A Weed by Any Other Name

orange tickseed and yellow trefoil

A weed by any other name - or in particular tickseed and trefoil - is a bouquet in my house. Isn't it pretty? Tickseed isn't a weed here, but I've heard it's a common wildflower/weed in other parts of the country. Where I live, trefoil is considered a weed, but in other places it's actually planted and desired. Lucky for me I have a ton of volunteer trefoil cheering up my garden right now.

When I do my flowerbed reno I'll be saving both of these weeds. Do you have any "weeds" that you love?

A Friday Link Roundup: Places I've Been...

my "front yard" - it's very European

Every purchase you make is a trade-off – an expansion of the author’s point that you can have anything you want but you can’t have everything you want.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/07/05/every-purchase-is-a-trade-off/

As someone with no front lawn (seriously, I have a 4-6” wide strip of dirt between me and the asphalt), this article made me feel better. And, honestly, having lived with it for two years I now prefer having no front lawn. Because who really uses one?

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/dc/plants/underused-uniform-and-ubiquitous-the-case-against-the-american-front-lawn-150531

Tips on writing – mostly from non-fiction writers/researchers, but plenty of it still applies. (I have visions of eventually selling a manuscript)

http://blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/2011/06/02/practical-tips-on-writing-a-book-from-22-brilliant-authors/

Amen. My mom still gives the look like no other.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/05/granderson.bratty.kids/index.html

What I did (looked at) instead of writing like I promised myself I would:

http://www.houseofturquoise.com/

I wish I lived in Denver and had access to thrift stores with amazing clothes like these:

http://thethriftychicks.blogspot.com/2011/07/while-children-are-away-mommy-will-save.html

Ok, I’m putting this link on here for Jessie's Raised Eyebrow Award: yuppies go “green” and spend too much $ to do so. <le sigh> I’m going to pick on this article a little bit, not out of malice but out of a desire to better inform.

http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/simple-food-storage-solutions-for-your-kitchen-150566

1: Milk Jar – unless you’re getting your milk straight from the bulkhead, there’s no reason to transfer your milk to a jar. By the time you get your milk from the store potential chemical leaching will have already happened, negating the usefulness of putting it in glass when you get it home.

2: I don’t think I’d pay $7 for a reusable sandwich bag, but I prefer wrapping my sandwich up in a napkin anyhow.

3: $20 twine dispenser. $20 twine dispenser. No further comment.

4: Again, a napkin works too. If you want, you can soak said napkin in oil for a bit, wring it out and voila! It’s semi waterproof. Or just, you know, throw it in the wash and skip the oil etc.

5: $14 for two canning jars that don’t have a button-seal and therefore aren’t as safe to use in canning. OR you can spend $14 and get a dozen jars that are FDA approved. Just sayin.

6: So tiffin means lunch in Indian English, or a lunch container. I’m not sure how I feel about metal lunch carriers, so I guess I’ll leave this alone. But if anyone wants to get me a lunchbox, I prefer vintage TMNT.

7: Sure, it’s cute, but an actual paper berry basket or a colander works just as well.

8: And, finally, why on earth would you pay over $5 apiece for cloth napkins?

OK – I’m done now.

Birthday Month Part Three

don't freak out if the frosting on the cake melts - go with it

You shouldn’t do it all.

You can do it all, but you shouldn’t. The point of a party is to enjoy yourself, right? So, take some of the stress away and don’t do it all.

I recruited some help. I let some things go. I realized that it’s a special day for me too and that I can’t do everything and still enjoy myself. So:

• I decided that it wasn’t worth my time to make potato salad when the deli makes it better than I do anyhow.
• I bartered with my mom’s friend (who is a professional photographer) to come take photos of the big day – and some formals while we were at it. I didn’t even bring my camera. This was totally awesome – and totally worth it. If you don’t know a pro, recruit a few friends. You don’t want to be bothering with a camera when the cake comes out!
• I used things from around my house to decorate – the paper cranes were given to me a few years ago, the bug is one of Max’s toys, and I used coordinating serving pieces from my cupboards. I frosted the (made ahead and frozen) cupcakes in colors coordinating with the decorations. Small effort, but big impact. I didn’t bother with balloons or streamers. I considered making a few buntings, but it wasn’t necessary. No one cared, and I don’t think people even noticed.
• I had my dad grill, and had my mom and MIL on appetizer/side/drink refill duty.
• Mom did a lot more too.
• Mom and dad hosted it at their house - which was huge all on its own.

So, during the party itself, what did I do? I talked with my friends. I ate. I chased my little boy around and gave him kisses, when he wasn’t being snuggled by his adoring fans. I enjoyed myself, and tried to make sure I didn’t have food/snot/dirt on my face for when RD came around the corner with her camera.

AND – I accepted compliments on throwing a great party with tasty food, cute decor, and a laid-back atmosphere. Mission: accomplished.

Now, check out the birthday boy smashing his cake, and then realizing that he could eat it. Time lapse: less than 5 minutes.

Birthday Month Part Two

the invite postcard - info was printed on the back

Prep, prep, prep.

Prep the Invites:

If you’re sending out evites, kudos to you, that’s even easier. I wanted something that the grammies and grampies could hold on to as a keepsake, and while I was at it I sent an invite to everyone. I designed a collage style postcard on picnik and had a local printer make them up for me – only 50 cents each. Woot!

Papa frosted these cupcakes

Prep the Food:

Making food in advance when you have time to be leisurely and cook (haha) is so much easier than trying to fit all of the cooking in on one or two days. This isn’t Thanksgiving folks, it’s a birthday party. Did you know you can freeze cupcakes? And cake? And rolls (that never made it to the table)? And baked beans (read about that here)? And lots of other stuff too, but these are the things that apply to our party.

The key to freezing cupcakes: Let them cool thoroughly. Don’t frost them. Put them in a gallon freezer bag, making sure they’re all standing up. Don’t just toss them in there. Then suck out all of the air from the bag. If you happen to make a lot of cupcakes (<cough> six dozen <cough>), stack the individual bags in the on cooling racks in the freezer.

(In case you don’t know this trick: seal the bag almost all the way, leaving ½” open. Press out as much air as you can. Then pinch your fingers around the ½” opening and suck out the air, quickly closing the opening when the air is gone. Try not to pass out. Practice first, it’s not always as easy as it sounds.)

The key to thawing cupcakes: Take them out of the bags to thaw. If you leave them in the bags they’ll get soggy and gross. I thawed them on the counter at room temperature the morning of the party. Worked like a charm.

I made two pans of rolls, taking them out of the oven after they had cooked but not browned. I froze/thawed in the same way as the cupcakes, and warmed them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. And then promptly forgot about them, so the guests never saw the rolls. Back to the freezer they went.

paper cranes, a bug, and the cupcake tower

Prep the Decor:

I kept the decor for the party simple: little paper cranes sprinkled around the food table. That’s it. The rest of the ‘decor’ was using pretty serving pieces, a white tablecloth (aka a white sheet), and keeping to a color scheme. Simple and effective. I didn’t even have to make the cranes, a co-worker gave them to me years ago. The color scheme was determined by what I have: lots of white, with green, blue, and yellow. Yay me and my awesome vintage Pyrex collection! See what you have around the house, can you make a color theme out of it? Will a tablecloth tie it all together? Good!

While you’re at it, if you can do different levels on the food table. If you don’t have a cupcake tower or cake stand no problem – collect a couple of boxes and put them on the table but under the tablecloth. Caterers do this all the time and it looks fantastic.

Prep Your Helpers:

Don’t forget your trusty helpers. Enlist help, even if it’s as vague as, “I’ll need you to do something, but I don’t know what yet.” Once you do know what it is you want them to do, let them know ASAP, especially if it involves making food.

For example, my mom’s duties for birthday party day:

• Provide a macaroni salad (made the day before)
• That morning, drive around Max and the out-of-town great-grandma (Mimi) who had never been up before so that Max can have a nap before the excitement and so Mimi can see the town
• As an aside, Mimi’s duty was to give Max cuddles and kisses and assist in the getting him to sleep business. She’s very good at it. This may seem like a silly duty, but with Max phasing out his morning naps the extra help was essential.
• During the party, make sure that the pretty drink pitchers are kept filled from the not-so-pretty drink pitchers
• Clean up duty – actually, I was going to clean up but instead I cuddled with Max and chatted with a friend while he napped. Mom’s just awesome like that.

My other helpers and their duties (I apologize if I forgot anyone):

J sprinkled the cranes on the food table

Hubby cut up veggies (assisted by dad)

Dad grilled burgers and hot dogs, and frosted the blue cupcakes

V photographed the whole thing, and she frosted some cupcakes too. Frosting cupcakes is really, really fun, btw.

It’s a Birthday Kinda Month!

My little Max turned one in June, and I turned twenty-nine. There’s been lots of cake. My mom assured me that twenty-nine years ago was the best day of her life (I’m an only child, so there’s no competition), and that one year ago was the second best day of her life. Is it weird that I’m more touched by the second statement? I love that.

To celebrate my son’s birthday and the best day of my life, we had a kickin party. Almost thirty close family and friends came, including family from out of state (yeah, you’re all family). It was a lot of prep work - way more than I’d normally put into a cookout - but you only turn one once (and we had a photographer coming).

I thought I’d share how I pulled off the party with relatively little stress and just a couple of helpers. So, step one: Make a list.

A month before the party I started making my list, which looked a little like this:

Menu:

• Appetizers –
• corn chips √
• salsa √
• hummus √
• veggies – have hubby cut them up
• Sides –
• potato salad – deli – 1 large container
• macaroni salad – mom
• baked beans – defrost and warm up
• chips – purchase
• rolls – heat for 5 minutes
• Main Dish –
• hamburgers – purchase one more sleeve
• hotdogs √
• buns – purchase
• Dessert –
• cupcakes & mini cake – make ahead & freeze cake, frost later
• food coloring – blue, green, yellow√
• Drinks –
• water √
• limeade √
• ginger ale – purchase 1
• ice √

Accessories:

• Plates, cups, plasticware – double check amounts
• Serving plates & bowls
• Large white bowl – potato salad
• Small white bowl – salsa
• Yellow bowl – macaroni salad
• Blue half dish – hummuses
• White platter 1 – veggies
• White platter 2 -
• Green plate – burgers
• Green plate – dogs
• Green plates – cupcakes
• Blue plate on cake stand – mini cake
• Crockpot – baked beans
• Glass pitchers for drinks

Decor (optional)

• Table cloth
• Origami cranes

This was my working day-of list that I printed out, and as I purchased or made items I crossed them off, made notes, etc. I’m keeping the final version with all of my scribbles to put in the birthday album.

Yeah, outlining what goes in what serving dish might be a little intense. But it was sooo handy the day of. Seriously, unless you have a mind like a steel trap (in which case I imagine you do not have an almost-one-year-old) write out everything including the stuff you’re sure you’ll remember. Just in case.

Then there were the things not on the list – like making the birthday outfit…

I Lied - I'm Here

Well, kinda. I won't be long. I just had to share this one tidbit I read on {NiceGirlNotes}:

"You’d think that bloggers are mildly nerdy with our laptops and Tweets and all things interwebs, but I’d equate them to being like the band kids in high school.  A little strange?  Maybe.  Secretly crazy partiers?  Absolutely."

BWAHAHAHA! I am was that band kid (drama kid in college). Heck-to-the-YES!

OK - you may now resume your Fourth of July celebrations. I'll be dusting off my saxophone.

A Friday Link Roundup: Places I've Been...

Some good frugal tips and tricks:

http://almostfrugal.com/2011/05/17/jennifers-approach-to-frugality/

Outdoor envy, right here:

http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2011/06/our-patio-cabana/

This hits home, especially after the trippy dream I had last night where I got a sunburn (in my dream) and it turned purple… Though I’m taking the point of view that chemicals-are-not-so-great & the-sun-is-part-of-our-natural-ecosystem rather than God-made-the-sun-so-it-must-be-good.

http://green.yourway.net/balancing-the-risks-of-sunscreen-skin-cancer/

Personally, I’m a fan of Badger brand, but here’s a post about one woman’s natural/safe sunblock quest where she reviews over a dozen (maybe two dozen?) sunscreens:

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/07/20/natural-sunscreen-review-do-mineral-based-sunblocks-work-2/

HALT for parenting. I’d never even heard of HALT – but this is a great post on using it in the parenting realm:

http://simplemom.net/applying-the-halt-method-a-checklist-for-proactive-parenting/#more-13851

I love using random “stuff” in bouquets. You need something unexpected, structural, and/or tall to make that bouquet interesting. I like using willow branches. In this case it was garlic:

http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/flower-of-the-weekscapes

Five ways to save money – in particular I need to do the whole pre-mince my garlic thing:

http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/2011/06/five-ways-im-saving-money/

And – read the comments for frugal gardening ideas:

http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/2011/06/ask-the-readers-frugal-gardening-tips/
And, I'll leave you with a teaser for next week:

Birthdays are awesome. Especially first birthdays. :)

And, BTW, I won't be around on Monday for obvious reasons. You all have a wonderful Independence Day! Watch out for those aliens!