Happy Birthday Collin!

Well, my baby boy turns 15 today. What always amazes me is how young kids look when they are 15. Brian was 15 when I met him, and he's never looked that young to me.

This is what Collin will always look like to his momma!

He was my little Thanksgiving baby! He was a planned C-section and the date chosen was November 24, seeing that Thanksgiving was November 25 that year. We were in South Bend and the last thing I wanted to do was host a Thanksgiving dinner, or drive into Chicago to go to one when I was a week away from my due date, which was the 29th. (I think) So I planned it that I would be in the hospital for Thanksgiving. One of the best decisions I ever made!

I remember Brian and I getting on the elevator when we got to the hospital, it was early like 6 a.m. and a woman comes in and says, "You two must want a girl!" And then we said, "What makes you say that?", and she says, "You both have pink shirts on." It was the early 90's Brian had a pink polo on I'm sure, it was that whole "Real Men Wear Pink" fad! *g* I had whatever pink top fit over a huge tummy. It didn't matter to us, girl or boy, we really did just want a healthy baby.

Collin's middle name is Johnston. We wanted a family name from Brian's side, didn't care for Norman (Brian's dad) or George (Brians grandpa), so Brian's dads middle name was Johnston, he was named after the Dr. that delivered him, so that's what we went with. If I could change anything about his name, I would of spelled it Colin. But Colin Powell was big in '93 and everyone pronounced his name like part of ones poo anatomy, so I put the extra "L" in so people would say Collin not colon. The bad thing was, all those trips to Disney World, you could never find "Collin" on things, it was always "Colin", I always felt so bad for him.

Okay, so I asked Collin what cake he wanted for his birthday, his choice, it wasn't chocolate with chocolate, it was...

White Chocolate Cheesecake

Heat over to 300.

Make any sort of crumb crust you would like for the bottom. Sometimes I use Oreo, sometimes chocolate graham crackers, Nilla wafers, today I used cinnamon sugar graham crackers. Just maybe 2 cups of crumbs and 2-3 tbl. melted butter. 1 tsp. vanilla depending on what you chose to make crumbs with. Press into bottom of springform pan.

Mix:
3- 8oz. room temp. cream cheese
1-14oz. can Sweetened condenced milk
3-large eggs
2-tsp. vanilla
1-tbl. corn starch

mix till smooth and then slowly add 1 bag MELTED white chocolate chips.

(just heat in micro at 50% power, first for a minute, stir, then another minute stir, and then do it at 30 second intervals, just always cook at 50% power and you shouldnt get clumpy chocolate)

Mix till smooth, pour into springform pan with your crumb crust.

Bake at 300 for 90 minutes, yeppers an hour and half! Then leave the cake in there and turn off oven, and let cake sit in hot oven for 45 minutes.

Also... I put a 9x13 pan filled halfway with water in the pan in the oven also while the cake is baking. This prevents the cheesecake from cracking on top.

Cool. Refridgerate.

That's it! It's WONDERFUL! Especially with a little bit of Hershey syrup drizzled on each piece. I got this recipe back in 1998 from a net friend named Rie. She made it up from scratch, I think of her everytime I make it. Wherever you are Rie... spanks!

My favorite Collin picture...


And to Collin, you are everything a mother is grateful for in a son, I give thanks every year on this date that you are mine!
M

(So Im in Target and I'm thinking, I think I posted this recipe before, the last time I made it. *g* I should of posted the pumpkin cake with brown butter glaze. God thats good!)

Lola gets to 2nd Base

If I'm not mistaken the "bra" is second base right? I get an email from DH the other day and he asks me if I saw Lola's surprise? I wrote back, "No." A little bit later I go up to take a shower and my pink bra is laying across the sink, with a wire sticking straight out of it, one strap off, and little bite marks all over.

I thought ... Gross, how did Hugh Hefner get in the house?

Then I realized, they weren't denture marks on the bra but bite marks, dog bite marks. Must of been Lola!

I thought I heard heard her around 4 a.m. walking around, seems she went into the third closet (were spoiled, we each have our own closet, the third one is clothes thrown on the tub) and pulled my bra off and chewed it a bit. Now if you remember it was only a couple of months ago she got a pair of my CLEAN panties and brought them outside to delight the neighbors, and this month it's the bra.

It seems Lola is a tad confused and is going around the bases backwards. It should of been the bra first and then the panties, right? Bra-second base, Panties-Grand Slam? Li'l bit of trouble with this since DH hit a home-run sooner rather than later in our relationship. *g*

Bra appears smaller and prettier than in real life

Besides the bra and CLEAN panties she has taken, she hasn't chewed anything in the house, and has just been a little dream pup! But, that said, we will only have one Christmas tree this year, decorated from about half way up!

M

Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?

You'll get the title later.

So one of my Surrey Gathering in Canada stories is about shoes. Every year we get Diana a gift for taking the time to be with us. It's getting harder and harder to think of things to surprise her with that are fun. But earlier in the year, one of the sites I make graphics on was now selling Keds you could customize yourself! Cool! So I asked the Surrey group and we decided it was a go.

So I first had to come with a graphic to use. Recently a friend(Hi Janice) asked me to make Diana's family crest for a gift, Diana had mentioned in one of her novels what hers would be if she had one. The motto being "Cur Non" meaning "Why Not", with three hippogriffs and some standing stones.

I started with this...

and made this....

(that's actually finished and framed on a tile Janice and I gave her for her b-day)

So I wanted to use that in a graphic for shoes that wasn't obnoxious and you could wear with jeans. I came up with this...


Then you make all the sides, the top, heel, all according to their specifications, and load them up and zazzle will give you an idea of what they will look like...



And here is how they turned out...



Will she ever wear them? I don't have a clue! :-) But... I bet if she stands very still, closes her eyes and concentrates of Scotland, clicks her heels, one, two, no three times and then opens her eyes, she will be standing in the same spot where she started from!

The title...When ever I think of shoes, I think of this punchline to an old joke...

Roy had a brand new pair of shoes. He goes to visit his friend. Being polite, he removed his shoes and leaves them at the door. While visiting with his friend, the friend’s cat discovers Roys new shoes, likes the smell and proceeds to chew them up. Roy goes ballistic. The friend, feeling very bad, has a dilemma: he has two cats. One of the cats enters the room at that moment.

The friend then asks: Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?

Repeat the punch line to the tune of the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

When I went to Florida with Gretchen and her family when I was.....10 or 11 I think. We sang that punchline while in the car all the way from Chicago to Florida, and I would guess very loudly while going through Chattanooga, TN. It is truly a wonder we both made it alive till the end of the trip, no bruises or anything!

That's all from a rainy cold Indiana Saturday,

M

Busy as a sick bee!

I know I haven't updated in a bit...

The Author's Attic page has kept me busy. Since I last updated they have created a new Claire's pendant and earrings.


I've made a webpage. Fairy Door anyone?

They are too cute, and it comes with a little story about the fairy that lives there. Friend Cindy who wrote Exit Unicorns, makes these.
Hidden Realm Fairy Doors

I went to Vancouver to hang with my net friends, I will post separately about this one, too much to tell. Always too much fun.

Came home from Canada and got hit with the flu and cold, and now a sore throat. It seems that eating left over Halloween candy all day does not cure all. This was our first year none of our kids went trick or treating. :-(

Was feeling sorry for myself and made the mug cake posted below. Didn't care for it, it's easier just to make a pan of brownies I thought. Gotta share the brownie pan again just in time for your xmas giving!
Baker's Edge Brownie Pan!

Now I admit I was praying for rain for walking the mini-marathon, but the flu took care of that for me and on the mini morning I couldn't even walk up the stairs and missed it. Although extremely happy to report, neighbor Robin triumphed! Walked the Hospice walk with Fr. Bill in October, and he was very interested to see if I was going to make this 13 mile walk, and was under strict instructions to "let him know". Well, I sent him my number!

Caught up finally with Grey's Anatomy! Missed the season premier, it was off the website before I could watch. Blond dude Kevin McKidd (or something like that it's early) from HBO's Rome is on it now, he has a way of playing soldiers. :-)

As far as movies, saw The Dutchess, it was good. We will all go see Bond this weekend. Going to see The Changling (I think) tomorrow.

Read three books-two with Henry the VIII connection. "The last wife of Henry VIII", who was Catherine Parr it was pretty good. Had the feel of "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Virgin Lover", by Phillipa Gregory, it's about Queen Elizabeth's relationship with Robert Dudley. Actually I have about fifty pages of that one to go, it's not too griping, wouldn't recommend. "Bet Me" by Jennifer Crusie, I usually enjoy all of Crusie's books, but this one I couldn't recommend either.

Was working on Nancy E. Turners webpage last night and something is in the works there, she won't tell more than that. :-) I tell you authors can keep secrets! It's not a movie but I'm guessing a mini-series of her Sarah Prine books. Fingers crossed, these would be a great series! I LOVE LOVE LOVE these books!


I activated my Facebook page, that thing drives me nuts, but since Colleen has to keep sending me pictures separately, Mandi starts every email with "this would be a lot easier if you were on Facebook", guilt won out and it's under email lolmichelle at yahoo dot com So to those that have been posting for the last......I dont know how long and it looks like Ive been ignoring you, I haven't, it wasn't activated, but it seems people can still post.


God is in his heaven, Obama won the election, Sarah is back in Alaska ... all is right with the world!

M

Happy Birthday Montana!

I miss my puppy boy!