Thursday Random Thoughts...

~ First of all... I watched Dancing With the Stars this week just so I could see Chaz Bono's performance.  I never watch and I give my mom crap all of the time because she loves this show.   I am pretty open minded and have zero issues with him performing on the show as a man.  I don't have to understand it or like it, but I believe it's his right.  Although we do not have any transgender family members... I have gay family members...and I was never brought up thinking it was weird, wrong, or strange...because it isn't...and I don't.  Madison has been around my gay family members has gone to school for years with families that were "different"... with two moms or two dads or just a mom or just a dad... so it isn't weird to her either.  I guess if you don't like the show now because he's on there... then don't watch it.... but I am not sure why others let it affect them so much.

~ Being a stay at home mom/housewife has always been my dream.   Except now I stay home and my kid is in 7th grade... so while it was fun at first... I am starting to get a little bored.  I am starting to miss my daily adult interaction that I had when I worked as a teacher.  It doesn't really help that I have met like zero people here and have no friends here, so that makes it even more isolating.   Any suggestions on friend making?

~ Being a stay at home mom/housewife and living on one income because now I pretty much make zero ... although I will take this time to shamelessly plug my two current business ventures, Betty Ray's Bakery - great items... but seriously the brownies... amazing and I started to sell Scentsy products.   I am going to be offering a giveaway for each of those businesses in October on my blog... or if you have a blog and are interested in hosting a giveaway for one of those two businesses... let me know!

Anyways... since being on one income I have become frugal... which kind of makes me wish I had been more frugal when we had two full-time incomes.  I have been grocery shopping all of the time to make dinners at home for my family.  Since I have no friends... I eat lunch at home now every.single.day.  I shop sales... and put back things that we do not need. Well on Tuesday I needed paint at Michaels.  The shelf said it was on sale for $1.99, after I paid, I realized I had been charged $3.99.  The old "living on two incomes Melissa" would probably just have not worried about it.  Well the new "we have one income and I am going to make every dollar stretch Melissa", got back in line after checking the price for a refund... that was less than $2.00... and now that I sit here and type this... I may need to go back, because I don't think that girl did it right... I think Michaels owes me more money.

Our Weekend in Review

We've had a calm and relaxing fall weekend... just like I like it. 

On Saturday Chris went into work for a few hours and Maddie and I spent the morning/early afternoon running errands.

Top/Left - We shared a ham and cheese croissant at the farmer's market

Top/Right - I used my points from grocery shopping at Stop & Shop and was able to save $.60 off of each gallon of gas.

Bottom/Left - I won a UPrinting giveaway on a blog and ordered these postcards for my new baking business on etsy.  I love the way they turned out.

Bottom/Right - Here is Maddie before heading out for errands.  She loves wearing her new glasses.

Sunday morning I woke up and put a pot roast in the crock pot.  I love how it makes the house smell great all day.  Then I whipped up a quick and easy glazed cinnamon apple bundt cake {recipe coming tomorrow} using fresh picked apples my brother-in-law dropped off for us yesterday.

Probably the best part is Madiaon got invited over to her friend Kristin's today.  She connected early on with Kristin and they have been dying to get together.  I dropped her off thinking I would then make a quick trip to Michaels... but ended up staying and chatting with her mom for an hour...which was nice and cheaper than Michaels.  The bad thing is they are only here for a year before they go back to Florida... so I sure hope Madison becomes friends with some more kids who will be here more long term.

This week we have an ice cream social at Madison's school and I am going in to volunteer again.

My Trip to Rhode Island - Part One

My husband has been in Rhode Island working since mid-June. When I realized Madison was going to go with my parents for a 4th of July beach vacation... I decided to make the drive to Rhode Island to spend several days with my husband.

I left early Friday morning (around 6 AM). For the most part the ride was fine...there were a ton of tolls and lots of bathroom stops (I pee all the time). Connecticut was the worst. The traffic there was ridiculous. I finally arrived around 3 PM.

After showering and relaxing for a bit we headed to a nearby restaurant for an appetizer and drinks. I had two of the margarita specials...

Afterwards we headed to the liquor store to pick up some more drinks and I was able to find this -

I have been wanting to try this forever. It was pretty strong, but good.

We headed to the next town over for our nephew's 17th birthday get together with my husband's family. A lot of his family lives around here and we were able to spend some time with my in-laws and two of my husband's brothers.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Tito's for a yummy Mexican lunch. We ate there in April when we visited and really enjoyed it.

After lunch we used a Groupon and headed to Newport Vineyards. We got to tour the small vineyard. We also got to taste 5 different wines. We went with the Rising Tide, Pinot Grigio, Great White, Bellevue Blush, and the Pinot Noir. We left with a bottle of the Bellevue Blush.

Next door happened to be a bakery. We got a few different things and some drinks. We sat and relaxed for a bit and enjoyed some treats. My husband says I am too picky when it comes to other people's baked goods... I cannot help it if the only thing I really loved was the baklava. I felt like the other choices - strawberry lemonade cupcake, peanut butter cookie, frosted sugar cookie, and chocolate iced brownie were nothing to write home about.

We rounded out the evening with a trip to the Coddington Brewery for a great dinner and drinks. I had some sangria and fish and chips. Chris had India Pale Ale beer and the prime rib.

Trying out a Newport Bakery ~ Testing Out the Competition

A trip to a new place (Newport, Rhode Island) would not be complete without checking out some of the local bakeries.  I am happy to report the actual town we are moving to doesn't have a SINGLE bakery... a big woohoo for me and some motivation to get my business finally off of the ground.  We actually only ended up checking out one-

Mad Hatter Bakery

I checked them out online before we left for our trip.  They are winners of the 2010 Knot award for best wedding cakes.  They list on their menu a spinach feta cheddar square (I never saw this in the display).  Not sure what it is...but it sounds tasty.  Or the Thanksgiving sandwich (didn't see this either...but we were too early for lunch)- turkey, stuffing, and cranberry.  Or I may have to try the coconut caramel chocolate chip cookie!

Our Reactions - We stopped in Wednesday morning.  Here is the display case -

We ended up getting one of every cookie.  Our favorite ended up being the frosted sugar cookies :)  The others ones were just okay and I think I make better ones ;)   My least favorite was probably the coconut caramel chocolate chip one.

We also tried a french toast breakfast muffin...it was okay.

We also had 2 cupcakes - one strawberry with a butter cream icing and one that was a chocolate cake with a cream filling and a chocolate ganache on top.  I liked the chocolate one the best.

All in all I wasn't impressed.  I didn't care for the design, the display, or many of the items.

These are the Days

I LOVE days I stay home from work.  This morning I got up, made Maddie breakfast, and drove her to school.  Then I turned back around and headed home.

I pretty much did nothing all day.  I did clean and sweep the kitchen, chatted with my friend Erin before her 20 week sonogram, attempted to make some rice (I cannot for the life of me get the rice cooker to work correctly) for tonight's dinner, watched a little TV, and caught up on my Google Reader.  I also emailed a company about designing my bakery website.

I had to pick her up early today as it was early release day at school.  She was happy to see me and shared she had a great day at school.  We headed to a late lunch at Chick-Fil-A.  We split the banana pudding milkshake...which was AMAZING.

Then I fell asleep while watching some reality TV.  I made my husband a yummy steak stir fry dinner.

Tomorrow is Friday...and then I will have two more days off of work.  My mom is coming into town this weekend to visit.  Life is good...especially on days when I get to stay home from work.

I DID IT - Starting My Business

I have been wanting to start a bakery business for quite some time.  Recently I created an etsy shop and a Facebook fan page but that is as far as I got.

Last week I had two small baking orders for guys at my husband's job.  This Friday he came home with four orders.

Today my local Groupon was $12 for $25 of baked goods for a local in home bakery.  I checked out their web page.  I was not impressed.  I immediately thought I CAN SO DO THIS!

So I registered a domain name for my bakery.  I selected the name a bit ago. It is named after my grandmother, Betty Ray.

I obviously have a lot to learn.  I have a lot to do.  My main goal is to one day SOON be making enough money doing this where I will not need a job working for someone else. 

Tonight I worked on a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies (one of my orders for Monday). 

Does anyone have any advice as far as web design goes? I know what I want...I just need to know how to do it or have someone do it.

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

I was very close to my paternal grandmother.  She was a very influential person in my life.  She died while I was pregnant with Madison.  I was heartbroken.  My grandma loved to cook and I have fond memories of her making us the most fabulous little pancakes which she served with this thick maple syrup in a tiny little ceramic pitcher with a kitty on the handle. 

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting

 I woke up the other morning from a very vivid dream...the parts of it that I do remember are that my grandmother was vividly there and I was at her house for a visit.  I walked into this bedroom and there were all sorts of fabulous cookies all over the entire room.  It sounds crazy...but ever since my dreams of opening a small bakery of some sort one day have been in the forefront of my mind.

I have been baking like crazy... 

I am in the process of opening an etsy bakery as a starting point... 

I have been thinking of a plan and a menu...

I have been teaching since 2002.  I feel as if it is no longer my calling.  I need a job change.  I want to do something I love.  I want to open a bakery.

I am going to open Betty Ray's Bakery (after my grandmother).