Soups On! - SaS

It's always soup season at the pond so you can imagine my excitement as the rest of y'all finally fall in step as the season yawns into cooler temps and the kitchen warms up.

This week's Share A Spoon theme is SOUP! Lil Duck and I worked together to try out a new one this week; Harvest Soup. Not having ever worked with Butternut Squash, I have a new love! That stuff is YUMMERIFIC!! The soup was a sweet treat as well. Lil Duck liked it and as a healthy alternative to the traditional Butternut Squash soup (no heavy cream) it wasn't too bad either.

Harvest Soup

What You Need:

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 12 lbs butternut squash, seeded, and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 medium apples, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (I used Gala)

4 cups low sodium chicken broth

Ground black pepper to taste

Whole-grain croutons

What To Do:
1. In a big pot, heat oil on medium. Add carrots, celery and onion. Stir occasionally for 10 minutes or until tender and starting to brown.  Add squash, apples and chicken broth. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or until squash is tender.

2. Let cool slightly

3. Puree soup in blender or food processor. I had to do it in two batches because who seriously has an industrial sized food processor? Add pepper and croutons and serve!

Nutritional Info per 1.5 cups: 185 calories; 6g protein, 4g fat, 35g carbs, 6g fiber, 88mg calcium, 531mg sodium

Send In The Clowns - WW

Yes I snapped this while sitting in the car at the gas station.

Yes that is a royal blue tattoo.

Yes he climbed into a royal blue PT Cruiser.

Yes he is the very definition of ASSCLOWN***

Happy Humper Day, Quackers


***before I get hatemail, I'm all for ink, have ink, love GOOD ink. Not so sure this qualifies. Pretty sure he isn't a famous wrestler or anything.***

Cinderella - WHA?!

**been dreaming a lot lately of both my sisters. Decided to reach back into the yesteryears of BCC and pull a favorite sisters story.**

Cinderella? PUH LLLLEEZE

credits

Once upon a time in a land far far away there were three young girls. BigSis, Ducky and Sista. BigSis was a fair maiden of 13 with warm honey flaxen hair and the smarts of which all in the land coveted. Ducky, a strong, stubborn, 8 year old brown haired pixie with a boisterous laugh, high wattage smile and a blindsiding wit was the resident mischief maker. Rounding out the siblings was 5 year old, impressionable, malleable, laid back, spontaneous, quick to laugh red headed Sista who as an adult likes to fancy herself akin to Cinderella. *PSHAW* whatever. Not our fault she was gullible….and her hair was the wrong color *sticks out tongue*.


Besides, Cinderella didn’t work for money….and Sista did. Often BigSis and I would bribe ask Sista to do our chores….pick up our room, dust, weed the garden…..wash windows, mow the lawn, do the taxes. She was quite the eager little girl to ‘help’ and ‘do things’ for the big girls. It really wasn’t like we were exploiting her because it is in the SISTERHOOD CODE that older siblings need to take full advantage of such stages in a younger sibling’s life. It was our duty.... Yeah…our duty. And we weren’t mean like Cinderella’s step sisters. THAT’S another thing. No STEP…just sisters. *sticks out tongue again* She had clean clothes…sometimes they even fit and we never made her scrub floors.

She was cheap labor…not our fault….it was her choice. Honestly! She should take responsibility for her choices there is far too little of that happening in the world these days.

It would go a little something like this:

“Sista…..ummm….would you pick up my dirty clothes please?”

“No”

“Oh comeon! Pllllleeeeeaaaaase?”

“No”

“I’ll pay you for it.”

“….how much?”

“Hmmm….I’ll give you ONE quarter or you can have FOUR shiny pennies.”

She ALWAYS went for the four shiny pennies…..she wasn’t stupid. FOUR is way more than ONE.

What is Friends You Love?

What is Friends You Love?

It is a month long celebration of friendship between women.

Join us in October for a month full of events celebrating the unique bond we share with the women closest to us!

How can you participate?

Friends You Love has a whole month of festivities planned for you, with fun prizes around every bend!

Join us on October 4 for the Friends You Love Kick-Off Twitter Party, brought to you by our friends at One2One Network.

Beginning October 1, we want to hear about why you have the World's Greatest BFF! Celebrate your best friend and enter for the chance to win an awesome prize pack for you AND your BFF from Earth To Alice!

Are there women in the blogosphere you love to read? Is there a blogger who inspires you? Speaks to your heart? Someone you admire and would like to know better? The Friends You Love Blog Hop is a great way to reach out and say hi! Invite another blogger to guest post at your site about friendship, and link up here to share their post! Blog hoppers will also be entered into a random drawing for prizes from Eyedews!

Do you and your BFF like to ham it up for the camera? Do you have a picture with your best friend that warms your heart everytime you see it? Share it with us the week of October 9, and enter to win fun prizes for both you and your best friend from our friends at Bare Escentuals!

Join us the week of October 16th as we send you on a hunt around the Twittersphere and interwebz in search of fun friendship facts! Be the fastest and most accurate hunter and win an amazing gift from Trading Phrases!

We're winding down the month with another fantastic Twitter Party! Join us on October 25 as we discuss how we can continue to show our friends how much they mean to us, and participate to win more great prizes from Bare Escentuals!

In addition to all of the great events we have planned for you, stay tuned to Friends You Love and be sure to follow all of the fantastic women of Friends You Love for great giveaway opportunities!

Check This Out! FYL

Did you notice that button over there at the top on the right? Hmmm......no? Well...take notice! Lots of really cool stuff happening in the Month of October and whether we like it or not it is JUST AROUND THE CORNER! Girls, gather your BFF's and get ready for some amazing prizes celebrating the FAHBULOUSNESS that is you! Batcrap Crazy will be in the thick of things just like last year and to kick the festivities off will be a Twitter Party. The details and sponsor information is below. Click on the links or hit up the button to the right for more information and get yourself R S V P'd because you DO NOT wanna miss this!



Let's get this party started!

To bring in this month's festivities with a bang, we bring to you the

Friends You Love Kick-Off Twitter Party,

courtesy of our friends at One2One Network!


Join us on Tuesday, October 4 from 7:30 - 9:00 pm CST for the

Friends You Love Kick-Off Twitter Party!

We plan to chat about friendship, the important role our BFFs play in our lives, how blogging has added to your circle of friends, and best of all -

THERE WILL BE PRIZES!

RSVP at WWW.FRIENDSYOULOVE.COM!

We hope to see you there! Pop over and see which of your friends are already signed up! You don't want to miss out!

Be sure to follow:

@FriendsYouLove

@One2OneNetwork

&

@Kristin_OPC

And watch for #FYL & #FYLKickOff



***Special thanks to Kristin at Only Parent Chronicles for letting me steal this post in its entirety. Other than my intro at the beginning. I did exhibit a little originality.

Utopia

The kids at the highschool had to do a project on their idea of a Utopia...a perfect world. Got me thinking.... obviously the humidity from the fountains wouldn't have made my hair go flat in the picture above. *shrug* Whatcha gonna do?

I would forever be a size 4 no matter what I ate or how little I exercised.

I would live at a vinyard (that someone else worked...I'd just get to stomp on grapes and drink).

I could shoot traffic off the road at will.

I'd have unlimited access to all the clothing and shoes I wanted.

I'd be a SAHM but still draw my paycheck and benefits.

The MUTE button on my TV remote would work on people too (IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES!)

I could travel where ever and whenever I wanted.

No hunger and world peace and all that hearts and rainbows and shit....

....AAAAND the following song would be stuck in EVERYONE's HEAD like it is mine....


You're Welcome

Aqua Red Illus - Giveaway & Review

Putting things together that normally wouldn't go. Looking at the other side of the spectrum. Expect the uncalled for! Welcome to our crazy toon world of Aqua red! X_O

Calling all my Zombie loving friends and even those who don't, if you're loving unique T's that you won't see on everyone - I have the company for you! MEGA comfortable, durable and affordable, Aqua Red Illus Apparel is breaking into the market with fabulous unisex T's, girls T's, sunglasses and stickers.

They sent me the Zombie Folk Deep V girls T and I loved it and have worn the heck out of it!

It washes well, retaining both shape and color with very minimal shrinking if any and no fading. I requested a large as I like my T's a little oversized. I've paired mine with a tank and yoga pants. It's my weekend staple!
Aqua Red Illus is offering one winner this awesome fitted hat from their collection!

To Enter (mandatory entry): Visit Aqua Red Illus and leave a comment telling me if you're a Zombie fan or how you plan on surviving a Zombie apocolypse.

Extra Entries: (choose one or all. Leave a separate comment or entry for each)

-Like Aqua Red Illus on FACEBOOK +2

-Follow Aqua Red Illus on TWITTER +2

- If you subscribe so I can Quack into your email give yourself + 5

-If you have my button on your blog and link it back to the pond +2

-If you follow me on Twitter leave your handle in the comment +2

-If you’re a Quacker (BCC follower via GFC) +2

-If you've entered any other current giveaway +3 per giveaway

-Tweet this giveaway once per day for an extra entry each day. Sample tweet:

#WIN Fitted Aqua Red Illus Hat @AquaRedillus ends 9/30

 @daffybccrazy http://tinyurl.com/3hoq8kp

*Entries accepted until 11:59pm CST 9/30/11. The winner will be drawn using random.org and is open to US Residents at least 18 years of age.


**be sure to leave your email with at least one entry comment if it is not enabled on your profile for notification purposes. If I am unable to notify the winner, a new winner will be randomly drawn**


***I was provided product for the purpose of the review but received no financial compensation for my opinion. All opinions expressed are my own and were not swayed by the receipt of product**

Lovable Labels Back to School Giveaway-Review

This speaks to the organizational geek in me! LABELS LABELS LABELS! The very hardest part was choosing between all the fabulous options Lovable Labels has to offer. The timing of this review and giveaway couldn’t have been more perfect. Lil Duck was embarking on her first day at PreSchool and in big BOLD print at the top of her supplies list was YOU MUST LABEL EVERYTHING!

Enter Lovable Labels…personalized durable labels and tags, and I have 165 of them! They are waterproof, dishwasher and microwave safe (for those sippy cups! Whoot!) washer and dryer safe, sun safe, bleach safe, sunscreen safe and temperature safe. There are even SHOE LABELS! I think those were my favorite! I may or may not have squee’d. NO JUDGING… you get excited about sales…I get excited about shoe labels.

I’ll even admit to being super excited the first chilly morning when I needed to send a jacket to school with Lil Duck. I immediately ran to my Lovable Labels Back to School Pack which includes:

Lovable Labels Back to School Pack
15 Regular Sticker Labels
80 Slimline Labels
48 Press N’ Stick Clothing DOTS
12 Shoe Labels
12 Multi-Purpose Square Labels
2 Tags

To win your very own

Lovable Labels Back to School Pack

 (mandatory entry): leave a comment telling me if you’re a label freak like me.

Additional Entries:  leave a comment for each entry...if it says +2 that means two separate comments/entries

-Follow @mylovablelabels on twitter +2

-Visit Loveable Labels on FACEBOOK, LIKE them and let them know you’re a new fan +2

-Follow ME on Twitter @daffybccrazy +2 (leave your handle in the comment)

-Visit Lovable Labels and leave a comment telling me what awesome product you would most like to have +2

Be a BCC Quacker (follower) +2

Tweet this giveaway once a day for an extra entry each day.

#WIN a @mylovablelabels Back To School Pack 165 labels in all
 @daffybccrazy ends 9/30 http://tinyurl.com/3nrbh64

**Giveaway open to US and Canada residents at least 18 years of age. Please either have your email visible in your profile or leave it in one of your entries. If I am unable to contact you at the close of the contest, a new winner will be drawn. Contest ends at 11:59 CST on 9/30/2011.  Winner will be chosen using random.org.

**the products in this review were provided free of cost for the purpose of conducting the review. All opinions are mine and were in now way influenced by monetary compensation.

Confessions...It IS Friday

I confess…
I refuse to stand at the edge of the bed with my toes sticking UNDER the bed. I’m afraid of what may crawl over them unseen.

I confess…
I love my humpmepumps and lingerie

I confess…
I have a fantastic sex life and you should be jealous *giggle*

I confess…
I will likely always be resentful to some degree that I am not a Stay At Home mom or even a part-time SAHM.

I confess…
I secretly (or not so secretly any more) want to pull the hair of bloggers/tweeters who constantly complain about staying home with their kids and not being able to wait to send them off to school.

I confess…
I’ve had a full blown melt down (or three…maybe more) in the last 7 days. I feel my shell calling and I’m really curious as to when and how I learned to so comfortably live in it.

I confess…
I love Irishman’s manfur…there’s just something about his chest hair.

I confess…
After 11 years in education and the ghetto I fear I’ve finally let the job beat me.

Welcome To The Cock Contest or My 1st Bow Shoot

Lost Arrow Bow Shoot or Welcome to the Cock Contest

Its ALWAYS an adventure traveling with Irishman…it just is (that’s a post in itself).  We traveled this weekend to the back forty once again (click here for the last trip). This time it was for opening weekend of Archery Season and an annual bow shoot. I LOVE the area; be it in the ‘sticks’, full of “hillbillys” or ‘back country folk” or whatever other ways Irishman tries to “prepare” me before we travel south. It isn't as though I grew up on Rodeo Drive, I love everything about it (just look at he 572 photos I took in a 48 hour period)!

 Especially the way it slows everything for me from the number of blinks between heartbeats to the heartbeats themselves.

 The only thing it doesn’t slow is my smile. Especially at 5am…after less than 5 hours sleep when the only people awake and eating at the “town’s” hotspot (McDonalds) are an Amish family, some farmers (I’m guessing by the cow shit aroma...I'm hoping that wasn't coming from the kitchen. I mean...surely it ain't THAT fresh out there...) and me and Irishman.

I’m a morning person….even after a short night.

On to the bow shoot or Cock Contest…

BIG COCK

My favorite cock….

He was so confused…he just crowed and crowed from the moment HE woke up until HE went to sleep. It was so fitting and hysterical and I’m pretty sure I was the only one deeply amused by his vocal posturing (<--damn city girl).

A Bow Shoot is not unlike a jewelry party or hen gathering. Exchange the vajay jay for..er…uh…well…cocks.

Instead of Coach and Louis Vuitton it was hard cases and soft cases (snicker) and slung over the shoulder with arrows in the back pocket (which it may be just me but seems a wee bit dangerous). Instead of heels and BMW’s its boots and rigs.

 Instead of chocolate truffles being passed around it was cans of chew or chaw or tabacca or uh...whatever else they called it. They just packed and thumped it a lot. And spit.


 

There WAS plenty of coffee and a plethora of melt in your mouth home made cookies.

Before the men got down to their “lets pretend to hunt and kill things” mode they perused the goods….

“Wow! That’s light!”….. “Is that aluminum? Carbon?”  …..”whooo! Thems fancy!” …..”Jim, Ben, Wyatt, Ethan *insert name here* lemme see them accessories! You special order those?”

They threw names around- Bowtech, Diamond, Parker, Matthews- and checked out each other’s Bows like women enviously croon over a fanfuckabletastic pairs of humpmepumps.

There were a few things I couldn’t find the correlation with between a Bow Shoot and Tampon (or Hen) Party… like “tabacca spit down the release works just as good as WD-40” *cue raucous laughter*…. But for the most part it wasn’t all that different. Even the “hunt and pretend to kill” portion of the day. Women do that…I think we might call that Dating and Marriage… 

Dreamweaver....Analyze This

 What Dreams May Come...

...Are they indicative of the conscious realm and those thoughts, feelings, emotions, situations we drown in the big long, deep river aptly named Denial? <-- yeah…I cheated my way through geography.

Do they hold meanings? Are they a medium for communication or have I watched one too many episodes of Ghost Hunters and read one too many sci-fi books?

Regardless, DREAMS can be unsettling and cruel especially when you’re dreaming of your dead sister. Maybe a little PTSD? It was sudden and a traumatic chain of events watching her die last year.

 Just a few months past the one year mark and Lil Duck is asking about her Auntie out of the blue, people close to me have been unknowingly using some of the exact phrases she last spoke to me….and I’m dreaming of her. Cruel dreams; not happy ones. I wont make a downer post…heh…if you’ve even made it this far without clicking off…I’m interested in interpretations – opinions.

Do dreams have meanings? Are they simply a time of processing what my conscious self won’t allow or should I be extracting something other than the desire to never sleep or miss a single breath with the people I love?

Sooooo…..your mission should you choose to accept it, is to GO FREUD ON MY ASS….or buy me a drink.

Ooh dream weaver

I believe you can get me through the night

I believe we can reach the morning light

Fly me high through the starry skies

Maybe to an astral plane

Cross the highways of fantasy

Help me to forget todays pain

Ooh dream weaver….

~Gary Wright “Dream Weaver”

Heaven and Hell

Heaven….the high school….from 6:45am to 10:30am…..

….and then its time to travel to the Boogerlickers. I fight the desire to whine. I wonder if I can just punch myself in the face and then call in the fact that all my teeth just fell out. “thoo  thorry! Can noth weprth for the sethonth hath oth my day…..”

I’ve tried counting to one billion between each step from the front door of the high school where I spend the first three hours of my work day, and Harriet the Honda awaiting me in the parking lot. Security has informed me my loitering is detrimental to my health and the homeless are bitching about my poaching their territory (yes…it’s a long walk).

Its hard to get lost in the five miles between buildings even when I get distracted by the beer truck making deliveries at any of the 420 4 liquor stores between building one and building two. I learned the hard way they don’t operate the same way an ice cream truck does. The JayZ and Eminem blaring from the truck radio is NOT akin to the musical invitation of the speaker atop the ice cream truck…*shrug* who knew. And God forbid you flash them! *eyeroll*  Some people are SO uptight… I digress.

After a day of being accosted by booger flicking, body fluid drenched, scab eating short people, I sprint to Harriet. No dragging the feet. No counting. No whistling Dixie and taking a Sunday stroll. Straight shot to the car door, key in the ignition, throw that bitch in gear and I happen to glance down and notice THIS…

PROOF POSITIVE I’VE BEEN WORKING IN HELL

Confessional Friday

I confess…
 I abhor eating lunch in the teacher’s break room. I wanted to scream “SHUT YOUR FACE! STOP STARING AT ME! My piehole loves it when I shove this triple stack club in it.



I confess…
 I’m really REALLY glad my dog can’t talk. Be a real bitch and I’d probably be broke if she could.

I confess…
 I much prefer naked. (^^^^ probably why its good the dog can’t talk)

I confess…
 I deng near broke my neck in Irishman’s shower. *sigh* Not for any real good juicy reason…no judging now…. I was doing the potty dance. You see, his drain is VERY SLOW to drain so the water tends to back up to the tune of an inch or 3 of standing water while you shower. How can ya freakin’ pee in the shower when you’re gonna be standing in it? EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

I confess…
I ate all the cookie dough and didn’t actually bake a SINGLE cookie

I confess…
I really do wonder why Busch’s slogan is to HEAD FOR THE MOUNTAINS when the bush is by far the better place to be.