Fancy Nancy Fantastic Fan Photo Contest

Just a quick reminder to vote for Reese (The Wild Child) in the Fancy Nancy Fantastic Fan Photo Contest. Right now she is #142 out of almost 400 with just 18 votes- imagine how far she can move up with a few more!

Could you take a second to vote for her?

I absolutely love that she dressed herself for the pool, and also love that she wore a football jersey to school the next day- she's a bit prissy, a bit of a tomboy, and I love her just the way she is!

Attn Chocoholics

A few weeks ago, I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes for a celebration at work, modifying a recipe I saw at the blog Kevin and Amanda. They were beyond fabulous and I was instantly famous at work with everyone stopping by my office to ask about them. I loudly professed my love for Betty Crocker Whipped Butter Cream frosting. I immediately created a blog post for them to spread the word. I was going to be The Blogger Who Made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes Easily (a la Becky Brandon).

Not long after that, Amanda posted about making Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes, so I knew I had to give them a whirl. That I wouldn't be able to sleep until I did. But I also knew that I'd be buying Betty Crocker Whipped frosting rather than tackle Amanda's complicated frosting recipe, which looked like it might be my nemesis.

The fact that it has been a week and a half since I made these and I am just now getting around to posting about them is telling.

They were good, just not as good.

The Cookie Dough cupcakes are so good, I'm afraid I'll be measuring all dessert hence forward against them. And that's really not fair to the rest of the desserts in the world.....

But anyway, if you happen to be a chocoholic, you will love these- they *are* mighty tasty.

To make the brownie batter:

1/4 cup Parkay, melted
1/3 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup milk (left out of the picture! I used skim)
1 (18.25 oz) box Pillsbury Moist Supreme Devil’s Food cake mix

Combine all in a bowl and mix.


I used my Pampered Chef scoop and made balls of dough that I froze overnight on parchment paper.



The next day I made my cupcake batter.

1 (18.25 oz) box Pillsbury Moist Supreme Devil’s Food cake mix
1 (3.9 oz) pkg Jello instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil (how much do you love the new Crisco container? No mess!)
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips into a large bowl and mix. Stir in chocolate chips.

I again used my Pampered Chef scoop to drop batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 2/3rds full.

Next, take frozen brownie batter balls and press into the cupcake batter. Bake for about 25 minutes.



Once cooled, I used this Betty Crocker Whipped Chocolate Frosting to frost the cupcakes, and sprinkled with mini chocolate chips. This whipped frosting is genius- so creamy and good!

Here what they looked like frosted.

And here's what they looked like right before I polished off my first one. The brownie batter does not sink to the bottom like in the cookie dough cupcakes, but stays at the top.

They were delightful- and very very chocolate-y!

An informal poll at my office resulted as such: These were good, but I have a better chance of winning the Thanksgiving Dessert Contest with the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes....

GDA: Womens New Balance Running Shoes $26.99, free shipping

Joe's New Balance Outlet (love them, have used them for years) has these women's running shoes for $26.99 with free shipping.

Edited to add: Looks like this shoe sold out!

And don't forget to go thru ebates for 4% back!

Febreze Set and Refresh- My New Love!

I have often professed my love for Febreze products, especially the candles, and I swear to you this is a totally un-biased rave because Febreze doesn't know me and I purchased these products with my own hard-earned cash.

Last week I purchased one of their newest products, Set & Refresh, in the Apple Spice & Delight fragrance and it's devine! Described as "The warm scent of fresh baked Red Delicious apples with fragrant notes of cinnamon and sugar", it's perfect for the upcoming holiday season.

The 2 pack I purchased at Walmart was $4.99, and I had a coupon for $1 off from the P&G coupon insert from the Sunday paper.

You insert a little plastic packet of fragrance oil into the container and pull up on the base unit to snap it into place. Absolutely no mess!

And it's pretty cute too!

Hopefully they will come out with more fragrance options for the Set & Refresh. I'd love to get Cinnamon Sugar & Home, Winds & Springtime, Pumpkin Harvest & Fall, and my newest find, Sweet Citrus & Zest.

She's Crafty

On Friday, P and Mr. Sasha were at a birthday party, so I decide that WC and I would venture out to the mall and see if we could find some cool-weather clothes, since it's FINALLY getting cooler here.

As I was getting her in her carseat, she said, "I want to get a face mask. You know, the kind you wear when you sleep."

I thought that was a strange thing to be shopping for, but we've been reading a lot of Fancy Nancy: Ooh La La! It's Beauty Day so I assume that's where the request came from.

We go to the mall, went in thru Dillard's, worked our way around to Gymboree, GAP, and finally Old Navy. I had some GAP Card reward certificates to use, so I picked out some Hello Kitty tshirts for her (they are darling!) and we made our way to the checkout.

Lo and behold, look what we found by the register.

Yup, a sleeping mask. I swear, she has ESP.

And the next day, she traced the mask on paper and made her own version, although she wanted eye holes in this one! Too funny!

Stila Friday Happy Hour

Stila is offering FREE SHIPPING- no minimum- this weekend.

Use code CHRCV3PFFH and don't forget to go thru ebates for 6% back.

Fabulous Build a Bear Groupon!

This Groupon is good at any location- it's $10 for a $20 coupon to Build-A-Bear.

If you've never done Groupon before, sign up and refer your friends using your unique referral code to get $10 per referral. I've purchased quite a few Groupons and it's been a great experience.

1. Click here to sign up

2. Then click here to get the Build-A-Bear deal.

Artwork by P: Quite Telling

A few weeks ago at play therapy, our therapist had P and WC do some artwork, and she said to me under her breath, "You can get a lot of info out of what they draw."

So I sat back and chatted with her about various discipline methods while they worked on their pictures.

Once they were done and handed them to the therapist, she looked at me and said, "See?"

P had drawn our family WITHOUT NOSES.

Remember his over-sensitivity to smells? And how he used to throw up when he smelled fruit like apples, oranges and bananas?????????????????????????? Although listening therapy helped tremendously, he simply prefers not to smell things like that- so no noses. Isn't that interesting?

By the way, the grey hair on drawings of Mr. Sasha never gets old.

It's a Halloween Miracle

Both kids, in costumes (sans mask for P, but oh well), looking pleasantly at the camera!

One pic and we're done.

October in Review

Can you believe it's November 1st? I cannot!

My beautiful in-real-life friend Megan at Sorta Crunchy sometimes does a month in review post and I'd thought I'd join in.

On My Nightstand: my crochet hook- I've taken back up this wonderful hobby and am finding it a wonderful way to unwind before sleep

Want To Read: the subscription to US Magazine I just ordered from DiscountMags.com - 3 years for $60- almost makes my celeb gossip habit seem not-so-bad (I think that deal is dead BTW)

TV Show Worth Watching: We are so happy that DirecTV is showing the new season of Friday Night Lights early again- this is the last season and we will be sorry to see them go- such a great show!

Movie I've Seen (in or out of the theater): Sadly, none! How to Train Your Dragon has been on repeat so I guess I'll have to count that one.

In My Kitchen: The first step (frozen balls of brownie dough) for the Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes I will be making tonight.

In My Ears: I'm almost done with Mini Shopaholic Audiobook and it totally got me through that 9 mile run on Saturday. Audiobooks are the only way to go for long runs if you ask me.

Three Newest Blog Reads:

• Felt So Cute- A life of crafting, decorating, party planning and some cute little girlies!
• I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar- My name is Cheri and I am a mother of two boys. When I am not wiping butts and noses I love to take pictures, sew and refashion, write music, decorate, craft, paint, and eat.
• Nicole Marie Portraits- photographer specializing in natural light portraits

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: Still cooler weather! I am so ready for fall, and it's finally here!

I love what Megan says at the end of her posts like that, and I'll ditto it: NOW then. Your turn! What are YOU into this month? Fill up the comment space or borrow this for inspiration on your own blog.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon referral links.

Couch to 5K

I got a great email from a Sasha Says reader the other day:

Hi Sasha-

You clued me in to Couch to 5k a few years ago and even were kind enough to send me your spreadsheet. I stopped and started a few times but finally followed through. I ran my first 5k today and owe it in large part to you.

Thanks!
Ellen

That little spreadsheet has been emailed around hundreds of times and I love love love hearing about other moms who have followed the plan (taken from http://www.coolrunning.com/) and ran a 5K.

When I started the plan on my treadmill about 7 years ago, I had a rough time keeping track of when I was supposed to run and when I was supposed to take a walk break. So the accountant in me created a spreadsheet to help me keep track.

This week I uploaded the spreadsheet, which shows the 9 week plan detailed with stop/start times for running versus walking, to a google doc to make it easier to access.

Couch to 5K Spreadsheet

If you've used the Couch to 5K plan, I'd love to hear your story! I am planning on running my first half marathon in December with Beth from C. Beth Blog, and I am so excited to have come so far on my running journey. If you've got some motivation for me, leave it in the comments.

Join Amazon Mom to get Prime Shipping

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If you are going to take advantage of some of the fabulous Amazon Christmas shopping deals I'll be sharing (and trust me, they will be FANTASTIC!)- you're going to need Prime so you can jump on small deals and have them shipped instantly, without having to worry about getting to $25 for free shipping.

Clicking the link above will get you a membership in Amazon Mom, which gives you 3 free months of Amazon prime, just in time for Christmas!

Happy Shopping!

Real Simple Says..... One Easy Shortcut

photo and text from Real Simple (September 2010), page 62

The Fastest Way to Frost a Cupcake

Try this sweet, no-icing-necessary method. When your cupcakes have about three minutes left to bake, pull out the tin and place one marshmallow on top of each cupcake. Return the tin to the oven for the remaining time (or until the marshmallows are slightly melted but still fluffy).

Sasha Says...

Genius

Look who finally lost a tooth!

We were beginning to think the Sasha family brushed teeth way too well.

At 7 years and 2 months old, P was feeling quite left out since he had not yet lost a tooth.

That was remedied last night when he lost not one, but two!

We heard the going rate was a $1 per tooth (is this right?) so that's what the tooth fairy left him and he was excited and dashed into the bathroom this am while I was drying my hair to show me.

Another milestone...... he's growing up way too fast for my tastes, though.

SPD: 30 Stories in 30 Days

Through blogging, I "met" the most wonderful mom and blogger named Hartley, who is the author of This is Gabriel Making Sense of School: A Book About Sensory Processing Disorder.

Hartley had a wonderful idea for a fundraiser: she asked SPD moms like me to share their story on her blog to raise awareness about SPD, and she's doing a fundraising project for SPD Foundation’s 30th Anniversary at the same time.

How can you help?

First, head on over to read our family's story at Hartley's Life With Three Boys, which is the featured story today. I'll be reading the comments there throughout the day and would love to recognize some names! Should you feel led to make a donation to the SPD Foundation, just put my name in the comments section of the PayPal form to let Hartley know you are a friend of the Sashas.

Next, will you spread the word about our story on your facebook and twitter accounts? Simple links to my post at Hartley's blog would be wonderful!

Thanks for following our SPD story! I appreciate it more than you know!

Having fun with the camera

I know this breaks the photography rules since the space to the left doesn't matter and should have been framed with her on the left edge, but I love the look in her eyes. And she wasn't even posing, just a shot I caught. (Oh, but that poor underbite.... starting to get my pocketbook ready.)

*This* cheesy little smile is what she does when she poses.... I had a great time playing with the settings on my camera, trying different things to figure out what worked. These two ornery little girls almost lost us moms in the corn maze.... we had to run to find them!

Would you vote for The Wild Child?

I just entered this photo of Reese (The Wild Child) in the Fancy Nancy Fantastic Fan Photo Contest.

Could you take a second to vote for her? I absolutely love that she dressed herself for the pool, and also love that she wore a football jersey to school the next day- she's a bit prissy, a bit of a tomboy, and I love her just the way she is!

Pumpkin Patch

We stopped by our church's pumpkin patch the other night and the kids had a great time pulling the wagon around picking out their pumpkins.

I am SO ready for fall! The mornings have been nice and cool, but it's still warming up to the mid-70s by afternoon. Come on October, bring us your weather!

Mystery Solved re: Fancy Nancy

Last night the I was reading the newest Fancy Nancy book (Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique) to the kids and we were delighted to find out the answer to a question that has been haunting us for ever... her sister's name!

One the last page of the book, it is revealed to be...

JoJo!

Phew! I can finally sleep at night! :-)

With this recipe, I will rule the world

Last week I saw a fabulous recipe for Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes on Kevin and Amanda's blog and knew the perfect occasion to make it: a birthday celebrate at work.

And I've got to tell you- they are amazing! I am eating one as we speak.

Here's what the finished product looks like:


I do have to disclose that I am all about the semi-homemade, so I used a tub of premade Pillsbury cookie dough, a boxed cake mix, and canned frosting. Nothing to be ashamed of!

1. I took a vanilla cake mix and mixed it as directed. I filled my muffin tins about 2/3 full, as Amanda suggested.

2. Next, I plopped a frozen ball of cookie dough in the middle of each cup. (Earlier that morning, I had used a Pampered Chef scoop and made some cookie dough balls, which I placed in the freezer for about 10 hours.)

This is what it looked like before I put them in the oven. The cookie dough sinks to the bottom as the cake bakes.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for about 16-18 minutes.

4. Once they were cooled, I frosted with Betty Crocker Whipped Butter Cream frosting (amazing BTW!) and sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top.

I am ever-so-grateful to Amanda for sharing this fabulous recipe idea with her readers. This is definitely going to be a signature dessert and my next dessert contest entry.