Recipe requests

Here are 2 recipes that were requested from the Holiday Bake-A-Thon....enjoy!!

Peppermint Meltaways

Chocolate Drizzled Cherry Bars - For this one, the actual recipe is no longer on their website (go figure) and I can't find my recipe book right now so this is a link to a forum where someone put the recipe up. It looks like the right one but I haven't verified that all the measurements are correct. I will type up the actual recipe when I find the book =)

By the way, when I have time later today I have a step by step tutorial for the yummy meatloaf I made last night (the recipe is from my ever talented mother-in-law....we call her Grandma B online and I like to believe the B stands for Betty Crocker!!)

Many new adventures

This Christmas I was absolutely spoiled with more kitchen gadgets than I can possibly imagine!! I got a juicer, a zester (the kind that will take off part of your finger if you're not careful), a simply divine strainer, my new Corelle dishes (YES!!!), some super-fun silicone cupcake sets to make animals and construction vehicles out of, and a cupcake decorating set to make them fun to look at as well as eat!!

Greg also got me some mini-muffin tins and my long wooden spoons for stirring in my big 'ol pot I got for my birthday!!

Why share this with you?? Because it means I have even more fun gadgets to start expanding my cooking experiments...

Oh, and my FAVORITE present this Christmas???

Of course it was kitchen related, and it came from my sister-in-law...

The Pioneer Woman Cookbook!!!

Oh, many, many hours will be spent with my nose in these pages...

She may even inspire me to touch raw beef...

Scarves!!!!

Why scarves??

A lady in my sister-in-law's ward is taking them to Afghanistan for the kids there and when my mother-in-law told me about it I decided I wanted to help.

I started out with the middle one, pink and white....it was so soft and kind of fun!! Then I made the all green one and added white to the fringe. Then I decided to go Sesame Street bold and do yellow and white with plain white fringe. These were so much fun to make and I was surprised at how great they turned out...and how warm they were!!

Then I decided to get creative and I asked Grandma B if she had a larger crochet hook than the size "K" I was already using, so that I could try using 3 different colors...and she came back down with this...

This is officially my new favorite crochet hook!! I don't know what size it really is, but I have dubbed it size "ADHD" because it's great for people like me with the attention span of a peanut!! I finished this scarf in under 30 minutes =)

Now I am working on another scarf out of some really fuzzy and soft yarn Grandma B had...I will take a pic of it and post it when I get the fringe on.

I forgot how much fun crocheting in mass could be....now I am wondering...if I made scarves from a nice soft yarn and out of more modern colors...and possibly made a matching hat (beanie) and added a flower or other accent, would people buy them on Etsy perhaps??

What do you think??

UPDATE:

Here is the newest scarf...this is the second one I've made and I really love the colors on it. This is made from a Boucle yarn which can be tricky to work with when you're crocheting, but the risk is well worth the reward I think!! This scarf is SOOO soft...I would wear it, and I'm not even a scarf person!!

Christmas Baking Bonanza

Ah the holidays, the perfect justification for what took place yesterday with my sister-in-laws. An amount of baking so massive that it should be outlawed in 47 of the 50 states (and no, that does not include Guam).

Rather than go through and give you a bunch of unecessary (but of course witty) commentary, I will just post the pictures of everything we made and let you druel...

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Peanut Butter Treats

Black Cherry Swirl Fudge

*I had a MUCH better picture of this...I will try to figure out what happened to it on the camera and swtich it later today!!

Peanut Clusters

Turtles

Chocolate Covered Cherry Bars

Butter Spritz Cookies

Haystacks (hubby's favorite!!)

Peppermint Meltaways

Mint Cookie Brownies

I can't remember the official name right now)

Oatmeal "Chocolate Chip" Cookies

You WISH you were taking one of those home with you, don't you?!?!

We had an AWESOME time baking and talking and tasting. It was fun to make some tried and true recipes, and to try some new ones. While we were experimenting with some new recipes we learned a few things that I would like to pass on to you that will hopefully help your baking adventures in the future....

*No matter what the recipe says, DO NOT use wax paper to line a pan for fudge....FOIL, FOIL, FOIL (and butter the foil).

*You can never use too much chocolate...I'd rather err on the side of overdoing it when it comes to the good stuff.

*My sister-in-laws are smart ladies...when you are making multiple recipes, separate them based on what needs to be cooked in the oven and what can be cooked on the stove...then you can alternate and maximize your time!!

*I have been doing this for years, but it bears sharing...make a copy of your recipe when you get ready to bake it, and have a pen handy. If you spill, you don't ruin your good recipe, AND, you can make notes for the next time and then go back and write them on the original later when everything is clean and dry.

*Just because they say "Strike Anywhere" doesn't mean you can....I don't know what's wrong with me but I couldn't seem to light the stinkin' matches!!

(OK, so that's not a baking tip per se, but it was irritating me to no end!!)

Happy holiday baking and Merry Christmas!!

I will work on getting links to the recipes, but until I do, if there is a particular recipe you would like, please comment below and leave your email address and I will get you the recipe!!

My first pillowcase

That's right, this was my first attempt at a regular old pillowcase...not bad, eh?!?!

Hubby's boss is a HUGE Steeler's fan, and we saw this fabric a while back and he decided that a pillowcase would be the perfect Christmas present for him.

His boss got a kick out of it!!

And I think I did a pretty good job...

My next sewing adventure....making our family stockings...we'll see how it turns out!!

Oh Betty....

A few weeks ago I was in line at the store and I saw this at the checkstand...and I bought it

I've been looking at it and drueling over many of the recipes. About a week ago I tried the Butter Spritz Cookies and they were DELICIOUS, so this morning I decided to try something that required a little more work.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookie Treats

It started out with basic peanut butter cookies....

Sounds innocent, right???

WRONG!!!

Then, I covered those plain looking peanut butter cookies in chocolate....

And then rolled them around in some powdered sugar....

Oh yeah....this is definitely the most wonderful time of the year!!

They were yummy...and VERY sugary!!

These are kind of a messy project....so I only completed about half of them, then I just spread the leftover chocolate on the bottom of the rest of the cookies (that was for the hubby, he's not as into powdered sugar as I am!!).

Link to Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookie Treats from Betty Crocker

Do you smell what I smell??

Trust me, you WISH you could lean in and sniff this post....

Last night my in-laws made cranberry sauce, which requires LOTS of lemon and orange zest.

And where there's zest, there are many, many naked pieces of fruit left behind. Besides smelling AWESOME, they are super handy for getting some prime fruit juice...and that's what I did this morning.

I did me some juicin'!!!

Thanks Grandma B for giving me some of the leftover fruit...I can't wait to make some fresh lemonade!!!

Paula will NEVER fail me!!

Friday night I decided to try a new twist on an old classic....good ol' Shepherd's Pie.

I found a recipe on the Food Network Website that was from one of Paula Deen's shows, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I think it turned out rather yummy, and my husband agreed!!

Link for the Shepherd's Pie Recipe From The Food Network

Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

So, this is my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night with our families....but, since I'm about the only one who likes Pumpkin Pie I decided to try a hybrid of yummy desserts in the hopes that I can get a few more people to try pumpkin for dessert!!

I grew up always having my mom's pumpkin pie for dessert every Thanksgiving and Christmas...it was always the same pie and I LOVED it. Funny enough, looking back I think it's just the recipe off the back of the Libby's pumpkin can, but it was good nonetheless and to me, it's just not Thanksgiving without Pumpkin Pie.

I started with the crust, and this was an EASY one...I sprayed the bottom of the pie pan with Pam, crunched up some graham crackers and sprinkled the crumbs in the dish. That's it...can't beat that!! I did however tweak it a little and make more crumbs because it's my pie and gosh darn-it, I like a thick crust =)

On a side note, I don't know how I ever let this little miracle kitchen machine sit in my cupboard unused for 3 years!! I have used this little "food processor" more times in the past year than since we got it for our wedding. It actually came as a free attachment for a hand blender (the kind you use to stick in milkshakes) and I LOVE it!!! I can make sauce in it, crush graham crackers and Oreos and puree just about anything!!

Moving on....

As I got the ingredients out I knew this was going to be yummy because it called for this -

Cream Cheese is like butter in recipes for me, the more that is called for, the better you know that recipe is going to turn out!!

So I mixed and divided and layered and about 40 minutes later I had this....there is a white layer of just cheesecake and then a thinner layer on top of pumpkin cheesecake.

This was my first stab at real cheesecake and since it's in a dish like this I can't exactly take a piece and try it so I'll have to let you know tomorrow night how it turned out. It looks great so i can't imagine it being a total disaster!! If it turns out as good as it looks, I will post the recipe AND you can expect to see many more cheesecakes because in this family we are Cream Cheese lovers!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!!!

An unexpected treat...

So I've been stalking the TCM website looking for Romance/Comedies to DVR lately so I have something decent to watch while the kids are napping and I'm folding laundry or knitting or just relaxing and I recorded this movie a few days ago and got around to watching it this afternoon...

I know a lot of songs from musicals, but I had no idea that this movie had such great music, AND that it is where the song about the "Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" came from, so that was a nice surprise. It was a super cute movie and it was nice to see a movie where the "good girls" win!!

The last week I have been watching lots of "classic" movies and I have to say that I am truly enjoying them more than most of the modern movies. It is so nice to watch a movie and not have to worry about Karyl seeing or hearing something she shouldn't (not that we watch bad movies anyways, but you get the idea) and that has a real storyline.

So thank you TCM and all of the great actors and actresses from the early 1900's for making such great, wholesome movies...If only we could get Hollywood back to those days.

Oh, and I will be posting the recipe for those peanut butter cream cheese bars soon....thank you Lisa for asking Greg about the recipe!!! Maybe I will send him with some to work one morning...

Oreo Truffles

Having this blog has made me really WANT to try new recipes and get creative...something that is very hard for me to do seeing as how I appreciate and thrive on consistency. Last Saturday I set out to make Oreo Truffles. I had saved the recipe from a box of Philadelphia Cream Cheese a while back, and then I saw them on an old post from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Bakerella, so I decided to give them a try.

These are super easy, but using white chocolate chips WILL NOT work for the coating. If you don't believe me go ahead and try...you'll just waste a perfectly good bag of yummy white chocolate chips...

Anyways, here's what you're going to need:

*A package of Oreos or 2 stacks of Oreos from the Costco box (NOT Double Stuff)

*One 8 oz. package of cream cheese, SOFTENED.

*White melting chocolate, the kind that comes in a brick (I got some from Albertson's, but you can also use the candy chocolate from Wal-Mart or JoAnn's...)

*A cookie sheet lined with wax paper (make sure to use a cookie sheet that will fit in your freezer).

Here's what you do....

*Mix together the Oreo crumbs and the cream cheese...you can use your hands or a large metal spoon.

*Roll out as many balls as you can, about 1 inch in diameter....I used a cookie scooper and that made things super easy and a lot less messy...set them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper.

*Put the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes (or longer) to harden the truffles. I made these on Saturday morning and after the disaster with the chip melting I covered the cookie sheet tightly in foil and left it in the freezer...they were just fine when I pulled them out this morning to bathe them in the appropriate chocolate coating.

*Pull them out and melt some of the dipping chocolate (I used 4 blocks of the package I got from Albertson's...maybe 1/3 of a pound....) with a spoon, tap the spoon on the side of the bowl to get the extra chocolate off and then let the truffles slide back on to the wax paper.

Once done, put them in the fridge for a few minutes to harden and they are all set to go. Now, being that these have uncooked cream cheese in them, I would keep them in the fridge until you are ready to use them. I honestly don't know if they need refrigeration after they're done but I would err on the side of caution!!

A few things I discovered while making these that might proved helpful...

**Save a little of the crushed Oreos to sprinkle on the top after you dip each truffle...the white chocolate collects pieces of the truffles and start to look more Cookies n' Cream than white chocolate. With the Oreo sprinkled on it looks like the added spots are supposed to be there.

**Again, use dipping/melting chocolate...

**Be careful how close you put them on the tray after you coat them...the chocolate will run a little and the truffles will attach themselves to each other.

**I only put the pretty ones in the final pictures...some of them will fall on the tray sideways or just not look perfectly round...I'm sure that with some practice that goes away. Until then, just remember that they don't taste any different, and your taste testers aren't going to care that they aren't a perfect circle!!

Now go and enjoy these yummy little treats...you deserve them!!!

Now the question is, what do I make for the dessert plate next??

Oh peanut buttery goodness

Alright, even earlier than promised here are pictures of the new Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Layer Bars I made the other night...


They had a few steps, but turned out well worth it in the end!! These are super yummy...but lesson learned, I am making them in the 9x13 that the recipe called for next time. I didn't think there would be enough to cover the 9x13 so I changed to the 8x8...and while they are still just as good, they would have totally worked in the 9x13, AND they would have been thinner which would have been yummy.

Basically these are a peanut butter cookie base with chocolate spread and hardened, then a layer of the following:

Cream cheese

Powdered sugar

Whipping cream

Peanut butter

I know, sounds tasty, doesn't it??

Then the top is simply a few cookies I baked on their own and crumbled up.

I think I might even go and have a piece right now....at 8:30 am.....Mmmmm.....

I am going to finish some Oreo Truffle I started on Saturday this afternoon and I will post pictures of those when they're done. Hint-when a recipe calls for dipping something in chocolate, DON'T think you can get away with using the chocolate chips....you'll just end up wasting a perfectly good bag of them. Spring for the baking/melting chocolate =)

Oh well...

So I just realized that it's been a month since I posted anything on here, and I apologize!! We have finally gotten everything back to normal here after all the surgeries and craziness...now the Holidays are upon us and it's like the craziness just never ends. I am updating my famly blog right now and then I will be updating this one later on tonight with some pictures of yummy treats I've made in the past few days....they include Oreo Truffles and Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Layer Bars (Both got my hubby's approval, which means they are AWESOME!!!). If anyone wants the recipes let me know and I will post it....I never know who wants to see it and who doesn't...


Until later tonight!!

Back on Track

So, as most of you know our son had surgery on his skull last week so I haven't been keeping up on my blogging...but I'm back and have lots to share!! I'm going to start out of order, but I think it's best...

Last night I decided to make a nice dinner, so I found a recipe for cubed steaks with gravy and it was yummy!!! I even touched raw meat to make the patties (anyone who knows me should be gasping at that revelation...I don't touch raw meat...ewwww) and they were delicious with onions and gravy from cream of mushroom soup and mashed potatoes (Thank you Vidalia Chopper!!).

I also decided to make a nice dessert, so I found a recipe for Cookies 'n Cream Cheesecake. I really don't consider this cheesecake seeing as how there was no cooking. It's more of a pie with an Oreo crust and lots of creamy cream cheese and whipped cream!!!

Those poor Oreos had no idea what was coming....

You have to love a chance to put the yumminess of Oreos with the naughtiness of butter!! Any recipe with 2 block of Cream Cheese in it is given a chance in this house!! The filling in all it's creamy glory!!

And the finished product...I added the Oreos on top myself, looks pretty, doesn't it??

Who knew there was a culinary artist in me waiting to get out??

Now, on to the books I've been reading...I have read over 10 books in the last 2 weeks with the downtime after my surgery and all the time at CHOC with Fredrick, so I'm not going to give you a lengthy review for all of them. Some of them I have already returned to the library and don't even remember what they were called. I did read a few more Debbie Macomber books, but they were her yearly Christmas themed ones and they were great!! One of them was called Mrs. Miracle and I would highly recommend it!!

My sister-in-law also lent me some books my Nicholas Sparks and one by James Patterson. They were great!! The James Patterson one was interesting and definitely kept me glued to the pages. It was called Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas, I think. The Nicholas Sparks books were A Bend in the Road and I can't remember the name of the other one, but it was great!

I also have 2 books that my mother-in-law suggested that are similar to The Work and the Glory, but are based back in the time period of WWII I think...I can't wait to start those!!

So many great books to read and so little time!!!

And for those of you wondering, our son is doing great and we can't wait for him to heal up so we can shave the rest of his head and get his hair growing evenly =)

The Christmas Basket

Oh my!!! I almost forgot about this little treasure I read yesterday!!! Apparently Debbie come out with a Christmas book every year and I happened upon one of them at the library before I had surgery. I had checked it out but for some reason it got left at the bottom of the pile and since I had finished all the others I had no choice but to start it yesterday morning. I guess I was trying to avoid getting to Christmasy since it's still a ways off, but this book was well worth it.

Reading it reminded me of a movie (I think it was on Lifetime) with two families that had grown up on Catalina Island and the kids had moved away and over time the mothers had gotten into a fight and were always trying to one up each other, well the kids fall in love but then have to deal with their mothers who can't seem to get along not matter what....and it turns out the fathers have stayed friends all along!!

Anyways...this book was a gem really. The mothers have been fighting for years over a stolen antique tea set and things just escalated from there...the two kids had been high school sweethearts and were planning on eloping one night but each thought they had been stood up, turns out the note has been slightly tampered with thanks to a spilled can of soda and for 10 years they went on and lived their lives, always thinking the other one had walked away. The daughter comes back for Christmas and while she hopes she doesn't run into Thom he ends up being on her commuter flight....and in the movie theater where she and her sister are throwing popcorn...and at the restaurant....eventually they figure out what happened, but have to work through their mothers hating each other.

The Mothers end up having to work together to make Christmas Baskets for the Salvation Army (Sarah, Noelle's mom has to do it for the service hours required to use the club for her daughter Kristen's wedding) and her and Mary just can't seem to work together...they even get thrown out of the local Value-X (which, if you read Buffalo Valley will sound awful familiar!!) while shopping for things on the list.

Anways, long story short, mothers make up while stuck in a ditch during an ice storm and the husbands find them drunk off some Scotch that one of the husbands had left in his Golf bag and they all make it home to have Noelle and Thom come in with some exciting news. Of course, Noelle and Thom have no idea the families have made up and when they see both sets of cars outside Noelle's home they panic but figure they can kill 2 birds with 1 stone and tell both families the news at the same time, only to walk in and discover that all their worry was for nothing.

A very cute story =)

92 Pacific Boulevard

It seems that in my quest to discover some new books to read, not only did I discover an author that I really enjoyed, but I lucked out again and discovered that she is a current writer, and she has TONS of books that have been published and that she is working on all the time!!

This book, "92 Pacific Boulevard" is 9th in her "Cedar Cove" Series. Now, I didn't know that when I bought it at Costco (I've been borrowing most of the books from the library, but I happened to see this one at Costco) but as I read the history I was informed that is was only part of a series, and now I am determined to start back at the beginning...only I wish I would have known that before I read this one, since now I know what happend to some of the characters that have been developed throughout the series. Anyways, this was a cute book, and I LOVE the characters!! I just love the way Debbie writes and you can really get lost in her books.

So, I don't want to give too much away and I can't wait to start back at the beginning of the series to see how Faith and Troy started dating again (they were high school sweethearts and then widows who found each other again but broke up after Troy's daughter's miscarriage) and about when Olivia found out she had cancer (she apparently was a judge in the town, a very powerful woman!) and about when Rachel was just Jolene's hairdresser (before she started dating her father and they got married).

I have to say though that while I didn't know the history of any of the characters, not only did Debbie include a short and concise list of characters and their descriptions and roles in the community, but she wrote the book in a way that someone (like me) who was unfamiliar with the series could get right into and have no trouble understanding what was going on. At no point did I feel like I had missed something because I hadn't read the previous books in the series!!

So, this was a great book and if the rest of the series is like it I can't wait to get to the library (hopefully tonight) and check out the beginning of the series!! Also, this book had a plug in the back for her next book in the series that comes out in September 2010 called "1022 Evergreen Place." I'm going to have to go back and see whose address that is so I can know who the story will focus on next time and to see whose letters were under the floorboards in MaryJo's half of Mack's Duplex....and how long it takes for Bruce and Jolene to find out that Rachel's pregnant and what happens...Ooh and what happend with Lori and Linc's spontaneous marriage, did they end up falling really in love??...and will Mack and MaryJo get engaged, again....and does David show up again to try and take Noelle???

AHHHH so many questions and I have to wait a year....good thing I have the rest of the series to catch up on (well, that will take all of a few weeks probably)...so it's good then that I have the Twilight movies coming out (YAY!!!) in November and June, that will carry me to next September!!

You're all lucky I hadn't started this blog earlier or you would have had to read miles and miles of raving about those books....let's just say that I've read the series about 3 times, maybe 4....I just love the books!!!

Oh, and last night at Home Depot, as a reward for dragging my sorry self out in to the world while still being held together with Steri-Strips Greg let me get a Paula Deen recipe magazine with all her favorite recipes...so there should be some more baking in the future!!!

A few books I've enjoyed...

I know it's been a while, but this past Friday I had surgery and the few days before that were spent getting everything ready and cleaning up so things wouldn't be a complete mess afterwards when I was recovering.

I have read 3 great books by Debbie Macomber in the past little while and here is what I thought....

The first was Moon Over Water. It is about a woman who was raised to believe that her father had died when she was younger and had just always lived her life "knowing" that. Well, when her mother dies she discovers some old letters of hers that lead her to discover that her father is not only still alive, but that he has been in contact with her mother up until a few years ago.

Armed with this new information she can't think of anything else but finding this father and uncovering why her mother would have lied to her over all those years. She makes a trip to Mexico (against her fiance's wishes) to find him only to be caught up in more trouble than she has ever seen. Between being framed for stealing a priceless artifact from an architectural dig, being chased by a feared drug-lord, and being forced to escape on a boat with a trusted friend of her fathers she ends up finding love (apparently some time out at sea with even the most unappealing options can soften hearts) and discovers what she really wants in life. This is a good read, with some good suspense, at least more so than most of her books.


Next was Back on Blossom Street. This book is about a woman who owns a yarn store and about all her "neighbors" on Blossom Street. The story involves romance and lots of other twists and turns, all revolving around the students that are in the leads knitting classes. There are surprise pregnancies, marriages almost lost and many friendships strengthened. This book remind me a lot of a book I read a while back called "The Friday Night Knitting Club." I had to wonder if one of these authors read the other one's book before writing their own because they both have very similar scenes with cancer and pregnancies and romance. It's an easy read though and it goes easy on the detailed romance scenes, this is a good read for you if you want to smile and be reminded that good things do happen in this world.

Ah, then Buffalo Valley...this one was a cute romance about a man who is going to begin working for his girlfriend after the Christmas Season. He has just been discharged from the Military and has decided to head home to North Dakota to visit his parents and the woman whose son he was named after. He is also headed there because his girlfriend has asked him to check out a nearby town called Buffalo Valley as the company she works for is trying to buy land there to build a mega-store (I picture a Wal-Mart type situation). Anyways, as he spends time there he starts to feel for this little town and for their fight against this mega chain that wants to come in and destroy all their little businesses and hard work. He ends up of course falling for a girl there and after much searchign discovers what he really wants and where his loyalties should lie.

This book is super cute and is an easy read.

OK, I think that is all of them...I am going to start a few more while I am off work and recovering and I will get back to you when I have another one. I am also going to try a few sewing projects while I'm off and we'll see what happens with that!!

So sorry....

No, I have not abandoned the newly created blog....my husband and I have been sick since Monday and this morning was the first morning I actually woke up feeling somewhat rested and half way decent...then our daughter came home tonight with a fever. She seems to be in good spirits though, so hopefully she'll pull through just fine.

My point, I have just been too busy and/or sick to post, but I did finish another Debbie Macomber book...it was OK but nothing compared to Wyoming Brides. So far that book is #1 on my recommendation list!! I started reading another one from the library yesterday but the "love scenes" in it were a little much for me, so it has been returned after reading only the first 30 pages or so and I am starting a new one. Hopefully the new one isn't as, well, graphic as the last one I tried to read!!

I'll be back soon!! There may be life after diapers, but when you're sick, there's not much life after that!!

Maneater

Maneater by Gigi Levangie Grazer

Alrighty, I have another book to add to the reading list!! This time I got "financially creative" when it came to picking my next book....I decided to read one I could check out from the library, and I'm super glad I didn't buy it because the book wasn't very good. Now, interesting enough, this was made into a movie and I actually saw the movie on Lifetime (I think that was the station) a few months ago. I thought the movie was super cute so I just assumed that the book would be better (as is usually the case when a book is turned into a movie...i.e., Twilight, Harry Potter...you get the point). Well, this book wasn't anything like the movie, in fact the changes the movie made were MUCH better than what the book originally had.

The synopsis...spoiled rich girl (Clarissa) is about to be cut from Daddy's "payroll" so she decides she needs to marry a rich guy. Being that she has already, ummm, "made aquantainces" with all the rich guys in LA she had to look for fresh meat...queue Aaron Mason. He moves here from somewhere else and is rich and god looking and even has a club foot (Clarissa likes her men to have some kind of handicap, whether it's endearing or just disturbing I haven't decided yet).

So, she sets out to capture him, which she does. They end up getting married, and this is where the book and the movie go their separate ways. I will tell you what happens separately below:

BOOK: Since she has already decided that she has to have at least one child to ensure her social standing she, well, creatively gets herself pregnant (if you really want to know, read the book...I don't know that it's entirely possible the way she did it but the Author gets creative and very creepy points for thinking of it). Then, her husband informs her the next morning that his parents cut him off and that they are dirt poor...in fact they have to get ready and run out on the hotel bill. Needless to say she is a little upset and she finds herself and Aaron in a small apartment and him working as a PA for some director getting his coffee and morning paper. She then decides to go drop-in on his parents and break the news of their impending promotion to grandparents, they are thrilled, but she can't understand why they are so nice when they practically dishoned him at the wedding (or that's what she was told...), when she gets back they have a fight and she leaves, while he screams after her that she can't take care of herself, let alone a baby (he was excited, but dumbfounded as to how she got pregnant). An ex-boyfriend of hers who she is still friends with (Simon) tells Aaron that the baby is his, and when Aaron asks her she is so angry that she tells him it is Simon's baby and speeds off. Then 9 months of her avoiding him begin...they see each other at a few parties, and all the time he tries to make things right but she just won't go along with it.

MOVIE: They get married, she gets pregnant the regular way and Aaron is thrilled. She decides to surprise his parents and tell them she's pregnant, hoping they will put Aaron back on the family payroll...they are excited. She gets back and Simon has told Aaron that the baby is his, Aaron is angry...they fight, she leaves. There is some communication between them and she isn't quite the mean witch to him that she is in the book. After months of trying to re-connect he finally gets her to listen and she admits to him that the baby can't be Simon's. They make up and the baby is born.

The real difference is that in the book she is made out to be a total witch...in the movie she is a little more personable, just stubborn. Also, the book has a lot of nasty language...Again, I liked the movie much, much better!!

In the end, she ends up finding out that "Aaron" has his own secret...and it explains why the parents she went to see were so sweet to her. You'll have to read the book (or I would suggest watch the movie) to discover what the secret is and what happens after that. Funny enough, I would say that the book version would be almost rated R, but the movie version, barely PG-13.

I think I'm done with books from this author...I think her favorite word is the "F" word and there's nothing I hate more than reading a book with that scattered all amongst the pages.