Hey Steve, have you tried Cake Pops

Our friend, Steve in NY, likes to bake almost as much as I do.
He makes a cake on weekends to take to work on Monday.
He will put pictures of his creations on facebook and I will sometimes get on to see what delicious recipe he has tried.

I am not a fan of cake, but Sharen tells me her mouth waters just looking at his creations.

For Erica's shower I offered to make the cupcakes. I have found my love for cake decorating again.
Footballs, Baseballs, and Golf Balls - (She is having a boy)

Sharen thought it would be fun to try and make "Cake Pops"
I was all for it too.
I baked some extra cake and made my buttercream frosting.
We watched a video on youtube and started. First step was to make the pops and refrigerate them overnight.

Erica and Carrie joined in the cake pops making, but it fast became clear that they did not have the patience for cake pop dipping. Carrie's first attempt fell apart and it took Erica 3 before hers started to break apart. Sharen put them on decorations in the dining room instead. In all fairness to them - It was the last day of work and they had just both come from school stressed out.

Slow and steady - Sharen and I made football, baseball and golf ball cake pops (remember she is having a boy)

The finish product. We tried to get them to stand up in a cup, but we clearly had made them too big and were a bit top heavy. Not bad for a first attempt though.

 

 

So, to my friend Steve - Try this - I promise you will love them.

I know you can get ahead of yourself sometimes, but be patient and you can do this. Your co-workers will love them.

 

 



Water Boy...

Bring me some Water!

The water pressure in our house had been slowly getting worse and worse.
We could be taking a shower and suddenly - No water.

We replaced the pressure tank last summer and it helped for a time.
Saturday morning I decided to power wash the decks. Yeah, the decks got washed but the pumped petered out.

No water - what so ever.

No big deal. We used buckets from the hot tub to flush the toilets. Bottled water to drink. And thanks to all the rain we got Saturday afternoon I collected rain water in pans for washing hands and dishes.
I felt like we were camping again. I even put rain water in my Brita pitcher to make ice tea.

Mike called the guys who put in our tank last summer and they came right out. On a Sunday!
Yup we needed a new pump. Our well is 325 feet deep so we needed a STRONG pump.
Stanley Bros. to the rescue!  These guys were amazing.

By Sunday evening we had water and a lot less money in the bank.

Mystery Quilt Reveal

So my sister was here visiting from her home in SC.
I was looking at pictures of her adorable granddaughter on her phone and came across a picture of the material I used in my latest Mystery Quilt.

We both got it at Hobby Lobby. me for my quilt and she was considering it for a project for the granddaughter.

Then I realized that I hadn't posted a picture of the quilt after I finished it - My Bad, sorry.

So here it is. I haven't quilted it yet. I put it on the stack to be quilted and forgot about it.

Wild Life

I am not about to write about my younger days so relax.

I want to show you our latest addition to our "Wildlife".

Here is a recap from previous posts.
Remember the raccoons who tried to get into our attic through the fan vents.
The skunk who died under our front deck. He has since been replaced by noisy chipmunks.
The snake who kept coming back and Mike finally had to cut the creepy, slimy thing's head off.
The deer who feel that my Hosta is their breakfast. I forgive them though and still love to see them walking through the yard.
There is a fox running through the neighborhood who thinks Sharen's neighbors peacock is his lunch.
The mice who live in our shed. They scatter when I open the doors to get the mower out, so they don't bother me. Mike did have to set some traps this winter in the garage. They just wanted the warmth. R.I.P.
The bats that come out at sundown and eat all the mosquitos. Love that!
The squirrels who eat my tulip bulbs and store their nuts inside Mike's grill.
And the beautiful birds that gather around my feeder and sing me awake each summer morning.

All things we have to deal with living where we do.

Never would I have thought that we would have this...
I caught this guys just wandering down the street. Huge, ugly snapping turtle.

 The next thing I knew he had made a left hand turn and ended up in my flower bed.

Go away - Do not nest in my flowers!
He must of heard me cause this morning he was gone. Whew!

Timber

Sunday was supposed to be my quiet day.
Mike was headed to Logan's double header - I sat through one on Saturday IN THE SUN. Stupid me - and yes I know they do make sunscreen, we buy it by the gallon for Mike.

I just wanted to mow the lawn before the rain.
Got the last minute call from Dup. He was headed to the Sox game - I decided the lawn could wait.

Had a great time on the Fun deck with Matthew.
We brought home a winner.
And I won the "How many strike outs is Sale going to have?" contest with 9.

It still hadn't rained when we got home so I hop on the mower and got the lawn cut.

15 minutes later we hear a loud noise.
It was only 15 minutes or less.

We have so many dead trees in our neighborhood. How can this healthy looking tree lose this huge limb. No rain. No lighting. No wind.

Thank You god that I was done with the mowing.
Now all I see is more firewood. :)