Happy Pumpkin Wednesday! Celebrate Sleeping!

Happy Pumpkin Wednesday friends!  You are officially half way through the week and closer to the weekend.

But are you finding yourself longing to get to the weekend only so you can take a nap/get more sleep?  Tonight, Pumpkin, who is one of the foremost experts at sleeping shares a few tips with us so that you can spend more time awake this weekend, especially on Caturday...

Yes, that's right, I am an expert.

• Revert to your childhood and set a bed time.  Keeping yourself on a schedule will help your body get into a routine to get some shut eye.

I like to nap on the hour, every hour. 

• Drink less caffeine!  Especially at night.  The effects of caffeine can take hours to wear off, so even having a cup of coffee at 6:00 PM may cause you problems when you go to get in bed at 10 P.M. 

I had too much cat nip (which equals kitty caffeine!)

• If you want your bed to be more cozy, you can always add a mattress topper to your bed.  There are a variety of different types mattress toppers ranging in price and benefits.  I would recommend the feather topper as an inexpensive alternative for making your mattress feel more luxurious.

Sleeping on the human's blankets is also an option.

• 
  Allergy sufferers should take the time to wash your bed linens at the least once every two weeks.  Wash your linens in hot hot water to minimize the amount of dust and other particles that disrupt your breathing.  

Wash with water...don't wash the cat though.

How do you ensure you get some solid shut eye?

Looking forward to a lovely Thursday, and wishing yo all a good night's sleep!

Miscellaneous Monday: Superbowl Hangover

Hello friends!  I hope you are well settled into 2012, I can hardly believe that it is February!  If you were like the other 111.3 million people in America, you spent the first Sunday in February watching the Super Bowl.  If you were too busy staring at Tom Brady, or Madonna, you might have missed some of these highlights:

• Kelly Clarkson's rendition of the national anthem was rather speedy.  She clocked her performance in at 1 minute and 34 seconds.

Photo: Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images

• Another classic "prop bet" is to guess what color the gatorade is that will be dumped on the winning coach... the answer... Purple!

Photo via Flickr

• You might not have been too busy, however, to eat a chicken wing or two.  Apparently, Americans consumed nearly 1.25 billion chicken wings yesterday, meaning, it is unlikely that most people were feeling very healthy today.  However, once you get over your food hangover and you're in the mood for homemade chicken wings, give the recipe for baked buffalo wings a try. 

Ingredients:

3 pounds chicken wings, split at the joints, tips removed

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 cups fat free low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup Frank's buffalo sauce

2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 dash of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon honey

4 stalks celery

4 carrots, cut in half

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Get a large baking sheet and cover it with parchment paper (it helps to make for easy clean up).  Place the chicken wings in a deep skillet.  I ended up using two skillets to hold all three pounds of chicken wings.  Add two pieces of celery and two pieces of carrot in the skillet with the wings.

Step 2.  Add your liquids and spices: chicken broth, bay leaves, Frank's Buffalo Sauce, paprika (regular and smoked), honey, butter and cayenne pepper.

Step 3.  Bring the ingredients to a simmer over medium heat and continue to cook for about 18 minutes.  Transfer the wings to your prepared parchment paper lined baking sheet in a single layer.

Step 4.  Place the cooking sheet with the wings in the oven and leave the sauce in the skillet.  Bake the wings for 30 to 35 minutes, turning once.  

Step 5.  Discard the celery, carrots and bay leaves.  In the meantime, simmer the reserved sauce over medium-low heat until slightly thickened, for about 10-15 minutes.   Toss the wings in the skillet with the sauce to coat.

Step 6: Dip in blue cheese, or ranch, serve with carrot and celery sticks and enjoy!

How was your Super Bowl Sunday?  Did you have a favorite commercial?

Looking forward to a lovely Tuesday!