What can I say...

....it's FRRRIDDDAAAYYY!! (oh and old habits die hard)

But today is the start of the weekend the end of a LOOONNNGG work week and a horrid sinus infection and of course Five Question Friday...



Where is your favorite vacation spot and why?

Vacation...hmmmm let me try to remember what that is like. Since having children we have been on vacation once to Florida. Unfortunately the last few years with little babies has landed us using vacations day to be with sick littles.
I love the beach and clear water. I hope above hope to be able to take our family on a beach vacation this year.

What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

Buttercream covered yumminess.. no wait cake.. cake that I made.

I have a new recipe to share with you later lemon cake, with lemon curd filling and homemade Buttercream.

OH MY WOW.. (Andria are you reading this??)

What is your favorite fashion trend right now? Or, in the past?

I have no earthy clue what is trendy. But I am really partial to my jeans with a little stretch and a comfort waist. Man, that makes me sound old.

What are your spring break plans?

We thought we might rent a car and drive to Atlanta to see family but we need to stay a little closer to home. So we may take the kids to Great Wolf Lodge for a few days and the remainder of the week will be school and work.
B-O-R-I-N-G
What baby names do you hate?

I'm wouldn't say I hate any name. There are some really odd ones out there, but most belong to celebrity babies and I don't really know them. Clearly we are partial to different names, but not naming our kids after objects like Teddy Bear or Baby Doll.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

Much Love,

-H

I poked a cake and I liked it..

Thank you Katy Perry for my post title.

It all started with my go-to white cake recipe-

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening (You only need to wig out if you eat the whole cake)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsps of baking powder
2 pinches of salt
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsps of vanilla

Cream the shortening and sugar, add the eggs, then alternate the dry and milk. Finally gently mix in the vanilla. I use my Kitchen Aid to assist me. He is white and his name is Sam.

****WARNING---THIS CAKE IS DENSE*****

You can make 2- 8 or 9 inch rounds or 1- 9x13. Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean. Sorry I don't have an exact time. It depends on the weather and the temperment of my oven.

Next comes the pokin' part. Have you ever heard of Jell-O. I hate Jell-O, except when it's poured into a cake. You heard me right, into a cake.

Now poke some holes in your cake with a fork or a toothpick. It feels good doesn't it. Don't worry it's our little secret. Take your favorite flavor of Jell-O. I chose black cherry because after all this is a Valentine's cake. Disolve the Jell-O in one cup of boiling water and pour it over your cooled cake. Then stick your cake in the fridge or freezer. That Jell-O needs to set.

Oh my YUM...

Since the cake wasn't already sweet enough I topped it with whipped white chocolate ganache.

MMMMM HHHMMMMM.

Enjoy.

Much Love,

-H

Oh Yes it is....

FRIDAY!!!!
And what does Friday mean kids?


Why five question Friday with the lovely, skinny, anniversary celebratin' Mama M.

1. How often do you shave your legs in the winter?

Oh! you are still suppose to do that in the winter after your married.

I remember giving my mom such a hard time for not shaving and let me tell you if it's between 15 more minutes of sleep and smooth shaved legs to put in my dress pants and head off to work, well sleep wins my friend.

So, yeah maybe once a week if my husband has been a really good boy ;o)

2. Valentine's Day cards for your spouse: funny or romantic?

We don't do Valentine's Day. I am anti-valentite. I don't appreciate hallmark holidays and would prefer to recieve flowers just because rather than everybody else is doing it. I know it makes me weird. But I like me and I like weird.

3. What are you most looking forward to about spring?

Dade is going to play soccer this spring so I'm excited to see how much he loves it and making friends.

4. What's your favorite way to pamper yourself?

A mani/pedi which hasn't happened since June. If you see me without socks please just turn and walkaway before the callouses begin talking to you. It's bad, real bad, scary bad...

5. Does your tax return go into savings or do you spend it instantly?

Tax Return, you say?!?!? R-E-T-U-R-N I'm not to sure what that is..I owe I owe so it's off to work we go.

Well friend I just slid into Friday and made my link up. This weekend project home makeover continues. I know I haven't told you don't worry we have many more things to talk about. Jon and Dade are headed out in the morning for some Father/Son bonding trip to Toys R' Us to find the fastest BayBlade ever..

Hope you have a fabulous weekend that is relatively snow free.

Much Love

-H

What would you do?

Today Jon's Christmas present arrived. I know it's February..yeah yeah yeah.. I'm a procrastinator and I couldn't order it until I showed it to him on Christmas day because he is a smidgen picky. I may have also ordered myself something. We both got hand stamped rings and they are well made beautiful rings, but mine does not match what I ordered. I want what I ordered, but I also know that someone worked hard on what I received. I took a picture of the ring and a screen shot of what I paid for and sent it off to the company to see what there suggestion is.


What would you have done??


Much Love,


-H

Whew...that was a long time..

Hello friends... Is anyone still out there? Am I still in anyone's blog roll?

I wish I could tell you I have been off traveling the world or doing something equally as fantastically fun, but that is not the case.

Here is a little note I wrote about a month ago...

Depression is lonely
Depression is scattered
Depression is not sleeping
Depression is over eating
Depression is physical pain
Depression is intense emotions
Depression is putting a smile on when you aren't having any fun.
Depression is feeling alone and pushing everyone away
Depression is faking it but never really making it
Depression is tears and rage and dismal
Depression is yelling and screaming for no good reason
Depression is pushing your husband away but you don't want to be alone
Depression is a slippery slope into a chasm of empty
Depression is Me..


Four months ago while searching Dr. Google for the answer to my insomnia, I was regularly functioning on 3 to 4 hours of sleep day in and day out, I stumbled upon this quiz from our new health insurance.
I took the test for three days straight before I said a word to anyone. It took another 2 months before I saw the doctor. I am a fake it til you make it girl that was/is severly depressed. I had spent the last 3+ years thinking I could shake this off and nothing was shaking except my interest in life. I was embarassased by a label of weakness that I was placing on myself. Today I am on medicine and I am getting better slowly. I was at the bottom of a very deep hole and it will take some time to get out. I miss my life, I miss me, I miss being a part of the awseome things that God has given me. I'm sorry for my actions to myself but more importantly to others especially my family.


Life is too hard to do alone and we shouldn't give up. If you feeling these things or if you take the test and the results are not favorable seek out a doctor to help you. More than anything life is worth living fully.


Much Love....

H