Life With Frenchie

My friend had told me a while back about making ice cream without a churn. Her daughter made it (at school, I think) just using ziplock bags and ice. This morning, on the Food Network, one of the hosts made no-churn ice cream and it reminded me of the ziplock bag method. I looked it up and found this recipe:

 What you’ll need:

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons rock salt
• 1 pint-size Ziploc plastic bag
• 1 gallon-size Ziploc plastic bag
• Ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one and seal again carefully.
4. Shake until mixture is ice cream, about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off top of small bag, then open carefully and enjoy!

So, off to the store I went. I guess I was in a Betty Crocker mood today because I was making a lot of stuff - homemade pizza, chocolate chip cookies, protein balls (remember, going vegetarian…), and now ice cream. We made it after dinner and it turned out great! It was actually very good! I think we’re going to try it at our Girl Scout meeting Tuesday. Go ahead…try it!

Wow, could my life be any crazier right now? I mean, seriously, everytime I turn around I’ve got something else going on. Things just keep piling on lately.

Anyways, I’ve given up on trying to “catch up” and will focus on going forward.

Around the homestead, things aren’t so much different. Yeah, I’m still furiously trying to plan a wedding while working, helping run a Girl Scout troop, study (and I use that term very loosely) for exams, and ummm…oh yeah - breathe!

On the Girl Scout front, cookie sales were amazing this year! Our girls worked their butts off selling. A lot of them showed up for weekend cookie booths and when the going was slow, they hoofed it from house to house for the second time around (they do that in pre-sales). Now, camping starts for our girls. They have a troop camping trip next weekend so that they can refresh their memories about their responsibilities while camping. Also, the Neighborhood Encampment is coming up in May. Encampment is open to all the girls in our Neighborhood, which is about 100 girls right now, and it allows the different age levels to experience camping together. This year, our girls chose a “Wet ‘N Wild” theme. The activities for the weekend will all center around water. I’m sure the girls are going to just love that! Too bad I have to put myself on lockdown so I can have some inkling of hope of passing my exam this May!

In other news, MM brought home straight A’s again this quarter! Her school chorus put on their spring concert last week, which we attended. While I was talking to her friend’s mom, the assistant principal came up to EP and said “Your daughter is a very good guitar player!” I didn’t get to hear the rest of the conversation, but EP said that the vice principal had MM go up to the front office of the school and play some Beatles songs for the administrators! *BIG HUGE FREAKIN’ PROUD MAMA GRIN*

Well, it’s time to get some grub and MM needs the computer to finish her Girl Scout Sign of the Rainbow award.

While, I’m gone, hop on over and check out EP’s new blog! It’s about appraising.

MM has been growing and developing by leaps and bounds! EP and I have already started developing a master plan for scaring off the boys, just in case. With this in mind, everytime she says “Mom! Come here, I need you…” I fear the worst.

Today, the worst finally happened - she took the final step in development! For one time in my life, I actually hoped MM was sick, or had some infection. No such luck it seems. Dr. says he’ll run a few more tests to see if she may have an infection but he thinks this is it.

Dr. asked if she had learned about puberty and all that goes with it. She’s been faithfully reading her book, but they haven’t gone over it in school yet; that’s Monday. I’m not joking. Now that FCATs are over, the kids go right into learning about their bodies and the changes happening.

I’m not prepared for this! I want my baby back!!!!

Is this post the cyberspace equivalent of pulling out naked baby pictures to show to all my friends and embarrassing her??

I’m beginning my attempt to catch up my dear readers on my happenings as of late.

I think I will start with the most recent events and work my way backwards, so I don’t fall even further behind!

The most important of the news is shameless pride in MM.

Here in The Sunshine State, children in grades 3-8 usually have to read some, or all, of the Sunshine State Young Readers list. Some schools use the list and participate in Battle of the Books while other schools hold their own, internal, competitions to help encourage reading all of the books on the list.

This year, at MM’s school, kids were awarded prizes after reading books and successfully passing tests about the content. The “grand prize” for having read all 15 books and passed all 15 tests, is a sleepover at Busch Gardens. I’m guessing, dear readers, that you have all figured it by now, but I still have to say it - MM was one of the winners! In the midst of the God awful FCATs (I can go on forever about the evils of them, but I’ll spare you!), she managed to finish her final book (she’d read it once before and failed the test, so she decided to reread it after she finished the other books and take the test again) and take and pass the test! I’m so proud of her…and jealous that I don’t get to go with her! LOL

I don’t want to overwhelm you boys and girls, so I’ll come back later with a little more…

MM turned 10 last year, and has quickly embraced her double-digit status. She is very eager to learn all she can about what’s coming for her. A few years back, she “bought” The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls. It wasn’t very interesting to her when she first got it, but now she’s always reading it. It has a lot of information in there for a young girl entering adolescence. MM seems to be jumping in with both feet at light speed!

Aside from physical changes that have signaled her entry into adolescence, this weekend she asked me some questions which were 100% guarantees that she’s not so little anymore. We had breakfast together Sunday morning and she drew a picture of  a leprachaun. When she was finished she asked “If the Tooth Fairy isn’t real, does that mean leprachauns are not real?” This line of questioning continued through Easter Bunny, Santa, etc. I asked her what she thought and she said “No, they’re not real,” to all of them. I figured she’d catch on but she still wanted me to say it, so I ‘fessed up to being all of those rolled into one. As sad as it is that she’s growing up, I’m jumping for joy that I don’t have to sneak around anymore to keep her fooled! YAY!!

But that wasn’t the end of it. It gets even better!

Last night, EP & I went grocery shopping and decided it was time we all started taking our vitamins. MM also is in need of calcium because she doesn’t like to drink milk. When we got home, EP tried to play on her fascination with entering adolescence. The conversation went something like this:

MM: Who are all these vitamins for?

EP: Those are for all of us. We need to start taking them to stay healthy. You also need to start drinking more milk. It’s very important that you get your calcium in because you’re about to enter adolescence and you need this stuff to make sure you grow and develop properly.

MM: “Adolescence”? What’s that?

EP: It’s what you’re always reading about in that book of yours?

MM: What book?

EP: The book that tells you about proper hygiene and skin care and stuff.

MM: OH! You mean “areolas”?

I haven’t stopped laughing yet!

I’m thiefing this topic from my favorite forum.

With MM being 10, it’s not often that something “cute and endearing” comes out of her mouth. It’s more “smart and sassy” and borderline “what did you just say?!?!?” But last night she had me laughing.

We’re sitting at the dinner table and EP was joking around with her and something was said about something being big. She automatically assumed we were teasing her about her J-Lo booty and she said “My butt’s not big! It just wants its own space!”

Classic!

Another reason why I lurv EP. We went to buy MM a new bike yesterday and this is what happened:

EP & I got a rare Sunday evening alone today. This morning, I took MM to get her hair relaxed and trimmed (the first and last time I tried to put in a relaxer myself, MM had pigtails that were a full 4 inches different in lenght!!!) and on the way her friend called to ask if MM could spend the night. Heck yeah!!!

It was not all playtime after I dropped her off though. Ever since I moved in a year ago, we have had several large items in the garage that we needed to sell. This included a washer and dryer set. Today, I finally got around to putting an ad on Craig’s List for all the stuff. When we went in the garage to take pictures, we were in for quite a surprise.

I am known for hating to do laundry. Actually, I don’t mind sorting, washing, and drying. I do mind folding and putting away! Loads only leave the dryer when I need to use the dryer for another load. Loads only leave the baskets when I run out of room in the dryer and the hampers are full with dirty clothes. I just loathe folding and putting away. Especially the whites! There are thousands of socks to match and fold. How come I buy all the same socks, yet within 2 loads, none of them match anymore?? So, unless EP gets on my case, I have had times where I lived out of my dryer instead of using the perfectly good dresser and closet that I have. :blush:

Today, it became apparent just how much I hate putting away laundry. My washer and dryer have been in the garage for over a year now and when I opened the dryer to take a picture, there was a load of sheets in towels in there! EP had a good laugh at my expense. I must say, I was quite tickled myself. It took quite a while before I could stop laughing long enough to take the pictures!

Oh well, I’m washing that laundry now and it’s time to put it in the dryer…unless something’s already in there.

I’m not such a huge fan of them. But, for the sake of fun, I don them once every few months. Last night was such an occasion.

After a very long day of photographer meetings, once we got home, EP walked the dogs, MM showered, I posted a quick blog (hey, I have my priorities in order!) and we were out the door to go bowling with the Girl Scout troop.

We have 11 girls in our troop and they have worked very hard all year long. Since the year started last October, they have raised quite a bit of money through various troop and council fundraisers, so we decided it was time for some fun. We paid for each of the girls’ shoes and bowling fees. Family and friends were invited to join us and any girl who joined our troop also had their way paid. We ended up with over 30 people last night! And, out of the 3 girls who came as friends, 2 of them are joining the troop, so we’re up to 13 girls!!! Thirteen girls, all ages 10 and 11…..Yes, I am crazy!

As for the bowling, my “skills” leave a lot to be desired. The last time I bowled was when the troop had a bowling day at the end of last year. I was pathetic that time … and that’s being generous! Last night, I got off to a good start. Less than halfway through our game, I was on pace to actually break 100! I know, that’s still a crappy score, but considering I usually don’t get anywhere near 100, this was huge! I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. Despite being in the lead and getting off to a good start, I finished the game at about 85. :hanging head in shame: We were also very slow, so we didn’t even get to finish the second game (we had the lanes for 2 hours).

Poor EP, he was worn out, so he didn’t even bowl. Actually, he didn’t even want to be there, but I guilted him into going. I know it wasn’t very fair, but I just really wanted him to be there with us. In the end, I think he had an alright time - hanging out and talking with the other parents (dads too, not just moms) and making fun of my lack of bowling skills.

At the end of the night, I’d say it was a success. A long, tiring one. But, a success, nonetheless.

Report cards came home today! MM brought home straight A’s! :clap:

She had 1 A and the rest were B’s. We were just as proud of her then, but for her to bring her grades up like that shows a lot of hard work and effort.

Maybe she’ll get smrt enough so she can take my actuarial exams for me!