It's been a long time since my last post.

I am sorry to anyone who reads my blog, that I have not posted in so long.  My Facebook kind of took over my blogging efforts.  Also, I have pretty much lost focus on what my blog is supposed to be about.  I was kind of using for a diary, and a place to actually write something.  I am not sure I have anything interesting to post on my blog that I haven't already posted on my Facebook.  I have thought about making some posts on apps I like for my iPod that might be useful to read. 

Jelly Bean Foam House

We had quite a day today.  I got to see my baby stand up today, with help from his Papa.  He is such a champ.  I will try to get a picture of him standing up soon and post it up.  His older brother and I had a fun time making a Jelly Bean Foam House.  It is a foam structure which includes a little tree house, two bunnies, baby chicks and a lady bug.  You can decorate the house with flowers, grass and jelly beans and then play with it after building it.  It's such a cute arts and crafts project (which was actually left over from Easter). 

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I hope to do one of these foam projects for Halloween this year.  Last year we created a haunted house made out of a paper bag, we colored and cut windows and doors out, and made it look like a haunted house and then decorated it all with spooky stickers.  It had a haunted gnarled tree, a grave yard with grave stones and a secret passage



LUDO's Space Dracula Basketball Expo 2011.

LUDO's Space Dracula Basketball Expo 2011.

Tucson drew the luck of getting to dress up with the Dracula theme.  Here we were, we must be crazy, in our 30's dressing up like Dracula?  I'd do it for LUDO!  We did our best to mix the Dracula theme with rock concert look. These pictures span getting ready in our Dracula outfits before the concert to the concert venue and afterwards.

This is me me getting ready for the concert.  We tried to put on fake fangs but they didn't work out.  It was endlessly hilarious trying to wear them because when you tried to talk with them, "ewe thouded a bit ike isth."  That would make us laugh even more.  It's a miracle we got dressed in time to go.  

  Next we had to eat a good meal before the concert, so what do vampires chow on, well hamburgers of coarse.  I just had to sink my fangs into one.  Check out my bite marks on my neck.  "Ouch," they look like they hurt. 

 You would think getting my skull tennis shoes on would have been easy, but it was not.  I swear it took me 10 minutes to get those those bright yellow laces done up correctly. We were a bit late to the concert because of this.  Sorry everyone. 

LUDO performs at the Tucson's historic Rialto Theater July 28th, 2011.

  The Rialto Theater has a beautiful stage set up with a proper back stage area for the bands.  The stage is pretty small though, and it was very hot, but we packed in for a full house to sing out little hearts out.  Everyone there loved LUDO as much as I do, so it was a blast. 

Andrew Volpe tuning his guitar before the show started.  The crowd was going wild screaming, I have no idea how he heard anything with all that noise.

Matt Palermo warming up. 

Andrew Volpe of LUDO dressed as Dracula, starts the show off.   

LUDO did perform an acoustic version of "LOVE ME DEAD" after having us all sit on the floor and sing along.  

Tim Convy and Tim Ferrel

 Tim Convy making a face.

  We caught Tim Convy in the hallway afterward and he said, "Wow, great job you guys," in reference to our outfits.  I was a bit star stuck and only managed a "Thanks!" in response.  I wish I would have said, "Great job, loved the show, thanks so much! Tucson loves LUDO!" Or any number of things like this.   As well, you often don't ever get to say anything to your favorite band at all, so I'll just count myself lucky to get out a small word.  We didn't get to chat much with the members of LUDO like we had when they played the Rock, because it was just too crowded, but it was still a fun time. 

 Andrew Volpe was cool enough to let us take a picture with him after the concert.

 

I really love this flier for the "Space Dracula Basketball Expo" from the Roxy in LA.  It makes me laugh, the look on Dracula's face is priceless.  I love that he is wearing a LUDO tank top and has a space bubble on his head.  How is he going to bite anyone with that bubble on anyway? 

Classic Coney Island Hot Dog Recipe

My husband's family has been trying to duplicate these Dirty John's hot dogs for as long as I have known them. They were pretty close on their recipe, but Rachel Ray has shared the original Dirty John's Hot Dog Sause for us all. Finally I can try this famous recipe for myself. The natives call them Coney Islands, or from New Way Lunch they called them Dirty John's Dirt Dogs. If you mixed my Mother-in-law's and father-in-law's recipes you would almost have the perfect Dirty John's hot dog. I used to think of them as chilli dogs without the beans.

Ingredients:
8 hot dog buns
1 pound ground beef
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder (Sometimes I use only 1 1/2 tbs)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 tablespoon yellow mustard, plus more for topping
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar8 beef hot dogs in natural casings

Directions:1.Preheat the oven to 300°. Wrap the hot dog rolls in foil. In a large skillet, cook the beef, half of the onions and the garlic over medium-high heat, breaking up the meat, until the onions are softened and the meat is cooked though, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder and cumin and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup water, the tomato paste, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat to medium and cook until thickened, about 20 minutes.

2.Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cover the hot dogs with water and bring to a boil. Cook until heated through, about 8 minutes. Place the rolls in the oven and heat through. Place the hot dogs in the rolls and top with the chili, the remaining onions and extra mustard.

Note: Sometimes I just steam the buns on a rack over the hot dogs, but my husband likes the buns toasted, like on a grill. He tells me that is how New Way Lunch serves them.


Classic Coney Island Hot Dogs Recipe - Every Day with Rachael Ray

Chihuahua takes care of baby bunnies.

This story just warms my heart. This little guy was at a shelter and adopted these little baby bunnies who were rescued. What a good papa. His favorite thing to do is "clean" the little ones. You know, a chihuahua's favorite activity is licking.

Funny Cake!

I find this cake mix up quite funny. I usually get a laugh out of the cakes where the baker takes a cake order, but mis-understands the customer's request and is too literal about it. This cake is a good example. Obviously the cake text was only supposed to say, "Best of luck in Windy City" but the directions from the customer also got included. May I also just say, the person who decorated this cake has some really nice writing text skills. I find that when I try to write text on a cake, it looks like some 4 year old tried to do it.

This cake is from CakeWrecks: Post...Blowing In The Wind.

Snow, I can't believe it.

It snowed! It hardly ever snows here. What fun. This is a picture of my back yard. We went out a played in the snow all morning. We didn't have gloves though, so our hands got very cold.