Moving

I'm in the process of moving my blog.  Check it out here:  The Mother Freakin' Princess

O' Christmas Tree

I have a huge crush on the the Charlie Brown Christmas tree:


Each year while other families search for the biggest, widest, greenest, most proportioned tree...I search for the cutest, most-in-need-of-love, and obviously-not-quite-right-tree .  My family is *not* completely amused by my search for the perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree and we usually settle for a compromise of a small, but lovely tree.

Here's this year's tree:


(It's small, totally cute, and perfectly proportioned.) 

*And if you take a closer look you can see that we either embrace very modern Christmas decorations or obviously I have boys:


Nothing speaks Charlie Brown Christmas Tree like a Nerf dart?

Damn Facebook Games

Last week I started playing Ravenwood Fair on Facebook.  It was weird for me because I'd already played Cafe World, started a small farm on Farmville, and dug for treasure on Treasure Isle.  I even did the whole Mafia Wars and Hotel City thing...but that was a looong time ago.  And I had figured out pretty early on that logging onto those games and going "click-click-click" and asking for energy packs was a complete waste of my time - and boring...just sayin'.

So why the renewed interest in a completely moronic game? (By moronic I mean unthinking and unchallenging - not that people who play the games are morons - because then I would be calling myself a moron...) 

It was because by playing Ravenwood Fair I was feeling successful.  It was something I could *actually* do.  I could "click-click-click" and chop down a bunch of trees.  I could wack a Domovio, collect tree sap, construct food carts, and build games for my fair visitors.  I watched my 'fun meter' rise and got an increase in visitors.  And maybe...eventually...if I worked hard enough at my fair...there would be a wedding!  (Unless I was away from my fair too long, then my fair would be over grown with Dark Roots and I'd have to spend most of my valuable energy digging them out.)

Every where else in my life where I was feeling unsucsessful was being numbed by this damn Facebook game.  I quit today.  I let it go.  Ravenswood Fair ended up like all the other Facebook games I've played - on the blocked list. 

I guess I'll spend those few extra moments being a more successful me and doing something productive like working on my new blog layout, cooking, or playing Rock Band. 

*Oh, when I said "ended up like all the other Facebook games I've played - on the block list", that didn't include Scrabble.  If you want to play Facebook Scrabble with me, I'm all game!

Other Things to Try...Yes!

Here are some other things I tried over the weekend:



Pickled Quail Eggs

Caviar

Assorted Cheeses

And a few different vodkas (some were plain and others were flavor infused) from around the world:



I also met new people without peeing my pants or making a complete ass out of myself...but I didn't try the pickled herring or pickled lemons...I had to draw the line somewhere!

~The MFP

Things to Try, er Not...

As you know, I'm all about trying new things and expanding my belief system.  This weekend I tried several new things.

The first thing I tried was dying my hair with Kool-Aid.  I thought it would be a great way to save money, save Natron time, AND it would just be pretty cool to say that I dye my hair with Kool-Aid.

When coloring ones hair there are a few simple rules you should follow:

Have clean up items handy.

Wear old clothes that you wouldn't mind wrecking.

Have someone else to it for you.

Do a test strand.

Me?  Oh, I did none of the above.  I ruined one of my favorite shirts, ended up in the bathtub, naked with Kool-Aid running down my back and splattering the shower walls, *and* I even have a head full of pukish, brownish, pinkish hair...I made an appointment with Natron on Wednesday night to fix it for me :)



2 Cherry + 2 Strawberry + 1 Grape + 1 Pink Lemonade + 1 Berry Blue = 
Muddy Pinkish Brown....who knew?

Dress Up

My step-daughter, The Artist, had a friend over last night.  At fifteen years old, they played dress up and had a photo shoot of themselves - which will more then likely end up on Facebook.  I walked into the bathroom sometime during the evening and this is what I found:





It brought me back to a birthday party of mine long, long, really long ago.  I had a few friends over and we dressed up as punk rockers.  We had wild clothes, heavy make-up, and even temporary, crazy, colors for our hair.  My friends and I even went out in public across the street to the grocery store after we were all made up.

Which makes me think: Nature vs. Nurture?

~The MFP

Who's in Your Head?

I was reading the Barefoot Foodie the other day and came across this post:  Introducing

I've been thinking about her post off and on, trying to figure out 'who's inside my head' but I wasn't really coming up with a great answer, until today:



Kathleen Turner, as Joan Wilder, in Romancing the Stone - Mostly I'm her in the opening scene where she's finishing her book.  She's crying hysterically and way too happy with her own writing.  I've totally written blog posts where I am entirely too proud of myself.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

http://www.hairdye-colors.com
Obviously I am part punk princess!  And I would looooove to do my hair like this, but I have crinkly hair....and I don't know if something like this would work on me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
http://www.mtcoffinz.com
My punk princess has a huge romantic side.  As a full-time wife and homeschool mom I *really* need to figure out how to incorporate tutus in my everyday life.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
The Muppets Swedish Chef, because really...no one can take my cooking too seriously and I have a damn good time whipping out a crazy dish or two.

How about you?  Who's inside your head?


~The MFP


Cooking Klass

I keep thinking that I'd really like to take some cooking classes, but then I make a dinner like the one I made tonight and I figure there really isn't any thing they could teach me.  Here's the run down of me cooking dinner tonight:

Me thinking about how ingenious I am that I'll be using the rest of the spaghetti sauce from a previous night to make hamburger pizza for the kids' dinner.  

Me spreading the spaghetti sauce on the pizza crust only to find out that I didn't have *quite* enough sauce for the pizza.

Me wondering what the heck I was going to do now.  I certainly don't want to open a new jar of sauce when I needed less then a half cup...

Me squirting the pizza with ketchup, mixing the spaghetti sauce and ketchup around on the crust, and then sprinkling the 'new' sauce with garlic, onion powder, and oregano.

Me excusing myself from the dinner table to take a picture of this fancy pizza.

The kids wondering out loud why I am taking a picture of their dinner. 

Me laughing hysterically while I tell them I'll be blogging about their dinner later.

The whole family playing the game "Guess what mom made our pizza out of?"

Me ending dinner thinking that not only am I a genius, but I'm pretty freakin' funny too :)

I posted the recipe in case you wanted to recreate this dish for your own family:



"Cheeseburger Pizza"

1 Pre-made store bought pizza crust
Small amount of left over spaghetti sauce (that contains ground beef)
Generous squirt of ketchup
Sprinkle of garlic powder, onion powder, and oregano
Hand fulls of mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350 (or what ever the package of pizza crust calls for)
Place ingredients on the pizza crust in the order listed above.
Bake for the recommended time listed on the pizza crust wrapper.
Turn oven up to 450 when you get impatient to make the pizza cook quicker.
Cut into squares and enjoy!


~The MFP

I Need a New Drug

I'm tense.  I'm feeling cagey.  I'm angry and distraught.  I'm cranky, irritable, and feel distant from people.  In between bouts of anger and self-loathing, I feel guilty.  I should be counting my blessings (or my unicorns as a blogger friend calls them).  I have so much to be thankful for.  But instead I'm standing in the entryway of my house, in tears.  Not just the misty-eye type tears I normally have, we're talking full-on-crazy-longing-mourning-hysterical tears. All because...

I mentally and physically crave a bike ride race.  I need to feel the wind on my face.  I want my legs to scream at me while climbing giant hills.  I want to shred rock gardens and jump logs.  I want to dare myself to take drops I never thought I could.  I want sweat pouring down my face and mud on my tutu.  I want to be at the starting line when my boys take off.  I want to run to the next spectator area on the track so I can scream and cheer for them again and again.  I want to 'holla' for my fellow bikers and take pictures of my kid on the podium.  I want to eat chicken salad sandwiches near the hot dusty track.  I want my calendar full.   I want plans.  I want reasons why I *need* to take time for myself, not reasons why I can't.

I miss it so bad it hurts and I'm totally lost without it.  I don't know what to do.  I don't know where to go.  I don't know how to be.


~The MFP