This week I got to see a  movie in the theater.  I saw it with Dirty Harry and a friend of his, and despite having to break up a disagreement at one point about a box of Nerds candy and having to sit on the very top row of a large theater (meaning long walks to the bathroom), it was a totally enjoyable experience.

This movie is the first based on the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan.  Dirty Harry just started to read the first one when we started seeing the movie trailers appear on TV about a month or so ago.  He loved the book and was excited to see the film version.  I had not read the book and was not overly excited about seeing the movie, but the excursion gave me a three-hour Captain Jack Henry break, and I was in need of one,  so I was game.

I was inordinately surprised at how much I ended up enjoying the movie!  The premise is that Percy Jackson is a demigod (half mythological god, half human), but has been living the life of a normal angst-filled teenager, unaware of who his real “divine” father is.  The action gets rolling rather quickly, and through a fantastic and a bit alarming change of events, discovers that his dad is Poseidon, his best friend is a satyr and his protector, and his wheel-chair bound history teacher is Charon and director of Camp Half-Blood, a training ground for demigod children.  The action of the film centers around the theft of Zeus’ master lightening bolt.  For reasons that I found somewhat vague, everyone thinks that Percy has taken it, so Hades, who would greatly like to have the bolt for himself, kidnaps Percy’s mother to the Underworld, in hopes of luring him there.  Percy, with the help of Grover (best friend/protector/satyr) and Annabeth (romantic interest/fellow demigod/daughter of Athena), go on an adventure-filled quest to rescue Percy’s mother and solve the mystery of the missing bolt.

Highlights:

• This movie is just plain entertaining.  I thought I was in for a pre-teen snooze fest and was completely surprised at how taken in I was by the plot and action.
• The acting is decent.  The teens are pretty much a bunch of unknowns (although I thought for half the movie that the main kid was Zac Effron…no, just a look-alike), but they hold their own amongst the big guns of Pierce Brosnan playing Charon, Uma Thurman playing a convincing and creepy Medusa, and Sean Bean as Zeus.
• While it is certainly not a replacement for reading the real Greek myths, it might be a good springboard if your kids are uninterested in this type of literature.

Low points:

Overall I was a little disappointed and surprised that this was given a PG rating because it felt more like a PG-13 in some parts. 

• First of all, at many points, this film is a bit intense.  The violence isn’t bloody, but young or sensitive kids would definitely be scared of Hades or the hydra or Medusa.  In two of the scenes, creatures are beheaded.  If you’re familiar with Greek mythology, then hopefully that’s not a spoiler.  Again, the scenes are not bloody, but are too intense for a PG rating, in my opinion. 
• Secondly, the….ummmm, how do I say this?…well…the sexual tension was a bit much for a kids’ movie.  I realize when you’re dealing with Greek myths and the whole demigod situation, that there are some understood situations that have occurred, and the movie does a fairly good job of glossing over those facts.  However, by making Percy and his friends older than they are in the books (he’s about 12 in the books and about 17 in the film), they have introduced some unnecessary romantic situations.  Grover is girl-crazy and this comes up in about three different brief scenes during the film and involves a distant scene of bikini-clad girls (apparently the daughters of Aphrodite), a group of girls dressed in short, tight dresses in a Vegas casino, and Perspehone (played by Rosario Dawson), the companion of Hades, who makes semi-aggressive overtures towards him in a cleavage-showing outfit.
• There is some language in the film…not a lot, but still unnecessary for a kid movie.

All in all, I rank this as a good movie-going experience with my almost ten year-old son who has seen movies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, so wasn’t bothered by the intensity of the scary scenes.  We actually had a good discussion about the other issues I brought up above and why the movie makers alter books when they bring them to the screens.  While I wish they hadn’t added those parts, I don’t think Harrison was greatly affected by them either as altogether they probably took up less than ten minutes of a two hour film.

If you get a chance, see it on the “Big Screen” while it’s still out.  Some of the scenes are worth it.  Enjoy and let me know what you think!

My two older kids are coloring snobs and will no longer color with crayons.  They have moved onto bigger and better instruments like twist-up colored pencils and fine-tip markers.  So, we were left with an entire drawer full of beautiful Crayolas.

When I found this…

…while shopping this past weekend, I knew that I wanted to make Cap’n Jack Henry his first set of crayons, using all of those old, forgotten, discarded wretches pictured above.

Here’s how I did it…

First, remove the paper from the crayons.

This would be a good job to enlist some older kids to help, but unfortunately mine were busy.  Bonny Annie was making soap, and Dirty Harry was playing baseball with his dad, so I was on my own for all of the crayon peeling.  I thought the pile of crayon paper shavings was very attractive and tried to think of some creative craft project for them, but I couldn’t get beyond hair for one of those Fandango paper bag puppets, so I just threw them away.

Then you will need to break up your crayons in 4-5 pieces each and place then in the muffin cups.

As you can see, I went with  more monochromatic tones for Jack Henry’s since he doesn’t even know his colors yet, but one could get wildly creative with all kinds of combinations, depending on what colors of crayons you have on hand.

Then you just pop them into a 200 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Obviously, oven temperatures vary from household to household, so just start keeping an eye on them at about 15 minutes in.  The crayon pieces need to be completely melted.  Also, since I was using a silicon muffin pan, I placed a cookie sheet underneath to prevent spilling the hot wax.

When they are melted, you will then need to let them cool completely.  This took about an hour.  With the silicon trays, they came out rather easily, but I think you could have success with a regular muffin tin as well.

I loved how they turned out!  So bright, so swirly!  (But I was a little bothered by this picture where the orange one is not point-to-point with the others.  I didn’t realize that until I was uploading the pictures.  I apologize for the imperfection of this site and its author.)

Jack Henry, at fifteen months old, is probably a little young yet for crayons, but we tried them with him anyway.

I found the star shape to be perfect for his little fingers.  He liked holding and feeling them just as much as coloring with them.  These types of muffin tins are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  I’ve even spotted some seasonal ones in the Target dollar section from time to time.  Wouldn’t egg shapes be the perfect thing for an Easter basket?  When I find some more, I’ll definitely be experimenting because I think a set of these would also be a great birthday gift, tied with some pretty ribbon and accompanied by a thick pad of drawing paper or a fun coloring book.

You had to know this was coming, but the Cap’n did think they were edible.  But then he thinks everything is edible these days.

Aren’t we all glad that crayons are non-toxic?

He did make some scribbles on some paper and giggled at their effects.

I gave him two of the stars, and he enjoyed clapping them together.

And then, of course, he did a little more taste-testing.

They turned out so well and were so easy that I made six more colors this morning:  teal, pink, brown, white, black and gray.  I’m going to look around for a nice little tin to keep them in, and I’ll have one more activity in my arsenal to keep Jack Henry busy while we try to do our lessons.

I was originally inspired for this craft by the website www.dollarstorecrafts.com .  When you have a minute, you should browse around this site.  They have a lot of handy ideas for things to make and do using very inexpensive materials.

Now, go forth and have a meltdown.  (I’ll bet you won’t hear that again!)

We started collecting magnets from our home school field trips several years ago.  Big D made this board for us out of an old piece of scrap metal that he had just laying around in the garage.  It used to be white and hang in our school room.  Now we don’t have a school room anymore, and the board is some kind of psychedelic mix of red and blue, and it hangs in a little hallway entering into Dirty Harry’s room.

Despite the alterations to the board’s appearance and location, we have a had a fun time with this collection over the years.  Whenever we go somewhere that has a gift shop, the kids look forward to choosing the magnet that will grace our board.  It’s a fairly inexpensive way to commemorate the trip, and storage isn’t a problem either, like it might be if we had chosen to collect…oh, say posters or snow globes or even shot glasses.

We’ve procured some of them from local trips…

…but mostly we’ve picked them up at places we visit when we travel.  Like most good, dutiful homeschoolers, we try to mix business with pleasure and learn from the places we tour.

Like Chicago…

And Kansas City…

and Alabama…

It’s even better when we can visit family and score a field trip or two while visiting with them.

Like in Charleston, SC…

Or in North Carolina…

Or Georgia…

Every time I look at that magnet I remember that I almost died trying to hike all those wretched stairs.  See how pleasant a magnet board can be?  Helping you to recall near-death experiences?

And then, of course, there was the mother-of-all-field trips…

Don’t laugh.  Parts of Animal Kingdom and Epcot Center are very educational.  At least that’s what I keep trying to tell Big D in my attempts to talk him into taking us there again soon.

I encourage you to start your own field trip magnet board.  Or if you don’t have wall space for a psychedelic painted piece of metal, then just use your handy-dandy refrigerator.  It is a fun way to look back upon your on-the-road educational experiences!

My biggest fear at this point is that after posting this and last month’s Red Velvet debacle, that you all will deduce that I cannot cook.  I can cook.  Promise.  Or maybe my overuse of the crockpot has just deceived myself into thinking I can cook.  Hmmm…but I have had a difficult time with these two recipes, but I think, with this week’s recipe especially, that I’ve learned a bit, and that, my friends, is the whole point in this project.

I am always fascinated with ingredients, and how those ingredients work together to make the finished product.

I mean how in the world did someone, long ago, even come up with biscuits?   Things like that are a mystery to me.

So anyway…so far, so good.  My dry ingredients were all mixed together, and I add the shortening and the cold butter pieces.  And speaking of shortening, I bought a new container, and it was nice and white and creamy and free from any funky aftertaste.

Then I started cutting them together using my grandma’s old pastry cutter.  I love that her hands once held tightly to that handle, rubbing the red paint off over time, making biscuits and other yummy things.

I was starting to get the feeling at this point that there was too much flour because I couldn’t tell if the butter and shortening were getting evenly distributed, and the dough didn’t seem crumbly enough to me.  I went ahead anyhow and added the buttermilk and mixed.  When I turned the dough out onto the cutting board though, it seemed way too dry to me, so I added another splash of buttermilk.  That seemed to help.

I don’t have a biscuit cutter or even a round cookie cutter, so I used a dinner glass.

I think these must be a good bit bigger than a biscuit cutter because I only got 14 biscuits out of this recipe that claims it will make 18-24.  I also think, even though my dough was probably rolled out to about 1/2 an inch that this was too thin.  They didn’t rise well and got too brown, I think.

I baked them for the minimum time listed of  nine minutes.  Next time I would probably reduce that to between seven and eight and take a peek then.

Interestingly, they weren’t as bad as they looked.  The inside was flaky and flavorful, and my family actually enjoyed them.  Next time I just need to leave the dough thicker and invest in a biscuit cutter, and I think I’m in business.

Or I just need to open a can of Pillsbury.  Seriously…that is a good bit of work for something that can be done quite conveniently and cost-effectively by buying a roll of pre-made dough.  But still…I’m willing to give it another shot.  I am a Southern woman afterall.  I should know how to make biscuits.  But if I don’t ever figure it out, thankfully I only live about ten minutes from a Cracker Barrel restaurant.

I didn’t receive any photos from others this time.  If you just forgot, go ahead and send them.  It’s easy to add them in.  Did anyone else try these?  How did it go?  What did you think?

***Update***  One reader posted about her biscuits on her blog. Check out Angela’s experience….http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jasonangela93/768896/?#c1394168

Our next assignment is from the Dinner/Lunch section.  We’re going to make the Simple, Perfect Chili on pps. 82-83.  I already have a really good, stand-by chili recipe, so it will be interesting to compare.  And it really does look simple, so if I mess this one up, I’m turning in my apron.  You have until March 15 to make yourself a pot, and if you’re like us here in Tennessee, it is still plenty cold enough for some chili!  Have fun!

I’ve done this before and then given you a myriad of excuses.  I have some excuses this time too.  They include a mini-weekend vacation, a sinus infection, four worthless hours of “American Idol,” and of course, my old standby: laundry.  But, actually, the real reason I haven’t blogged in a week this time is because of this…

Is that not the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen?  (And I’m talking about Jack Henry’s floor movement…not my mountain of clutter in the chair in the background.  That is our drop-off chair where I always sit down the diaper bag, my keys, the baby’s blanket, my jacket, etc., etc., etc…)

I thought Cap’n Jack Henry was skipping the whole crawling stage.  Well, technically, he is skipping it because you can hardly call sidling around like an injured hermit crab crawling.  He’s been pulling up and cruising around holding onto furniture since around Christmas, so I was thinking we’d be seeing his first steps around this time, but no.  We have booty scooting.  Fast booty scooting.  I can hardly get anything done these days, except chase his little booty around and try to keep him out of trouble.

Yesterday he had his fifteen month check-up, and his pediatrician asked me if he was walking yet.

“Ummm…no.  Not really,” I replied.

“Well, is he trying to get around?” she queried.

“Oh, yes.  He gets around,” I said.  I then launch into an explanation of his maneuvers, complete with leg and arm motions, which get some eye rolls and snickers from his two older siblings.

“Oh.  Well, I see,” she answers.  She then goes through some little muscular tests with him.  He does everything she wants him to do easily.

“Well, I don’t see any problems with him.  He’ll walk when he’s ready,” she concludes.

I should have told her he has pirate blood, and a pirate will always use his booty.

Don’t let the above picture fool you.  This recipe, for me, was a disaster.  But I’m pretty sure it was my fault, and not PW’s.  Allow me to explain.

First of all, despite the misleading heart I put on top of my cake, I did not bake this over Valentine’s weekend.  No, I baked it about two hours ago.  Valentine’s turned out to be a lot busier than I anticipated, and then this week has been busy too with Jack Henry having his first head cold and all of us trying to make preparations to make a quick trip this weekend.  So, knowing I needed to get this posted today, I was rushed, and I’m blaming baby snot for it.

Secondly, I think my shortening was a little on the old side.  I had just used it before Christmas, so I don’t think it was detrimentally so, but it did look a little glossier than I think it should.  I threw the tub away after I made the cake, but by the time I realized it had seen better days, Jack Henry was napping, and Bonny Annie was at her tutorial, so a grocery run was not a prospect at the moment.

Thirdly, I had a headache.  I think it was because I colored my hair last night, and I always get a little bit of one when I do that.  I am more than likely giving myself a brain tumor for the sake of vanity concerning a handful of white hairs.  But, regardless, by the time I was finished I just felt like I was throwing ingredients everywhere and not really baking with purpose.

I think that’s all, but I’ll let you know if I can think up any more reasons that this cake kinda failed for me.

This is the kind of recipe that will totally trash your kitchen.  By the time I was finished, every single counter was covered with baking paraphernalia.

I pretty much stuck to the recipe, with just a few minor changes.  I used plain, old all-purpose flour and not cake flour.  My Publix apparently doesn’t carry cake flour, and that’s where I made a quick grocery run yesterday afternoon. 

I have no idea how much red food coloring I used.  I didn’t have the liquid kind on hand.  I had the gel kind that comes in little tubes, and the tube wasn’t full.  This accounts for the lighter pink color of my cake.

The only other variation was, like I said, using shortening that was a little “off.”  This may account for the slight aftertaste that I think my cake has.  It’s slight, but it’s there.

I had to bake my cakes for about ten minutes longer than the book calls for.  When I checked them at 20 minutes, there was still wet batter on my cake tester.  Then I think the outsides got a little too brown.  Then they stuck a little in the pans too, even though I let them cool longer than the 20 minutes that was called for…

Nothing terribly tragic, and they frosted up just fine.  The icing, I thought, was really good, but then how can you go wrong with cream cheese icing?

Overall, the cake tasted okay.  Dirty Harry was the only one available to taste-test, and he gave it a thumbs-up…but then he’s a nine year-old boy who is having a piece of cake before his lunch, so he’s perhaps not the best critic.  After a few more people have tasted it, I’ll let you know in the comments.

My sister-in-law, Susan, sent me these sweet pictures of her baking experience…

As you can see, she opted to make cupcakes, and I’ll let her share the details of that  in the comments section.

So, how did it go for all of you?  Did you whip it out for Valentines Day?  Are the ingredients still in your pantry?  Weigh in below and let us all know…

For our next assignment, we’re going to the “In the Morning” section.  Let’s get back to the basics and try the Buttermilk Biscuits on pages 44-45.  I’m going to skip all of next week and give you until Monday, March 1 to cook up a batch of these babies.   Have fun! 

Indiana Mimi’s birthday is Christmas Day, so it makes for an ideal time for a gift calendar.  But since you are putting pages into a blank calendar, you can start on any month of your choosing, making it a great gift at any time of the year.

To get started, you’re going to need one of these…

As you can see, the link for this company is printed right on the calendar, but I’ve also seen similiar items on sale in various craft stores before.  They generally run about $12 to $15.  We used the 12×12 size, but they also come in 8×8.

You will then need to choose your pictures and supplies.  Debbie and I both chose to have our pictures printed in sepia to give the calendar a uniform look.  It also helps if you’re going to use a holiday kind of theme for your calendar.  That way it doesn’t matter what colors are in your pictures.  You could still use the traditional red, white and blue for your July page or oranges and blacks for your October page. 

I chose to use only one picture on all of my pages, and I had them all printed as 5×7s.

But Debbie used 3-4 pictures on most of her pages and cropped them with her cutting tools to fit her needs.

After you decide on your photos, you’ll need to gather your craft supplies.  Debbie and I are both longtime scrapbookers, and we’ve both collected a ton of supplies over the years.  But if you don’t have all of that, the basics you will need are some good scissors, various colors of cardstock in sizes compatible with the calendar that you chose, a black pen (for writing in the dates, days, etc. on the calendar), and a strong adhesive.  Some extras you might want to consider are patterned papers, stickers, rub-ons, and ribbon.

On the March page, you can see I simply used a few sheets of coordinating patterned paper, cardstock, some small letter stickers,  and a chipboard frame accent…

Debbie was equally simple with her April page, using only patterned paper, cardstock and letter stickers…

I have this thing for tearing paper.  I kind of like the imperfection and artistic shabbiness it gives.  I’m also a tad lazy, and tearing your paper is a lot faster than using scissors or a trimmer.  On my May page, the torn paper contrasts nicely with the overall linear feel the page has.  Then I simply added some pre-purchased die-cuts and letter stickers for the title, and I was finished.  This page took less than fifteen minutes to pull together.

Debbie’s June page is good example of how you can crop some photos to fit more images on your calendar.  She used patterned paper as a background, a trimmed piece of cardstock and a chipboard frame for a minimalist look.  Her title is stamped using acrylic paint and foam stencils.  She also proves that you can make up your own words for your handmade calendar, and no one can stop you.

I’m not going to continue to break down the process/supply list  month by month  because I think you can see now how simple it is to pull together some pages for a meaningful calendar.  This is something that kids can work on together for a grandparent or other special adult, and it would be even more special.

Here’s how the rest of the calendar turned out…

After a year is up, and Indiana Mimi has proudly displayed her calendar on the kitchen wall, she cuts the decorated pages free from the calendar and places them in a scrapbook, which she always has on her coffee table.  The kids always enjoy thumbing through these and seeing how they’ve grown over the years.

I promise that whomever you choose to make one for will love it!  And then they will expect it every year after that, and will threaten you with spitbath facials and the withholding of family heirlooms if you don’t deliver.  And you’ll have me, The Pirate Mom, to thank for it!

Related links:

Boxer Scrapbook shopping site

A site that has images and instructions for different types of handmade calendars

A digital kit for scrapbook calendars for those who are scissor-impaired

To date, 108 “Lost” episodes have aired on ABC, and if you’re like me and have seen all of them, you fairly quickly realize that “Lost” is not your typical science fiction television series.  It is not even your typical stranded-on-an-island story.  “Lost” is really not typical in any way, shape, or form, which probably explains the devotion, constancy and urgency of its fans.  Everyone who watches “Lost” wants to know what is going on with this messed up island.  We all want to know the answers.  Chris Seay, the author of the above mentioned book, is a pastor and one of those fans.

Admittedly, Mr. Seay is hooked on the show.  And like most of the show’s others millions of viewers, he realized this is more than an epic story that we’re all watching unfold.  Mr. Seay recognized the symbols, saw the layers and is making attempts to read the signs by writing his book, The Gospel According to Lost.  Mr. Seay doesn’t have an insider’s scoop on what’s going on.  He’s not a best friend of the producer.  He doesn’t know Matthew Fox personally.  Mr. Seay doesn’t give us any answers, but what he does do is dig a little deeper into the historical and biblical references of the show in order to give the viewers, particularly the Christian viewers, a little more food for thought.  He goes character by character and cleverly breaks down some of clues, analogies and symbols that pop up regularly in the series and gives his take on it from a biblical perspective.

Normally, I don’t go for books like this.  I see them as an opportunist’s way to make a fast buck, preying on society’s interest in popular culture.  I’m also a fan of the show “24,” and I once saw a book on the shelf called Finding God in “24″, or something like that.  While that show has been greatly entertaining, I simply pshawed at this title, because I don’t think you can find a lot of God in “24,” unless, of course, the author was talking about the star Jack Bauer because the writers regularly portray him as god-like.  But “Lost”, as I said before is different….

One simply has to read over the characters’ names to realize the writers had something more than just a compelling story in mind:  John Locke, Jacob, Faraday, Benjamin Linus, Jack Shephard, Juliet, James, etc.  It reads as an eclectic list of historical figures, biblical heroes, literary characters, scientists and philosophers.  Some of the episode titles are: “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” “The Greater Good,” “The 23rd Psalm,” “The Cost of Living,” and “316.”  Obviously, there’s a little more depth here for an author to work with than your common television series.

I, as a “Lost” fan, enjoyed this book.  Mr. Seay explained a few of the obscure references and caused a few light bulb moments for me.  He brought to light a few references that my tired, mommy brain never picked up on, and caused me more than once to want to go re-watch a few of the older seasons that have become a little fuzzy in my memory.  The author does all of this without sounding preachy or overly didactic.  And yet, in the course of the book, the Gospel (according to Jesus this time) is within the pages, so a random fan who might pick up this book and read it, might put it down one step closer to not being lost (spiritually).

One thing that is crucial in the reading of this book, is that you MUST NOT pick it up until you have watched the series through Season 5.  I had only watched through Season 4, and there was no apt warning, and sadly I experienced a few spoilers because of it.  Another weakness in the book, obviously, is the limited audience.  Although “Lost” has a following of millions, I don’t think that anyone who is not a fan would be interested in the book.  As a matter of fact, they’d be…well, um…lost trying to read and make sense of it.  And of those millions of fans, I think only the ones that are Christians, would actually seek out the book.  However, like I said, it might be a good read to pass onto unbelieving friends.  The worst they could do is scoff.

All in all, The Gospel According to LOST, is a well-written, easy read for fans that are interested in peeling back some of the spiritual layers of this popular TV series.

***Thomas Nelson provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.***

So, how did it go my fellow pirate chefs?  Did you make ‘em?

I put all of them together on Saturday evening.  I read in the book that you can prepare them up to 24  hours in advance and keep them in the fridge until you want to bake them, and this seemed to work just fine.

Overall, the prep was fairly simple, albeit a little time consuming.  I did decide to wear gloves for slicing the jalapenos, and I scraped out all to most of the seeds, since I was going for a as mild a version as possible in hopes that the kids would be brave and try them.  I had no problems with the bacon wrapping process, although I did opt to place the toothpicks in before brushing with the BBQ sauce, rather than after like the directions said.  I did this because I thought it would be less messy, and because I’m a rebel at heart. 

I put a pineapple tidbit in half of my poppers’ filling, and to be honest, I didn’t find the addition all that noticeable.  Maybe it was because I was using canned instead of fresh.  Maybe it was because the tidbit size was too small.  I don’t know, but next time I probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of that step….not that it was all that much trouble really.

(Please ignore the oven that needs to be cleaned and focus on the poppers.  Thank you.)

I’d say that these were a hit at my house.  Big D, Indiana Mimi and I all really liked them.  Dirty Harry thought they were okay, and Bonny Annie, who hates all things spicy, ate one without much comment.  Cap’n Jack Henry, who is perfectly willing to put anything at all in his mouth, was not afforded the opportunity.  I really didn’t think they were spicy at all, which was interesting to me since it was a fresh jalapeno pepper we were dealing with.  The removal of the seeds must be really significant.

The one improvement would be to figure out how to get the bacon crispier.  I think next time I might try baking at a higher heat for less time, and see what that might do.  Any other thoughts on that?

Also, next time, I will do a better job of picking out similiar sized peppers.  I bought mine on Saturday afternoon at Publix, and I think about 75% of my town was in the store at the same time, so I was rushed and agitated when I was choosing and just started flinging the peppers in my cart with wild abandon.  When I got home I realized I had a mixed bag of sizes, ranging from tiny to huge.  I think uniform sizing would be more ideal.

I only received pictures this time from my sister, Debbie.  Here are some shots of her adventure…

Thanks, Deb for sharing!  Love that you are wearing your Bears sweatshirt, even though they didn’t even make the play-offs!  Please, please, please share your story about your pre-heating/Tupperware debacle in the comments.  I almost shared it for you, but thought you could probably share it with more gusto…since it was your husband and your Tupperware.

It’s not too late to send pictures if you forgot.  I can still add them at any time.  kellie@thepiratemom.com

Okay, so let’s discuss these babies.  Here are some questions to consider…

• Did you try any deviations from the original recipe?
• What were the general reactions of your “tasters”?
• Would you make this recipe again?
• Did you have any mishaps?
• What did you like/not like about the process and/or the recipe in general?

We’re going a total different direction for our next assignment.  It is in the Sweets section of the book:  Red Velvet Cake!  I thought this would be good for a Valentine’s treat for your family, friends or significant other.  The recipe is found on pps. 233-235 of the book (almost the very end!)  I couldn’t find this recipe on her site, so I think you’ll need the book for this one.  However, if you don’t have it yet, feel free to use another red velvet recipe (from scratch!) and chime in anyway.  It might be fun to do a comparison.  I will post about this recipe late next week…probably Thursday or Friday, so it will give you plenty of time to pull it off.  Happy baking!

The game ended up being a really exciting one, but what drew me to the screen most was Peyton Manning’s face, and not because I think it’s particularly good looking.  No, I had a sort of bet with myself after a while to see if at any time the camera would catch him with any other face other than the pouty, surly, someone-stole-my-lollipop face that he always wears.  I also had a good time coming up with what he might be thinking at any given time the camera caught him.  It turned out that I had a lot of chances to do this because the camera was on Peyton Manning a lot.  A whole lot.

Here’s what his face looked like before the game…

“I am so mad!  I just found out that one expert out of 247 picked the Saints to win.”

Here’s what Peyton looked like during Carrie Underwood’s singing of the National Anthem…

“Why didn’t they ask me to sing the National Anthem?”

Here’s Peyton walking onto the field while his teammates are still on the sidelines, in a huddle, chanting and getting pumped up for the game…

“Silly, pagan rituals.  They should spend their time watching more film and studying play books instead of jumping around like fools.”

While not a shot of his face, this was taken right after he threw a touchdown pass, giving the Colts a 10-0 lead…

“Nice catch, chump.  Next time, though, I’m going to both throw it and catch it, so I only need you to block for me.  Got it?”

Here’s Peyton right after the Colts kicker missed a field goal attempt…

“I told them to let me kick it.  Now look what has happened.”

And then here’s Peyton, in the locker room, after they lost…

“Shoot.  I probably lost at least three commercial deals over this.”

Finally, here’s what Peyton is going to look like for the entire off-season…

Poor Peyton.  It almost makes me want to send him some of the BBQ Jalapeno Poppers.  Almost.