Candle in photoshop

So taking pictures of glass really does suck!!  Here is the picture before any editing.

I did a "quick" edit job with photoshop using the clone tool to get rid of the glare and the wrinkles in the fabric, plus I brightened up the photo a little bit.  You can achieve a better picture than this with a little extra work, but I didn't have a lot of time.  Here's the after photo:

Baby Due Date Betting Pool!

Because it's always fun to bring a little gambling into the mix, we thought it would be fun to start a baby due date betting pool. So come and take a guess. Will Nicholas be early? Will he be late? Or will he come right on time? Due Date is March 29th, 2012

RULES OF THE GAME
1. $2.00 per guess, feel free to enter multiple times.
2. Guess the day, hour and minute that you think Nicholas will be born (Central Standard Time)
3. Closest guess to the minute is the WINNER!
4. In the event of a tie, the winner is the person who chose the closest after the exact time of birth.
5. Half of the final pool goes to the winner, the other half goes to Nicholas' college fund.
6. If your date and time passes without the arrival of Nicholas, please feel free to try again.
7. If you don't want to use paypal and want to pay in cash, the money must be received before his arrival.

Instructions:
Donate through Paypal using the Donation button below. $2.00 donation per entry. When you reach the page asking you to review your donation, click on the line in blue that says: Enter name, date and time of guess here. Enter the date and exact time, including AM or PM of your guess in this box. *Calender will not auto update. Just be sure to enter the date and time on the paypal form and we will add it to the calendar asap.

Check the calendar before making your guess to make sure it's not a time and day that has already been claimed. Guessing is first come first serve. If you duplicate someone else's guess we will contact you to choose a new time.

(Click on the Month view on the calendar to choose a day of the week)

Gluten Free Peppermint Hot Chocolate- Thanks Starbucks!

So I don't usually drink caffeine, however every once in awhile I have a craving for a Peppermint Hot chocolate from Starbucks. Yep, chocolate is the extent of my caffeine. I haven't had a soda in 15 years! I don't even drink tea. I indulged in my craving today and oh how amazing it is :)!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

One of my new favorite things!!! Organic Drinkable Greek Low Fat Yogurt my Oikos!

I am a big fan of Greek yogurt, but usually it is so hard to eat on the go.  Not anymore!  Stonyfield now has an Organic Drinkable Greek Low Fat Yogurt and I am loving this Pomegranate Berry flavor (and its gluten free).  Maybe I am lazy, but I always found it tough to make sure I had a spoon to eat my yogurt, so the concept of being able to just drink it, is working for me.  I can grab one as I head out the door and drink it the car.

Gluten Free Goat Cheese, Spinach, Basil, Mushroom Pizza

As my husband is not a fan of goat cheese, I usually make this tasty little pizza for lunch.  It is fast and easy to make.  First I buy some already made gluten free pizza crust by Rustic Crust which I purchased at Dierbergs.

I preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  I first take one garlic clove, cut it in half and rub the garlic clove on both sides of the pizza crust.  The package says to spread olive oil on the crust, however I am never able to get it to spread evenly, so I use the I can't believe its not better with oil spray and spray the pizza crust a few times.  I chop up some fresh spinach and fresh basil and place it on the pizza crust.  I then chop up some fresh mushrooms and it it to the pizza.  Then I add the goat cheese!  MMM!  I try to spread it evenly over the pizza, so every bite has a yummy goat cheese.  I add a little fresh pepper.  By this time, I am just waiting on the oven to preheat.

I throw the pizza in the oven (not literally).  The package says to put it directly on the rack, however I usually put my pizza on aluminum foil.  Cook for 12 minutes and voila Pizza!!

Ingredients:
1 gluten free pizza crust
1 clove of garlic
A handful of fresh spinach
About two twigs of fresh basil
3 or 4 small mushrooms
A small package of goat chese

What would you do if a chipmunk was drowning in your pool?

The other day I was talking to my husband on the phone while looking out our back door and saw something swimming in our pool.  I told my husband to hold on while I take a picture of this adorable chipmunk in our pool.  Little did I know, the poor guy just wasn't swimming, he was trying to get out!

I guess when I walked out to take a picture I must of scared him, because a few moments later he began sinking.  I freaked out, put my phone down and grabbed our pool net.  I scooped him out and let him lay on top of the net for a few moments.

This was before the summer heat had greatly intensified and the little chipmunk was just laying there shivering on the pool net.  I covered him up with a hand towel.  I went inside and googled for advice and found that you can feed them some bread or nuts to help them regain their energy, so I took him out some bread.  He ate a few bites.

I would periodically check on the chipmunk and about an hour later, he was sitting on top of the towel, when he saw me he took off running.  I still see him every morning eating the bird seed the birds throw on the ground.  My cat looks at the back door and really wants to play with him.

As I have told this story to many people, they tell me chipmunks can cause some damage around your place and I should have let the chipmunk drown.  What?  I could never do this.  What would you do if there were a chipmunk drowning in your pool?

Way to Go Cardinals! Gluten-Free Beer at Busch Stadium!

Beer, Brats and Baseball! Isn’t this what a St. Louis summer is all about? Not everywhere in the United States can a gluten-intolerant person still enjoy all of these items together, however fortunately for St. Louis the Cardinals now serve gluten-free beer and their brats are also gluten free!
Here is a list of their gluten-free items:

• Beef Brisket (no sauce or bun): section 509
• Bratwurst (no bun)
• Grilled Chicken (no bun): sections 139, 161, 446, 264, 266
• Hamburger/Cheeseburger (no bun)
• Hot Dog, Jumbo Dog (no bun)
• Peanuts
• Polish Sausage (no bun): sections 162, 169, 270, 437
• Popcorn
• Pudding - 4 oz. Vanilla and Chocolate: section 136
• Red Bridge Beer: sections B150, B272.
• Turkey legs: sections 152, 432, 509
• Veggie Burger (No Bun): section 132
• Gluten-Free Ham & Swiss Sandwich: section 136
• Yogurt - 6 oz. Strawberry and Peach: section 136