putting it off till the last minute

somehow, i managed to time things so that i had three different projects to get done for saturday.  i'd pulled a classic wan and procrastinated like mad on putting together the goody bags for the bean's cooking-themed birthday party.  doesn't matter that i'd ordered all of the supplies weeks before, and they'd all been sitting in the house still sealed in their shipping boxes.  what the hell is wrong with me?  heh.

plus, i had 100 cookies to make for my friends over at xtend barre.  they had a great celebration planned for the grand opening of their new studio, and what's a celebration without cookies?  so i got right to work.  this is what a hundred cookies looks like:

they've done a bit of rebranding, switching up the logo just a bit, and i thought it would be fun to add a little sparkle to it.  white sanding sugar did the trick quite nicely.

i was sad that i couldn't attend the festivities, but at least a little part of me would be there.  haha - go get your ass kicked in class and then hey!  have a cookie!  well, one teeny-tiny treat isn't bad.  after taking that class, it's definitely earned.

it also happened to be our turn to provide the snacks at the weekly soccer game.  and because i love to complicate things for myself, during a trip to michaels for last-minute party supplies, the teen and i picked up some plain orange reusable water bottles.  they went perfectly with the team's uniforms and they were in the clearance bin for 80% off.  after our coupons, i think they ended up costing about a dime apiece.  i couldn't pass that up, right?  and while i debated personalizing them with the girls' names at first, i decided that it would make life much easier if i simply put their team name on instead.

i didn't have any adhesive vinyl or other water resistant material to use, but i got crafty and used some self-laminating material on a full sheet of labels.  is that some macgyver shit, or what?

with my trusty silhouette die-cutting machine, i managed to cut out enough labels for eight bottles.  this was perfect, since there are 9 girls including the bean.  they turned out pretty nicely, if i do say so myself.

then i used it again with some flocked heat transfer material to personalize the aprons i'd bought to give all the party attendees.  i'd ordered a dozen through oriental trading co., but with 15 total guests i'd had had to pick up another 5-pack at michaels.  i didn't realize until i opened them all that they were very different.  the first dozen were made out of much flimsier material, which i found out the hard way as i began ironing on the cut-out names.

BAH.  many four-letter words were dropped as i found myself scrambling to recreate the cutouts for the handful of aprons i had to redo.  ooh, i was so mad.  and thank god i had a few leftover aprons from last christmas, when we had our gingerbread house party.  otherwise, i'd have been screwed.  don't ever order those aprons if you're going to do anything besides hand them out as-is, people.  you've been warned.  and then finally i was done.

each bag contained an apron, a set of measuring spoons, a mini whisk, a small spatula, and a gummy pizza.

the bean appreciated my efforts and ooh'd and aah'd when she saw it all, giving me a giant hug and a thank you.  and with that, i completely forgot all of the frustration from the burnt aprons and hugged her right back.

because after all, that's what it's all about.

you better work. sashay, shante

i need to take some summer-y pictures of the bean today. ack!

last week, i was thinking that the spring issue of the nest magazine has GOT to be done and probably already gone to press. this means that my friend "bump kaitlin" totally dropped the ball and never hit me up for a picture of the bean to use in the nest baby shop ad in the magazine. so i dropped her an e-mail which basically said "wassssup?"

of course, she apologized profusely and said that yes, the spring issue was complete. but could i take some summer pictures ASAP and get them over to her? shit. now i have to scramble to a) find a summer outfit to put on the bean, b) rig up some sort of plain white background to use for the shots, c) figure out how to get her to pose for some good shots, and d) decide how to do her hair. that last item was an issue last time, because every shot had a bunch of flyaways and i suck at doing hair.

wish me luck.

last night's dinner was quick, easy, and yummy. i found this recipe for ranch chicken pasta on the "what's cooking?" board on the nest, and knew right away that i had to give it a shot. for a bunch of reasons, we didn't get home until almost 7:30 last night, which meant it was going to be a late dinner. but i started cooking right away and the teen was digging in before 8:00. the hub was working late, so i made him a plate and set it aside for him.

look!


now, i'm off to dig through the bean's extensive wardrobe in search of a suitable outfit. oy.

twirling, twirling

so, tomorrow is the third wan-niversary. yup. it's already been a couple of years since this little gem:




i know that's endlessly amusing for me, so i'm assuming that it might elicit a little chuckle from one or two of you, too. heh.

anyway, i of course managed to convince myself that the day was weeks away. and the procrastinator in me (come on, there's a little one of those in everyone) didn't get around to picking out/ordering a gift for the hub until saturday afternoon. via ebay. and i got an e-mail from the seller that they'd shipped it out, with delivery scheduled for...

friday. damn.

the traditional gift for the third anniversary is leather. i actually do have a leather-covered wedding album that i ordered from snapfish, stashed in the closet. it's not the greatest thing in the world, but it'll do. and i wanted to add something else that would be a little snazzier.

i don't know if you remember, but i bought the hub a GPS for his birthday this year. well, that one ended up breaking, and i had to hunt down another one to replace it. and then a couple of months later, his car got broken into and among other things, guess what was stolen? grrrrrr. so when i was brainstorming for anniversary and/or christmas presents for the hub with the teen, she said "buy him a new GPS, mom." duh! she's a genius.

i'm thinking of buying him a leather case for the thing, taking it out of the package and then wrapping it up for him to open tomorrow at dinner (along with that freebie album). so he doesn't know what the case is for, but at least that'll tell him that there's a better present coming than that shitty album. okay, he doesn't know it was a shitty freebie, but i will. ha!

the poor guy's been so busy at work, trying to make shit happen, and so i really wanted to give him something nice for our anniversary. as for me, all i really want is a card that he's written a note in for me. he always comes through with this, so i'm pretty sure i'll get to add to my card collection. awww, so schweet.

i've paid a price for all that thanksgiving goodness - i'm now only one stinking pound under wedding weight. damn. but i'm still pretty confident that i'll be able to throw on the wedding gown again tomorrow. yay for me!

and, i think it's time for a new twirling video. stay tuned.

ohemgee. so. extremely. bitter.

the bean's birthday party is this weekend.

i'm planning on making cute candy centerpieces similar to this:


pink and green are the colors of choice. so i've got gobs of pink and green paper plates, plastic cutlery, napkins, cups, blah, blah, blah. and a few weeks ago, i found these lollipops that would be absolutely PERFECT as the focal point in those centerpieces.


totally perfect, right? and even better - candy warehouse, where i found them online, is located not far from home. i could totally pick them up and save on shipping. bonus!

and then i called this morning to place the order. as i was talking to the girl, i pulled up the item on their site, and...

THEY'RE FUCKING SOLD OUT.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. i am so unbelievably irritated and pissed off at myself for not being proactive (a word i HATE) and ordered them when i originally found the damn things. i should've learned long ago that my typical procrastinating ways DON'T PAY OFF!

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck. oh, and FUCK!!!

i can't figure out who the manufacturer of these things are, so i can't go direct. and the only other place i can find them is on the east coast. and as much as i want them, i don't think i can squeeze out the zillion dollars it's bound to cost to have them overnighted, or even 2-day shipped.

on top of all this, my fabulous flat iron won't turn on and my hair looks like complete ass if i don't flatiron it.

sonofamotherfuckingasswhoreshittybitch!! i want to throw things.

note: i'm fully aware that i could get the regular, rainbow-colored lollipops. but i. want. those. I. WANT. THE. PINK. AND. GREEN. ONES. DAMMIT!

[deep breath] wooo-saaaaah. wooo-saaaaaaaah (i just saw "bad boys II" again this weekend).

it's not working. i'm still angry. gymboree is gonna be hella fun today.