A WHOLE NEW YEAR!!!
(sung to the tune of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin of course!)

Ok, so it is the New Year 2013.  Not only did we NOT fall off the face of the earth on 12-21-12, but I stayed up until midnight on New Years Eve.  This minor miracle occurred, largely due to the fact that my children were allowed(probably for the first time in their short lives) to watch as much tv as they wanted in order to ring in the new year.  And watch TV they did...for hours. Phineas and Ferb, which is really funny btw, The Three Stooges and many other children's shows. My littlest passed out at 11:30, while my oldest two got very excited about the 12:00 hour and we video taped the ball dropping for their father who had to work the next day. As it always is for me, the New Years ball drop is always a mild disappointment. I know that a lot of people like to make resolutions and try to make changes this time of year.  I however think that you can resolve to change bad habits any time of the year.  But waiting for the food madness of December to be over is certainly good for weight loss resolutions. 

I resolved this year to manage money better and make less impulsive trips to grocery stores.  As far as a weight loss resolution, I have been resolving to lose weight for so many moons, that it is ongoing.  I am doing well though, just sidelined by a few mishaps.  My main issue is not 1 but 2 extra special Heel Spurs. 

Ahh...they are so cute. (these are not MY heel spurs-just a random stranger's)
I asked the creepy foot doctor(with really long creepy fingernails) if I could exercise to lose weight--since that will help my pain levels--and he said NO!  I asked if I could rollerskate which I had just started doing again and he said...NO!

 So whatever. Green Smoothies it is.  Yum Yum....Updates to come.

Littlest's Birthday!  Cake Post...

I totally forgot to post about this because our summer was insanely busy...between my brokeness and my brother in laws coming from all parts of the world and actually trying to squeeze vacations in, I didn't blog once.  Not to mention I was bumming for a while there...

Anyhoo, shortly after I broke my wing, we had to decide what to do about our youngest's birthday party.  K was born on the 3rd of July, so her birth coincided perfectly(but a tad inconveniently with our annual 4th of July fireworks bash).  

The good part about this date of birth was that she will always have fireworks near/on her birthday, which goes along perfectly with her personality!  

The hard part is that she is a super frilly girly princessey little girl and red white and blue don't work well for her.  So the last few years the bash was pretty extensive and hectic and FUN!  This year, I A: put it off till last minute and B: did not get to obsessively micromanage every detail as I only had one arm.  So I almost cancelled it, but once again my wonderful family stepped in and talked me down from the ledge and put things in perspective--think very logical and caring mother in law--best friend and wonderful pseudo mother.  

So this year was a ruffle and Ombre colored year--things like this seem to run in trends...and right now all you can see is that descending/ascending color happening.  Ruffles are making this a great addition...So little K picked a cake she wanted me to try to make....

So I tried.  These were the results.  One armed cake baking/decorating not always recommended without adult supervision...unfortunately I seem to be the adult now-very scary indeed.  But I digress....

Below behold beauty....

So, this was the result.  I think it turned out ok considering one armed ruffle making is a little shaky!

The End Of The ROLLING Baker...???

A Long Time Ago in The Days of Yore, I was a mom who cooked and cleaned and played and taught...but in the dark of the night-and on Saturday mornings much to the chagrin of my embarressed kids, I donned a giant blue, free from salvation army, spray painted helmet and LOTS of padding and my rockin rollin kicks and played roller derby.

Then one night in a spectacular show of spazzism, The Rolling Baker bit the flour....(Get it?).

I was scrimmaging and just getting into a groove when splat.  To the floor went I.  Now, I have a pretty high threshold for pain--think 2 babies no pain killers no whining-so I after flopping uselessly and realizing one of my arms WAS NOT WORKING I dragged myself off to the side of the track and sat their stupified until someone came over to see if my arm was ok.  Then one of the ladies on the team who is some sort of medical person manipulated my arm and said she did not think it was dislocated but it probably(since I was in horrific pain) was a separated shoulder.  So my lovely mentor Molly Musket asked if I needed help to my car but I of course said "No, I got it!".  I drove myself home and dragged myself into my house and roused my sleeping husband off couch and told him-"Now I have done it..." and made him go to bed.

When the kids woke me up, I said "Mommy fell and hurt her arm at Derby last night so I need your help...put the TV on and cleaned with one arm until I realized it might not be a separated shoulder(after Google ing it ALL night long). So I went to my doctor...where she tossed my arm around a bit and watched my reaction and said-"
You probably have a broken arm and possibly tendon/muscle/rotator cuff damage."
I answered..."Well I can still go camping on Tuesday right?"
She stared at me and said-"In theory........."
I said..."Well I can at least Bike ride right?  Or at the very least roller skate on the bike path in Cape Cod while the rest of them bike?"

She gave me silent cricket stare for a while and then said-"No.  That would not be smart"

Then she called a few nurses and physicians assistants in and said "This girl broke her arm playing roller derby and now wants to go bike riding and camping....." said I cracked her up and sent me on my way to the X-Ray.

Ow....

Long story shorter...It was broken and now my people all had to rally around me and help me with kiddos and try to keep my from using my arm-which they should have casted in one of those HIGH FIVE shoulder casts because I am not one to rest a broken limb apparently.

I healed for a couple weeks and then re-broke/injured the current break by falling into my car while slipping off a wet flip flop...thus setting me back 1.5 weeks.

Meanwhile my biggest concern was not my lack of caring for people or being able to do things-since I was still doing them anyway, but my possible career(before it became a career) ending injury as my supportive husband likes to call it.

I missed Derby.  I missed the Motley crew I was just starting to jell with.  I absolutely LOVED going to the bunker Mondays and Thursdays surrounded by interesting, caring, and funny people.  Never mind that I had thighs of steel and I got to escape my crazy stay at home mom life and pretend I was cool, but I really liked meeting the types of people that I can chill with and not feel ridiculous.  So even though I could/should have gone to do other things up there and help out-my DH knew I would jump on skates well before I was ready so I was banned from the bunker.  Summer kept me busy and kept my mind off of things-but the longer you are away from something the more it becomes out of site out of mind-  Meanwhile the people I had started with were leveling and passing onto the teams and rocking it on the track.  I dragged my kids a few times to some bouts to support and watch and drool at all the skating, but it is not the same yet...because my arm is STILL not healed and I can't even lift a dresser or heavy table anymore.  So I am going to try to keep training and keep my head up and get in super duper shape and get back into it---For now though...I will be the rolling baker only in my house and on bike paths and see what happens. 

I Did it....I did It....I did it.... yeah....

Ok folks, 

Remember last month when my husband had to buy me chocolate to lure me back from the dead because I failed my derby test?  Well I passed this month and I am on to bigger and better things!  At least I am now learning different derby stuff and am really excited.  We are now starting contact and so far it is all I have hoped it could be!!!  I will probably make a fool of myself and will most likely start falling more, so be prepared for bruises!  

This week and the week after and the week after that are going to be VERY BUSY!  I am going to be a baking fool and I am not sure my house or family will be able to handle it! This weekend is the PVRD's first bout of the season and everyone is required to be on deck!  I have volunteered for the bake table because that is my comfort zone...so I am going to bake things for said table.  Also, my almost father is turning some high number on April Fools day and I am going to bake him a vanilla bean cake and THEN my nephew is turning 2 and I am going to make HIM a cake for the 7th.  I am very tired just thinking about it!  But it is what I like to do, so that works ok! 

I found a link for some super yummy crusty bread that is actually easy to do!  It came out great!!!  

http://simplysogood.blogspot.com/2010/03/crusty-bread.html

This is an interesting blog and I find it amazing how much information is out there if you have time to look for it! I get inspiration every day to try new things!  Now I just have to find the time....

Oh here is a picture of the cake I made for my darling niece.....not my best attempt, but I learned a few lessons.

ALSO!  Here is the bout info!  Check it out!!!  

April Attack!

Posted: 04/01/12

In the first bout of the 2012 season, Florence Fightin' Gals take on the Quabbin Missile Crisis. The Dirty Dozen will also face off against the Bomb Quads of VT Mens Roller Derby. 

Date:  April 1, 2012 

Location: Lossone Rink, 22 Greenwood Ct., Easthampton, Mass.

Time: Doors open at 2 PM, game starts at 3 PM. 

Tickets: $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Kids 10 and under half price.

Advance Tickets:$8 at Off The Map Tattoo, 112 Cottage St., Easthampton, at Turn It Up! in Northampton, or online here. Adult tickets only.

Join in the fun! PVRD will be at the Springfield Falcons game at the MassMutual Center on March 23. Stop by our table and say hello!

Failure on the Derby Floor....and a grand husband too!

Ok.  I failed.  Big time.  I don't do failure well.  If you know me, you know that I really enjoy myself and all things relating to me and feel as if the solar system rotates directly around my head.  I finally was told by my DH to start paying attention to other people and asking questions about THEM(hmmmm) that I might find myself pleasantly surprised at how interesting other people are.  Now I tried this, and still tend to find conversations with others drifting back to me.  This is a sad truthful fact and I do try hard to listen more and be more interested.  One day I will be better at this, but for now, BACK TO ME.

Failure=ME falling while "Falling" during a test and apparently not squatting low enough and OH yeah!  I am not stable on my left leg while careening out of control around the derby track. Here I thought i was doing fairly well and was pretty impressed with myself.  So I kind of maybe goofed off a little because I am SO bad under pressure that I once(thrice) threw my glove at a softball that I should have been catching when my friends parents came to see my game.  So yes, I fell....and NO, I usually do not.  And also, I usually do better than I did that night but oh well.  So the thing that chafes the most is that the two girls I was connecting with were one of 4 or 5 girls out of 25 that did pass.  After failing I found out that I have the perfect mentor assigned to me and then instead of hanging and having a nice little gathering after practice, I got out of dodge ASAP and cried in my car the whole way home.....Wee Wee Wee.

Luckily I have a band of merry friends surrounding me and encouraging me not to give up....including my wonderful husband who has been VERY supportive of this and went to the best chocolate place in town during Lent.  He then resisted the smell of fresh chocolate and picked out the BEST chocolates ever and brought them to his still weepy wife and THEN put the little one down for her nap so I could eat them in peace....LOVE HIM!!! And love all of you who support me and put up with me.  So I will go back on Monday and try to not be embarrassed and keep it up.

Also, I am making a fun cake for my niece who turned Six today and can't wait to put it all together....right now here is a sneak peak.

What do you think?  Colors to muted for a rainbow cake for a girl with a very BRIGHT personality?  Let me know!

The Panda Bear Stare...

Updates are coming from me but first I have to tell a little tale of a late night drive home and a Panda Bear.

It was a dark and stormy night(actually it was not stormy but VERY dark-as it was 11:00pm), and this roller mama was deliriously driving home from a KILLER derby practice.  We started doing Fresh Meat work, I.E: knee drops, crossovers, etc. then went on to more skills practice and sooo much endurance.  My back still hurts from when I fell off of my three wheeled skate and has never gotten any better, and I also have sad mama back muscles in my lower back which YELL at me when I go in circles.  So that was hard, but not as hard as skating in a circle and then taking turns weaving in and out of moving people up a line while going in circles as fast as possible.  I LOVED the weaving part of this activity and thought I did pretty well at it.  No fear and pretty good at squeezing my plus sized boday in between skaters.  The part that was falaphal, was the actual skating around and around and around.  We went so long, and I am so out of shape that I almost puked like the fat kid running the mile in gym class in the summer. (which was pretty much me back in school minus the fat).  I was never really physically fit.

Anyhoo....I am wandering. On the ride home---NOT stopping at any fast food places for fries and a GIANT Diet coke, I was minding my own business when what do I see a couple hundred yards(or feet or inches-I am not good at guesstimating distance) but a Panda Bear. Now we all know that this was probably NOT a panda bear.  But I swear I was delirious from my exertion or something and this mailbox looked just like a panda sitting on the side of the road staring at me.  I shook my head to clear it and squinted through my bleary eyes and still could not reconcile with the fact that there was not a panda bear sitting there.  In fact I have not actually verified this information, so everyone in Easthampton should be on the lookout for this cuddly creature.

Three wheeling...

Today my friend willingly let me borrow her quad skate wheels and I gave her my outside wheels to try and see if they will be more grippy for her as she is an uncertain skater.  Well, I spent a good 45 min cleaning these busted things up and finally got them all on my new skates.  My loving husband had taken the kids up to his parents house for dinner!  So I get single time...which means cleaning skate bearings and doing laundry.  Not thrilling, but quiet none the less.  So I go outside to get my mammoth fountain Diet Coke in my car (with my roller skates on of course).  I maneuvered down the porch stairs very well and retrieved my Diet Coke--AKA--Elixir of Life, and went to roll back into the house. Then, tragedy struck.....a wheel(not tightened well enough) fell off of my skate and I teetered around trying to figure out which wheel was off and really trying to save my soda instead of myself.  It did not work, so I flailed(literally) wildly and slammed into the ground.  My soda went FLYING and smashed all over the drive way....I started cracking up and looked in vain for my wheel to find it had rolled under my car.  Thus ensued more hilarity as I tried to scoot under said car for my wheel and then I tottered inside without my soda.  =(  Also, these skate wheels ARE harder and slippery and I am going to fall badly tonight at Derby practice....hopefully I will not add to my bruises which are COVERING my legs.

Being a stay at home mother has been hard for me, even though I love and enjoy my kiddos, and Derby seems to be bringing back my sanity, but it is causing some complications and I am scared I may break a leg.  But the exercise is good and the new people I am meeting even better, so I will continue to bake and craft, and in the dark of the night, I will sneak off to roll in bliss and childless peace.