Addendum to Below Posting

I am now accepting donations for a home gym. No, I didn't have any more embarrassing moments. I've been accident-free since last week! It was something worse. . . much worse. I was finished with my cardio workout and I ran into the locker room to put my headphones and water bottle away and BAM!!! There was a completely naked lady standing right in front of me! Who does that at the gym?! At least wear a towel, geez!! Of course, I was awkward about it. It caught me off guard so I audibly sucked in my breath and very conspicuously averted my eyes. How is one supposed to react in this situation anyway? I was not on the swim team or a high school football player (where my husband informs me they walked around naked in the locker room all the time and it wasn't a bit awkward) so this situation is foreign to me. I recovered from that and lifted weights for awhile. When I came back there was ANOTHER naked lady! I reacted in the same awkward way. It was traumatic. Anyway, like I said, I'm accepting donations to build a home gym, where no one will see if my pants happen to get sucked off by my treadmill (yes, this really happened to someone recently) and I will never, ever see a naked lady walking around.

Gym Rat

Okay, so to preface this story I have to admit, I'm a bit of a clutz. I've always struggled with the whole coordination thing. I'm not really great at any sports (luckily my husband is great at all of them so my kids may have a chance), P.E. was always a nightmare for me during school, and I even struggle with small mechanical-type actions that require hand-eye coordination-- yes, I was the only person at my CPR class last night who couldn't get the whole head-tilt, chin-lift thing down while administering mouth-to-mouth (hope you don't go into cardiac arrest in my presence)!

I've been working out at a gym here for the last year. I'm not one of those pretty gym girls, I'm the one in my husband's T shirt and basketball shorts who is drenched in sweat and looks like death when I'm done. This week has not been a great one for me in the clutziness area as far as the gym goes. I have had quite a few little embarrassing moments with no one to share them with (except strangers who pretend like nothing happened) and things like that are so much more funny when you are able to share... so laugh with me friends, while I list my accidents at the gym just from this week:

1) I finished working on a cross-trainer type machine and was cleaning it off. The foot pedal things were slowly falling to balance themselves and my shin got in the way. It knocked me backward and my shin was bleeding and has a huge bump and bruise on it now.

2) I dropped my water bottle near someone else's elliptical. The person next to me wasn't going to pause their work-out for anything, and when I bent down to retrieve my water bottle I got a little too close and was whacked by their arm bar thing. Don't worry, no permanent injuries there.

Keep in mind, #3-#7 all happened just this morning.

3) I walked away from my machine with the headphones still plugged in and on my head. Instead of pulling the headphones out of their plug, it jerked my head backward.

4) Right after that, I tripped on my own machine

5) Shortly after that I tripped on yet another machine, but got my shoe stuck and it came all the way off. So I had to bend down and put my shoe back on while treadmillers politely pretended to look the other way.

6) Then I was trying to adjust the height of a weight machine seat and the pin slipped out and the whole seat crashed to the bottom level and made a very loud noise (again, fellow gymmers politely looked away).

7) To top it all off, I shut my jacket in my car door.

I was going to attempt the workout ball this week but I have decided against it. I am picturing all sorts of messes I could get myself into with that one. If this has amused you, and you want a real doozy please see my post from 2007 titled "My most embarrassing moment up to this point" which relates a little spill I had in Tai Pan Trading the day after Christmas.

Welcome to the world. . .

. . .Spencer Jay Ethington! My sister's baby boy was born this morning, weighing in at 9 lbs 5 oz (her husband's fault, he was an 11 lb baby and big babies run in his family). No, he's not wearing a furry hat, that is his hair! I got to hold him at the hospital tonight and he is the cutest little chubby-cheeked boy I've ever seen! I love him already. Congrats to the Ethingtons!

Pet Peeves

Is it legal to make up your own tag? I know that tags must start somewhere, right? Why not with me? I want to start my own because I'm interested to see how many people will actually take me up on it, and I am also interested in their answers (specifically Stef's, so don't let me down). My tag is titled "Pet Peeves" and I am wondering what people's top 5 pet peeves are. I will start with my own, in no particular order. Here goes:

1) When people ride their bike in the middle of traffic as if they are driving a car. Don't get me wrong, I do support riding a bike as a form of transportation, BUT.... in Logan, I seem to always get stuck behind some some bozo who is going 15 mph right down the middle of the road. They usually signal with their arms and I respect the coordination it takes to do that, but it doesn't make up for the fact that there are 10 cars behind them waiting for them to move over. If you are one of these people and I have offended you, I am sorry, but it needed to be said.

2) Self-proclaimed "nutrition experts"-- I know there are people out there who know a ton about nutrition who aren't dietitians. I just wonder why I picked one of the only professions out there in which random people tell you how good they are at your job, with no formal training.

3) This goes along with #2. When people tell me what they eat. I know this sounds weird, but it happens more than you would think (fellow dietitian bloggers, please back me up on this). The scenario is always something like this. "Oh, you're a dietitian? I am such a horrible eater! Guess what I just ate?" or "So you're a dietitian? I'm actually a bit of a health expert myself *chuckle, chuckle* (see #2). I usually make myself a breakfast shake with flaxseed, blueberries, beta-carotene, lycopene, protein powder, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, garlic, and [insert every other supplement or health food known to man] for breakfast. Is that healthy?" Nurses at the hospital seem particularly prone to this.

4) When people tell me about their dreams, especially really long ones that have nothing to do with me.

5) People eating breakfast cereal. I don't care what kind it is, it totally grosses me out to see people eat cereal-- especially really soggy stuff. My husband has this same issue so we can't eat breakfast together if we're eating cereal... I'm serious, it bugs me THAT bad.

Okay, I'm on a roll now and don't feel inclined to stop at 5. Here's a few more that I just need to put out there:

6) When people mis-spell the word "you're".

7) The word "lover." I hate this word more than I can express. I get a cold shiver down my spine whenever I hear it. Mitch says it often just to drive me nuts!

Okay, that's enough. I know this posting is a little negative, but keep in mind it's all in fun. I think you can learn a lot about a person by hearing what drives them insane. I'm counting on you, my fellow bloggers, to take me up on this and do my "Pet Peeve" tag. And in advance, I'm warning you that I don't want any comments like "Gee, I just don't have any pet peeves." Everyone does. I tag EVERYONE WHO READS THIS!!! (But especially Avree, Ashlee, Stef, Melinda,Val, Nicole, and Christine because I think they actually read my blog on a regular basis).

Yet another posting this week. . .

We had a pretty great day on Saturday. It was the day we actually celebrated Marin's birthday since Mitch's brother, wife, and 3 kids were able to come up from Brigham City and her grandma (Mitch's mom) was here from Wyoming. It was a beautiful sunny day-- FINALLY!-- in Logan and Mitch was able to come home from work early (can I just say I hate tax season? Two more days and it's done, hooray!!!)

Olivia (Marin's cousin) was pretty excited to see Marin. Marin tolerates Olivia's hugs, she's just not the huggy type (wonder who she got that from)

We started off the day by blowing a few bubbles. . .

And then we went to a little local zoo

and the turtles and tortoises were Marin's favorite


And then we had a little pizza (Marin's favorite food). There's that smile again!

Then we opened a few presents

Olivia opened a few herself and Marin didn't know how she felt about that! This is her giving Olivia the evil eye. . .

And then we had some ice cream cake. We lit the candles several times because Marin had so much fun blowing them out!

All in all it was a birthday any 2 year old could be proud of!

My little angel is 2 years old

I know I've been posting like crazy this week, but it's a busy week for us, and this blog has become a bit of a family journal (since I'm horrible at writing in my journal) so I need to document all of our happenings. This is a tribute to my little red-head, who makes my life so happy.

The life and times of Marin Ann Moncur:

1 minute old


1 hour old


1 day old


1 week old


1 month old


1 year old


2 years old


What a happy 2 years this has been. I can't believe my baby turned into a little girl!

Birthday Week 2008!

This is birthday week at the Moncur house. Yesterday was Mitch's birthday and Thursday is Marin's. Do you like Marin's new smile? This is the smile she busts out every time we take her picture lately. It cracks me up.


The way to Mitch's heart is definitely through his stomach! For his birthday dinner he wanted Super Nachos (since it was the NCAA Championship game and we needed "game food"). It was my first time making these, and they were heavenly. Not the healthiest recipe around, but fresh salsa, guacamole, refried beans, and pineapple helped balance the cheese and chips. Our friends came to celebrate and there weren't very many leftovers! Mitch turned 29 and got a new golf driver for his birthday! He's quite excited. I'm not the mushy type so I won't go on and on, but I do have to say that Mitch is the absolute perfect guy for me. Hope his 29th year is a good one!

Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake

This is Mitch's birthday cake, but I must admit, it was more of a treat for me since I'm the one with the sweet tooth. In the spirit of posting recipes (my friend Val has 2 yummy recipes posted on her blog right now that I'm dying to try, and Stef just posted a brownie recipe that sounds so good) I will post the recipe for this, my favorite chocolate cake in the entire world!

* A few notes from Cara:

This recipe is from America's Test Kitchen. They made over 100 versions of a basic chocolate cake to get the perfect one and this is what they came up with. The recipe seems a little intense, but it's not too hard and it's SO worth it. The hardest part is knowing when to whip the frosting. From personal experience, don't whip it too long or it will separate. Also, make sure you have the right size of cake pans because if they're too small it will spill over, trash your oven, and fill your house with smoke (don't ask me how I know this). Also, the difference between "done" and "over-done and dry" is only a minute or so, so don't over-bake the cakes.

Finally, don't insult this recipe by using margarine instead of butter, chocolate chips instead of baking chocolate, or by trying to reduce the fat!

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake

Serves 10 to 12

Cake
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks), very soft, plus extra for greasing pans
1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting pans
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa
½ cup hot water
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

Frosting
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 ¼ cups heavy cream (cold)

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch-round by 2-inch-high cake pans with softened butter; dust pans with flour and knock out excess. Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water in medium heatproof bowl; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 inch of simmering water and stir with rubber spatula until chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar to chocolate mixture and stir until thick and glossy, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool.

2. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar, increase speed to high, and whisk until fluffy and lightened in color, 2 to 3 minutes. Replace whisk with paddle attachment. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30 to 45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add softened butter one tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition. Add about one-third of flour mixture followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until incorporated after each addition (about 15 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated). Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; smooth batter to edges of pan with spatula.

3. Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool cakes to room temperature before frosting, 45 to 60 minutes.

4. TO MAKE FROSTING: Melt chocolate in heatproof bowl set over saucepan containing 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, heat butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Increase heat to medium; add sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof rubber spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4 to 5 minutes. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of standing mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.

5. Place mixer bowl over ice bath and stir mixture constantly with rubber spatula until frosting is thick and just beginning to harden against sides of bowl, 1 to 2 minutes (frosting should be 70 degrees). Place bowl on standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir with rubber spatula until completely smooth.

6. TO FROST CAKE: Place one cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round. Spread 1 1/2 cups frosting evenly across top of cake with spatula. Place second cake layer on top, then spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. Cut into slices and serve.