Prayer for Young People

O God, we pray and beseech you
to guide and protect young people
from the dangers that are ever
present in our world today.
Be with them, as they experience
both sickness and health, sorrow and joy,
loneliness and friendship,
success and failure.
Gracious God, give to them the
courage and strength to make the
right decisions as they journey through life.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit,
may they come to know and experience
your loving care.

We make this prayer
through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
St. Mary's Catholic Parish; Papakura, New Zealand

Special Occasion = Special Cake!

My sister Michele celebrated her 50th birthday this weekend!
(Here's Michele with proud parents, Mom and Dad)

Teresa and Mary Scott managed to plan a terrific surprise party. The "decoy" plan was for the girls to get our toe nails painted. The real plan was to surprise Michele back at her house when we were through! And it worked. She was surprised!

Certainly, such a momentous occasion deserves a special cake. Inspired by Bakerella's recent Valentine's Day post, I decided to make something really over the top. Well, over the top for me anyway.

I printed some scrapbook papers on card stock from Scrapbook Flair and Shabby Princess.
Took these to Harris Teeter to be reprinted on Frosting Sheets with food color. (Ok, this is the one time I prefer Wal-mart but their printer was broken. Somehow Harris Teeter always resizes my pages to be slightly smaller. You will see why this matters in a minute.)
Above is the paisley frosting paper, now cut into strips and adhered to fondant with a little Crisco. A little. Who wants to taste Crisco? Just a little.

Once the paper was cut and added to the fondant, I shaped the strips in to this lovely bows. The online directions say to hang these pieces over a dowel stick. But they stood just fine like this. These dried overnight.

The next day, party day, cut the ends of the ribbons because they were too long and bulky to make a nice bow.

I don't have pictures of the next step because got nervous. Once you bake, cool and ice the cake, you have to attach the rest of the frosting sheets, using frosting this time. Cut the remaining sheets into strips to cover the entire rest of the cake. I wanted to make a "Vera Bradley" like present cake. (You can just see how the paper was a tiny bit small to cover the top of the cake. I thought that might happen, so got an extra sheet of that print.)

And tah-dah! A very special cake for a very special occasion!

Happy 50th Birthday Michele!

The Nicest Thing

Is it the weather, the lack of sunlight, the rain? Or still seeing the leaves in my yard, a new record. Leaves still needing to be raked in February! What ever the reason, I have been feeling low lately. Behind in everything, laundry, dishes, leaves.

So super nice today when out of the blue a friend brought me coffee and homemade chocolate cheesecake to the YMCA. I didn't even have to share (but I did because I could)! You know how good that feels? To get to offer, instead of the kids taking first? Not that I mind sharing with the children. Just really nice to be able to get to "offer" first!

This SuperMom has a new blog, if you'd like to stop by for a little visit. I have particularly taken time to reflect on this post, since it I've been feeling out of sorts. You might appreciate it too.

And to make a good morning better, another friend picked up an outfit for Holly, just because. Lent begins tomorrow, and I will start the 40 days with a full heart, knowing good friends surround me and that I have many blessings. Looking forward to Easter.

Favorite Recipe of the Week

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

Ever since I read Julia Child's book about her life in France, I have been enjoying making quiche. After all, it is the signature recipe she made when she was a guest on talk shows in the beginning. And it is most likely the only remotely "french" dish I will ever make.

How can you go wrong with eggs, milk, cheese and broccoli? Happy to see it on the menu this past week from E-Mealz! I added a little bacon and should have added onions. Still delicious!

There's a special for today only over at E-Mealz.com, enter the code IHEARTEMEALZ to receive a discount on a new subscription!

Happy St. Valentines Day!

Ohhhh I found a great site tonight with really cute Catholic Valentines!

Visit Catholic Icing to see more!

Something Wrong?

Picture of Mommy and Daddy in the time out chair.
Um, Holly is something bothering you?

A Perfect White Blanket

Anna and Sophie get ready to sled.

Bill can not believe I have to take another picture!

Holly likes the snow...
...
in theory. Not reality.

E-Mealz Review Continued

My goodness! I thought I had posted this a long time ago. Sigh. Chalk it up to one of those things that sifts to the bottom of the list...

We are enjoying the E-Mealz grocery list service enough to keep with it after about 2 months. The first month, my grocery bill was cut almost IN HALF. Half. Do you really want to know the numbers? I'm embarrassed to say but in October I spent close to $900 on groceries. That is what no list, no coupons, and relying on the little "sale" signs will get you.

But in Novemeber spent about $500! That's just a little more than half. With just downloading and printing the list from E-Mealz. Since we eat almost every meal at home, 6 people, that is pretty amazing right?

When I compared this to the same month at the height of my coupon clipping days: Same exact same. Back in the day, when I was clipping coupons, printing coupons, saving the sale papers, and planning lists just like the professionals (i.e. www.thecouponmom.com) suggest, I would spend about $500 a month on groceries!

Except none of the work. Just sign on to E-Mealz, print the list and go shop.

Now December was a different story, with the rain and baking, I could not make myself go to Aldi's. However, after the second week in a row of shopping at the other stores and spending $200 and still not having enough food in the house for a complete meal, I am back to the E-Mealz Aldi's plan again.

Went last Saturday, and was happy to wake up today, Friday and realize that we still had food in the house for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hooray! All for $140 for the whole week.

There's a link on the side to the website, check it out if you are interested!

What do you do when it doesn't snow?

The forecast predicated snow last week, they were sure we would get "something". But alas, nothing fell in our county. Anna and I did the next best thing: baked! We didn't even have cupcake liners, but since this was for fun and friends, we plowed on. All the while wistful for the snow that wasn't. I'll keep hoping for snow. "Hey, it could happen."

Frenemies?

What happened? I'm not sure. But sometime recently, Holly got a new-not-better attitude regarding her friend Cecilia.

Just after Cici's birthday, I asked Holly about Cici:

Me: "Holly is Cici your friend?"

Holly: "Cici. Noying."

I was shocked! Up till now Cici has been a much discussed "baby. crawling." I can only guess, that since Holly began singing "Happy Birthday to Holly" again, that she was less than pleased with Cici being the center of attention at the party.

Hope Holly forgets about this soon!