fat witch brownies week four

before i get to what type of brownie we made i have to say that i chatted via email with the founder and owner of fat witch bakery and author of the book fat witch brownies, patricia helding.

all i can say is that anyone who signs their emails best witches is totally tops in my book. what a sweet woman with a love for baking and all things brownies. i enjoyed chatting with her about my summer brownie fun. she said two of her family favorites are the lemon bars and the pb&j bars. both of witch are on our list of to dos this summer.

this week we made cappuccino brownies.



they looked so good. i just spread the chocolate layer all over the top as opposed to drizzling in a zig zag pattern as suggested in the book, only because me and drizzling probably would have not worked out so well.

sadly i can't do the whole coffee thing. i do not like the taste of coffee at all but john, shelby and porscha really liked these. a few went to my sister and she said they were awesome. shelby said she has a new favorite, out of the way bumpy highway. speaking of bumpy highway, amber and i were so not going to do the week without brownies...are you crazy?! so another batch of bumpy highways were made. it is a good thing i am back running in the mornings!

so here is the thing. there is a copy of the fat witch brownies book hanging out waiting for a good home. i think i will do a random draw the end of the summer. each time you post on one of the weekly posts for the brownies you get a chance to win. give the contest a shout on your blog and come back and let me know...another chance to win. like fat witch brownies on face book and let me know ~poof~ yet another chance to win. so get commenting, get pimping, get liking and you may be the lucky recipient of a copy of the book. a great addition to any bakers kitchen!!!


**contest closed**

what's a boss

writing prompt: write a post where the first and last sentence contain any form of the word "boss."

i could hardly believe that one of the writing prompts this week involved using the word boss! last week kaye commented on this post, about how she likes to try to write down the funny stuff her kids say in a little book. well i have tried to do this over the years as well. after reading her comment i had thought that i needed to pull that little book out and maybe share some of those funny little tales here. the one i was thinking of doing first involved the word boss.

when shelby was little she had some fears. humpty dumpty for example sent her shuffling on her butt out of the room. talking christmas trees...you know the ones that have a sensor that randomly break into a obnoxiously loud rendition of we wish you a merry christmas every time you pass them. or those singing bass plaques...she hated those but babies dolls by far topped her list.

in senior kindergarten they had centers they would have to do. one of the things to choose from was playing in the play house. of course shelby avoided this like the plague because there were baby dolls. well the teacher she had that year for whatever reason felt that shelby needed to go into the play house area. i figure on the teachers part if was a bit of a power trip....yes, she was one of those kinds of teachers.

anyway she tells shelby that she wants her to go into the play house for her center that day. of course shelby begins to get upset and the teacher then says to her how she is the boss and wants her to try for a few minutes (because you and i know how playing in the play house was going to make or break her chances at attending a good post secondary school....insert eye roll here) and can pick the friends she'd like to have join her. well she liked that idea and calmed down and headed into the play house area with her posse.

after a few minutes in there she says to her educational assistant that she'd like to leave and go do something else.

so her e.a sets her up to paint. after a moment or two she hears shelby mutter something. so she asks shelby to repeat herself and shelby says, she's not the boss of me. so her e.a. decided to take a moment to explain the whole boss thing. she tells her that here in the class she is the boss. how the principal is the teachers boss and how daddy has a boss at work and all that.

so after that all sinks in her e.a. says to her, do you understand what a boss is?

shelby replies, yes, a boss is someone who tricks you into doing something you don't want to do and it really pisses me off.

what's on the line

my neighbours daughter is expecting. any day now. not the t-party neighbours daughter my other neighbour. (i am lucky to have good neighbours)

over the last few weeks we have witnessed the clothesline being decorated with baby clothes. little clothing being washed and readied for haven's arrival. a girl. i can get excited about this because it isn't mine!!! i am done....remember?

amber says to me the other day that there is more clothing out. her and i have been enjoying these little previews. picking what we like best. some of it is so tiny. it is hard to believe they are ever that small.

this week the line had us giggling.

the shirt says eat brains.





little haven's mom loves anything with skull and crossbones and she loves pink and she is goth. i put my mad skills together and came up with this.


just enough black to appease cassie's gothness...skull and crossbones with that dabble of pink. add the ribbon and viola!

as soon as cassie saw it she said, she is so wearing this home from the hospital. which made me smile. then she proceeded to snap a picture of it and send it to her sister (her twin shannon). it feels like yesterday they were turning 16 and i was video taping their mom as she wished them a teary happy birthday. they both were preemies like shelby. now they just turned 27 and are having babies. shannon just found out she is expecting as well. their mom is so excited and ready to be a grandma. we look forward to getting the call......hopefully in the next few days.

porschanese

writing prompt: write an entry inspired by the word: yellow.

when porscha was little she had a few issues with her speech. nothing too big. basically her junior kindergarten teacher make a recommendation that she have some in school speech therapy. she had noticed that with some words she'd miss a letter. one i really remember was that instead of saying yellow, she would say ellow. it sounded too cute.

prior to starting school she was hard to understand sometimes. now not for me because i was with her all the time but for others who didn't interact with her as frequent, it was tough. my dad made up a name for her language. he said that she was speaking porschanese. i remember one time my parents were visiting and she was trying to tell grampa a story but he was just not quite getting it. so she comes into the kitchen and says to me something to the effect of, can you tell grampa ________________, he says i am speaking porschanese again. it was the funniest thing.

fortunately her speech improved as she got older. this writing prompt allow me a moment to remember and smile to myself about her yellow being an ellow and her speaking porschanese. perfect.

fat witch brownies week three

fat witch brownies.

we made two this week. not everyone likes banana. so there was banana bread brownies.



i am not sure about these. i think i screwed them up because i messed up putting the flour and salt in at the right time and then they were mixed too much and well they came out kinda heavy and chewy. bummer.

it was a good thing i made the other recipe as well. a total hit. and you do not need to put on the oven for these!!!

no-bake s'more fun brownies.

okay so they look a little like pooh but they are all gone and there is talk of making another batch. so so so so good.


now shelby feels they are tops with the first weeks pick. bumpy highway brownies but john still says the highway ones are number one in his book.

i went to check out their website. i really want to visit new york again one day and i will be stopping there. it makes me want to open a great little bakery......that sells yarn. would that not honestly be heaven?!

**contest closed**

t-party dress

well i was up far too late last friday night. 4 am. so technically it was saturday morning. finishing my neighbors daughters dress. her t-party dress. it honestly came out so darn sweet. this picture does not even do it justice. there was tulle under the skirt that poofed it right out and this beautiful big yellow bow at the back.

all those tea cups and tea pots were sewn on with gold thread. sadly she was not pick for taylor's t-party. even with her sign that blinked three speeds.



it was not for lack of trying that she did not get picked. either way she looked awesome and had a blast.


lets talk, shall we, about the whole 4 am. see that is what happens with the whole deadline sewing thing for me. i tried very very hard all week. i was so on top of life and i took a bit of time here and there but then life got in the way and then before i know it is friday at 12 noon. so i sat down and sewed, with the exception of maybe 4 hours, till 4 am. stress. too big of a project for a deadline in my life. i was so relieved she liked it. it fit and i was done. thankfully john took porscha and amber to his mom and dad's friday for the weekend. first because i do not know if i would have finished with them around and it gave me the weekend to rejuvenate from such a late night. sleeping in and an early evening nap saturday dabbled with some knitting...a new project.....perfect rejuvenation therapy. well that and shelby and i ordered pasta from our favorite little italian place.


it has been so hot. the oven has not been on much but i need to do week three of our fat witch brownies. see what tonight brings.

enjoying a moment

writing prompt: on a piece of paper write down something that makes you happy...take a photo of your paper and wa la...there's your post.

i love chilling under the shade of a tree. the best is to lay right out and look up into it's branches with chunks of blue sky bursting through. and oh how the sunshine dances on the leaves. perfect.

trees are pretty awesome and it reminds me of a little story.

my dad has told us a story of how when he was young they use to play a game with chestnuts. you had to tie the nut to a piece of string and bang the heck out of each others. the object was i think, to have the strongest nut. that last bit made me giggle.

so in our city they is a street called west 5th and on this street is a psychiatric hospital. i believe years and years and years ago before it was a psychiatric hospital it was a hospital for persons fighting tuberculosis. anyway when my dad was a child it was pretty barren. now there is a college across the street and houses everywhere. lots of traffic. the property boasted huge beautiful chestnut trees. so one day when my dad was a child he and his friends were setting out on their bikes and he says to my grandma, we're just going over to west 5th to get some nuts. of course that made my grandma giggle.





well i noticed a few months back that in the interest of people thinking everything needs to be bigger and better, pretty much all those amazingly beautiful chestnut trees have been cut down. i can not believe they would not have even considered saving a few and making a little calm place where people could just take a moment and enjoy sitting under a tree....and maybe gather up a few nuts along the way. shame on them.

fat witch brownies week two

fat witch brownies.


so up for the week from this awesome recipe book: candy cane brownies.





amber chose this one. they were very good. very very sweet but a recipe that would be so nice at christmas. i had some issue with the icing. they tell you to melt 3/4 cup white chocolate chips and sift in 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar. this made it very thick and crumbly. there would have been no way it would spread at all. so i added water. maybe 15ml. that did the trick and we were back in business.


i have been very busy on some sewing projects. the biggest was for my neighbors daughter megan. megan has grown up around my girls and spent many many hours here as a young girl. baking with us and having fun. she is all grown up and beautiful and a while back she asked me if i would sew her a dress. i had said yes. then a few weeks later thought to myself, what the hell are you thinking? then i said to john, i think i am going to tell megan i can't do the dress. he says, you can't say no to megan. i concurred. i can not say no to her. that is how sweet she is. like one of my own daughters. so i didn't say no. it involves many fabric tea cups and tea pots appliqued to the skirt. a lot of tulle.

she wanted it for a concert. she is going to see taylor swift on saturday. apparently taylor swift has a little gathering after her shows she calls a T (for taylor) -Party. she has her mom and some crew members go around before and during the show looking for fans dressed up....she likes anything glittery, shiny, light up signs...everything like that. so megan has a sign being made that lights up that says t-party taylor? her and her sister have like 100 glow sticks. she made her sister a shirt with glow in the dark paint and a tea cup on it. well the dress. oh my gosh it is turning out so darn cute. it has not been easy. sewing for others is very difficult for me. it is stressful. it takes me 5 days to be organized enough to sew for an hour. but i am getting it done and am so hoping it helps get her picked to meet taylor. she will cry if she gets picked. i told her she needs to be sure to let taylor know her neighbor made the dress!!

i will be sharing a photo of it once i get one with her wearing it. she has been by for two fittings and i can not even tell you how adorable she looks in it. i can't wait to share my handy work.



**contest closed**

lazy sunday morning

i had only planned to go to the park so max could have a quick little romp. but then they ended up in the water park. we came home 2 hours later.






that is what i love about days when there is no commitments. perfect!!

amber and her blog

amber has her own little blog. when i was writing on my old blog i use to do posts at the end of each month with photos she had taken on my camera during the month.

she is a smart cookie. all three of the girls are smart but honestly there is something about amber. i remember we were camping for like 3 weeks when she was just 2 months old and she would lay in her stroller and stare up at all those trees, swaying and the bright beautiful sun and be mesmerized. i remember saying to my dad, who was there with my mom for a few days, how i had read an article recently about how the first 3 months (or maybe it was 6 months) of a babies mind growth is so intense and how the more stimuli their wee baby brains get the smarter they will be and i remember saying to him how her brain must have been soaking it all up and how she was going to be one smart kid.

she just finished grade 4 and was one of the top students in her class. she reads and spells at a grade 7 level. her end of year report was all a's, except for 2 b's. she is one truly smart cookie and creative...through the roof that girl.


i love that she has began blogging about photos she takes. she uploads them and everything all on her own.

go have a peek. i guarantee it will make you smile!

fat witch brownies week one

fat witch brownies.

i decided that it might be a fun project to make one of the recipes each week for the summer. the girls were on board with that.

brownies are one of their favorites. i have a really great brownie recipe i have used for years. i posted about it here. i do them with icing and sometimes without icing. when i do them without icing i sprinkle sea salt on them. the sea salt idea was from here.

so after work today i made our first recipe.

bumpy highway brownies.



four hours later, there are two tucked away in the freezer for my niece and nephew. three in the fridge for tomorrow for the girls. and one went to work with john. the rest? all gone!!

now in our defence, it was only a 8 inch by 8 inch pan. i do have enough ingredients to make another batch.....so tempting!!!

porscha said it was like christmas crack.

they were very very good. can't wait till next week!

**contest closed**

summer war wounds

yesterday, day two of summer vacation. summer war wounds.




she fell doing a running start with her scooter. i am not so good at the whole first aid kit thing but the wounds were clean and covered and it meant she could get back to summer vacation!

happy canada day

if i had a house that had a ton more space i would have so dragged the christmas tree out of the attic and copied this. i love it!!!




have a safe and happy canada day!