Catching up

I know I disappeared unceremoniously from Blogland, but it was a crazy week. Here's a rundown:

Monday: cleaned and got ready to pick up my mom from the airport that evening.
Tuesday: Quin and I left Maren with my mom and went on our very first kid-less getaway since Maren was born! That's over three years, folks! It was long overdue. We drove up to a small town called Leadville to explore and stay in a B&B. More on the trip later.
Wednesday: continued our little trip, then went home later that afternoon. That morning my grandparents drove up from Southern Colorado to take advantage of my mom being here and stayed at my house Wednesday night.
Thursday: Grandparents left, dropped Mom off at the airport. Came home and did some shopping to get ready for party-palooza on Saturday. Found out some terrible news--a dear friend who lives up the street lost her baby, at around 38 weeks, so basically full-term. It was completely unexpected and quite devastating news, as you might imagine.
Friday: Continued to get ready for the baby shower and other party on Saturday. Worried that the topic of conversation at the baby shower would be the tragic events of the week. Worried that no one would come to either party.
Saturday: Had the baby shower. It was fun, the decorations were cute and the food was delish! Attendance was really low--we sent out over 40 invitations and we had maybe a dozen there, including the hosts and guest of honor. We only had about that many RSVP in the first place, and half of those were regrets. Get REALLY PEEVED at the pathological inability to pay attention to an RSVP that seems to be the norm these days. Worry that this does not bode well for my party that evening, a Scentsy open house for which I sent out 25 invitations and had only a small handful of people RSVP. Get ready for party #2 of the day, drive all the way downtown to pick up the consultant, and then only 3 people showed up. They were 3 good friends and I'm thrilled that they came and we had fun chatting and sniffing wax, but 3 out of 25 is a pretty poor showing and I'll admit that I was a bit embarrassed. Nothing kills your self-esteem like inviting 25 people to a party and then having only 3 attend.
Sunday: Maren wakes up at 5:30 a.m. after having stayed up past 11:00 p.m. the night before. Try hard to shake it off and plan a last-minute Sunday School lesson, attend 3 hours of church, attempt to clean up the mess from Saturday's activities, and work on the swap that is due out today.

So yeah, it was a bit crazy and blogging just didn't quite fit in the schedule. This week won't be much better, I'm afraid--we're leaving on Wednesday to go to Utah for a few days for my brother's college graduation. The house is still a disaster, the swap isn't quite ready to go, I have errands to run, laundry to do and suitcases to pack, and tomorrow is a graveside service for my friend's sweet baby. I'd like to squeeze in one more blog entry before I leave--I had a great junkin' day last week and I've been itching to share photos! That means I've got to get moving!

Out of the mouths of babes

Yesterday morning, Maren took a shower with me. When we got in and the warm water hit me I got goosebumps. At that moment, Maren grabbed my leg and said, "Ooh, Mama! You have spikes on your legs! Just like a dinosaur!"

Guess I should think about shaving, eh?

Basket-itis spreads AND baby shower menu help needed!

Picnic-Basket-itis seems to be catching! Look what I found this morning when we stopped off at a garage sale on the way to the commissary:
This red basket was $5.00. It looks to be a little newer than the one I bought yesterday but I can't really tell. It does have metal handles where the others are wood. I do love how they look stacked on top of each other!


I cannot keep buying these big huge baskets! So no more, really. Okay, maybe if I see another, I'll let myself buy just one more. But that's it! I mean it!

I am co-hosting a baby shower next Saturday and I need some help with the menu, so I hope you all can give me some suggestions! It is a brunch, held from 10:30 to noon. I know that in some places in the country, showers are frequently held in restaurants and such but in my culture, baby showers are pretty informal affairs. It will be here at my house and I think there have been about 40 invited, but I doubt we'll have that many attend. We're not doing games or anything, just visiting and watching the guest of honor open gifts. The food is just buffet style.

The other co-host has volunteered to make cinnamon rolls, chocolate cupcakes, and bread pudding--they are all specialties of hers. You can see we're heavy on the sweet/carb side of things, so I need to balance that out with what I make. I was thinking something savory, like a breakfast egg casserole? Also a fruit plate or a veggie plate might be a good idea. Do I need something else, like little chicken salad croissants? I need to get it planned out now because I have a lot going on next week and so my time will be limited. I'd love any suggestions and/or recipes you'd like to send my way!

Thrift Thursday

I'm back from thrifting, and I had so much fun! My friends Jennifer and Rachel must be good luck charms because I found good stuff at great prices. In a last-minute bit of luck for me, Quin was home so I didn't have to take Maren! Three mommies - kiddos + two thrift stores full of treasures = a great morning! We had so much fun that we're planning to do it again, and maybe even meet up on a Saturday for some garage-saling adventures.


I spotted this picnic basket across the room when I was literally in mid-sentence, and I had to say, "hang on!" and run to get it! It's quite large and even has a removable shelf inside that I assume is to keep crushable food safe. The top has some water damage and needs cleaning, but otherwise it's in good shape. $2.99


All of this trim came in one huge bag--what a treat! Tons of rickrack, lots of (evil) narrow bias tape, some seam binding, zippers, patches, elastic and velcro. Great stuff! I was surprised to find the four little bottles of Zirh products in the bag as well. Zirh is a fancy-schmancy men's toiletry line that Quin really likes--I actually bought him a bunch of stuff for our anniversary. So this bag was great--something to make us both happy!


Since Maren moved to her big-girl bed, I've been on the lookout for some colorful vintage floral sheets to dress it. This pink flowered sheet is exactly what I had in mind! It was $2.99 and may also end up serving as a tablecloth for the baby shower I'm throwing next weekend if I can't find another I like better. The pink napkins are also for the shower, and were 40¢ for the package. Don't they go great with the sheet? The BakePacker was a 50¢ gamble for eBay and the LeapPad cartridge was 80¢--they are normally about $15. I also got a new spool of brown satin ribbon for 50¢ and this book for Maren for $1. It's one of my favorites! The brown tube is a container of new wooden skewers from Williams-Sonoma, and it was 50¢.


The sucker sticks (just what I'll need to make these) and the little picks were in a baggie together. I couldn't tell if the picks were for cocktails or cakes but once I saw the pink poodles, I was sold! Now that I've looked at them closer they seem a little juvenile to hold a cocktail onion or an olive, so I think they must be cake picks, although I've never seen any like them before. I think they are darling and they may be my favorite find of the day!

The snow has mostly melted and the storm is on its way out, with sunshine forecast for the next few days. Hopefully that means there will be garage sales this Saturday, and Quin will even be home to watch Maren. Not sure if I'll go solo or with my friends, but either way I'm itching to get out there and find some more good junk!

4-17-08

This is the view out my back door this morning. Let me just note that it was 80 degrees on Tuesday! Then yesterday around 3 p.m. the snowflakes started to fall and this is what happened. The clouds have lifted somewhat but the forecast is for it to continue to snow today, with the storm finally leaving this evening. All the flowers that finally bloomed because of the lovely weather on Monday & Tuesday are now dead, covered in snow. This weather is about to make me lose my mind! I hate Spring!

This morning I have a little field trip scheduled at my favorite thrift with 3 of my friends from church. I've never thrifted with a friend before, so I'm excited! Hopefully I'll be back later with a few treasures to share!

The Talent Show

After trying all weekend to get my talent show video to post, I finally read the tiny print in the upload box that says that videos are limited to 100 MB. I just checked and my video is well over 300, so now I finally see the problem. Reading comprehension--it's a good thing! I just signed myself up for YouTube and uploaded it here. Now, I may be shameless, but I'm not stupid so I have disabled comments on the video and I will be deleting it after a week. If you want to watch me be silly--do it now, before it's too late! A note--my friend Michelle held the camera while simultaneously wrangling a few little rascals, so there are some camera wiggles. Also, the spotlight was really bright, giving me the appearance of a ghost. I'm pasty, but not quite that bad!

04-11-08

Tonight, Maren and I will bundle up (it's COLD here!) and head to the church for our ward's Talent Show, in which I will be performing because I am shameless and love to be the center of attention. I'll be reciting this poem, which is one that I learned in high school and have never completely forgotten. Initially I thought I'd go all out and find a costume and props but as it turns out, I have no idea what an Alaskan gold miner from 1910 would wear or if such apparel would be available at the local thrift shop. So instead I'll just brush my teeth and put on some lipstick and hope that's good enough. Quin has to work so I'm going to have someone video my performance, and maybe if it's not too humiliating, I'll post it here as well. I am shameless, after all.

For a photo today I want to show you something I bought back before Valentine's Day. I was browsing a local antique mall and found a booth where everything was marked 50% off, including this old dresser. I bought it completely on impulse--in retrospect, I think I paid too much, even at half price--and even managed to wedge it upside down into the back seat of the little compact Mazda I was driving that day.


The dresser is small (you can see how large it is in comparison to Maren) and from the hand-written measurements I found on the inside, it appears to be homemade. I think it must have been stored outside at some point because it's in pretty rough shape. And once the weather here warms I need to take it outside and paint it with a coat of polyurethane because every time I move it, the paint flakes off and it's probably full of lead.

As it was an impulse purchase, I really didn't have an idea of where I'd put it--I usually buy first and sort that part out later. :) I still haven't figured out the perfect place for it, so for now it's in my front room, decorated with an old oak-framed vintage mirror and various thrifted ceramics in aqua blues and green. I have been looking for some sort of a console or buffet to put in this spot but haven't found anything perfect, so this will do for now. It's not ideal but I do enjoy having another horizontal display space to fill with my thrifted goodies.


Time to go brush my teeth and find the lipstick--wish me luck!

04-09-08

It never fails when I buy bananas that there are 1-2 that we just don't eat before they turn black and yucky. The customary remedy for this problem is to make a pan of banana bread, but I will admit that I have only found one recipe for banana bread over the years that I really love. That's why I was thrilled to find this recipe several years ago. It's a perfect way to use up those black bananas on your counter top in a way that is different from a traditional banana bread. The recipe is called "Marbled Banana Bars" but in texture it's closer to a moist coffee cake than a bar. I like to add chocolate chips to the chocolate batter--no set amount, just toss in whatever looks like enough to you. I especially like to use mini-chips if I have them.

Marbled Banana Bars

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter -- softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas -- (3-4)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
Powdered sugar -- if desired

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine sugar and margarine in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy (1 to 2 minutes). Add bananas, egg and vanilla; continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes). Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; reduce speed to low. Beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes).

Drop 1 1/2 cups batter by spoonfuls into greased 13x9-inch baking pan. To remaining batter in bowl, add cocoa; beat on low speed until well mixed (30 seconds). *Add chocolate chips if using.

Drop spoonfuls of chocolate batter in pan over banana batter. Swirl chocolate batter through banana batter using knife. (DO NOT OVER-SWIRL.) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Just before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.

Yield: 36 bars

Nutrition Facts (1 bar)

Calories: 80 Fat: 3 g Cholesterol: 5 mg Sodium: 105 mg Carbohydrates: 12 g Dietary Fiber: 1 g Protein: 1 g

I love this cake! It's quick, easy and makes a whole 13x9 pan so it's a good thing to make if you need to take a treat to a meeting or play date. That is, if you can keep from eating it all before you get it out of the house!

And because every blog post needs a photo, here is a picture of the cute wreath I bought at the thrift last week for $3.83. I was looking for something to spruce up the outside of my house until it gets warm enough for flowers, and this pink faux berry wreath is just the ticket!

Weekend craftiness

I had occasion this weekend to sit and listen to the TV for four 2-hour periods, and it's times like those that I wish I knew how to knit or crochet. I just don't do very well with sitting still and not working--it drives me nuts! I went looking for a few projects I could work on while still listening and found this, my last unfinished project left over from Silver Bella in November. It only needed a little bit of work and now it is finished and I can finally wear it!


This was the Bella's Bracelet class I took from Teresa McFayden. It was a class I was so excited to take but when the day came, I was all thumbs and could barely manage to thread my needle, let alone sew gorgeous creamy vintage velvet ribbon into a flower. Sewing the lace to the brown ribbon was ridiculously difficult for me, and sewing that fiddly ball chain on with a loop between each ball? Beyond impossible. I stuffed it all away and although I did make a few more ribbon flowers in December, mostly it has sat in its bag on my desk since I unpacked in November. But it's done and it was fun and easy this time around, and I think I might even make a few more while I'm in the mindset. I had to go to two separate craft stores yesterday to find fabric glue and more ribbon clamps for the ends, so I might as well make my search worth it.

The other project I worked on this weekend was another smock for Maren. I have had this cute thrifted fabric and the matching thrifted bias tape for months and months now and since I made the George Curious smock last weekend I figured I might as well get to it. I think what was keeping me from getting to it sooner was my dread at working with narrow-width bias tape. Bias tape is my sewing nemesis to begin with, but the narrow stuff is like my arch enemy! LOL On the very first smock I made for Maren I used narrow bias tape and it nearly did me in. I couldn't get the fabric caught securely in the fold of the narrow tape, especially around the rounded corners so it's in pretty sad shape right now. I was more careful this time and really tried to pay attention and go slowly, but I will readily admit that I said some naughty words while fighting with the stuff.


The lady at the cutting counter in JoAnn's once said that she tells everyone that if they can drive a car, they can sew. That analogy certainly doesn't ring true for me, unless you say that it's like driving a car where the wheels fall off and the hood flies up in your face every time you're trying to make your way down the road. My sewing skills are limited at best, and then I kept having my needle come unthreaded or the tape get caught and not advance in the beginning, causing the needle to sew the same place over and over and get all snarled in the thread. Add that to Maren who was changing the settings on my machine when I wasn't looking and trying to "help" while I was dealing with very sharp scissors, pins, and the machine needle, and well--I think you can see why the swear words just slipped out.



I do believe this will be the last smock I make for a while until I forget how much I hate to sew and drag it all out again. I predict that will be right before the start of pillowcase dress season. Those require bias tape sewn around the armholes, ack. Let's hope the memory loss happens quickly.

Things making me happy today...

....this aqua barn star from JoAnn's. It's the perfect color (it is greener in real life) and looks aged, even though it is new. It was $12.99 and I used my 40% off coupon. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to go get the smaller stars to go with it.

....surprise Happy Mail from Sue (svelteSTUFF)! She sent two darling red and white crocheted potholders and the sweetest red and white enamel flower pin. Love them! And she had it all wrapped up and tied with these old spools of thread in my favorite aged aqua blue. What a treat!


....My new haircut! I went today and got several inches chopped off and very blonde highlights put in. I'll have DH take a photo later. It's a big change and I think it's just the boost I needed. Doesn't it feel great to have a new haircut?

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

04-03-08

Considering the fact that it has been snowing off and on all day, I'd say it's pretty obvious that we're still months away from having warm enough weather that we can go to the pool. Even so, Maren is all ready to claim her title as "Cutest Girl in the Baby Pool" thanks to this little number, a birthday gift from Ham & Papa Chris:


It's actually white with red polka dots, not pink as it looks in the photo and it has the cutest little dangling cherries! I wish it came in my size but I realize it will be a lot cuter on a 3-year-old than a 30-year-old with stretch marks and cellulite. Oh well! At least one of us will be a bathing beauty.

For Maren's George Curious birthday party this last weekend I served cupcakes with chocolate frosting, which I knew was wardrobe disaster just waiting to happen if I let her eat one without protection. Thanks to my trusty smock pattern, a George Curious smock came to the rescue and protected her outfit from both the P.B. & J. sammiches and the nefarious chocolate frosting.

I wish I could say that I just whipped it up but I'm a slow sewer and this took me a couple of hours, even though it's a really easy pattern. It didn't help that I was trying to keep an eye on Maren and about four other things at the same time so I didn't read the instructions closely and messed up a couple of times, but nothing that couldn't be fixed and no one will ever know.

And last, I'm excited to say that my partner for the Sweet Goodness Springtime in Paris swap is none other than Jen from Rosey Little Things. I'm so tickled to be partnered with Jen because I know we love a lot of the same things! Jen and her family just moved all the way from California to North Carolina and they're just getting settled in their new home. Stop by her blog and say hello!

Cool stuff

Oh, how I love me some internets! Here are a few fun things I've found lately:

• One of my favorite bloggers, Bakerella, is going to be featured with her cute little cupcake pops on Martha's show this week! Check out her blog to see what materials you'll need to follow along with her on Thursday. I know I'll be watching!
• When Rebecca posted last week about checking out Technorati I was intrigued and found that my glittered letter h was featured on a fun blog called Cuteable that regularly posts, well, cute stuff from around the blogosphere and etsy. I'm tickled to be featured, especially among such company as Ali Edwards (the butterfly mobile above my letter h). Next time you have money burning a hole in your pocket or maybe just need some inspiration, check out Cuteable's links!
• These simply gorgeous free blog banners from Banner of Blessings. I love the image in my banner because it fits my blog title, but boy howdy, her banners photos are just beautiful and they're tempting me to change! Best of all, she's graciously offering them for free! If your blog needs some sprucing up for Spring, head over and download a new banner.

March came in like a lion this year and left like one too. Yesterday was cold, wet and snowy. Have I mentioned yet that I hate this time of year? I'd like to skip March & April weather altogether and head right on into May. Every time I see photos of southern California or Florida I just want to cry with envy at the lush green lawns and bright flowers! Gorgeous spring weather is one of the things I do miss about living in Savannah.

And because I can't do two posts in a row without photos, here are some snaps of the gorgeous bunch of ranunculus I picked up at Whole Foods last week. I love how ruffly and full the petals are! They've added a welcome spot of color while we're still waiting for the flowers to brave the chilly sunshine and show their heads outside.

Tagged and a final Maren update

We received confirmation from the lab yesterday that Maren did indeed have Salmonella. Not that it really matters at this point, as she's about 94% recovered, but it is nice to know for sure. When we went back in on Saturday morning the PA said it looked like the skin had developed a yeast infection, simply from being so wet for so long, and prescribed us another cream to use. It has worked well and Maren is almost back to normal, which is a relief to all of us! If ever a week convinced me to renew my efforts on the potty-training front, this was it. Changing diapers every 30 minutes for 8 straight days will do that to a person. I'm also happy to report that the George Curious party was a success! We only had a few little guests and the weather was so nice that the girls spent most of the time playing outside, which was fine with me! Maren had fun and Mommy didn't get stressed out, so that makes it a success in my books.

I was tagged a few days ago by the lovely Kristin! I love her blog and seeing the pictures of her house and her decorations makes me 1) drool and 2) feel inspired. Kristin tagged me to share 7 random things about myself, so this time I thought I'd share with you 7 things I'd like to do:

1. Learn to do the splits. Silly, I know, but it's just something I've always wished I could do! I actually have dreams sometimes that I can do the splits. Better get stretching!

2. Learn to do pickups/pullbacks in tap dancing. This is a step that I've tried and tried and just can't seem to get the hang of it! It drives me nuts. Everyone tells me that it's one of those things that once you figure it out, it just "clicks" and then you can always do it. I'm still waiting for the click.

3. Visit Washington D.C. when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. Every year I see pictures of this and am just agog at the gorgeous pink blossoms.

4. Conquer my fear of making yeast breads. I've only tried a couple of times but in every instance the results were very, very sad. I love to eat fresh, homemade bread so it would behoove all of us if I'd learn to make it, but my previous failures have me a bit gun-shy.

5. Visit Australia and/or New Zealand. Maybe someday we'll get to go on an adventure!

6. Teach my kids all about early U.S. History and then take everybody on a huge road trip to visit the sites: Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. Maybe we can do it in the spring and kill two birds with one stone (see #3 above).

7. Finish the scrapbook of my study abroad to London. I went in fall of 1998, so I'm only 10 years behind! I'd love to be able to look through all my photos and memorabilia and the only way I can do that now is to go through about a hundred different page sleeves where I've separated all the photos by event. I've got to get working on this one.

If you need something to blog about this week, consider yourself tagged!

Update on Maren

Thank you all so very much for your well wishes for Maren and your sympathy for me. :) Some of you have wondered how she got salmonella. Well, remember that little trip I took to visit my grandparents a couple of weekends ago? That was the weekend all of this started to go down, although no one knew it was happening at the time. My grandparents called several days after we returned home when the news broke, to see if we were sick. We seemed to be fine--or so I thought. Maren started to show symptoms on Saturday, although I never have gotten sick and I drank considerably more water that weekend than she did. It hasn't been confirmed by the lab yet that what she has is salmonella, but the timing is just right and the symptoms all match, and if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck (and in our case, poops like a duck), well you know how it goes. If it's something else (like rotavirus) then the timing is just a very strange coincidence.

She was still bad today (so that would make seven straight days of diarrhea every 30 minutes, if you can imagine) and this afternoon it looked like the sores on her bottom had actually opened up, so I called the doctor and we have an appointment for early tomorrow morning. However, since that call at 5:00 p.m. things have gotten more ~ahem~ solid, and the skin on her bottom actually looks slightly better too. I still want to keep the appointment, but it gives me hope that maybe things are actually looking up. I'm not sure any of us can take this for much longer. I'm SO ready to hang up my Poopsmith gloves and shovel.

Maren's apparent improvement comes not a moment too soon, as her birthday party is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning! She chose a Curious George theme (actually, Maren refers to him as "George Curious") and we only invited four other little girls, so it shouldn't be too wild. We're going to feed them lunch and do a few little George Curious activities, then have cupcakes and let the Birthday Girl open presents and the kids can all play. Should be fun and relatively stress-free. And with that, I'm off to put together the party favors!

03-26-08

Sorry for the blog absence. This has been me for the past few days:


In case you are unacquainted with the brilliance that is Homestarrunner.com, that fellow there is the Poopsmith. We're dealing with possible Salmonella issues for Maren (still waiting on the lab results) that have resulted in me feeling like all I've done for 5 days straight is shovel sh*t, if you know what I mean. I'll spare you all the gory details, but suffice it to say, it hasn't been pretty.

Enough of the poo talk! Lets see something sparkly:


I found these pretties last week when I had a rare solo trip to the thrift on 25% off day. Now, normally this thrift prices anything sparkly at a minimum of $5.95 (for earrings, pins are usually $9.95 and up), regardless of quality. I noticed their prices that day were significantly lower so maybe they have somebody new doing the pricing, and if so--hurrah! and I see more jewelry purchases in the future. The leaf-shaped pin and the flower pin were both $2.95, the tiny turquoise pin was 95¢, and the necklace was $4.95, all less 25%. The necklace is perfect--great AB crystals and milky white glass beads, and I know I'll be wearing it often because it will go with a lot of different outfits. I may be a SAHM but that doesn't mean I don't wear bling! I had spotted the crown brooch when I was in the week before but didn't want to pay full price. I was quite surprised that it was still there when I returned, so I snapped it up. It's not vintage but who can resist a sparkly crown? Maybe wearing a rhinestone crown brooch will take some of the drudgery out of Poopsmithing in the days to come.

Happy Easter!

Blessings to you and those you love! He is risen!

How to make Marshmallow Eggs: A tutorial

When I was visiting my grandparents last week I got this recipe from my Grammy for how to make homemade chocolate-covered marshmallow Easter eggs. She had gotten the recipe from an older woman at church a long time ago and has made it herself. She even gave me her plastic egg molds so I would have everything I needed.

Step 1: Prepare your molds.

The molds for these eggs are made by using a pan of flour and then pressing half of a plastic egg into the flour to make an impression. I've seen this same technique used on "Unwrapped" only the big companies use cornstarch. The marshmallow won't stick to the flour so you have no clean-up; just brush any stray flour off the eggs after they've set up and you're ready to dip them in chocolate.

Step 2: Make syrup
Begin by blooming gelatin in water and setting aside. Next, boil sugar and water together until it hits soft ball stage. Don't forget (like I did) to wash down the sides of the pan with a wet brush to eliminate any sugar crystals in the syrup.

Step 3: Whipping

Add gelatin, salt and vanilla to sugar syrup. Add just a touch of pink food coloring to tint the marshies a lovely shade of blush to coordinate with the brown chocolate. Transfer to the bowl of your trusty KitchenAid mixer (Hi Ruby, you love, you!) and start beating on High. Mixture will turn opaque and glossy when it is ready.

Step 4: Pouring into molds

Spray a rubber spatula with cooking spray to combat some of the stickiness. Scoop spoonfuls of the marshmallow mixture into the flour egg molds. Get strings of marshmallow stuck to your fingers, the spatula, the bowl, the marshmallows already in the flour and everything else you touch. Laugh hysterically as you make your kitchen and your hands into the stringiest, stickiest mess ever, while only managing to make sad little plops of marshmallow that don't remotely resemble eggs. Dump the sticky pans in the sink and resolve to let Mr. Stover handle the chocolate-covered-marshmallow-egg-making business from now on.

Seriously, what was I thinking? I've made marshmallows before so I well know how sticky they are when you are trying to get them into the pan, but for some reason I thought I could manage this. "Homemade chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs, how charming and old-fashioned! I can make some for the neighbors and they'll be so impressed. I am SO domestic." Riiiight. Actually, I am now reminded of the fact that several years ago Martha Stewart Living had an article in an April issue on how to make your own Peeps. I remember reading it and thinking, "what kind of freaky overachieving-Martha-lover makes their own Peeps, for crying out loud?" And now I think we all know the answer to that: People who have clearly lost their minds. People much like myself.

Thrift Thursday

One of the things I love best about visiting my grandparents is the opportunity for some small-town thrifting, and this latest trip didn't disappoint! I visited 4 different thrifts and found something to buy at each. Because they're all small and independently run, prices were pretty darn cheap, something I don't see much around these parts! That made shopping even more fun. Here's what I was able to find in between bouts of wrestling with Maren:

The two planters were $3 each, but I think the round one was actually 50% off that because it is green (in honor of St. Patrick's day, I guess). Heck, maybe the other one was too--I can't remember! The round one is really much more green than the aqua that I prefer, but it has enough blue to it that I think it still looks okay. I do know that the two rolls of gorgeous vintage ribbon were $1 each. There were more and I was tempted to buy them, but I refrained because I couldn't think what to do with them. Someday I'll regret that, I'm quite sure. Here's the neat old label on the ribbon:

Pretty, right? These next items were from a thrift shop which is right next door to the one where I bought the above items. They are both church-run and both opened up last August. I can't imagine how they both stay in business, especially considering there's another thrift about a block away--and all of this in a town of about 4500 people!

The cheesy souvenir plate is for my guest room wall and was 25¢. The little green ceramic piece had a label on it from an antique store stating that it was a wall pocket and with a price of $14.30. The thrift store had it priced at $1.43! There's nothing wrong with it and I think it's just darling with the little blue birdie on the front. I also bought something else fun at this thrift but I don't have a picture of it yet. The prices in this thrift were amazingly cheap--I wish I could have found more to buy!

Then it was on to thrift #3. It was small but absolutely jam-packed. I started out by looking at the collectibles & dishes and was quickly discouraged when I found that they had anything that was collectible or old-looking priced very high. Most of everything else was just junk, and I thought I would be leaving empty-handed--that is, until I found the craft section! It was a mess so I had to dig while trying to keep one eye on Maren, but I managed to find all of the cards of seam binding and the package of unopened twill tape. The cards of rickrack and rolls of ribbon came from store #4.

I also found this cool old crepe paper lei and the old floral picks--little green hats for St. Patrick's Day and hearts that say "Mother" as well as

All of these fun Easter picks! I adore the little chenille chickies with feather tails! If only Easter weren't so early this year, I might be tempted to open an etsy shop just to sell these cuties! Maybe next year.
This bag of flower pins was $2.00. The yellow and pink roses are made of velvet and the stems are made of some weird green plastic tubing. I thought they might be pretty pinned on a bag. And the last things from that thrift were these:

An old shaker jar of green glitter and two very old printed nut cups. I only found these two and they were with the Easter stuff, so I wonder if maybe there weren't more lurking around somewhere. They were flat when I found them but they fold up rather ingeniously. When I put them together to take the photo I realized that they are damaged. If you look closely at the cup on the right, you can see a girl's shoes and the bottom of her dress--so there was a little girl there that sadly has since been torn off. Rats! They're still quite pretty and maybe I can think of a way to use them without that part showing.

Store #4 is actually a sister store to #3, just in a different town. That thrift store has an antique shop attached to it so they immediately cull any donations they receive of anything remotely old or of any value whatsoever and mark it up to sell at the antique store. Now, I realize that this is their prerogative and it makes them more money for the charity they support, but it still drives me nuts because that means that the stuff that makes it to the shelves is 98% pure JUNK. Really--it's pretty yucky stuff. They used to have a section up front with all their holiday items year-round, which was rare for me because all thrifts here just put out holiday items before the corresponding holiday. This is what enabled me to score a $4 vintage tinsel Christmas tree there a couple of summers ago, but when I went back last weekend they'd cleaned it all out and only had a few lame Easter items displayed. I did find the rickrack and ribbon pictured above and a package with several large rolls of colored thin metal foil--all of it for a grand total of $1.00.

On my way out through the attached antique shop, I saw this:

I first spotted this item in that store at least a year ago. I know it was there in February 2007 when I was in town and I saw it again last August as well. It was originally priced at $5 and because I am cheap, that was way too much. When I went in again last weekend there it was, marked down to $3. Still probably too much, but I figured that maybe because it has been there all this time and has caught my eye every time, that it was meant to come home with me. :) Here's what it looks like spread out:

I'm really not sure what it's supposed to be--there is fringe on both sides so I don't think that it's supposed to be a flag. Whatever it is, it will be cool with my 4th of July decorations this summer!

The last treasure I brought home was actually a gift from my Gram who understands and shares my love of vintage Christmas ornaments.

Gram bought all of these at a little antique store in town around Christmastime. Do you see the big ball that is red with turquoise and silver stripes? Perfect! They're all beautiful--the lanterns, the indents, the stripes, the bells--they are like jewels to me! Oh and Dad--I'll split these with you, but I have dibs on the red & turquoise one. :)

Green, Eggs & a Ham

Okay, I'll be honest. I really can't get too excited about St. Patrick's Day as a holiday. I'm not Irish, I'm not Catholic, I don't drink, and I don't live in a place with a lot of Irish heritage. At least when we lived in Savannah the latter was true so I could have fun with the parade and other peripheral madness. Here in Denver, I'm just not feeling it. I'm not even wearing any green today. Even so, I never pass up an opportunity to use one of my cute Dover clipart images!

This weekend was the fourth weekend in a row that either DH or I have been out of town. He had to work on Saturday & Sunday so I packed up Maren and we drove 4 hours south to visit my grandparents for a few days. It was wonderful to see them and just hang out. And there was thrifting! I'll share photos later this week when I get it all unpacked.

I did promise to show photos of the glass glitter eggs I made last week.

Here's how I have them displayed; the silver bowl is thrifted and they are sitting in a nest of Spanish Moss. I'm not sure that I love it though--I think it's just a bit too monochromatic for my taste. I used the moss because I wanted something more rough and organic to offset the glittery eggs, but it's all just a little boring to look at. I may have to dig through the cupboards to see if I can find a different bowl with some color to it. Here's a close-up of the eggs so you can sort of see how sparkly they really are.

Here's a tip for working with glass glitter that I've found useful: I try to keep the glitter contained when I'm using it but inevitably some ends up on my work surface. Normally I'd just swipe it off with my hand but when I'm using glass glitter (especially the very coarse grade, like on these eggs) the last thing I want to do is to embed tiny shards of glass into the fleshy part of my hand. I've been using one of those sticky lint roller things (the kind with the tear-off sheets) to run over my desk and pick up all the stray glitter. It works like a charm! I've also used this same tool when I've dropped a light bulb, Christmas ornament or anything else where tiny slivers of glass are involved.

All right, we've covered the Green, the Eggs and now for the Ham!

This is Maren's "Fake Smile". It totally cracks me up every time! You try telling a three-year-old to smile naturally! This photo was taken when we were in SLC and Maren dyed eggs with my mom, who incidentally, she also calls "Ham." If you click to enlarge the photo you can also see Maren's blue-dye mustache. Love it.

Amazing Discoveries

Today, from the "Just when you think you've seen it all" file, comes this:
Yes friends, that is pancake batter in a squirt can! Unbelievable, right? My neighbor was at Costco yesterday where they were demo-ing this product and selling 3-packs of cans for a mere 99¢ each, so she bought two packs and shared a few cans with us. Hey, I'm always up for squirting my breakfast out of a can, so I tried it this morning. The verdict: eh. The pancakes tasted good, but were a bit thin, whereas I like mine nice and fluffy ala IHOP. I also had trouble getting the pan to the right temperature so they were too dark, but that is operator error--however, it would have been nice to have a heat setting listed on the can (lest you think I'm a total cooking dunce, I normally make pancakes on a big griddle with a temperature dial. Today I just wanted to use a frying pan and I don't know how lo/med/hi on my stove translates to degrees).

However, the awesome novelty factor of squirting your pancakes out of a can sort of makes up for the lackluster taste & texture. Just don't mistake this can for the whipped cream when you wander to the fridge for a midnight snack and shoot it straight down your gullet. That'll wake you up right quick.

The next AMAZING DISCOVERY for today is not something I actually discovered. Santa-Grammy Pam brought it to Maren for Christmas but heck, it might as well have had my name on the tag as well for as much as I've played with it.
It's a good thing I love this toy, because that is the only thing that is keeping me from pitching the WHOLE JAR straight into the trash this very second, because Maren just dumped it out again. For the sixth time in about two days. Literally, I had to clean up the beads to take this photo 15 minutes ago and then right after that, she dumped them all out again. This time, outside on the back deck. That earned her a little trip to her bedroom for Time Out, so at least I'm typing in peace.

ANYWAY. Santa brought these awesome pop beads for Christmas. I have played with pop beads before, but never a set that had such pretty colors or interested shapes as these! Included in the set are bracelets, rings, charms, and pendants that you can decorate with the pop beads.

See, aren't they cool? All different shapes, sizes and textures. The label on the jar recommends them for ages 4+ and I agree that Maren is still a little young. She's past the putting things in her mouth stage so I'm not really worried about the choking factor, but it's difficult for her to get the little beads to snap together--she just doesn't quite have the dexterity yet. Also, you might want to make sure your kid is old enough to CLEAN THEM ALL UP without requiring punishment first. That is, unless you enjoy picking up tiny beads from your floor (or deck) over, and over, and over again.