I feel all.. funky/ low/ uninspired today. Ever had one of these days? I hate this feeling. It seems like I have to make myself do all of the normal things like a robot. "Okay now I need to make breakfast..now I should get the boys dressed". With remove, not like I can actually enjoy the minutiae that I usually relish in now that I can be home with my boys full time. Maybe I am just having an off day. It takes some getting used to, no longer to be slaving away for corporate america's caffiene needs. Yep. That's right I was a Starbucks drone for 12 years. Yikes, I am old enough to have had a job that spans nearly a third of my life?!

That was not supposed to happen. I was supposed to flame out before I reached 20. I could not fathom at that time being any older than 19. Youth is wasted on the young! So, what started as a summer job became long term. Really, really long term. When I commit, I really commit! Here is hoping that tomorrow I will wake magically in a better frame of mind. Not worrying about finances and that ominous looking spot on the ceiling. Keep a good thought for me :)

Also I am still trying to figure out what I am going to do with my etsy shop when the CPSIA law goes into effect. I can't really change the slant of the store. Well, I guess I could cut holes in the back of all of the onesies and sell them for dogs ;) No? Was worth a shot. With sales being slow it adds to the frustration of it all. Oh the Drama!

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION GIVEAWAY!!!

That's right, you read correctly. I am in a generous mood and thought "what the hell, I will give away some of the Sweet Orange Brown Sugar body polish that I just whipped up! I would also like to build my following so, how 'bout this... the person to become my 15th "follower" -(sounds so cultish! Bwwahahahahaha) will win a jar of the body polish. I will award it as soon as we have a winner. As an added bonus, I will do a link to your shop and what the heck- let's do an interview too!

If you are already a "follower" of the Fiend and would like to have a featured spot on the blog send me a comment on this post and we'll see what we can do. Hard hitting journalism at it's best with questions like: knit, or purl? *microphone in your face, intense Frost-like stare*

Talk about eat your heart out! Again, they do not disappoint! How better to express your undying love for your Valentine than with a 1 pound chocolate, anatomically correct human heart?! Note to self: Start fashioning anatomical hearts out of anything within my grasp.

Sugar, Sugar awww honey, honey... one of my many obsessive loves is of old recipe cards. You know the kind your mom hoarded religiously in a burnt orange plastic recipe file that was full to capacity with odd velveeta cheese filled recipes. Maybe that was just ours. My mother's credo with cooking is that there is nothing that frying, ranch dressing or cheese cannot make better. I have to say that in my heart of hearts I tend to agree ShhhHH don't tell anyone! She (my mother) recently pressed upon me a veritable treasure trove of old recipe cards with such gems as "Cheese Dreams", "Hot Dog Cheesies" and the recipe for "Russian teacakes" which I will be sharing with you. That they are neither teacakes nor seem to be Russian in any way seems to have been immaterial to the peeps at the Betty Crocker recipe card library. Consider yourself warned.

Russian Teacakes

1 cup butter or marg. softened

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2 & 1/4 cups flour (not self rising)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Confectioner's sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla. Work in the flour and salt until dough holds together. Shape into 1" balls. Place onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until set but not brown. While warm roll in confectioner's sugar. Cool. Or roll in colored sugar BEFORE baking. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

My note on these is that the colored sugar option is the way to go. The cookies look lovely and you want to eat them all immediately! These would be perfect cookies to make with a smaller child as they are really easy and what kid does'nt like playing in colored sugar- Oh the joy! If I had a little girl I may need to throw her a teaparty just to serve these.

And as an afterthought, a bag that I just finished for another swap.

So, last night I was playing mad scientist in the kitchen. In my flurry of trying to bring dinner to life I also managed to whip up some body polish that I had been thinking about forever and could not get off of my butt about. Well I finally figured out a recipe that I like so I thought I'd share it. Here goes:

Sweet Orange Brown sugar Body Polish

1 cup brown sugar (dark or light)

1 cup white granulated sugar

3/4 cup any good oil such as almond, avocado etc...(I used grapeseed)

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

40-50 drops essential oil (I used 20 jasmine,25 orange and 5 lavender)

In a medium size bowl add all ingredients except the essential oil. Using a metal spoon mix all ingredients well making sure to break up any lumps. Lastly, add the essential oils a few drops at a time, mixing well after each addition. Spoon into airtight container and stick it by the tub for use! It stays fresh and the scent is the best if used within six(6) months.

Common sense tips:

• Use metal spoon unless you have a wooden spoon that you will only use for making this. The wood will absorb the oils making it unfit for use in cooking afterwards.
• Careful! This can make the tub/shower a bit slippery so use caution.
• Cinnamon can be left out and you can use any scent essential oil(s) you like.

This is great for dry winter skin. I felt velvety soft after using this. Because it is really cheap, fast and easy to make, that makes it a great gift. It is something that most people won't make for themselves but would love to have! Enjoy!

Today I am working on some stencils of my boys. I am not sure what I will put them on when I am done. I may just marvel at them. also, I got an email from Missy @ http://www.ohsexygirlfriend.etsy.com/ with a pic of the super awesome handpainted skull she has finished for me- part of a swap. Woohoo! I love a good trade!

I eyeballed this awesome hearse cookie-cutter at www.pushindaisies.com while trolling the internets for death cookie related items, as one does. They did not disappoint. Now I know where I can fill all of my casket shaped chocolate needs. If I could only find a skull shaped chip and dip dish I would be complete in my happiness *sigh*

I thought I'd start this New Year, Chinese New Year that is, with a pic of my view from my front door. Happy year of the Ox! Those are the San Jacinto mountains you are looking at. Usually very brown and flat looking. You can see the green peaking through from all of the rain we got. A grand total of 3 days! In another couple of weeks the mountainside will be purple and yellow from all of the wildflowers and the air will smell amazing. I love this time of year. It sure beats the hell out of the 130 degree summers. Gotta love the desert.

Also, a few items that I have been crafting today. They can be found shortly in my Etsy shop http://www.loudmouse.etsy.com/ . I craft in an ADD fashion. I flit from thing to thing until I get completely consumed by one or the other. The problem with that is, I hate to leave things unfinished! So, If I start a craft project that turns out to be spooty (you heard me!) I still have to finish it. So, the happy medium that I have found is short timed crafts. Crafts that are not going to take longer than say, an hour or so. Seems to do the trick. That is, until I decide that I really should start that baby clothes quilt I have been planning forever. I cannot win with myself!

Today's offerings are feathered hairsticks and an Anti-Valentine's day Art.

I am Gozira! You are Tokyo!!!

New items in my shop http://www.loudmouse.etsy.com

Hmmm so, a blog. A blog you say? Yes. A blog.

A first blog. A first attempt. Man, now there is all of this pressure to use my best grammar and spell guud. It is almost too much. Almost. So, I am thinking that I will slather (good word huh "slather"- not used nearly enough) this bad boy with whatever we are working on, craft, recipes and mundane bits of our life that might be found interesting by someone not living it.

~pause to fix green metal rocket that has lost a wing. Again.~

Where was I.. oh yes, mundane, well, I will try to keep it fresh and snappy and be true to trying to keep up with it daily. That has not worked with the Wii fit so, I promise nothing!