A moment if you please

I am not sure where my thoughts would take me if I started blogging this week. I knew I would be all over the place so I have been putting it off. It’s been an emotionally draining few days and I have been all over the spectrum. Plus work is completely crazy and I am trying to stay caught up. Needless to say, the stress level is high and I should probably be taking some Lysine to keep the cold sores at bay.

Little Willa-menia has been great. She asked the dogs yesterday, or told rather, to Go Potty! Complete with nudge to their backs. It was rather comical. She also got to hang out with her God-mom for a few hours this weekend while B and I went to a movie and dinner. We saw Hall Pass and it was funnier than I thought it would be.

We were also reminded in two separate occasions in the last few weeks just how quickly life can change and to not take things for granted. In an effort to not go off on a tangent, I am going to leave you with a story from a few weeks ago.

If you had ever met my Uncle Richard or had ever ridden with him, you know that he could spot a bungee cord or any other useful object in the middle of the road from like a mile away. He would usually stop and make one of us jump out to get it regardless of where we were at; highway, gravel road….. Anyway, I was coming home from work on a very cold day and was about a block away from our street when I saw a ball hitch laying in the middle of the road. Uncle Richard would be very disappointed to know I did not stop to get it. Mostly because it was cold and it smack dab in the middle of the intersection and Great Falls intersections are not the safest to drive through let alone stop and pick something up. But it made me think of him and I thought I would share it with you.

A-DORA-ble

We had so much fun making this cake.  I think I finally got the marshmallow to powdered sugar ratio figured out and I am digging dying the cake batter.
Mandi and I put in a long week at the office and then spent Friday night decorating the cake.  We split up and I did the bottom tier and she did the top, conspiring on the fondant flowers.  The family loved it and we were very pleased with how it turned out.  Our only snag was finding the Dora accessories.  We hit every store in town and finally resorted to buying a Dora Chutes and Ladders game at Ross.


I think the stars were my favorite to make.  They turned out really cute and I am told they really looked like the stars on the show.  While I am excited to make another cake soon, maybe after tax season will be a little less stressful.

Fondant

My marshmallow fondant making keeps improving!!  I am so excited for Mandi and I to make our biggest cake to date.  Not only did I make two batches of fondant tonight I tried a tie-dyed cake batter.  It’s pink and purple and I am hoping when they cut into it they are excited to see it.

I will update this weekend with pictures and the experience as it has been a pretty boring week around here.  Work and class is what our routine is settling into.

One funny story though, I asked Willa if she was ready to put her jammies on and a few minutes later she randomly went into her room and brought out a pair of jammies to change into.  Now if I could teach her to get her diapers and wipes with out destroying the wipes box we would be in business.

I am also trying to figure out how to link some of my posts up above, so please ignore my construction of my banner.

Lessons Learned

 

I learned several things this weekend…some a little surprising, one kind of exciting, and one pretty sad.

Sad….I have over 100 billable hours still to work this month to reach my budget.  Even sadder is my budget in March is higher than this month.  Hopefully my 86 hours that I am ahead of budget going into February will give me some cushion if I don’t make it.  I really want to though, because two years ago I was pregnant and didn’t make my budget thanks to morning sickness…and evening sickness.  Last year B left for Texas, so my budget got slashed then too.  Still, working all those hours really isn’t that exciting.  Funnily, it’s the 13th and I have only done 3 returns and punched in the numbers for my own.  Pesky audits.

Surprising… I took Willa to get her pictures taken yesterday and realized my stubborn little girl is also pretty shy.  She wouldn’t smile for anything.  Finally like 45 minutes later and about 12 Pullen for Threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’s later, we finally got her to toss up her 3 hands, come out of her shell and smile.  We got a few good pictures and hopefully the next time won’t take so long.

She is also driving me crazy because she will only tell B please and thank you.  Not me!  She even does it unprompted to him when she wants something, especially treats.  On the upside, at least she is saying please and thanks.

Exciting….I am totally getting into couponing.  Mostly just at Walgreens, but at the Commissary today I scored Gain dryer sheets for $.20 because I had a $3.00 off coupon.  I already feel like I am getting a little stockpile on the just the few things I have bought.  I don’t plan on being a crazy coupon lady, but if I can save some money on the things we use all the time, why not?

I attempted cake pops again for the Daycare’s Valentines party tomorrow.  I think I have a new strategy for next time I make, though this time was a vast improvement.  I doubt the kids will notice they don’t look so hot if they taste good.

Happy Hallmark Holiday to you all.

Houdini 2.0

B had guard drill this weekend so it was just us girlies.  The dogs woke up after he left, so I let them out, fed them, and then went back to bed.  Usually I close our door so they don’t get out but I was to lazy that morning and it was a good thing.

I woke up and could hear Willa babbling but it wasn’t over the monitor.  She was just hanging out in the living room playing with her blocks, just waiting for me to get up.

Needless to say, I went out and bought door handle covers so that when she wakes up, we will too.  It was very surprising too, because I usually hear her waking up, but she must have been very sneaky that morning, or really just in a good mood to play by herself.

At least it wasn’t like her last Houdini adventure.

Chicken Casserole

One of my favorite dinners of all time is my Grandma Jo’s chicken casserole.  She usually only made it around fair time and my birthday if I could wrangle a dinner.  She gave the recipe to me at my bridal shower and I have only dreamed of it since.
You see, I thought it was far more complicated than it really was, so I am sharing it with you and adding to our rotation of dinners.

• 1 whole chicken shredded or use breasts
• 1 can cream of chicken
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 boxes of stuffing made according to instructions

Mix the cream soups, sour cream and broth and mix in with chicken in a 9x13 pan.  Top with stuffing and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Pure heaven.

Versatile Blogger

I am super pleased that my little blog Moylan Mayhem has won a Versatile Blogger award! It was presented to me by my friend Liz over at Our Busy Bee.  I have only met Liz one time but over the last year and a half I have come to consider her a wonderful friend.  We “met” via a pregnancy message board when we realized we both lived in GTF, were military wives, and due around the same time.  Cute little Audrey was born a week before Willa and they have spent the last 16 months hitting milestones and keeping us on our toes.  Pretty much every post of Liz’s I just nod my head in agreement and wonder how she got in my head.
I have never received an award, so it’s nice to know there is someone out there reading.
How it works is that I tell 10 things about myself that people may or may not know. Then I pass the award onto 7 other bloggers whom I want to participate.

My 10 things:

1. It may come as no surprise, but I love to craft.  I am starting to get addicted.  Every time I see something cool on a blog I wasn’t to try.  I have excel spreadsheets of links to crafts, recipes and decorating designs I want to try.  But accepting the addiction is the first step to recovery right?  I am working on having attainable expectations and finishing what I start.
2. We have so many books in our house I think we could start a library.  I re-read all of my books practically and have such a hard time parting with any of them.  I also remember a lot of them.  Usually not titles, which is frustrating when I  buy and start reading a new book, and one paragraph in I know I have already read.
3. My friend JP, in retaliation for getting her hooked on Alias I think, got me addicted to Harry Potter.  I held out for a long time, waiting until after the last book came out.  Which was fortunate for me because I plowed through all 7 books in 2 weeks.  I have since re-read the series at least 3 times and now own all the movies.
4. I am the world’s biggest procrastinator.  It’s mostly because everything has to be all or nothing.  It must done completely and has I envision it.  Cleaning for example.  I always want to declutter, reorganize, and make it sparkle.  As soon as I realize that is unattainable, I shut down and don’t want to do it.
5. There is nothing better in the world than a long, hot shower.  I could spend an hour just standing under the water I think.  Mostly, I try to be very conscious about the environment, but I throw it out the window when it’s time to shower.
6. I really wish there was a class I could take to learn how to do my hair.  I would love to be one of those gals that looks put together all time.  I know several of them.  I just want nice hair that isn’t frizzy and has some style that doesn’t take hours and a stylist to do.  Is that so much to ask?
7. I think my fashion style has greatly improved over the years.  I had no style in high school, but after we got married and I started working at JCCS I really started caring and paying attention to the world of fashion.  I can smugly say that I have even helped/inspired a few co-workers expand their horizons as well with a few of my bold choices.  Plus everybody knows about my fun handbags too.  Now if I could just find that person to help me get my whole look together I would be in business.
8. B calls me a hippie liberal, but I am fairly confident in my moderate ways.  Depending on the topic, I dabble to the left or right, but mostly I am just very open-minded.  One of my mottos is your rights end where mine begin.  So as long as your are not breaking laws or harming people I think people should be able to do and believe what they want.  It kind of drives me crazy when people try to force their beliefs on to others, but that is a topic that could stir quite the debate, so I will leave it at that.
9. Since getting pregnant and becoming a mom, I am more emotional.  I used to not be a crier and now I can tear up at commercials!  I think things just affect me different now because of the new perspective I have.  Before, I could just block it out and not let it bother me but now, I am just a big old empathetic, sympathetic mush.
10. It’s very ironic that one of the easiest thing I have ever done (saying YES when B proposed), brought the most change to my life.  Accountants really don’t care for change you know.  We like things to be all neat and tidy.  It takes me a long time to decide to do things and I am not very spontaneous. 

And without further ado, here are the blogs I have chosen to receive the award, except I only have 6:

1. Jenny P from Me. She is one of my best friends and I would not have had the most awesome sporting experiences at KSU without her.  I was truly blessed to have her as a neighbor and then a roommate to get me out of my room and out to the games!  I live vicariously through her life in NYC and her travels across the world.
2. Sarah or SEW from The Life of Me.  Another KSU “roomie” that helped rock my years at KSU.  She is blogging more this year and I am loving it.  Her and her B just bought a new house and I am so giddy to watch her redecorate.
3. Dr. JCF from The Backwoods Arkansas Veterinary Times.  Our fourth roomie and the most studious I think.  She rocks the DVM behind her name and we want her to blog more! 
4. My favorite red head, my cousin Megan from Dangerously Dunn.  She is new to the blog world and I can’t wait for her to dive in.
5. Another cousin, the artistic Paula Nichole at
My Art. Life in Letters.  She is fantastically talented and the mom to the cutest little girl who is about to become a big sister!

6.  Last but no least in my little tagging……Kayleigh! She harasses me enough to update my blog, it’s time for her to get one of her own.   She has been dating my brother for three years now!

Winter Wonderland

So all I keep hearing about is snow and ice, and schools closed.  Blah, Blah, Blah.  It’s freaking cold here and for some reason today just felt extra cold.  I am going to be out and about town on Thursday and next week, but I am really not looking forward to it.  It’s just miserable to have to walk outside.  I am tempted to ask if I can just work from home in my jammies.
Today kicked off the official start date of tax appointments and the way things are looking, I probably won’t be doing returns for a while.  Sad thing is, I am not very motivated right now with the audits I will be working on.  Two of them are the same company just different owners since they sold in the middle of the year.  Their management company is just a pain to deal with and are not cooperating.  Then I have  a cranky client, our personalities just don’t mesh.  I guess I shouldn’t call her cranky, she is just very abrasive, which is good for her job, just not for me.  I am also not very excited to start working weekends again.  I guess the up side, the rest of the office will be working as well.  Not sure how I will swing this weekend since B has guard drill, and it is not good to get started off wrong.  We all have billable budgets and these next few months are when we crank out the hours.  I totally missed my budgets last year and I am determined to stay ahead.
I added it up yesterday and I am 80 hours over my budget because of a very good August.  It is one of the aspects I dislike about my job; keeping track of my hours and managing my productivity rate with the efficiency rate.  Not easy when they basically work against each other.  But my mentor comes back from maternity leave next week, so hopefully she will help me get back on the right track.
Stay warm everyone.

Oh yeah, we got another cake order and I making a diaper cake for a co-worker.  Fun times in craft land.