Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

April 1, 2014

Temporarily Sidelined

We recently came into a bumper crop of Snocaps candies, which was always my fave movie candy.  But I certainly didn't need 50 or 60 boxes of them so I started doling them out to my friends, esp. after a Triple Choc Chip Cookie recipe showed up on Pinterest, which called for Snocaps.  You can find the recipe HERE.  Let me just add that the raw dough is pretty darn delish too.  I substituted peanut butter chips for the white chox in the recipe.  They should be called 'Triple Chip Drops of Heaven'.  I got about 33 cookies from the recipe.  Oh, the peanut M&Ms are Russell's.

Peepers peepin'

It was my honey's birthday at the end of March.  

I decided to make him a pineapple upside down cake, from scratch no less.  I'd also bought the box mix as a backup plan.  What I liked about the scratch one was that the ingredients seemed much healthier, plus it was going to make a smaller square cake, not the 9x13 pan size, which neither of us needed to be consuming. HERE is the recipe for it, which is from the Betty Crocker website.  It came out pretty good....I only encountered one problem with a pineapple sticking to the dish but it flipped without breaking.  The brown sugar also kinda pooled around the sides and edges more than in the middle.  But hey, he loved it and that's all I care about.  This is, incidentally, the first from-scratch cake I ever made.

All he said he wanted for his bday was a kiss from me, but I got him the M&Ms and a scratch ticket too.

We went to visit his family over the weekend and his sis treated us all to Seafood Sam's take out for his birthday lunch. "Himself" borrowing someone's reading glasses in order to see the menu and sticking his tongue out at me for taking a picture.

One brother and one sister weren't there but I still took a fam photo of his other brother Jimmy, their dad Jim, sister Grace, Russell and Ma.

Carrie and her adorable kids Katie & Abi were there, and my future sister in law Janice (she's married to Jimmy, and we went to high school together too; she was in Russell's class and her sister was in mine).


So anyways, I'm sidelined from doing crafts and anything else that requires the use of my right arm.  We had torrential downpours on Sunday and I slipped on the wooden deck and went down in a crumpled heap on my right side.  I spent that day watching a bunch of Harry Potter movies and weeping off and on.  Finally saw 'Deathly Hallows Part 2' and the floodgates really opened then.  Wow, that was a sad film.  The fall also affected muscles on the left side as well including a slight twist of my left ankle.  Back hurts, neck hurts, every goddamn thing hurts.  That means I can't craft, clean, grocery shop, or do anything else for that matter.  Taking the dogs out is really, really hard because I have to have both leads in my left hand and they are very strong dogs. I still can't go on any day trips yet because it's still icky off and on, and while there are sunny, clear days, everything is in that post-winter drab & yucky mode. Nothing's in bloom.  I have no further blog posts drafted at the mo past 4/3, because I haven't taken any new pics or done anything of import in the craft room.  I'm still working on the butterfly cross stitch and I started a new project, both on hold till my arm stops hurting.  I will be minioning with Tina's Terrific Team for Blogging from A-Z April 2014 but am not participating as a blogger.  I am sure I will get back to a regular posting schedule by next week, hopefully, but I just need to take a little break for a few days till I get better.



36 comments:

  1. Oh NO. I hope you feel better soon- mend.

    Looks like he had a great birthday!

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    1. Thanks Teresa. I feel better today but I have to force myself to take it easy. I tend to overdo and pay for it later!

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  2. Anonymous9:39 AM

    Nooo! JoJo!! I hope you mend quickly. I've recently discovered the wonders of Aspercreme even though I don't have arthritis (I think). It rubs on easier and a hell of lot less smellier than Bengay. Although, Bengay works wonders on my neck. Okay, I'll stop. I sound like I'm 90.

    So, for your recipe, I'll just use the mix out of a box and then dump in SnoCaps. Hope that's okay =)

    Be well my friend!!

    Elsie
    AJ's wHooligan in the A-Z Challenge

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    1. Thanks Elsie! I think I'd need to upgrade to the 10 gallon tub of Aspercreme if I could! I cannot believe how bad everything hurts. I wanted to make more of those cookies this week but with my right arm sidelined, I can't. The dough really needs to be mixed by hand in order to get all the chips in.

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  3. Oh wow, that's horrid! I'm so sorry. Have you been to the doc? You need some prescription anti-inflammatories and maybe some pain killers. And definitely rest. Lots of rest. The movie marathon is a great idea!
    Listen to Dr. Downey - I've broken four bones have had 10 orthopedic surgeries and know more about drugs than...well, I think I could beat a pharmacist on Jeopardy...
    Please, please take care.
    Tina @ Life is Good
    A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014

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    1. Your comment about knowing your drugs cracked me up. I had a doc appt already scheduled for this Thursday so the timing's pretty good. I was having a bad stabbing pain in my left side last night that was troublesome enough to think about going to urgent care but it stopped by bedtime. I'm such a nerd that I actually straightened up the house in case I had to call 911. God I'm pathetic. lol

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  4. I hope you will get better soon! My thoughts and prayers are with you. I can't imagine what life must be like for you not crafting. It would be like not breathing for the rest of us! Take care of yourself JoJo! Hugs♥

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    1. Kathy, I am dying. Seriously. My craft muse dies a little with each day I can't be making something....no matter how small. Hey you saw my status on Facebook, 'bored out of my mind'. lol I don't even feel like watching TV.

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  5. JoJo, you silly goose - you WORK TOO HARD!!! Sorry to hear you're busted up from the fall. When you're feeling better, can you please send me some of that pineapple upside down cake????? (HA! And I love your blogger-tired-tv-screen thingey. Awesome!)

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    1. That cake was so flippin good. Waaay less greasy than the box mix version. It was light and not too sweet at all. Of course we put cool whip on it too. The tired blogger tv screen was found on google images last night, but the original on which I based this, had a grammar error that was bugging me so bad that I found the regular 'please stand by' test pattern they used and tweaked what they wrote to fit my situation, and fixing the grammar too.

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  6. Oh No JoJo! Hope you feel better soon!!! Pineapple upsidedown cake is a fav of mine, I like using the Dark brown sugar!! Yummmmm!

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    1. All I had on hand was light brown sugar. Oh well...next time I'll get dark! Thanks...I am feeling better today but I'm bored to death. Thank god for the internet.

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  7. Well, did he win anything on the scratch ticket?!

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    1. Surprisingly he won $20 on the $10 ticket. So he cashed it in for a ticket and $10, and didn't win anything on that one so we broke even. lol

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  8. JoJo! Thank you for visiting the site! Very good of you. You write some excellent stuff there, although I don't think we are each other's demographic! You're clearly a popular blogger.

    :-)

    Get well soon. Hope the limbs and joints heal as they should.

    I'm surprised it's your first from-scratch cake. You strike me as quite the domestic goddess! Lovely meeting you and thanks for stopping by.

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    1. Thank you so much for stopping by! I am trying to be a domestic goddess...first I had to learn how to cook vast quantities of meat for my fiance'. He's not a sweet eater so that's why my baking is only now getting better.

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  9. Hi JoJo! Thanks for visiting my blog today! Those cookies look AMAZING! As does the pineapple upside down cake--I haven't had one of those in years. My mom used to make them all the time when I was growing up! Yum.

    So sorry to hear about your fall. Hope you're feeling better soon!!

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    1. Thank you so much Kristin! And yes those cookies ARE amazing; you must visit the link and get the recipe.

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  10. Hi Jojo! I think it is absolutely fine, take care of yourself, eat well too.
    Happy birthday to Russell! You've made amazing surprizes for him :) I like the pineapple cake, looks yumm! As well as those cookies!!! I am hungry now... Sorry.
    Have a nice day and take a rest!

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    1. Thank you I am feeling much better today. I want to make more cookies.

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  11. that looks so delicious!! the entire lot!!

    thanks for stopping by at my blog...!

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    1. Thank you for returning the visit! Good luck with A-Z!

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  12. Oh hunny, you don't need to tell me about falling over! Take it real easy and have lots of hot baths to sooth aching bones. A few days off sounds like a good idea, but right with you on how quickly rest turns into boredom!

    I must admit I'm always interested in why so many American recipes suggest using a box cake mix. We hardly ever use them over here, and if I ever get given a box - for Ella to make cakes with - they just taste so fake! Give me flour, caster sugar and eggs every time :)

    Suzanne @Suzannes Tribe
    xx

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    1. Box mix is just faster and more convenient for families on the go. There aren't many stay at home moms/wives anymore, and those that do are way too busy to make food from scratch. I realized that technically I don't even need to be using my crockpot to make soups because I'm home all day and I have the time to just cook it faster in a soup pot, unless the recipe calls for meat that needs to be super tender.

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  13. I meant to ask too: You worked at a tv station in the late 80s? I'd love to chat about that with you some time.

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    1. Yes I did! Let me head back to your blog and send you my email addy!

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  14. Anonymous12:54 PM

    I am totally doing the sno-cap cookies!

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    1. OMG Lee they are sooooooo AWESOME!!!!!! DO EET NAO!!!!! lol

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  15. Well done with the baking. Horrible to have hurt yourself but I wouldn't be surprised if you still find a way to craft. Get well soon. I'm not doing A-Z this year either.

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    1. Thanks Anne! Yeah I just couldn't come up with any topics this year.

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  16. Hi human, JoJo,

    I have arrive here at gone one thirty in the morning. Must soon have another doggy nap.

    I sure hope you get better soon. Those are the breaks. Happy belated birthday to your honey. An upside down cake make you feel like you are upside down.

    Cookies! :)

    Penny, the pawsitive host of the Alphabark Challenge, 2014!

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    1. Thank you Penny!!!!! ((hugs))

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  17. um....I definitely need about that many boxes of sno-caps...one of my faves!!!!

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    1. I think I still have 8 or 10 boxes. It was a pretty big box full of them! I love them in the cookies but I find them a little too rich to eat out of the box.

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  18. JoJo - so sorry to hear about your fall. Since a week has passed, I am hoping that all is well and that you've mended quite well.

    You are a honey of a wife, baking a delicious pineapple upside down cake and giving your sweetie Peanut M&Ms and a scratch off ticket for his birthday . . . and I'm sure he got his requested kiss also (maybe even several of them). :)

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    1. Yes I'm feeling WAY better now. I did nothing for several days and that helped a lot towards my recovery. I definitely gave him lots of kisses for his birthday. He's kinda hard to buy for. Actually neither of us needs anything and when we do, we just go get it. lol

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