and the winner is

Because I'm sure you are all on pins and needles awaiting the outcome of the great treat debate I decided to post and let you know.

The pretzel remains the champion. As much as I love me some dark chocolate and cashews, that combination was just unable to exceed the joy of salty, chocolatey, carameley, pretzeley, candy coating striped goodness.

Yes, I did just make a post entirely about one treat losing to another treat. Maybe I should randomly debate the merits of different treats and post winners. Please feel free to let me know if you think this is a good or bad idea.


Also, I will continue to make up words as needed such as pretzeley when it suits my needs.

I love the holidays...

A friend of mine at a holiday party last week stated that the reason she loves the holidays can be summed up with one word. That word is carbohydrates. Well, I'm pretty sure she said carbs, but I like to use the whole word. I realized that I too love the holidays for much the same reason. I also love the holidays because everyone has to bring some sort of baked good or treat to the office. GOOD TIMES my friends GOOD TIMES.

In light of this, I've decided to share with you some of the delightful contributions to my hips that I've received this week:

First, we have some delightful krumkake. I know it looks like you would say it crumbcake, but you don't. It's more like krum "cockay". Make sense? Yeah, it doesn't to me either. Those crazy Scandinavians. Also, very sugary and carby. I give them an 8 on the carb deliciousness.



This my friends is pure evil incarnate. It's a salted pretzel stick, dipped in caramel, then dipped in milk chocolate, then "striped" with candy stuff that tasted like the candy coating on an M&M. My boss called these "candy bars with handles'. Yes, I ate it all and I only felt slightly bad afterwards. Probably because the last two bites were pretzel only so I was able to delude myself into thinking that it was a healthy snack. Easily a 10 and my favorite treat thus far.



Some might question my placing this after the snack that I noted was the best one I'd had thus far this holiday season. Some might like to mind their own business as there is an actual reason. I don't yet know if this tops the one above, because I've not gotten to the part of it that may top the pretzel. It's a delightful mix of salted cashews, mixed nuts, milk chocolate covered nuts and dark chocolate nuts. That last item is the reason I've not yet determined if this is going to outdo the pretzel. I mean, sure the pretzel had caramel AND milk chocolate, but I am pretty sure I saw a dark chocolate covered cashew in this mix, and I'm thinking that may be even better than the pretzely goodness. Though, I won't be able to accomplish the same delusion as above since the entire thing is covered in the dark chocolate.


Oh yeah, that's my thumb, so if you know the size of my thumb, you can get an idea of the size of the second two treats. Or conversely if you know the size of the cashew right next to my thumb, you can get an idea of the size of my thumb. I'll give you a hint... the picture is not lifesize.

I have been tagged...

So here is the fun of Holiday questions that Carin "tagged" me with.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Both! Mix them together.
2. Does Santa wrap the presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa doesn't have time to wrap presents, wrapped ones are from family and friends.
3. Red or white lights? Both
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope
5. When do you put your decorations up? Normally just after Thanksgiving. This year, I got nothing yet.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Crackers and Cheese... I'm easy
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Spending Christmas Eve at Grandma Fernie's with extended family.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think it was the year I snuck upstairs to use the bathroom and saw my parents assembling my Huffy bicycle.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When growing up we always got to open one. It was usually pajamas or slippers. Now we do Christmas with the parents on Christmas Eve.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Lights, ornaments... whatever I have. I have no pattern or method, or consistency for that matter.
11. Snow: Love it or hate it? I LOVE it!
12. Can you ice skate? Yeah, but not so good. I haven't broken my tailbone, so I think that means I can.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Handprint mold that Malia's daycare made for me the year she was born. Yes, that's cheesy, but I love it!
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Pumpkin Pie!!!! No whipped cream either... Blecgh!
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Waffles for breakfast Christmas morning. It isn't Christmas until I get a waffle.
17. What is on top of your tree? HAHAHA, I haven't put it up yet. I do have a star with multi-color lights that is too heavy to put on my tree, but I do it anyway.
18. Which do you like best giving or receiving? I used to like receiving, but more and more I look forward to the reaction of people to the gifts I am giving.
19. Christmas Song? Carol of the Bells and Greensleeves (it's only called What Child is this when there is singing and I like the instrumental)
20. Do you like candy canes? Yes, but they best be peppermint or cherry. I don't hold with this whole butterscotch and blueberry and whatnot flavoring. It's just not right.

Happy Holidays!

I meant to do it...

So, I really mean to do the 7 things you don't know about me, but I couldn't come up with anything. Ate least not anything that you don't already know. the only thing I can think of that you might not know all about is my one irrational fear.

I have an insane, totally irrational fear of dying by drowning in a car. I totally freak out when driving over bridges or on roads that go near lakes or whatnot. I don't know why. I realize that the odds of it happening are far less than being run over by a semi in my own living room. However, I am still scared. Like, complete with white knuckle gripping onto something. I do seem to be less panicked if I am the one driving though.

So, there you have it. There really isn't anything else that no one knows.

I leave you with a fun slideshow of the girls.

Best Bat Ever!

As promised, here are the Halloween pictures. I think that Malia is the best bat ever. Here is my favorite of the pics, and below that is a slideshow of everything. Oh, the second slideshow is of the pictures from Kami's birthday party with all three girls (and cake).

It's Bat Country

As promised, here are bat costume pictures. Unfortunately I was sidetracked per usual and didn't actually do any pumpkin carving. Maybe I'll get them in this week.

Best marbles ever!

These are the coolest marbles I have ever had the fortune to encounter. Also, Malia and I will be taking bat costume pictures tonight and hopefully I'll get them posted tonight too.

Oh, upcoming fun. Malia and I are going to Buddha's house Friday night to do some Halloween decorations and pumpkin carving. Trust me when I say that the pictures will be well worth the wait. (pretend there is a picture of an evil genius laughing and wringing his hands here... I don't have time to find one)

Blog Action Day

No, this is not a post about the rugrat, but about one of the other things I care about...

Give our forests – and your mail carrier – a break!

Each American receives an average of 560 pieces of junk mail per year – made from more than 100 million trees.

To lighten the load, try:

www.greendimes.com – Fast, easy, inexpensive and they plant trees for you, too!

I am easily enterained

This comic is what makes selling on eBay so difficult. It's so tempting to do it:

I am the best mom ever... or something like that.

So, Malia has decided on her Halloween costume and it's arrived at the home. The conversation leading up to said costume went something like this:

Malia: Mom, I've decided what I want to be for Halloween.
Me: Oh really? You decided which Princess you wanted to be?
Malia: I can't be a princess, mom. It's just not scary. I want to be a bat and I have to have wings that I can flap and fly around with.
Me: Oh, what made you decide to be a bat?
Malia: Well, I decided that I was something nice last year and I wanted to be something scary this year.
Me: So, bats are scary huh?
Malia: Yeah, I though maybe I would be a cat, but they just aren't scary enough. So, I decided to be a bat.
Me: ...
Malia: So, can I be a bat?
Me: Sure.

Sadly, this conversation is nearly verbatim. Here is a pic of the costume I purchased:


She is beyond excited to wear this costume out and about. Every day when we get home she informs me that Halloween is tomorrow so I better remember to put her in her bat costume. Every morning she then gets angry with me when I let her know that it's not, in fact, Halloween yet and that she has X amount of days left.

On the upside to this, she will wear her bat costume for about an hour in the evenings, which is an improvement on the running around in her panties. So it's win/win of sorts. She gets to be a bat for an hour every evening, and I don't have to holler at her to put on clothes for at least that long.

Awesome!

So, I've had a blog for some time, but I am making this one for the family to keep up with the insanity that will be the decorating of the new condo and the entertaining insanity that is Malia's constant attempts to make me finally go over that last cliff to the bliss that is complete and total madness.

I leave you with this:



Yes, Malia's new favorite word is awesome so I felt it was fitting.