I need a full length mirror

I spent all Saturday morning getting ready for an afternoon wedding. It's not that I was in the wedding or had some big responsibility that day. Nope. All I had to do was show up dressed, and my job was pretty much done. The problem was no one was home but me. And 4 dogs. 

Have a mentioned that we don't have any full length mirrors in the house? This was never an issue before, because we had one of those huge mirrors in our master bathroom that pretty much went from the sinks to the ceiling and spanned the whole length of our stylish seashell-shaped sink faux marble countertops. You know the kind, the ones that the designers on HGTV joyfully rip out immediately. And so of course, a few months ago when we updated the bathroom, out that mirror went. No big deal, right? Right, until I have to dress up for something. 

The last wedding I went to was my own, and I was pretty much set on what to wear. I also had about ten other women sharing a hotel suite with me, so I was good to go as far as advice. Before that I think the last wedding I was at was five years ago, so my fashion etiquette was rusty. Ripping dresses off hangers and digging for shoes, scarves, purses. Can I wear a black dress? Or does that scream "I got confused and thought I was going to a funeral!" Maybe not. Kate Middleton wore black to a wedding. I saw it, and she's golden, so I'm probably okay there. Should I throw that blazer on over my strapless dress or is that too job-interviewy? Mmm...never saw Kate do that, better not. Nylons? Tights? She can pull them off. I better get my ass to Target and find some. Can't wear anything that has a significant amount of white or ivory, so that rules out the cute dress with peacock feathers on it. I thought about texting a friend to find out what she was wearing, but thought better of it deciding that "what are you wearing?" is too junior high. 

So I resorted to trying on each dress, with the coordinating tights and shoes, then standing on one leg on the fourth stair up, holding onto the railing with one hand and stretching out my other leg and half my body over the bottom three stairs so I could catch a glimpse of my outfit in the mirror mounted over our fireplace. Let me tell you, I looked classy. It only would be a better mental image for you if I fell off my perch and tumbled down the stairs in my black dress, with my blazer flying up over my head (which, incidentally, almost happened).

My flying-squirrel-in-front-of-the-mirror gig wasn't working for me, so I thought I'd see what my dogs' opinions were. Yep, that's how desperate I was getting. Outside I went, so they could check me out. Charlie couldn't have cared less. He's what I like to call our "simple" dog. All you have to do is say "Chaaaaaar-leeeeee" in a baby voice and wave at him and he's on cloud nine. He'll wag his tail, but only to one side, because that's how he rolls. Lola just ran right past me and went over to pee next to Charlie. She's nice like that. Two down, two to go. Bella thought my dress would look better accessorized with two muddy paw prints right up front. Um no. And then Bridgette moseyed on over. "Excellent," I thought. Bridgette actually has opinions. She prefers green over all other colors, she likes toys that can float in the pool, she even likes wearing clothes herself. The thing with Bridgette is that she really loves me AND she thinks she's the size of Lola (7 lbs) when really, she's about 10 times that, and she enjoys the pool more than anyone else in the family so she's wet ninety percent of the time. Bridgette was all smiles as she came up to me. I thought, "wow, she really likes my outfit." By the way, I know everyone reading this started to think I was crazy by the time they started reading this paragraph, but I promise, I'm mostly not. Moving on. Bridgette started to turn and circle me. "Checking me out," I thought. Wrong. At this point I should mention that Bridge was hit by a car and broke and dislocated her jaw when she was about 6 months old. As a result, her lower jaw sits about a half inch off-kilter and one of her favorite pastimes is having her muzzle scratched. Anyway, she made her way around me and immediately started rubbing the sides of her muzzle on my backside. And her head is right at about the same level as my butt. "Okay, well I see you like this dress, Bridgette, but now I CAN'T wear it, since my butt is now covered in a gloppy mess of your saliva, your hair, and pool water." Yum.

Gray and black dress, with black shrug and patterned tights it is. As it turns out, my friend I almost texted was having the same (albeit probably not as dramatic) issues picking out clothes as I was. Moral of the story, you ask? It's two-fold, it is. 1) Do not ask your dogs for advice. If they care, and that's a big if, when they like something, it will most likely become unwearable, so don't bother (and when you tell others about it, everyone will think you've gone off the deep end); 2) Own a full-length mirror. It will make your life so much easier. Or at the very least, spare you the trouble of nearly ricocheting down some stairs. In my personal experience anyway...

Blessed

Today I rang in my birthday surrounded by love.  I am so blessed to have the most wonderful family and friends.

Twenty-seven things I loved about today:

1. Being woken up at midnight so Harry could tell me happy birthday
2. Sleeping in
3. Orange roses from Harry
4. A piece of homemade cake from my hubby (funfetti with sprinkle frosting - yum! - the first cake he's ever made!)
5. A second piece of cake
6. Sharing cake with my dogs
7. Watching Charlie try to lick the frosting off his nose
8. Gym membership so I can get back to yoga class - yeah!
9. New clothes
10. A singing voicemail from my dad
11. Messages and posts from friends
12. Go-karts with Harry
13. Passing Harry in the go-kart, even though I know he slowed down so I could
14. Having Harry convince the go-kart guy that my niece and nephew should be able to ride go-karts with us for free.
15. Erianna screaming, "this is awesome!!!" on the go-karts
16. Batting cages
17. Missing every pitch at the batting cages
18. Mini golf with the whole family
19. Dinner and drinks
20. A third piece of cake
21. A message from my stepdaughter that said, "Happy birthday Skarin! Love you"
22. A text from a great friend that said, "Shit I just remembered you're old as hell today :)"
23. A text from my love, "I love you birthday girl, sweet dreams"
24. A fourth piece of cake
25. Being old enough to appreciate the day
26. Being too young to care about being older
27. The love of family and friends

Happy birthday to me, thank you to all of you!

another day, another dollar, another year, still look 15?!?!

That's right, folks.  Next week will be my 27th birthday and just a few weeks ago a good friend of mine told me I could probably pass for 15.  Physically, I don't really feel much different than I did when I was 15, except for a little back pain, but that's been around since 16 when I got dropped a few too many times from the top of the cheerleading pyramid, so whatever.

I've been told that I should embrace looking young and love the fact that people think I'm a kid.  "I will appreciate it when I'm older," they say.  Easier said than done.  This issue has been especially frustrating when I answer the door of my house and a salesperson asks if my mom and dad are home, or when the YMCA told me I couldn't get a family membership without my parents present.  Or when a barista at Starbucks mistook me for being my stepson's sister.  However...now that I think about it, perhaps I could use this to my advantage (wicked, nefarious laughter inside my head).  My 10-year high school reunion is coming up.  It's going to feel damn good when all the dudes I graduated with are rockin' their salt and peppered thinning hair, with their beer guts hanging over their pants (trust, I've seen the pictures on facebook), and I'm carded for drinks, sitting next to my husband who has a nice head of hair.   Yeah.  I think I can make this work for me.

I'm not going to get all corny and say "age is just a number, blah, blah, blah...", because, well, no shit.  But it's for sure a state of mind.  I don't feel like I'm in my late twenties (I'm thinking 27 falls into that category).  Pre-thirties sounds cool.  I mean people say pre-teen, so why not?  Pre- anything sounds better than late- something.  I mean, I'm not gonna lie about it and be one of those freaky women that tells everyone they are 30 for 15 years.  I'm totally okay with my age - ask me, I won't lie.  See, I'm putting it out there for everyone to see.  But whatever.  If people want to think I'm in high school, I think I could have some fun with that.

Happy birthday to me.

Thanksgiving Blessings

All month I have been giving thanks for something different each day.  Such a simple, yet significant task, has reminded me to be grateful for the little and big things in life - and everything in between.  

Some days what you love is staring you in the face.  Other days it's not so easy to find something for which to be thankful.  Sometimes you have to step back and really assess a situation to find the silver lining.  I've learned that out of everything - no matter how seemingly bad - comes something good.  It could be the smile of a stranger after a long day at work, a wonderful home-cooked meal, a long conversation with someone special, photographs and memories, or finding a support system in an unexpected place.  

Though November and the traditional season of giving thanks is coming to a close, I think I will continue to try to be thankful for something new each day.  Today I challenge all of you to do the same thing.

Perfect Pot Roast

I created this recipe several years ago mostly by trial and error, just adding things as I went.  It is so easy - lots of ingredients, but you basically just throw everything in a dish, bake and serve.  It's the perfect dish for this cool, fall weather.

Here is what you will need:
1 beef chuck roast (at least 2 lbs.)
1 package of baby carrots (16 oz.)
1/3 cup chopped white onion
1 bag small red potatoes (size C works well - 2 lb. bag)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 t rosemary
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t Italian seasoning
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic salt
2 dashes Tony Chachere's seasoning
1 t freshly ground pepper
1/2 t - 1 t freshly ground sea salt
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 cup water
1 cup red wine (any variety)

Preheat oven to 350.  Place thawed roast in the center of a 13x5 glass baking dish.  Surround with carrots, potatoes, and onion.  Rub one clove of chopped garlic on roast, and mix the rest of the garlic in with carrots and potatoes.  Drizzle olive oil on carrots and potatoes.  Sprinkle dry ingredients over beef, carrots and potatoes.  Pour water in at the corners (about 1/4 cup water in each corner).  Drizzle about 2/3 cup of red wine over the roast, and the rest over the carrots and potatoes.  It should look something like this:

Cover with foil.  Bake approximately 2 hours or until roast is cooked throughout.  At least once during baking, take out of oven, remove foil, and spoon juices over entire dish to keep moist.

I served with freshly made rosemary batter bread (a recipe I have altered from a Betty Crocker one).  I will post the recipe for the bread later.

Puppy Tales

Hello.  My mom has been very, very busy lately, so she asked me to fill in for her here.  Well, actually, she didn't ask.  I saw the laptop open and seized the moment.  She says I can't type because I don't have opposable thumbs, so we'll see who's right about that one...

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Lola Madeleine Brucia.  I live with my mom and dad and our three dogs.  Don't even get me started on those dogs.  I have a really awesome big sister and big brother, but I am the tiniest Brucia of them all.  My brother and sister are so cool because they rub my belly, give me treats, and let me lick their faces in a way that some (not me) would describe as excessive.  They have really neat bedrooms, but I'm not allowed in them when my brother and sister aren't here.  My mom thinks I'm going to go pee on their floors, but that's only happened a few times and I only did it to keep those other animals out of our pack's territory, so I don't really know what her deal is.

Our pack is pretty cool.  Not like that pack in the backyard - they smell like dogs.  We get up and have breakfast together each morning.  Actually, I eat breakfast about ten times a day.  The alpha (mom) leaves my food out so I have an endless all-you-can-eat buffet of Iams.  Yuuuumm-eeee!  The other alpha (dad) takes me outside a lot, but never leaves me out like some sort of animal.  He also give me lots of treats.

I know what treats are and where they're kept, and love them so much.  The alpha's tried to get crafty and spell the word "treat" out in front of me so I wouldn't know what they were talking about, but I learned to spell.  That's right.  T-R-E-A-T.  Actually, all they have to say is "T" now, and it's on.  You might think that "treat" would be my favorite word, but it's actually "wanna".  You see, "wanna" can be used in so many ways, but it's usually followed by something wonderful, so when I hear it, I know it's going to be a good day.  "You wanna treat?"  "You wanna go outside?"  "You wanna go for a walk?"  "You wanna play fetch?"  See what I mean.  Good times, that "wanna".

My mom and dad give me baths a lot so I don't smell like a dog.  Not that something like that would ever happen anyway, but whatever...  I usually try to bust the doors open when members of my pack are taking their baths, you know, to see what's going on, and if they might need help.  They don't really like this, but I can't quite figure this one out.  They watch me get baths and "oh" and "ah" about how cute I am when I'm wet.  They watch me go potty outside and tell me I'm a good girl.  I figured I'd reciprocate, you know, tell them how good at going potty they are, but maybe that's not how it works.  Maybe I should Google "do tiny pack members need to help alphas take baths?" while I'm here.

*ears erect, eyes focused on ceiling, heading tilting to extreme right*

Uh oh, I hear my mom coming down the stairs, so I better go bark out the window at the neighbors in their front yard to pretend I've been standing guard this whole time.  To be continued...

L.M.B. 

Spook-tacular Halloween Goodness!

As I mentioned earlier, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, so here I am waiting for my Halloween cupcakes to finish baking, and thought I'd share some goodies with you.

Last year, I made personalized mini-pumpkins for my step-kids.  They were really cheap, and turned out really cute.  All you need is a little creativity.  I picked up a few mini-pumpkins at the local pumpkin patch for about 50 cents each.  Then I drew the letters for their names on them using colored Sharpie markers.  I practiced this ahead of time on paper to make sure I got them just how I wanted them.  I tried to do each letter in a Halloween theme.  Then, using my hot glue gun, I added embellishments like colored glass drops, rhinestones, and feathers.  I finished both off with a ribbon around the stem.

Sam's pumpkin had a bat for the "S", a witch's hat for the "A", and a googly eyed monster for the "M".
Mike's had a spider and web for "M", candy corn for "I", a dragon-type monster tale for the "K", and a pumpkin for "E".

As I said, I made some Halloween cupcakes.  I just finished them up, so here is the recipe:

Creepy Crawly Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix (any variety), + all ingredients listed on box
12 Oreo's, crushed
12 Reynolds brand aluminum baking cups (they look like big cupcake liners)
1 16 oz. container of chocolate frosting, softened enough to drizzle
gummy worms
sprinkles

Prepare chocolate cake mix as directed on box, preheat oven, mix ingredients, and set aside.  Place baking cups on a cookie sheet.  Following baking cup instructions, spoon approximately 1/3 cup of batter into each baking cup.  Top each with a spoonful of crushed Oreo's cookies.  Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean - they will take longer than the time listed on your cake mix, because the cupcakes are so big - I started with the time listed on my recipe (15-20 min) and went from there.  Mine took 27 minutes.  Allow cupcakes to cool completely.  Poke small holes into the cupcakes and insert one end of a gummy worm (so it looks like they are crawling out), drizzle with chocolate frosting, and top with sprinkles.  Enjoy!

Creepy crawly cupcakes