Generous, Not So Much

Every year before Xmas, I tell the kids that they have to sort through their toys and find some they want to donate in order to make room for new toys coming from Santa. I then sort through the ones they picked and decide whether to donate or trash them. I asked T to find some the other night and he was really excited about the prospect of donating toys to kids who don't have a lot of toys.

Here is what he came up with...



The movie is mine. The tea set is E's. The phone is leftover from his kitchen set we donated a while ago. He has two view finders, but it was good of him to donate a reel with it. The little tickets are "in case they want to play movie theater". The magnet picture holder in case "they want to put pictures on their fridge". T has 3 other mini books. The little black thing is his pet rock, home made of course.


The only really good thing he is willing to part with is his Game Boy game Zelda, and I like that game.


I guess I will be sorting through toys while they are at school.

Blog Love Part 3

The guilt really started to pile up when I received this award from three different lovers, I mean friends. First from Merecat, next from Suzy and most recently from Joanna.

I would like to give this award to the following blog friends.

Shelly from Scenic Overlook. She is another blogger I have been reading since the beginning of time. I love her writings about her little girl, her travels and her daily life stories. She is also a Buffy and Angel fan, so, well of course I love her.

Stephanie from Crafty Lolly. She is an awesome crafter who shares her crafty ideas and stories about her dog Lolly. She also has a website Crafty Lolly where you can buy her unique creations.

Thanks again for all of my awards, I am sooo happy that you all picked me.

Blog Love Part 2

The You Make Me Smile Award was given to me by Karen Meg from A Day in the Life. I wrote about her in my previous post. I would like to also add that she is a writer who is not afraid to share her personal history with her readers. She has told many heartwarming stories about her difficulties in conceiving, which I'm sure, people in the same situation find very inspiring.

I am giving this award to the following blog friends.

Joanna from j. lucy muses. She is fairly new to blogging and she started at least in part because of me. Sorry, did I mention it was addicting? Her writing always makes me smile.

Heather from General Blather. Heather is a fellow nurse who never fails to make me laugh out loud with her funny nursing stories.

Lainey-Paney from Life is Just so Daily. I have been reading her since the beginning of time. Her stories about her son are definitely smile invoking. She also manages to find the funniest cartoons to post.

Stay tuned, one more post of awards coming up!

Blog Love Part 1

My next three posts will be about blog love. LOVE, LOVE sappy LOVE...

Back in 1984 I was given this blog award. Just kidding, although it might as well been that far back, considering how long it has taken me to post about it. It was my very first ever blog award. I couldn't have been more excited and flattered. It was given to me by a long time blogger friend Melissa author of Hello, Melissa! and a fairly new blog Silk Hope Home School Adventure. I thanked her in comments and email but never got around to passing on the love. Better late than never. Of course this will also relieve some of guilt I have been carrying around with me for over a year.




Thank you Melissa for this Schmooze Award. The Schmooze award is for bloggers who...“effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello - all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.”

I would like to pass this award on to the following blogger friends.

Suzy at Where Hot Comes to Die, a regular reader of mine since the beginning and someone I consider a real life friend too. Her sense of humor is unmatched and I enjoy reading about her fun life adventures. You can find the beginnings of her debut memoir over at Scrivel.

MerCat at More MereCatherine a wonderful mother of twins who has a very engaging way of writing and sense of humor. I don't know how she comes up with the time to write, but I admire her for it.

Karen Meg at A Day in the Life, also a wonderful mother of two, I have been reading since almost the beginning of my blog time. She has great taste in music and is also very fashionable.

Alissa at Life's Little Adventures, a fun mom and very talented photographer. I look forward to her stories about her boys and seeing her beautiful photos. She is having a giveaway right now to celebrate her 1000Th post, go now!

Evil

I have been sick with a foul cold so I am posting these Halloween photos a little later than I planned.

E dressed up as a dead nurse and called herself Nurse Scabs. She is wearing the actual dress and cap I wore for my nursing school graduation ceremony 11 years ago. I was a skinny bitch.

T was Darth Vader even though he has only seen one Star Wars movie and Darth Vader wasn't in it. There were five Darth Vaders in our Trick or Treat group!

E and one of her BFF's dressed as Death. Yes, that is her real hair.


I made these cupcakes for T's kindergarten class Halloween party. I stayed and helped out during the party. Guess where I got my cold? T has a boy in his class with severe peanut allergies so I was very careful to keep any nuts out of my ingredients. I felt bad that two of the three other moms who signed up to bring items, were less considerate. One sent store bought cookies clearly labeled with a peanut allergy warning. The other sent goody bags containing MM's which are made in a factory which also makes peanut products. The third mom sent fruit, which the kids loved, especially the watermelon.

I hate to speak bad of other mom's, well maybe not, but the teacher sent home several reminders about the child's allergies.

I made these cupcake toppings by taking store bought rice krispie treats and first cutting each one into fourths. Then I shaped some into ovals, some into rounds and left some square. For the ghosts I rolled out store bought white fondant frosting and cut them with a biscuit cutter. I then shaped that over the oval krispie treat and added eyes with black frosting. The witches hats were made with black fondant (wear gloves when mixing black food coloring to white fondant or your hands will be dark purple for a week like mine!) I rolled out the black fondant and cut with biscuit cutter also then just rolled a piece into a pointed hat top. I used regular colored frosting to cover the square krispies and round for the Frankenstein and Witches. I used orange colored frosting for the pumpkins. I colored some more fondant green for the witches noses and pumpkin stems and leaves. Lastly, I used the remainder of orange frosting for the witches hair and Franks eyes. I also used rolled black fondant to cut out the triangles for the pumpkins. This recipe was modified from a magazine recipe. If I still had the magazine, or remembered the name, I would give it credit.

Yes it was a pain in the ass but I do enjoy doing this, if only a couple times a year!