wow, I'm a slacker

My blog is so sad- no posts since what, July? Does that mean I've done nothing. Well of course not, let me see if I can re-cap with a few highlights- theres my charming husband- busy and handsome as ever - who made some gorgeous hard maple cutting boards for Christmas gifts- he even made one for the camper, how sweet is that? He is currently building a fab nightstand out of cherry and walnut to match the bed he made last year. Somehow I was able to create a "rainbow fairy" costume- translating from a 4 year olds imagination to reality- whoo, it was scary for a while there, but she was thrilled. I made those green & pink hats for birthday presents, and about eleventy billion more like it for Christmas gifts- um yeah, I still have one to finish and 3 to mail, what? its not even February yet..... uh.... I knit my girls 2 adorable *yes I do say so myself* earflap hats- thanks again Julie- from some fab superwash wool- and oh yeah, right- that snow picture- yes, my dear husband got me a Nikon D60 slr camera. So I may never knit again. or cook. I'll just take pictures, right then.

Ok so yeah, thtas just a teeny sampling of the last 398 months since I posted. I'll try to do better, just in case someone reads this blog. ever.

So, I'm trying to ditch things

but I'm having a hard time. On one hand, I feel like I want to have less things, less clutter, less to move around, clean up after, just generally mess with my life. On the other hand, I'm pretty frugal (don't say cheap, Hey- I said don't say cheap!) so I feel a little twinge every time I send something on its merry way "'I could use that for.... " Someday, I'll wish I had that..... or if its a duplicate I think "next week the one I kept will break..."
So, I think there must be some sort of balance, somewhere. I'm still figuring it out. Today I culled the bath toys for the girls, that was a little easier because they aren't my things, than say, they kitchen.
Anyway, if I can come up with something brilliant I'll let you know, otherwise, what do you think?

I so want to win this quilt,

but if I don't, I think that at least someone I know should, so go, go enter now. Lovely quilt

Don't go...

So for a few weeks now, I've had at least one official 'No Driving Day' per week. Typically its worked out to be on Mondays, but I'm flexible on that. It seemed like it might be a drag, but its really great- I don't have to go anywhere- no carseats, no lugging bags around, no getting out of our jammies if we don't want to.... errrr wait. Anyway, there are many places we can walk to if we choose- such as the library, post office, park, many many stores, and of course Starbucks. Since we have a fab BOB jogger from lovely Lisa, its pretty workable with the kidlets. Also, being that its on Monday, its nice to have a day to just chill out after our typically busy weekends. I do housework, and just... you know, just "mom". Its a good day. So, my advice, pick a day and just don't go.....

Operation Gratitude

I have been using True Lemon products for a while now, you know handy little packets of lemon, lime and orange flavoring. I like to add them to water and also have on hand for recipes.
They love to send out FREE SAMPLES of their products- and coupons, too and you know how I love coupons. But- the coolest thing I read about recently was that they sent 1,000,000 packets to troops overseas!!! So, go ahead and pick up a great sample for yourself, while supporting a very generous small company.

Happy Birthday, cute girl!

We've had a busy few weeks- here are the birthday cakes- which came out pretty well. I used a new buttercream recipe, which didn't set up as well as I would have liked, but people liked it anyway. The cake was filled with ganache frosting, dark chocolate, thank you very much and as ever I used this yellow cake recipe, which I adore. I'll admit- this was not my best cake ever- as far as the decorating went. I had grand plans, but in the end, this is what I had. I decided to just use figurines from the Disney store that she could play with aftewards- they were a hit. Hopefully, they are not painted with lead.

You may have noticed

I have added a picture of what we presume to be a ground squirrel carcass. I just wanted to share some of the camping fun we had recently. I also wanted to show you what I *wanted* to throw into the camp of the people we *presume* stole our fire wood the other night. But I didn't. But I seriously considered it. Still, I didn't. And to think that very day my darling husband saved your kids kite from flying away while you were gone. So you stole our wood under the cover of darkness to return the favor. nice. Your kids should be proud.

I so made this sweater

and brilliant Julie made the hat, the periwinkle one. Which I love.

ooooh

I saw these great mom jewelry designs today Lisa Leonard designs and I think they're great. Plus, one of my new favorite blogs- Simple Mom is offering a contest to win one. You really must check it out.