My friend Tina would scold me and say that I need to be to the point, I need to entice people over so that they come for a reason!
And I would say, "Hey! I gave them three reasons! Eggs, cookie cake and the death of wallpaper as we know it!"
:)
March is a crazy month at our place for multiple reasons. We have six birthdays, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Dave retired (had to postpone retirement party due to a gajillion sick kids) Holy Week, 3 books releasing (not my fault!) and cooking and baking for all the aforementioned, and did I mention the marketing side of 3 books releasing?
But we've done it, we did it, we're celebrating the risen Lord, the Savior of the world....
And we've got snow coming this weekend, so we're staying off the 'spring is here' bandwagon for a week or so!
First, the Jello Eggs. SO EASY AND FUN!
Here's what they look like:
First, you need an egg mold AVAILABLE HERE! Wait...
I thought I'd give you a handy-dandy link to the egg mold, but it's not there!
Dagnabbit!
If you ever see one of these, or more, at garage sales or from Jello, buy them! This is such a simple table dressing bowl of yumminess and everyone loves them!
For eggs:
1 6 oz. (or 2 3 oz.) boxes of Jello, various colors/flavors
1 1/2 Cup boiling water.
Lightly spray egg molds with cooking spray. Close mold, sealing edges.
Combine water with Jello, stir and stir and stir, then pour into the egg molds until just to the top of egg-shape. Chill. Unmold by releasing the "lock" on the mold carefully. Slowly draw top back and then tip eggs out, into bowl. Refrigerate.
And because this is a crazy month of birthdays here, cookie cake was a given several times!
Use your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe. Trace circle onto parchment paper about 2-3 inches smaller than platter you're going to use for the cookie cake. If the platter is 12 inches wide, make a nine inch circle on the parchment paper.
Bake at 350° for about 15-20 minutes, checking to make sure you don't overbake...
Cool, transfer to platter and decorate!
And then there was this from my delightful daughter-in-law Lacey:
How stinkin' cute is this for an Easter centerpiece dessert?
Lacey used two 6" yellow layer cakes. She put a layer of frosting between them to stack them, then frosted the outside with chocolate frosting.
Take regular sized KitKats in sections of "2" for the outside of the "basket". Settle them into the chocolate frosting, upright, and ring the entire cake with KitKats... what can possibly be bad about that?
Tie a pretty Easter/spring themed ribbon around the cake, and fill with pastel M&M's. The bunny is a great touch for the top, isn't he?
We all loved this! So fun and so festive!
We had a wonderful busy weekend, some sick kids, beautiful Easter Masses and services, company, joy and prayer.
It was Easter.
And it was beautiful.
The Killing Wallpaper Segment, addendum:
My fifteen-year-old friend Christina has hired on to the crazy!!!!
Wallpaper and border:
Christina and Lizzie working on wall #1:
Christina, Wall Section #3!!!!!
And here is the mess involved! :)
I need to brighten this room, so I'm thinking a warm, soft yellow and white trim, windows??? What do you guys think? The other thought was very "Fixer Upper" friendly, white on white on white...
And we're pulling up the old carpet and refinishing the 162 year old hardwood floor beneath it.
A great project, right?
Hahahaha! Tina once took me to task because my email signature included TOO MANY BOOKS. They were all from that year, but she said it was better to be short and sweet and to the point.
ReplyDeleteNow my signature line is EVEN LONGER because I never listen to good advice.
Love jigglers! (The eggs.)
Hahahaha! Poor Tina, she has her hands full with me. And yet she still loves me, so that makes me happy!!! And the jigglers ROCK, don't they? They're just marvelous treats, and honestly, the grownups love them as much as the kids. Happy family!
DeleteBut I must admit, I minimized my sig line several years ago. I found out it wouldn't load on everyone's phone and when they said it make it hard to see the e-mail via phone, I went smaller. I'd never thought of how it looks mobile, but it makes sense, right?
DeleteI have to go make sure Tina is still speaking to me!!!!
I am soooo going to make that Kitkat cake!!!!!! Must remember to buy a discounted chocolate bunny now because I'm not waiting until next Easter. Or maybe I should get a chocolate lamb and just make it spring themed. Any excuse to use Kitkats in!
ReplyDeleteAnd the thing about your title -- you delivered exactly what you promised so that's good, right?
Kav, yes, LOL! So the title works! SWEEEEEET! The cake was a wonderfully ingenious thing, and Lacey and Beth and Mandy get so many great ideas off of Pinterest... They're such great ideas! Go for it, Kavalicious!!!
DeleteI'm loving this cake, Ruthy. Lacey must be very smart/creative. However, I'm left wondering, what about the wallpaper?
ReplyDeleteOh, the wallpaper pics.... Must go post them now. Christina, my little apprentice, is scrubbing tidbits of paper off the walls at this moment. I love this girl.
DeleteGood to come over here and be harassed. Lovingly I am sure. I don't believe in sig lines. I like to be concise and to the point. Shoot me.
ReplyDeleteOkay, those eggs are amazing. Are they to eat or for decoration only. Thank you, Mindy for being the only one whose not mean to me.
My pleasure. :-)
Deletewho is not whose. Sheesh.
DeleteHahahahaha! I knew you'd stop by and see it, and you've taught me well, my friend!
DeleteTHE EGGS ROCK and yes, they're made of Jello and they're delicious and sweet and fruity!
OH, SO lovingly! If I don't like you, I don't harass you. ;) I'll just nod and smile.
DeleteYeah. What about the wall paper, Ruthy!!!
ReplyDeleteROFLOL - that was my exact thought!
DeleteScary.
I know, I forgot to add it when the pictures finally uploaded! EEEEEK! Now I've added them, and my sweet Christina who is earning money this week so I can get edits done. I love this kid!!!
DeleteI think Ruthy blocked the wallpaper from her mind.
ReplyDeleteI know I have tried to since the last time I tried to remove wallpaper. I may have said some unprintable words.
Mostly unprintable because I don't know how to spell the incoherent sounds that came out of my mouth. *blocking the whole episode from my mind right now*
Let's just say that I will never, never put wallpaper up again. Never.
Now on to more pleasant things!
I love the jiggler eggs! I used to make them when my children were little. So colorful and perfect for Easter!
And that bunny cake. Seriously cute. I'm stealing it for a future time... :)
Can I admit that I forgot that I didn't add them because I walked away while they were loading and then hit publish thinking "Oh, it's all DONE!!!!" Such a "duh" moment, because I have eaten and drunk wallpaper and edits all week!!!! And I can't wait to get to the painting part (and then the critics who will either love it or hate it!!!)
DeleteI must be the only one not in love with the jiggler eggs - mainly because jello goes with sickness in my mind. That or jello salads which I never liked either.
ReplyDeleteBut that's okay - I love Ruthy!
You're not the only one, Mary Cate. I feel the same way about most things Jell-O. Though the jiggler eggs are fun for kiddos.
DeleteI am totally in love with the jiggler stuff! I don't know why, but I love those fruity slices, too. I'm ridiculous because they're straight sugar!!!!
DeleteWoo-hoo! Chip and Joanna would be so proud of you for refinishing those floors. I am, too. And to think, people spent years covering those things with carpet and linoleum. Now they're a treasure.
ReplyDeleteI love Fixer Upper!!!! I love Chip and Joanna and those kids! LOVE!!!!!!
DeleteI just read the addendum - Oh yes! Yellow walls and white trim. You have to get the right shade of yellow, though. One that makes you think of sunshine and smiles, not old egg yolks. :P
ReplyDeleteYes! Soft and bright yellow, bright white for the windows... and a natural, antique floor. And it's cheaper than new carpet, LOL! :)
DeleteThose are the colors of my living room. Our wall of built in bookshelves is white, with white trim around the carpet and at the veiling, while the walls are the most delicious pale yellow. It's so cheerful!
DeleteAnd this room needs more cheerful, the dark wood and the trees shading the house keep it dark, and we know that if you live in the north, nature itself is going to keep us dark for 16 hours from November through February and I realized this winter that a brighter room will make for a brighter winter. WIN!!!!
DeleteI love the idea of yellow to brighten the room! I wish I had all the kids around to help me do work! :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Fixer Upper! We watch it all the time. :)
Missy, we do, too. Joanna's got a great eye, and Chip is so goofy and fun that we all love him! He might not be a typical Romance Hero, but all of us ladies (and the girls) love his sense of humor and that he's a big clown. And he loves his wife, so that's the best of all!!!
DeleteAnd SO jealous of the old wood floor. When we bought this old fixer upper, I choe it because I'd seen the original wide plank pine flooring under all the nasty carpet everywhere. But for some reason the mortgage company needed a larger crawl space for it to qualify for the mortgage loan.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what they did? They CUT A HOLE in the center of the living room and hollowed out under the entire house. By then we'd already signed a bunch of papers, were in the process of moving in, etc. I walked in to find my beautiful, beautiful wooden floor with a 5X6 foot hole in it, covered with new plywood flooring. I admit I cried.
So, carpet in the living room it was, but the rest of the house we did refinish where we could. It still hurts me to think of that living room area, though!
Oh, I feel your pain on that. :(
DeleteMy sister in law bought a "beyond" fixer upper about fifteen years ago, this place was falling down, rat-infested, awful and no one wanted it, but she saw the potential... and now it's gorgeous, and it's zoned commercial so she knows someday it's going to become a Marriott Hotel or something, but for now it's home... and the point of this is that they found hardwood in two SILOS on another family piece of property and they ripped those silo floors out, had them sanded and replaced all the rotting floor in their house with the silo floors. So it's not original to their house, it's from the same time period.
Who knew there might be gorgeous wood floors in a silo???
Loving those jello eggs. What a cute idea!! And I'm always ready for chocolate chip cookies. And cake. And Kit Kats.
ReplyDeleteLINDA GOODNIGHT CAME TO SEE US!!!! Well, now my Easter wish is complete! :) Goodnight, my cute little red-haired buddy, I'm so excited about all the good stuff happening to you... and you still took time to come over here and talk Jello eggs! (you would love them! The kids would, too!!!) Hi, sweet thing!
DeleteJello Eggs, Cookie Cake and Killing Wallpaper ... Ruthy, that is a blog title I am certain I will never see anywhere else :-)
ReplyDeleteKit-Kats around a cake. Oh wow! Gotta share this idea with a friend who is looking for a different kind of cake for a party.
Note the "who is" and not "whose" ... ahem.
Nancy C
Well, I probably riled my little buddy
DeleteTina so that she couldn't think straight! Or she was up late working, we pass like ships in the night... I get up, she goes to bed out west. Nancy, it is a great title, right? About as specific as you can get!!! :)
And yes, that cake was more than a rockin-it good centerpiece. It was delicious!
I want that Kit-Kat kake so badly.
ReplyDelete