There Are Some Things One Is Better Off Not Knowing

Did you know you can satisfy your craving for chocolate cake within 5 minutes? This is called "Cake in a Mug" (or something like that). I got the recipe somewhere online.
Mix together:
4 T. flour
4 T. sugar
2 T. cocoa
1 egg
3 T milk
3 T. oil
2-3 T. chocolate chips (Recipe says they are optional. Can they be serious???)
Small splash vanilla

Spray inside of mug with pan spray; fill with batter. Microwave for 3 minutes.

Caroline's Birthday Cake

This cute cake was made by Betsy for Caroline's 4th birthday. Caroline got the top tier all to herself, the middle tier went to my parents, and we all did our best to devour the bottom tier! Caroline had requested a strawberry cake with My Little Ponies. I think it's adorable. And it was delicious!

Very Little Progress

I've added a bit more trim. The rest (if I decide to use it) will not go on until after the shingles are on. Then I just have the inside work to do. It will be several days before I can get to it again. Busy week coming.

Global Warming

We have a fair amount of snow this winter. When I was standing on top of this pile, I was about eye level with the roof of our house. Read recently that February is the snowiest month. My, oh my!

Building Progress

The dollhouse is coming along. I decided to do it all white, with oak porch and black shingles. (No, the shingles are not on yet. Just painted so far.) Next work session will be preparing the gingerbread trim and installing it when ready. That will really change the looks of it. It will look more like a house than a church then.

The Orchid Dollhouse

A few days ago, I started building the dollhouse for this summer's VBS.


First, find the parts needed to start with.

My least favorite part...sanding. Not wild about painting the little parts, either.

The directions said to prepare all the window parts first, then put them on the proper pieces of the house--before putting the walls together. Well, I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish the interior woodwork, so I just pulled out the parts for the exterior. Then I got to thinking about how I usually tape the houses together until the glue sets. Just wouldn't work if the windows were already installed. Scratch that plan. Dig out the basic structure pieces.


Glue and tape. I was out of masking tape, so had to use painter's tape. Note to self: Next time, make sure to have masking tape before starting.


A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...


Add dormers and gable.



There will eventually be shingles on the roof (Yuck! I hate shingling). This black paint is just to hide spaces that may show up between.





A few of the windows ready to go on when the outside walls are painted.

That's it for the first three days. Of course, that's not three steady days worth of work. Just what I could get done in the time I had. Right after I took the picture of the house on it's side and weighted with stuff from the cupboards, our CERT team had its first run, so off I went to stand outside in 4 degree (not including wind chill) weather. I was pleased when I arrived home about 5 hours later and saw the house still standing as I'd left it.

Spring Fever

I received some gift certificates to Gurney's Seed Co. for Christmas, and today I placed my order. Lots of seeds and bulbs will soon be on their way to Frederic!!! How am I ever going to wait for gardening time???

Here We Go Again...

This is the dollhouse kit I will soon be starting to put together. It will be one of the prizes for VBS this summer. (The one I made last year was a big hit.) I'm trying to decide what colors to use. Maybe a mint with white trim and some accent color. I don't know. Any suggestions?

Pirated Pictures

Betsy and Kate talked me into having highlights put into my hair. Let me tell you, I was very nervous about this; they were enjoying it all too much.


This picture does NOT show the true color. When the light shines on it, it is much, much, much lighter and reminds me of....
CARROTS! I plan to make it dark again later this week. (Pictures from Kate's blog)



And I know you're all wondering about "The Snake". This picture, taken from Betsy's blog, shows where the little critter appeared. Guess Betsy was a 'bit' surprised. She then carried it in her purse, looking for an opportunity to pass it to the next unsuspecting victim, but Karen spotted it and sounded the alert. Now Betsy is stuck with it until the next gathering. Hmmm, I wonder if that was what prompted her invitation to come down for Caroline's birthday later this month???

Well, 2009 is off to a frustrating start. I'm having trouble getting caught up with things after all the holiday fun. Not due to laziness, but circumstances beyond my control (mostly). Things are starting to come together though, so hopefully I won't feel so snowed under before long.