unsuccessfully doin' nothing

so jeffy the turtle and i are officially in hibernation mode.
i came out of hibernation 4 times saturday to go to an 8am soccer game-that's mine in pink in case you didn't recognize the blonde pony.
it's pretty hard for me to successfully pull off this hibernation gig when my demand to do things, make things and be places is so high. it's really messing with my success in the hibernate department. yes, imma little salty here.

then again at 11am. to make these-

uh, apple pie pockets are brilliant by the way. i stumbledupon (love that site) and found these but didn't bookmark or pin it so i had to go offa my memory-which recently got a year older. ouch. happy to announce that they worked and they were really good.

i will add that these are easy breezy UNTIL you get to that lattice top, but ya can't just rebel and skip the lattice, you could be hung in some states.
oh, wait, maybe i'm thinking of practicing witchcraft in the 1600's. they made a movie about, hocus pocus. anyway, don't skip the lattice regardless. but know, just know, the lattice is the hard part. well, that and not eating 6 in a row. i'll try to post these soon and hopefully find the source.

i came out of hibernation again at 2pm for a 2nd soccer game.
i think my fav pastime is watching my girl kill it on the field. she doesn't let up and she is fast, man that girl is like white lightening....ohh, i feel a new nickname coming on!! my littles all have about 6 or 7 nicknames each. they answer to them all without an eye roll or any hesitation. i don't even really use their given names much. huh, just realized that.

sorry this is blurry, lightening is hard to catch!

back out of hibernation again at 7 for a birthday party. you'll be happy to know that i not only curled my hair and put on gloss but i also wore deodorant. it was an event. sometimes i clean up.

i can't say the same for jeffy. he has not put on deodorant (i repeat, not put on deodorant) and he has only moved his neck a little here and there. he kinda has it made.

so basically, my version of hibernation is to not use a brush (until absolutely necessary), stay in your university of washington pajamas (go dawgs), once home again get back into university of washington p.j.'s, don't worry about a lil apple pie filling in your hair (or on your shirt) and remember that deodorant can do wonders for a girl in hibernation/go mode.

i hope y'all have a wonderful thanksgiving, where you eat like crazy, you go into an early hibernation nap mode (hope you have more success at it than i) and skip the deodorant all together. it's your family right? they'll understand....

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hello monday and a special guest

hello monday, hello mollye!

pretty much i'm giving you a gift today.
you can send me thank you cards later, gift cards are also accepted, of course.

i'm a sharer and what kind of girl would i be if i continued to keep my fabulous friend mollye all to myself without introducing you to this kick ass mom of 4?
not a typo, that crazy woman went and had 4 boys. 
not a typo, that woman has 4 BOYS. 
i mean, this girl ain't no quitter i will tell ya that much! i will also tell you that i absolutely adore mollye and i know you will too. 
oh, and her name isn't molly, it's mollye, that 'e' on the end makes her that much cooler right?!
i won't go into any stories (trust me, mama gots stories which may or may not include a wig, 2 girls, a disco ball cup and a cruise ship) because that, most definitely, is a whole 'notha post...or 5.
okay, so where was i going here? oh yes, my friend mollye.

first, i gotta make you sit through my monday hello's. sorry, i'll just do a few so we can get on with my girl.

hello little lemon
go ahead and turn yellow any time now. no worries, i'll keep waiting and waiting and waiting.

hello tiny
lil tiny bringing over flowers. i'm sorry my neighbor baby is cuter than your neighbor baby, unless he is your neighbor baby too, then we are tied.

hello storm trooper
d.i.y. mug i made yesterday in the name of love for national coffee day- up on blog soon.

hello high kicks
ask the girl to kick.... oh, and an "atta girl" to ms. high kicker too for scoring 3 times in saturdays game.

ahh i just love monday hello's.

and now, mollye:

_________________________________________________________

Hey there, my name is Mollye and I blog over at Mollye Taylor and her Boy Band.

I am 37 years old, married to the man of my dreams, and have 4 boys ranging in ages 5 to 17.  Yes, I’m tired.  All the time.  During the day I spend my time blogging, following blogs, reading blogs, commenting on blogs, and when I get some spare time, I may clean. 

My life has done a 180 in the past several months.  In July I was laid off from my job I was at for 8 years.  The best part of that job was the people and working from home.  I’ve been telling people for 8 years that I love my job.  And for about 2 of those years I wasn’t lying.  I liked the paycheck.  I liked the flexibility of working from home.  I liked the people.  Most of them.  But when I got laid off, my first feeling was of relief.  I didn’t cry or feel sorry for myself.  So here I am.  Still happily married, still have 4 kids, still tired, still unemployed, and happier than I’ve been in years.

It took getting laid off to gain clarity.  I talked about leaving my company for a long time but was too scared to do it.  Throughout the years I would come up with all these amazing ventures I wanted to start - open a restaurant, build a wedding venue on our property, write a book (which I still plan on doing someday), the list went on and on. 

I’ve always loved to write.  Writing is what makes me happy.  Writing is my therapy.  Writing is me.  So you may ask, why is it that I’m not writing for a living?  Not many times do you hear someone use the word “writer” without prefacing it with “struggling”.  It’s very hard to make a good living on writing alone.  You usually have to supplement it with that pesky job thing.  I was scared to go from security to obscurity.

There are millions of people who actually do what they love because they’re passionate about it.  Why shouldn’t I?  Why have I allowed my fears to paralyze me?  Lack of confidence?  Perhaps.  Fear of not making ends meet?  Certainly.  But something happened.  Something from deep within I didn’t know I had.  I decided I’m done going through the motions and instead will make my own motion.  I’m going to write.

I started up my blog again and entered a contest to be a mom blogger for a local credit union in Seattle.  I kicked my lack of confidence to the curb.  I stomped on my fear.  With heels on.  And I hate to wear heels.  I want to write for a living.  Here’s to following your passion.  And yes, I’m still tired.

____________________________________________________________________________

head on over and read all mollye's posts and follow along to keep up with her so when she becomes a famous writer you can say, "hey, i know that girl!!"
also, go read more monday hello's here and link up!

hello monday

hello apples
found this little offering of apples and jams out in the country church left for any takers

hello shadows
me and the mom on a walk

hello soccer
it's been a long 3 months since we've seen you, it's nice to be back

hello technology
this is what you like to a 93 year old with an 18 year old trying to explain you

hello work
aren't you pretty

 

hello cancer
painted toes that will laugh in your face
join in and laugh why don't ya
paint your toes in colorful ways and support breast cancer awareness

what are you saying hello to this beautiful monday morning?

week-end pics and an indian wedding that i didn't crash, i mean attend

here we are again monday.
how'd you get here so fast?
do you not have any manners at all or know when you are not yet wanted?

my week-end in pics.

 friday night in the valley-81 degrees at 9pm. love that!

saturday morning 7am. - pit stop before heading to huntington beach for a soccer tourney

our hotel was across from the beach and beautiful.

side note: poolside service is my favorite invention

there was an authentic indian wedding taking place at our hotel, i promise i didn't CRASH this one. i think i may have stood out a little too much but yes, the thought crossed my mind....

*note to self: always always pack your sari!

 

 not a bad place to play soccer right?

girls start warming up once we get on the sand.

our 12 and 13 year old girls learn they were somehow placed up a division and are competing against 15 year olds all week-end. 

although this wasn't a fair match up they didn't complain but played like they wanted it.

 

that's my blondie there waiting to get in.
such a fun week-end and a small mini vacay filled with sand, lime mojitos and soccer.
hope your week-end was great, here's to monday turning into friday reaaaaal fast!

it went something like this...

huh? where did that week-end go? i mean, there is a thief on the loose and he's pissing me off coz he stole my week-end.
yes, i realize it's tuesday and i am just now reporting this but yesterday i was out of sorts. so today, i am mad.

well, here is the re-cap of our week-end, before it was stolen.

saturday, sweet saturday. we are lovers that's for sure. i love you a lil less than friday but only because friday has the word aloha in it so nothing can trump aloha friday. sawry.

saturday we had plans of prom dress shopping with my biggest little. gasp. sigh. cry.
senior prom! kills me. she was seriously this tiny just minutes ago.

i know, you are looking at this photo thinking, "wow, how sad, she was a preemie who clearly had NO fat on her whatsoever". uhhhh, she really did have a neck, it's ummm, under all the chubs around her face.

biggest little was born almost 3 weeks early (or so they assumed) and weighed almost 9 pounds.
heck yeah! that's how you breed babies people!!
she's getting ready to do some weight lifting in this photo as you can see from her form.
i was pretty shocked at her weight since the dr. said she probably only weighed about 6 pounds and may have under developed lungs as he tried to convince me that i wasn't in labor and should just go home and relax.
doctor please!

well, i wish i could show you her dress but we didn't find it. she actually only tried one dress on. it was pretty but she wants to see lots more before she chooses. yay me!!! did i mention that i am not a fan of dress shopping? oh, well, i am not a fan of dress shopping.
but i did find my new fav bracelet at brandy melville.

then we had some play dates (i don't think you call them play dates after 9 years old but...)
there was pitch perfect, popcorn and a baby bunny involved. now that's a play date people!
the bunny loves to be hand fed popcorn.
not kidding.
see.

then we decided to take a walk. the littlest little takes walks like this.
on roller blades while bouncing a tennis ball.

her lazy mom takes walks like this. a full bag of candy. walking cancels out the candy no?

well, sunday after my all time low of taking a walk while eating a full bag of candy, (i still feel like it wasn't that terrible of an idea) i decided to green juice it.

we had a mini indoor soccer tournament in the afternoon. they had my little play goalie for a bit. whaaat? no thank you, we like all our teeth.
p.s. nobody scored on her.

oh silly you, thought you'd get outta here without seeing a soccer photo of my little?!
ha. no dice! this is our life from now til.......

*the middle little literally spent the entire week-end at school rehearsing for west side story as a jet. just in case you thought maybe i didn't like him and that was why there are no pics of him.




linking up here today. come on over!

aloha and the festive pimp lean

in case ya haven't clued in here to my friday thang, every friday is aloha friday.

i don't know anyone who doesn't love them some friday do you? 
honestly, as your friend, if you know someone who doesn't love friday they probably also don't like puppies, babies and rainbows so i would walk away from them-real fast.

this week-end i have lots of aloha-in' to do:


-gotta get on some of my christmas wrapping. i've started a little. this is a long drawn out process but, i have been googling, pinteresting, stalking, and i think i have some good ideas.
this is a must-do this week-end coz i gots 3 sets of eyes that keep "happening" into the area i store gifts.
here is a sneak peek.

-tomorrow morning my littlest littles soccer play-offs begin. can ya cross a few fingers and toes in the name of the wasabi girls for me? they deserve to win- they play like tough girls and win like tough girls.

-i almost have all my christmas decorations up. i'm so behind this year but at least i'm not one of those wacko's that puts her christmas decor up in october...ahem, my sister tory.
but check it-my tree has swag! have you ever seen such a sweet pimp lean?!

i'm gonna leave you to your week-end with a few things:

first, i'm gonna give a shout out to my daughter's school computer class.
they pull up my blog and (i think) they actually read it.
whatsuppp period 6 computers!!! 
hey kids, be sure and do all your work before you read the blog (pssst, i had to say that so your teacher will like me and not flunk my littlest little who definitely deserves an 'a' right???).

second, if you have been to maui and never gone up to haleakala to watch the sunrise you might be missing out on one of the most gorgeous experiences in your life. but of course your girl here has got yo back!

check out this link and watch how the sun wakes up the little island of maui. 
haleakala sunrise
happy aloha friday friends!

rewind! i want more week-end!

saturday morning we had the littlest littles final soccer game of the season before they head to the play-offs in a few weeks. it was raining which, to me, is ultimate soccer weather but it is something our little southern cal girlies are not really use to.
they had the best time getting beat up, wet and muddy.

because it was drizzling off and on i decided all i wanted to do was be in my kitchen and create.
check out this cheesecake love!

mini black bottom pumpkin caramel cheesecakes.
ta-daaaaaa! 

originally everyone wanted grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner but it changed to spam sliders.
now listen, stop right there. i can practically hear your comments already.
spam is good. you have to have it prepared in the right way-ya can't just slice it and throw it on bread or you wont like it. that's a bad introduction.

poor spam. aka: hawaiian steak.
it gets a bad wrap. stop with the squinty pukey faces-i'm pretty finicky and i love it! it's darn close to a hot dog in taste.
the secret is ya slice it and simmer it over the stove top in a brown sugar and soy sauce mixture. then ya top it with some coleslaw and serve it on a toasted hawaiian roll. not a regular roll, that would be sacrilegious, a hawaiian roll. some put a ring of hawaiian sweet onion or an onion ring on it but that is not happenin in my house. no way! not up in here!
i'm fairly sure i am allergic to onion. gag.

so that was our saturday.

our sunday was fun!!!
my girlfriend and 2 of her girls were meeting us for breaking dawn but my poor friend got sick so she had to miss it. we were sad not having her with us as we have met for every movie since the first one but i took her girls with my girls and we went to see edward anyway. well, we saw bella too but she is so annoying so why would i report on her?

super surprise ending which was good however, i say that knowing the movies reaaallllly aren't that good to begin with.
these girlies live for these though and i am always a sport. ok, ok, i like edward too. 

2 excited little girls!!

somehow soccer practice was cancelled for the littlest little's tournament team sunday afternoon. that's was kinda nice to have that break. sometimes i feel like i should just pitch a tent at the field and live there.

and now it's monday. sweet monday.
the girl that gets no love. sigh.
well, at least we all get a short week right? gotta be thankful for that.

day 5- lashes, soccer and laundry

lashes, soccer laundry-it's as close to GTL as i was eva' gonna get....
day 5:
7 threads, 7 days, 7 ways

lash saturday is music to ma ears yo!
i got to see the magical marilyn who does my eyes all up with their fresh set of "jazz hands".
a girl just looks good with a fresh set, ya feel me?

then it was the littlest littles soccer game. we have had the worst ref the past 2 weeks.
i respect the refs and respect they are volunteering but man i wish certain refs would understand the stripe shirt doesn't mean you have to be a jerk. but hey wasabi girls won and my little played so well. oh, then the seahawks won yesterday and the huskies won friday night. howboutit?!!

laundry. can you imagine the amount of laundry we have over here? it's not cute.

i will leave you with this special pic taken last week of me and our showroom assistant, traylor, who loves a good face juggle almost as much as i do and looks pretty fantastic in a braid wouldn't ya say?!

 get this app- face juggler.

bestest pumpkin bread eva'!

pumpkin anything is a fall favorite in my home so this week-end i had planned on making pumpkin bread. then i remembered we had early morning soccer pics followed by a soccer game, birthday parties, two play dates (can i call them that anymore? my kids seem too big for that) corn mazes planned, pumpkin picking to be done, senior breakfast dresses to be bought, a new backpack to be purchased and a few school projects-i was feeling a little mommy maxed. ya feel me?

then on sunday when we were at fornier farms we purchased some of their pumpkin bread to take on their train ride- oh, p.s. their train ride is approximately 2.2 minutes long so by the time you get the plastic bag off the loaf it's time to disembark the train.

anyway, the kids were acting like they hadn't been fed in years, never mind the hot dogs and sub sammies and chips and lemonades and kettle corn remnants still stuck to their faces, they were literally stuffing this bread into their mouths oohing and ahhing about how this is the best bread ever.
ok. so i tried a small piece because i know my pumpkin bread recipe is freakin' good and had to see what this bread had on mine.
are you kidding me?? i mean, it wasn't bad. at all. but please! mine is sooo much better-less bland and more fall spicy!!


so, although i was super tired from conquering the maze, and hauling fat pumpkins, and driving all over the valley, going to parties, cheering at games, doing 1 not so successful mall trip, sitting in the petting zoo with a fancy chicken perched atop my head (not kidding) i was determined to make my pumpkin bread and show them what really darn good pumpkin bread tastes like.




these lil round pumpkin loaves are the perfect size



• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
•  4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

directions

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease and flour whatever pans you'd like to use. this recipe made 4 of the round pumpkin loaves, 2 mini loaves and 1 large loaf. i always try to make my breads in the smaller loaves because i feel that they cook better and are evenly moist all around whereas the larger loaf always seems to get hard corners that nobody likes.
2. in a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar and blend. in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended.
3. bake small loaves for about 20 minutes, large for about 45-50 minutes. pop the loaves out of the pans right away and set on cooling rack.

if you want to get the pumpkin pan they have them at oriental trading company right now for under 4 bucks!

oh, and by the way, my bread is almost gone.

and i really wasn't kidding about the bird on head photo...

no, i don't feel stupid



isn't it cute when your daughter puts a bird on your head then yells "don't move"!!

all i could think of was to stay still and calm or i would either have bird crap on my head or it would freak out and tangle itself all up in my hair.

this would have been the perfect day for me to be wearing a sock bun-or maybe it would have thought that it was a nest??? hmmm... thankfully there was no screaming, no tangling and no crap.

now go make yerself some pumpkin bread!