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My apologies to my mother, and anyone else whose eyes burn at the sight of the word “ass” but this picture made me crack up and I couldn’t RESIST!

Over the weekend, Bobby and I sorted and tagged stuff for the garage sale we are having later this week with families from our house church.  We are raising money to send the two teens in our house church to church camp this summer.  And also getting rid of all our old STUFF!  (Let me know locals, if you want the address!  Come buy my old crap gently used stuff!)

As we were going through aforementioned STUFF, I was really awed by how much of it we have.  So. much. extra. stuff. we. don’t. use.  I mean it’s pretty safe to say we used most of it at one time, but jeepers, why do we hold on to stuff for so long?

I think it’s just laziness on my part, lack of time to deal with the proper redistribution of those items.  I mean if it weren’t for this sale, they’d probably sit in my closets and basement for another couple of years.

But I am actually really excited to be freeing up some space and getting rid of some STUFF.  I hope my “trash” can become someone else’s “treasure”.  I can’t wait until the end of the week!  I know once it is done and we put our house back together, I am going to feel…lighter.

So, it’s a rainy Monday, and truth be told, we didn’t get nearly as much done this weekend as we wanted to.  It’s back upstairs for me to conquer the deep abyss that is Joshua’s closet.  I’m skeeered!  If you don’t hear from me by noon, you might want to call 911.  Maybe I’d better take the iPod touch up with me so I can twitter for help if I get trapped!

Let the cleansing begin!

Yesterday Kate and I were strolling through Old Navy (I wanted to try on some shorts, which are ok this year – I checked with Lindsay), when I wandered past the swimming suits. Thinking trying one on might not be quite so painful this year, I grabbed a tankini off the rack.

I was wrong. The pain was excruciating.

Upon further reflection, though, I’ve decided Old Navy wasn’t the best place for a 30-year-old mom to find a suit. They are made for skinny teenagers who don’t mind the flimsy fabric, not those of us who are looking for shape wear we can get wet.

The fact of the matter is, though, that I do want to get a new suit before it’s pool season, but I don’t want to risk Andy putting me on suicide watch the way he did last night. So I figure I need to do some research (and some cardio) before going through it again.

I looked through the Lands End website last night (which btw, you can sort options by body shape, anxiety zones and level of control – now this is more like it), and saw some cute ones, and apparently Spanx has a new swimwear line (I wonder if the suits have a pee hole?) – here’s a cute one.

So what’s your plan for swimwear this year? Because at this point, I’m planning to stay on land.

Since I received my Frigidaire Professional range (I feel ridiculous even saying that – I should really be working on mastering Kate’s Easy Bake Oven instead), I’ve discovered that I really love baking stuff.

Who knew??

My friend Gina told me once that she thought it was harder to be good at baking than to be good at cooking, because baking requires things to be exact. I think that may be the reason I like to bake – I can follow directions and add precisely the right amount of flour to a mixture… it’s the “flair” – a dash of this, a dash of that – required for amazing cooking that I lack!

Anyway, I have been baking a lot on the weekends, and my new oven makes it very easy. Everything cooks perfectly even in the right amount of time. I love it. And look how much I could (theoretically) cook at once, thanks to the “Fit More” oven!

I’ve made banana bread, Tollhouse cookies, Williams Sonoma chocolate crinkle cookies (YUM)…

I’ve even started to keep thing like eggs and butter on hand, and I replaced the 3/4 can of baking powder that said “best if used by June 2006.”

My favorite thing so far, though, is the chocolate cake I made. From scratch. It didn’t even come out of a box. One night I asked the Twitterverse what I should bake, and a couple people responded immediately saying I should try the recipe on the back of Hershey’s cocoa.

It was amazing. Try it – you’ll like it!

Hershey’s Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
* 2 cups sugar
* 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa or HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
* 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup milk
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup boiling water
* ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING(recipe follows)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. (Cake may be left in rectangular pan, if desired.) Frost with ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING. 8 to 10 servings.

ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa or HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

I even made my own icing. Can you believe it?

So now that I’m on a roll (and have 3 dozen eggs in my refrigerator because I never got around to hard-boiling them for egg-dyeing purposes), I need more ideas.

What’s your favorite thing to bake? Leave a comment with a link and/or a recipe so we can all get inspired!

I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Range/Microwave to facilitate my review.