Yes, Quidditch Is A Real Sport!

You read that correctly...I said Quidditch, as in Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and Broomsticks.  Quidditch is a fictional sport created by J.K. Rowling as the "sport de rigueur" of The Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  I know you have heard about it, but did you know that more than 200 colleges and universities in the United States host club level teams?  I wasn't really aware of this fact either, so don't feel bad.



The above video is a really good crash course into the mayhem and excitement of a real game.  It is hilarious.  It showcases what the role of the "snitch" is and how everyone is out to get that snitch!

I do happen to know a player on the Virginia Commonwealth University Quidditch team, The Wizengamots.  In the Harry Potter Series, The Wizengamot serves as the wizard high court of law and let me tell you, these young people really serve up some notice.

The Wizengamot of VCU has a big game tomorrow against The University of Virginia and I wanted to do something really cool for my favorite player and his teammates, so I made special Quidditch cookies for them.

I hope they are as thrilled about eating them as I was in making them!!

I just love how the golden snitches turned out!

Thank you again to The Bearfoot Baker for hosting another Cookie Linky Party!  I love seeing what everyone else is up to!  Go on over there and see for yourself!

This is Home Girl and the only time I cheer against The University of Virginia, created by my historical crush, Thomas Jefferson...is anytime they play Virginia Commonwealth University!! Go Rams!  (I'm postive TJ would forgive me.)

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Almond Cupcakes with American Buttercream

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

                                          Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

Pretty Spring Blossoms

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Pinkalicious Party Cookies for Stella

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

Home-Made Chicken Wings with "Tooter" Sauce

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

~

This is Home Girl and now I feel so much better....rainy days and Mondays and all.  

Garden Party Love

I made these cookies for a special party that culminated the Olde Towne Garden and Homes Tour that took place today in Portsmouth, Virginia.  I was really thrilled with them and the recipient said they were a big hit at the party she attended.

I don't intend on ever being a cookie blog, but it seems as if I am posting a lot of cookie pictures lately.  I apologize.

There's a great excuse though...it's because I am always working on them!

I use the photos to study my technique and see ways that I can improve.  Tonight, as I was looking at some of my facecrack photos, I realized how much I have grown since I got "the cookie bug" and it amazes me.

I have probably made more than 1,000 cookies since Christmas.  No lie.  That's a heck of a lot of butter.

I use a cookie recipe that I researched and became comfortable with.  I adore it because it's stable and tastes wonderful.  No...I am not giving it out.  Do your own research.

I also work in glaze icing.  I am not a fan of Royal, but sometimes I will make a 50/50 mix of glaze and Royal for detail.  The cookies here are all glaze.

I prefer the taste of glaze over Royal.  It's just a personal preference.  I have a discriminating palate.

I keep my icing pretty loose on the consistency scale, working at about a 5-7 second spread.

Thank you so much if you popped over from The Barefoot Baker's Link Party...I really appreciate everything you cookie girls have taught me through the Internet.  I seriously do.  I owe it all to you for taking my natural ability in icing and giving it a voice.

You are a bunch of wonderfully creative souls who constantly inspire me and make me stretch as a sugar artist.  For that, I am very grateful.

I am just jelly tonight because some of you are in Louisville, KY at Spring Fling.

Serious...Jelly.

This is Home Girl...and yeah, I am pretty obsessed with cookies!

Wordless Wednesday

One Of My Most Favorite Places on This Earth

This is Home Girl and this is me being Wordless. Much better mood, but still Wordless.

I Just Don't Get It Sometimes...

I am really struggling today.  It doesn't have anything to do with me (or maybe it does), but I just don't get most people...most of the time.

I don't have a perfect life, very far from it....I have my own trials and tribulations on a daily basis.  I have reasons to be extremely bitter, but I choose not to go that route.  Living in negativity does nothing for me, my life, or the lives of those I am in contact with on a daily basis.  Negative thoughts are rooted in hatred and I would dislike it very much if hate was ever rooted in my heart.

Hate makes me so sad and it confuses me that it doesn't make other people feel the same way.

Why?  What is mankind's obsession with it?  Does it make you feel better about yourself?  It doesn't for me.

Cookies I made for a Kindergarten Easter Party

I don't know...maybe I am just weird?  This might be a concept that I will never understand.  Maybe that's the way my higher power wants to keep my heart...free from letting the negativity and the mean spirited behavior of others from entering my capacity.  I am not claiming to be perfect, though.  There have been times in my life when I have been less than virtuous, but I do not harbor in it.  I seek a better path.  I praise everyday with goodness and light.

The Party Table All Set Up

I know I see the same example in my photography.  I like to take happy, uplifting shots...I show life as I want to see it, but I know it's not all sparkles and buttercream icing.  Things are not always as they seem in photos.  A photo is a view on the world.  I just happen to focus on things that make me happy...things that make me smile...things I want to remember.

You Are Never To Old to Get an Easter Basket

Maybe, I am the lucky one? I just don't know.  I wish people would just let their hearts learn how to accept life for what it is...to reach out and share an uplifting word with someone that may need it.  To honestly be there for others and help them to focus on goodness and learning to live their own lives...not worrying about what others are or are not doing.

I Love Easter Decorations almost as much as Christmas!  

I guess what it boils down to is...when I am wondering about the motives of others or why some people want to be a part of my life and then not fully accept me for who I am, that is when I need to respectfully pull back and protect my heart from being confused and hurt.  Silence is Golden and I refuse to hold my breath waiting for something that may never be.  Maybe it's just too far damaged for there to ever be true resolution...and I need to be okay with that.

Edwards Ham from Virginia Traditions, Ham Salad Sandwiches

Ham Salad in the Spring makes me happy.  I made an outdoor lunch yesterday before I agreed to start my Paleo eating regimen for the Spring and Summer.  If you have never had Ham Salad before then you must try this recipe...I mean home-made Ham Salad...not the mutilated, pre-packaged stuff you can find in the deli section of your grocery market.  That is NOT Ham Salad.

Virginia Ham Salad~~

2 cups, chopped Country Ham
1/4 cup chopped onion...I used both green onion and Sweet Vidalia Onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

Salad Sauce:

1 cup mayo...in the South, we prefer Dukes or Hellmann's.
1/4 milk
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
2 shakes Frank's Hot Sauce...I put that shit on everything, Your Majesty.

Add all the sauce ingredients into a jar and shake...reserving extra sauce in the fridge for up to one week.

Add enough Salad Sauce to the ham mixture to make wet.  Stir well and then make your sandwiches or just eat it out of a bowl, which is what I usually do because it's that good....and it makes me happy.

This is Home Girl and I will not be holding my breath anymore.  I can only focus on me.  I will not be convicted to live in other people's agendas.  I work really well with honesty when tempered with love.  Don't hate.  The only person you should have expectations of is yourself.

This and That Thursday~Back At The Old Crib

My knee isn't working today...it didn't work yesterday either and I am not thrilled about that.  I will not blame it on the recent Pole Fitness - Chair Dancing - Booty Clap Class that I got to take last weekend...although I am almost positive there might be a correlation.

(I refuse to also admit that my 48 year old butt had no business attempting to pole dance...nope, complete refusal.)

I hate to be in pain.  I have a rather intense case of ADHD and immobilization is not in my vocabulary.

I have things to do, deadlines to meet, and putting weight on my knee is required.

The Fam is planning a Day Trip to Williamsburg for Easter Lunch and if you know me, then you know how much I love to visit The Burg any time of the year.  Lunch at the King's Arm Tavern and then a shopping trip to the new Williamsburg Pottery are on tap and I refuse to miss it.

Is it too early for a walker??  Or a Hov-a-round?

I wish we could drive golf carts through Olde Towne....

Sexy Cookies 

I love making hand designed cookies more than anything on this Earth.  I turn on some great music and really get into it.  I have a lot of cookies to make in the next three days.  I have a Kindergarten Easter Party, an Art Show, and family cookies to work on.

It would be so much more enjoyable if my knee was not screaming at me.

I also have some more of these bad boys to make.  Hot Cross Buns are such a fun Spring tradition...I used Pdub's recipe, which is closely similar to her Cinnamon Bun recipe...which I absolutely adore.  You know how when you try out a recipe and the instructions are clear cut and you have a lot of experience and things just go wrong and you can't figure out why...and then you think that maybe the ingredient amounts must be off because the person posting the recipe is a complete B and wants you to fail, so they wrote the wrong amounts....Yes, Pdub doesn't do that.  Neither do I...just so ya know.

What in the hell would someone have to gain by posting a recipe knowing the amounts of the listed ingredients is wrong??

Some people just kill me.

Seriously.

I have to get back to cookies now...these bunnies and carrots are calling my name.  Are they not the cutest??

I do hope you enjoy your Spring weekend.  I plan on pushing through the pain and enjoying mine, no matter what.

This is Home Girl and I might need a new knee soon.

Does This Thing Still Work??

So, I tried out having my blog on another host site.  It was okay...not really any different then here.  I liked some things about Wordpress, as opposed to the Blogger format and there were some things that I really missed about Blogger...like complete ownership.  I did not own the domain and there ended being issues with the person that did have control.

No one owns me.  Ever.

So, I am playing around with the decision to come back here.

I am just so unsure right now.  I am not completely convinced that I even want to keep on blogging at this point.

I am really busy with life and I get caught up in it and then I don't get to post as much as I feel I should...then it makes me mad and I end up not posting at all...

that makes me frustrated because I then think about all the wonderful people I have in my life that I have met through blogging and how much I have learned from them.

I also think about starting a completely new blog where no one knows me because at the Word Press home it had been compromised by knowing that former family members were reading it like a crack addict....and that bothered me.

I don't feel that anyone has the right to be an active reader of my blog if they are connected to me biologically, but not a part of my personal life.  It's kinda creepy if you ask me....and it seriously weirds me out.  If you are seriously THAT interested in me or my life, then take the time to get to know me....not hide behind your veil of secrecy and pretend that you know ANYTHING about me.

Trust and believe I keep certain people at arm's length for a reason.  I am happy with the people in my daily life and there are no plans on ever changing that premise.

I know I am not really writing with a clear cut point or objective....I just really wanted to see if this blog would even accept any more posts before I decide to go through all the trouble of starting a new one.

This is Home Girl...and I might just move back to my old house.