* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Invitations

I used pingg.com to send the invitations,because I wanted to use my own graphic and evite wouldn’t let me. You’ve got to try it. It has so many useful tools for event management, and the whole thing is very intuitive. Favorite feature? If you know that Great Aunt Sue doesn’t use email and won’t get the digital invite, pingg will print and mail her the invitation. For a fee, of course, but what a helpful tool!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Food

Lunch was Trader Joes Red Pepper soup in lidded-bowls (I didn’t want ladies at a shower ladling out sloppy red soup.) and toppings: meatballs, cheese, rice and sour cream. The white balls on the right are rice, scooped out with a cookie scoop into neat little portions.

We also had peppermint bark (red, white, and black – perfect!), a veggie tray and cuties (for those who made New Year’s Resolutions) and popcorn balls.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Hot Drinks

We had a hot chocolate bar (thanks Kelly for providing it!) on this warm January day. You can see what we did for the cups: we took a set of glasses, dipped the rim in melted chocolate chips and then sugar sprinkles. (Hubbs and I did a trial run to make sure that this wouldn’t cause melty chocolate to get all over your face. It doesn’t.) Then we took paper coffee sleeves which were slightly too big, cut them open and hot-glued them to the glass.

This seems like it would take a long time, but mom and I sat down and did all thirty cups in about a half-hour. So really not too bad, considering how fun and sparkly they turned out.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Decorations

Dad’s new red wagon was up front to put the gifts in. I got a few feet of astroturf from the hardware store to use as table runners over the white tablecloths. And then I pulled out all the red, white, and black that I had and put it out all over the place: japanese lanterns hanging from the ceiling, red cranberries in the water, red glasses with tea-lights in them, black rocks in vases with white candles.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Favors

Little cello bags with red and white candies, sealed with matching stickers.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And there you go! A tricycle baby shower. I’m hosting another shower in a few weeks for my sister, so the fun continues.

]]> http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/the-third-wheel/feed/ 2 smitchfitch shower tricycle9 the food rimmed hot chocolate glasses wagon favors http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/one-bowl-at-a-time/ http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/one-bowl-at-a-time/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:33:46 +0000 smitchfitch http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/?p=3032 Continue reading →]]> When my sister and I were little, my mom signed us up for these local children’s cooking classes with cookbook author Marion Cunningham. We’d go to Marion’s house each week and learn about ingredients (like butter samples that had just arrived from France) test out typewritten recipes for her children’s cookbook, taste whatever cooking project she had been experimenting with that week, and then play with her dog Rover while she and my mom chatted in the kitchen.

One thing that I remember Marion teaching us was that jam didn’t have to be a big complicated project – in fact, it could be made just a bowlful at a time.

If there’s fruit that’s a little mushy and on the verge of turning, don’t let it go to waste. Cut it up, put it on the stove with a little bit of water and a few tablespoons of sugar, and cook it up until its thick and syrupy. Then put it in a covered bowl in the refrigerator and you’ve got a jammy fruit spread to enjoy for the next few days. Its ten times (at least!) more pleasant to see jam than moldy strawberries in the fridge.

At the top you can see yesterday’s breakfast — strawberry jam on a leftover popover. {sigh} if only breakfast could be like that every day…

Put numbers on your make-up (with stickers, paint pen, sharpie, whatever) in the order that you apply it. Then its easy to grab and lay everything out in the right order before you begin. I also lay out my brushes, so I can work right down the line and apply the right thing in the right order with the right brush. No more fumbling around in the make-up bag trying to figure out what’s what or what comes next when I’m sleepy and distracted in the morning. One less thing to think about!

note: this system was begun after a recent unfortunate incident with the blush as I was rushing to get ready to go… Hope it helps you avoid similar disasters!

What you need:

• 100% wool sweater (any color or pattern, get from thrift store, garage sale, closet, etc… bright, ugly knit sweaters are fun because the images shrink up really small)

What to do:

(Its kind of fun to take a picture of the sweaters before you do this so you can be amazed at how much they shrank. But then I’m always a sucker for before-and-afters)

1. Throw the sweaters in the washing machine on the hottest setting you’ve got; you don’t need any detergent. When they’re done…
2. Pull them out and throw them in the dryer on the hottest setting.
3. Remove from dryer, laugh at how small they are, and do it again - wash and dry on hot. And then do it again.
4. By the time you pull them out of the dryer for the third time, the sweaters should feel stiff, heavy, and be very short. Any pattern or design that was knit into the sweater will be miniature, and the fabric will be really thick.

Now you have wool felt, ready to use for all sorts of projects. The great thing is that you can cut it and the fibers are shrunk together so tightly that it won’t fray or unravel at all, so you don’t need to hem or do anything to the edges. And its so stiff that it will hold its shape once its cut.

In the past I’ve taken this felt, glued paper to the back and cut out little sweater-y gift tags, I’ve sewed the arm-tubes into knitting needle cases, I sewed a pair of slippers… this stuff is very versatile and very forgiving.

This time I made little birds with feathered tails (thank you chickens for contributing to this project!) The feathers catch every little breeze and spin the birds right around, which makes them very entertaining for little Ellie.

Or, Ellie is One Month Today (well, yesterday).

Sister gave us a thoughtful shower gift: a copy of the Hungry Caterpillar book with some special modifications. She made 12 little stickers, one for each month of Ellie’s first year, held in a small pocket on the inside cover. She also included instructions to stick the appropriate sticker on her onesie each month for a picture.

Yesterday we marked our sweet girl’s one month accordingly.

The poor chickens – now that baby is here, their days of being brought into the house for photo shoots may be entirely over. And I will let you know what we decide to do with Turbo, though. His fate is yet to be determined, and Thanksgiving is getting closer… We need to make up our minds about whether we want a large, 25 pound, consuming-yet-not-producing and too big to carry around pet of a turkey (how long do turkeys live for again?), or a Thanksgiving dinner as originally planned.

Like I say, we’ll let you know.

Before anyone gets any crazy ideas about me, let me begin by clarifying that this canning project was done in the late weeks of September, before Ellie was born. At this point I’m not sure how it works to squeeze peeling, coring, straining and boiling into a busy day of bottling, swaddling, changing and swinging.

Also, the canning tools have been reassigned to the never ending job of pulling bottle parts out of the sterilizing pot. And let me mention here that if you ever want to sterilize plastic baby bottle parts in a steamer on the stove, make sure there’s water in the pan beneath. Otherwise you may find that the parts just melt right to the pan. (Don’t ask how I know that.)

Back to canning…

In late September, I used a small portion of our apple harvest to make and can apple butter. The two-fer mentioned in the title was an accidental byproduct of the butter. The apples cooked for a long time, and were ready to can, except that there was still too much liquid to make the butter really spreadable.

I scooped the hot apple butter right into a flour-sack towel, twisted it tight, and rich, golden, syrupy juice which tasted a lot like apple cider poured through into the bowl beneath. A little cinnamon and sugar later, and we had apple cider concentrate to can as well.

What to do:

I’d put a recipe down, but its so easy that it seems silly. Peel and core apples, put them in a pot on the stove with some water, cook over medium heat until the apples are soft. I had a vanilla bean on hand that I added while it cooked.

When the apples are soft and enough water has evaporated that you’re happy with the consistency, its apple sauce. Sweeten with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla or sugar to taste, if you’d like.

Keep cooking it, adding a small amount of water if necessary to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. When the mixture has turned deep brown color, the sugars have caramelized and you’ve got apple butter. Again, sweeten or season to taste.

If the butter is soft and and still too soupy, strain out the liquid and you’ve got apple cider concentrate, which you can either can or freeze in ice cube trays for single-serve, just-add-boiling-water cider storage.

Hubbs and I welcomed our daughter into the world three weeks ago, and not knowing her gender beforehand, I can’t tell you how delighted I am to have been given a little girl! Her name is Eleanor Verity, which means “God is my light and truth,” and that is truly our prayer for her.

As a kid I always felt a little slighted that there were no nicknames name for my name. Not wanting our little one to feel similarly shorted, Eleanor will have plenty of (adorable, I think) names to choose from if she prefers not to go by Eleanor. I think all the nicknames are so cute, that I haven’t even fully decided whether I’d like to call her Ellie, Ella, or Elle… I do know that when she’s wearing a fancy dress or drinking tea I’ll be calling her Eleanor.

So Hubbs and I are getting to know, love, and delight in this new member of the family. We really like what we see so far.

]]> http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/introducing-eleanor/feed/ 3 smitchfitch eleanor http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/the-creativity-of-others/ http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/the-creativity-of-others/#comments Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:26:54 +0000 smitchfitch http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/?p=2945 Continue reading →]]>

Today I thought I would showcase some of the amazing creativity of some friends who helped make last Saturday’s baby shower just wonderful.

First up is this incredible cake. Since the nursery is garden-themed, he made a vegetable garden cake.  Yes, that’s a fondant picket fence, yes those are three-dimensional tomato trellises, yes you do see a little box of corn cobs and a baby wrapped as a sweet-pea sitting outside the fence on the cake board. (everything hand sculpted out of fondant) And what kind of cake was it? Carrot cake, of course.

To the right, you see an amazing flower arrangement made by Sister. But those flowers aren’t all flowers, they’re wrapped up bibs, onsies, blankets… I can’t actually say exactly whats in there since I haven’t wanted to take it apart and ruin it! (I will before the baby comes, I promise). But this was such an impressive gift here, so cute and clever. (Sister – will it ruin the surprise if I put the link to instructions?)

Finally, here’s the pitcher of lovely fancy water made by the hostess. Whats so fancy about it? its made with water, strawberries, lemon, and basil leaves. This makes the most refreshing water that’s slightly sweet, slightly savory, and has the prettiest light pink tinge.

So thank you so much to all of my creative friends – what great ideas you have!

Tagged: to drink ]]> http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/the-creativity-of-others/feed/ 2 smitchfitch garden cake flowers fancy basil water http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/whats-on-the-bbq-this-week/ http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/whats-on-the-bbq-this-week/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 15:26:17 +0000 smitchfitch http://thirtyonethirtyone.wordpress.com/?p=2929 Continue reading →]]> (For some reason, the chickens don’t see the irony in hanging out on the BBQ.)

This, in case you don’t recognize him, is Turbo. He or she —we’re still not sure which— is huge. And no wonder! When we put food in the dish he’s the first one to dart into the coop, and use his beak like a giant tractor to gulp it up like he’s been starved the rest of the day (he hasn’t). He towers over the Old Maids as the other chicks crowd under him for protection. And yes, he still follows Hubbs around.

In fact, when Hubbs was showering the other day, and opened the high bathroom window, Turbo heard his voice, ran right over, and tried to fly up to say hello. This relationship is very entertaining for both Hubbs and I.

And this fancy lady on the left is Glamorous Glennys, (named for the airplane that broke the sound barrier). Her headdress is growing in beautifully, as you can see. She does have eyes, but they’re well-hidden under her plumage —the poor thing really can’t see much at all. Her sister, Zoe’s feathers grow much more… vertically, giving her more of a mohawk and less of an eye-cover.

Friends have kindly been loaning me bags of clothes lately, to help me keep my growing belly nicely covered. The tricky part of borrowing, of course, is being sure to return things properly. I’ve been trying a new system lately, though, which has made a big difference: as soon as I get a bag of clothes, I lay them all out, with tags showing, and take a picture. I also sometimes make a little notecard with the person’s name and any other relevant details (like “that tear was already there!), and set it in the corner before I snap the pic. I’ve started a “borrowed” file on my computer to keep all the pics in, to easily see what I’ve got.

Now, when I need to return, I know exactly what belongs to who, what condition it was in, and I can make sure I’m not forgetting any parts or pieces. Its such a useful record, I wish I’d started a long time ago!