Leave Your Winter Blahs - It's a Carnival!!!

Check it out! It's a Giveaway!

There is a Bloggy Giveaways Carnival and I have decided to participate. I spent lots of time (okay only about 30 minutes on and off while being interrupted by a 2 and 1/2 year old) trying to figure out what I would giveaway and decided to stay with my apron theme.

I will be giving away a Fabulous Friday Night Apron!

I have one already made up that is almost exactly like the one pictured above. (Check out the slide show for some of the other ones I made during the holidays.) I also have some great "Elvis" fabric and some adorable pink striped spring fabric that would look terrific made up into an apron. The winner can take their pick of the pre-made apron above or tell me what their favorite color combination or theme is and let me get to work.

I will take comments until Friday night at midnight (MST) and the winner will be drawn (from a knitted beanie) Saturday at 8am (MST) and posted shortly thereafter or as soon as we finish breakfast; whichever comes first.

Make sure to include your email address in your comment if it doesn't link directly to your blog or website so I have a way to contact the winner.

Happy contest giveaway perusing! And make sure to check out the bloggy carnival for lots more giveaways!!

It's a Keeper - Cake Mix Extender

Have you ever had this experience? Once in a while you stumble upon something that is so simple and you wish you'd found years ago? I had such an 'Aha! moment a few months ago while looking for recipes on the Internet. I've often made cakes that didn't quite fill the pan or made cupcakes that are a smidgen small. I've also wished I had 1-2 extras for hungry little ones. (my kiddos are always clamoring for cupcakes that I'm taking to school or church and sadly disappointed when they find out there's none for them.)

Here's a simple solution I found: A way to make a bigger and better cake mix. Makes a 13x9 pan come out very high and moist and makes 2-3 extra cupcakes.

Cake Mix Extender Recipe

3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup oil
1 egg

Mix all together. Add to your already mixed cake mix batter. Bake per directions but may need and additional 5-10 minutes longer to become done.

For more fun tips on everything from organization and recipes to cleaning - check out a fun blog Rocks In My Dryer. It's "Works For Me Wednesday" over there and you might just find something you've been wishing you'd find for years!

Clap your hands...Tink is back!

They opened a Disney Store a couple of weeks ago at a mall near us. Guess who hadn't been until a couple of days ago? Guess who was only to happy to take their sweet little 2-year-old-princess-loving-sweetie in to check out the Disney Wonderland? Guess who got sucked into the Disney Princess Vortex? Guess who was only to happy to shell out $40+ for a brand spankin' new (albeit on clearance) 'coscume' (that's costume for those of you unfamiliar with 2-year old language) of Tinkerbell and shoes and a crown! I have to say all the sparkle, pink, Disney Musak playing in the background and the friendly customer service put me into some kind of Mickey Mouse stupor! I don't know how to act..."take me to your coscumes"! I swear I think they pipe pixie dust into the air ducts - Disney crack if you will! I tried to show my sweetie all the cute, less than $10 items she could take home but it was all about the 'coscumes'. She really wanted the Cinderella 'coscume' displayed in front but since that was full-price (heaven forbid) I was able to convince her that the Tinker Bell, frilly, green, tutu was a much better alternative. She was so happy with the purchase and hugged the bag out to the car and couldn't wait to get home and try it on. I was almost as giddy as she was waiting to see what it would look like....precious!...adorable!!!...cute!...stinkin' cute even! and then these immortal words utter forth from the mouth of my now freshly adorned and minted Tinker Bell..."Where's My Wings?"...

Ack! For $40+ couldn't the Disney powers-that-make-princesses-to-be include the wings!? Nope, obviously not! It included the tights and the fabulous Tinker Bell cameo pin and all the glitter and fairy dust on the tutu but no wings. I bought the shoes and crown but didn't think to get wings. Oh well...Not going back...you know as well as I do what will happen...we'd leave with a Cinderella 'coscume' next time!

She has continued to 'mention' to everyone who passes by and sees her costume that 'I have no wings' - sad isn't it!? I pulled some wings from a different costume but she's no dummy and while she tried them on, probably for my sake, they just didn't 'fit' and they were removed after a couple of minutes. Not the right color or size I'm sure.

The Big Easy may have had an 'eye popping' moment over the price but there was no denying the cuteness factor or her face lighting up when she wears her 'coscume' and prances around the house. It is the first thing she puts on in the morning and we have to practically peel it off of her at night. I love it! I am enjoying every minute of my baby girl being a full-fledged, card-carrying member of the prissy princess club! Dress it up baby Tinker Bell!

They're making a comeback...Apron's that is!

I made 12 of them for Christmas, that's right....12!!! Actually a few more if you count the 3 I made for the kiddos out of the IKEA Christmas kitchen towels - okay, I was a smokin' hot apron maker for the holidays. Most were made using the Vanilla House Designs "Friday Night Apron" or "Sunday Dinner Apron" patterns. Very easy to use, both of them - but I prefer the sexy, sassy look of the Friday Night one (see one lucky recipient sassin' it out in hers in the slide show). I think aprons are making a revival (nah, I KNOW they are!). I wish I had more and I wish I had some antique and retro ones that I know we played around with as girls that belonged to mom, Granny and Granny C. Who would have known!?

There is a cool site devoted to the apron and all things apron'y' (is that a word?). They are having a giveaway of a cool book about aprons. If you go to their site and make a comment you can be entered in the give away. Check it out: http://www.apronista.blogspot.com/ Hmmm...all those aprons and not one for me - there's a problem with that. I've got some sassy "Elvis print' fabric that needs to be made into an apron and picked up some adorable striped fabric on our anniversary trip. I think it's time for me to get a new Friday Night Apron. Whatcha think?

8:00 am and all's well

Yep, 8:00 am on New Year's Eve and I'm awake to verify that all's well in the computer kingdom and at least in Lehi, Utah. We were able to ring in the New Year last night at my brother's house...the first time every one of us made it to midnight! It was a Christmas Miracle! Everyone was so tired and the kids were getting their second winds running around like loons with balloons after a round of attempted balloon animal making gone awry. The two, 2-year olds, surprisingly were the best behaved of the bunch and about 11:45pm it was all about the 'poppers'. Big Easy had purchased some of those little poppers and sadly, that was the highlight of their evening. We had to take 'baby steps' to midnight...staving them off with Dick Clark's "New Years Rockin' Eve". Poor Dick needs to retire, he looks like an animatronic from Disneyland.

After a long commercial for the new season of "Lost" the show came back on and it was suddenly 11:58pm. The vP's threw on their coats and shoes (so we could leave as soon as the festivities were over), watched the ball drop in Times Square - none of the kids realized it was pre-recorded and headed out for the total of 3-minutes it took to pull all the poppers and litter the front porch and snow with confetti. It was so freezing cold it was hard for the kids to enjoy it. My littlest refused to even consider holding one or pulling the rip cord. We piled in the car and headed for home watching neighborhood fireworks the whole 1/2 mile home. All vP kiddos were in bed by 12:10 am. BE and I took a bit longer to unload the car, clean, pick up, transfer laundry and finally collapse around 1:00 am. We had a good night - too much good food: homemade buffalo wings, dips, hamburgers, freshly made french fries, Martinellis, chocolates, egg nog and assorted snacks.

2007 was a good year! 2008 will only be better. Topping the resolution list for all is to lose 30 lbs by the family reunion in August. D, T, BE, Nana, Pops and I are all 'in' on this one. If we pull together it can be done. Gotta 'de junk' the house. I pray all challenges can be met with my backpack full of emotional and mental tools at the ready and if my bag is empty I will be able to find friends and family behind me with bags full. My wish for all of you is the same and more. The hills and valleys will come - may we have our heads up to see them! TTFN!