianich and thought, I just HAVE to make that! I just imagined something along the lines of lemon bars and lots of cream...*drool* Our Meyer lemons are doing really well right now and what's better than something light, creamy, and citrusy?! I know for sure I'm going to be tweaking this recipe that I found (from recipezaar.com) but here's the unaltered (REALLY long) version.

• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 5-6 lemons
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups limoncello
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 40 ladyfingers

Pour just enough water in a double-boiler pan so the water level is right below the bottom of the mixing bowl when it is sitting in the pan. Separate the eggs, putting yolks into the large bowl of the double boiler and the whites into another stainless-steel bowl for whipping by hand or with an electric mixer.

Remove the zest of two or more of the lemons, using a fine grater, to get 2 tablespoons of zest. Squeeze out and strain the juice of these and the other lemons to get 3/4 cup of fresh lemon juice.

To make the base for the tiramisù, heat the water in the double boiler to a steady simmer. Off the heat, beat the egg yolks with 1/4 cup of the sugar and 1/2 cup of the limoncello until well blended. Set the bowl over the simmering water, and whisk constantly, frequently scraping the whisk around the sides and bottom of the bowl, as the egg mixture expands and heats into a frothy sponge, 5 minutes or longer. When the sponge has thickened enough to form a ribbon when it drops on the surface, take the bowl off the double-boiler pan and let it cool.

Meanwhile, pour the remaining cup of limoncello, all of the lemon juice, 1 cup water, and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and cook for 5 minutes, evaporating the alcohol. Let the syrup cool completely.

In another large bowl, stir the mascarpone with a wooden spoon to soften it, then drop in the grated lemon zest and beat until light and creamy. Whip the egg whites with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, by hand or by machine, until it holds moderately firm peaks.

When the cooked limoncello sponge (or zabaglione) is cooled, scrape about a third of it over the mascarpone, and fold it in with a large rubber spatula. Fold in the rest of the zabaglione in two or three additions. Now fold in the whipped egg whites in several additions, until the limoncello-mascarpone cream is light and evenly blended.

Pour some of the cooled syrup, no deeper than 1/4 inch, into the shallow-rimmed pan to moisten the ladyfingers (savoiardi). One at a time, roll a ladyfinger in the syrup and place it in the casserole or baking dish. Wet each cookie briefly—if it soaks up too much syrup, it will fall apart. Arrange the moistened ladyfingers in neat, tight rows, filling the bottom of the pan completely. You should be able to fit about twenty ladyfingers in a single layer.

Scoop half of the limoncello-mascarpone cream onto the ladyfingers, and smooth it to fill the pan and cover them. Dip and arrange a second layer of ladyfingers in the pan, and cover it completely with the remainder of the cream.

Smooth the cream with the spatula, and seal the tiramisù airtight in plastic wrap. Before serving, refrigerate for 6 hours (or up to 2 days), or put it in the freezer for 2 hours. To serve, cut portions of tiramisù in any size you like, and life each out of the pan and onto dessert plates.