Five things I desperately Need

1. A goat.  Yes, I said a goat.  I've been reading Barnheart by Jenna Woginrich, and I've decided I need a goat.  On a side note, this book was written about me! Oh my Holy Hand Grenade, everything this woman says is straight from my own mind! 
2. Angora Bunnies.  I love to spin my own yarn.  I don't think the hubby will let me have sheep since I can't even keep my chickens at my own house, so I'll just keep angora bunnies and spin there lovely fiber. It's a perfect solution.
3. Jalapeno Chips. I love these things, and I could really use a bag right now. If I get this one can I add liposuction on as well?
4. More time.  I need more hours in the day for reading, knitting, cooking, cleaning.....really everything.
5.  Sleep.  Do I really need to explain this one? I guess I got spoiled with my few days of sleeping all night uninterrupted.  I should have known that would never last.  

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Catching up

The last couple of weeks have been insane.  I've had meetings, bookstore events, and the heat has been almost unbearable.  Here's the run down on what's been going on.

~Last Saturday I beat my brother in our local triathlon by five minutes.  He will make excuses, saying he didn't train. And while that is true, I only trained for a week.  And seriously, five minutes is a LOT of time.

~I decided this week that I am going to take a trip to Europe.  I may have to sell my kidney, but I'm going to go.  Ty, the husband, said "Why would you want to waste money and go there?"  I have no idea how we ever got married.  I'm going to go, and take my kids too. Gosh darn it, they will be cultured.  Even if I have to shove it down their throats! For those who have been to Europe, where should I go? Italy? France? England? Greece? If you've been, let me know.

~The munchkins and I have been reading chapter books at night, and tonight we are going to start reading, Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Miline.  I am ridiculously excited.

~The broccoli that I am growing in my garden is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  I'm not kidding.  Sometimes after I cut a head off the plant I just stare in wonder at it's beauty.  And I don't even like broccoli! I absolutely love eating food from my garden. I get a sick kind of pleasure staying out late weeding it.  It's a sickness.

~My chickens are still adorable, and they love blueberries.

~I reread one of my favorite books in the world, The Giver by Lois Lowry.  If you haven't read it, you need too.  That's all I'm going to say.  It's a middle grade book, so read it to your kids too.  OK, seriously I'm done now.

~ I'll leave you with my quote of the week.  I saw this up on Goodreads and loved it instantly.  It kind of sums up how I am feeling this week. "Have you felt it too? Have you seen how your best friends love everything about you - except the things that count? And your most important is nothing to them; nothing, not even a sound they can recognize." -Ayn Rand  

Seriously, who doesn't love Any Rand.  Her books are amazing. You need to go to the library right now, or my bookstore, and pick up The Giver and anything by Ayn Rand.  I prefer the Fountainhead. Go. Now.  I'm not going to ask you again.

P.S. These random picture are for my sister. She is away on vacation and says she needs to see the kids. So here they are.

Tents and Farmer's Market

This has been such a fun summer to watch my kids.  Lilly just turned 3 and Lex is 4, and they are really getting to the age where fireflies are magical, and they want to help  me in the garden, and swimming at the pool doesn't stress me out so much that I want to pull all my hair out.  It's been delightful.

The room is a little crowded with two tents.

Just this last week we were gifted a Little Mermaid sleeping bag and matching tent.  I set this up for my daughter and my kids haven't stopped playing in it since.  I had to make the boy a little fort with some sheets and chairs.  They have slept in them the last two night.  They have gone to bed easier these last couple night then ever before.  I hear them whispering to each other and playing in their tents.  This is how childhood should be.

Here's the little boy asleep in his tent.

This morning the kids and I decided that we would sell some of our herbs at the farmer's market outside of my bookstore.  Lilly spent the early morning cutting and bunching herbs with me, and Lex helped me set things up once we got there.  They divided up the items between themselves, and waited to make some money. It was super cute.  We had a great time, and they worked pretty hard for their money.  We decided that all this money will go into a little "fun for the kids" fund.  Hopefully over the next couple of months we can make enough to go to a couple of museums in Chicago or Indianapolis. 

Here the kids are, anxiously awaiting their first sale.

Here are some of the herbs & homemade croutons we had for sale.

Birthday Cake

My sister Haley and Lilly making more frosting

I can describe my June with two words, birthday cake.  It seems like everyone one in my family has a birthday in June, hence lots of birthday cake. I love cake, as does my bum.  It always get a little bigger in June, but enough of my bum.  This June, my little girl turned three and she asked for a Princess Cake. My sister and I said sure, how hard could it be.  After over 3 hours here is what we made. By we I mean mostly Haley...I kind of stood around and wished really hard that it would look nice.

I'd like to say that it was easy, and fun, but you'd have to ask Haley.  During the whole process we were pretty much freaking out.  It looked horrible while we were making it, but the finished product turned out pretty awesome.  Lilly loved it and that's all that counts.

The bottom layer consists of two 13x9  cakes, and the top layer is two 5 inch round cake. The turrets are sugar cones on top of cake cones jammed into the cake.  I think if we had it over to do again we would use fondant instead of butter cream frosting. But seriously, didn't Haley do an awesome job? My brother Zach sure liked it.