who knew you could make a fortune with silverware

I am on the hunt for... silverware, of all things.

Last year I went to a event planning trade show in LA. Each year there is a table decor competition and the finished tables are displayed at the show. I was impressed with a table that used mismatched old, tarnished silverware. That wasn't the only thing about the table that impressed me - that is just the part I want to recreate for our Halloween party.

I have scoured antique stores and ebay and am having a bit of sticker shock. I have had some luck at the antiques stores. Some of the silverware has been priced so high I nearly hit the floor but I have been able to find some inexpensively priced sets to use for the party. Ebay has some great stuff but i just keep getting out bid. Why do so many people need old, pitted, tarnished silverware? Had I known it was in such high demand I would have been collecting it since birth and selling it all off to buy a vacation home on some beach in the Caribbean.

So this is my call for help...does anyone know of any grandma's in their neighborhood that want to part with some old silverware for cheap? I want stuff that's old, or at least looks old. I don't want modern designs. I do not care if it is nasty and tarnished looking - I would prefer that.

I realize that this is a strange request and most people probably don't have old silverware just sitting around but I figure it can't hurt to ask. If you see any good garage sales this weekend stop by and see if there is silverware - If you find something call me. If you don't have my cell number email me and I will give it to you.

i won!

Here is the comment I saw today at createmyevents.com....

Denise Baker- you are right! I was reading the post name above your comment. You are the winner! Please email me at jennifero@rosannainc.com to claim your prize for the winning comment.

Posted by: Rosanna | October 09, 2007 at 10:48 AMII

did i win?

I saw these amazing black cake stands from Rosanna in a magazine and I fell in love with them. I thought that they would be a great addition to our Haunted Victorian party theme but decided against purchasing them because let's face it I need to curb the Halloween spending.

While checking out some of my favorite blogs last week, I came across this. Could it be? What are the chances? So I leave a comment knowing full well that some other lucky blogger is going to get "my" cake stands - remember, they're the ones I really need for my party. I'm sure no one else needs them.

So today I am checking out the blog,I check it frequently to curb my party appetite, and there it is...my comment as the winner BUT with someone elses name?!?!?! Who's Kara? And why is she stealing my prize? Her name was above my comment and mine was below - I'm sure the judges just read it wrong. Right? Don't you think I am the winner? Seriously, I'm curious what people think. I think the winner is who placed the comment, right?

I am appealing to the party gods that this goes in my favor - these stands have my name all over them.

black listed

Have you seen her? The girl on the left. That's Kelly and she has squashed my Halloween hopes and dreams by choosing a trip to Kansas to visit family over attending our Halloween bash. Where are her priorities?!?!

She tried to buy her way off the black list - the one created for people that repeatedly miss our party. Can you believe she resorted to bribery? Has she no shame?

To save yourself from the heartache and emotional damage that she has put not only me through but my whole family, heed this warning...Do NOT, I repeat do NOT invite her to any party, soiree, shindig, gala, or anything fun that you are planning to do. She will rip your party planning heart out and stomp on it, making you never want to throw another party as long as you live.

Her husbands not to bad...add him to your guest list.

a serious addiction

I cannot get enough of this divinely, delicious drink. Seriously, I have a problem. I have taken to drinking it from sunrise to sunset. If I only have one bottle in the fridge I allow no one else to drink it. If I have 2 or more bottles in the fridge I'll share but I control the amounts people drink. This is like gold to me.

If you love lemonade and haven't tried Simply Lemonade, you must drop what you are doing immediately and get yourself to the store. Try Target first. At the grocery store a bottle will cost you a little over $3.00. On Saturday I got 3 bottles (bought them out) for under $2.00 a bottle. I need to get back today and see if they restocked since out of the 3 bottles I only have a 1/4 of a bottle left - I told you I have a problem.

family home evening treat

If you are looking for a good Family Home Evening treat, here it is. My sister in law, Gail, sent this to me and to be honest after reading the recipe I wasn't so sure I would like this little treat. Derek made them up for family night a couple weeks ago and I changed my tune - they are yummy! You and your kiddos will love them.

My family was over yesterday to watch conference and we made these for dessert. They were a hit!

Marshmellow Yummies

You will need: Paper cupcake liners and a muffin pan

1 tube refrigerator crescent rolls (8-count)

¼ cup margarine, melted

8 large marshmallows

cinnamon & sugar mixture (¼ cup sugar + ½ teaspoon cinnamon)

wax paper (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Place margarine in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave it just until it melts. Set this aside, you will use it later.

3. Mix cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Set this aside, you will use it later.

4. Place paper cupcake liners in a muffin pan.

5. Open container of refrigerator crescent rolls. Carefully unroll dough and tear apart along lines to get 8 triangle-shaped pieces of dough.

6. Tear off a sheet of wax paper and place triangle piece of dough on it. Flatten one crescent roll.

7. Roll 1 marshmallow in melted margarine then in cinnamon & sugar mixture.

8. Place marshmallow on large end of dough – roll up to enclose marshmallow completely in dough pinching edges of dough to seal completely.

9. Place sealed side down in a cupcake liner in a muffin pan.

10. Bake 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.

11. Cool slightly before eating.

NOTE #1: You may substitute large refrigerated biscuits (tube of 10 count) for crescent rolls. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

NOTE #2: Your family may like these a lot so you might want to plan to make 2 rolls for each person

it's back!

I forgot to mention this...last week the boys and I went to Disneyland after school. It was an early out day (12:50pm) so it gave us plenty of time to get to Disneyland and hit some rides. (Derek and the girls came out a bit later after the girls got out of school)

Everyone time we have been at Disneyland the Nemo Submarine ride line has been seriously long, way long - no exaggeration. We have kinda gotten spoiled with our passes and usually never have to wait in very long lines because we go at off times or we just don't go on the rides with long lines because we know we can come back another day. Ok, I'm getting off on a tangent.

The boys and I walked by the Nemo line and asked the cast member how long the wait was - 45 minutes, she replied. I was shocked. The wait time had been more like 2 hours plus, the last few times we had been there. The boys said they wanted to wait so wait we did. We got through the line in about 30-35 minutes and now we are finally able to say we rode Nemo!

It was fun for me to be back on the subs that I remember from so long ago. The boys loved it and so did I. What Disney did on that ride is amazing. I'm glad that we were able to get on it and for anyone visiting Disneyland you really should try and work it in to your day. Loads of fun!

PaPa and MeMaw

Derek and I are grandparents again. We have an out of control teenage daughter. Actually, we have a very responsible daughter that is learning all about how difficult and time consuming caring for babies is.

Some of you may remember that last year Megan came home with a baby as part of her teen living class. We only had the baby overnight but in that brief time span there was a lot of crying - mostly from the baby but there may have been some from me when I was up in the middle of the night helping Megan.

This year Megan is in Advanced Teen Living and got the bring home baby Bella (yes, Megan named her after Twilight) for a whole weekend. 3 wonderful days of baby bliss. Actually it wasn't too bad. I think baby Bella was a much better natured baby then Emma. The highlight was seeing Megan carry Bella around church - too funny. Meg also let some of the young women at church hold her. The next day when Bella was plugged into the computer Megan learned that the young women holding her were a bit too rough and baby Bella had shaken baby syndrome. Note to self...be careful about who you leave your baby with.

By the way...my grandkids will call me MeMaw - I love it!

it's beginning to sound a lot like halloween

When you call us at home this is what you hear. We have used this for our answering machine for quite a few years. People either love it or think we are nuts (which we probably are) It wouldn't seem like Halloween without it.

holy envelope, batman

Do you love these stamps or what?!?! I was at the post office the other day and just had to get these. Think of the possibilities, people.

After I bought the stamps I went and picked up some red envelopes because you know super heroes are all about the color. I got on the computer and made an address label that looked like the "pow', "kaboom", etc bubbles and then added the name and address. In my attempts to foil the evil forces that lurk around every corner I have changed my friends address, although it would be cool to live on whatever street. This one is going to my friend to thank her for being a "super friend" but these stamps and envelopes could be used for a ton of stuff...

thanks for sharing your "super powers" with me (for someone that helped you do something or brought you dinner, etc)

Have you gone out with friends lately or been to a party or dinner? How about thanks for a "super" time.

I think a super hero birthday party would be a blast and you could use this idea for the invites.

What else? I'm sure there are a ton of ways to use these way cute stamps. Let me know if you think of anything.

added...for those interested the font used on the address label is International Superhero

like, totally

Megan and I were walking out the door last night to get her to Mutual when the phone rang. It was one of the young women telling Megan that all the girls were going to wear 80's clothes.

First of all, it was about 4 minutes to seven and mutual starts at 7 - "How are we going to pull this off?", I wonder.

Second, why are my kids dressing up like the 80's? You are supposed to dress up in outfits from really old eras. It's fun to be a 50's girl, or a flapper from the 30's (is that even the right time frame for a flapper?), how about a 60's hippie or you can push it a little bit with a disco diva from the 70's but the 80's?!?! I'm not old enough to have my era be for dressing up.

That being said, we pulled together a fairly decent valley girl in about 3 minutes. Leggings, check. High ratted side pony complete with big bow, check. Now this hairdo could have been improved with more time. It needed to be crimped and the bangs...we all know those needed a ton more height to them. Somewhat decent belt, check. I would have preferred a huge leather, studded one but hey you do what you got to do in 3 minutes. No big belt should be without a big blouse so I pulled out of my closet a vintage (is it really old enough to be vintage?) Tears for Fears concert t-shirt, circa 1985. I suddenly became very possessive of this bit of fashion history and basically made Megan swear on her life that my shirt would not be harmed in anyway. She was good to go. Granted with a few more accessories she would have been tubular...bangles for the wrist - black rubber ones, thank you Madonna. Big cheapo plastic earrings. Some cute red jellies. Oh, those awesome 80's fashions.

halloween phantom

Each year our family spends family home evening nights in October "phantom'ing" some people call it boo'ing. Our ward (church congregation) has done it for many years and our neighborhood does it occasionally. We combined out invitation delivery with phantom this last Monday so here are some phantom shots...The kiddos ready to deliver. They love the ding dong ditch part of being phantom. I happen to love it too. Why is it that we find joy in disturbing someones evening by ringing the bell and running? Oh, well - disturbing or not I think it is way fun.Here is a bad picture of the treats we left. I couldn't get the color adjusted on the computer but rest assured the cupcakes were orange not this nasty yellowish color. Keep in mind that when you phantom your identity remains a secret or should if you don't get caught. I am fairly sure that no one from my ward reads this blog (at least not the people we phantomed) so I believe our identity is safe and secure.

If you don't know how phantom'ing works you leave a note with the treats. At one home we didn't leave enough cupcakes for the family - we were one short, we just weren't paying attention. This picture is of Derek writing on our phantom note so we could go back and ding dong ditch again leaving only one cupcake to go with the 5 we had already left.

Our phantom note reads...

halloween time is here, hooray!
the las flores ward phantom has struck today
we hope you like this spooky treat
because we think you're really neat
hang this in your window for all to see
so the phantom strikes once, that's how it should be
wouldn't it be lots of fun,
if you'd be the next phantom to strike someone?
then what a happy loving sight...
a phantom in every ward members window
by halloween night!!

make two copies of this poem and deliver it along with some goodies to two families in the ward. please "phantom" in the next 2 days so that we can be sure every family is included - Have Fun!!

The words could easily be changed for your own ward or neighborhood. This is one of our favorite family traditions.

pink goodies

I am excited to participate in this year's Pink Christmas organized by Kristi. I am sure it has been a huge undertaking for her this year but many are thankful for her hard work.

My pink envelope arrived last week full of goodies - it was unbelievable. Check out the sponsors...they have some fun products.

Now I just need to buckle down and figure out what it is I am going to do for a gift.

jam session

Derek pulled out his guitar the other night for some practice and Luke immediately ran upstairs to his room and got his guitar so he could jam with dad. Derek 's guitar has nothing on Luke's fine instrument, imported from a sweet little shop on the streets of Tijuana.

visiting teaching or just because

I thought I'd share this quick and easy Visiting Teaching idea.

I was at Smart and Final the other day and they had T. Marzetti's Carmel Apple Dip on sale for a dollar. I bought up a bunch not really sure what to do with them all but unable to pass up the deal. I mean a dollar for a tub of goodness - you would have bought it too.

The next day Derek and I were at Cost Plus one of my favorite stores and I found cute little jars for under $2.00. The ideas were rolling and I decided to put together these gifts for the girls I visit teach and a friend that was having a hard time.

I had the baskets so I threw in some apples and the cute little jars full of carmel dipping yumminess. The labels on the side read "an apple a day can't keep us away, we love being your visiting teachers." For my friend it said "an apple a day can't keep me away, I love being your friend"

The labels were all made on the computer using Honey Script and another font that is called June 15. I'm pretty sure that is not the name of the font but I probably put the date I downloaded it or did some equally lame I can't work the computer thing.
These could be done up with something besides carmel. How about a little jar of salsa with chips or some yummy dip with vegetables. These would work well as a teachers gift too.

is anybody out there?

So I'm thinking that the 4 people that normally read this blog have probably given up because of a serious lack of posts. It's Halloween people and that means that life is busy here so please cut me some slack and stay with me. I promise to get back into the grove as soon as the holiday festivities slow down here.

With that being said I thought I would share some pictures of the invitations I just finished up for our Halloween party. You can check them out on our SmugMug page. I had to post this picture of the kids though - I love it! The kids hand delivered the invites for us dressed like this. They did their own make-up and where genuinely good sports about going to so many homes.

you're gonna want this...

Someone at the blog class I taught mentioned that she heard you could turn your blog into a book. That got me interested so I did some searching and found beautiful books done by Blurb. I have not looked over their entire website but what I did see was amazing. The books are amazing and just imagine having your blog entries and pictures preserved in a hardback book. I am sure the prices can get a little pricey but I personally think it is a worthy investment for your family history.

Take a look at the site and tell me what you think. Would you spend the money on a book like this to preserve your blog to paper? Or are you happy having it all at your finger tips on the internet?

like father like son

Derek is really jacking up the kids.

So we have these teeth and many more lying around the house. Why you ask...remember we are all about Halloween so we have various sets for different costumes. One of these days I'll have to post pictures of Derek with all his different costumes and teeth.

Back to these pictures...what have we done?!?!
When we were getting ready for the HSM party Luke wanted to try the teeth. Are these not the funniest? The teeth were obviously way to big for Luke's mouth which made this all the more funny and Luke hammed it up just like his daddy. I will have so much to explain to Luke's wife when he gets married - my apologies to her now, whoever she is.

i got my head in the game now

So it is time to catch up on all of the events I haven't been posting about. Although I'm thinking only some of the events will get a post - lets be realistic. I am so far behind I'd have to spend weeks catching up.

As you may recall, we used the High School Musical 2 premiere as Emily's birthday party. We did the movie set up in the backyard (see previous posts if you're interested in seeing the set-up) and had dinner and played a few games before Troy Bolton and the rest of the crew danced their way into our hearts.

Dinner was served in the East High cafeteria by some fantastic cafeteria workers. I made aprons for Derek and I to wear and we completed the ensemble with hair nets. Derek took it one step further by inserting his always funny Billy Bob teeth. I'm not sure Emily's friends knew how to take it. Emily has had to live with those teeth and her dad's silly antics so she is already immune to him however I think her friends may be scarred for life.
The meal was a gourmet feast - yeah, right! Mac and cheese, tater tots, cookies, hot dogs - I did throw some fresh fruit in there for something healthy to offset the other garbage.
We had East High water bottles. Just a hint...personalizing water bottles is an easy thing to do and packs a lot of punch when it comes to parties. I print out whatever design I want on the computer, run the paper through my Xyron and slap it on the bottle. No Xyron? No worries, use spray adhesive, tape, whatever.
Each chair had a pennant with the girls first initial. The table was set very plain. I wanted the red cafeteria trays to stand out.
The take home gifts (didn't get a picture) were small photo albums that Emily and I turned into yearbooks. I downloaded a bunch of different pictures of the cast and then added pictures from the party. I also added autograph pages. During commercials the girls could sign each others
yearbooks.

for jodie and anyone else that cares

We finally saw Hairspray and we LOVED it! I haven't laughed so much in a movie in a long time. The casting was perfect, the music fun, the comedy hilarious...it was great!

If you are lame like us and still haven't gotten out to see it you should. You won't be disappointed unless you hate musicals, people in drag, politically incorrect comments, and great dancing.

Was this mother not the funniest character ever? We were laughing so loud in the theater because of her. See what a "devil child" can turn us mothers into.