Baskin Robbins

As a treat, we went to a Baskin-Robbins which just opened up a location near us. Our thought was that this would be a great little treat to finish off the day. The menu describes their premium sundaes as three scoops of ice cream with yada yada. I certainly did not think that this would be a ridiculous portion.
I was wrong. So a word of caution, the Oreo and Reese's sundae's are delicious but are much larger than they appear. Consider yourself warned.

Cool Keys!!!

Spreading the word about these neat keys:

http://www.statkeycompany.com/

And the Basement Continues

As of two weeks ago we decided that we would host a Chiefs football party at our house in mid-September. This has lead us to decorating the basement. We finished off the basement ourselves (aside from laying carpet) and we haven't done anything since.

This deadline of having a party is really helping us finish off the space. Again, here's the long open wall space we're working with:

Our alum are the Wisconsin Badgers and per the hubby, this basement shall be considered the Wisconsin room. My wish for the room is to balance memorabilia with class. This summer we took a trip back to WI to visit family and used the opportunity to snab some photos of the iconic hangouts on campus.

Before printing out pictures and attempting to hang them on the wall, I do a dry run with the pictures in Power Point. I pull all the images into Power Point and play with the layout as well as the color. We did not have Photoshop, but Power Point is sufficient. (When you've inserted your picture, within the Picture Tools toolbar, see the Recolor options.)

Last weekend I printed off all the images at a standard size at Target. I knew that we'd be enlarging some photos into 5x7 but at $0.30 it didn't matter to me that I would be printing these photos off twice. As we waited for the photos to be developed, we picked up some frames and wall shelves. Once home, we laid out all the elements that we have to be used on the wall.

Here's a tip, the fake photo that come with the photos make a great temporary matte with the new photo. Just flip it over and use that until you get new mattes or blow up the photo. I use colored scrapbook paper behind photos to set them off. The texture that scrapbooking paper can take a simple black frame up a notch.

Tomorrow I will be searching for additional frames and then will select the pictures to blow up to 5x7. (Yeah! Another trip to Target, sigh, who doesn't love Target? Best retail store ever.) Another tip, limit the number of frame styles selected with a collage.

Be good. Do good.

Halloween Costume

I was out on the web searching for a gnome widget to add with no luck. I did however come across this crazy idea for a Halloween costume:


Seriously, check this little guy out! Okay, I may not be able to/willing to pull this off as a 20-something. But I will guarantee you that any future babies will be dressed as garden gnomes for Halloween.

Brainstorm: what about a gnome party...like a toga party, but everybody sports suspenders and pointy hats.

No, you're right. It's too much for anybody over the age of 10....

Gnome Ransom

Remember how two of our gnomes are living with our neighbors and they were going to send them back in a clever manner?

Well, here's how it's going down one way...

The Ransom Note:
M&J,
As you can see by the attached photograph, we have your beloved gnome. He has no idea where he is or where he's going. But I assure you, he is quite unfindable.
DO NOT involve the FBI. I know how they work and their meager efforts will not stop me. I will contact you periodically to inquire about your progress on acquiring the ransom we agree on. I will not use a telephone because they can track me. I will use high tech equipment to monitor this transaction; equipment M is sure to be familiar with. Yes, I know a lot about you. If you contact the media and try to market public support, I will know and not be pleased, no matter how good it looks on TV.
First instruction, do nothing. I will be in touch. Determine how much this gnome is worth to you and be ready to make an offer the next time I contact you.
If I see any signs of law enforcement involvement, I will return the gnome piece by piece, starting with his beard. Tread softly..
With warmest regards,
Z

So what do you think will be an acceptable ransom? Do you think another campfire will do it? Or do you think we'll have to host a Chiefs gameday?

2010 Ikea Catalog

I suggest anyone and everyone sign up to receive the free 2010 Ikea catalog. Such great ideas! Whether you buy it from them or use it for inspiration and, ahem, make something awfully close to it in your own garage.

http://info.ikea-usa.com/Signup/

Cupcake History

I've picked up decorating cupcakes as a hobby. For Christmas I got the book, Hello Cupcake. It's a great book and recommend it for inspiration. There's a mix of beginners and advanced decorating ideas. Here's a history of the cupcakes I've created previously:

Beach cupcakes

Crushed graham crackers are the sand, Swedish fish on top, and a frosted graham cracker as a shark fin. The book says to use peppermint balls (as beach balls) and cocktail umbrellas to finish it off. I found the umbrellas in time, but had to improvised and made a life preserver ring with a Lifesaver and white frosting.

Puppy Cupcakes

I try to make my cupcakes special for the recipient. For a co-worker's birthday I made her puppy dog cupcakes. She was getting a lab puppy for her birthday, so it was quite fitting.

I rolled out caramels and tootsie rolls for the ears. The eyes were chocolate M&Ms, the snout was a frosted marshmallow with a chocolate jelly belly nose. The mouth was a pink jelly belly.

I Love NYC

This co-worker lives in KC but was working in NYC part-time. I learned a lesson with these cupcakes, apparently not any baking mix will make 24 cupcakes. I used a brownie mix that was in our pantry thinking it would make 24 cupcakes. It turned out nine "cupcakes"---they were really brownies in cupcake liners.

Fishing Cupcakes

These cupcakes were for a co-worker that spends his summer days fishing. The fishing poles were pretzel sticks. I used multi-colored goldfish crackers and picked a white line for fishing line.

I will be making another round of cupcakes for another birthday coming up next week. I'll be sure to post a how-to. First, I gotta figure out what fun cupcakes to make. Any ideas?

Be good. Do good.