Beautiful Music

I was sent a beautiful musical arrangement by Misty and thought that anyone who need a pick-me-up should listen to it. It sure cheered me up Thanks again Misty.

Bikini Bottom Birthday

Welcome to Eric's birthday party. David was the master mind behind the idea of having our party in Bikini Bottom. If you are not familiar Sponge Bob lives in Bikini Bottom. So we had a theme I love a theme then it is easy to decorate. $20 and the dollar store and we had a fun time.

We even had Krabby pattys (home made hamburgers)



The sponge Bob theme continued with a few gag gifts.

This is a moose hitch ball cover. I thought it was so funny.

The real present a Creeper. Eric had been making due with out one but sliding under the car with out one is no fun.

The kids had to try out the creeper too. this may become their favorite toy.

The Cake

I wanted to make a fun cake for Eric. he had been working so hard on my pantry I wanted to have an extra special birthday. I started with a heavy Chocolate Cake and Chocolate fudge butter cream filling. It is a sanding joke that we do something Sponge Bob for Eric's day. one year he got a stuffed sponge Bob toy. This year we went all out on the theme.

I found a colouring (Canadian Spelling) page of Sponge Bob that I enlarged to use as a template.

Then once the crumb coat was on I used fondant and cut out all the parts.

I n hind sight I should have used white icing, the brown was left over so i used it but it made the yellow a little muddy.

Almost done. It still need the outline. now you can see I don't have a steady hand and I have never done this kind of thing before so the outline is goobery. I was surprised the fondant was really easy to work with I will use it again.

Last work day of the long weekend

Eric is still working hard. He has worked all day Friday Saturday and Monday. He is going to need a holiday after the holiday. All the hard work is looking good. I can't wait to getting them in and filled with food storage.

Pantry Reno Continues

Work day not holiday for us. Eric is working so hard to build these shelves for me. He gets to use his new pneumatic nail gun. I think he like that he had an excuse to by a new toy. I came out to help assemble the first shelving unit.
David and Livvy came out to watch. playing is more fun though. They found many ways to amuse them selves.

Cheep, Useful and Cute to boot

Someone was asking about the Bulletin boards I made. I was sure I put them on my blog but I was wrong I put the ideas up on a different page so I pasted a copy here. Sadly since the photo was taken, due to our pantry reno, I had to relocated them to the play room.

In the spirit of sharing I just finished a project that seems to me to fit with the principles of thrift I was reading about in Elder Scott's last talk. I was feeling my house was lacking in colour and a place to put all the pictures my little Livvy and David are drawing. You know be a good mom and display their creations build self worth and confidence. I thought "I need some colourful bulletin boards" so I headed to the home improvement store. I got 2'x2' acoustic ceiling tiles and covered them with fabric. The panels are great. I just nailed right though the front to mount them on the wall and now I have cut bulletin boards for cheap. The tile where about 50cents each and the fabric was about $10 for all 4. I used a staple gun to attach the fabric. It was a quick project with big impact in my kitchen.

Chili

I made the biggest pot of chili ever for our was activity. It filled our electric roster. I put it all together and Eric added the heat.

Eric's Smokey Brisket Ancho Chili

Meat: I use what ever I have hamburger left over ham but we find left over smoked brisket and sausage to be the best. ( We had a hard time finding a sausage that we like here in Texas our favorite is Slovacek's with a pig fave on the package)

1lb of hamburger or what ever meat you want

1 - 28oz. can Baked beans I use Bush's original
1 - 28oz. can diced tomatoes
1 - 15oz. cam of kidney and black bean
1cup frozen or 1 can of corn

Seasoning
1 TBLS Chili powder
for a little extra we added half an Ancho peppers finely chipped(smoked pepper)
Some salt and heat to taste

I guess people liked it after the event it was pretty much gone.

A Daily Challenge

Here is another blog for you all to check out:

adailychallenge.blogspot.com

A group of us take turns thinking of a challenge each day. Anything you can think of. It's fun seeing what everyone comes up with and it's neat to find ways to progress and know that you're doing it with friends (or friends of friends!). We also use it to put up good ideas, recipes, or anything else you want. We want to open it up to more people, so leave a comment if you want me to add you as an author.

A challenge a day keeps stagnation away. (Totally lame, I know!)

Great Men

I was out on Saturday and stopped by the service project the men where at. I got some picture. I am so impressed will all of the brethren in our ward I am sure they have cleaned up hundred of trees since Ike. After watching them work I have a greater appreciation for how hard that work is. Eric has more pictures on his blog.

Day #1 Pantry Storage Reno "all in"

We are all in now. As you can see we are waist deep in dust. We are opening up the wall in our kitchen to better access the storage space under the stairs by installing pull out pantry cupboards. I am already on day 1 wishing there was a cleaner way to do demo work especially in the kitchen. We will keep you posted as we try to get to the point where we have some great food storage cabinets. When I say "we" i mean Eric, he is doing most of the work I am just the one with the crazy idea. Lets hope it works and look good.


We are working with this storage system as a ruff goal.

My Stroler

I think it sounds funny that I am writing about my stroller but I love it. It is a Combi Stroller car seat combo I got when Olivia was born. I found it on a local online classified it was less than 6 months old and about half price just the way I like it. I loved it from day one; the only problem was I was too tall for it. I knew that when I got it but pretty much all the compact strollers are so I thought I can live with it. It really has been a pain so I looked into somehow putting an extension on the stroller. I guess this is not a big problem since there was not anything to be found so I went to the hard ware store and came up with y own solution. Thanks to electrical conduit I can walk with full strides and not hit my feet on the wheels and it only cost $6. I had to sacrifice a little on aesthetics but maybe I can make a cover. Let’s go for a walk!

Now and Then

Olivia is very attached to her little pink stuffed bear. She cries and cries at bed time if she doesn't have it and very morning I have to pry it out of her hands. It used to be really cute. Now it is matted and grubby and much loved. Who know "Pink Bear" would be such a hit. Thanks to Rhonda who works with Eric for Livvy's favorite thing. I knew she was too attached when, yesterday, I told Olivia it was nap time and the first thing she said was "bear bear" and would only settle down when she hugged her bear. I wish I could revive Pink Bears looks it always looks so dirty even after being washed.