Fly on the Wall, November 2014

Welcome to a Fly on the Wall group post. Today 15 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house.

I had a busy day in the kitchen doing a lot of baking and spent most of the day  concentrating on what I was trying to accomplish.

I finished up, took a break and later when I went to make dinner, I couldn’t find the non-stick spray. I knew I had used it that afternoon.

I looked in the obvious places where things seem to frequently magically end up. You know, like the freezer and the trash compactor. Nope. Couldn’t find it.

The next morning I was going to clean my counters and reached under the sink to grab my antibacterial cleaner. Without really looking, I ended up spraying my counters with non-stick spray. Ah, that’s where it went.

Last month I drove PurDude’s car out to him. He went off to college without it, Freshmen aren’t allowed to have them so he didn’t have a choice. But somehow he managed to be one of the Freshman winners of the ability to have (pay for) a parking spot (whatever was left over after the upperclassmen all got theirs).
Before taking the car to him, we had a recall taken care of and had 2 different places check it out for safety. The car needed a few parts.
When I went to pick it up at the mechanic’s, he handed me the rusted out coil that had to be replaced.

Explaining why I now have a $700 paperweight/paperclip on my desk. Can I repurpose or what?

Before I even tell you this story, let me say that we have 4 bathrooms in this house, one on each of the bottom two levels and 2 on the top floor. All are regularly equipped with toilet paper.
OK, from the “never put your cell on speaker in public no matter how busy you are” files:
My cell rings while I’m in the grocery store and I make the supreme mistake of answering it, even knowing that it’s one of my kids.
College Boy: Mom, I was in the basement and there was no toilet paper down there so I ran up to the kitchen and grabbed some paper towels. They clogged up the toilet. I’m on my way to school, when you get home can you get the plunger and take care of that basement toilet?

{{at which point we mysteriously got disconnected}}

A lifetime of teaching the boys to plan ahead and not wait until the last minute and it’s come to this:

6:00 am. The house is quiet. When from the door of my room I hear:

College Boy: Mom, can you do me a favor? My laptop isn’t connected to the house printer and I have a paper due today. I emailed it to you so can you just turn on your laptop, check your email for my paper and print it for me? If you can just staple it and put it on the desk in the kitchen I’ll grab it on my way out to school.

So . . . how am I doing at this Mom thing? Winning, right?

Let me start by saying that I am the undisputed Queen of Organization, so this is not like me. Last month I desperately needed a haircut. I couldn’t get an appointment at a salon and was going away for a week the next day. I went into one of those fast-food type haircut places that have sprouted up on every street corner. I mean, how hard can it be, I needed about 6 inches chopped off, not like it’s nuclear science or anything.

It cost $15. Not a good sign.

So . . . uneven layers and had to re-cut the bangs myself. Yup, pay $15 for a haircut and what do you get? A $15 haircut. I would have been better off at a barber . . . or a butcher . . . or a nuclear scientist.

Butterfingers Popcorn

One day I was doing some work on my laptop when I noticed that I had two twitter notifications. This is what I saw:

Not sure how they found me or what made them follow me. It must mean something, but I’m at a loss.

Everyone walks around with a big avocado in their purse, right?

While at Purdue, Hubs had to learn to use his new car’s GPS, we were giving our old one, which we’d gotten used to, to PurDude. I don’t know who pissed this system off but she is angry. With our old GPS, if you miss a turn it recalculates. This one gets mad at us. First we get the silent treatment, it won’t talk at all. Then finally it punishes us, taking us miles out of our way. We were in West Lafayette going to the school which is 2 miles away, also in West Lafayette. We missed a turn and the damn thing took us over the river and into Lafayette for like 4 miles, then had us take a right and another right and drive 4 miles back on a road running parallel to the one it just took us down.

Hubs says we need to name the system. I suggested “Bitch”.

And the soda machine at the hotel wasn’t any better. At night I’d want a drink to take to the room with me, so we’d visit the soda machine. The first night I sent Hubs and told him to just get anything diet. He came back with a Mountain Dew and insisted it was the soda machine’s fault. Yuck.

The second night I went myself. Put money into the machine, the only diet was Pepsi so I pressed it. Out came a Mountain Dew Voltage. Never tried one but apparently that machine just gives you whatever it wants.

Text to son: Mountain Dew Voltage tastes like cough medicine.

 

While visiting him, we took PurDude clothes shopping. He bought a bunch of new clothes including 2 ties. While he’s a pledge, he has to go to dinner at the Frat every Friday night and has to wear a tie.

Driving from the department store to a discount store my son put on one of his new ties. Later that night when we went to dinner, he had taken the tie off. So apparently you wear a tie to a discount store on a Sunday afternoon, but take it off for a Sunday dinner out.

So I guess I learned a little something about style while at college last month.

Now click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:

The Rowdy Baker

Just A Little Nutty

The Momisodes

Spatulas on Parade

The Sadder But Wiser Girl

Follow me home

Stacy Sews and Schools

Menopausal Mother

Battered Hope

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy

Someone Else's Genius

Crumpets and Bollocks

Juicebox Confession

Go Mamma O

Butterfingers Popcorn

                                                                         ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
2 bags of microwave popcorn, popped (about 16 cups popped)
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP baking cocoa
5 (1.9 oz) Butterfingers bars
1/2 tsp baking soda
 
Directions:
*Crush the butterfingers bars in a food processor. Measure 2/3 cup of the candy crumbs and set aside.
*Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Grease 2 baking sheets. I use the disposable ones.
*Divide the popcorn amongst the baking sheets. Remove unpopped kernels. Put into oven to keep the popcorn warm while making the topping.
*In a heavy medium sized pan at medium heat melt the butter, add the brown sugar and cocoa. Stir and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for one minute.
*Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Last, quickly mix what’s left of the crushed candy.
*Take popcorn from oven and dollop the candy mixture over all the popcorn. Mix it as best you can on each baking sheet, spread the popcorn evenly over the sheet and return to oven. Bake for 15 minutes.
*Remove from oven and stir, moving the candy mixture from the bottom of the pans onto the top of the popcorn again.
*Return to oven, cook 15 minutes, stir, return to oven cook 15 minutes, stir etc. until you’ve done this 4 times and it’s been in the oven an hour total.
*Mix one last time, sprinkle with remaining 2/3 cup candy, cool on the counter.