Saturday Finds!

I went garage saleing today and found this awesome chair at the first house I stopped at! I am not sure where I am going to put it but it was only $2 and I just couldn't resist its wonderful greenness. After perusing the rest of the neighborhood and not finding much else other than an overpriced Matryoshka doll that I would have loved to add to my collection, we decided to drive to my sister's neighborhood to pick mulberries. We wanted to make a mulberry pie for my Grandpa for Father's Day. Mmm can't you just taste the combination of the sweet berries and buttery, flaky crust! I can't wait until dessert tomorrow!
Anyway when we got to her neighborhood they too were having garage sales so of course we had to shop some more. Then I found what I would consider to by my best buy. I NEW bike! For myself. I have been wanting one for years but I just didn't want to pay full price for one. This bike was only $20! Normally I wouldn't spend that much on one item at a garage sale but it was brand new! The owner got it for Christmas but had never used it. It still has the size card in the spokes of the front wheel! Yeah! Please pay no mind to the mess on the bench, I have been targeting!
After we were done picking berries I decided I wasn't ready to go home yet & we went to the market down town. Mmm, I love that place! I bought a loaf of kalamata olive & rosemary bread from a local baker, a jar of homemade hot pepper jelly (my fav!) and some homemade butterscotch oatmeal cookies (another fav!) The bread was supposed to be for Father's Day lunch tomorrow but don't tell anyone because I have already had a slice or two!

Update.. It's just too much!

Well I don't have any pics right now but I did manage to clean out the kids closet last week. Now I have a PILE of stuff in the hallway waiting to be sold in a garage sale! I think I am going to do my room this week. Any before pics would be humiliating so I think I'll just stick to after! Check back soon!

3 Cake mixes, 1 dozen eggs, 7 tubs of frosting & 2 brownie mixes later

Yes, that is everything it took to successfully bake for a Spiderman birthday party. I always go all out with the cakes for my kids birthdays. They tell me the theme, we talk about what they want the cake to be & I deliver some pretty fun cakes. This time Elijah wanted a Spiderman birthday. We discussed a few cake options and finally decided on a city scene where spiderman is fighting a bad guy in the midst of buildings made of cake. Simple right! I had the toys for the spiderman & bad guys so all I had to do was make the cake. Well it didn't quite happen as planned.
I baked 3 sheet cakes & cut them up & made "buildings" out of them by layering them. There were 6 buildings in all of various heights. The party was at my sister's house & since she has A/C and we don't I went there the night before to frost & decorate the cake. I finished the base & top layer of frosting & then went home. My plan was to come back in the morning, frost on the windows, make the streets & add Spidey.
8:30 in the morning my sister calls. The conversation went something like this.
A: "What exactly is the cake supposed to look like?" (She wasn't home the night before so didn't see me working on it)

D: "Well, it is several buildings on a street." (My husband had answered the phone)

A: "Um, I think it fell over."

D:(Relaying to me) "The cake fell over" (Back to A) Are you sure you are looking at it right?
Because there are supposed to be buildings on both sides of the street."

A: "No, I am pretty sure it fell over. The tall buildings are laying on the table & one of the
smaller buildings has fallen into the street. Also the icing is falling off the rest of the cakes."

This is what it looked like















It was at this point that I wanted to cry. At first I thought that I might be able to salvage it. But after calling my sister back & talking to her myself I knew that was not going to happen. By this time it was after 9:30. So here I am 3 1/2hrs away from a birthday party & I have no cake. I called my mom to see what she thought & she offered the brownie mixes. I spent the next 2 hours baking brownie cupcakes, which by the way were way better than a chocolate cake. Then I had to figure out how to decorate them in the Spidey theme using only the 2 tubs of frosting I had left & a small tube of black frosting like stuff. So 3 cake mixes, 1 dozen eggs, 7 tubs of frosting & 2 brownie mixes later this is what I ended up with.
And to top it all off it rained the entire time! But despite all the trouble & frustration Elijah had a good time was happy & even though I was disappointed in the cake & the rain, his happiness is really what matters.

It's just too much!

Lately I have really been feeling, well, smothered. There is just too much stuff in our little house! Of course it doesn't help that there are 5 of us living in this little 2 bedroom bungalow. After spending a few too many hours reading some of my favorite blogs over the weekend a strong desire to purge (my house not my stomach) came over me. So I decided to start here, with my kids closet.Yes, there is a closet in there. Of course I have school today so I'll have to wait and start tomorrow (I hope). But as a way to keep me motivated I'll post before & after pics for everyone to see. And when I am done there will be a HUGE garage sale! Wish me luck!

Graduation Day!

Seth graduated from Kindergarten this past week. Seems like just last year Elijah was graduating from Kindergarten. Oh wait he was!! Anyway, when I got home I was going through the pics & came across this one I took of Elijah & Seth. So cute the two of them. But a sudden flash forward twelve years and I am standing at graduation taking this exact same picture again. (Tears welling up just thinking about it.) Hopefully both the boys will be a bit taller, but I am sure just as handsome!

It's raining, it's pooring

Obviously, right. Well it was supposed to storm all morning and well it didn't. Which normally would make me really happy. Although I do like a good thunderstorm. But today was supposed to be Elijah's 8th birthday party. Since the forecast was calling for all sorts of rain & the party was going to be outside, I made the decision to cancel his party & postpone it until next Saturday. Not a drop of rain. All day! The poor child was so disappointed.
So I took him to the store to pick out a new pair of sunglasses that he has been begging me for. Styin' isn't he! Of course I also bought a pair for Seth! He has really been cracking my up lately with his poses.
We also had a special treat from the "Music" (ice cream) truck. We started calling it the music truck when the kids were little so that they wouldn't know what it really was & beg us for ice cream all the time. This is a very special treat since we really only let them buy once a year. This was Kate's first experience buying something from the music truck & she was a tad overwhelmed. Of course there is a little history with that too. She is currently obsessed with the music truck. It comes around our neighborhood at all hours of the day and into the night. She will cry big huge sobbing alligator tears if she hears one and doesn't get to see it. And then if mom or dad doesn't see it too, more tears. So you can imagine that we wanted to put off the discovery of the ice cream truck as long as possible. Because she is also obsessed with food. Always a story right.

I miss Etsy

I so miss Etsy. But with school, subbing, work & family I just haven't had the time to really be a part of it. I just got this delicious fabric in the mail the other day. From Amy Butler's new line.
It is screaming my name saying "Jessica, Jessica, MAKE SOMETHING! NOOOWWW!" My sewing machine is also screaming at me. Only it is saying "puhlease use me. I don't know how much longer I can go on without you."(all while choking back sobbing tears) But the semester is finally over & I have a whopping week before summer term starts. Hopefully during that time I can get my creative juices flowing & crank out some fun stuff! If Kate will let me.

Kate has been having her share of adventures. Getting into all sorts of stuff. From Valentine candy hidden in the cupboard to making mountains of soap bubbles in the bathroom sink to becoming my personal answering service. The fun never ends. I can't wait until the boys are done with school so they can help occupy her. Of course Seth doesn't want to have anything to do with her. If she sits on the couch with him he will get up & move to the other couch. Oh brotherly love.
And no she is not bleeding. Not this time anyway. We made a red velvet cake a couple of weeks ago & she wanted to lick the beaters. I had to take a few pics because it does look she just bloodied her lip.