Thursday, August 9, 2012

It's Not Kindergarten!

     So, as you, my followers.... (Mom, Jeff.) and those of you who just happen to come across my page, have known for a bit that I have gotten a job :) My first real job :) And while I'm excited.... it'd seem that my parents are more excited O_o which is understandable, but they act like it's kindergarten lol.
     I got home from getting my work permit signed by the appropriate people (in which they made me run from one side of town to the other for; get permit from school, take permit to work to have them sign it, then bring it back to school for them the to sign it, then, finally, I can bring it back to work for them to file), and it was raining outside. So I'd walked home from the bus stop in the rain and I get my uniform from the car to bring it in, they're all like "Try it on! We wanna see you in it! :D " They say they want pictures.... and I remind them that it's not kindergarten... but they reply with "But it's your first job!" lol so, yeah, I may be exaggerating this a bit, but for real, it happened, at least the jest of it.
     Reflecting on this episode only makes me think of what it'd be like when I move out, or go to college, or make my first Pixar film, or anything... I guess it'd be the same as when I see the people I love do great things, and move up in the world, like growing up... We all avoid it, we avoid responsibility and growing up as teenagers, but we know it's coming, we know we have to do it, and while at the same time we are desperately looking forward to it, it's only mostly because we don't want to have somebody say for us anymore.
     So guess when I start? Tuesday. Guess what Tuesday is? My seventeenth birthday! Which wouldn't be so bad, but I really wanted to see The Lorax (which I heard hasn't gotten the kind of attention they want it to, but for real, if that certain person is reading this, I think that movie is great, just by the previews, and I really really want to see it!) at the library with my friends... but I can't... very sadly... perhaps my parents will rent it for me! ^_^
     But just in case anybody cared, I will tell you what I want for my birthday:
Birthday Dinner: Spaghetti with Italian sausage and cheesy garlic bread
Wish List: Headphones
                Cool Socks
                New York Times Newspaper (they have amazing pictures that I would love to cut out! :D )
                A Plastic T-Rex from Meijer
                Hello Kitty underwear :3
                Gum
                My own thing of ice cream :D
                Cracker Jacks
                AAA Batteries (for my mp3 player)


     But this is the cake I want:
            I don't care if we don't have enough jars for everyone, I'm getting a cake in a jar, and that's that.
Here's a copy and paste of the recipe from http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/04/08/rainbow-cake-in-a-jar/

Rainbow Cake in Jar
  • 1 box white cake mix made according to package instructions
  • Neon food coloring in pink, yellow, green, turquoise, and purple
  • 3 one-pint canning jars
  • 1 can vanilla frosting
  • Rainbow sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly wash and dry the inside of each canning jar. Spray the inside of each jar thoroughly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Scoop about 1/2 cups of cake batter into five small bowls. It doesn’t have to be perfect, don’t panic if you get a little more of less of one color than another.  Tint each bowl of cake batter with the food coloring until very vibrant.
Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the purple batter into the bottom of each jar.  Spoon equal amounts of turquoise batter, then green, yellow, and pink.  Place the jars in a shallow baking dish, add about 1/4″ in water in the baking dish. Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.
Remove jars and allow to cool completely before scooping a small portion from the top of your cake and adding a hefty dollop of vanilla buttercream to the top. Sprinkle & serve, or cover with a lid and store in the fridge or pop into the mail & surprise someone you love!
POST EDIT: Several commenters have indicated that the cake is not cooking all the way through in the 30-35 minutes indicated in the recipe.  This was enough time for our cake, but I’m cooking at high altitudes, and my oven tends to bake hot.  So, I’d recommend baking the cake for 40 minutes, then return it to the oven if it still doesn’t spring back to the touch when you check to see if it’s finished.  As for the cake puffing up and out of it’s bottle, ours did that a bit, as well.  Easy fix. We just scooped a bit of the cake out to make room for the frosting and wiped the outside of our jars clean.  Several people have indicated that the wide-mouthed mason jars work a little better for this purpose.  I’ve not yet baked with wide-mouthed. What you see above is what was baked in my kitchen according to the recipe instructions, and what came out of the oven when it was all.   Of course, if you’re feeling wildly impatient, you can also zap the cake in the microwave for 2 minutes.  It’s going to bubble up, for sure, but you can scoop the top part of that cake out, frost it, and no one will ever be the wiser. Good luck, everyone! This is such a fun cake. My kids went nuts over it, and I hope it works as beautifully for you as it did for us!


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Bacon is Really Good :)

     I think we all agree, bacon is damn good! But I was thinking earlier, the little baby piggies are cute too... but it's okay, because they don't kill the babies. :) They wait until the pigs are fat and gross, or until they feed them enough chemicals to get fat and gross... :S Gosh, we eat a lot of chemicals...

     So one of my neighbors are having their second baby on Tuesday :D I'm so excited! I can't wait to see a brand new baby! My other neighbors are hoarders... for the most part... They keep giving us stuff; blankets, coffee cups, which is all nice, but all of these things are ugly as f*ck! Sometimes they buy us stuff too, they bought my sister some face wash, and they bought me some neonish nail polish, it's like hunting orange *gross face*, which I'd like to use it, but come on, the color is gross, plus I can't really paint my nails, because I just got a real job! It's nice that they buy us stuff, thoughtful and all that junk, but for real, I don't really use nail polish as it is, and Taylor didn't need chemically intoxicated face wash, we make our own, and it works well. Well, at least for me, 'cause she uses either that or store-bought face wash. She really needs to make a for sure decision which one she's going to use, because for one; it's annoying, for two; her indecisiveness is going to make her break out more. 

     So, if you were wondering, the mixture we use for our (or my) face wash is a half and half combination of  Pure Olive Oil (you can get that at just a regular grocery store or whatever), and Castor Oil (which you can buy at any drug store). The olive oil cleans your pores or whatever and also moisturizes your skin as it needs in a natural manor, and the castor oil dries up bad oils and sucks out impurities...I think... but either way, it works. Just give it like 2-4 weeks to do it's thing, and you'll hardly have to wear cover-up when you go out! :D