Hair's to a Great Girl! Birthday Box 2022

Tomorrow is Queen B's birthday and, since we won't be seeing her until Friday; I sent her gifts in a care package earlier this month. Of course, she had strict instructions not to open the box until the 23rd. 

When I asked her what she wanted this year, she was pretty specific: new hair extensions since her current ones had gotten "scraggly". She chose the extensions online so she was well aware that she would be getting them.

Since I cannot allow a birthday to pass without at least a few surprises, I filled her box with a few other items, including a new blow dryer. I figured, why not stay with the hair theme.

So, in the box:

Sassin Halo-style Hair Extensions

Amika Blow Dryer

Red Velvet Cake Mix

Cream Cheese Frosting

Unicorn Birthday Candles

Cake Sprinkles

Unicorn Bath Puff

Am I a little sad that my daughter will have to bake her own birthday cake? Yes. Will I make it up to her when I see her in Denver this weekend? Also, yes.

Am I still the Boss of birthday boxes?

Naturally.

Favorites on a Friday

It's been a long, busy week and I am very much looking forward to a nice, long holiday weekend. Now, having said that, I will get hit with an emergency call-out, just you watch.

Anyway, we kicked off the week with Valentine gifts for my favorite people. The Man-Cub and his girlfriend got plenty of sweets, including the puffy sugar cookies that the Cub has loved since he was old enough to grasp one in his chubby little fist.

 

Hugh got a giant tin of his favorite Swedish butter cookies and a pair of the same virtual reality goggles that we got the Cub for Christmas; I took notice that he had been coveting them.

I got a box of near-dead mail-order roses that arrived on February 11th because Emily's birthday was on the 13th and Hugh figured he would kill two birds with one stone and order flowers for us at the same time. 

Happily, I also got a shipment from my new Vine O! subscription, which included two bottles of wine...

...some facial wipes, a set of bangles, a travel mug, a travel backpack, and a small box of gourmet caramels. The timing of the box was perfection, even if the contents were slightly underwhelming. On the positive side, it only costs $59 a quarter and two bottles of wine cost darn near that on their own. So, it's a deal.

 

Last Sunday, I tried my hand at focaccia and I am unashamed to say; the flavor rocked!. I suppose I should be ashamed to admit that I stole the idea for the artwork right off of Pinterest, but, eh. Life's to short to beat yourself up #shameless.

I may try a completely original design on a new pan this weekend, but, I am also toying with the idea of making cinnamon rolls, instead. The dough feature on my bread machine is a recently discovered marvel of modern technology and I'm going to use it accordingly.

Never Have I Ever

I decorated for Valentine's Day this year, which, is not something that I have done before. I even decorated the Orphan Tree, which, has been up since Christmas, although sporting winter decorations in place of Christmas ornaments. Again, not something that I have done before (leaving up a tree and decorating it for anything other than Christmas? Unheard of!).

I've learned, as I've grown older, never to speak in absolutes; never say never has become my motto and I take special care with how I use "always". Life laughs at the hubris of always and never.

Anyhoodle, my new Valentines decorations are actually reminiscent of the Valentines that I sent and received as a child, and, quite frankly; I love them.

The Orphan Tree is definitely coming down with the Valentines decorations because I have a plethora of Easter stuff to put up in its place, but, for this year; I can say that I enjoyed having it around for a little longer than usual.

Will it hang around this long next year? Who can say? Only time will tell.

Recipes From the Porch: Wheat Bread For Sandwiches

In my search for a wheat bread that was both hearty and soft, I came across this recipe. While it is still not as soft as commercially baked wheat bread, it is less, um, sturdy than the 5 grain wheat bread that I have shared in another post. Because, sometimes, a girl needs a less sturdy loaf, if you get what I'm saying.

As always, I am using a bread machine because I am lazy AF and cannot be bothered to actually use my arm muscles to knead dough. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Anyhoodle, the ingredients are pretty simple:

1 1/2 C Warm water

2 TBSP Oil, vegetable or canola (Dealer's choice!)

1 TBSP Molasses

3 3/4 C Whole wheat flour

1 1/2 TBSP Vital wheat gluten

2 TBSP Non-fat dry milk powder

1 1/2 tsp Salt

2 TBSP Sugar

3 tsp Active dry yeast

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread maker in the order recommended by your bread machine manufacturer (mine calls for the order listed above. I also make sure to spread dry ingredients completely over wet ingredients, adding yeast on top, because that's what my machine calls for).

Follow instructions for your bread machine. I use the Wheat program on my machine, as well as the 2lb loaf setting and I dial my crust setting to light.

The end result is a loaf that slices, beautifully. It's perfect for sandwiches and for toast, as well as for snacking on with a drizzle of honey or fruit preserves.

I am really enjoying my recent foray into bread baking, in case you couldn't tell. For my next trick, I am going to create one of those amazing works of edible art that all the cool kids are doing with focaccia dough and a farmer's market worth of vegetables and herbs. What could possibly go wrong?

Throwback Thursday: Waxing Nostalgic About Valentines Day

When I was in High School, the Student Government used to sell carnations for Valentine's Day. For the bargain-basement price of $1, you could have a carnation delivered to your sweetheart, complete with a personal message inscribed on a card in some Sophomore's best attempt at calligraphy. The carnations were temporarily stored in large buckets of water in the front office, where every student office aid was able to read every heartfelt message.

That always felt like a huge invasion of privacy to me, and, I wasn't wrong,  because it was how Kim found out that Greg was cheating on her with April as well as the reason that everyone in school discovered that the the quietest girl in the Freshman class had multiple secret admirers.

Of course, none of that prevented me from purchasing carnations for my boyfriend; I just made sure that the message attached to his flowers was sealed.

These days, I am still penning notes for my Valentines, and, attaching them to gifts, and, while there is no Junior class busy-body snooping through them looking for a new piece of gossip to share on the quad; I still seal them. 

With a kiss, of course. 

This year, however, I am including a wax seal for good measure. I'm using this cute set that I found on Amazon.

It contains wax pellets in a variety of colors, tweezers for handling the pellets, a burner, a metal wax ladle, tea lights, embossing pens and embossing dust, and a stamp. The stamp that came in the set features a Tree of Life design, but I purchased an additional stamp with a heart design specifically for Valentine's Day.

The burner and melting ladle are really easy to use; you just light the wick on a tea light, place it under the burner, add wax pellets to the ladle, and set it on the burner until the pellets are melted.

When the wax is ready, the ladle makes it easy to pour a perfect circle, which, I always struggle to do when I am using my wax sticks and a lighter.

I always wait just about 15-20 seconds for the wax to start to cool before I press my stamp into the middle of the circle. Then, I let the stamp sit for an additional 10-15 seconds before I pull it off the wax, just to ensure a good imprint.

The pens that came with the set are great for helping the details of the imprint to really pop, and, while I didn't use the embossing glitter on this particular card; I know it will be something that I will use in future projects.

This card will accompany Hugh's Valentine's Day gift, which, I assure you, is not a bouquet of carnations.

As an aside, am I the only one for whom the spicy scent of carnations will be forever enter-twined with Cupid's holiday? Surely I can't be alone in this.

 

Galentines Care Package

Last week, I put a package in the mail for Queen B and the Rodeo Princess. I try to send care packages for major holidays and, sometimes, just for no reason, whatsoever.

This month's package was themed for Galentine's Day, which is another made-up holiday, similar to Valentine's Day (thank you Hallmark card company!).

Since neither my daughter nor my niece are in a relationship at the moment, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to shower them with items meant solely for self-love, and; I think I managed to meet the theme pretty darn well.

In the Box

2 Large ceramic coffee mugs

2 Chocolate cocoa bombs

2 packages of Blow Pop Charms

1 Large heart-shaped box of candy

1 package chewy cherry hearts

1 package Twix Mates

10 Pairs of  themed socks

1 Scent diffuser in Mango Citrus

1 Heart-themed coloring book

1 package water color pencils

2 tubes of hand cream

1 decorative plaque (Gnome with Bee Mine)

1 Novelty pop-up figurine of Maleficent 

2 Nourishing Face Masks

The girls got the package and actually managed to wait a couple of days to open it. I give them mad props for their restraint.

Once they did open it, Queen B sent me a Snapchat and my heart is now completely full. I hope they enjoy a relaxing and sweet Galentines Day.

There Was a Farmer Who Had a Dog and Bingo Was His Name...

I am not a farmer but I do have a dog. His name is not Bingo, but I went to Bingo last night. I feel like that could be a whole other song.

Speaking of my dog; Boomer ended up in the vet equivalent of the emergency room on Friday. He was playing fetch with the Man-Cub when he hurt his paw. The Cub wasn't sure what happened, but we suspect that he caught his nail on the concrete pad under Hugh's man gazebo as he chased the ball. The nail was ripped pretty far down and he was bleeding profusely and limping.

The Cub did a great job of getting him cleaned up and wrapping the paw, but I decided to come home from work and take him to the vet, in case he needed antibiotics and pain meds, which, he did.

The vet was booked for the day, but they have a drop-off program that allows you to take your pet over to hang out and the vet will squeeze in a quick look in between appointments. So, while Boomer was waiting, I was able to go back to work for a few hours.

As an aside, when I dropped him off, he literally threw himself on the ground and refused to walk for the vet tech. She was actually dragging him back to the holding area, which, was no mean feat since he weighs close to 100 pounds and she looked like she would snap like a twig in a high wind. She finally told me to leave because "sometimes that helps". Like dropping a toddler off at daycare, I'm guessing; my own children never threw themselves on the ground in a tantrum to get me to stay.

My dog is definitely a momma's boy.

Anyhoodle, when I picked him up $220 dollars later; he was suuuuuuper dopey since they had to sedate him to work on his paw. I had to run Lola through the carwash and, unlike his normal reaction to the Monster Who Dwells in the Water Cave (he haaaaates the carwash); he was completely mellow and just gazed at the lights, brushes, and rivulets of soapy water running down the windows like, Duuuuude, do you see the rainbow? He was trippin', is my point.

When we got to my office, he passed out on my rug, where he slept with his eyes open until it was time to go home. He's doing great, but will be on the meds for a few more days. He will also have to wear a boot once the bandages come off. I'm fully prepared for that to spur his next toddler tantrum.

And, speaking of Bingo, which is the other topic of this post, lest you have forgotten (which I almost did); last night, Hugh, the Newlyweds, and I went to the Petticoat Junction chapter of the American Legion to play a rousing few games of Bingo. 

How did this come about, you ask?

Kristi drives by the Legion Hall every night on her way home and she had noticed that there were always a ton of cars parked outside on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. So, she slow-rolled past one night and saw the sign on the door, advertising BINGO! and, she was intrigued. Petticoat Junction doesn't have a lot going on, as you can imagine, so...

...we went to Bingo.

I even took my the Money Tiki that we got in Hawaii. I thought it would bring me luck...not so much

To say that we were like fish out of water would be a vast understatement of our situation. The second we entered the building we were regarded with suspicion generally saved for masked bandits in a bank. Kristi being Kristi, was oblivious to the stares and marched right up to the counter, where we spent the next five minutes negotiating the price on a packet of cards, dabbers, and special games (on which we took a pass, thank God, because it was hard enough just to catch on to the regular games).

American Legion Bingo is not the bingo of my youth, y'all.

Did you know that there are like, a million ways to play Bingo? It's not just horizontal or vertical lines! There's Blackout and Progressive Blackout and Broken Frame and Double Action Blackout and I can't even remember because it all started to blur together right around hour two.

Thankfully, the regulars took total pity on us, once they determined that we were, in fact, completely stupid and not hustlers out to steal their jackpot. And, while we didn't win any money, I did win a door prize when we played Standing Bingo, which is a game where everyone gets a small Bingo card, stands up, listens as the balls are called, and sit down if any number on your card is called. Last man standing gets the prize, and, last night, that was me.

It should be noted that Kristi was super jazzed to play Last Man Standing and she was out, literally, on the first number called. It didn't keep her from being enthusiastically happy for me when I won my new fuzzy blanket. She's such a good sport.

After Bingo, we came back to the house for charcuterie board and wine and to spoil my dog with "accidentally" dropped cheese and sausage. We briefly toyed with the idea of changing his name to Bingo and all agreed...no. Just, no.

When I asked the Newlyweds if we were going to make ourselves regulars at the Legion Hall, Erin was up for it. Kristi, not so much. She kept referring to our adventure as an "excellent cultural experience", though not one that she feels the need to repeat, and, since she "accidentally" left her brand new dabber at my house, I'm guessing our Bingo days are over.

In hindsight, she may just be jealous of my fuzzy blanket.