Snow Day!

Today was Annabella's first day in the snow!

It was short lived she didn't like the heavy snow clothes

Thanks go to my mom for braving the cold weather to take her

Annabella really enjoyed eating the snow,but we had a hard time keeping her mittens on! I would love to find some way to get some gloves that would stay on her hands!

 And here is a picture of mama, staying inside!

Don't forget to enter the Giveaway for a copy of Amazing Cows!
which ends tomorrow!

Happy snow everyone!

How Its Going at Granny's

As all of you may or may not be aware of,  on the 21st of December, I moved back in with my parents and my Nana.

The experience has been new, going from spending 24 hours a day with nobody around but myself and my daughter to moving into a house where there is much more to be considered when leaving the dishes in the sink

Annabella has been eating lots of different foods then normal, and its nice to not have to be the sole cook for a toddler in the house, I have a whole new appreciation for leftovers!\

The Kitchen is much nicer then the last one that we had, I have been enjoying the extra room to get around and of course all the cabinet space and people to cook for!

Annabella likes the fridge

Winner of the About One Giveaway!

I love picking winners!

The winner of the About One Giveaway

which is a year subscription to their fantastic online service is...

Farrukh!

Congratulations Farrukh!

To get your own subscription and "keep it all together"

Check out 

www.aboutone.com

Auntie Anne's At Home Baking Kits

My sister loves monkey bread

I don't think that there has been a visit home without her bugging me about it.

For some reason, my sister has forgotten that all thats required to make "Mally's Monkey Bread" is three packs of refrigerated biscuit dough, sugar, cinnamon and way too much butter.

Myself however, I don't really succumb to the hydrogenated oils that saturate the dough, as well as my body after eating it. 

So when I was sent the Auntie Anne's At Home Baking Kit to try out I was psyched when I learned that one of the recipes reccomended was Monkey Bread! My sister was just as excited

So we started out on our journey to make a new kind of Monkey Bread

Gather Materials:

The only materials needed in addition to the kit is some butter, some spray oil, and some extra cinnamon and sugar, the kit doesn't come with quite enough sugar for the monkey bread, however it does come with enough for making pretzels!

First get the yeast ready with warm water in a bowl.

Stir in the Yeast

Wait for two minutes for the yeast to activate

Stir the premixed dry ingredients into the yeast mixture

 After mixing a while its easiest to pour 

Add some flour to the table if its too sticky

The hands of a massage therapist are great for kneading dough

Once you get the ball in a dough

Let it rise, in a warm spot

 After thirty minutes in a warm spot it should be ready

 Cut into 50 or 60 1 inch pieces (we made ours too big, probably would have been better half this size)

 Melt your butter and mix the cinnamon and sugar.

 Roll into balls

 Roll them in butter

 Then roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Then drop it into your Bunt pan that you have sprayed with oil

 Keep rolling your balls and filling your bundt pan

 Sooner then you know it you'll be done!

 Bake for 30-35 min

 Yum Monkey Bread

 Sticky and crunchy.

 Careful Auntie its hot!

Blowing it off

 Mmmm delicious

Well it was definitely worth the process. My sister who has never made bread before, wasn't too keen on how long it took to make the monkey bread (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from start to finish) I thought that it came together quick, considering that it was yeast dough!

The problem I find with most monkey bread is that it goes stale so fast! This recipe seemed to be good for  a longer period of time. I also liked that it contains NO HYDROGENATED OILS!!! A big no-no for my mouth. Pillsbury may last forever, but thats because its semi plastic!

I would make the balls of dough smaller next time because I think that I made them a little bit too big this time, I only made about 40 balls I think that 60 would have been just right, it was hard for me to make them the size I wanted.

Everybody in the house loved the monkey bread, It even got crunchy on the sides just like we like it! 

This would be so much fun to make with younger kids, because its simple and its fun to roll the balls of dough in butter and sugar. Its also a nice break from a chocolate dessert!

The kit is available at Auntie Anne's stores be sure to check the site to make sure that they sell it at stores near you! I was glad to find that they were available at the mall near me. As these would make great gifts (I'm big on gifts that are centered around food and crafting this is great!) 

Its affordable and if you don't like monkey bread, try making the Deep Dish Pizza, apple dumplings or pretzel stuffing! In addition to these recipes there are lots more!

Check it out!

Thank you Auntie Anne's for the great product!

I recieved a free Auntie Anne's at Home Baking Kit for this review, all the photos, reviews and opinions are my own! I did not receive any money for this review.

New Years Resolutions

Its that time again!

New Years is here and its time to start thinking about changing out lives for the better

I have been thinking about these for a while now, since my life has changed a lot in the last twenty days, moving cross country with my daughter, has brought a whole slew of responsibilities that I anticipated, but can't say that I was exactly prepared for. 

I have also gained my family back, I finally have some help watching Annabella and to be honest, its nice to have a break. Its hard to break free from feeling guilty about leaving her with someone else. My mom has been helping me so much and its great; and while I know that most parents have a break every once in a while, I've been having a hard time deciding how much time I can spend away.

So in an effort to stick with them; here are my new years resolutions for 2011:

1. Exercise: My body looks great right now, I'm not gonna lie, but with that said, I also know how easy it will be to loose the tone in my arms and to get my abs into shape. I am going to try to exercise at least every other day. I want to change up my exercise so I don't get too bored. A healthy mix of the exercise ball, yoga and a little cardio should get me right where I want to be, and hopefully make it into a habit.
2. Go to School: I want to have a career, yes something besides blogging. I would like to go for something simple, where I can be sure to get a job. Living the last three years having it hard to find a job has made me really want to be able to have something steady. To ensure that my daughter will have a steady life.
3. Sew: I do sew lots, but I would like to make more of an effort to do it more often. I have more time now to do it and can have my family help watch her while I go to town with my machine. I would like to get an Etsy shop started up again because I loved making clothes for people.
4. Be comfortable alone: Its hard to be a single mom, especially looking at all these happy families that live in the Blog-o-verse. I have been trying hard to learn how to be a single mommy and not want something different. This year I want to find ways to be happy without help.
5. Stop Being Angry: Its hard right now not to be angry with Annabella's father for not being what he promised. It seems everyday I find another reason to be angry with him for not being there for us or growing up when it was time to. Its hard to get over and while I haven't found an answer or even an idea of how to do it. This year I really want to be free from feeling bad about his mistakes. So that I can free the other areas of my life from being angry.
6. Get Back to me: Now that I'm back in CT, I want to return to the happy person that I was before I became isolated in Northern California. I'm going to return to the kind of person that loves people for who they are not what I want them to be. I'm going to get back to all the good friends that I had and almost lost while trying to change myself. 
7. Organize: I am going to try to be organized this year. Keeping all my important papers in their places and using my calendar to its full potential. Also trying to put all those dirty clothes in their places!
8. Have Some Fun: For three years my life has been completely about other people. I cooked, cleaned, drove, organized, sewn and shopped for other people. And while I love doing things for other people, I forgot about myself in that process. I became a doormat that I really didn't like which made it hard for me to like myself, This year, I want to remember that I'm important too.

So here's to trying to stick to these and to you trying to stick to yours! Its a New Year and a new beginning. Not to say whats in the past doesn't matter, but we can't change it, so we might as well get over it and start from here.

Happy New Year

What are your resolutions this year?

Just an old pic

Just a picture that I found today, a friend commented on it and I remember how much I love this photo and this ERGO!

"The Club No One Wanted to Join"

Wall Street,  Investments, Banking, trusting people we don't know with our  money.

Its a common practice today to invest, and why not? It helps business to grow and it helps investors to make some cash back for their good faith.

But what happens when one of those investors is only out for themselves? What happens when hard working people put all their eggs in a basket, and then that basket drops? Well it leaves them all crashing to the floor, and thats what happened to the Madoff Victims.  The large group of investors who trusted Bernard Madoff with their money ended up with their lives shattered all over the floor just like that basket.

Most people thought of these investors as rich people who got what they deserved. How could they trust someone in Wall Street with all this money. Why didn't they do more research? What were they thinking?

The truth is that most of these people were hard working Americans, many of them growing up with nothing during the depression, and working hard to make ends meet. These people thought they were going to be protected by their government. But they haven't been, the insurance that was supposedly on their money is nowhere to be found. A life savings gone in a day.

"The Club No One Wanted to Join" is a collection of personal stories, written by the people who lived them. It tells of their struggles and disappointment. It explains how their families lost everything. Reading this book puts a face on those people, it gives them a personality and a soul. Which is obviously what Bernard Madoff was lacking. Innocent people scammed by someone who wanted no more then a fortune, what he got was jail. 

My favorite thing about this book is how these people have learned to rebuild thier lives afterward. These people have found comfort in their families and in remembering that it was just money in an account.

This book is absolutely on my 'must read' list. If you're not into Wall Street, don't worry because thats not what this book is all about. Its about Americans working hard and losing it all, and then rebuilding thier lives. It helps to put into perspective how lucky we really are and that money really is just some numbers in a bank.

Buy It:

The Club No One Wanted To Join-Madoff Victims In Their Own Words

is available on amazon.com

Win It:

I am so excited about this giveaway because I know that you will love this book.

To Enter:

1. You must be a follower of Mommypants! Leave a comment telling me you are and be sure to leave your e-mail address.

I will choose one winner on January 21st 2011 via Random.org

Good Luck and be sure to check out this book!