hair

So I really think that only a girl could understand the fact that I jut spent three and a half hours getting my hair gone.  Jeff just thinks I'm crazy.

parsnip muffins

Ingredients:
1-ounce sliced almonds
Nonstick spray
8 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 whole eggs
3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
8 ounces sugar
10 ounces grated parsnips


Directions:
Place the almonds in a single layer in a pie pan and place in oven. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the nuts until lightly toasted, approximately 20 minutes while the oven heats. Meanwhile, spray a standard 12-cup muffin tin with the nonstick spray and set aside.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt in the bowl of a food processor, and process for 5 seconds.
Whisk the eggs, yogurt, vegetable oil, and sugar in a large mixing bowl until combined. Add the flour mixture and parsnips, and fold with a spatula until all of the flour is moistened, there will be some lumps. Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cups using a level 2 1/2-ounce disher or 1/3 cup measure. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with the toasted almonds. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the muffins reach an internal temperature of 210 degrees F and are golden brown, rotating halfway through baking. If needed, use a small knife or offset spatula to loosen the muffins and immediately remove them from the tin to a cooling rack, and cool for 15 minutes. Serve warm. Store completely cooled muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Note: I make these without the nuts, and they are just as good.  They might not make it until tomorrow...

Also, much as I would like to take credit for making this recipe up, I pasted it from food network, off the Good Eats page.  I totally heart Alton Brown (only regarding cooking though.  Come on people!)

vampires (kinda) revisited

Um yeah, so it turns out I wasn't done with icky bug drama for the day.  I was taking my pillowcase off to replace it and when I pulled my pillow out, there was a huge black spider in the center of my pillow!  So naturally I freaked out and dropped my pillow.  Luckily the spider tried to run away instead of jump and attack my face (I have found its bad to be freaked of spiders, have an overactive imagination, and a suggestive husband), and I squashed it to hell with a shoe.  Yay me!  Wow, London Tipton reference (which hopefully none of you are nerdy enough to recognize).  So, yeah...check your pillows people.  There could be evil spiders in there waiting to bite you on your neck while you sleep.  All I can say is thank goodness that pillowcase was only used for a week, and no longer!

the hard way

So today I found out the hard (and gross) way that pincherbugs do indeed like strawberries.  Jeff has several thriving strawberry plants, which recently started to (finally!!!) bear fruit.  As the fruit ripens, he's been picking them off one by one, and putting them in the fridge.  I thought I'd be nice today and wash the berries, and put them in tupperware, but when I started washing them and checking to make sure they were still fresh, I found one with a hole in it, and as I started lifting it out of the sink to throw it out, the biggest freakin' pincherbug I've ever seen in my entire life jumped out!  I freaked out!  Though I am proud to say, I did not utter so much as a peep (I hate it in movies when people get freaked out and scream for no real reason).  So I'm hoping that pincherbugs cannot survive a ride down the drain and a quick trip through the garbage disposal (yeah, it sounds mean, but I'm thorough, and I REALLY hate bugs).  Let me just say, I'm really glad only one berry had a bug! Although no bug would have been better... so, to all people out there, please wash the berries before you put them in the fridge ( *ahem* Jeff).

yum

There is nothing better than a vanilla-pineapple smoothie.  Unless you scrap the whole thing and go for chocolate.

empathy for vampire victims

Ok, so I know vampires are completely fictional (with the exception of cute little bats), but I really feel for all the fake victims.  Why, you ask?  I got some random raised bite on the side of my neck and it feels like a BAD sunburn.  That, by the way, is the number one reason I hate bugs, and bug-like creatures.  I don't walk up to people and bite them, so why do they have to?  stop bugs.  Wow, this is such a random rant...

hide and seek (cat style)

Cats remind me of an evil/ sneaky version of Doug from Disney's Up.  No, don't get me wrong, I love cats (I mean, who wouldn't look at these and be jeslous of not owning anything as cute?), but sometimes Luna can look kinda...well, sneaky and evil.  She loves playing (but mostly hiding) under newspapers, and it's really only a matter of time before she jumps out and tries to attack your ankle with the attitude of an ADHD 2 year old on a sugar high (Tova, back me up on this).

Yeah, she looks all sweet and innocent here...

ready to pounce

now she's just grumpy at me for taking her picture and thus ruining her hiding place.