Cupcake Crazy

I am cupcake crazy! I don't know what it is about the tiny little yummy cakes that make me so happy but they do! I also have a serious problem with buying the little liners that you use to make them. They are SO stinkin' cute and I have a really hard time stopping myself when it comes to buying them which is made so much worse by the fact that they are usually less than $2 a package....seriously....how is a girl to resist! Supposedly there is a Sprinkles that has either just opened in Scottsdale or is opening soon and I do believe a pilgrimage is in order! Nicole is just the type of awesome friend to not only understand my obsession but also to encourage it on random late night Wilton online ordering. Now that's a friend! These are some adorable liners I bought at Sur La Table...again...so stinkin' cute!! Also, a cupcake book I could not resist at Williams Sonoma....that store is SO bad for my budget....so many great things including Sprinkles cupcake mixes I may add!

Quiz

Name: Amy Ferguson

Four jobs I have had in my life (other than current job):
Bakery Worker (tarts all day every day)
CCRA (processing tax returns for the Canadian government)
Nanny
Children’s Party Entertainer (painting faces, making balloon animals)

Four movies I would watch over and over:
The Notebook
Amelie
Little Mermaid
Pride & Prejudice

Four places I have lived:
Capreol, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Sudbury, Ontario
Holbrook, Arizona

Four TV shows that I watch:
Jeopardy
LA Ink
GREY'S ANATOMY
Survivor

Four favorite places I have been:
CALIFORNIA
Rocky Point, MEXICO
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Utah

People who email me (regularly):
Nicole
Angela
Kimmy

Four favorite foods :
Crab legs
Sushi
Pizza
A really good salad

Four places I would rather be right now:
Home
Movies
Canada
Sleeping

Four friends I think will respond:
Nicole
Kim
Angela

Things I am looking forward to this year:
Going to LA
Nicole coming home
Seeing Wicked
Going to Disneyland

A Quote (and other randomness)

" I must learn to love the fool in me - the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human alivemess, humility, and dignity but for my fool." - Theodore I. Rubin, MD





Love that quote and these are my babes. Ariel (the calico) and Abby (the Tabby). We adopted these little fuzzballs last year right around Thanksgiving now that you mention it and they are an ENDLESS source of amusement.I shall make a list of amusing facts.

Ariel:
*wants nothing to do with people food...you could lay down a steak and she won't touch it.
* adores water out of anything other then her water dish. A glass of water is not safe in the house.
*eats cat treats really slowly...Abby usually steals them before she can eat them because she's so slow.
*will sleep anywhere....including on her cat bed or right next to her empty cat bed on the dresser. Seriously.
*fetches earplugs, hair elastics, pens....almost anything.
*doesn't mind getting a bath as long as you don't ger her face wet.

Abby:
*would sell her soul for a cupcake...she wants human food...all of it....any time day or night...which is wierd because we DO NOT FEED THEM ANYTHING BUT CAT FOOD.
* is afraid of the broom.
Eats cat treats at the speed of light. She's addicted.
* Also will drink water out of anything but her bowl.
* has an un-natural fascination with cotton swabs, she will come into the bathroon and beg for one if she hears me open the glass jar where I keep them.
*farts when scared.
*hates when we try and bathe her.

It's funny because you think of cats as just being house pets and not being that intelligent or having that much personality BUT THEY DO!
My friend Jaquel thinks that we are highly intelligent people (not sure exactly where she got that from although I do have a freakish way of answering the questions on Jeopardy but i'm pretty sure I hide that pretty well) and is always telling people that we have the perfect pets for us....freakishly intelligent cats. Go fig!

Yummy Rolo pretzels!

Ok so i'm hoping I get the formatting figured out on this and am able to add all the pictures. Starting from the top. I made these YUMMY pretzel things this week to send to Eldon's school. You take a pretzel (I like the square ones) put a rollo on it and pop into a 350 degree oven for 4-5 minutes. When they are a little melty and look glossy take them out and press an M&M into them. Let them cool and enjoy. My little neighbor CeCe ate about 15 of them Friday night.



I also spent some "quality time" with my iron this week and whipped out some onesies for a friend who had a baby! So cute. Nicole helped with some of the ideas but because I couldn't open the formatting correctly I had to play around a little with the designs. So fun!




This is my neighbor CeCe. (Old picture from 2005) She's a blast. Her mom was going out of town shopping with her two sisters and she chose to stay at home and hang out with me because Eldon was away coaching. She's such a fun kid and we had a great time making Rolo Pretzels and playing Wii. I think she thought the best parts of the night were watching "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" and eating at Denny's. She got a rush out of ordering off the adult menu.


This is a picture of my new hair. I got it cut two weeks ago at Dolce and i'm not really sure if this is a good picture of it or not but I tried to snap one before work on Wednesday. Upon review I really don't think you can see hte style much at all. I will attempt to take better picture tomorrow after church.

Today was good. I chilled with Katie in Flagstaff while Eldon was at chess and got a bunch of errands run. After that I got to talk to Nicole for awhile and that always makes my day!

Random Differences between Canada and “The states”

• No Swiss Chalet in Arizona! I lurve this restaurant!!
• No caramilk, aero (the caramel aero especially), wunderbars, crunchie or crispy crunch in Arizona. (There are more these are just our faves)
• Total lack of good deli meat and cheese in Arizona …it’s all processed and kinda not so tasty.
• No good bread in Arizona! I’m not talking sandwich bread….i’m talking a great baguette which you can get and any independent grocer baked fresh and cheap!
• Ditto bagels!
• Thanksgiving is freakishly late in “the states”….the end of November is WAY too late…it runs right in with Christmas….and as a side note….if it’s always the third Thursday in November how come it’s the 4th this year? Think about that one for a minute!
• Due to above my birthday often falls on Thanksgiving or somewhere around there….as does our anniversary. Not ideal for planning a getaway because Eldon’s family is big on Thanksgiving.
• Arizona is much too far from Ontario….it takes ages to get there and that means no random weekends visiting friends in Ontario….you have to go and visit for two weeks and still feel like you didn’t get to see everyone you wanted to see.
• No one in Arizona has ever heard of cabbage rolls! (I’m making these for dinner and so it’s on my mind) This may be specific to the south western part of “the states” but still valid!
Ok I will think of more of these.
Commenting on my last post I think I have a plan to cook half as often. Whenever I make something for dinner that can be frozen make twice as much and throw half into the freezer. This way I spend less of my weekend cooking and still amass a nice little stockpile of stuff to cook when I don’t feel like cooking.

I’ve been super stressed lately. It seems like there is no way to get everything done that needs to get done in any given day. It's manifesting itself by freaky dreams about work (three this past week) and other random ways. At the same time I have been really trying to take time out for myself and not lose my mind.

(ok I am typing this at work and troll woman just walked up behind me REEKING of cigarette smoke. GAG!)

So this past weekend I had some fun things planned with friends, Eldon had a chess tournament out of town so I was on my own from Friday mid-day till Saturday afternoon late.
On Friday night I went to a scrapbook group that meets once a month and just chills and scrapbooks and I was out until about 3:30 am.

I woke up at about 9:30 when Eldon called and spent the rest of the morning talking to Nicole and cleaning (Hi Nicole!) her son Caleb was doing the cutest thing while we were on the phone. Nicole asked if he wanted to talk to me and put the phone up to his face and he starts repeating "ELDON" over and over. It was super cute....Eldon said that that must be his new word that he is in lurve with!

I have this obsessive thing about cleaning my house on the weekends. I have certain tasks that I just never seem to find time to do during the week and they all stack up to be done on the weekend. Which really sucks when Eldon is not around to help, I try and leave him some tasks to get done but I usually end up doing the majority.

Anyways so on Saturday after cleaning and talking to Nicole (pretty much the best time of my day) I went to this card class that I do monthly. It was really fun....we always make about 4 really cute cards and 2 of each and it's just a fun little class. I went back home and commenced cleaning and then had my first belly dancing class that night!

My sister in law and some of my friends have been going to belly dancing for a few months now and really loving it so she bought me a hip scarf as an early birthday present and I’m belly dancing now. I have to say that my muscles were really sore on Sunday so it must have been working.

Ok before this becomes a LEGENDARY EPIC post I will end with a question. Any great ideas for food that freezes well or other non freezable winter fave foods. I'm going to try to get into the habit of then Eldon is in school cooking about once a month and then having things in the freezer. Any suggestions? I did a little of this last year but I'm looking for more variety. Crock pot recipes also very much appreciated.

Ok. So it's been almost a year since i've blogged.
My friend Kimmy posted a challenge and tagged me to list 10 things I am happy about.
So here goes....

* I am happy to have Eldon in my life. He makes it better every day.
* I am happy to have so many wonderful nieces and nephews (especially Kaity) It's nice having kids around.
* I am happy that Abby and Ariel love the cat bed I made them so much. (pictures to come).
* I am happy that Nicole is my friend. She is such a good one and that has been in short supply for a few years!
* I am happy that i'm finally starting to feel like fall is here and be in the mood to make yummy treats like gingersnaps and cider.
* I am happy that Nicole should be coming home soon. I miss her!!
* I am happy that chess is almost over for the season....I have been one lonely housewife!
* I am happy I am almost done scrapbooking Eldon's mission....huge project and i'm almost done!
* I am happy that Eldon's family is getting on board for Canadian Thanksgiving....it makes being away from home a little easier.
* I am happy that Eldon and I will be going away for our FOUR YEAR anniversary and seeing WIcked/going to Disneyland....SUPER EXCITED!
* I am happy I have an ipod...otherwise known as amycrack.
* I am happy I finally got started with makig christmas gifts!!
* I am happy I am getting skinnier even though my clothes are all too big.
* I am happy that all I have to show from being sick on Sunday night are two semi-black eyes! I was mondo sick and broke some blood vessels...but it could have been worse right!

Ok so that's more than ten things....and since no one reads my blog I am going to tag
NICOLE! (Love you!)

These are some pictures of our new house.
The office, Bedroom, Kitchen and Living room.

So Kim shall be getting two signo unibal white pens in the mail asap from moi and although I will in no way hold her to it I would not mind getting some "I miss my homeland" crack cocaine in return. There are MANY thing and MANY people I miss in Canada....
See the layout below for evidence of this...note that these are THINGS I miss.....if I could pack up my family or better yet get back home more often I would be set....
In no particular order I miss
Crispy Crunch Bars,
Wunderbars,
Aero (especially carmel ones)
Crunchie bars,
ketchup and all dressed chips
crispers (all dressed)
zesty cheese doritos (and NO they do not have those here....they have 7 different flavours that we did not have in Canada but no zesty)
Mackintosh Toffee
SHREDDIES cereal
seriously the list is endless...
and I think the hardest thing is that when you are homesick....and missing somewhere so badly it makes your chest hurt....you want comfort food....it's highly disturbing when they don't have BBQ sauce at McDonalds for your chicken nuggets.....because it's just so not home.
So while I miss the people and places I used to know....I know that they can not be instlanty transported here the way that having a crispy crunch bar makes me feel at home. So when I go home I stockpile....also evidenced in the LO below. I'm so excited to go home for Christmas this year....I think we will be able to stay for almost two weeks...and I can't wait to see snow!!!

OK enough of that....I'm really not nearly as homesick as I just sounded...and Kim I really was kidding about the pens being held hostage. After all what are friends for?
Aimes

This little gem is our new niece Kaitlyn Elizabeth LeFevre.
She is a new beautiful part of our family and we are so glad.
We had some moments of prayer before she was born because she was in distress and we are so happy that she came happy and healthy into our lives.

Amy

THE HEIDI SWAPP HAS LANDED!!!!!
The Awesome Ruthann picked up this kit for some of us scrapjazz ladies!!!
Such a steal....I LOVE Heidi Swapp!!!!!

Here are my adorable nephews...and thier mom has one more on the way!! So excited to be an auntie three times over! Hoping for a girl this time!!
Amy

Wow....you learn something new every day....thanks to my friend Jen http://blondethinking.blogspot.com I now know how to change the colours of stuff in my blog! She just made my day!!!
Amy

So the situation with the....interestingly stupid.....woman from Saturday has not had any closure yet. I feel better about it just because i've decided how i'm going to deal with it but she's SO not on my Christmas list!
So the other major drama lately is that we might be buying a house. We are checking out our options but it looks like we are going to go for this cute little starter home in a good neighborhood that needs some work and TLC.....most of the work is cosmetic...and things like putting in a cooling system because WE LIVE ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN!
My friend Nicole may be having a baby soon....she's not due for another month (the baby would be considered full term though because he's big) and she's dialiated!!! I'm so excited! We are so ready to welcome the little guy into our life!!! So that makes TWO of my sister-in-laws that are expecting....send out some prayers for April if you are reading this...she needs them. And three of my friends that are expecting...so fun!!!
Babies babies all around and not one for me!!
I guess things happen in thier own time...and maybe I just need to make some space in my life and then that will happen.
On that note I leave you with a picture of my adorable nephews....who I love so dearly!!!
P.S.....maybe not!! It is not letting me upload that so......i'll try again in the morning!!
Amy

Today was an interesting day. Part of the day was really good....scrapbooking with friends and just relaxing. And then.....someone ruined it pretty quickly. I have a really bad habit of letting other people's bad behaviour affect my mood....not a good thing. I just feel like this woman drop-kicked me when I was already feeling down and out. It's something that I really just need to learn to deal with....refusing to let other people determine my mood. My dad used to say....be the thermostat....not the thermomoter. ANYWAYS! I mailed Nathan his birthday present today. It will so not get to him by Monday (his birthday) but it's on it's way and i'll call and send him all my love over the phone lines on the actual day. I love that kid!! Who knew little brothers could grow up to be so cool?
The best thing about today was that Eldon was really supportive after the person was such a jerk. Moving to Arizona has been such an adjustment....learning to live a whole different life than I had been living. He is so worth it!
Aimes

This

is on it's way to my house.

I'm SO excited.....I love the design.

the website is http://www.elisalou.com

lots of beautiful stuff to be found!

I so never got around to posting something pretty. What I did do though is post links to most of the blogs I read. So I thought that writing a blurb about why I like each blog would be pretty too!
cathy z
She's inspiring. I love her scrapping and her obsession with flavor-ice.
tara whitney
Her photography moves me.
elsie flannigan
She embodies the free-spirited style that I wish I could be.
stacy julian
She totally gets the big picture.
lindsay teague
A chick doing what she loves....what's better than that??
ali edwards
I love how she is a life artist....keeping records of the moments.
jen sebast
Just an all around cool chick!
christina padilla
I love her rockin' style....and i'm her stalker....but not in that creepy way where I follow her around and collect her used tissues or anything ;)
jenni bowlin
I love her kits!!
kim - just my type
I love reading about her days....having fun with Morgan and being every bit the mom I want to be some day!
vivid memories
She's just plain cool! And whenever I read her blog I think about Toronto....a city I miss SO MUCH!!
dooce
She talks about poop.....a lot.
donna downey
She "rawks" the bad girl scrappin'!
heidi swapp
A rockin' scrapper with a bun in the oven! Her products make me swoon!
glitteratini
All the goss that's fit to type!
pink is the new blog
Ditto!

I really will attempt to get my blog looking better......give me time!!
Aimes

So I have a blog now.....I guess that's what happens when you want to comment on someone elses blog and get a username. I've been toyine around with the idea of a blog for awhile and I guess now if the time.
When I get home i'll see about posting something pretty!