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Twenties

The Grandmothers Are Coming

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 By Sherra

They’re flying in tonight.

Grandma from Illinois and Granny from Texas.

A very rare occurrence here at the Humpfreeze house.

The tween is counting the days until she becomes a teen.

A giant challenge to get the three twenties’ schedules coordinated so we could spend one day together. College exams are coming, drill weekend, alumni activities in the cadet world.

They are going to get the big reveals of several of our DIY house projects.

The Big Basement Move

The Pumpkin had occupied his upstairs bedroom since he was 18 months old.

The now 22 year-old games online with a headset and can often be heard shouting things like, “STOP. AROUND THE CORNER. SHOOT.” at 3:00 a.m. {insert muffled, deep man voice here}

It was time for some quiet for us.

Since he is in college full-time and has a part-time job, we let him stay. We are afraid he is going to take one class at a time so he never has to graduate.

His 21 year-old carpet had far exceeded its expiration date by at least a decade.

But the 110 gallon aquarium was a sore point when we discussed dismantling it.

I finally convinced PhilBillPaul that one giant tank on the main floor was enough.

Enlisted help to drain the tank.

And transport very old fish to the fish store. Tank sold on craigslist in one day.

PhilBillPaul got to work patching and priming the dark red walls.

The help did not want to be photographed.

Nothing like a freshly painted room.

And he worked so hard putting in the leftover laminate flooring from Scary Baby’s room makeover.

The Grunter had a big job in cleaning up the basement…

…that may have turned into a giant storage room in the past two years.

With the help of his very good friend Jason, in one afternoon, they got everything cleaned up.

His new bachelor pad has shaped up.

I could do without the movie posters.

Then again, I’m just glad he’s not upstairs yelling SHOOT.

Stipulation that when Grandma or Granny comes, he must clean his basement man cave and sleep upstairs so our guests can have some privacy.

We’re still finishing his former room and I’ll share pictures when we get it done. Love it so far!

Of course, the kitchen is still not done so those pictures may not show up until 2013. Seems the older we get, the slower we go.

On an unrelated note, the grandmas have missed the azaleas blooming.

Luckily, Scary Baby had her annual photo shoot.

This darn crazy weather.

Filed Under: Finding the Funny, Milestones, Tweens, Twenties

Cupcakes & Horses

Monday, April 16, 2012 By Sherra

I’ve read in several places that a blogger should take time to write good headlines. Seems it can help your SEO and Google ranking and what not.

Pretty sure no one will be searching for cupcakes and horses but it is the first thing that came to mind when I sat down at my laptop to write this.

The cupcakes and horses are actually unrelated except for the fact that I wanted to share pictures from Easter weekend and Easter weekend seemed like a really lame headline since I’m writing about it a week later.

I know you like to get a glimpse of the inner workings of my mind.

Horses

Friday night that sweet sister Roger Leroy came to the house and picked up Scary Baby and took her up to her college dorm to spend the night.

A twelve year-old’s dream. She might have changed outfits 3 times before her sister arrived.

I reminded her she wasn’t going to any college parties.

Ahem.

Instead, her sweet sissy was taking her horseback riding.

This is a HUGE deal because she has had this obsession idea since Thanksgiving and is relentless about not letting an idea go until one of the Humpfreeze family members gives in to silence her begging.

Does she look excited? I love that she accessorized with a scarf.

She said she was eight feet in the air.

The trail ride was in the beautiful North Georgia mountains.

Parts of the trail up the mountain were very narrow. I heard it was a bit challenging to snap pictures from the saddle.

Apparently, Meadows’ horse had some personality and she had to pull over to adjust her saddle.

And Rachel’s horse had no personality and was a bit of a slacker in keeping up with the group. Our speed demon circus baby is not familiar with coming in last.

Thank you Roger Leroy. From the bottom of our hearts.

Cupcakes

I cooked my heart out for Easter this year. The twenties and the tween each invited a guest so we were feeding ten.

Cooking all day on Saturday so we could enjoy a meal together was my plan.

Our menu included a marginal Costco ham but the side dishes made up for it.

If you haven’t made Pioneer Woman’s Au Gratin potatoes yet, do so immediately. Your family will thank you.

PhilBillPaul said the macaroni and cheese was the best ever. Big compliment because I’ve always made fabulous mac & cheese. I tried a new recipe that I’ve had for years but just got around to trying. It’s a keeper.

Love that you don’t have to make a roux or melt all the cheese. My changes to the recipe: I used muenster and mozzarella in the pot with the noodles and then topped it with shredded cheddar before baking. I omitted the onions and added a little onion salt. Loved the dry mustard, nutmeg, cayenne and Worcestershire sauce. Yum!

Mose-e-ack jello a.k.a. mosaic jello was a special surprise for Roger Leroy. My little thank you for taking Scary Baby horseback riding.

I did manage to snap a quick picture of the Easter treats. I even whipped up little cellophane bags for the guests.

Don’t worry, that concludes any attempts at craftiness from me for the year.

Obviously, I failed in Easter picture taking this year since I didn’t take any pictures of the people. But I think I passed in the cooking category.

It might be because I have cut way, way back on sugar and the idea of making TWO desserts made me dizzy.

Or not.

Just know that in addition to making my absolute favorite and perfect lemon cake, I made the best cupcakes I have ever made or eaten.

Please admire the white, wrinkled sheet we used as a tablecloth.

Fan-cee is how we roll.

Special thanks to My Baking Addiction for the Chocolate Malt Cupcakes recipe inspiration on Friday night.

The cupcake recipe is very close to our favorite doctored up cake mix recipe which is the one I used. One subtraction: I left out the espresso granules. One addition: 2 cups of chocolate chips.

The buttercream frosting is so freaking good that we are still talking about it this week and I’m making them again on Wednesday. One change on frosting recipe is that I used 1/3 cup of regular baking cocoa and 1/3 cup of Hershey’s® Special Dark cocoa…only because I ran out of regular baking cocoa. Pretty sure it will be sublime with what ever cocoa you use. Maybe it’s the 4 sticks of butter and/or the 5 minutes of beating.

I recommended them to my friend Leigh Anne and suggested she might just want to make the frosting. No cupcake necessary.

But if you want something to hold the frosting other than a bowl, go ahead and make the cupcake too.

Filed Under: Finding the Funny, Food, Raves, Tweens, Twenties

The Twenties

Monday, April 2, 2012 By Sherra

One lives in the basement.

Two live away from home.

“All three are in college full-time and have part-time jobs.”

My personal one-liner when I start stressing about any one of them or all three at once.

Yet, parenting does not get easier.

In case you haven’t experienced the twenties thus far…

Yes, we enjoy a quieter house.

We miss them but not their messes.

We worry as they go on spring break to the beach.

In a large group.

We’re glad when they come back safely.

But the cycle of worry starts anew…

When one sends this picture via cell phone…

Side note: She was following this vehicle but wasn’t in it.

And the other one comes home to get this…

This part passed way too fast…

Three years ago I told them, “You’re Gonna Miss This”

I don’t think they do yet.

But I do.

Moms, what age do you miss the most?

Filed Under: Moments, Twenties

Basketball Groupies

Monday, March 26, 2012 By Sherra

Indiana basketball is alive and well here at the Humpfreeze house.

Even if Indiana lost on Friday night to Kentucky.

The loss did not take the shine off Roger Leroy’s meeting with a few basketball players she and her friends *chased* down during a Hawks game last Thursday night.

She emailed us this picture…

Who knew those three North Georgia cadet students would look so tiny compared to these strapping Indiana University basketball students?

When some of the players didn’t acknowledge them, Will Sheehey (he’s the middle guy) turned around and talked to them and they graciously agreed to this photo op.

My good friend, Google, revealed that Will has a twin named Elizabeth.

Shut up.

If they had only had time to talk, she could have at least invited him over for dinner. 😉

Filed Under: Finding the Funny, Raves, Twenties

Disaster Preparedness At Our House

Monday, March 5, 2012 By Sherra

Storms and tornado warnings throughout Georgia sent us to our basement on Friday.

Several times.

My short list of what to grab when you don’t have much time:

Flashlights, prescriptions, cash, cell phone, camera and my laptop.

PhilBillPaul grabbed candles, matches and water bottles.

Scary Baby grabbed 2 stuffed animals, her favorite boots and moisturizing lotion.

I didn’t ask. Nor did I know this until I unpacked the bag the next day.

The Grunter “was forced” to move to the basement in January so he did nothing. (Story for another day.) Except become irritated when we invaded “his” space.

Once we gathered together for our safety, Scary Baby and The Grunter were ready.

Disclaimer: I did suggest the motorcycle helmets since we don’t have 4 bicycle helmets. I will concede the girlfriends motorcycles in the garage have come in handy for ONE thing. I have some legitimate fears about head injury. Go figure.

Thankfully, our area suffered no damage. Other areas were devastated by this latest round of tornadoes. I hope you and your family are all safe.

In other disaster-related news, my websites were down for over a week. Apologies if you got the scary red screen from Google. Can we all agree that hacking as a hobby is one of the most senseless, useless and annoying hobbies to date?

All is well again. How are things with you?

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Filed Under: Finding the Funny, Little Lessons, Tweens, Twenties

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