Project 365: Week 10

Sunday, February 28, 2010

I decided to make a blackberry cobbler today from a "kit" I purchased through our local farmer's market. I believe I've mentioned my fascination for all things blackberry and cobbler-related. I was curious to see what the berry farm considered a good cobbler.

I was largely unimpressed. I'm sorry, but this was no cobbler! Tasted fine, but it was basically a dump cake. Instead of dumplings, which everybody knows is the most necessary ingredient (hello?!), it had a spongy cake sitting on top of the berries. Shame, shame, shame.

Monday, March 1, 2010

I consigned forty items in the Rhea Lana sale. Katelyn and her sisters came and sat while the three youngest kiddos slept, so Noah and I could go unload and tag everything at the sale. He was such a big help to me!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I recently posted a review about Alice.com. Well, one thing I probably should have mentioned...their shipping box makes an awesome toy for children of all ages!

Gabriel certainly thinks so!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Paul had his very first SOLO trial today. It was a lot of work, and he was gone by 6:30 this morning. Finally, he called at about 6:00 p.m. while we were on our way home from guitar and ballet lessons. His words: "Let's go celebrate!" Woo-hoo! Win #1! I'm so proud of my man. So we met him at Larry's Pizza for an impromptu dinner. And celebrate we did!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

My mom and I went to Rhea Lana's early half-price sale for consignors. Paul kept the kids. 'Cause you can't do that kind of shopping with kids. There's far too much thinking involved! I decided ahead of time I would buy Saylor nothing but dresses because that's all she ever wants to wear, and it's not a battle I believe is worth fighting. I mostly stuck to it, but I just couldn't resist a Valentine outfit by Gymboree for next winter. (I'm hoping by then she'll be okay with cute red pants with hearts on them!)

Friday, March 5, 2010

In addition to the clothes pictured above, I found a pair of $2 Nike tennis shoes for Gabriel (perfect for his fat foot) AND a pair of tap shoes for $1.50. Go ahead and say it: "You've lost your mind, Mama!" I couldn't help it. I was a tap dancer growing up, and I knew she'd adore them.

Hmm...I don't know. Do you think she likes them?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

What a gorgeous day outside! Sun shining. Cool breeze. Spring is most definitely in the air (at least for the moment). We got out and played quite a while. Atticus is just learning about playing outside, since last spring he was just five months old. There are things he's not too sure about yet. Like walking in grass or leaves. He's really not 100% positive that he CAN walk in them. And then there's the drop-off from the patio to the yard. A tough thing to maneuver when you're just a toddler. That's when big brothers come in...to give a helping hand.

Big brothers are good for things like that.

Come to think of it, they're good for lots of fun things.

That was my week. Thank you, Sara, for hosting our project"!

Fifth Birthday Party REWIND

Saylor. My gorgeous Saylor turned FIVE back on October 5th. (Yes, her birthday is four days before her baby brother's.) FIVE years old!! That still astounds me.

Since she loves all things prim and proper, we decided to give her a tea party. Here (again) was her invitation:

We invited just a few little girls and Miriam. Saylor thinks the world of her.

I had asked the girls to bring a special doll or animal to join them at tea, so we had a special table set up just for them. (This is my ice cream set from when I was little. The miniature tea set is a toy we got for Saylor when she was two. It's been a great plaything, by the way. It's made of a shatter-resistant poly-porcelain, which makes it much more durable. In fact, we've only had a few minor breaks, easily fixed with super glue.

The little table cloth is a vintage, hand-embroidered topper I used at Saylor's 2nd birthday party (the bird-themed one).

I also put out a small basket of girly dress-up clothes in case anybody was interested. They were.

Saylor always needs help with gloves. The tricky things...

It was so sweet for Miriam to play along!

For the main table I used a pink fabric tablecloth I used for Saylor's first birthday. And then I took some blue Easter napkins I had and unfolded them, layering them so that the embroidered bunnies didn't show and then topping them with white battenburg place mats.

I used the sugar and creamer from a china pattern that belonged to my Mamaw Corene; she gave me the set of china as a wedding present. (See them to the right in the picture below?) I even polished my real silver so the girls could have beautiful, dainty spoons with which to stir their tea. (These were also a gift from my Mamaw. She actually gave me several pieces of silver for each birthday and CHRISTmas starting from the time I was born. The first piece was a spoon with my name and birth date engraved in it. Saylor had this very special spoon at HER place setting, although I didn't get a picture of it.)

Then, my friend Liz from church found these scrumptious napkins in her linen collection and let me borrow them. I fell in love instantly! They could not have been more perfect. Y'all, she even washed and ironed them and then tied them up in a pink ribbon for me! How sweet is that?

We asked Saylor's special friend Dane and his brother to come help serve as waiters. Noah joined in, too, though I don't think I ever got a picture of him.

Would you just look at how cute they were? We had the party on Sunday afternoon, so everybody just came in their church clothes, even the "guys." Outfitted with white aprons, the boys LOVED serving the food. Dane did get sad once, though, when Noah took Saylor her cake and he had had his heart set on being the one to serve her. (Precious, precious.)

Okay. Now for the food. I borrowed my mom's silver tiered tray stand and a silver tray. Perfect for a tea party! I made jam sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, cranberry scones, and apricot scones, all served with organic peach-raspberry tea. Check out the paper plates and napkins (click to enlarge)! They were my inspiration for the party theme, colors, invitation, etc.

Here are our freshly-baked scones. Look closely and you'll see the cake server on that tray. We bought it for Saylor on the occasion of her first birthday party. We had the bottom of it engraved with her first and middle names. The plan is that when she gets married, we will have the groom's name engraved at the top and then they can use it at their wedding. In the meantime, it is the cake server we use for her birthday parties.

And then, of course, there was cake. I had such a hard time trying to get a handle and spout roughly made from almond paste to stay on that crazy cake. (One thing I know. Duff won't be calling me anytime soon to be on his team at Charm City.) That's what I get for deciding the night before the party to make a shaped-cake, which was a task I knew was well beyond my capabilities, as I am quite inexperienced in the cake-decorating realm. It certainly tasted good, though, and I think that might just be what counts.

After getting all dressed up, the girls gathered around the table, got their tea, and started adding the necessary sugar and milk. Then there was a significant amount of stirring. What a delightful noise they made! There were a lot of "pleases" and "thank yous" and requests to pass various items on the table. The waiters brought the finger foods, and the girls got a mini-lesson in how to properly eat a scone. Miriam impressed everyone by asking for more tea!

Then there was singing and candle-blowing and lots and lots of smiling.

Saylor was so blessed by her friends and family.

But soon it was time to go home. So, let's not forget about the favors.

Doubling as both place cards for the table and party favors, I made giant teabags...

...which were filled with candy rings (as in jewelry), Smarties, and a toy necklace.

You'll also notice that on the table, each girl had a paper fan to take home.

They were all different colors, as they were made from card stock I had here at home in varying pastel shades. Before folding, I pasted a paper doily on top of the paper and let it dry. Then I folded it like an accordion, added a rubber band to secure the bottom, and then wrapped the same multi-colored eyelash yarn I used for the invitation around the rubber band to hide it.

The girls drank their tea out of real china. Each one had a different pattern.

And when it was time to go home, we washed and dried the cups and placed them in a cellophane bag along with their "tea bag" and some very fancy, girly stickers.

Saylor's friends are so special to her. And we are all thankful to have had such a memorable birthday with such wonderful people.

I'm pretty sure Saylor Girl had a pretty good time. I mean, what else could make her act this way? Just kidding. She really is this lovable.

With the excitement of the day's activities still fresh on her mind, she beamed and flitted her way through the entire week. Here she is posing in her new birthday clothes from Mommy and Daddy. Could she be any prettier?

Or have any more personality?

*sigh* How in the world could she be five already?

Ordering Online Works For Me

I recently "joined" a website I think you'd be interested in checking out.

Alice.

Alice.com, that is.

They carry a lot of common household products. From diapers to cleaning products to snacks. Even postage stamps!! (Anyone else out there HATE going to the post office...with four children...only to stand in a line of ten people...JUST to get some stamps??)

You have to purchase at least six items, but there's no minimum dollar amount. And you'll ALWAYS get free shipping! FREE!!

I mean, if the prices are comparable (or even a dollar or two more) for products you'd need to drive to the store to purchase--things you like to keep stocked up on--then wouldn't you rather someone deliver them to YOUR DOOR?! (Especially considering that most of us will spend $3-5 in gas just to GET to the store.) Well, I don't have to think long and hard on this one. I adore doing my shopping from the comfort of my own home. Adore it. (One year I did every last bit of my CHRISTmas shopping online. Right down to the stocking stuffers!) So, this website definitely works for ME!

Here are some of the items from my first order:

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (Remember this necessary ingredient from my homemade laundry detergent? So, for those of you who can't FIND it in your local grocery store, here ya go!) $2.76/box

Clorox 2 FREE, HE $4.19 (with online coupon)

Sun & Earth Liquid Hand Soap, Natural $4.68 for 2 bottles (Buy 2, get $0.50 off sale)

Charmin Ultra-Strong, 24 BIG rolls $15.92

Bounty Select-a-Size Paper Towels, 8 rolls $8.41

Glycerine Bar Soap, Unscented "> Clearly Natural Glycerin Bar Soap, Unscented $1.79

Saran Cling Plus Plastic Wrap, 200 sq.ft., $1.61

Tom's of Maine Kids' Toothpaste, Fluoride-Free, $3.32

I don't think the prices are half bad. Do you?

AND you can pay through Paypal!!! Which I love. That way it can be taken directly from my bank account, and I don't have to go a-huntin' for my billfold to get a credit card number.

And y'all! The order arrived in 2-3 business days, just as they said it would. Can you believe that? With FREE shipping?! That is just unheard of!

I am blown away impressed.

Also, my Clorox 2 and soap dispensers were packaged so carefully! Alice had taped their lids shut and then placed them in a gigantic zippered plastic bag. Listen. I appreciate these little details that ensure a pleasant shopping experience for me. I really do.

Joining is free. There are no commitments. No hidden membership fees.

Here's how they do it, according to a direct quote from the Alice website:

"You order from Alice just like you would a retailer, but behind the scenes we work like a marketplace, allowing participating manufacturers to sell directly to you. Not every product on our site is sold direct from the manufacturer right now—we sourced a number of products ourselves to get the Alice.com site up and running—but we add new manufacturers each week onto our direct platform. This direct platform eliminates the retail middleman and saves lots of costs that can be passed directly on to you. And in addition to saving you money, the Alice marketplace allows participating brands to have a direct relationship with you—to reward you, personalize things for you, and work smarter for you. It is a win-win that gives you fantastic convenience AND tangible savings."

The website itself is very user-friendly. One thing I like is that as you place things in your basket, you are given the option to set up reminders for reorder. For instance, you may know you go through a large package of toilet paper every three weeks, so you'd tell Alice to remind you three weeks from your order date that you need to reorder toilet paper. It's all highly customizable to your needs. Anything you ever place in your basket (even things you decide not to order this time around) will be saved as "Your Products." Then all you have to do is go to this list of products, which by the way, is set up to look like a store shelf: the items are all pictured in rows, and you literally drag and drop them in your shopping cart. How nice is that?

Here I am dragging postage stamps over to my shopping cart.

It's shopping made simple. They have everything categorized, AND you can browse by brand name, price, and even "GREEN" products!

I'm not even sure what all one can do on Alice, as it's still a fairly new experience to me. Apparently, you can befriend people (sort of like on Facebook)--I guess for the purpose of discussing products or something. I don't know. That's kind of weird to me, but hey, if you get an Alice account, see if you can befriend me. I'm groovyrainbow. Yes. I know. Long story.

Also, it seems you can keep up with how much money you're spending over time on the site and possibly even what portion is spent in each category. Like I said, I haven't explored everything yet.

So...anyway, Alice? Alice is convenient. Alice is fast. I'll tell you what Alice is. Alice is step number one in the right direction toward my goal of doing away with Wal-Mart in my life for good! 'Cause Wal-Mart. is pure. evil. I'd even go so far as to say it is somehow destroying our country and certainly my sanity with each moment I have to stand in line behind four people with full carts and there are a mere five checkers in the entire store. For Wal-Mart I have much disdain and hatred. I do. (The worst part about it is, you'll probably run into me there sometime. Ugh.) Oh, can I ever escape its evil clutches?!

Head over to "Works for Me Wednesday" temporarily located at Rocks In My Dryer for more tips, hints, likes, and tricks of the trade. But first, go check out Alice.com, y'all. Oh, and be sure to come back here to let me know you did. So my curiosity can be satisfied. 'Cause that's important.

il aime la neige

It's "Wordless Wednesday" at Extraordinary Mothers.