Baking Show

My daughter wants me to make this!

Today, I took an impromptu trip to the America's Baking and Sweets Show.

Prior to 10:30 am today I didn't even know such a show existed, let alone that it was close to my house.

My aunt called to see if my daughter could go with (her daughter and my daughter are the same age. Which sound weird, I know, but big families and age gaps work together to make this happen). So these two second cousins, who are really best friends, have a good time together.

Except my daughter wasn't home, so I sadly said no and went to finish reading my book.

But I thought about it. And thought about it. And I decided that I wanted to go over to the show myself.

So I did.

spray painting a cookie

The good news: about 2 hours after I got there, my husband was able to run my daughter over to meet us so the girls were able to have fun there together.

We walked around.

There was a lot of alcohol. And chocolate. Demonstrations to watch. And oh, some celebrities to meet.

Yes, we meet Sophie and Katherine of Georgetown Bakery (from DC cupcakes on TLC). They demo'd making some wonderful cupcakes - that should soon be on the TLC website. I'm not above admitting I took a few notes. Because who doesn't want to make better tasting cupcakes?

Miss M with Sophie and Katherine

Afterwards, we got their autograph and my daughter got her picture. She was SO excited. She has read one of their books and watches them on TLC. She even, courtesy of another cousin, was brought a Georgetown cupcake to eat. So it was awesome.

making some fondant flowers

I picked up a few things for myself. My daughter got some chocolate modeling fondant, and we just had a wonderfully good time.

Apparently, this is the 2nd year for this show, so I'm going to have to try to remember to watch for it to come back next year! It was a good time!

Brandie of Green Gables

Have I mentioned before on this blog just how much I am completely, head over heels, totally in love with Anne of Green Gables?

The books, the movies, all of it. I love them.

When I was younger, the local PBS station would play Anne of Green Gables once a year during it's fundraising (or maybe twice a year? I can't quite remember).

When it came on, I was right there, ready to watch Anne as she came to Green Gables, made her way into Matthew's heart, befriended Diana, and grew to see Marilla loved her so much. I watched as she died her hair green, fell off a roof, and almost drowned. I heard her use lovely phrases, beautiful language. I saw her enthusiasm for school, for her bosom buddies, and her adopted family.

I was hooked. Or obsessed. Or both. I wanted Anne to come and be my best friend.

Some point, after my girls were born, but before my son came, I decided I wanted to own copies of the movies. And my mother, god bless her, found them. She couldn't find them in the US, and somehow ordered them from Canada. According to her they took forever to get her, but when she gave them to me, I was over the moon! And surprised - there were THREE of them! I had grown up Watching Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel. But I had never seen the third on, Anne of Green Gables: The continuing story. When they were new, I pulled them all out and watched them over a couple of days.

Now, I'm not going to lie. The third movie didn't do it for me (and maybe that's why I didn't know of it's existence) but Anne was Anne and I loved her.

my lovely dolls

When my girls were 4 and 1, we went to Disney World. While we were working our way through the countries of Epcot, I noticed in the Canada store they had Anne of Green Gables dolls! I wanted ALL of them. Of course, that was out of the budget (and unrealistic to get them home) so I picked two - Anne and Diana. The plan was to get 2 more each time we returned. Sadly, the next time we went to Epcot that particular building was no longer a store and none of the Canada stores had the dolls.

Every few years, I search amazon/ebay and have never been able to find these dolls. Maybe I was the only person to ever purchase them? I don't know! But I'm sad I can't get anymore characters.

When I fell in love with Anne, I didn't know there were books as well. But eventually figured it out. And then I didn't read them.

I worried that if I read the books, it would make me love the movies less. And I had so many great memories of watching Anne that I just didn't want to take that away!

It took me a long time to decide to read the books and about 8 years ago - I finally did. I read them once. I enjoyed them. I should definitely read them again.

But, I still love the movies. And I love the books. I remember when I read the books that I thought the movie took some liberties and mixed somethings up, but they did a great job of capturing the essence of Anne and Matthew and Marilla, of all the characters.

This am grannie had to go for an EEG. Which meant that last night we had to stay up until 3am (she was allowed 4 hours of sleep before the test). Just last week, I had gotten Anne of Green Gables for grannie to read on her audio books.

Grannie at her birthday last month

She uses the Talking Books program through our state, which is through the Library of Congress. She has a special player and can get any book they have recorded the audio for free to listen to. Grannie is mostly blind and has been for a while. She has read A LOT of books. I get her new books as I can, but since I can't keep up with her reading pace, I often guess and just get books.

Last week I said in passing, I'm sure you've already read Anne of Green Gables, and granny told me she hadn't! So I got her the first book. Thankfully she enjoyed it! 

So when we had to stay up so late, I suggested we watch the movie. It's long, it's good, and she had just read the book, so I figured it was a good fit to fill a lot of late night hours.

And it was. We made it through the first one and watched part of the second one. I sat and knit, and it was really a great night for me. And granny managed to stay up a lot past her bedtime!

It almost felt like being a little girl again, sitting in the living room with my grandma (who has since passed away), getting to stay up late so I could watch the entire Anne of Green Gables movie.

On Pins and Needles

So, I'm a bit late to the game ... everyone else posted on November 12. I, however, excel at forgetfulness so I'm here today.

But better late than never, right? That or we can all just pretend that today is the 12th and I am totally on time!

Anyway, this holiday season I am taking the Save The Children's Pins and Needles challenge!

This is part of their holiday fundraising, which culminates on Friday, December 12. When we are all encouraged to wear a sweater and donate $5 to the organization.

Wear them to work, around the house, out to dinner with friends, whatever works for you! Just
remember to donate your $5 (which Save the Children has made easy - you can just text SWEATER to 20222).

I will be participating by starting to knit my own sweater today. That's where the Pins & Needle challenge comes in! I found a pattern I really liked and went out bought some yarn today to start working on it. I'm SO excited.

My 12 year old is going to join in the fun with me ... except she's not quite ready for a sweater, so she's going to crochet a scarf. It's kind of like a sweater for your neck, so I think it is a great idea. Not to mention, it's the thought that counts so I'm excited she wants to create with me.

And yes, we will be posting and sharing pictures as we work! And then, assuming what we make turns out and fits, we will be wearing our sweater and scarf on December 12.

Yes, my eyes are closed, but I'm happy

So, you may be wondering, why, during this busy time am I going to sit and work on a sweater. Well, that's a good question. Save the Children is doing a lot of good in the world right now. There work in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan was able to help over 800,000 adults and children.

And right now, they are in Africa, working to help fight Ebola. They are building treatment centers, making sure people have access to help, and they are helping to take care of children who may be orphans after losing parents to Ebola. 

I can't be on the ground helping, but I can support those who are. And if it's as simple as taking some time this holiday season to work on a sweater or teach my daughter to crochet, then why not!  
And the universe knows I have a lot of kindness to pay it forward. We've been helped by so many wonderful people, especially over the last few years. Our family, my children included, have had some great support and people who want to help us when we need it. And so now it's my turn to pay it forward and try to help others!

I'm also impressed with Save the Children's score over at Charity Navigator. They have 95 out of 100 points. That is a great score. I feel great about the work they are doing and I feel great about donating to them. 

So. That's what I'm doing!

Here's what you can do. You can watch along as my sweater comes together. You can encourage me to just keep knitting! You can don your own festive sweater on December 12 - knit, borrowed, store bought - it doesn't matter. And when you put it on in the morning, send off $5 to Save the Children. 

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy as I like to tell my children!  

If you'd like more information, you can head on over to Save The Children's Make the World Better with a Sweater page.

*Save the Children contacted me and asked me to participate in the Pins and Needle Challenge, but I am not being compensated for this or sharing any information with you!

Happy Thursday!

It's Thursday.


Around these parts, Thursday means Project Runway.

I love Project Runway.

Sometimes I hate it. The judges and I don't always see eye to eye. The drama can be over the top sometime, but mostly I feel like it's not that bad.

But I love watching people create and sew and seeing what they've done come down a runway.

I wish I was talented enough to attempt even a novice version of the show!

Which reminds me, right now, on Thursday, Lifetime is also playing the show Threads. This show is kids, doing Project Runway type challenges. These 11 - 16 year olds have more talent already than I'll ever have and I LOVE it.

These young adults have a lot of great ideas and talent - I'm so impressed!

My 12 year old is enjoying watching it with me too!

I think because today was Project Runway day, I splurged and bought two sewing patterns on-line. Tomorrow (thanks to a great coupon), I'm heading over to the fabric store to buy fabric.

There may or may not be pictures. It depends on how, um, wearable these pieces turn out (and yes, they should be wearable LOL!)

Which reminds, I took some pictures of recently knitted items that I can't wait to share. But I don't like to put pictures up here until they have arrived at their forever home. So, soon! Because I have been doing quite a bit of knitting (minus last week when my shoulder didn't work).

And I've got a list a mile long of things I want to work on - they range from embroidery, to cross-stitch, to quilting, to sewing. It would be great if I could just, I don't know, not have to ever sleep so I could get more things done!

Are Pajama Pants THAT Big of a Deal

Maybe every few weeks I see it on facebook. Something like

OMG! A mom at school pick-up was in pajamas! The horror

or maybe

Grocery shopping today. Someone was in pajama pants. Geez, can't you even get dressed to buy groceries?

or maybe

Not to sound judgmental, but if I see you out and about in pajama pants, I totally think less of you.

Oh good. Because I was worried you might sound judgmental.

Meanwhile, yoga pants - totally cool. Athletic pants - that's fine.

Pajama pants - YOU HAVE CROSSED THE LINE!

Clearly pajama pants must also indicate that you are a) lazy b) probably didn't brush your teeth or hair c) don't care about yourself and d) setting out to offend as many people as possible.

Society, can we please get over it?

Maybe someone ran out of time, maybe they are stressed, maybe they just got bad news, maybe they are depressed, maybe those are that person's favorite pants, maybe they just want to wear pajama pants.

For the record: I do occasionally wear pajama pants to go grocery shopping. You know why? Because I'm not shopping with President Obama or the Queen of England ... I might have to run and pick-up milk or bread or maybe I just really need some chocolate stat.

During chemo, I often wore pajama pants. Jeans were uncomfortable. And after surgeries they were hard to put on or even more uncomfortable. I was given a pass though - it was obvious (thank you bald head) that something else was going on.

But sometimes that something else going on, it can't be seen. Not by the friendliest of people or not by the most judgmental of people.

And sometimes, there isn't anything else going on. It's just a 5 minute trip to the grocery store! Or a 10 minute trip to drop your child off! Or whatever.

I have taught my children from a very early age to not judge a book by it's cover. I try to not fret over the little things.

And I'm sorry, but someone in pajama pants is a little thing. And if it's the worst thing a person does, well then, frankly, give him or her a break and then make friends with that person. You might learn something. Like maybe someone wearing pajama pants isn't the end of the world. But a new friend might be the start of a better world!