According to The Pioneer Woman......

I am suppose to blog often. I'm just tellin' you what she said.


And here lately....I've been taking her advice. Her website is awesome, her recipes are off the chain and her pictures are incredible.

So I'm doing what she said, and blogging often, and perhaps one day I will be famous like her. (Let me dream here, would ya'?)

So. If I'm keepin' it real....I have a TON of things to do today, one of which is make a birthday cake. And if you know me, then you know that ordinarily this is something I enjoy doing. It's sort of become a tradition in our family.


I started doing cakes to save money YEARS ago, and it sort of morphed into a tradition. Problem is....the cakes have gotten a wee bit more complicated as my children have grown and gotten older.

And, well....since I have had boys.

Well, I mean, think about it. Marine Corps tanks and helicopters are not quite as easy to accomplish as ladybugs. See what I mean?

Destin's 9th birthday - 2008

Jack's 7th birthday - 2009



Karissa's 9th birthday - 2003

You have to forgive the quality of that ladybug picture...it's a picture OF a picture in my CM Scrapbook....and WOW that's been a long time ago.  Karissa was 9 on her birthday in that picture!!!  Gulp.  I think I had better move on here.

And PLEASE don't even get me started about Destin's choice for a cake last year.  I was so nervous about a whitetail buck at first........

And then I was pretty proud of myself and how it turned out.  That is...until we got home from the restaurant for the birthday celebration.........

Only to find that his head had fallen off!!!!!!  Apparently his "rack" was a little much to hold up!!!! 

So I think you can understand why I'm a little apprehensive about today's birthday cake request.....a Fox Hound. 

I know. I'm feeling the same way. That ole' where-do-I-start feeling. I spent the whole day yesterday trying to make cake pops for his classroom treats today....and while they turned out cute, the day nor the project went quite as planned....and I STILL have dishes in the kitchen after several loads in the dishwasher.


So if things turn out okay, I may post a picture later.....and if not....well then....I won't.

I'm just sayin'. 

In case you've ever considered....

buying the huge can of pork n' beans from Sam's Club to save money....don't.  Well, I mean, if you plan on using that many beans at one time, then more power to ya'.   But if you're like me, and you were just wanting to save money....use half the can and refrigerate the rest.....I warn you.....don't. 

I've already done it, and trust me....it's not a mistake I will be making again. 


It seemed like a good plan at the time....use 1/2 the large can for a big batch of baked beans for my family...save the rest for the next time.  Well, the "next time" should have been within a day or two it seems.  They don't have quite the same shelf life in the fridge after they have been opened as they do in the pantry.  (And yes, I put them in another container...give me some credit here.)


I've been accused before, of having a nose like a hound dog....and I guess I pretty much do.  I am very sensitive to smell.  And over the last week or so...every time the fridge got opened, I would sense a faint smell.  Nothing overpowering, just not a good smell.  And I would proceed to start questioning the family in a loud voice that-I-knew-they-could-all-hear-while-they-sat-in-the-living-room, "What stinks in this refrigerator???" I'm not sure what good I thought that was going to do....it's not like they would know, but for some reason it always made me feel better to pose the rhetorical question.  (I was secretly hoping the refrigerator cleaning fairy would come by...sigh.)

And after I would pose the question, I would begin sniffing various areas in the fridge, open the milk making sure it wasn't sour....you know the drill.  Case not solved, I would shut the door and hope that somehow the next time I opened it, the smell would miraculously have disappeared. 


Not happening.


So Friday I came home from working, and was tired of being on my feet, but even more tired of opening the fridge and having to hold my nose.  The situation was not improving. 


That was it.  Tired feet or not, this smell was not going to ruin my weekend.  Off with the work clothes, into some comfy jeans, flip flops and an apron....it was time to gut the fridge and get to the bottom of this. 


And have you ever had those projects that start off small, innocently enough, but that morph into giant sized projects?  Yea.  Me too.  All the time....just ask my kids.  They usually make themselves unseen at a time like this.  But those unsuspecting little rascals just thought I was opening the fridge for an afternoon snack.  Little did they know I was in one of my I-have-worked-all-day-and-I'm-tired-but-we're-getting-to-the-bottom-of-this moods.  And they really were not expecting me to inform them that "you live here and eat out of this fridge too....so get over here and help me start cleaning it out."  And I'm pretty sure I remember saying that in a very sweet, kind, loving voice. 


Now when I say "clean out the fridge", I mean CLEAN OUT THE FRIDGE.  You know...like, take out the glass shelves and completely wash them in the sink...not just wipe them down.  Every pesky little thing in that refrigerator was comin' out.  Condiments, salad dressings that I feel sure we had tried and not liked and had for a year, jellies that sweet children had let dribble on the sides of the jar, and were now permanent fixtures in my fridge, onions that I had diced with good intentions of using later that had somehow gotten shoved to the back.  Yep...it was all coming out. 


I was working from the bottom up.  Both drawers had come out, and been completely washed.  I was just about to tackle the first shelf when it happened.....


I saw the bowl of tightly sealed beans (or so I thought), on the shelf, way in the back.  And the closer I got to them, the more I realized that I had found the culprit.  And I'm not really sure why I felt the need to just barely open the lid and put my nose RIGHT THERE....but I think it's safe to say that the kids had to get some smelling salts to revive me. 


Oh. My. Word.  That was awful. 

But the mystery was solved and the fridge was lookin' better.  The boys and I finished it up and I felt so victorious that for some reason I thought it was a good time to tackle the "tops of my cabinets" that have not been dusted or cleaned in...ahem...quite some time.  (I'll leave that to your imagination.) 

Jack, really....do you have to make yourself look like you have buck teeth???

Please...just a picture of the dirt here.



























Not much better....but I think they get the point.



It wasn't pretty.  But now it is.


I'm just sayin'.