Thursday, December 31, 2009

And so we say farewell to 2009.
The year that was in Sarah D. bullet point form
~~~~~
  • History was made as Mr. Obama went to Washington
  • Jon and Kate came to an end
  • Rosie is single again
  • The King died
  • Douchebags were revealed
  • Sarah Palin......remind me why we ever talked about her in the first place?
  • We lost a Golden Girl
  • The Hangover was a movie worth seeing multiple times in the theater, buying the day it came out and watching over and over so you can quote scenes with your friends. Or, maybe it's just to see the hotness that is Bradley Cooper.
  • A show called GLEE made my heart sing
  • RIP Luann Platter
  • The balloon boy family made most of us look a little more normal (and hide our weather balloons)
  • Octomom. What surprised me the most about her is how good she looks now. She carried 8 kids and looks hot. I had two and pretty much look like sh*t.
  • In don't judge a book by their cover news: Susan Boyle
  • Taylor Swift was everywhere. We're supposed to hate Kanye because he interrupted her speech at the VMA's. It was rude, but he was right. Single Ladies WAS a better video.
  • The man who would not let Baby be put in a corner died.
  • My Queen (OPRAH) announced the end date of her show.

~~~~~~~~~

I'm sure I've missed a few. My highlights may not be your highlights.

Wishing you all a prosperous, celeb death free, and happy 2010!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. ~Benjamin Franklin

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Sunday, December 20, 2009

The five club has a new member!


Today my boy Jack is five years old!
Woo hoo.
More birthday related madness
to be reported on later, but I just wanted to acknowledge his special day.


Happy Birthday Jack!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Goodness gracious great balls of cake

Let me start by saying that the junior high boy in me chuckles a bit every time I hear the words cake balls. Come on, you gotta be thinking it to.
~~~~~~~
I'm not a Christmas baker. I'm not a Christmas candy maker.
As a rule, I'm not all that crafty. I do own a glue gun, but any craft or baking project usually leaves me with a burnt thumb.
When I heard about cake balls I thought it was something that I could actually do.
The possibilities are as endless as the varieties of cake mix and icing at the grocery store.
Today, we are making red velvet cake balls.
~~~~~
Start with a red velvet cake mix.
(Now if you are one of those people that don't believe in cake mixes and think that your
from scratch cakes are better than any mix could ever be, this post is probably not for you.
I'm sure you are too busy with your icing bag and rose tips decorating up some beautiful Christmas cookies to read this anyway.)
Follow the directions on the box and bake the cake.

When cake is finished, let it cool.
When the cake is cool remove part of the cake and begin to crumble it in a bowl.
Continue until entire cake is crumbled.
I know I used a red bowl for my red cake, but it's my pretty new longaberger bowl that I just love.
Once cake is crumbled get out your icing.
Since this is red velvet, I'm using cream cheese icing.
Remember in Steel Magnolias when the had the armadillo groom's cake at the wedding?
They cut into it and it was blood red.
Good movie. I laughed, I cried.
I digress......
Add icing to crumbled cake a little at a time and mix.
Continue doing so until entire container of icing is added and
cake and icing are completely mixed together.

Here is where you've got a choice to make.
At this point it may not look the best, but you know it would be really good to just eat it.
Maybe you've had a hard day or the Biggest Loser is on (I know it is over, but I always found myself eating something really bad while watching that show).
If you do choose to just eat it now, I'm sure not judging. I'm fairly certain you have earned it.
Enjoy! If you decide to move on in the cake ball process, follow me.
This is where it gets a little messy.
You gotta use your hands.
Take a small amount of the cake mixture and form it into a ball.
I made mine a little too large and will rectify that the next batch.
Live and learn.
Think tootsie roll pop size (I hate the brown ones).
Put the formed balls onto a wax paper covered cookie sheet.
I decided to make mine into cake pops so I inserted a sucker stick.
I got the sticks at Wal-Mart.
After you have moved all of your frozen crap around, put the cookie sheets into the freezer.
I let mine freeze for a few hours, I think an hour or two would have been plenty.
They don't have to be frozen solid, they are just easier to work with out of the freezer.
When your cake balls have spent enough time in the freezer get them out.
Take an entire package of white almond bark (why is it called that?) and melt it according to package direction. I don't own a double boiler so I just used the microwave. It worked fine.


You've worked pretty hard so you may want to reward yourself with a little taste of
the almond bark. It's good eh?

Now, take the cake balls and dip them in the almond bark.
This is a trial and error process.
I dipped some and spooned the almond bark over others.
Whatever works for you.
Since I am currently in the running for mother of the year, I let Jack help.
After that fiasco I'm out of the running.

If you want to put sprinkles on them like we did, make sure you do it immediately after
they are dipped in the chocolate.
The finished product.


Stored in an air tight container and put in the frig they should keep for a couple of weeks.
ENJOY!!!!!!!


Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Full of crap

If you are like me and do the majority of your network television watching on a Terre Haute, IN based station, you may have seen a commercial for this insurance agency.


CRAPO INSURANCE AGENCY, INC
Even though it is pronounced crepe oh, I still think it is a crappy name for an insurance agency.
Pretty much a crappy name for any kind of agency.
Except maybe a toilet agency.
I'm not so sure there are toilet agencies.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Remember this post http://sarahsplayground1.blogspot.com/2009/01/devil-made-me-do-it.html ??

The typo heard round the world that was the Kinkade family holiday card of '08?

I did it again.


Below you see Harrison's beautiful first birthday party invite. Check out the month.
Yep, December is spelled wrong. Luckily my 10 year old nephew Dawson noticed it within 2 seconds of getting the card in his hand. Unlucky for me the invitations had already went out in the mail.




I think an obvious mistake on personalized cards that I send out is going to become my thing.
After much blood, sweat, and tears I finally placed my holiday card order. A phone call to K. Jill Bierman, NCHS English Teacher to the stars over comma placement assured me that I was fine in that department, old school-but fine. (I did not contact Mrs. Bierman over the comma placement in the previous sentence, I'm sure that it is wrong and that there are way too many, I do love a comma)
The cards should arrive next week. I probably misspelled one of my kid's names.

Friday, December 11, 2009

The big ONE

My little Prince turned one Thanksgiving day.

The morning of his birthday Harrison got his
new battery operated four wheeler.
Now everyone in the family has one except for me ;-(
(I think I will survive)
On Thanksgiving day/Harrison's birthday we (me, Cliff and our boys)
along with my parents and my sister Rebekah and her family
(Michelle and her fam were at Disney World) headed to French Lick
to celebrate Thanksgiving and the little Prince's birthday.....WATER PARK STYLE!!!

We did not forget the cake!




We had a great time at the water park.
I think a new Thanksgiving family tradition was born.



Last Friday night we had Harrison's official birthday party.


A cake fit for a Prince!







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
check out Harrison and Jack's pictures taken by our friend
and fabulous photog Amber Lindemann

Monday, December 7, 2009

The first haircut

A couple of weeks before Harrison turned the big ONE we took him to get his first haircut from my boys favorite hair stylist, Amanda Ginder.

He really did not cry THAT much.
I think Amanda was concerned that Harrison was going to be another Jack
(there are no words to describe the level of awful Jack used to be during a haircut, he needed a straight jacket).






All done and ready for some action!