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.

Christmas Fun

As many of us that could, got together at Betsy and Anthony's for Christmas. We had a great time.

My parents opening their gifts.

Kate with her camera. When our family gets together, one must have a camera...for self-defense!

Dale opening his new Beagle wear coat. It's really nice--the nicest he's ever owned!

Betsy gave us pedicures (not the guys). I love the bright red; I usually only use pink.

This is the tag that came with a cute jar labeled "Brownie Points" I give Brownie Points when they do something especially nice. However, once in a while, I take some Brownie Points away. All in good fun. I try not to be a mean mother-in-law.

Betsy helping Lori see if there's enough salt in the mashed potatoes.

A feast fit for a king...and enough to feed his army! We had two hams and two turkeys with all the trimmings.

Anthony smoked a turkey for the first time. Turned out pretty good. The white meat was nice and moist.

Karen made one of her adorable gingerbread houses. (Yep, I got the chocolate door!)

Just hangin' out.


This was in Betsy and Anthony's front yard when we came home from shopping the day after Christmas. Actually, it was already dead and gutted out...and frozen. It was one Jeff shot and was giving to Ben. The neighbor's dog was having a fit behind the fence!

Remember, I try not to post pictures of my little grandchildren on this public blog. I plan to post more pictures on Facebook.

Friday Night Party Time

...or not. Actually, what I did with my Friday evening was go to the nursing home again. I heard that the Amish young people were going to be caroling there. I heard them last year and really enjoyed their singing style, so didn't want to miss out. They lined up in the hall, girls on one side, boys on the other, and sang in their unique way. Once when they were deciding which song to sing next, I asked if they had sung a song last year something about Star of Bethlehem. One of the adult ladies asked if I meant "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem", then she found the page number. Several pairs of eyes looked at me. That was the precise moment I realized that in the Amish community, the person who chooses the song starts each verse of it. Here, I'd thought that was just the way they practiced their songs. The lady had mercy, tho, and started it for me.

Making Christmas Cookies

Ingredients. Looks like we have our work cut out for us.
Oops!

This picture must have been taken early in the day; the kitchen is not yet in utter chaos.

Show that dough who's boss, Kate!

I believe the mincement is supposed to go on the cookie dough...

About this time I was lecturing Kate on the amount of iron found in different brands of molasses. Did you know that gingerbread is pure health food?


That's why I'm making a triple batch.

Kate's creative juices were flowing when she took the frosting bag in hand. She did these to replictate her parents...


...her brother Jeff (the policeman)...

her husband, Josh, the snowmobiler...

And you should have seen the native warriors, Hawaiians, etc. The ones I decorated were quite unimaginative.

Anyone like to stop in for some cookies and hot chocolate or Candy Cane Lane tea?

Cuteness

Shylo likes to use visuals when teaching Bible lessons. (This wasn't supposed to be a movie. Someone had used my camera and left it on movie mode.)

Just a few shots of today

Christmas in our kitchen (where Helper Elm Kate and I will be baking up a storm next week)

...and in the living room (I don't like the looks of these drapes as much as my pretty ruffled flounces from before, but they are much more energy efficient...and you'll see why that's important in some of the following pictures!)

First time we've ever done all white lights. Looks so pretty in real life.

Those mounds are not hills; they are piles of snow. Big piles of snow.

This pathway to the church is pretty much drifted shut by now, I think. Might have to snowshoe over in the morning!

These are snowflakes, not snowballs.

Heavy-duty icicles (middle part of them, anyway)

My little Shylo