My belated Blogiversary

I suck. I can't keep track of other people's anniversaries (well at least I sent a facebook message to my bestie at 11:55pm on the day of her 13th wedding anniversary), let alone one of mine I should have remembered!!!



Saturday was my Blogiversary!!!! Yep, one whole year of you guys reading up on what's going on in my sweatshop (aka basement sewing room), and what my crazy family has been up to.

I really appreciate all of you who read, stalk, and even leave a comment or two. It's flattering to know that people actually read this crazy blog (although it's not really all that hard - I don't blog as much as I should!)

It's been one year..... 91 followers and about 60 posts (there may be one or two in there that never got posted though - I may have been too embarrassed of the picture, or the content - I am known to get on the computer after a good night with a few drinks in me!)

People usually do something to comemorate special days like these.... I'm just thinking of doing a little giveaway. Ok, keep that under your hat, and keep an eye out for a post from me announcing a giveaway.

It'll be a little after the fact, but, hey, it already is!

Deal of all Deals!!!

I have ALWAYS wanted tall, high-heeled boots. But, those of you who join me in the "beefy calf club" probably share the same problem: most of the time, the boots don't even zip over my calves! I have admired many a pair, only to be disappointed when I tried them on.
I took a little evening shopping trip sans children last friday - it was pure bliss. I went to the local Sears, hoping to find a dress that I had seen in the catalogue (more on that below), and ran across these in the shoe department:

I've gotten to the point where I don't even bother trying on this type of boot anymore, since they don't usually fit my calves. BUT, there was a super sale! as you can see, they were 1/2 price!!! They obviously aren't top of the line, leather boots, but for that price, they were worth taking a shot......... THEY ZIPPED UP!!!!! It took a little prodding and tucking of the calf area, but it all closed and didn't look ridiculous once they were on (you, know, "muffin top" of the legs is NOT pretty!). The ones I tried on were the LAST size 9's in black, BUT, they had a couple marks on them. Not sure what it is, but it's not super noticeable, and may come out if I buff it with a soft cloth. So, since they had a defect, they were an extra 10% off! BONUS!!! In all, I got 60% off these great boots. After taxes, I paid $40 and change for them. I'd say that's a good find!
My mom is getting married in 3 weeks. (aren't they cute? It makes you just want to start singing, "a little ditty about Jack and Diana..... ) It is a casual event where "casual western wear" is encouraged. I.don't.do.western. Sorry. I know cowboy boots are in style, but they have just never been my style. So, I'm looking for an outfit that is casual, yet somewhat dressy, but not too dressy, since my mom will be wearing a peasant shirt and skirt with cowboy boots. I must not outdress the bride! I've ordered a dress from Sears that I think would be super cool (Yeah, Sears, again, they should be compensating me for this blog post!). I was leafing through one of their smaller catalogues that came that other day, and I just STOPPED and STARED when I saw it. I can't find it online right now, so a picture will have to wait... I'll let you know what I think of it - it will be delivered tomorrow!

*******UPDATE************** ok, so it's not a great picture, I ended up having to scan the page from the catalogue. It's all folded and crinkly because I've been carrying it around in my coat pocket to ask people's opinions on whether I should order it or not. Here it is: Those of you who know me personally, and have seen my wardrobe, it's a no-brainer which one I chose..... of course the teal one!!! It will be available for pick-up at the Sears location today, but I can't get it today!!! Stupid late meetings!!!! So, I'll have to wait one more day to pick it up and try it on. Wish me luck! My next purchase may be some foundation garments (aka girdle of steel) to make it all look good on me!

(By the way - I'm wearing the boots today to break them in! Oh, who am I kidding, breaking them in, I just couldn't wait! I'm like a kid wearing new clothes the second they get home and out of the bag!)

***************update concluded.... continue on.......********************

Plans are underway for the rest of the family's wedding attire. I'll be sewing Sweetie's dress, and putting a western touch on a plain white dress shirt for Monkey. Mac and I need to go shopping for his outfit - we'll see what we can find for him, since he normally doesn't do western either!

Have a wonderful day!

Birthdays aplenty (and a link to a GREAT dino cake idea!)

Late June and early July are busy around our household, full of cakes, cupcakes, presents, pool parties, and lots of fun. Here's a rundown of our 2010 summer birthday season:

This is what 4 looks like:

Monkey is all decked out on his birthday, ready for his first day of summer program. (all of a sudden, he thinks wearing his hat sideways is cool - we let him, just because he's so cute) He was late getting to summer program because he had to open his presents first...

.....and play (quite vigorously) with the foam swords in Mommy and Daddy's bed!

(I feared for my camera - and my life during this epic battle!) That hairy arm holding the other sword is Mac's, not mine - I felt like I needed to clear that up!

This is what 7 looks like:

.... all hopped up on a sugar high at her "school friends" birthday party. We held the party on the last day of school so I could just walk them all across the street from the school to our backyard for some fun.

And here's a good dose of what 35 looks like:

Mac is now 35 years old - now on the slippery downward slope towards 40! We had a great steak dinner with salad, corn on the cob and potato skins, and topped it off with a homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. mmm mmm mmmmmmm, it was YUMMY!!!

I searched Allrecipes.com for a carrot cake and icing recipe, and I found these: (it turned out so well, I thought I'd share it with you!)

Cream cheese frosting recipe

Carrot Cake recipe - I left out the walnuts, although I do love them. Sweetie just doesn't like finding "crunchy things" in her cake. I also cut back the oil and replaced 1/3 cup with some applesauce. I would have used more applesauch and less oil, but I didn't have as much applesauce in the house as I thought I did (unless I wanted to get into the single serve lunch pack style ones!)

Mac was pretty impressed that I made the whole cake from scratch - I usually make other cakes with the mixes - they just come out so well, and are so quick. There's lots left in the fridge, and I'm looking forward to another piece for dessert tonight! (and then I'll have to play my weekly 2-pitch baseball game... I'll be more sluggish around the bases than usual!)

The "Extended Family" Birthday Party:
Our kids' birthdays are 5 days apart (well, 3 years, 5 days, to be exact!), so we usually combine the birthday party we throw for our extended family (hey, only feed them once and get it over with!) This year, we planned it far in advance because we had to work around our camping, and other people's vacations. When it got closer to the date, it turned out the World Cup final game was going to be on that day as well! AND, being of Dutch descent, there was no way we'd be missing the game! So... we turned it into a World Cup/Birthday party. We went all hillbilly and brought the tv out on the deck, so we wouldn't miss a thing. (Hillbilly 'cuz we also have a mini-fridge on our deck - not a streamlined, modern one, it's brown, with fake woodgrain on the door. Yeah, it's awesome) We have a pvr, so I told everyone we could pause the game for presents and cake, if need be! (so thoughtful, huh?)
We invited everyone to wear ORANJE and cheer on the Dutch national team. Mac celebrated the event with a Heineken and his "fan" shirt. (he's of Scottish descent, but was willing to cheer on the Dutch since he realized his kids are 1/2 dutch - what a dork!) I think he was willing to do it because I'm the boss and I told him to! ;)

In the end, the Dutch did not win, which was a bit of a letdown, but the party had to go on....

Both Sweetie and Monkey were presented with Dutch jerseys to wear, but by the end of the day, Monkey ended up in this Transformers shirt. (He must have been trying to "masculinize" a bit, since Sweetie is painting his nails here - although the nail polish was blue - that's ok for boys, right?)

So here's what I REALLY wanted to show all of you out in blogland:

Monkey's "Dino Dig" Cake!
My monkey is sooooo into Dinosaurs! He tells everyone he meets that when he grows up, he wants to be a "Fossil Digger". He's THAT kid who can rhyme off the names of all the dinosaurs - yeah, all the oddball ones that no one has heard of, like the Corythosaurus. On my hunt to find just the right dinosaur cake idea, I came across this one on Disney's Family Fun Magazine website. I knew it was perfect for our future fossil digger! It's super easy, and can be modified to your own taste, as I did. It originally called for chocolate graham cracker pieces all around the edges (just like jagged rocks), but I couldn't find any, so I made T-rex teeth out of leftover sugar cookie dough to line the outside. Please pardon the messy icing job around the edges, it was decorated after midnight the night before (as most of my cakes are made around that time!) He thought the cake was AWESOME. I thought so too (if I may say so myself!).

So, tell me, how do you celebrate birthdays at your house?

questions.....

I've got some questions for you.... (it's going to be a very strange post, jumping from subject to subject)

1. What time of the day should I excercise?
Ok, so I've always had a great reason NOT to excercise, be it no time, no energy, kids will bug me, etc etc etc.... but I really need to get going!!! I have a perfectly good (read: really great) treadmill in the basement. It was bought for me shortly after my ectopic pregnancy surgery in 2005. I felt the need to finally, really get in shape before we started trying to get pregnant again. So, I used it... um, like maybe 3 times in the following weeks. We moved it to our new house (3 years ago), and Brad mentioned that it was a BEAST to move!!! Again, I've used it like, maybe 4 times in the last 3 years (pretty sad, eh?). Brad has been trying to sell it, but luckily the guy who wanted it no longer wants or needs it, so the hope is still there for me to use it. So here I go again, full intentions of using it.... but WHEN???? Here are my options, and why they don't work for me:
Morning - ummmm, do you know me? I am NOT a morning person. I wake up JUST in time to do the absolute basics and get us out the door! (I usually shower at night for that reason!)
After work - we get home, and I get started right away on supper. If I do a workout first, we won't eat until 6:30pm.... the reason why I love getting home at 4pm is because we get a good, homecooked meal on the table, usually around 5:30, and then the kids have time after dinner to play, homework, bath, etc. I don't want to get into the crazy rush we had when I worked later and got home at 5:30!
After supper - I've just eaten!!!
Later in the evening - (kids are in bed by 8pm, but can't be trusted not to play/sing/read books/cry for water/etc until about 9 or 9:30pm) It's a proven fact that if you want to get any sleep at all, you shouldn't excercise before bed (and boy don't I know it - those 10pm baseball games in the summer get me all riled up, and I'm up until at least 1pm before I consider sleep!)
So there you have it, another list of reasons why I can't excercise. What do you think? Can you find a pocket of time I haven't considered that would work? Or just tell me to suck it up and do it!!! Comments please!!! :)

2. What is a good boy's valentine gift?
So, I'm hoping to be the "crafty mom" and make little valentine gifts for each of Sweetie's classmates (maybe Monkey's too, if I get going on it soon!), and I'm stumped for boys. For the girls, I'm planning on making some cute little barrettes covered in felt and fun stuff (you'll have to wait for that post to see them), so just something small, you know? But what to do for the boys? Out in crafty blogland, there are so many cute things for girls, but the choices for boys are so limited! If you have some ideas, I'd love to hear them!

3. What cake should I make for Deawna's birthday?
My little niece on the Bos side is turning one in February (yay for Deawna!!!), and I'm honoured (and very nervous) to be able to make her birthday cake! My sister in law asked me to make something for her birthday party, and a cupcake specially made for Deawna to tear apart on her own! I found some great cake pans at the second hand store a while ago, and I've been dying to use them! It's a set of 3 square cake pans, perfect for a mini wedding cake style cake. But now I'm stumped (and did I mention nervous!?!) to pick out the type of cake, decoration, style, etc!!! What do you think I should do?

So, these are my dilemmas of the day. Sorry I had no pictures in this post, but I'd rather not show pictures of me to prove why I need to excercise (and as if there are any pictures of me - I take all the pictures, so I'm never in them!), and I don't have pictures of boy valentines gifts because that's what I'm looking for, and, of course, no cake pictures because that's also what I'm looking for....

Please help!!!!