Mostly-Mommy

Did you know that today is Blue Monday? Me either.

After Mike came home I was telling him about what a crappy day I had and he said it was because today is the most depressing day of the year, the Monday of the last full week in January.

So if you were feeling down today cheer up, at least you were not alone!

(Also can someone please explain to me how my husband knows SO many weird little details? I’ve learned many, many useless facts and unsavory euphemisms from that one.)

Yesterday I made Whoopie Pies, no big whoop (oh that was bad, that was really, really bad, sorry).

But seriously, hot dang these were… what’s the word I’m looking for? Oh yes, delicious. Delicious will work just fine.

Whoopie Pies

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup cocoa

1 t baking soda

¼ t salt

6 T butter, melted

¾ cup milk

1 egg, beaten

1 t vanilla

6 T butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

7 oz. marshmallow crème

1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cookies: Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir in butter, milk, egg, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake 12-14 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Filling: Beat butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add marshmallow and vanilla and mix well.

I *think* the kids enjoyed them.

Lately Nick is into giving a “toes up” just like on Seinfeld years ago although he has never seen that episode, also I believe that was “giving the toe” as opposed to “giving the finger.” I like Nick’s version better I guess. Especially because a few days ago Zoey actually gave me the finger, but she was just babbling about something while she did it so I’m pretty sure she wasn’t actually GIVING me the finger. It was one of those MANY times lately when I just look away and try not to giggle. Just like at Christmas when Nick said “Holy shit that was some good food!”

Aaaaaaand back to the point. Toes up. And we were talking about how each hand and foot have five digits when Nick ran out of the room and came back with this:

Is geniusOMG.

He is not even five years old yet. He is blowing my mind. I might as well just send him off to college.

We’re enjoying the weekend, hopefully the last weekend of what will be known as The Holiday Break that Wouldn’t Die. It started innocently enough with a couple weeks of vacation during which we were entertained with Christmas and New Year’s and sledding. Ah but then there was the stomach flu and the blizzard and the Arctic temperatures and here we are in the second week of January and I no longer remember what it is like to only have one child to entertain (or apparently how to construct a sentence). We’re bored is what I’m saying. And I’m exhausted from trying to keep my two house-bound young offspring from murdering each other or causing me to start drinking before noon. Fingers crossed (and arms and legs for good measure) he will have school tomorrow.

Wondering how I’ve been doing it? So glad you asked, because I just happen to have some pictures! Shocking!

A big one is the Science Kit that was a present from Grandma Sarah. My kids LOVE SCIENCE. It almost brings a tear to my eye, I am so happy.

And also there was the Spaceship we built to visit Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the three planets Nick most wanted to visit. After collecting some specimens from the surface of Mars I deducted that the surface must be littered with motorized trains. Huh, much like the surface of our house.

Can you spot the reason our Spaceship was destroyed? Zoey is pointing right at the Astro-Griffin we discovered after we came back from a mission on Jupiter. Apparently cats are equally annoying on every planet.

The unfortunate side-effect of this magnificent Spaceship was that it completely blocks the TV. About 2pm all I wanted was to turn on the electronic babysitter and take a nap, but thanks to my genius we had to JUST KEEP PLAYING. So we built this:

All bow before the Queen of Sodor! I rule the Island with an iron fist! Productivity is through the roof and don’t even get me started on route expansion, we’ve branched out all the way to Lower Food Shelf with the new road construction.

I’m beat, and praying for warm weather.

Did you know that ketchup doesn’t just come in bottles conveniently located on your grocer’s shelf? Turns out you can MAKE it in your very own kitchen! And today folks I have discovered the wonders of fabulous, home made, high fructose corn syrup-free ketchup. I had no idea.

Is it wrong to just eat a spoon full of ketchup? No, no it is not.

Super Quick Ketchup

3 cans tomato paste

1/4 c honey

1/4 c brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t cloves (or more)

pinch of cayenne

pinch allspice

pinch garlic powder

3/4 cup cider vinegar (this recipe turned out pretty bitey, I think next time I’ll only use 1/2 cup)

water as needed to reach the right consistency

Simmer this, stirring, for about five minutes. Remove from heat. Cool. Adjust seasonings. Flavor will improve on standing if you can wait…

(A big shout out to Kaci for the awesome recipe! You rock!)