La Cucha what?

FUNNY MOMENT OF THE DAY-
I work in a satellite office of the main headquarters for my agency. We have a little space that no one ever comes to, so we keep the doors locked pretty much at all times. Today was the first day someone has rang the doorbell since I have been here. Just imagine sitting at your desk and suddenly hearing "La Cucha Racha" ringing throughout your office! Very random, and freaking hilarious!..... only problem is now I can't get it out of my head and I've been La Cucha Racha-ing myself all over the building with imaginary maracas in my hands!

a sign from above....

I got a true a sign from above that I should not be such a heffa'. The only thing that makes my long drive to work in the mornings bearable are my stops for a steamer from Starbucks, or breakfast from Chick-Fl-A. I stopped at the latter and got breakfast today. As I was shnarfing it down, I unknowingly dropped a tater-tot into my lap and it weaseled itself between my thighs. I don't realize it's there until I get to work and see that every time I moved my legs to push the brake or gas pedals I was rubbing that stupid tater deeper and deeper into the crotch of my pants. So, today, after I dressed up for a rich client that I'm seeing, I walk into work with greasy crotch. Dang it!!~

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Babies

So, I haven't been completely void of cooking and baking since I've been away. I'm working on getting the recipe up for you guys to a Paula Deen cake that I made. It was INSANELY moist and goooood! But, I guess you'll have to settle for these, which I found in the Kraft Food & Family Magazine (love it!):

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Babies

1 pkg. (19 to 21 oz.) brownie mix (13x9-inch pan size)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

20 maraschino cherries

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

PREPARE brownie batter as directed on package. Spoon into 20 paper-lined muffin cups.

BEAT cream cheese, sugar, egg, peanut butter and vanilla with mixer until blended. Spoon 1 rounded Tbsp. into center of batter in each cup, pressing down slightly into batter. Bake 30 min. or until centers are set. Cool.

SERVE topped with COOL WHIP and cherries.

These babies were super fast to make and turned out pretty well. The only thing I would have to say is that "pressing" the peanut butter part into the inside is not as easy as it sounds.

I was in a hurry to make them, so mine didn't turn out as pretty as the picture they have. This is what theirs looks like:

This is how mine turned out after the Cool-Whip had melted:

Doubly Bamboozled

So, after reading my post about my "Check engine light" that came on my cousin sent me this email.....
"I don't know about up there, but here, if your check engine light comes on, you can go to Auto-zone & they will hook up to your car free of charge & tell you why it is on. It doesn't void the warranty or anything. It will save you a few bucks..."

Dang!!! The only words to sum it up are in the famous words of Homer Simpson-

"DOPE!"

check engine bamboozle

I've been freaking out lately because my "check engine" light has come on for the first time since I bought my Mazda. My Mazda is a great car, so it surprised me to see that light come on. I wasn't really sure what I was looking at to begin with because I was used to the actual words "CHECK ENGINE" glaring me in the face with my old car, instead of the symbol that's on my Mazda's dashboard. So I said to myself, "What's the dizzle fo'shizzle?," and pulled out my Owner's Manual. Among the many things that could be the problem I read that I need to make sure my gas cap was on tight enough, make sure my oil had been changed, see if there was anything leaking, yada, yada, yada- stuff that I really don't care about and just want it fixed. So, we leave it at the Mazda place for them to check it out and I'm really thinking that we are going to have to replace some huge part and it's going to cost everything that we have in our savings account because we know for them just to check out the car it's going to cost us $65 plus everything else that has to be done.
Then, we get a call from the Mazda place to let us know that there was nothing wrong with the car, I just hadn't gotten the gas cap on tight enough. Evidently you have to make sure it clicks 3 times, and I only had done it 2 times. I payed $65 for them to tell me my gas cap wasn't on tight!~ Have mercy!
I guess that's what I get for ignoring what the owner's manual told me to begin with. Ugh.

July craziness

Hello friends!!! It's me again! No, I'm not dead... just very busy! I'm back at work now and I'm loving it. The office I'm in is very small compared to the 30 or so people that I'm used to working with. We only have 8 people here and they all have the same title as me and we get along great! It was such a relief to feel like family on the first day. Things are great here. I wish I could load pictures here for you, but I'm missing pieces to my camera. As soon as I find it I will completely bombard you with photos.... no worries friends! Carter is doing so good. His friend, Thomas, is moving up into the "Crawler's" room with him and it'll be fun to see them together again. We have all been missing our friends and "family" back in the mountains. Katie, Kate, Nishelle, our boys.... everyone! It's been so sad to not wake up the the beautiful mountains everyday, but I thank the Lord each morning for bringing our family back together and for giving us the opportunities and blessings that we have here. Keep checking in because I'm totally serious about the pictures. You're not going to know what hit ya'!!!
Much love!
Sara

June update

So, I finally got a chance to check my email and it's about floooooooded!! Things are going well here. I'm enjoying having stores and civilization much closer to us now. We've been swimming just about every night at the pool and have been able to dunk Carter under the water without him going crazy. Of course, that was no easy feat! Bless his little heart he came back up out of the water screaming and with the worst crazed look in his eyes. He has grown up so much just within the past month and now has 6 teeth. He had 4 come in on top all at one time. He's so cute because those teeth are soooo far apart and you can't help but laugh when he smiles! We're looking into getting internet, so I'm not sure when the next time is that I will be able to post. But, I will be able to post more once I start my job. The job that was offered to me back in March, but then was put on hold due to state budget restrictions called and let me know that I can start whenever I wanted and they were looking forward to having me. Thank you Lord! Looks like I will be starting up mid-July at the office in Durham doing the same thing that I was doing in the mountains. I'm gonna post new pictures but I'm not sure when I will be back! Thanks for checking in on us! Love you guys!