*Rags to Riches

I am in the process of making the centerpieces for our wedding reception, dinner table. And you know how it is, you get something in your brain that says, "I have to have THAT in THIS specific way, or I am going to burst".......weeeelll, I had one of those moments with glass bowls and globe vases.

I wanted a champagne/light gold-ish color....could I find ANY?? No. So I bought some spray paint in the color I wanted and got the-always eager to help, Joe, to spray paint some clear ones I already had.

They turned out even better than I had imagined they could. I am one happy camper now!!

 

You'll have to see how they look on the dinner table with the fuchsia, pink and orange flowers ........

*Wedding Sneak Peek

The centerpiece for the kids' table.

The kids' table will be kid heaven on June 25th. I am still buying just the right candies to fill these with, but I am well on my way. I decorated the plain white bucket and scalloped-edge boxes with organza ribbon and paper flowers. I filled them with curled ribbons of different colors. These large lollipops are HUGE.....they are as big around as a small cantaloupe. The middle part is well over a foot and a half tall. The popsicle-looking sucker is about a pound. Their table will be a circle.....with white tablecloth and an orange table runner.....and white chair covers with orange sashes.

Annnnnd........just a teeny tiny peek of a hint as to what my bouquet looks like......just teeny tiny!!

 

I had to have some bling on my stems!!





I hope you enjoyed the peek at the centerpiece.....I think the kids will be all smiles too!

*Monkey Bread



Photo by Prepared Pantry

3 (12 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough

1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease one 9 or 10 inch Bundt® pan.


Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Cut biscuit dough into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and placed in pan.



In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out upside down onto a plate. Do not cut! The bread just pulls apart in pieces =)



Soooo easy and soooo good!
 
If you try this, let me know what you think!

*Amaaaazing Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Photo by Sheila T.

1 box mix of chocolate cake....prepare as directed for cupcakes.

After you put the prepared mix into the paper cups....add a teaspoon of peanut butter in to each cup and push it down a bit into the mix.

Bake as directed...usually around 25 minutes or so at 325 degrees.

Cool in pan for 2 minutes then remove to cooling racks.

The frosting......THE YUMMMMMY....Super amazing frosting =)

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 stick room temp. butter (REAL butter, not margarine)

2 cups confectioner's sugar

3 tablespoons milk or cream

Cream together peanut butter and stick of butter until smooth.

Add the 2 cups of sugar and mix in well.

After that is mixed well......add in the 3 TBS milk or cream and whip it up. It should be a perfect spreading consistency.

Frost cooled cupcakes and garnish with chocolate chips or quartered Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Mmmm. Mmmm. Enjoy!!



*A Delightful Design

Okay.....so I am not one who pushes products or services....like everrrr, but I have to right now. Not only is that what friends are for (to blab and brag all about one's special qualities), but I just think that she has some super-talent. I want you all to meet Abby, like a sister to me, and a most amazing- interior decorator. The best thing that Abby can do FOR ANYONE, no matter where you live, is help to guide you down the right path. Lord knows we all have ideas, but that doesn't mean that all of our ideas look spectacular when put together. Let Abby help you. I will not call out names on here......but I realllly know of a few friends that could and should benefit from Abby's Eye! (myself included)

A Delightful Design

Visit her blog and be prepared to be enlightened.

PS......if you get over there to check out her blog quick enough, you can be entered to win a FREE DESIGN BOARD for any room in your house that you choose. This is HUGE!

*R.C.B.

Gone, but most definitely not forgotten. It has been nine LONG years, but somehow feels just like yesterday you were alive and well......and being.......you. Hanging out with us "kids" talking, waxing your car for the two thousand and third time that year, enjoying a cigar and singing Elton John's- Bennie and the Jets, to your Bennie Boo Boo, in the garage. Yelling at Tim for farting in the kitchen or for jumping off of the roof into the pool, having a tea party with Ariel, eating Cozy Shack Rice Pudding, or irritated because someone forgot to clean out the lint trap in the dryer.

Many people, love, miss, and think of you every single day. We wish you were still here to make so many more memories with. Thank you for being the man you were, for teaching us all the lessons you did, and for being one of the most entertaining men I have ever met. At that point in time, I did not have my father in my life........I had you.

My life right this second is what it is 100%, because of you.....not many people know this, but I am willing to share now......

 When you were ill and things started to seem bleak, I was crumbling inside. I wanted to keep my brave face on and be the one Marilyn, Ver and Tim could lean on. I had never in my life felt so overwhelmingly sorrowful. I was strong but I think you knew my secret. Answering the questions Ariel had was heart wrenching......you were her man =)  You held on for days more, and then one day in the hospital room, Tim and I decided to get fresh air and a bite to eat. You passed away about 5 minutes after he and I left. I think you knew we were a wreck. I felt helpless. I wanted to fix them all....their hurt......and anger. I went home that night just destroyed. I was lying on my bathroom floor crying all night and Teron, my boyfriend at the time, just watched TV. He did not have one ounce of sympathy, care, or compassion, that the woman he professed to love- was heartbroken. I decided right then.....that night.... to tell him I could not stay with him.

Less than two months later, I met Joe. The most thoughtful, passionate, giving person I had ever met. Aaaand.....he just ADORED Ariel. He did the silly things you would do and had no shame in doing her girlie little things either. So, out of your passing, I was able to gain this most wonderful, blessed life, with two little brothers for Ariel, that I would have never known had I not felt so heartbroken and alone. There was some sunshine after all of that gloom. Ariel and I miss and love you like crazy!! You will always be part of our lives~

A special song will be playing on my other blog....just for you and Bennie! =)
http://mymemoriesandsuch.blogspot.com/

*A Letter of Thanks.....

This holiday season, I think my 4 year old son's teachers deserve to know how I appreciate them with WORDS. I know that bath lotions and coffee mugs are great, but how better can you show gratitude than something in writing?! (And cc'd to the Principal of course).

What it says:

Dear Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Darby,                                                                  12-16-10






I want the two of you to know you are so appreciated by me. While I will not be able to convey just how much, I will state some reasons why:


You are selfless and I think, probably very often overlooked in the school. Children (not much older than toddlers), are brought to you and you are responsible for and entrusted to enrich them. YOU ARE SPECIAL!!Most can not open their milk or juice alone, tie their shoes or hold their bladders, many can not blow their nose or wipe themselves properly or even tell you exactly what they need or how they feel.....you are MIND READERS!! You somehow.....magically, make them loved and important enough in school that they don't kick and scream every morning upon arrival. You keep them engrossed, even though they have attention spans of a gnat. You are AMAZING!! You let us parents feel secure and hopeful when we leave our love, pride and fears with you. YOU ARE SUPERHEROES!!


I know that you are not thanked nearly enough. And I know that you do not take care of our children to be thanked. It is just YOU! It takes a very specific type of person to be able to do the things you do. You take these undisciplined, school-foreign, runny nosed, pants wetting, whiny, germy, stubborn, loving, kids......YOU MUST BE INSANE!


You open 20-ish milks/juices, zip 20-ish jackets and count heads more times in a day than you probably slept in hours last night. Yet, you find the time to make each one feel special. And I thank you! My child loves you and smiles SO BIG when he talks about you! THAT means the world to me.






Best Wishes,




Jennifer Paradise


cc: Linda Marr

If your child/children have a special teacher or teachers, that go above and beyond their "job-descriptions" and really love what they do (even though we have no idea how they could)......please tell them. Then tell the principal too =)

Thank you for being AMAZING, Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Darby!!