Massage?

Please bear with me as I am still trying to play catch up with my blogs.

The best friend had kindly given me a gift certificate for my birthday towards a one hour massage. I have only had one massage in the past and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I could not wait to have someone rub my back and work out all of my knots and stress. The best friend's husband had also purchased her a gift certificate around the same time. We could go together! She was nervous about going by herself as she had never had a massage before. When the day came to go to our appointments, I fantasied about being able to get a good hour of relaxation. We both went in our separate rooms and anxiously waited.

The room was dimly lighted and smelled of lavender. I quickly disrobed (left the panties on though, does anyone actually get all-the-way naked?!) and hopped on the table. The masseuse had noticed that I was favoring one side of my body more than the other. I informed her that I have sever back problems and am constantly pinching my sciatic nerve. She suggesting that we spend most of the hour trying to correct my posture and help my back pain. I told her that would be great, but that I also wanted a plain ol' massage to relax me.

I spent the next hour getting poked all over my body. There was not much rubbing going on. She was pressing on pressure points that I never knew I had and pulling me in all different directions. I started the hour with laying on my back so that I could feel the heating pad that she turned on. Mid way through, she had asked that I turn over and lay on my stomach. The heating pad was so hot on my "girls" that I am sure I lost an entire cup size. The massage was not necessarily the relaxation that I had hoped for and I did not notice a big difference in my back pain. During my poke session, I was just imagining what the best friend must be thinking about these massages. I kept listening for her nervous laughter, but to no avail. The best friend was nice enough to also pay for a scalp massage! (How did I get so lucky having her as a friend??) The masseuse soaked my scalp with oil and proceeded to continue poking! I guess at this point that I should have expected that. When the hour was up, I go dressed and headed out. I was surprised to see the best friend sitting down with a grin on her face. Her hair was greasy and resembled a hairdo from the 80's. I am pretty sure that I even saw some drool on her face. She began to tell me that her massage was outstanding and that she felt amazing. Uhhhh, were we at the same place?

Don't get me wrong, I am not going to swear off massages. I am just going to double check that I am making an appointment with someone that has wonderful reviews. What better excuse for me to have to go again so that I can give it another try ;)

Heather received her new lungs!!

I awoke on Wednesday morning to the amazing news that Heather had received "the call" for a pair of lungs. She has been on the transplant list for quite some time now. The process moved rather quickly. Before long, she was at the hospital and getting ready for surgery as the lungs had turned out to be a perfect match. Surgery was a success and she is now resting. Although she is experiencing some pain, it has now been almost 48 hours since surgery with no sign of rejection. She has shown us all what the true meaning of strength is and is an inspiration to us all. Please continue sending prayers as we hope for a speedy recovery.

Any donations will be greatly appreciated as this is a financially difficult time for her and her family. Donations can be made through the website using your Paypal account. www.heatherslungs.com 

Breathe Together

Fishing Cupcakes

The best friend's husband's birthday was in April. He is one of those people that are hard to shop for. He is a manly man and likes to fish. I tend to get him a gift card to one of the local sporting goods stores, but wanted to give him a little something else to go with. One day while getting in my Pinterest time, I ran across the perfect cupcake idea for him! I decided to add a filling to the recipe as that is my staple for making cupcakes. I love it when someone bites into the center and gets a surprise.

I used a chocolate cake mix and made a homemade peanut butter filling for the inside. Be warned that the peanut butter filling is heavenly and you will have a hard time putting the bowl down. Just make sure you leave enough to place inside of the cupcakes!

Mix together:
1 cup confectioners sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I like Winco brand the best)
4 tbsp. butter at room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

I poured a tiny bit of cupcake mix into the cupcake liners, just enough to cover the bottom. Then rolled the peanut butter filling into a ball and plopped them into the liners. Make sure to cover the balls entirely with more batter before placing in oven.

I then dyed some whipped cream frosting with blue food coloring and topped with a colored goldfish cracker and a pretzel stick. Before dying the icing, I set some aside for piping on the fishing line.

I loved how they turned out and everyone loved the peanut butter filling!

Candy Crush

It happened. I caved. I am now a Candy Crush addict.

I had been hearing everyone talk about this game for months now. I had thought about playing it a number of times, but the screen shots that I saw never interested me. I have a tendency to give into peer pressure easily. Before long, I was not only playing it on my Facebook, but I was also playing on my cell phone. I now find myself begging others to send me lives. I hate to admit that I even dream about beating a level that I have been stuck at for days on end. I am sure that this has turned into an obsession.

Did I mention that feeling of pure bliss once a level has been beaten?

Hello, my name is Melissa and I am a Candy Crushaholic.

Shake N Pour

I did it. I found the most amazingly easy way to make a batch of cupcakes. While visiting the local grocery store, I ran across a display of containers that read "Shake N Pour, Just add water". Say what?!  I had used a product similar for making pancakes, but cupcakes?? I couldn't believe my eyes!

When it said "Just add water", they were not joking. It was literally as easy as pouring water into the container, shaking and then pouring into cupcake liners. No eggs, oil or beaters needed. I was nervous about the cake being dry, but it was surprisingly moist. I did notice that the cake was thicker than normal, but I liked it. I like my cupcakes tall, so the batter made about ten cupcakes.  The Shake and pour comes in chocolate or funfetti, I chose the latter so that I could have an excuse to frost with crack rainbow chip frosting.

Don't get me wrong, I love making cupcakes. Every now and then it is nice to be able to whip something together with ease though. And less dishes to have to wash afterwards! I am promptly placing the chocolate Shake N Pour on my grocery list.

Give it a try, you will not regret it! For those of you with children, this would be a great baking activity for keeping them busy while you are stuck with them they are on summer vacation!

*This is not a paid advertisement* 

Timehop

Being a loyal iPhone user, I try hard not to bog down my phone with useless apps. I want my battery to last longer than one hour for crying out loud! It is a pretty big deal when I find an app worthy of keeping. My newest treasure that I am in love with is Timehop  *This is not a paid advertisement.* Timehop is a time capsule of you. You get to see photos and posts from your social media networking sites from this exact day in history. You will receive a daily notification showing something from either one, two, three or even four years ago! You also get an interesting slice of history from top news headlines. I love seeing what this app has in store for me everyday.

I have only been using this app for a few weeks now and it amazes me to see what state of mind I was in these last couple of years. I sure have been through a lot and have come a long way!

I found these two posts ironic. Funny how much a year changes. 

Happy second blog birthday!

I bow my head in shame as I had totally forgotten about my second blog birthday! May 23rd was the two year mark since I had started this lovely thing. I found myself struggling to take the time to write this past year. I thought a time or two that I should just delete the whole thing. What a shame that would be though. My blog is a time capsule of my life. I like to be able to look back and see old photos and read what my thoughts were at the time. I want to use this blog to capture the joys and triumphs of life. Eventually share my journey of motherhood and document this adventure that we call marriage. Even though I may not write as often as I should, I will always keep this chunk of my life available in the internet world. Maybe it will help someone, or maybe it's meant to help myself.

My top five most viewed blogs this past year:

1. Bedrock Bars {29 views and my first comment!}
2. Draw Something part 2
3. Heather's Lungs
4. Time heals what reason cannot
5. Busy!

Tulips year two

While I am on the discussion of my slowly evolving garden, I thought I would share with you the progress of my tulips. As you might remember, last year the best friend and I found a killer deal at the local market on some tulip plants. I made sure to plant them as soon as I could so that they would not die. I was skeptical about them surviving through the winter and had doubts that they would bloom come spring. Below is a picture of the tulips shortly after I had planted them.

Now one year later, this is what they look like! 

I was smiling from ear to ear when I saw little sprouts coming through the ground early in April. I was hoping that they would bloom just as beautiful as they were when I planted them. I wish the purple/pink ones would have had more buds, maybe next year? I loved how they bloomed this year and cannot wait to get some more to fill in my garden space. Tulips are easy to take care of and they look amazing!

*Side note* Please excuse my ugly/bald grass. We have been experiencing some technical difficulties in trying to make it look better. We recently hired a gardening company to come spray the grass for weeds and lay down some fertilizer. They said that within four weeks that we would notice a large improvement. I beg to differ.

The picture on the left is before we had them spray. The picture on the right is four weeks later. 

The weeds did go away, however they have since returned. The grass does seem to have filled in some.  Did you happen to notice my beautiful edge work?? We are going to tackle the grass again in the fall...wish us luck.