St Patty's day ideas

I got inspired this year for St Patrick’s day, to make these cute little gifts for my kids (saw them on Pinterest). The ones I saw on pinterest just had the coins and licorice, but I thought they would look cute coming out of marshmallow clouds. I needed to make 6 and found that each package of twizzlers had 5 full rainbows worth of licorice in them.

You will need:

Rainbow twizzlers (each bag contains approx. enough for 5 full rainbows.)

Rolos (or chocolate coins) I found 6 per bag worked best,  I tried more and nothing would lay right.

Mini marshmallows (you could use white hostess snowballs as well, you would just need larger cellophane bags.

Cellophane bags with twist ties.

If you wanted to get extra fancy, you could even use black cauldrons from the party store, to put your rolo’s in.

I also got a little carried away with making the day special, so I got green hostess snowballs for the kids lunches, and St Patty’s day themed socks. And of course we will start the day with lucky charms, and end with corned beef and cabbage, and for dessert, my famous Crème De Menthe brownies.   Recipe here.

ordinary miracles

At the start of this summer, I had lofty plans of family togetherness.  I planned for us to do things together like catch fireflies, stargaze, roast s'mores,  read,  run through the sprinklers etc... For myself I had plans of reading, finishing a painting project or two and deep cleaning and de-cluttering.  Most days however, I got uncooperative, grouchy kids who had to be refereed every few minutes.  It seemed that we couldn’t go an hour without the kids fighting over something, which left little time for me to get much done... that is until our power went out on Monday.

As inconvenient as not having power is, it sparked a miracle in its wake. There has been no TV for the boys to sit in front of and vegetate. There are no video games to fight over. My husband voluntarily took 3 of the kids to the Laundromat yesterday and did the fifteen loads of laundry piled up on my kitchen floor, while my oldest stayed home to paint (this in itself is amazing, seeing as my husband has volunteered exactly 3 times EVER to take anyone with him on errands).  The biggest miracle of all is that my children are playing together and getting along. They have engaged in impromptu games of hide and seek, we set up a tent in the backyard as a getaway for them to read or hang out in because it is cooler outside, and the oldest 3 slept in it the first night sans fighting. I caught my ten year old giving my five year old a hug yesterday just because. And today he helped him get his shoes on and even tied them for him so we could go on a walk. they are calling each other buddy, and taking turns unprompted by me, with the only handheld video game system we can find at the moment.  It seems the affability that has infected my children has infected some neighbors as well. The houses across the street got their power back yesterday afternoon, and many neighbors have extension cords stretched across the road to our side so people can run fans or their refrigerators. I learned the name of my neighbor to the north, whom I have lived next to for 8 years, I guess I never had occasion or inclination to know it before. We met the neighbors across the street, who moved in recently, another thing we were generally not inclined to do.

Of course I miss the convenience of flipping a light switch versus opening the curtains for light, and I miss my washer most of all, but for now, It seems that my wish of a family togetherness summer has been granted, even if it is fleeting. Our summer days have slowed to a lazy pace that is filled with laughter, and fun, and now finally, seven weeks into summer it actually feels a bit like a vacation.  Eventually the power will come back on and we will go back to using too much electricity,  running our air conditioner and electronic items, but for now I will bask in the glow of a summer slowed down and the goodwill shared between fellow human beings .

Romance? not so much (reprinted)

I am reprinting this from my extended family's blog by request (written in January of 2010)

Over the course of the 15 years with my husband (almost 13 of those spent married to him). I have accused him many times of being unromantic. Oh sure, he buys me the obligatory box of chocolates each Christmas, but it is usually the nut variety, of which I am allergic, and each year, he thinks he is surprising me, and each year, it is the one gift that I didn’t wrap myself. I can’t count the number of anniversary, or valentine cards that said something like “Have fun you two, anniversaries only come around once a year”. Or “Happy valentines day honey, your Dad and I are so proud.” He means well, he just sometimes misses the mark, and gets me the first card that he sees. I recently tried to hint that I wanted this Jessica Rabbit type satin nightgown. He looked right past it and tried to get me the much more practical two piece set next to it, I gave him that look, the one that says” Really? Those are what you want me to wear?” I did not get the night gown, I bought myself a consolation pair of Red Mary Jane’s instead.


For years, I have spent a small fortune on scented lotions, and perfume, trying to elicit some sort of response from my husband. I was not looking for anything big, just a “You smell nice”. Or, some other such sentiment. One day, I was sitting next to my husband , when he leaned over to me and said “MMMMMMMM, You smell so good”! I was ecstatic! He had finally noticed! I spent the day riding the compliment like a surfer rides a wave. That is, until later that evening, I realized, that I had not worn any perfume, or scented lotion that day, Instead, he smelled the Dryell I had used to home dry clean my sweater. He has to this day, not mentioned another scent that I have worn.

Valentines, Anniversaries, Birthdays and Christmas’s, were usually a let down, until many years back, I decided to just take him with me, and buy things I liked, or buy my own presents, wrap them and act surprised on each occasion. I have surprised myself with Phantom of the Opera tickets, a lovely new coat, and a new ring for my 10th anniversary (it was really pretty). This Christmas seemed to be following the prescribed course, he came with me, and let me get several pairs of my favorite shoes; Mary Jane’s, and a pair of boots. He also, with my help, picked out a lovely new rice maker. I as usual, wrapped them myself, and placed them under the tree.

On Christmas Eve, he came home from work early, which was a good thing, because I was overwhelmed, and still had many things to cook before the evening’s dinner. He told me that he had to wrap some of my presents, and I resentfully told him that I had wrapped everything, and he needn’t bother. He said “I got you something that you don’t even know about.’ I rolled my eyes, (imagining my “surprise” chocolates) and left the room. About an hour later, he came out with a grin like the Cheshire cat, and said “You have to open these right now.” I said “I don’t want to open the few things, I don’t know about right now.” He was jumping up and down like, well a kid at Christmas, and said “trust me”. So with a huge eye roll, (I know, I am such a brat) I started to open the presents. Did I mention that despite his gift buying lack he is a very talented gift wrapper. So I opened my presents (there were 3 ) And found a new kitchenaid bowl, 3 lids, and a new dough hook! I was so excited, I had dropped hints that I would be a much more proficient cook, if I had an extra bowl to switch between, when I am cooking. (I actually needed a new paddle, not a hook, but was not about to split hairs). He had finally done it. After 15 years together, he had gotten me the ultimate romantic gift. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks. And they say romance is dead.

Let them wear capes...

So, I have been posting a lot of cape pictures lately, and that is because I have made a lot of them recently. I just finished one that my friend requested for her little guy (younger brother to capes T and E respectively) and she said her little one was feeling left out because he didn't have a cape. The only request she had was that it be red. So I went out scouting for cute fabric that coordinated with the red fleece of the cape. I found a very cute flannel with nuts, bolts and nails on it. Then tried to recreate the shape of the nut on the shield on the back, and the "J" is supposed to resemble a screw, I even managed to make the threads on the screw. And then my other lovely friend requested a cape for each of her kids. So just be prepared, I will be posting more (you guessed it) cape pictures as I finish them. I have to say they are much easier to make than a cake.

Capes Part 4 or 5 who can remember?

My two youngest were recently invited to a birthday party for some friends who are brothers. Since two of my kids were invited, I didn’t feel right simply bringing only one gift apiece ( the Mom only asked for one gift per child), so I decided to make each boy a cape.

The oldest boy was turning 7, and is really in to sports. So for the inside of his cape I chose a sports print, and found coordinating orange fleece for the back, the star mimicked the pattern on the lining.

Back view

Lining of T cape

The other little guy was turning 3, and is just in love with trains. You would think that train prints would be  in abundance, but alas I struck out. So instead I found a neutral calming green stripe, and was lucky enough to find a fleece remnant in a coordinating color, Then I was able to fashion a train shape out of felt with his initial on it.

Back view

Lining of E cape

And this week, one of my favorite little girls is turning 2, so she is old enough to get her very own cape, which will make her very happy when she is running around with her cape clad friends.



Back view



Lining of B cape, pretty hard to see but it is actually a tiny gingham print.

April fools

April fools is here once again, and this year, wanting to top my usual go –to April fools dinner (meatloaf and mashed potatoes), I decided to peruse a cupcake decorating book for new inspiration. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to decide that this year we would dine on Pizza, and for dessert… pizza. I made our usual pizza, then while that was baking; I threw together the ingredients for my favorite sugar cookie recipe, while my oldest cut out Archer farms strawberry fruit leather with a small circle fondant cutter. I scooped up the dough with my muffin sized scoop, staggered them on the cookie sheet, then with a small bowl, floured on the bottom; I pressed them down to form a small well in the center, and to mimic “crust”. Then I popped them into a 350 oven, and baked for 6 minutes. Meanwhile I took a bar of white chocolate, ran it through the food processor to shred it, and set it aside.

When the cookies came out of the oven, they were lightly brown on the edges, and looked very much like mini pizza crusts. While the cookies were still hot, I took some of my homemade strawberry jam, and put about a teaspoon and a half into each center. Then I topped that with the shredded white chocolate, and then topped them with the fruit leather cutouts. They were a bit sweet for me, but the kids loved them.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by...

Yesterday was the culmination of a 20+ year dream. It is what Oprah would have called a “Full circle moment”. I, along with my husband had the incredible privilege of seeing Les Miserables on Broadway. My love affair began as a 12 year old girl in Mr. Noyce’s 7th grade girl’s choir class. He introduced us to as many musicals as was humanly possible in a school year, and the first time I heard Castle on a cloud, I was overcome with emotion. I knew that come hell or high water I would see the musical some day. I read the Novel, and watched the movies made about the story, and regularly tortured my husband and children with the music and story behind it. Each time it came to a city near me there was always some conflict that prevented me from seeing it. I was devastated when it stopped touring, and was sure I had missed my chance at seeing it.

Fast forward to late January, when I received an email letting me know that for one month it was coming to my area, starting February 1st! I called my husband, who was scheduled for a tonsillectomy for February 16th and told him we were going, and that I would try to get tickets for shows happening before the 16th. Since I work from home and have young children, weekdays were out, so it left Sundays and the Saturday after my husband’s surgery. He thought he would be feeling 100% a few days after surgery, so he said any time was ok. When I looked online for tickets, I was stunned to find that nearly every single performance was completely sold out! Then I found out that tickets had gone on sale the previous November, so it would be a miracle if I found any tickets. After a few hours on the internet, I was finally able to score probably the last 2 tickets to the last show on the last day of the performance. Yes they were a bit more than the $35 I paid to see Phantom, and the $25 I paid to see Wicked, but when you are talking about a life long dream, price is not a consideration. Plus it fell smack dab between Valentines day and our 14th wedding Anniversary, so in that regard we saved money.

We were excited for our impending date, and planned to take the train into the city. I looked online for train schedules only to find out that our closest train was out of commission due to a derailment a few days before, and the next closest station only ran trains every two hours, which meant that we would be gone 4 extra hours from the kids. So my husband agreed to drive us down. Saturday, my teen babysitter, informed me, after a scuffle with his brother that he would not be watching his brothers the next day, and that I had better find other care for them. Being that we can’t find anyone willing to watch 4 boys even with a months notice, I knew I would never find someone to watch them with less than 24 hrs. notice. After a few tear, and a little guilt trip I resorted to bribing him, and he agreed once again to watch his siblings. Then that night , My husband called me on his way home from work and told me that his first day back at work had made his throat hurt again, and he just didn’t know if he was up to driving down and then having to walk to the theater. He suggested that I call a friend. The first friend who sprang to mind loves musicals as much as I do, so I called, no answer, I called again an hour later, still no answer. I tried her husband’s cell, her Facebook page, you name it, I tried it. I finally left her messages every place I could think of and crossed my fingers. I still hadn’t heard from her by the next morning, so I told my husband he was stuck taking me (he was feeling a bit better). That was right about the time he started spitting up blood. Yes you read that right. My husband told me that I would have to take the train down by myself or take my oldest son with me (I don’t drive to the city, it freaks me out) and this was 30 minutes before I would have to leave to catch the last possible train and still get there on time. This will make me seem horrible, but oh well when dreams are on the line sometimes you have to be ruthless. I called my husbands Dr. and made my husband tell him what was going on, he said if it stopped in 30 minutes or less he was fine, if it continued a trip to the E.R was in order. He told my hubby to gargle with ice water and eat a Popsicle. I made sure he followed through. Thank goodness it was no big deal, the bleeding stopped and he was fine after the first initial scare. Apparently 11-12 days postop a little bleeding is normal. So after all of that I developed nervous diarrhea. I really thought the Universe was out to get me, but with a little Immodium I was good as new.

The rest of the journey was uneventful, we drove down, dealt with very little traffic, parked the car, found a place to eat, then went to the performance of a lifetime. It was so amazing, I laughed, and cried, and drank in the gorgeous art deco of the theater, and the brilliant performance. It was an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life. As we were walking back to our car my husband asked me if it was everything I had dreamed of. I told him that it was so much more; it was the culmination of years of dreaming, and that this girl with not much money to her name, could still find moments of great joy in life and that dreams really can come true.