I'm trying to an attempt to do more cooking in the kitchen than heating things up. Trader Joe's makes it so easy to be lazy! But, I do like to cook and now that I don't have the excuse of a job, I've been looking for recipes on other blogs.


I found these Poppin' Fresh Barbecups on Food Gawker (LOVE it!) then went to the host site Taste and Tell and promptly added Deborah to my reader.

Poppin' Fresh Barbecups
from Pillsbury Dough Magic

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion (I used onion powder and onion salt on the beef while browning)
1-2 T brown sugar
1 can Pillsbury Golden Layers Refrigerated Buttermilk or Flaky Biscuits Shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 400°F. Grease 10 medium muffin cups. In large skillet, brown ground beef over medium heat until thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently. Drain. Stir in barbecue sauce, onion and brown sugar. Cook 1 minute to blend flavors, stirring constantly.

Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Place 1 biscuit in each greased muffin cup. Firmly press in bottom and up sides, forming 1/4-inch rim over edge of cup. Spoon about 1/4 cup beef mixture into each biscuit-lined cup. Sprinkle each with cheese.

Bake at 400°F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges of biscuits are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from muffin cups.

This recipe was really easy. I mean really. I ended up with leftover meat which I meant to eat Sloppy Joe style and forgot. I think I could have made 3-5 more cups with it but would have needed an extra tube of dough which would have left me with extra biscuits.

Next time I'll buy 2 cans of biscuits and make the leftover dough and have the biscuits for breakfast. I also might omit or reduce the brown sugar. They were a little on the sweet side. I'm sure it depends on the barbecue sauce you use. I used Sweet Baby Ray's and the taste wasn't nearly as tangy as we would have liked. We had a few leftover and they are definitely better reheated in the oven than microwave. I think this is going to become a staple in the recipe box. They were fast and filling.


With martial arts, my book club, the blogging group I joined and the holidays approaching (only 113 days, 11 and 46 minutes until Christmas!) I know we're going to keep getting busier. Let me know if you try it!

Guess What Wii Got?

Drama Dad is my hero! We've been combing the internet and relentlessly stalking Target, WalMart, Toys R Us and BestBuy hoping we'd get lucky. Shows how much we know.

Apparently, lines form before the stores open. This has been the gaming equivalent of The Holy Grail. Even if I was only sort of near one of these stores, I would run in just in case. I've burned enough gas to more than pay for the the thing itself!

But, this past Sunday, victory! Drama Dad set his alarm, threw on some clothes and rushed out the door around 9:00. The hunt was on. He had a route in mind, starting east and working his way west among the strip malls. He was just about to leave store #3 when he spotted it, low on a shelf not in the same area as the other Wii accessories.

Within an hour of my proud warriors return, I was doing this:

And I am sore. But in a good way. I'm loving the Yoga and Aerobics. The Balance excercises are hard but fun, and the Strength Training is intimidating but necessary.

The first time I did the soccer excercise (bend at the waist to "head" the balls coming at you) and my Mii got hit in the face with a cleat, I laughed so hard I spit. Drama Kid thinks this is hilarious.

And the Hula Hooping? Made me sweat a little. I will not tell you my Wii Fit age, but suffice it to say my competitive nature almost guarantees I'll be excercising enough to see that number go down!

The more you excercise, the more "credits" you earn in your bank. The credits unlock other excercises or yoga poses. I really like the way the excercises force you to focus on your center and posture. The closer you are to center balance, the more your score for that excercise goes up.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an overwhelming desire to her my son's infectious laugh so I'm off to play excercise. (PS- Nintendo has no idea I posted this).

Update: I ended up doing more time because I unlocked more excercises. And I'm happy to report my Fit age dropped significantly to 36!

If I Had...

If I had one of these:I could have better captured my son's first solo experience at boogie boarding last week. I could show you how grown up he looked heading into the water carrying his board over his head. I could show you how he went out too far, but I didn't call him back because he was having so much fun following the big kids. I could show you the gorgeous Southern California weather with the water the same color as sea glass.

If I had one of these: I could have captured his best wave of the day. You would see his little body tense with anticipation as he watched the water over his shoulder. You would see him take off at just the right moment. You would see that look, the look of pure joy kids get sometimes when they are having "the best day ever!" And that other look, the look of pride on their little faces when they realize what they've just done "all by myself!"

If I had one of these: I could have sat next to the campfire and created a flowchart for Drama Kid to help him follow how "all these people" were his first and second (possibly third) cousins and great aunt and uncle. And I could have immediately uploaded the great photos and video so you could see it "live" and then go back to my s'mores and hot cocoa. Oh well.

Here's the best shot of the day

Thank you to Drama Dad's large, Irish family for letting us crash your party again this year! We had a great time last week and can't wait until next summer!

The Quickest Way to Know a Woman is to Go Shopping with Her - Marcelene Cox

I've been bad. I've been shopping. I know I shouldn't have but sometimes I can't stop myself. The bargain bins call my name and I love how it feels to score a great deal. I'm sharing my latest finds along with my Mother's Day gifts to myself and what I gave to my MIL.

By sharing my good fortune with the two of you, I can justify my purchases because I'm helping other people with any gift giving needs they may have. And I'm nothing if not helpful.

That's my story anyway.


Aren't these just the cutest! I hate not having gift bags, wrap and assorted cards on hand so I stock up whenever I can. I got all 14 of these for $6!

I could have gone crazy with the baby and wedding themed bags too, but my trunk is only so big. These are from Dollar Tree.

My other discount fave for things like this is 99 Cents Only. I usually go there for party bag filler and stocking stuffers.

I Love, Love, Love this straw tote! This is going with me to the beach, to the pool, to the farmer's market, to the library... This will probably be on my shoulder all summer long.

Guess how much it was?

Nope, guess again. Give up?

$2.50 baby! I love Target!


I will probably be wearing these while carrying my awesome straw bag. I had a devil of a time choosing between these in white or brown. The white just looked so summery. $20 at Payless.

These scream for khaki capris, a white sleeveless blouse and a fresh pedi.

And maybe a latte. And my straw hat.




I told myself at the beginning of the year I would do less email more snail mail. I love getting mail other than bills and I think letter writing needs to make a comeback.

I haven't been doing that great with it so naturally I figured that meant my current stationery was uninspiring.

Hence, these. 20 per box for $4.99 each at Marshall's. I love the retro colors! They are sold here, but for significantly higher.

These are what I gave my MIL for Mother's Day. The mug is so pretty! The other side has an Asian-like design. My photo taking abilities don't do it justice. Sipping coffee or tea out of a pretty cup is mandatory. The mug was $2.99 and the 12 teas were $6.99.



I bought my own Mom's Day gifts while at the Carlsbad street fair. When we went to the Red Bull air races, there were lots of vendors set up along the sidewalks. This couple makes the jewelry by hand. The necklaces are awesome with semi precious stones wound inside. We were leaving to make it back to car before the meter ran out and I asked if they would be at the fair the following and weekend and to my joy they said yes! I took so many shots of this and unfortunately this is the best one. $25

Every time I go to craft fairs I always look for fused glass pendants. This woman had some that were more unique than others, plus, she had purse hangers and I really, really want a unique and pretty one that can handle the weight of my heavier bags. $35 for both pieces.



Those are my latest finds. I hope you've enjoyed my trip down girly lane. I wanted a break from the more "serious" things I've been thinking about lately. BTW, none of these people know I linked to them, there's no kickbacks involved. I'm just spreading the love!

Family Time

Another thing I've really enjoyed about being on holiday is the time we get to spend together doing family type things. I run around like a crazy person and do the cleaning/shopping/grunt work during the week so we can relax together.


Saturday we went downtown to the Red Bull Air Races for the qualifying races. Holy schnikes! Those pilots have cajones of steel. Or maybe platinum. What's a really strong material? Anyway, you get the point. We'd never been before and it was a packed! We had to sit on the water side of the sea wall, which was actually kind of cool, because of the crowds.

Then we took DS to Ocean Beach. OB has a reputation for being the hippy, pot smoking, laid waaaay back surf community of San Diego. And it is. DH and I lived there and LOVED it! (Not for the pot smoking, we don't do that) I moved there back in college and had several roommates until DH moved back from Italy and into my life again (hmm, that may be a topic for another day. let me marinate on it).

At times we really miss it and wish we hadn't done the responsible grown up thing by moving away when I got pregnant. So whenever we happen to be down south we try to stop by some of our old haunts. It was fun to show DS the apartment complex we lived in and the restaurants we went to. I was craving a burger from Hodads (the BEST burger in San Diego! photo from flickr) but since DS doesn't eat burgers we went to our other fave, Nati's, for Mexican.


Oh, it was fried, cheesy, beany heaven! Since I wasn't driving I indulged in a strawberry margie. DH was very diplomatic in saying, "If I remember, they do mix them pretty strong here" when I mentioned feeling a little loopy.

Good food, fast planes, a little play time in the sand. This is what living in California is all about!

Sunday I went to the Carlsbad Street Fair. I'm a sucker for almost all things handmade. DH hates to shop and hates crowds so I got to go alone. I definitely made up for only going walking once last week. I went down every side street.



I bought my Mother's Day presents, a ring and two glass pendants. I'll post photos under my new section What I Find later (still a work in progress, stay tuned). All in all it was a good weekend and a good reminder to not let the jobless thing bog me down and keep me from enjoying the here and now.