This past year in blogging at Butterscotch Sundae

12/31/2013 Nichole

We had just shy of 6,300 visitors this year at Butterscotch Sundae, with the majority of them being from the United States, Australia and Canada. And also one visit each from Albania, Estonia and Nepal, among other places.

What a crazy thing this internet is.

The most-visited posts of 2013 were:

“Four Fun Places in Atlanta to Visit with your Kids,” which I wrote in 2011 and has been the site’s top post ever since.
“How to Throw a Star Wars Birthday Party and Turn a Bunch of Kids into Jedi Knights,” about Pete’s birthday party in 2012.
“So Sarah McLachlan’s on Twitter,” which was written this year but hardly contains any writing at all.

And here are some other things I published this year.

January: Resolved

I made some New Year’s Eve resolutions, and I actually managed to keep a few of them.

February: The sort of day that leads me to eat bread-and-butter pickle spears at the kitchen sink

I had a weird and trying day, the culminations of which was a stray dog leaping into my car.

March: 11 reasons I’m glad I went to Blissdom

I went to a social media conference called Blissdom, where I met some of the very best people and also made awkward small talk with Elton from “Clueless.”

April: The Terribly Tardy Bakers Challenge

I vowed to take on some of the Daring Bakers Challenges that I’d skipped. I’ve only conquered one of them to date. Hm.

May: Three sponge cakes and a tower of whipped cream

I made a cake that looked like a brain. It wasn’t supposed to look like a brain.

June: The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen

I had the feels and pondered spiritual matters.

July: How Slushy Magic taught my children the truth about advertising

Things are not always what they seem.

August: Unmoored

My Granny passed away.

September: Introducing Douglas Mason

My nephew was born!

October: Achy necks and buttery ears

I briefly considered calling the fire department.

November: A chinquapin is a five-lined poem, and I wrote one

It was National Blog Posting Month, so I wrote a poem.

December: The quiet month

This is only the fourth thing I’ve posted in December!

menu plan Monday

5 things we will be eating as 2013 slips away

12/30/2013 Nichole

Hello, Internet!

Just as my brain was recovering from posting every day in November, I discovered that poor ButterscotchSundae.com had been hacked in a most unpleasant way. It took me about a week to determine that the issue was above my pay grade, so I finally employed internet security experts Sucuri to fix it for me. Which they did in roughly three shakes of a lamb’s tail.

So the website is no longer blocked by corporate firewalls and parental control programs, and now I just have to remember how to write a post.

Let’s start with a good ol’ menu plan Monday post, shall we? We shall. This week’s menu plan is almost entirely from eMeals, the meal-planning service I told you about last month. Almost all of the offerings this week were appealing. The only one that wasn’t was a tilapia dish; I like seafood, but I don’t like cooking fish.

On with the show.

Department of Agriculture photo, courtesy of the National Archives via Flickr.

Monday: Black Bean & Avocado Quesadillas: I think there was something else in the title of this recipe, but I can’t remember what it was. I’ll be happy with just beans & avocado, though. Or even just an avocado and a tortilla. I love avocados.
Tuesday: Almond-Crusted Pork Chops with Creamy Mustard Sauce: I don’t like pork chops, but I do like mustard. I’m hoping the sauce is delicious enough to hide the pork chops’ inherent porkchoppery.
Wednesday: Steak and pepper stir-fry: In the South you’re supposed to eat black-eyed peas and greens on New Year’s Day to bring yourself good luck. But I think both of those things are gross (greens & black-eyed peas, not good luck), so we’ll be welcoming 2014 with stir-fry!
Thursday: Ginger-Lemon Chicken: Rockford loves ginger, lemon and chicken, so I’m guessing this one will be a hit with him.
Friday: Pizza: We’ll probably go to our favorite local pizzeria this week.

I’m linking this up with OrgJunkie.com’s weekly Menu Plan Monday thing.

Slow-cooking and outsourcing dinner for ‘Nutcracker’ week

12/16/2013 Nichole

On Friday Poppy tested for her yellow belt at tae kwon do, and Pete tested for his white-yellow belt. On Saturday we saw the eldest nephew become an Eagle Scout, and we watched the eldest niece in “The Nutcracker.” On Sunday I had a headache so bad I thought I was going to toss my cookies, so I took and nap and then made some bread pudding. The headache never went away, but the bread pudding was delicious.

It was an eventful weekend.

This week is Poppy’s “Nutcracker” week, so I’ll be spending at least part of my days battling bobby pins and hairspray. We’re also going to try to get some school work done before we take our break for the holidays.

And here’s what we’ll be eating for dinner this week.

Monday: Meatloaf: I haven’t made a meatloaf in a long time. I hope it’s a good one.
Tuesday: Korean barbecue beef: The Campbell’s Slow Cooker Sauces were on sale last week, so I bought a couple of them. We tried the Red Chili Taco sauce last week, and it was really good. And very spicy. I’m hoping the Korean barbecue sauce is just as good.
Wednesday: Korean beef tacos: …Because we’re having it again as tacos on Wednesday.
Thursday: Outsourced: “Nutcracker” business isn’t going to leave any time for cooking on Thursday, so we’ll be bringing something in for dinner.
Friday: Pizza: It’ll be build-your-own pizza night.