Day 334: Party day

since Iwas up literally all night last, I'm only going to post this one photo.  And it's not even a party shot.  But the kidsfound it at the party.  Reminded me of Disney.

Real party photos tomorrow, when  I can take a bit of time to go through them.  right now, I'm so tired it's dangerous!

334: Cakes, cakes, cakes

The plan was to bake these and freeze last week, then do everything else party-ish yesterday so I could frost today.

Didn't happen.

Ended up baking over the last couple of days, doing nothing party-ish until today, then going mad trying to get it all done.  Which is why it's the middle of the night, it's not looking like I'm getting any sleep tonight since there are still a gazillion things to do.  Yuck.  But this is what I've spent the last few hours doing.  Two of them--this pink one and one purple.  I just noticed that this photo was taken before I added the nostril.  *snort*

All righty then.  Now it's off to put all the stuff in a box and then make a bunch of card stock stick horses.  Oy.  Who needs sleep, anyway...

Sweet dreams, all.  Dream a little dream for me!

Day 333: Crazily busy--so more garden photos.

Getting ready for Julia's birthday party on Saturday, so lazed out and ran into the garden yesterday for the photos.  Sorry I didn't post on the correct day, even though I took the photos.  I had to run out with the kids late to get a few things for the cakes (yes, cakes.  It's a birthday shared with a friend, and I offered to make the cakes).  As a result, we got home late late, and Adam had a restless night.  I was up the stairs every 15 minutes, and finally decided to just stay there without posting.  Laptop is dead (again) so I couldn't bring it up and post there.

So.  SOTC, since I didn't have time to edit:

Basil:

And Halleluia!  The black eyes susans actually bloomed this year.  Finally.  They're still not looking particularly healthy, but at least we have more than one sickly little bloom.

Day 332: Civic Band

Driving past the Community Arts Center this evening with the kids, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw "Civic Band" on the sign--but didn't catch the date.  Then saw people on the grass putting out their lawn chairs, so we grabbed some bread for the ducks and went over ourselves, with ten minutes to spare before concert time.  YES!  I love chances to have the kids experience live music.  Doesn't happen much--so this was a treat.  Took a few pics from where we were sitting.  One of the awesome things about groups like this is the mixture of people.  There were kids who looked like they were right out of high school--maybe even still attending--and seniors who had been playing their instruments for decades and everyone in between.  The piccollo player had her little girl there.  Everyone was hanging out on the grass in lawn chairs having a grand time!

I'm really pleased with how this clarinet photo turned out. 

Just noticed that you can see my reflection in this next one:

Now, in the spirit of keeping in real, here is Julia.  Not sure what was going on with her, but she was being a bear.  Liking the music, but she kept giving me the evil eye and acting like she was going to throw stuff at me.  People must have wondered what sort of devil child I was raising.

I think she was possessed.

She got over it.

I've mentioned in a previous post how much I love watching the director.  After dealing with the above attitude for awhile, we went back to the car to listen to the rest of the concert.  The plan was to go home, but the car was boxed in.  I wanted a photo of the director, though, since he was a guy who looked like he'd been doing it for years and years.   So I took a quick walk to the back while the kids were cooling off in the car, and took this:

He was great.  He'd shuffle to the front of the band, and I wondered how he'd hold up, then he'd lift up his arms and let 'er rip!  I want to be just like him when I'm his age!

And now it's 11:00 pm, and I've got to go back two cakes.  I know--it's nuts.  But I have to freeze them and then frost on Friday, I've been under the weather, and it has been too hot during the day.  So night-time baking it is! 

Nighters, all!

Day 331: A little slice of paradise

Posting yesterday's photo today.  I'm still not 100% well, I don't think, and when the kids went to bed, so did I.

So--here's yesterday's photo, of one of my favorite recipes ever EVER!  And because I love you I'm even going to share the recipe!

OK. Here's the photo of a Nanaimo Bar.

Those of you who live in British Columbia and have these at every party you go to and know the recipe like the back of your hand can go and do your nails or something now.  But let me tell you, if you live somewhere else and have never had these before--trust me.  You're going to want to bookmark this. 

The thing is, one of the ingredients you can only get in certain parts of the world, and the US grocery store is not one of them.  I keep stocked by getting some when I go home to Canada.  You may need to order it in.  Or grab a can when you go to Canada or Great Britain.  Or better yet, book a flight right NOW to Canada or Great Britain just to get some!  British Columbia is beautiful this time of year, and summer isn't quite over!

But I digress.

*ahem* The Recipe

BOTTOM LAYER

Melt together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, and 5 TBSP of cocoa powder.

Add one beaten egg.  Cook and stir until thickened.

Add 1-3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup coconut.  You can add some nuts, too, but I don't.  Press into an ungreased 9 inch pan.  Or be a wuss like me and cover the bottom with waxed paper, and then when you're ready to slice them at the end, dump the whole thing on a cutting board and peel of the paper before flipping it right side up and cutting.  I hate even the possibility of these sticking to the pan. Even though chances are they won't.  Carry on.

Chill for 1/2 an hour.  Or do as I did last night when I was in a bit of a rush and throw it in the freezer for a bit.

SECOND LAYER

Cream together 2 cups icing sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter, 3 TBSP cream or milk, and 2 TBSP of Bird's Custard Powder (That's the secret ingredient. Go to the handy-dandy link to order it. I tried Amazon, and it was twice the price!  Whaaaat?)

THIRD LAYER

Melt together 2/3 cup chocolate chips and 2 Tbsp butter and spread over the top.  This batch I was in a rush and to make it easier to spread--and because I like chocolate--I doubled the chocolate/butter bit.  Sue me!

After you've chilled it a bit, cut it into little pieces because it's really rich and you don't need much.

Then lock yourself in a room with the whole darn thing and don't come out until it's gone.

(In the picture you can see the top looks kind of damp?  It's because I was in a hurry, trying to make this FAST for the RS dinner, and I threw it in the freezer.  Uh--yeah.  Don't do that if you don't want little condensation drops on your chocolate.)

OK.  Now I'm off for leftovers.

Photo for today later!

Day 330

I'm a doofus.  Tonight I was telling hubby that I have lost creative juice for this 365 project, and with only 35 days left.  And he says, "It says you're only on day 229."  My stomach did a belly flop onto the floor.  My heart decided to break off its relationship with the rest of my body.  And through the blur of complete body meltdown I glanced at the archives and realized that I went from Day 306 to Day 207.  Whew.  Thought I was losing my mind.

So I went and ate some melon.  And now the earth is back on its axis and all is as it should be.

Melon is marvelous.

Day 329: just because

Because it was Sunday and we had a late, late lunch and nobody was really hungry at suppertime, and because I ignored the kids while I was on the phone for an age  first with a friend then with my sister, and because it just seemed that we hadn't done anything together all day, and because it just felt right...

...Julia set up Fitzsimmons here on the bed with tonight's book requests and asked me to take a photo of him for the blog, afterwhich we all hopped up on the bed in jammies and had a snacky supper which included cheese, crackers, pickles, apples, and fruit gummies while I read.

And we hung out for almost two hours before mommy realized the time and quite guiltily hustled everyone off to bed!

Another photo.  Note how lovely the GRASS is in focus and not the FLOWER.  Sheez-Louise!  But it will work for my Christmas project.  hehe.