It's Amazing: I Made Up My Mind and Bought Some Measuring Cups!

I was having trouble deciding which measuring cups I should buy a few weeks ago.  No one helped but amazingly, I figured it out on my own.  If you know me you would know how big of a deal this is.  I can't decide on anything.  I usually end up letting other people decide things for me.  So it's with great pride that I announce that I've purchased the West Elm Fish Measuring Cups and I love them!!  It took many days and lots of thought before choosing them.  
They don't match a thing in my kitchen (nothing in my house matches though, that's the downside to hand-me-down furniture and decor.  But on second glance they do sort of match my Pfaltzgraff Ocean Breeze set that's no longer a set.  It's no longer a set because half of it's broken but I'm not too too sad because I got a killer deal when I bought mine.  My cups were a little smaller but I got 21 pieces- 4 dinner plates, 4 salad plates, 4 bowls, 4 cups, 4 tiny plates (saucers?) and a giant serving plate for...$12.  And yes, you read that correctly!  Twelve dollars.  How?  Maybe because we lived near the plant and they had tons of extras?  I found them at a festival at my local fairgrounds that had nothing to do with dinnerware.  In the 11 years that my hubby and I have lived together it's one of the biggest non-electronic purchase we ever made.  Sad, huh?  Like I said, most of what we own has been given to us by someone else.  Not that I'm complaining but it's great to say "I bought that and it's something I love".   

Are you still with me?  Sorry for the digression...it happens a lot.  

Anyway, I'm super happy about my mommy's day purchase and use them often.  I'm really afraid that I'll shatter them in a moment of distraction but so far so good.  And they are just so darn pretty.  If you ever wonder if you should buy the functional or the functional and pretty and the price comparison is fairly level I say with gusto, "go with pretty!!!".  I love looking at the bright and colorful fishies hanging out in my kitchen.    

Measuring Madness or...For the Love of God Please Help Me Pick One

I never thought measuring cups and spoons would drive me crazy, but it's true.  I have been obsessing for weeks over "the ones".  I am kind of bored with functional but ugly cheap plastic cups that don't hold up well in the dishwasher.  And in my house if it's not dishwasher safe it's gone.  So I've been pinning my favorites when I come across them.  I've been searching the web to find new and better measuring cups.  I decided that monotone is not for me.  That and no cheap plastic are my rules.  So I've narrowed it down and need some help deciding.  Because I don't think my hubby will be too happy with 3-5 sets of measuring cups.  
 
So here are the runners up:


West Elm's Fish Measuring Cups

Anthropologie's Milk Bottle Measuring Cups



Pros:

Price is a very reasonable $15 with FREE shipping!

Adorable matching butter dish (which I need to buy anyway)

LOVE the colors, probably my favorite colors out of all of them.

Cons:

When stored they don't look as nice as some of the others

There used to be a matching set of spoons but they are no longer available...not really a con but a :(  

Pros:
-Looks great when stacked
-Simple, blends well with any decor (which we don't happen to have to worry about anyway since I can't decide on a wall color for my kitchen and cabinet, countertop and floor redos that are needed aren't in our budget)
-Grea display piece
-Inside is colorful

Cons:
-White gets dirty
-A little pricey at $24 (plus shipping?)

Anthropologie's Cucina Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Great colors

-Okay price- $19.95 (+shipping)

-Matching (expensive) measuring spoons (but they're just as cute)

Cons:

-Not as cool sitting on the counter as others

-Complaints about measuing accuracy

Urban Outfitters' Turtle Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Countertop status= PERFECT!!  The stand is awesome and adorable.  Flip the cups and they are the shell.

-I like the colors

Cons:

-A little pricey at $24 (+ shipping)

-Not dishwasher safe...but I'll mostly be using them for dry ingredients

Urban Outfitters' Sheep Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Perfect on counters

-Adorable and neutral

Cons:

-Price- $24 + shipping

-Not dishwasher safe

-White gets dirty

Pier 1's Ceramic Turtle Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Love the colors and design

-Perfect on the counters

-Okay price- $20

-No shipping fee (they don't ship) and they say they're in stock at my local store

Cons:

-I can't think of any

Two's Company (on Amazon) Birds & Trees Measuring Cups

Pros:

-Perfect on the counter when stacked

-Rearrange them!

-Neutral white

Cons:

-By far the most expensive at $30

-White gets dirty

-Lacks a 1/3 cup (1, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4)

There are many more worthy of honorable mentions but that would take all day and I'm already indecisive.  They are all so cute!  I want one of each, but I know it isn't practical.  It's pretty easy to narrow it down to a few.  For instance, I don't want to pay $30 for one so I can eliminate the birds and trees.  Although I love the Cucina cups, I wasn't gushing over them like I did some of the others.  The sheep get more cons than pros.  But I still have 4 left to choose from.  Decisions, decisions! 

Which ones would you buy?

P.S. This post is full of links sending you to purchase pages.  None of them are affiliate/sponsored links.  I actually don't want you to buy any in case you pick mine and then the're sold out of them.  I'd be so mad at you.   Unless they turn out to be crappy and break.  Then I'd feel sorry for you and secretly pat myself on the back for not jumping the gun. 

I'm Weird, Okay?

I hide my weirdness like some people hide the fact that they collect bugs.  But 30 changed my confidence.  I'm only going to hide my weirdness sometimes.  Like in public.  But I'll only sometimes care about what the internet world thinks of me.  By the time I'm a crazy, mean old 80-something I might be totally free of caring.  You'll see what my kids do. 

And it will be awesome (if you're me).

Important Questions

The most important (and nagging) question today is:
Where the heck is my library card? 
Why do I need it, you ask?  I'll be happy to tell you.  I got a Kindle for Christmas.  And I'm too cheap to buy books.  I love borrowing them from the library through my Kindle.  It's like a present that keeps giving.  Beautiful.  But you need your card number to borrow it and I had it saved on auto complete but then Jason did stuff to our computer and now that's gone.  Damn computer geeks making my computer better but my life suckier. 

My next question:  Did anyone notice that I changed my blog design?  It was a substantial change but I kept the same colors.  Now a really super awesome change would be if someone took pictures of my family and turned all of us into our own Weeble and made some of us leaning one way, some the other.  Of course I would be centered perfectly because I'm awesome and I'm the steady crutchy Weeble.  Who's up for the task of designing this sweetness at the great price of free? 

I Had This Awesome Idea

I was all set to write about something.  I was even sitting at the computer when I got my bright idea.  Usually when I have a decent topic to write about I'm in the shower or the car and you can't write in the shower and my purse is always lacking this important tool.  Then by the time I can get to one I forget what I wanted to write.  But I guess it's not the fault of the water or the car or the purse...it's me.  I know this now because I was at the computer and had a great idea and went to the compose page and promptly forgot everything.  Shoot. 

At the same time that I was forgetting what I wanted to write, I was complaining in my head about a pair of headphones sitting on my desk.  I was trying to watch a video and saw that the volume on the speaker was turned up pretty high, but I couldn't hear anything.  Then I noticed those headphones.  I don't even know how to describe them.  They look funny and they are really hard to put on your ears.  It always takes me a few minutes to figure them out and I forgot to pause the video and it ended up being one of those that moves on to the next news topic and then I was annoyed at the weird-looking headphones. 

Since I know me and I would want to know what they look like I thought I'd share my search for weird-looking headphones. 

Doesn't that book beg to be read?

My results didn't turn up a pair of weird-looking headphones.  Just a book called Dei Dreamer and 3 pairs of regular-looking headphones.  Shake my head, Amazon.  You need to adjust your algorithms.  Weird-looking headphones and regular headphones are NOT the same thing!  Then I did a search for headphones that go over your ears (seriously lacking in the part of my brain that uses descriptions this morning) and BINGO!  EARHOOK Headphones!! 

I included the link in case you need a pair of confusing headphones.  They actually work well once you figure out how to put them on your ears.

So now you know.

The Night Time is the Right Time (for Weirdness)

This week my night life has been more active and interesting than my day life.  And I'm not talking about clubs and bars, dancing and drinking.  I'm talking about bed.  And not in a dirty way. 
I have a cat that prefers to drink out of cups of water.  He especially prefers the glass of water I keep by my bed.  I especially like to push him off the bed when he rudely wakes me up in the middle of the night with his face in the glass of water that I really wanted to drink.  I try to keep him out of my room but he finds his way in.  This has happened ever since I went on vacation over Christmas break.  He must have thought I was leaving him forever and decided to become an incredibly attached kitty.  The other night was one of those nights.  I woke up to his butt in my face and his face in my water.  His water bowl was full.  He's so rude.  Then I couldn't go back to sleep because I was really thirsty but too tired to walk downstairs to get more water.  Plus I left my shoes in the hallway that night and I can't put my bare feet directly on the floor unless I want the monsters under the bed to get me. 

When I did finally go back to sleep I had a dream about zombies.  I didn't know it until the end, but it was the sequel to a previous dream about zombies.  In this one I was on a main road in my town that leads to one of the highways.  I was walking and suddenly I saw zombies.  I had a conversation with my friend Mel about it and she asked what kind of zombies they were.  I didn't know there were different kinds and I was going to say they were probably Asian zombies, because they all had dark hair and eyes but I didn't think any of my other facebook friends would get my humor and instead I told her, "[they were] fast and mean and limpy. Their faces were gray-ish and their eyes were black. They all had black hair too. Maybe it was just a black and white dream.".  I thought that sounded more appropriate.  Anyway, the fast, mean and limpy zombies were very violent, like zombies usually are.  They were clueless if you pretended you were a zombie (wish I had known that from the start, some people might have lived) and they didn't eat each other.  After surviving my way down the highway I found a building and hid with some other people.  Then I ended up hiding in an elevator with Joseph Gordon Levitt.  After we separated I made my way to the west coast and when the goverment found out how to kill them (this is when I relized this was part 2 and that the stupid government already knew how to kill them but forgot) I was reunited with Adam Brody and another guy and girl from the first part, whom I didn't recognize.  We were in some firehall-style building and people were making food for the survivors.  We chatted about how we made it and then my alarm clock started beeping. 
That was my most entertaining dream in a while. 

Last night I was peacefully sleeping and suddenly Jason woke up with a start and said, "whoa!".  I wake easily when a person talks or yells- I'm always ready for an emergency or something I guess.  I was far away on the opposite end of the bed from him, totally out of reach of him.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said, "holy crap," then asked me if I just pushed him in the face, kind of hard.  Obviously I hadn't because I was too far away.  I was so sleepy and out of it so I just told him that it definitely wasn't me and that it was probably a ghost*.  He seemed to accept this explanation with a, "hmph.".  Then I proceeded to tell him that if a ghost pushed him hard in the face that it probably had a good reason and that he should get up to see if there's something it wanted to tell him.  He actually got up then.  I don't think the ghost really had anything to say to him, except maybe "go pee".   I then had dreams about a creepy ghost waking me up.  
I don't know if it's important or not, so I'll say it just in case.  I believe in paranormal.  But I'm a skeptical believer and tend to not believe unless I see it myself or the person telling me tells a good story and they are trustworthy (and not on drugs).  I have seen things that absolutely could not have been explained before.  In the house where I currently live (8 years) there has only been one time something happened with my son, who was 2.  It could have been a dream so I discount the event as such.  If this was indeed a ghost it may have just been travelling through and couldn't resist him/herself a practical joke. 



*I'm so creative and persuasive when I'm sleeping.  I should be a sleep writer. 

This is What Happens When I'm Gone for a While

My life has been so boring that I haven't really bothered writing about it.  Sometimes my kids will say something I want to remember but it's few and far between so I just end up boring my Facebook friends with the info instead of writing about it in detail here.  Now I can give a big boring update all at once.  Ready?

So, since I've been here last we've celebrated two birthdays: my baby Henry turned 2 on March 30 and my daughter Amara turned 7 on April 19th.  Henry got everything he wanted- babies, a football, basketball, baseball mitt and a bunch of other sports crap.  He is obsessed with sports.  He never put his cake in the oven for "you and me".  Instead he did it for "baketball hoop!".  It's cuter than the 2 year old singing Adele.  I should record it.  He also wanted more motorcycles, Legos and Zoobles and got them.  Then promptly lost almost all of it.  Amara didn't want a whole lot- she asked for an Ipod.  When I told her that little kids in our house don't get $200 presents she apologized for asking for something so expensive then asked for a camera, mp3 player, some dolls so she would have toys to play with when her friends came over, Zoobles, Xia Xia Pets, Lego Friends and a pull up bar for her doorway (yes, I'm serious).  After some discussion she decided she wanted to upgrade to a second-hand Nintendo DSi (she had the Lite) with games and accessories and I surprised her with a nice tea set and a Xia Xia home (junk).  Her brothers got her a Xia Xia shell, an itty-bitty stuffed bunny and a Lego Friend set.  Her friends and family ended up getting her everything else on the list (except the pull up bar), so she was a very happy birthday girl.  She also received money and decided she wants to save it, so now I'm searching for a bank that offers youth banking.  The credit unions have some awesome accounts but I don't know if they can become a member if their parents aren't.  I might look into it if I don't get distracted by something new.   

I was a Cityville (on Facebook) addict for a while.  Recently I've almost stopped playing, going from a few times per day to barely once a week and only for a few minutes each time.  Go me!  
I'm still a Pinterest addict.  I love my Kindle like I love water.  I enjoy both necessities and rarely leave the house without them.   
I guess I scratched my eye a few weeks ago after taking an hour nap in my contacts.  I have glasses but I can't see out of them very well.  I have another pair that I can see better with, but they don't stay on my face.  Every time I think my eye feels better I put my contact back in, only to have my eye explode in pain again after a few hours.  Then I look and my eye is incredibly bloodshot and I'm back to square one.  It hurts.  I don't have insurance and it looks like a visit to the eye doctor will be necessary...this is going to cost me.  Suck. 
There's absolutely nothing else to say about me.  I'm just not that interesting. 
Oh wait, it seems that everyone in the world has become an advocate of me getting married.  I guess that's interesting.  It sure was interesting one day when a handful of people, unbeknownst to one another were planning, discussing or commenting on our upcoming (unknown) marriage.  The discussions are still trickling in every few days too.  Jason and I have been together for 11 years and our kids think we are married.  My daughter was horrified when she asked for the ring, dress and photos and I had nothing to produce.  I maybe should have told her then that it's because there was never a production date but it was just easier not to have that potentially long conversation.   So I picked out a ring (that I'll never get because you can only order it online and that's too big a committment to make online) and decided on Jason's metal then made dinner and promptly got distracted by other stuff that doesn't cost as much money or time.   

My 4 year old has been cracking me up a lot recently.  Just the other day Jonas was with us at Cracker Barrel and we had just been served our meal.  Jason and I always get breakfast and the little boys got some kid food.  He saw my grits and freaked out.  He said he didn't want any of his food; he just wanted "that".  Being the nice mommy that I am, I took Jason's grits and gave them to Jonas.  He polished them off in seconds and...said, "May I please have some more porridge?" .  I laughed so loud that the entire restaurant was probably giving me dirty looks.  We live in Pennsylvania.  It's not okay to laugh in public.  But seriously, what kid asks for porridge?  Where did he hear it?  I'm still laughing.  Then the following day he was browsing through my kitchen (I'm pretty sure that if he doesn't become a police officer he will be a chef.  He could really go the extra mile and be both), grabbed something and ran to me.  He said, "see mommy, you still have a spatula!"  (I had thought I broke them all) then went on to say, "Now, can you make me some flapjacks?".  This wouldn't be a weird word except that I have never, in my entire life said the word "flapjack" unless I was talking about the word.  No clue where he got that one either.  Oh, and Jo is FINALLY potty trained.  FIIIINALLLLY! 

Henry, who was practically trained by about 20 months completely quit trying.  Those two are constantly on opposite ends of the spectrum. 

Zachary, my 10 year old, has made it his life goal to ruin his little sister's life on the pretense that it's she who is ruining his life.  It's super annoying and I'm totally out of parenting ideas so I often just ignore them.  They fight so often and it's practically impossible to split them up because there aren't enough neighbors to ship them off to. 
And I'm ruining his life because I nag him too much.  That's me saying it, and not him.  I know I do it but what else are you supposed to do when a kid won't take a shower, clean his room, leave his sister alone, pick up his toys when he's done with them unless you are on them about it at least 15 minutes out of every hour?  I seriously need to know!  
On a good note, he is doing great in school.  He doesn't try as hard as he should but he gets by with good grades.  Next year might kick his skinny butt if he tries to pull off his first year at middle school like he has been these past few but I know he can do it if he tries.  He's been taking piano for the last few years and he's been slacking on that also.  As far as I know he's doing well, but I think he'd do better if we had a piano in our house.  I'm working on that but I have a lot going against me.  

Did I talk too much?  I'll talk about the nighttime stuff in another post. 

Almost Time

For this boy 

to celebrate 2 years of life.  

It seems like yesterday he was this tiny little thing:

 I just can't believe it's almost been 2 years!  On Friday, March 30, 2012 we will be putting two candles on his cake.  He will sing along with us instead of being a tiny, confused bystander.  He will blow out his own candles and clap along with us when they're out.  He asked for Lego Batman this year, and a basketball, football, helmet, hockey stick and puck...he really likes sports.  Of course I and eager family members are happy to oblige this simple wish list.  I even got him a sister to his "baby ittle broder". 

He still cries for me when I leave, usually needs my help to climb into his seat at the table and needs a stool to wash his hands.  But he's growing up so fast and is hardly my baby anymore.  Last year I could look back and see him grow month by month.  Now it's measured more in 3-6 month increments and soon it will be yearly progress.  Henry has come such a long way from his wobbly, mumbling 1 year old self.  Now he says, "please" and "thank you", speaks in complete sentences and loves to sing songs to and with us (he even makes up his own songs).  When I tell him I love him he usually says, "I wuv you too, Mama".  He reads books and tries to tell me the color of his toys (he's usually wrong).  This little boy who still needs at least 1 nap per day and can't pour his own drink (well...he can but it usually ends up on the floor) can shoots basketballs with amazing accuracy, climbs rocks like a pro and has an uncanny ability to remember names.

Friday will be bittersweet and the cake will be chocolatey.     

Bzz: Dr. Oetker Pizza Ristorante Review

Recently, Bzz Agent gave me the opportunity to try Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza.  This was the first time hearing of the brand so I was curious to see if the pizza would be available at my local grocery store, which is notorious for not carrying a lot of variety.  To my surprise when I checked there were 4 of the 6 varieties.  Apparently Dr. Oetker is the most popular frozen pizza in Italy and they produce more than just pizza, including baking mixes.  

Dr. Oetker Pizza is thin crust, gourmet-style pizza that is available in the following varieties: Pizza Spinaci (Spinach), Pizza Mozzarella, Pizza Funghi (mushroom), Pizza Vegetale (tomatoes, peppers, onions and chilies), Pizza Quattro Formaggi (four cheese: mozzarella, Edam, Emmental and blue cheese) and Pizza Speciale (Pepperoni and Ham).  Each pizza contains 3 servings and costs about $6.  You can get complete ingredient lists and nutritional information for all of the pizzas by clicking the above external link. You can also find stores near you that sell their pizza.

Using the coupons provided by BzzAgent I purchased the Pizza Vegetale for the adults and the Pizza Speciale for the kids.  I really, really wanted to try the vegetable and mozzarella pizzas but I knew my kids would hate me forever if one of the pizzas didn't have pepperoni.

I got a picture of the Pizza Vegetale box before throwing it away.  I don't have any photos of the Pizza Speciale.

You might notice that my pizza is on foil.  That is not how these pizzas are supposed to be cooked- they should be placed directly on the oven rack, but I HATE doing that, so I didn't.

The directions were as simple as any other frozen pizza and it only took about 10 minutes to cook in the oven.    

Ta-da!  Looks pretty close to what's on the box.

  
It is what it promises- a thin crust, crispy pizza.  The veggies were really good and they were large pieces, not tiny chunks of barely-recognizable vegetables.  On the Pizza Speciale, the pepperonis were the same as any and the ham pieces were large.  I don't like ham on pizza but I ate one for the sake of reviewing and it was good.  Again, it was much better than the pizzas that use tiny chunks of meat.

A few years ago I gave up on all but the Giant brand frozen pizzas because they were too much money and not good.  Giant's was the only one I actually liked and it cost less than Domino's or Little Caesars (until recently, anyway).  Dr. Oetker Pizzas were good, but kind of expensive.  On their website it says the suggested retail price is $4.99-6.99.  $4.99 I would pay for one for myself if I felt like eating something a little better than big-name pizza place would provide but I would make the trip to Little Caesars for the kids, for a much larger pizza for the same price.  Unfortunately the stores where I live charge a higher price of about $6 for Dr. Oetker pizza.  More than likely I would wait for a coupon or skip them and buy a cheaper pizza and fresh veggies to put on top while cooking it.  It doesn't make much sense to me to spend $5 or $6 for a pizza that I have to go to the store to get then cook too, when I can get one hot and ready for the same price.  Either way I have to drive!  But if delivery or driving to a cheap, local pizza shop isn't an option and your typical frozen pizza is getting boring I suggest trying one of these gourmet pizzas. 



    

Maybe if I Paid Attention

I am forever forgetting important things at the grocery store.  If I'm making spaghetti I forget sauce.  Today it was tacos- I forgot the taco seasoning packets.  Oops!  I could have gone to the store to get them but I'd probably get distracted by something sparkly and forget again.  Plus I'd have to pack up all 4 kids and drag them along for a couple stupid seasoning packets...that I need if we were planning to have dinner tonight.  Ugh.  
Cue Google.  I would have Swagbucked or Binged but then I'd have to log in and I'm not even willing to buy food to feed my family so that was out of the question.  
I Googled "make your own taco seasoning".  I was SO happy to get tons of results but then was quickly overwhelmed and just chose the first result that didn't look spammy.  I ended up on About.com on a page called Taco Season Mix.  Great!  Can't go wrong, right?  Usually that statement ends in death and food poisoning and bitterness but I actually got a pretty tasty recipe that was super easy to make. 

Here's the deal:

• 1/4 cup instant minced onion
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. paprika
• 2 tsp. crushed dried red pepper flakes
• 1-1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp. instant minced garlic
• 1 tsp. ground cumin

I play by my own rules so I changed it a little.  I didn't have marjoram and my garlic is powdered.  I didn't put in as much onion and I totally omitted the cornstarch on a hunch.  It was REALLLLLY good!  Really good.  And the kids didn't even notice that it was different from their regular tacos which is a huge plus because they notice everything.  Even better was that I did notice the difference and really liked it.  When I make it again (if I don't forget to buy more chili powder) I will use a lot less salt.  That was too much salt.  After finishing my dinner I looked back over the instructions (which I hadn't noticed before because I was too busy ignoring them) I saw that the recipe was meant to last more than one night. 

Instructions:

"Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and blend thoroughly with wire whisk. Spoon mixture into a tightly closed container and label as "Taco Seasoning Mix". Store in a cool, dry place. Use within 6 months. Makes 6 packages (about 2 Tbsp. each) of mix. 2 Tbsp. equals 1.25-oz. pkg. purchased taco seasoning mix."

That was supposed to make 6 packages, huh...okaaay.  I used it all.  On 1lb. of ground beef.  Perhaps that is why it was too salty, but I would have used the same amount of the other ingredients on 1lb again because it was just right. 

I probably shouldn't even be allowed in the kitchen.