Busy, Busy

What can really be said? Anyone who is home with kids in the summer knows that they will be kept hopping. We dog sat for a friend. And I made some bookmarks with a new stamping set I got from Papertrey Ink.

I made a bunch of cookies for the Indiana State Fair. I haven't entered in years, and now I can remember why. I was on my feet all day long trying to get things made, iced, packed, stored, tagged, entered, labeled, recipes added, etc...

I also knit a few things. Seth will agree to model for me , for a small fee. You'd think room and board would be enough, but no such luck. I made a cowl with yarn from Mountain Colors, the colorway is appropriately named "Crazy Woman". I am going to make matching fingerless mitts and a hat from this yarn, too. I don't want to be sportin' mismatched knits this winter

And I made a hat from Plymouth Mushishi. The best thing about the Mushishi is that it is sold in a huge skein, almost 500 yards. So, you can get plenty of knitting done from just one skein and don't have to worry about dye lots.

School starts in a few days and as happy as I am for some alone time, I am not happy that the boys will need to be at school at 7:15 in the morning. It is way, way too early for anyone to be awake and ready to go.

It's My Birthday

Yes, today is my birthday! There probably isn't another day in the year that I like more than my birthday. I think it is because we never did much for my birthday when I was growing up. I got a store bought cake and a small present. Later on we could pick whether we wanted a present or $25.00. I always took the money so I got a card with money in it, and no presents.

I know it might sound greedy, but as an adult I am all about the presents, both in gving them for other people's special days receiving them on my own. I had lunch with friends this week and got some Swedish Fish. Mmmm, I love them so. They were from my friend Nana who also made me a carrot cake for my birthday. One of my favorite cakes! There is no better way to get a serving of vegetables.

Last night I had a little party with my best girlfriends and I got flowers, a gift card, a travel case and a bag in my favorite color (lime green) and a collage made just for me. I love my birthday celebrations with friends. I have no idea what my family may or may not do today. We all slept in and are having a very quiet day and I am satisfied so far.

I went to a fancy tea store this week and bought some loose leaf tea, which I promptly handed over to Scott for my birthday. He didn't do anything with it, just left it sitting out. When I woke up today I thought I would make myself a cup of teas, but I couldn't find the tea. He must have taken it and wrapped it!

My friend Steph gave me the flowers, which gave her quite a conumdrum. She couldn't decide if I liked flowers or not. Seriously? What girl doesn't want flowers?! She wondered if in my frugality I would find them wasteful. Heck, no! Of course, I would never want a big expensive bouquet from a flower store, knowing I would rather have that kind of money spent on something else. But a tasteful arrangement? Perfect! I love it! I never get flowers, so this is extra special to me.

I did some baking this week, and made a big pile of cookies, which my family managed to quickly eat down. I never meant to put off blogging this long, but the kids won't let me have access to the computer once they are home. Maybe I should distract them with more baked goods and make a run for rthe computer when they aren't looking.

Card Day for My Momma

My mother generally wants everything I make. This can be a blessing or a curse. Mostly I think of it as a curse since I have to hide things when she comes over, or she'll ask for them. I should feel happy that she is interested in what I do, but I often feel that she is only interested in what she can get out of it. The whole "What's in it for me" mentality.

She is now often asking about cards, so for her birthday which isn't for 6 more weeks, I am trying to make her some cards. She does not have the ability to know the difference between simple cards and complex cards, so I do not feel bad making a lot of fairly easy cards for her.

I made the monograms from a Papertrey Ink set, Trajan Monograms. I bought 25 4.25x5.5 inch cards with a 50% off coupon from Joann's. That means I got 25 cards and envelopes for $3.00. I cannot decide which monogram set I like best so I made some of each. If you have a clear favorite or an opinion about the cards, let me know. The paper is from Cloud Nine and the scallop punch is from Marvy Uchida (yellow) and the scalloped paper is Bazzill Bling.

My husband's office employs about 15-20 people at any one time, depending on staffing. I used to make everyone a dozen cookies for Valentine's Day, but haven't for several years. I found cookie tins on sale at Wal Mart a while back for 75% off and they don't look overwhelmingly Christmasy. I bought them and plan to fill them with cookies again for everyone at the office.

The problem now is that so many are married and have 3-4 children, that I'll have to make enough cookies so the larger families can have more than a dozen to take home. This is Noah eating his favorite cookie, a Snickerdoodle. I baked about 13 dozen snickerdoodles this week and froze them for later. Well, I froze 11 dozen of them and let my family eat the ugly ones. Next up to bake will be Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter. I'll post the Snickerdoodle Recipe . It is originally from Crisco.

Snickerdoodles

2 cups Shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)

3 cups Sugar

4 Eggs

5 cups Flour

4t Cream of Tartar

2t Baking Soda

1t Salt

Cinnamon Sugar (2 T sugar and 1-2 t cinnamon mixed together)

Mix shortening and sugar till combined. Add eggs into the mix, one at a time. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Roll into golf ball sized balls and roll in cinnamon sugar to coat cookie balls, place onto a cookie sheet and bake at 400 F for aboout 12-14 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2- 3 minutes before removing to countertop to finish cooling.