Friday Five F's: Fun, Food, Frugal, Flop (reversal) and Focaccia

You know, it's a good thing my parents didn't spend a fortune on fancy education for me. If they had, they should demand their money back. Seriously. I think I've lost my head and all it's contents.

Well, not lost, and the only reason I know that, besides the fact that it's still attached to my neck, is that I'm having some sinus issues which are ever so kindly causing my head to feel as if it weighs a million pounds. I'm all off kilter. My coordination is fine; I can still touch my finger to my nose and stand on one foot. But I feel like if I hang my head down, I'll fall over. Spring must be hiding somewhere under the snow that just dumped on us Monday.

That was a long introduction to my newest bone headed mistake. Not only did I erase my entire blog archive, I've somehow managed to erase this post. I typed it earlier, being ever so careful to save my draft, and yet it's gone. Did someone put a "Kick Me" sign on my back today? Maybe it was one of the little hoodlums at Caroline's lunch table when I visited the school today.

So, I start again with this week's version of the Five F's. This was a fanfreakingtastic week of frustration, flubs and fish funerals.


FUN:

Here's a fun thing to test your color knowledge. This is harder than it may seem.
Spelling counts.
I had so much fun with this...and suspect it'll prepare me for our trip to the Crayola Factory this summer when we visit Pennsylvania.


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Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Site

FOOD:

As I mentioned earlier this week in a post that is in blog heaven now, I baked a coffee cake for Craig to bring to work. His class held a brunch themed "pig in" and this was our contribution. Is the term "pig in" an Army thing? I guess anyone else would call it a potluck. This is the same coffee cake that distracted me from cleaning out Flip's bowl which may or may not have lead to his untimely departure. Darn you coffee cake and your streusel topped goodness!

It's a fool proof recipe and you can use any type of jam that tickles your fancy. I've used both cherry and peach with great results.
You can find the recipe here at one of my favorite food blogs.



FRUGAL:

I love coupons. Especially for items that I buy regularly. Thanks to my super sleuthing internet skills, a few months ago I found two web sites that sell coupons. Yep, you can buy them. Sounds peculiar, and counter productive, but if I can find coupons for items I buy routinely, I snatch them up. Craig likes to eat Zone Perfect protein bars. This week I bought 60 (!) .55 cent off and 10 $1.00 off per bar coupons. The commissary sells the bars for .75-.89 a piece. Spending .20-.44 cents a piece on something I regularly pay full price for makes me happy. The coupons cost somewhere between .03-.10 a piece, but like I said, it's worth if it's something you're going to buy anyway. I spent around $6.00 for 70 coupons, but will save $43.00.

FLOP reversal:

Last week my flop was my attempt at making honey yeast rolls. They were doughy and just not up to my standards. I tried them again using half whole wheat flour, baking them a little longer and brushing them with the honey butter mixture I omitted the first time. I'm happy to report my success. My flop has been reversed and can now be classified as fabulous.

In the words of London Tipton, "yay me."
Guess who controls the TV in our house? Any mom of elementary aged kids, will understand.

FOCACCIA:

Seems like an odd addition to my Friday F's post, but the only reason I chose this was to offer a little anecdote about my bread maker.

And also, we had spaghetti for dinner and I made parmesan focaccia to go along with it.

Using the bread maker this afternoon to prepare the dough made me remember when I first received it as a gift. Craig gave it to me the Christmas before we had Caroline. I was just about four weeks away from delivering her, in fact. Honestly, I have never told Craig this, I'm not sure why, but I haven't. I guess he'll know now. I had always wanted a bread maker and should have been SO excited about receiving one. But for some reason, in my overly pregnant and hormonal state, I remember being almost mad that he bought it for me. It literally changed my mood. On Christmas. Over a bread maker.

I remember thinking that I was about to have a baby and how dare he assume that I'll have time to make bread. How inconsiderate. Actually, I guess I wasn't exactly *mad* I was more upset, knowing that I couldn't possibly have enough time to care for a newborn and make bread at the same time. I didn't want the machine to sit there and collect dust. Didn't he understand this? Of course not! Who can understand a pregnant woman?

I never said anything because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. But as it turns out, I've used that thing SO much. It is seven years old, has survived three moves, the digital numbers on the dial don't all light up and pan is all scratched up. But it works and much to my surprise I did have plenty of time to make bread, bagels, pizza dough etc when Caroline was a baby.

It's OK if you think less of me after reading my dramatic reaction to receiving a bread maker.

Happy Friday!