Candy Trivia

The baby shower was so much fun. There were 10 of us and we had put two tables together to make a great big square dinner table so all of us could sit together and eat. The little momma got some wonderful gifts and loved the knitted horsie blanket.

We had "Cook Yourself Thin" Stuffed Shells and "Pioneer Woman Cooks" Comfort Meatballs, chopped salad with raspberry vinaigrette and fresh baked dinner rolls. I used pacifiers for cute napkin rings and gave them all to the momma to take home. It will be a long time before she has to search for a pacifier.

We had snowball cupcakes for dessert -- devil's food with buttercream icing rolled in sweetened coconut.

And for favors, I decided to send everyone home with a breakfast treat ... cinnamon rolls with maple icing from the "Pioneer Woman Cooks" cookbook. Put two in each favor bag and tied with a baby blue curly ribbon. To quote my husband, "These cinnamon rolls are sick!" They really are delicious. Link for recipe.

Now for the candy trivia. For one of my favorite party games, I put candy in a container and whoever guesses the number of pieces closest without going over takes the container home.

This time I put Reese's Pieces in a decorative glass jar. There are 655 Reese's Pieces in a 1 pound, 1.25 oz. bag of candy. I actually ended up breaking into a second bag to fill the jar. The closest guess was 500 something -- by the momma-to-be.

What's goin' on ...

We are now on the downhill slide of home improvement ... thank God. The tile is being laid in our home office and master bedroom this week. We cozied up in the guest room last night -- cozy being the operative word. It's amazing how small a full-size bed feels in comparison to a king. And the puppies would not be denied. They are used to sleeping up on the bed with us and proceeded to carry on until we picked them up. Is this where the term dog pile came from?

Here are a couple of shots of rooms with completed tile. The grout still needs to be sealed and then a good cleaning and everything can go back where it belongs.

dining room

family room

We took a field trip to Ikea Sunday. Hubby and I had never been to the store they opened in Tempe a few years ago. Youngest daughter had shopped there previously and went along. What a veritable wonderland of shopping. First of all, it's huge -- 2 stories of everything from complete room layouts of furniture and appliances to holiday decorations to linens and rugs and silk plants and dishes. There is a restaurant and a children's play area and a little cafe where you can buy amazing cinnamon rolls for $1.00. It's a good thing we don't live anywhere near this store because I would put my car on auto-pilot for the cinnamon rolls alone.

In addition to the cinnamon rolls, we bought a very nice hanging rack to go behind the door in the laundry room for my aprons. I love aprons and I use them constantly. The granddaughter also has a number of kid-size aprons. We bought very cute matching Christmas aprons a few years ago. Got home from Ikea and, while we were still high from our sugar buzz, hubby put the rack up.

apron rack

I am throwing a baby shower for a friend in December. This is her first baby -- they're having a boy. They live in a mountain town a few hours outside of Phoenix and love the outdoor life, especially fishing. I decided to hand-make her invitations scrapbook-style and found the cutest little stick-on bears to embellish with. I scanned all the bears and printed the one that looks like a little pregnant mama on the front of the envelopes. I think they turned out really cute and I can't wait for the shower.

baby shower invitation