When the Hubby Helps

Sometimes, my husband is a little ....

...ummm.....

how do I describe him?

Let me count the ways...

Silly?

Crazy?

Entertaining?

Free spirited?

He's

indescribable

and

undefinable.

But, I fell in love with him,

and the kids like having him around,

so that makes him a keeper.

And when he helps in the kitchen

while being silly,

it makes it even better.

Yea, that's my Chex bowl, but it works for cupcakes, too.

Much to the chagrin of all my food-blogging friends,

I used box mixes for making cupcakes for Graduation.

And, I'm not hiding that fact.

I was running out of time and energy while planning and preparing.

Hubby knew  was a little stressed.

He doesn't like me stressed.

Only he calls it crabby.

Ouch.

So, he became a man of action.

He ripped into my box mixes and started throwing ingredients together.

When he started schlepping the dough into my

color-coordinated mini cupcake papers,

I was a little worried.

I wanted the cupcakes to be the perfect size

for decorating and displaying in my cupcake holders.

I don't like drizzled splotches on the edges of my muffin pans.

I don't like lopsided cupcakes.

I tried to give him a few pointers,

and he politely pointed me out of the kitchen.

Nobody likes a backseat  cook,

especially Mr. P.

I knew it!

Without my advice,

my tips,

my ideas,

my superior way of doing things,

they turned out fine.

That always happens.

Sometimes wives don't have enough confidence in their husbands.

We think they should do things around the house,

but do things our way.

(OK - you all know I'm talking about myself,

but nobody wants to be wrong alone,

so I'm inviting you along.)

It takes a mature woman to

let go

and let her husband

help

in his own way.

YES, it still IS help

if your hubby doesn't do it YOUR way. 

I ended up eating humble pie,

while Mr. Scott sampled one of his

"perfect"

mini cupcakes.

Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes,

ready to go into the freezer

to decorate the afternoon of the open house.

They're cooled and placed in Tupperware containers,

with layers of waxed paper between.

They can be frozen for several months.

I used about half for Graduation,

half for company desert a few weeks later.

To show he's not gloating over his success,

he made a smiley face for me.

And, he made me smile.

The day of our celebration, I took the cupcakes out of the freezer.

I had purchased butter cream frosting from a party store

with a cake decorating kiosk in the back.

It was the same price as the tubs in the store,

but tastes delicious!

I used the gel food colorings to make the frosting

pink, purple and yellow.

A large swirl tip was chosen, the bag filled,

and with a quick, continuous swirl,

the cupcakes were frosted.

No perfection allowed in my house anymore,

I have to choose the more red-neck affirmation of

"get 'er dun!"

I didn't get a close-up of the cupcakes,

so click on the pic to enlarge and see them more clearly.

Thanks to Mr. P's uncoached help in the kitchen,

the cupcakes were a hit.

We "got 'em dun!" ~

his way.

When A List Isn't Enough...

I like lists.

No, I love lists.

I love writing them out.

I love checking things off.

I love rewriting the lists when they begin

to look too sloppy to be inspiring.

Most of the time,  a list works for organizing my life.

Sometimes,  I use several lists on a clipboard~

~like ~

Things To Do

Things To Buy

Things To Cook

Things To Pack

Preparing for a a Graduation Open House

sent me way past the usefulness of

Clipboard With Lists.

I went for the Big Gun I named ~

~Command Central~

.

Using a huge tray from IKEA,

I first wrote out days of the week on Post-It notes

and stuck them across the top.

You can see why the pressure was building,

I only had five days left,

and many, many, many things to do.

Each task to complete or item to buy

was written down and placed under the column of the day

I thought it should be done.

The white notes were mini-lists,

like all that needed to be cleaned in the dining room

and other things I don't remember,

and the print is too small on the picture to read.

Double-click on pic if you care what I was doing.

When a chore was completed, it was crossed off

and labeled with the name of the hero that completed the task.

At the end of the day, 

uncompleted tasks were moved over to the next column.

By the final day, only a few things had to be eliminated

from the list because we couldn't get them done.

Because the whole list was in view for the entire family,

everybody knew what needed to be done

and what they were capable of doing.

It also kept me from nagging and brought peace in the house.

Even my Type B "I'll-Do-It-Tomorrow" hubby

enjoyed completing a few tasks and  crossing them off

the first day

Command Central was established.

 I loved involving the whole family

in preparing for a special occasion,

and having a list that was flexible.

I think my family loved it because it kept me from

nagging...

...but they can't admit that in public,

because they don't blog.

So, I'll say it for them.

Anything that relieves stress for Mommy

is a success in our house.

What organizational victories have you had

while planning special events for your family this summer?

Think Inside the Box

When I saw these adorable boxes at Cash&Carry....

...I just had to buy them.

Then, I had to think
inside the box.

What could I fill them with for our graduation open house?

So, I bought all this,

divided it into these,

and cooked it in this.

Years ago I sent in enough box tops to get a microwave bowl

with the Peanuts gang and the Chex logo on it,

the perfect size to make one batch.

But after years of making pounds of the stuff,

the bowl literally burned in the microwave.

Now, the vintage Pyrex bowl  from my

sister-in-law Nita works perfectly.

It's my new "Chex Bowl."

Beka and I made eight batches.

Our tradition is to cut open a paper bag to cool the mix on.

Of course, I don't always follow the recipe. 

I love using Bugles and colored Goldfish.

I also double the amount of seasoned salt and Worcestershire sauce.

Then we decorated with flowers I cut out using my new Cuddlebug.

After the mix was cooled, I put 3/4 cup into a fold-top sandwich bag

and sealed it with a twisty tie before putting it in the boxes.

(The zipper type bag didn't fit into the box.)

I put the filled boxes into a cardboard box and put it in my freezer.

Chex mix doesn't mold but gets stale, 

so I always make it ahead of time and keep it in the freezer.

Other than just being adorable,

having snacks in packages helps feed a crowd quickly.

I needed to keep the food line moving.

With a perfectly sized portion, there wasn't any waste.

The extra boxes were taken to the end-of-the-year softball party.

Score again!

Because they were so fun to use,

I want to keep these boxes on hand for other special treats,

but I need more inspiration.

Think~

what would you put

inside the box?

Flowers Always Fade

I love decorating with flowers.

Whether they're fresh, printed on fabric,

or cut out of paper, they always bring color and sunshine to any decor.

They also preach a sermon to my heart,

based on I Peter 1:24-25

"...the grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Flowers and this verse is my favorite combination

 for a craft for Daily Vacation Bible School.

 

Because I had "Wasted Not and Wanted Not",

There were mountains of flowers, one inch circles and mortarboards

that needed to be crafted into Graduation decorations.

My dining room table was gloriously covered.

Inspiration  usually comes to me in a messy way,

not a neat, organized way.

I need to spread out all my stuff and look at it.

Then, I begin creating.

One of the things I created for Thanksgiving last year was a

Thankful Garland.

After the holidays, I left up the grapevine along the mantle, 

assuming I would decorate for each holiday or season.

It had been empty since Thanksgiving,

but it was time to change that.

Flowers were layered and glued together with gluestick.

Since I wasn't going to reuse the flowers,

(psst....please don't tell my relatives)

I just used blue painter's tape to hold paper clips down.

No special reason to use this tape,

just it was the only one I could find at the time.

My family has this thing for using my tape.

On one side of the fireplace mantle,  the graduate's name,

on the other side flowers that spelled out 2011.

I just printed out the letters on a Word document,

then used my one inch punch.

(has a peek-a-book top so you can see what you're punching)

Little take-out boxes from Cash&Carry were decorated for Chex Mix.

(more on this later)

Mini-cupcakes were decorated with homemade floral picks.

As I was cleaning up after Graduation,

I had a handful of these beauties in my hand,

while hearing those warring voices in my head~

"Save them, you might need them."

"Don't save them, throw them out. You save too much."

"You might need them...."

"You'll never need them....."

I boldly threw them out,

because

I could.

But, I shouldn't have.

I hadn't taken any close-up pics.

I'm have to use my words to illustrate.

But, I just used 2 one inch circles,

glued on a small flower

and a mortarboard on one side,

and glued a toothpick between them.

I used Elmer's glue so it would be flat.

Hot glue can make things lumpy.

For some of the picks I used pics of Grace in her cap,

but she didn't like them.

I loved them.

I think she's beautiful.

We celebrated the graduations of other friends

by posting their announcements and pictures on a prominent wall.

The flowers were bright, festive and made Grace's graduation party so beautiful.

But, after all that work, they were thrown away.

I know, what a waste.

But, from now on,

may flowers always preach this silent sermon

to your heart.

I Peter 1:24-25

"...the grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Waste Not Want Not

In my last blog, I talked about my Gramma,

saver of the thumbtacks.

Gramma and Grandpa lived in a small town in

ND and raised three children together.

If they needed something

but didn't have the money,

they didn't buy it,

even if it was food they needed.

The government never bailed them out,

bought them clothes, food or shelter.

They planted gardens,

sewed clothing from feed and food sacks,

hunted, fished and bartered.

If my Grandma had a scrap of fabric, it went toward a quilt.

If she had more than an inch of yarn,

it went towards an afghan.

If she shortened a slip,

she would carefully roll up the trimmed fabric

and tie it with a bit of leftover thread.

My ancestors could pinch a penny so hard,

they made a booger come out of Lincoln's nose.

They epitomized the saying,
Waste Not Want Not.

So, when I'm crafting, the generational burden of frugality weighs heavily upon me.

Decorating for Grace's Graduation was a challenge.

I knew I wanted to use my new Cuttlebug, an embossing and die cut machine

 I purchased  this year with a 40% off coupon.

After Grace finally chose her colors,

I purchased sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper.

Yea, they were on sale.

4/$1

Gramma would be proud.

So would her thrifty daughter, my mom Mary.

I cut the sheets into the proper sized squares,

and began rolling them through the Cuddlebug

using this Sizzix template.

This was left.

I really, really, really wanted to throw the paper away.

I just couldn't.

So, I didn't.

Ya' know, that whole "roll over in her grave" thing?

 I stared at the scraps of paper for a long time,

knowing there were still a lot of use left.

I also knew sometimes I save and save and save stuff,

but don't use it.

I dared myself to boldly walk to the garbage can

 and throw the scraps away.

I couldn't.

So, I didn't.

I took out the 1 inch hole punch,

and punched away.

Then I had a pile of scraps I thought I might justify throwing away.

But, I couldn't.

So, I didn't.

The scraps were cut into smaller squares,

and cut with a smaller flower template.

Then I had a pile of scraps I thought I might justify throwing away.

But, I couldn't.

So, I didn't.

 I  cut the scraps into even smaller squares,

and cut them with an even smaller flower template.

Then I had a pile of scraps I thought I might be able to justify throwing away.

Surely my Mom and Gramma would be satisfied with my frugality.

But, I couldn't.

So, I didn't.

I pulled out my mortarboard punch and began punching away.

At this point, my blogging/homeschooling/Hippy/ Mommy friend,

Cookie Baker Lynn,

decided to help me out.

I think she just wanted to see me finally throw the paper out.

When we punched a bajillion brightly colored mortarboards,

I forced myself to do something my people just don't do.

I

threw

the

scraps

out.

Every smidgeon of brightly colored paper

was tossed into the huge garbage can.

I could.

So, I did.

(And just wait until I show you

what I made with all those

flowers and

circles and

mortarboards...)

Thirst-Quenching Deliciousness

When my niece, Kjersti,  got married two summers ago,

my amazing sister-in-law, Susan,

cooked the ENTIRE wedding meal.

She even made  biscotti to go with the coffee.

.

In their honor,

I copycatted one of their ideas for Grace's graduation open house

and served Italian Sodas for the beverage.

They're fun, festive and since the syrups come in a huge variety of flavors,

 there's something to please everyone.

Because I knew it would be a bit fussy to serve,

I bought platsic cups and lids from Cash&Carry

and filled them with ice ahead of time.

This crate held 24 cups and went  right into the freezer.

If there had been room in the freezer, I would have filled more cups.

It was a great time saver!

We set up the display, using little cups from Beka's toy dishes

so each flavor had their own one ounce measuring cup.

The pumps were more expensive than the flavorings,

so we didn't buy them for the party.

We bought a strawberry, mango, blueberry, 

vanilla and my personal favorite,

Tiramisu.

The directions were printed out and displayed behind the bottles.

The recipe is

one ounce of flavoring,

one ounce of half-and-half,

then fill the cup with Club soda.

Others buy the domed lids and top off with whipping cream.

I toyed with the idea of making labels for the cups,

but never came up with any great ideas.

Am taking suggestions....

Of course, Grandpa Jim's vintage cooler held the Club soda

and half-and-half below.

Note for next function -

I was wishing I had asked someone to be the Soda Jerk for the party.

There are always friends who would love to help,

and it would have been great to have someone manning this station

and someone else to refill food trays.

If you are hosting, it's really important to be able to mingle with your guests.

 

An adorable guest enjoying a strawberry Italian soda.

I plan to keep my shelf stocked with cups, lids, straws and Club Soda

so all our summer get-togethers will feature our new favorite beverage,

Italian Sodas!