Sometimes You Just Have To...

I wanted to share some photos with you as a reminder that even though our kids do things that are frustrating, sometimes you just have to laugh!  Before I get too upset about something, I try to remember to ask myself a few things.  Is it hurting anyone?  In the grand scheme of things, is this a real problem?  Did my daughter have fun?

Yes, there was an entire roll of toilet paper on the floor, but she worked so hard at it.  Is it really going to hurt to have to grab pieces of toilet paper out of a grocery bag to use up the roll?  (Yes, this means I did not waste the roll, thank you very much!)

Maybe she was truly concerned that Woody wanted mashed potatoes or that Donkey was hungry for the dirt that is in the pot of a plant in my living room?

                

My daughter didn't do any of this in defiance, she is just learning, experimenting, exploring, and imagining.  Don't get me wrong, there is an ounce (and sometimes more) of frustration that creeps up for a few seconds, but again, lets remember what is really important.  Don't sweat the small stuff.  Toilet paper can be saved and used out of a grocery bag, Woody can be wiped off, and Donkey can be thrown in the wash, which took my less than a minute of my time in each situation, but I can't even begin to fathom the fun that my daughter was creating in her head when she was doing these three things!

Until Next Time,

Blair

Happy Accidents

Everyday I try to make environmentally friendly choices for my family.  One of the consistent ways we go about this is by composting.  We have a small container on our kitchen counter.  You can purchase elaborate contraptions at the store with charcoal filters and nicely sealing lids, but the flip lid plastic container that has a latch lock works just fine for us.  There is no need for the charcoal filters because we empty it every couple of days depending on how fast it fills it up.  

In goes our coffee grounds and filters, egg shells, and any other fruit and veggie scraps that we create.  One rule I follow is absolutely no animal fats!  

This is our compost pile.  This aspect is more my husbands department, unless our container on the counter needs emptying and he is not home.  He adds yard waste like pine needles, leaves, hops, and grass clippings. Every now and then he tosses it with a large pitch fork.  He made it out of wood scraps and placed it in the back corner of our yard.  It does not have a bottom so the worms can get into it and help along the process.  Before you know it, you have beautiful, nutrient rich soil for your garden.  Every spring and sometimes fall, depending on how full our compost pile is, we empty it into our garden. My husband tills it in to the existing soil and it creates a nice fresh bed to plant seeds and seedlings.

Every year we end up with at least one happy accident.  This is what I call it when seeds from our compost pile do not decompose and they end up growing in our garden the following year.  My in-laws bought our daughter a small pumpkin for Halloween last year and after the holiday we dumped it into the compost pile.  Sure enough, this year we had pumpkin pie pumpkins growing in our garden.  Sure, they aren't expected in my nicely planned out garden, but how could I get rid of the little seeds that could?!

This year we also had acorn squash grow from last year's garden scraps.

I'd love to hear what kind of things you compost.  Maybe I'll learn a thing or two.  Happy composting to you all.

Until next time,

Blair

Fun With Baking

I am not a professional baker by any means, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun with my baked goods when I'm decorating.  I try out new recipes when I make small cakes and cupcakes, but if I am making a large cake, I use the same white cake mix every time.  So, to add a spark, even though it is very yummy cake, I get creative with the decorating.  Here are some pics of cakes and cupcakes I have made in the past.  Remember, your first taste is with your eyes!

To start out any decorating project, I plan, whether it is with ideas I have previously seen, pictures or sketches.  Then I execute, but I always stay open to changes.  Not every idea works out perfectly, so I try to go with the flow.

The first thought that I have is if there is a theme for the event the cake is for.  This was the cake I did for my nephew's Star Wars birthday party.  They brought me the figures and I we went from there.

Is your baked good for a holiday?  Google images and look up ideas in books.  The possibilities are endless.  This is my twist on the bunny feet idea from "Hello, Cupcake" by: Karen Tack & Alan Richardson - Rabbit Holes.  I added the Peeps.  Have fun and play around.

Try new recipes.  This is the Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake (A Martha Stewart Recipe-January 2006 issue).  Keep in mind, if you are doing a specialty cake, use something that is in the recipe to decorate the baked item.  It is a simple, yet elegant idea.  This cake has hazelnut liquor in it so it is topped with candied hazelnuts.

Another idea is to keep in mind the age of a person if your baked good/goods are for a birthday party.  This is my dad's 62nd birthday cake.  I google age 62 and realized he was eligible for Social Security, so I thought I would make his cake comical and decorate it with a Social Security card.  Other mile stones are 16, 18, 21, 30, 40, etc.  Think outside the box!

Here is a birthday cake for my mother-in-law.  You can't go wrong with icing flowers, so pretty.  A trick I learned from my mother, you can build the icing rose around the tip of a pencil and then lift it off with scissors and then place it on the cake.  That makes it super easy!

Another way that you can't go wrong is using fresh items like fruit or flowers.  Keep the icing plain and just add some produce or some flowers to the top and/or sides.  Would you guess that this was a red velvet cake?  I made this for a Memorial Day picnic at my brother's house.

Last but not least, this is the first large scale cake I ever made.  It was for my daughter's first birthday party and it was pink themed.  I wasn't sure how well my decorative icing skills would be on a large scale, even though one of my jobs in and after high school was at Dairy Queen.  (Where I used to decorate ice cream cakes.)  It was so long ago and they were usually fairly simple.  I was making sugar cookies for the party favors, so I decided to add a few more cut outs to the batch.  I kept it simple and it ended up perfect!

Always look for ideas, everywhere!  There are pieces to your puzzle everywhere you look.  Keep a notepad with you or even take snapshots to remind you of ideas you like.  I always say that copying is the most sincere form of flattery, just remember to give credit where credit is due!

Until next time,

Blair