My Garden Treasure

I enjoyed gardening with my family these past two days! The weather was perfect. Nice and sunny, but cool enough not to burn seedlings. We weren't alone!! It was a regular garden party! Our dog sat in the shade with a smile on his face. Birds darted in and out. A squirrel sat on the fence wondering what would happen to his buried treasures as we dug them up. There was a giant dragonfly watching from the wall, Ladybugs munching on aphids, tons of earthworms worked to make my soil healthy, bees were buzzy and we even found some caterpillars!

We planted Zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, pink beets, rainbow chard, kale, lettuce, leeks, blueberries and cilantro. We transplanted lambs ears, basil, spinach, mesculin lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and flat leaf parsley.

I can't wait to harvest!

My hands are a mess, but I wouldn't trade that feeling of earth between my fingers for a pair of gloves.

Party People! Mario Bros. Themed Party 2011

One thing I take absolute pride in is throwing a party! My son's 7th birthday party wish was to have a Mario Bros. themed party.

This is what I did to create an awesome party for about $120:

• I took Mario clip art from the net and printed an invitation on a blank card purchased from a stationary store. I glued a gold coin onto each one.
• We ordered balloons online. Blue latex balloons with clouds on them and mylar Mario/Luigi balloons.
• I bought plain white gift bags and glued yellow question marks on them. I wrote names on them as guests RSVP'd to use as goodie bags.
• I bought chocolate gold coins to use as rewards for good party behavior and game winners.
• I found rock candy lollipops to reward teams with "fire" & "ice" powers at Tuesday Morning. (Warm colors =fire, cool colors=ice)
• I printed Mario and Luigi's faces from the internet, taped the page to cardboard, covered it with wax paper, made buttercream icing, dyed it in batches and piped the design onto the faces as if I were coloring them with paint. I froze these in advance and inverted them onto a plain Baskin Robbins cake that I ordered.
• I bought gum balls and gummy peaches from TJ MAXX and put them in jars for prizes.
• I found Mario gummy snacks to add to the goodie bag.
• I served water in re-usable cups and pretzels to snack on. (we served cake & ice cream too)
• I found red paper polka dot napkins and square blue paper plates to use. We used re-usable forks.
• We blew up latex balloons in bright colors and put gold chocolate coins in them. We made 2 teams. Gave each team a bag full of balloons. The children did a relay where they were to pop the balloons with their bottoms as fast as they could. They collected the coins and shared them. The winning team received the fire power lollipops and the other team got ice power. (essentially, everyone won)
• Each child was given a character name that I wrote on a sticky label and put on their forehead. We played the guessing game where you ask yes/no questions about which character you are. Once the children knew their character, we played the next game.
• We borrowed a spin wheel and pasted characters' photos on it for this game. Each time we spun the wheel and it landed on a particular character, the child who matched that had that character would take one step closer to the finish line.
• I painted character mustaches and daisies on the children's faces.
• I drew Mario, free-hand onto a paster board and then cut out some felt mustaches. We played pin the mustache on Mario!
• We had plastic gold coins from previous parties, so I cut fishing line and taped the coins to the line and hung them from different heights from the ceiling.
• I always hang streamers in an X design from the corners of the room.
• One friend of mine stayed and took photos for us.

Every child left with a bag full of chocolate coins, a lollipop & Mario Gummies, facepaint and a smile! The best part was that my husband and I played with the children for 2 hours straight. Everyone raved about the party saying it was the best they'd ever been to. My son was delighted. Happy Super Mario Birthday!

Arrrrrr, Gold!!!

I recently drove to Oakland to feast on Fenton's ice cream with my dad. We drove past Blick's Art Supply on the way, and decided to stop in. Paint in general makes me salivate, but the new treasure I honed in on was a product called "Rub N Buff." I chose the antique gold tube for $3.50. We brought it home and applied it to my tri-fold mirror whose frame had tarnished...AAAAAAAhhhhh....Tarnish no more!!! This stuff goes on like a wax, so it blends in like magic and looks as if it was there all along! Before I knew it, I was on the prowl for more items around the house that needed gold! Dull things, beware!!

Grocery Bargain scores!

I hit the Grocery Outlet store in Concord today, and boy did I score! Judging by the contents of my re-usable bags, you'd think I went to whole foods! Looking at my purchase, I spent $53 and saved $59! Gotta love the high quality, whole food at half the price!

Here's what I got!

Back to Nature Trail mixes, Organic Greek Raspberry Frozen Yogurt, Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream, Organic eggs, Organic Acai berry puree pouches, Kiss My Face shaving cream (for Jerry), Whole foods hand soap, Egyptian Mint Zhena gypsy tea, Nature's Path organic Granola bars, 2 potted certified organic herbs (flat leaf parsley & sage), Kettle brand organic corn chips, Naked Mighty Mango Smoothie, Cabot butter, and some homeopathic stuffy nose relief capsule thing.

I have made this store my first stop...every week, and I am positive that I am becoming a pro, grocery pirate!

Shanghai Teens

How do you describe an 8th grader?

Pimply faced, awkward, silly, mismatched?

I found joy in subbing in an eighth grade English class today. Six girls marched into class, (pimply faced & awkward) straight backed and wide smiled...wearing brightly colored tutus over jeans, sweatshirts, shades from the 80's and glittery converse! I wish I could pull that off! How wonderful!