Aloha Friday! Me & Amelia

From An Island Life:

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you'd like to participate with your own question on your own blog, head on over to An Island Life to link up and join the fun!


I've seen lots of blogs/forums/what-have-you who ask the question, "If someone were to play you in a movie, who would it be?" I never really know how to answer that question. The closest I can usually come up with is Sandra Bullock because she's a brunette and she does klutzy very well.

Who I really think I tend to emulate most of time is Amelia. Not Amelia Earhart. She's way to brave and heroic. Oh no. I think of THIS Amelia!



That's right folks, Amelia Bedelia. For those of you who didn't grow up on her books, she's the not-so-clever maid who takes everything too literally and ends up getting herself into a lot of trouble. Her boss asks her to make a sponge cake? She uses actual sponges. Her boss asks her to dust the living room? She finds the makeup "dusting powder" and spreads it all over the place. Apparently my mom read me too many of her books as a child because obviously I've taken it to heart.

Case in point? Last night I was cleaning my broiler pan. I took it outside because I decided to use Easy-Off to get off the charred bits. And since I was out there I thought, "Oh yeah, Hubs said the grill needed to be cleaned! Wouldn't it be nice of me if I just went ahead and did it for him?" That sentence alone is probably enough to make my 2 male readers groan. Because apparently touching a man's grill is TABOO! I had just crossed over into Male Territory without even thinking about it. So I started taking the various grill pieces out of the grill and arranging them on our concrete patio thinking that I would spray on the Easy-Off, let it sit for a while, and then come back to scrub them up and rinse them off with the hose.

While the pieces were sitting out soaking in chemicals, Hubs wakes up. I'm all proud and excited, waiting for him to discover the nice thing that I'm doing for him.

He notices, does a double take, and says, "You did, what?!"

"I'm cleaning the grill for you, honey!"

"You're going to stain the patio! Not to mention the fact that you know nothing about my grill!"

"Oops... I'm sorry, I thought I was being helpful."

"Well, it's not helpful. The grill and the garage are mine. I'd appreciate it if you left them alone."

"Alright... ... I'm sorry."

"Hey, when does Sims 3 come out again? I'm thinking you need a new game or something (so that you will stop trying to be helpful and leave my stuff alone!)."

So yes, our patio is stained. And one of our dogs ate all the charred bits and threw up black stuff upstairs this morning.

No, Amy is not short for Amelia, but sometimes I'm thinking it should be. lol

My Aloha Friday question today (HA! You thought I forgot didn't you?!) is, Have you ever had an Amelia Bedelia moment? And if so, what was it??

Things I Love Thursday: Ecco Yucatan Sandals

I haven't participated in Things I Love Thursday in a while, but today I have something that I just HAD to share! And for the record, this company doesn't even know I exist, and certainly hasn't given me any free samples or anything to giveaway. But they are seriously SO awesome that I would sing their praises till the end of time for no reimbursement whatsoever.

Today I'm gonna share with you my new kicks that I bought a couple months ago.



They are the Ecco Yucatan Sandal!

They are by far the most comfortable sandal I've ever owned. I wear them shopping, I wear them out in my yard, I wear them to walk the girls down the street, and although I haven't had the opportunity I'd certainly wear them all day long to a theme park or to take a 5 mile hike. Yes, they are THAT comfortable!!

They come in a wide variety of colors, but I'm boring, so mine are brown. But I LOVE brown because it goes with everything.

Here's what mine look like (after all-day, daily use for 2 months). WARNING: Mine are dirty and need a bath of some sort. I'm just not sure how to clean them without ruining them (because I CANNOT ruin these wonderful sandals! I'm not sure how I'd function without them anymore).





Only downside of these sandals? Because I do wear them every day, and I'm spending as much time outside in this beautiful weather as possible, I've developed quite an interesting tan line!





Yup, I now look like a total dork when I take them off. Which is why I must keep them on at all times! lol I've gotten lots of great compliments on my lovely bare feet. Hee hee!

But honestly, I'm beyond the age of caring about such things. I also have a lovely farmer's tan, but I'm ok with it. Because I'm a farmer. lol

Now I will say that these are also the most expensive sandals I've ever purchased. They chime in around $120. Ouch! But I only buy sandals about once every 5 years (I purchased my last pair 7 years ago for my honeymoon!), so to me they're an investment. And given their high quality I'm certain that they'll last me for at least 5 years if not more. Plus I'll have the added bonus of no blisters or raw spots on my feet due to less comfortable sandals that don't fit me nearly as well.

And if any PR person from Ecco happens to stop by, please say hello! Me and my feet would LOVE to thank you for saving us from another summer in less comfortable footwear!

Way Back When-endsday! Grandpa & Great-Grandma

When: July 2007
Who: The girls with my dad & his mom

My dad LOVES babies! He seriously can't get enough of them. He's always the first one to notice the cute baby at the grocery store, and that weird guy who comes up to people to oogle at their newborn. So needless to say he was OVER THE MOON when he found out I was pregnant with twins. And he very much loves being a grandpa!

My grandma also had fraternal twin girls! (And oh yeah, at the time she had 3 young boys as well, all under the age of 5... I seriously don't know how she did it! She's an amazing role model for me!) So when she was scheduled for a trip down to California to visit her sister 6 weeks before my due date she made me promise, "Don't have those babies while I'm gone!!" Sorry Grandma! They were of course born the day after she left. She was gone for 3 weeks, so she wasn't able to meet the girls until she came back. And that's when these pictures were taken. Now every time I take the girls to see her at her assisted living home (she's gonna be 93 in August and is still up and around and sharp as a tack) she is VERY proud to introduce us to everyone, "This is my granddaughter Amy. She has twin girls, just like me!"

I'm the only one out of ALL my cousins (and in a large family, there are a ton of us) who has had twins. They all think it's super hilarious. I think they're just jealous. :P

For more Way Back fun visit Cheryl over at Twinfatuation!

Twins: In their native habitat

Shhhhh....

We must be vewy vewy quiet...

The twins in their native habitat are easily disturbed. The docile... oh who am I kidding?... sometimes aggressive beasts... will pounce at the slightest provocation. Great care must be taken to avoid such a catastrophe.

And there they sit! You would never know by looking, but these are truly savage beasts.



Alas!!! We have been spotted! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!



Oh the fangs!!! Guard your vital organs!!! (No seriously, you might wanna do that!)



Absolutely vicious I tell you!!!



We may never live to tell the tale!



Look, the pink one is using some sort of sideways maneuver! If we live we should report this new behavior to the authorities.



And look at the purple one! I've never seen such shaggy mane! She must truly be a rarity.



Whew! Well it looks like we might live to see another day... They spared us this time, but will they be so kind tomorrow??

Mystery Spice Monday: Vanilla Bean Pancakes

Ok, I realize at this point that it's practically Tuesday, but I couldn't give up and leave ya hangin'! Hubs woke up, informed me that I needed to do something ridiculously easy to make my computer recognize my media card... so here I am! Stylishly late! (or not...)

It really is worth it being late to the party sometimes. Because late comers get to have Vanilla Bean Pancakes for breakfast tomorrow!

If you remember long ago in my tour around my spice cabinet, that I have these marvelous vanilla beans that Hubs bought for me at Costco. He got them back in, oh I'm thinkin' October? And of course I failed to use them in any of my holiday baking. So in my cabinet they sat...until last night!

For some reason they just screamed pancakes to me. What can I say, I have a sinus infection and a craving for comfort foods.



I took the easy route and went with some Bisquick, you can use whatever kind of pancake mix you like or you can get all fancy with flours and shortenings and stuff. But in my opinion, why bother?



Two cups of Bisquick, 2 Tbsp of sugar, 2 tsp baking powder.



1 cup of milk, 2 eggs. Stir. It really can't get much easier than this.



Now if you don't have vanilla beans screaming at you to be used you could always just add some vanilla extract. It wouldn't be super special, but it'd still be good.

If you do have beans screaming to be used, then here's how. Take your bean...



Cut it lengthwise to split it in half. And the scrape the seeds out with the edge of your knife blade. Add the seeds to your pancake batter.



And oh heavenly stars... just looking at this makes my mouth water... just the batter!



Scoop 1/4 cup of the batter onto a hot griddle.



When you start to see bubbles it's time to flip!



The second side will only take a couple minutes, and then you're done! Pile them on a plate and cover with foil until they're all done.

And if you're like Hubs you'll smother them with butter and blueberry syrup.



If you're like me you'll use significantly less butter and maple syrup.



Hubs didn't notice the vanilla bean flavor, but I think it was due to his syrup choice. I thought it tasted magnificent!

Breakfast for dinner! Or for breakfast. :)

Vanilla Bean Pancakes
Adapted from the back of the Bisquick box

2 cups of Bisquick
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean

Combine Bisquick, sugar, baking powder. Add milk and eggs. Cut vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out seeds with the edge of your knife. Add seeds to the batter. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto hot griddle. Cook until edges are dry and bubbles begin to form. Flip. Cook until golden.


If you have a Mystery Spice recipe, I apologize for the delay! Here's Mr. Linky. He's always stylish when late. :)

Mystery Spice Monday: Sorry for the Delay!

Apparently my computer has decided to not recognize the media card which has all of my recipe pictures on it. :((( Which SUCKS because I made something super fun to share with you!

So it looks like I'm going to have to wait until Hubs wakes up to help me with that...

...sigh...

In the meantime, if you have your own Mystery Spice Recipe to share please leave a link in the comments! I'd love to read it! And I'll be sure to post up my recipe and a Mr. Linky later this afternoon.

My Grandmas Of New England Coffee Cake !

My Grandmas Of New England Coffee Cake !

Seriously, you must check out this giveaway! Apparently it is "the world's most critically acclaimed coffee cake". I'm pretty sure that a company who makes that claim must have a pretty darn good product!