I hear you thought I retired and now bake cakes for a living. Not quite…I still work full time and bake cakes for people (some who retire). In the very near future. I’d like to start baking for a fee. Probably still won’t be able to retire. 🙂 You are awesome.
general blabber
The best weekend of my summer
Here is a list I wrote to mark the highlights of the 4th weekend. So much fun…too much fun…thanks for making the journey and thanks for being so friggin awesome.
My favorite weekend of the summer by the numbers:
10 college friends
9 kids and an occasional neighbor
5 minivans
10 beds (give or take a sleeping bag/sofa)
2,000 miles traveled there and back
Drink
2 bottles of Champaign
4 bottles of white
4 bottles of red
10 cases of beer
1 bottle Jim Beam
1 bottle Jamaican rum
1 bottle Jamaican wine
6 Mojitos
Food
2 gallons of milk
13 pounds of beef
24 chicken thighs
3 packages of lunchmeat
1 dish red beans and rice
1 dish pigeon peas and rice
1 huge tray of jerk chicken
4 heads of lettuce
1 plate of plantains, some goat stew
4 boxes of cereal, 12 single serving mandarin oranges
2 boxes of fruit snacks
1 double batch of brownies
3 bags of chips
2 packages of bagels
1 lime green lemon birthday cake
2 jugs of orange juice
3 packages turkey bacon
3 dozen eggs
1 box of pancake mix
45 raviolis
2 bags pita chips
1 huge batch of hummus
3 zucchini’s
2 yellow squash
5 tomatoes
3 garlic bulbs
1 pound mushrooms
4 batches of popcorn
1 box rigatoni3 boxes mac and cheese
ribs
potato salad
Activities
1 broken toilet
1 plumber house call
1 toothbrush dislodged from broken toilet
4 American girl dolls take the el home
1 candy store
1 lost tooth
1 skate park
1 trip to game stop
1 trip to legoland
1 trip to IKEA
1 trip to Forest Park Pool
1 trip to Millenium park
1 trip to Lake
1 trip to Wrigley Field
1 trip to Daley Plaza
tons of fireworks in the alley
corn hole
Here are some shots of the weekend. Will post more as I get them.
Oh my haunted past
These digital times have benefits. I love the fact that I can go online and shop for everything from a tiny replica of Chitty Bang Bang to a new sofa. But this social media creep-me-out hunt-to-find-out-things are sometimes hard to stomach. I have been “friended” by non-friends and then “defriended” by them in a matter of weeks. The electronic “wiedeling” is only a fraction easier than the real life, face to face time. (to wiedel someone is to stop being friends with them with no explanation, a word I made up after a friend with the name did it to me) I appreciate the ability to spy into ex boyfriends, and frenemies’ lives but I have yet to find someone through Facebook that has rejuvenated a friendship beyond the electronic one. We’ll see though, recently I was friended by someone I had completely lost touch with. We had no falling out in our past, though I do vaguely remember something about a boy and his sweater. But regardless, fast forward to today and ironically we live in the same community. I believe I have purchased jewelry made by her at a local boutique and I am sure we know some of the same people, I mean here, it is impossible not to. We’re gonna have coffee soon—not virtually.
New language new girls
Those who know me well know i can’t stand meeting new people. I know it sounds crazy but ugh…the pressure. So tonight I am super proud of myself for going out with some new folks. To say that we spoke the same language wouldn’t really be right. I returned home and had to look up schwa and French Laundry. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have to look up the word “who@!”. I laughed hard enough to hurt a bit and got watery eyed over kiddie tales. But the old song remains true….
“make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is…probably a who@!”
Random drive by
Today is valentine’s day. I don’t get too caught up in the candy and flowers, but my husband did get me a bouquet and make me a yummy stew. Nice things. As i walked the dog through the neighborhood I saw a girlfriend getting dinner ready through the window. Not to seem creepy, but I felt compelled to stop by. I walked to the front door and waited for her to answer. I can’t tell you how strange it felt to just drop in like that. She seemed happy that I did. I decided I would try stopping by another house. A little uncertain of the address I was pretty embarrassed to find it was the completely wrong house. Lisa C? I thought you were one from the corner. Regardless, I’m gonna make a habit of doing stop ins more often. I got an invite for girl’s night!! You can’t take the Hoosier out of me!
Why I don’t like the Girl Scouts
Despite what you may believe, I am NOT a crafter. I enjoy and appreciate crafts that others make, but when I attempt to do something creative, it ends up in a mess. I remember years ago, I bought a make your own stool kit at Frank’s Nursery and Crafts, I stenciled scrolls, flowers and vines all over it, sprayed it with some crap to make it smooth and attempted to put it together, but failed miserably. I ended up putting the unassembled stool partially sealed in a box for my grandparents for Christmas. They in turn, varnished it, put it together and to this day, it is in their living room. Yesterday was the kids’ school’s holiday bake sale and craft fair. This reminded me that a few years ago I was on a bottle cap necklace making spree. I got the original idea from Weener Ware. The process was tedious. I would pull the rubber seals from the caps, cut circles, mod podge them into the bottoms to seal them, let them dry, then fill em up with resin. But let me tell you, resin is a tricky thing, the measurements have to be exact, the temperature perfect, the material level, the bubbles removed. This whole process killed me. But, I was bound and determined to make them as gifts for my friends. As I completed them, my husband mentioned he thought i could sell them, they were so cute. So I, signed up for a table at the Irving craft fair. As the day of the fair drew nearer, I toiled and toiled to make necklaces, but with limited success. My resin wasn’t curing properly and the surfaces were tacky. In fact if you wore one for a few hours, the fibers on a sweater would make the resin scratched. I worked hours to re-coat the surface with better made resin. In all, I ended up with 50 or so necklaces. I went online and priced them out and decided to charge $15 each. That seemed fair to me. In fact, I would have charged $100 each given how much heartache they caused me. The day of the craft fair arrived and I carried my necklaces and a couple of towels to lie on the table. When I got there I found a group of holiday sweater wearing crafters and kids who make unbelievable things. I timidly put my necklaces on the table. The lady next to me was selling golf ball and tee poodle figurines. About 10 minutes after set up, a girl scout comes over and admires my supply of AMAZING necklaces. She carefully inspects a couple of them and asks how much they are. I proudly say $15. She smiles and walks away. A few minutes later she returns with some friends. They continue to admire the fruits of my labor. Our conversation went something like this.
“Do you have a table here today?” I ask the girls.
They say, “yes, we do.”
“What did you make?” I ask.
“Bottle cap necklaces.” they reply.
“How much are yours?” I ask face turning red.
“$5 each!” says the girl with the wicked smile. They giggle and walk away.
I panic and immediately B line to the bathroom and intentionally pass their table. They have the Holy Grail of necklaces. Theirs are smooth, colorful, and some even have little toys embedded in them. I can’t believe how cool they are and I can’t believe how embarrassed I am. I quickly call my husband and ask him to come and get me. He has to make up a story about being on call so that I can leave and get the heck out of that crafting gym. I tell the organizer that my husband got paged and I need to leave. He walks into the gym and starts to wail from laughter at seeing my pitiful towel covered table with pitiful necklaces. I didn’t sell one necklace that day, in fact I had to give one to the organizers and I had to pay $10 for the table. But, I learned a lesson about how hard it is to commit to an idea and to finish and make a good product. I am on to new things now, ones that aren’t that hard like…making wedding cakes.
I is for Iris
Tuttle Middle school…memories….girls are mean
I remember my times at Tuttle Middle School to basically be horrible. The 8th grade is still my Horrible Meter Benchmark. If is wasn’t as bad as the 8th grade, then it wasn’t the worst thing to ever happen to me. I don’t know why I am thinking of that today, but for some reason I can’t get the image of J stepping on and getting dirty G’s brand new Tretorn shoes. These shoes, in case you didn’t know, were G’s favorite. I believe she started a bit of a trend for the Tuttle Trojans (don’t ask). Can I be frank here though. The shoes are pretty ugly. Here is a photo I found online. I don’t really see the “specialness” of them at all, except that G is my BFF and I know SHE loved them. Since they didn’t sell them at 3D discount or Airway, I didn’t have them. I was super mad at J for jumping on G’s shoes. I am thinking of buying some Tuttle swag just to keep these memories fresh. Who knew that I actually CAN.
Shameless Self-Promotion
While I have been training for these silly little events, wanted you to know what else I have been up to. Came up with the idea to start a blog showcasing blogs in Oak Park. I expanded the parameter to include others on the west side. I call it Urban Fringe. Hope you have a chance to take a look at it.
I don’t know who she is, but I think I love her
She sounds familiar to me. Almost too familiar, but I came upon her site today and fell in love. I CANT STOP READING. Red Head Mama.