Our family just got bigger!

Our family just went from 3 to 34!  PK and I decided to get some chicks today.  Some egg layers and some broilers for eating later.  They are so dang cute, peep peeping in their new little home in the basement until it gets a little warmer outside.  Wrigley has even taking a liking to them (hopefully not TOO much of a liking).

We are so excited about our new little additions!

Do you s'pose?

I was talking with someone at work the other day about how there are so many of us with February birthdays.  Then it came to me.... Mother's day is 3 months later.  Or 9 months after Mother's day is February.  he he he

I was asked to make a birthday cake for a surprise birthday party.  Michelle is a volunteer firefighter and dang proud of it.  She is one strong woman!  I went off of the fire theme and made this:

It was yummy!  I piped thickened royal icing into the flames the night before, let them harden, then put them into some added chocolate buttercream.  Oh, and the cake was checkerboard pattern :o)

Birthday Weekend in Wabasha

For my birthday a couple weekends ago, PK wanted to take me to a bed & breakfast in either New Ulm or Wabasha.  We decided on Wabasha, but then found all of the B&B's to be full.  So instead we got a room at the AmericInn.  I love Hwy 60 to Wabasha on the motorcycle and it was equally nice in the Highlander.  We checked out some of the cute mom and pop shops and resaurants.

We went for supper at Slippery's (featured in Grumpy Old Men).  PK leaned over at one point and saw one of his high school teachers.  We then went to the VFW to surprise his son who used to wrestle with PK back in the day.  And we hit up an Irish bar.

 Sunday, we headed to the National Eagle Center.  It was amazing.  If you ever want to take your kids somewhere, go there! You are within feet of bald eagles.  Amazing.  We stayed for an educational class and got to watch one eat a couple rats.  I thought it was so neat to be up close to these beautiful birds.  (PS did you know the biggest bald eagle nest weighed in at 3 tons?)
 

After the eagles we headed to LARK Toys which is largest independent specialty toy store in North America.  They had a handcarved merry go round, that was just beautiful.

 We pit stopped at a couple antique stores, a Greek restaurant in Rochester, and Fleet Farm. :o)  It was such a nice time away from home but so good to get back to my Wrigley. 

More Painting

The stairway to the cold basement has been bright yellow.  Bright ugly yellow.  I've been wanting to get rid of it for awhile, but never made it a priority.  Well, today was finally the day the yellow sunshiny stairway would be no more.

Oh yeah, and did I mention, there is a random hole with elecrical wires?  They lead nowhere.  No light.  No lightswitch.  No nada.  Grrrr.....  There was a railing on both sides of the stairs, so I removed the ones on the left.  Mudded and sanded the holes.  I wanted something neutralish, but didn't really want to go and buy a whole new gallon of paint.  So I used what I had left over from an accent wall in the bedroom..

I hope it isn't going to be too dark.  We'll see.  If I don't like it, I guess I can always repaint.  haha  Story of this house.  Repaint, repaint, repaint.  I think I've painted every room on the main floor.  In the basement, all I have left is the bathroom, hallway, and other kitchen.  I actually like the 2 downstairs bedrooms for color (amazing I know).  Until the next room.....





Duvet Runner

Initially I made the duvet cover a couple months ago.  Just a couple grey sheets sewn together with some pretty stitching.  Well, it was pretty boring.  For New Year's we stayed at Marriott and I noticed the runner at the bottom of the bed.  We've stayed at this hotel chain before and I've noticed it, but now I thought this would be an easy way to add some color to the bedroom.  Well between PK and Wrigley, it's hard to keep things on the bed when sleeping. I decided I would sew it in to the actual duvet cover.  I had some fabric on hand I wanted to use and I was on my way.  Pieced this baby together in a matter of minutes, added some binding, and away we were.  Looks pretty good if I do say so myself!

New Curtains

PK and I were at JoAnn Fabrics Sunday when I spotted this wonderful brown and teal upholstery fabric.  It was on clearance for $9 a yard.  I figured we could use a little more color in the living room (our main colors are browns accented with teal).  I was pretty excited.  After cutting out 5 yards, I found it was only $4.50 a yard! Dang it.  I could have bought more to make pillows or something.  Anyways.....  We just wanted to add 2 side curtains, so I made some to look like the ones I had hanging-tab tops and all.....

Next time, I will rethink tab tops. Making them is a pain!

After making all of the tabs and finishing my edges, it was time to space the tabs out!  Getting closer.....

Finished!  Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

At first I was hesitant putting the 2 patterns so close together but they don't clash too badly.  I love what they add to the living room!



Off to the next project.... I have my heart set on redoing my duvet cover.  Initially I painted the bedroom to go with a quilt my mom was going to make for me.  Greys and mustard yellow.  But it has now been 4 years I think since she had it pieced together. I am not holding my breath on getting it any time soon.  So I'll make my own I guess. Maybe I'll get that in tomorrow.

Taco Cupcakes

Awhile back, we had a taco themed potluck at work.  While taco's can be very easy to potluck for, they are kind of boring.  I thought to myself, what goes with tacos for dessert?  I couldn't really think of anything.  Then, I remembered one of the girls is vegetarian, and tacos aren't really yummy for her.  A lightbulb turned on, how about taco cupcakes??  Yes!  I was having a little bit of trouble figuring out how to make the taco "shell".  After experimenting with thin cake (which when folded, cracked,duh.) I thought of almond bark.  Well, it's not the best tasting thing, but what is close? White chocolate?  Sounds good!  Melted some chips down, added a little bit of food coloring and some oreo cookies crumbled up to give the taco shell look.  Worked for me!  Now, how to make it in the taco shell shape.  I knew that I needed to make them round, but how to make them curved?  So I traced a circle out on some paper as a template, then placed one waxed paper sheet on top, spread out the chocolate mixture, placed another waxed paper sheet on top.  I had some taco shells around for inspiration, so I folded my creation around the shell and put it in the freezer to harden.  Viola! Perfection, couldn't tell the difference between the real thing and my creation.  The darker yellow ones, were the first batch, too much yellow food coloring.

I knew I would use chocolate cake for the "meat" so I crumbed some up and scooped it into my "shells."  But what about toppings?  Gotta have some lettuce - rolled out green airhead candy and then cut thin, and some green fruit roll ups cut thin.  Cheese - Yellow Starburst candies cut thin.  Tomatoes - Red and orange gummy worms chopped up.  Sour cream - white buttercream frosting.  Guacamole - green colored buttercream frosting. 

They were a hit at work.  People did not believe me when I told them they were cupcakes.  We've been talking about them for weeks.  It's been hard to outdo the tacos!