Exercise
Serenity
Dirty hands
Dirty feet
"Fruit" for my efforts
Sense of pride
But the best part of gardening, is the ability to share my "fruits" with others. Last evening, I attended a dinner with fellow church members and wanted to take a gift for the lovely hostess. And it occured to me, why don't I take some produce to her?
Besides, I have an abundance:
Tomatoes.
And I picked half of the green beans.
But how could I make it pretty? Packaging that really sets off most gifts. What doesn't look better in a pretty container? So, I pulled out a pie box. Wrote a simple note to the hostess on the top of the box.
Then lined each compartment with parchment paper and picked out my best tomatoes and green beans.
Closed carefully and tied a pretty ribbon around the box.
I wanted to convey my thankfulness for the dinner invitation and hopefully, I achieved my goal.
I bought a fire engine cake pan for the baby shower. Given the new momma's sense of humor, I baked one and a half recipes of devil's food cake. Using a star tip, I matched the paperware as carefully as possible.
It turned out cute and everyone loved it, especially the new momma.
The garage has pretty much consumed my last week. It is always interesting to me when I start a project, slowly, carefully and as we see the end of the tunnel.... I jump the gun and work like a dog to get it done. Not at all how I pictured it would be.
Remember where we started and how much we completed after the first week.
We installed the Rubbermaid Fast Track track system. I really love it. First, it was much less expensive than the wall track systems you can purchase through the hardware stores or specialty dealers. Second, it is very versatile. Third, the hardware is very sturdy. Each long track can hold 2,000 pounds. I will add another small track in the garage but I am done for now, here. The small track was approximately $9 and the larger track was about $20.
Next, we demolished the cabinets on this side and caulked all the holes.
Here it is after. My work crew; my daughter and her boyfriend, did a fantastic job painting while I was decorating sugar cookies.
Doesn't it look fantastic!!!
Oh but now we have to do the floor!!!!
But what did I do with everything in the garage? Oh goodness, now everything we own is sitting in the driveway.
I love making my signature sugar cookies as favors to guests for the baby shower. Also, I wanted to join Jen and share these recipes with everyone. Given the Fire Engine theme of the baby shower, I decided to make fire hydrants and dalmatians. So I baked the cookies and then time for the fun.
First decorated the fire hydrants yellow.
Then add a little outline to them.
Next, decorated the dalmatians white.Then very carefully, dropped black royal flooding icing onto the white royal flooding icing to create the dalmatian spots.
A Closer Look:
After drying for several hours, I carefully placed the cookies in the decorative bags and used the leftover tissue paper as decorative accents to the cookie bags.
I tied the bags with coordinating ribbon.
I even used the cookies on the cake table as centerpieces.
The cookies are an easy and inexpensive way to make the party special. They add a festive touch and the recipient always feels special. I hope you try these cookies.
Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup shortening or butter*
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Early in the day or the day before:
In a large bowl cream the shortening and the sugar. Add the eggs, extract, and milk. In a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk. Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl. Mix with mixer until well combined. With hands, shape dough into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Roll** half or 1/3 dough at a time, keep the rest refrigerated. For crisp cookies, roll dough, paper thin. For softer cookies, roll 1/8 " to 1/4" thick.
Royal Icing for outlining:
6 T. meringue powder
12 T. warm water
2 lbs confectioner’s sugar.
This icing is used to outline the cookies and decorate the cookies after they have been flooded. Beat the ingredients until icing forms peaks about 7 to 10 minutes in a heavy duty mixer or 10 to 12 minutes at a hand-held mixer.
Last year for Mother's Day, my husband gave me a wonderful digital camera. I love it but I am totally out of my league with this camera. It is more advanced then I am able to use but shouldn't you be able to take good pictures of the gentleman giving the class?
Seems like I have a lot of homework to take better pictures.
I am in the garage working .... please stop by, I am a little tired and could use a rest to catch up.
I needed a cute little centerpiece for the baby shower. There are beautiful, elaborate diaper cakes but I just wanted to make a little diaper cake. So I started with a 40 pack of size 2 Pampers.
Stretch out the diaper.
Roll up from the Sesame Street end.
Once the diaper is rolled, secure it with a rubber band.
We rolled 32 diapers and bundled in groups of 5, except the top of the cake.
The top of the cake is bundled in a group of seven.
The bottom of the cake, we held the 25 diapers or 5 bundles with one large rubber band. By adjusting the diapers, we were able to make it round.
Next we wanted to make the sides a little smoother. So I worked an open diaper under the rubber band. Three diapers covered the bottom with the Sesame Street characters tucked under the bottom of another diaper.
We wrapped ribbon around the "cake" and tied securely.
Embellished with a few extra bows.
And some cute firemen ducks and shredded paper.
And you have a cute diaper cake centerpiece. $8.47 for the diapers, $.99 for the shredded paper and $5.00 for 5 rubber duckies.
A total of $14.46. And the momma can use the diapers.
I used size 2 diapers for 14 to 18 lbs babies so they can enjoy the diaper cake for a little while before they need the diapers.
So this weekend I am giving a baby shower for the most amazing couple.
Let me tell you their story; A week before Christmas, there was a fire in their home. They lost almost everything. In addition, my friend has had several miscarriages over the last 8 years. This dear couple had given up on the idea of having a baby. That is until 10 weeks after the house fire.
She found out she is pregnant. And she found that out.... longer than she had ever carried a baby. God's blessing rose out of the ashes of their home. This couple is very faithful but my friend has the most glorious sense of humor. Her baby room theme is FIRE ENGINES!!! Amazing. She should be bringing her baby home around the time the contractor is putting on the finishing touches on her new home.
With a theme of Fire Engines, the colors are yellow and red.
So I needed pom-poms. If you remember my daughter's birthday party, I love pom poms for outside entertaining. They add drama, and flair without being expensive.
Take 8 sheets of colored tissue paper, line them up carefully and fold in an accordion fashion. Once folded, wrap a rubber band in the middle of the accordion fold. I had used wire before but the rubber band was much easier.
I wanted the pom-poms to look more like chrysanthemums. So we carefully cut the folded tissue paper a pointed fashion.
I saved all the triangles for the cookie packaging.
Once all the points are cut
It is time to separate the layers of tissue paper, very carefully.
Here is the pom-pom with four layers separated.
One side done, add a string to hang the pom-poms.
One flower done, eight more to go. For a total of five red flowers, two yellow flowers and two blue flowers.
Tomorrow, I will show you the cute invitations I sent out.
During the summer, I try to find light and interesting meals to serve. Seafood is not only a perfect choice as it is usually light but also it can be prepared very quickly.
To start, I lightly buttered each side of the gourmet hot dog buns grilled.
Start with one pound of lobster meat, cooked.
Then added the juice of 1/2 lemon, hot sauce, salt and pepper.
Chop the celery to small pieces.
Add 4 T. of Mayonnaise and lightly toss.
Add the lobster to the roll and garnish.
While lobster is expensive, this meal was less costly then a dinner out for four. Besides, lobster is super delicious and it was very easy to fix.
Lobster Rolls
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter, softened
4 hot dog buns or kaiser rolls, split
1 pound cooked and cubed lobster meat
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 dash hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
2 stalk celery, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Lightly butter the insides of the buns or rolls and grill each side. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper until well blended. Mix in the celery, then lightly mix in the lobster so it just gets coated without falling apart.
