Why do pastel M&Ms taste better than regular M&Ms?

And could someone edit this picture to flip them all the same direction? I suppose that's the price I pay for jacking someone else's M&Ms, but I already ate mine.

Speaking of TV shows

I'm sorta in love with John Besh's new show on TLC, Inedible to Incredible. At first, I thought, hey, my husband could nominate me for that and then I could get John Besh to help me with some cooking, but then I watched it and now I just like it because it makes me feel like I suck at cooking just a little less. My food is seriously ehh, but I've never served pureed vegetables with frozen meatballs and sliced cheese on top.

In other news, it's my birthday. THAT birthday.

One of our family traditions is getting to pick dinner on our birthdays, but since DPY is at rehearsal, I voted for Kid Cuisine for the kids. And I'm having brownies and ice cream.

I just dropped the middle 3 kids off at VBS. I thought they were going to go just tonight because they were invited by a friend (who has already gone with them to one of our church activities), but they looked like they were having/going to have so much fun, I'll probably let them go all week. They wanted SPY to stay too, which would mean 4 nights of no kids....but....I didn't want to lead them on/take advantage. SPY cried when we left, of course. Sigh. (I tried to make up a phonetic for a sigh there, but I couldn't come up with anything besides phhhhh and that felt more like a raspberry than a sigh.)

My birthday has been quite lovely for the most part and uneventful, which is lovely. Breakfast in bed - scrambled eggs and toast with a diet Coke, lounging about, playing on FB, ignoring pretty much everything on my to-do list (except the trash dude and some mail that had to go out today and the bank and the grocery store briefly). Really awesome card from the kids and one of my favorites ever from DPY - one I'll even save, which is a BIG DEAL for me.

I think it's time for a little more lounging before work (and picking up the VBS kids). As HB would say, because she's retro like that, Peace Out.

Summer+ime

and +he living is easi. Unless u're +rieing +o +ipe on mi poor lap+op. +ee, whi, +ab, lef+ shif+, page down, and backspace; all missing or nonfunc+ional.

o+her +han +ha+, +he girls have been going +o +hea+re camps, we've been hi++ing up +he librari, and jus+ chillin' ou+ awai from +he ho+ sun. And ge++ing readi for our grea+ +rek nor+hwes+ward in a li++le less +han a mon+h. 18 dais of driving, hanging ou+ wi+h famili, more driving, hanging ou+ wi+h friends and famili, Pioneer Dai in SLC or Logan, more famili in Logan, +hen home again, home again, jiggi+i jig via Carlsbad Caverns (from hubbi's bucke+ lis+, if he had one).

+he smalle+ one is asking me how do I spell "boi +oi" which he apparen+li learned from +oi S+ori?

+iping +his is wai more annoi-ing +han fun.

In the interim

Things that have gone on since December:
*not much.
*school is going fine and it's almost done for this semester. Two more tests, two more assignments and maybe 2 more at home tests that are really more like quizzes but the teacher in that class is so far behind that I doubt she'll get both ready and posted before the end of the semester.
*we've been making plans to visit family far and wide this summer, but I said it out loud and jinxed it, so that's probably not really going to happen. Really.
*my sister found out that she's having another boy and my sister-in-law found out that she's having another girl. How convenient for both of them, though I doubt that my sister has much left from the last one since he's almost 8-1/2.
*my youngest/last baby is potty-trained. It happened in a day and not because I wanted it to. I wasn't ready, but he wouldn't leave his diaper on anymore so I said, fine then. I think this is probably the last of my gifts-from-God-because-you-had-this-kid-even-though-you-were-so-totally-done-at-4-kids because mostly being potty-trained just means that he runs around naked anytime he can get away with it and at least I don't have to worry too much about him making messes while he's doing it, but I do have to worry that he's going to just whip out his junk wherever we might be. Today he was jumping on the trampoline and had to go, so he dropped them and peed through one of the holes in the mat. His sister says he made it straight through the hole without getting any on the mat, which is great for his aim - not that it matters since he's too short to reach standing up yet - but isn't exactly what I was concerned about. I guess the bright spot is that he night trained the same time, which is a great big miracle. Seriously.
*my oldest is starring in her first play. It opens tonight. I'm not there because I have to work AND we couldn't afford a babysitter this week so I might as well work. I'm going tomorrow night and Daddy is getting her the appropriate opening night flowers tonight.
*My inlaws are moving to Logan, Utah. Kind of ironic (at least in the Alanis way and I don't care enough to figure out if it's true irony) since we moved here from Logan to be near them. Ha.
*That middle one over there is turning 8 in May so we will have parties and baptism and a visit from my parents.
*I'm spring cleaning in preparation for the above which includes Kilzing and painting my cabinets. I'm debating between using the color I bought back in December and heading out to the Lowe's to find the color I really want.
*I am, in general, feeling much better lately - less tired, less stressed out, less blah. This probably means that something is about to hit the fan. See, I'm still pessimistic at least.
*I am also, in general, having a lot of dejavu. Someone once told me that this means that something big is going to happen in your life and though I know that I've had other periods heavy on dejavu, I can't remember if they preceded big events so that's no help at all. I've also been randomly remembering things, events, etc. from the fairly distant past (not childhood or anything crazy like that - those are still mostly gone except the ones from pictures), which is extremely weird since my mind has been a deep, dark hole on all that kind of stuff for a long time. Curiouser and curiouser.
*I just realized that I'm like 3 episodes behind on Project Runway and so that's what I'm going to do tonight - fold clothes, veg and watch a bunch of Project Runway. Awesome.
*We took family pictures on Easter and there are several pictures of the children that I don't hate, two that I love, and even one of ALL OF US that I kind of love too, which is pretty cool, 'specially since we were using a tripod.
*And that's all the news from here.

How I made another mom's day

I realized last night that I would have some free time after I dropped off several kids at rehearsal, so I made plans to head to WM to pick up the last of the supplies for Halloween. Em ended up not going to rehearsal because her throat was hurting a little, which should have canceled the trip, but since we were running low on Motrin and we were out of lemonade, I decided I'd better head on anyway. The remaining 3 kids were excited, as always, about going to the store, though J was particularly hyper and tired, which should have canceled the trip, but I figured he'd chill out once we got out of the confinement of the car. I pulled into a perfect parking spot - in the middle, right next to a cart return - and started getting the kids out of the car. The older 2 were waiting next to the car (hands touching the door per the rules) while I started unfastening SPY from his seat. I was working on the second buckle when Em grabbed J's hat and put it on. He started to chase her into the parking lot and I grabbed both of them by the shoulders. J melted into the kind of tantrum that FINALLY canceled the trip. I announced that there was nothing I needed tonight badly enough to deal with this crap (I didn't use the word crap, probably) and we were going home. All 3 kids started begging and making promises they didn't intend to keep. Well, they probably intended to keep them, but it was obvious to the trained eye that there was no way in blue Hades that they could have actually lasted more than 2 minutes (about the point when we walk past the crane games in the front of the store) before they lost it again and worse. Tantrums in the parking lot are great fun, but nothing is better than a full-blown overtired tantrum during rush hour in the middle of the entrance to one of 2 grocery stores in a town where everybody knows your name. So, I chucked them in the car, fastened their seatbelts myself, got in the driver's seat and locked the doors. I sat there ignoring the wailing and pleading for a good 5 minutes until they settled down and I was sure they weren't going to jettison themselves from the van. By the time we pulled out of the parking lot, they were relatively calm again.
Except that there was something that I needed - the lemonade for Em's sore throat. So, as I drove through town debating the problem, McD's came into view. Woohoo, I was saved!! I could drive through and get lemonade without leaving the van!!
Now, obviously by this point I was delusional and not in my right mind. Just driving by a McD's without stopping would have generated more gnashing of teeth, but to actually get into the drivethrough line and wait to order something that was NOT a Happy Meal... Yep, it set J off into one of the most energetic, voluminous, imaginative tantrums he's ever thrown. Thrown is an appropriate description too. He wailed, he flung his body around in his booster seat, tears flowed. Out of habit, I rolled down the window as I came around the curve to the order speaker, but there was another minivan already there. I quickly rolled up the window, but we still heard her ordering her Happy Meals (2 boys and a girl). I could tell that she heard the commotion, because she paused and looked back for a second mid-order. She finished and pulled forward and I was forced to roll down the window to place my order for a single large lemonade. J hit the peak of his fit as I pulled forward when he realized I really wasn't ordering any Happy Meals. I met her glance in her side mirror and just smiled and she smiled knowingly back. Now, I've been the other mom before, so I know what she was thinking. Her kids probably got extra hugs last night thanks to J. J did too.

SPY is in his own kind of trouble today. SE decided to take his guitar to school with him today. It's been sitting in the living room on its stand for months. As he picked it up, it made a strange rattling noise. Not a little rattling noise. He emptied it out onto the floor.
The pile contained:
a pick
about 5 Q-tips
2 rocks - one small, one I'm not sure how SPY got it in past the strings
1 seashell
about 25 Cheerios
8 crayons (a whole pack)
a comb - the kind with the long tail
a sock
3 pencils
a 5x7 piece of notebook paper
2 animal crackers
and a proof of insurance card.
ETA after I finished picking junk up off the floor:
An Article of Faith pass along card
a scrap of orange construction paper
a used band-aid
and the tie end of a popped balloon.
I'm kind of surprised that it rattled at all when he shook it.

A dream from which I did not want to wake

I dreamed that we were living on a street like 1600 East in Spanish Fork (in Utah) with houses all in a row and sidewalks, which is the street I lived on during junior high and most of high school. My BFF from lived at the opposite end and across the street. In my dream, we lived about 2 houses in from the middle road (Utah grid system, would be about 550 South I guess - stalk it if you want, none of us live there anymore) and in the dream my BFF from high school lived in what would be the house next to her mom's and then her mom still lived in her house and her cousin lived across the street.

Some of the houses were the same or similar to the real street:















The house where her cousin lived looked literally just like this. I don't know the address of this house and it's been 20 years almost, but given the placement of the mountain behind, this could be the very house, or the next street over. I think. My house and my friend's house also looked just like this (except hers was floor-plan flipped) - for reals and in the dream. This one is for sale; I should buy it. I love these houses. Does that look like a 6 bedroom house? But it is.
Basements, I love them.



but some were a totally different style, kind of like my grandma's house:















This isn't my grandma's house, but it is probably 2 houses down the street from her house (also for sale and surprisingly in the same price range as the above house - um, surprising because this house is in Washington state, home of sky high real estate). I'm not buying this house. Love my grandparents, but they don't even want to live in this neighborhood anymore. Plus, this house does NOT have 6 bedrooms (it does have 4 - attic!!, but if it is really like my grandparents', then the bedrooms are tiny).

Anyway, I walked down to my friend's house that night to watch her kids for a bit while she went across the street to her cousin's house to see her new baby (a boy - it was her first). My friend's husband got home before she left and took over the kid duty and so I went over with her. Her mom was over there already. We helped clean up her kitchen while mom held the baby, then we all kind of crashed in the living room and I got to hold the baby while her cousin slept and I think my friend went home to take care of the kids and her mom stayed on the couch and we talked/dozed. I remember telling her cousin that she could call me any time, even in the middle of the night, to come help with the baby, etc. The baby was so cute and sweet.

So, this dream apparently manifests both my desires to live on a street with sidewalks (desperate desire) and to hold babies. My life is completely devoid of babies right now. I don't want my own (REALLY), but I would like to be near some. This is probably brought on by the birth of my niece almost a week ago and several friends posting new baby pictures this week.

Hey, if we did buy the house by grandma's, I could hold my niece at least. On the other hand, I hear there are babies here and there in Utah too.

(ETA: While I was editing this, the price of the first house dropped $19,000. I couldn't find it when I went back to look at it again.)

The saga of Banana's backpack:

Lovely Banana (aka The Queen) started middle school this week and offered to use the messenger bag I made (well, embellished?) for her last year because she's all money conscious and stuff. She packed it full of her junk and got to school and found out that 6th graders don't get lockers - the middle school was originally just for 7th and 8th grade and they haven't been able to put more lockers in. She has three 1 to 2 inch binders plus other stuff plus gym shoes plus her agenda. It's crammed and her shoulders are killing her every day.

No money for a new backpack - except financial aid money, but it's not yet released to me, just in my account. So I head over to the college bookstore and pick her up a really nice backpack - padded shoulder straps, adjustable compartments, etc. (ok, it was the only one left without wheels) for $50 - way more than I would really like to spend, but I don't want her to keep hurting her shoulders and spending money on financial aid is like spending money on a credit card. it's not quite real/in your hand yet, so it's easy to spend.

Oh, and the backpack is black with mustard yellow and grey accents.

She hated it and it was too long for her. But she let the office lady take off and throw away the tags before she read my note inside saying DON'T TAKE OFF THE TAGS UNLESS YOU'RE GOING TO KEEP IT - oh and there was a note on the outside telling her to read the note inside as soon as she got it.

TEARS.

On Wednesday, I took it back anyway. And got really lucky that they made an exception (mostly because it was the only one left and he still had people coming in to register who could also be suckered in to buying a $50 backpack on financial aid).

HAPPY - except her shoulders still hurt.

Went to Goodwill today. Our Goodwill SUCKS. Seriously sucks. Except when it doesn't, like today.

A PINK and black SWISS ARMY Airflow backpack (looked it up, one with the same features but this year's model, retails for $80), mostly clean (all clean now thanks to Shout, baking powder, bleach, and laundry detergent), a little smaller, did I mention it was PINK!!

And, oh yeah, for $4.99.

95% off retail.

If she doesn't like it...

Well, then I'll sell it on ebay I guess, there's one exactly like it but red listed right now for $60. Or use it myself. It's so awesome, laptop ready and everything. Not that I haul books or laptops anywhere, but if I needed to, I definitely could, in style.

They also had a clean and perfect love seat for $25 that I wanted so badly for our living room, but it was sold. It must have been an employee because it was marked sold today and I was there 5 minutes after they opened.

Resume lameness of Goodwill.

P!!

Now that I can be reasonably sure that I'm the last to complete my assigned letter from bythelbs, here it is - Ten things I love like that Start with the Letter P.

1. Photos.

For instance, this one:
Ohm. Can you see it? Four are trying to meditate and one just along for the ride.

2. Parallel parking. Yep, I missed it on my first driving test. But since then I have come to love it and love that I can do it - in pretty much any vehicle.

3. Pandora.

4. Penelope Marie. My favorite aunt. Not only is she awesome, she once saved me from doing something really, really dumb. At least once. Soooo very dumb.

5. Pantry. Look, I have one now.










6. Parties.
One of several many pictures we took to get a picture for Grandpa's 60th birthday party. Cooperative, they are not.

7.
8. Popsicles. Mmmmm, banana popsicles.


9. Pajama pants. I wear them pretty much every day that I don't have to go out of the house. I used to steal my husband's all the time, but he got pretty sick of that and recently bought me about a half dozen of my own in pretty girly prints. I've switched to wearing his t-shirts, hoping he'll start bringing me home girly t-shirts too. It used to work with soda too - when I was drinking the DC (I'm clean now, on the wagon, zzzzz, can't you tell?). If I ran out and start drinking his Mr. Pibb - not only did we know I was desperate, but DC would magically appear without me even having to drag the boys to the store. Alas, we are both now caffeine-free, so we'll have to use clothing to show our love. Or at least his love to me :-) I have other ways. No, not that. sheesh.

10. Penney's. I wouldn't call it cool or hip, but I definitely wouldn't call me cool or hip, so ya know. They had some sweet sales this weekend for Mother's Day and we did some shopping. I like that they tell me how much I save. We spent $110 and saved over $200. Rock on.

For good measure, some P's I do not like: Potty training, pee, philandering, paranoia, pagodas, pandemonium (although the word pandemonium is kind of yummy), Plankton, politics, partitions, pregnancy, Pitocin, and puppies. Phew!!

Oops, again.

See that post down there. Yep, that was post #100. Oh well.

Happy, happy, joy, joy. My mom is coming to visit on Saturday. Coming to rescue me and hang out and cheer me up. I've been just a little overwhelmed (yes, that means a lot overwhelmed) lately with kids and house and school and work and Primary. Hub offered to hire someone to help with the house and I freaked out a bit. I'm not a big fan of someone I don't know coming in to my house to clean. Though that'd be better than someone I do know like VT's or someone I'd have to see all the time knowing my deep dark messy house secret. It freaks me right out and I'd have to do that pre-clean thing and then what's the point?? So the thought of this made me say, "I want my mommy." Out loud even. Generally, I'm okay with living a bazillion miles from Mom. It sucks, but it is what is - except when I'm overwhelmed (or really, really sick) and then I want my mommy. Usually, I just have to suck it up and deal with it cuz she does live about a bazillion miles away, but this time the stars aligned and hub called her and between the two of them, they made it happen. She even got a great deal on the flight down here on a last-minute SW airlines getaway type deal. She only booked the one-way and we'll book the trip home after she gets here and we decide when she's going home. I think we might wait to make that decision until after Sam's appointment on Thursday (next, not tomorrow).

Sam just wandered in from the family room to tell me that he farted.

Not that it was the first time that he's told me that he farted. He's been identifying burps and farts for months now.

But it was the first time that he decided that farting was so important that he had to come across the house to tell me about it.

"I fart."

Yes, baby (big boy!), you do.

I bet you thought I forgot about Weirdo Wednesday

Well, I did. But that isn't weird so let me ponder a minute.

Yesterday, I let my boys wear their bat costumes to Walmart. They asked, I thought about it, realized they'd be snug, warm, toasty, and CUTE, and said, "Of course you can wear your bat costumes to Walmart."

I was going to post a picture of the boys in the costumes, but they are on the other computer and I never uploaded them to the family site (accessible from this computer) AND I thought this picture went with both the bat theme and most definitely with the Weirdo Wednesday theme:

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na Bat Banana.

(Yes, I counted the na-na's. Triple Weirdo Score.)

Not my kid. But that is what the bat costumes look like and they do like to do that pose whilst wearing the bat costumes. See how snug and warm and toasty and CUTE it is - TIMES 2.

I know.

Problem solved.

Forget image of Movie Edward and Movie Bella. Picture Patrick Dempsey as Edward and me as Bella.

Patrick Dempsey as a vampire? Hello!!
Like I said, problem solved.

ETA: What I meant to say was picture SE as Edward and me as Bella. That is totally what I meant to say.

ETA again: Someone took it as his personal quest to convince me that PD was not THE choice and so here is his nomination. I have to say that I agree that he probably is a much better pick for the actual story, but a) it's too late, I already finished the book; and b) it only works for me if I go back to casting Alexis Bledel as Bella (yeah, sure, she's probably a better choice too). Anyway, SE's pick:

(Matt Dallas, aka Kyle XY)

Oh, that boy.

It is becoming apparent that Sammy Sugarface gets a kick out of making us worry. Recall a few months ago when the delightful boy decided to spike super-fevers and throw in an abnormal lab result. All ended up well, but he had us worried for a couple of days. Today, he had his 18month checkup (only 6 weeks late, I'm impressed) and the NP heard a murmur. Crap. It's never been documented before so he gets to go have an echo this coming week. I'm less worried about this than the other test, but this kid is going to give me grey hairs, I'm telling you.

Anyway, I've elected to share something about him for Weirdo Wednesday.

SPY is addicted to lotion. He asks for "Lo" every time I get some, any time he sees the bottle on the counter, and sometimes at random times in between. Usually he just rubs it in to his hands like he should, but this week he's also been putting it on his hair like his sisters did with Daddy's mousse on Sunday (speaking of Wolverine hair - maybe SPY as Edward?? Baby Twilight, how adorable would that be?). At least he smells delightful.

New Year's Goal

My New Year's goal is to not suck in 2009.

There were some kick-awesome things that happened in 2008 (trips to NY, WA, and UT and SE's new job), but as a whole, I personally spent most of the year just sucking up a storm at a bunch of stuff.

This year promises great things - weaning Mr. Crankypants. Actually, I can't really think of anything else this minute. Spring Break is something I'm looking forward to - we're trying to decide where to go, something cheap and family oriented, an experience rather than a destination, if that makes any sense. More progress on school. SE's first summer off (which, if it goes like Winter Break, promises to be AWESOME in all capitals - seriously, he was a cleaning machine. I helped some, but still had the usual distractions and then some (3!! big holiday meals with guests!!) and he just cranked it out.)

Oh yeah, another goal is to read Twilight, not because I want to, but because I promised SE that I would at least give it a chance and read the first book. Which was easy to promise before he cleaned up the office and found the book. Crap. Now it's sitting literally inches from me and has been for days and I just can't make myself open it yet. I DON'T WANNA!!!

And finally, get working on the weight. I have a new goal - once my favorite T-shirt fits
(for the first time, it was too small when I bought it), then I'm done. Really, it will probably be the same size I was post-Jbot (when I GASP! fit back into my wedding dress) and right at what my goal weight should be. But I just really want to be able to wear my shirt!

I have nothing to say about this picture, except I made those skirts this week and E wanted to see them.

I might feel better if...

I won something from here.

You might too, whether you're having iron-related sadness or just the winter blahs. Actually, even if you're in a good mood, winning stuff is always cool.

Weirdo Wednesday

Ladies and gentlemen, it is that time again for the first time. Everyone's favorite: Weirdo Wednesday. I started out to call it Confession Wednesday, but we all know that kind of thing is NOT allowed. Anyway, every Wednesday, I will confess something that you don't know about me that makes me weird, strange, lame, crazy, or just plain silly. Or, if I can't think of something about me, I'll either make something up or share something about someone else.

Today:

I DVR The Martha Stewart Show every day. It started out innocently enough - the TV was left on whatever channel it is she's on and when I turned it back on later, what I thought was her promo for shows that week was on and there was PATRICK DEMPSEY, right there on TMSS.

Gratuitous PATRICK DEMPSEYage:


You're welcome.

Anyway, I thought they were sayIng that PATRICK DEMPSEY was going to be on some time that week, so I set the DVR to record. And then she sucked me in with her cute little crafts and all those recipes and stuff I'll never make, but apparently that doesn't stop me from watching.

Sometimes I fast-forward through most of the show, but sometimes I watch the whole darn thing. She's such a Bi$ch. Seriously stuck up and snobby and patronizing to her guests (like Kristen Chenoweth this week, dude!! oh and Seal's wife, what's her name again?) And every segment includes pimping of her new crafty products, several of which I MUST HAVE NOW. And so often it looks like she's just been handed the craft and doesn't have a clue what or why she's doing it and SHE even thinks it's lame.

AND PATRICK DEMPSEY has not been on the show one time. I don't think she's even mentioned him, not even when Kate Walsh was there.

Anyway, that's the lameness for today.

ETA: I googled it. PATRICK DEMPSEY was on TMSS a YEAR ago, not quite a year ago from when I started taping. The good news is that MS has the clips available online at her website. I haven't watched it yet, but it appears that he makes a very manly craft on the show.

Celebrating the end of the semester with a whatchamacallit

I smelled Chuck Norris because I'm cool like that.

You play too:

Pick the month you were born:
January-------I kicked
February------I loved
March--------I karate chopped
April----------I licked
May----------I jumped on
June----------I smelled
July-----------I did the Macarena with
August--------I had lunch with
September----I danced with
October-------I sang to
November-----I yelled at
December-----I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1-------a birdbath
2----- --a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a snowman
6-------a gangster
7-------my mobile phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11-------my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffed animal
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------your mom
18-------a spoon
19------ - a smurf
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an iPod
29-------a surfer
30-------a homeless guy
31-------a llama

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White----because I'm cool like that.
Black-----because that's how I roll.
Pink-----because I'm NOT crazy.
Red------because the voices told me to.
Blue-----because I'm sexy and I do what I want.
Green----because I think I need some serious help.
Purple----because I'm AWESOME!
Gray-----because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow---because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars.
Orange---because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown----because I can.
Other-----because I'm a Ninja!
None------because I can't control myself!

I bet whoever made this one up was born on the 22nd too. If I owned a gray shirt a) I'd spell it grey, and b) i'd change in to it. I'm lying - I do have a grey shirt, but it's in the laundry, so I'm not changing in to it. Everything is in the laundry, mostly the laundry on my floor.

Note: An even better way to celebrate the end of the semester would be with a real Whatchamacallit, but I don't have one of those either. Really this time, I mean it.

Phew.

The semester is over. Everything is turned in. All the tests are taken. All of the classes are at least passed and should be A's and probably one B (argh History). AND the books are sold back to the bookstore (extra Christmas money!!!).

Phew again.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMicrowave Fudge

2 1/2 C Sugar
3/4 C butter
5 oz. evaporated milk
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 1/2 oz. mini marshmallows
1 tsp. vanilla
optional chopped nuts (NOT)

Put the butter and sugar in a large glass bowl. Cook 60 seconds. Add evap. Stir. Cook 5 minutes. Stir. 3 minutes. Stir. 2 minutes. Add chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Add marshmallows 1/2 at a time, stirring until melted. Add vanilla and nuts (NOT). Stir. Pour into a wax paper lined 9x13 pan and spread evenly. Cool, then serve. Be sure to lick the bowl. DO NOT scrape the sides when you are stirring or it will turn out really grainy. The bowl gets really hot. Don't drop it (like someone did last weekend with my perfect-for-this-recipe-and-pretty-much-all-other-recipes-had-it-for-15-years bowl - not that I'm upset about it). Enjoy and consider sharing or you may also have to wax poetic.