The Real D

2010-02-28T20:44:00.005-08:00

Break the Fast Miracle Bars

*This was supposed to be posted on my sister's recipe blog but I'm lame and can't figure out how to post it there, so I figured why not see if I can remember how to post to this blog!

As a single 27 year old LDS woman I have ended my fair share of Fast Sundays with the big ward-wide dinner known as “Break the Fast.” Without fail, the handwritten sign-up sheet gets passed around Relief Society the last Sunday of the month asking people to bring some sort of side dish or a dessert for the next Sunday's meal. Every month as the sheet approaches me I momentarily consider passing it along to the person sitting next to me, but inevitably I pick up the pen and sign my name underneath the “dessert” heading and pray that those in charge call to remind me to bring a baked good the following Sunday.

A few years ago, after months and months of baking and bringing dessert to Break the Fast I noticed a sad trend. At the end of the evening (and yes, when your ward doesn’t start until 3pm, it is evening by the time Break the Fast is over) almost all of the deserts were gone—except mine. I took it personally (Seriously—after fasting all day shouldn’t ANYTHING with sugar be delicious?!) and when that next Saturday night text came reminding me that I’d kindly offered to bring a dessert for the Sabbath Dinner I decided then and there that was it—I wasn’t baking anymore and the ward would have to deal with it. I mean, it’s not like anyone would miss my apparently disgusting cookies anyway.

But later that evening my guilt got the better of me and I decided that I would make something this one last time (I had signed up, afterall). Since this would be my last time baking I decided to be adventurous and try something new –who cared if it tasted good! So I began flipping through a cookbook and found a recipe for “chocolate peanut butter bars.” I baked them, arranged them nicely on a plate and dropped them off in the Banquet Hall (yes, my building has a Banquet Hall) before church began. When I returned after church I went to take the saran wrap off the plate but realized that the Break the Fast Committee had already helped me with that one. And helped themselves to about half of the plate. The remaining half went quickly and went home with an empty plate. Truly miraculous. And thus these lovely, yummy, gooey bars became known as Break the Fast Miracle Bars.

Break the Fast Miracle Bars

2 C oats
1 ¾ C brown sugar
1 ½ C flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ t baking soda
1 C margarine or butter, softened
½ C chopped nuts (I usually never add these)
2 C chocolate chips (I think the Nestle Toll House ‘mini’ ones work perfectly)
1 egg
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 C creamy peanut butter

Mix oats, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and softened butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs (I use a pastry cutter or 2 knives)

For topping stir together 1 ¾ C of crumb mixture, nuts, and chocolate chips. Set aside.
For crust stir egg into remaining crumb mixture. Press into bottom of an ungreased 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan (I just use a 9 x 13 inch pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

For filling, stir together sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter. Pour over partially baked crust and then sprinkle the topping mixture on top. Bake for 12-15 minutes more.

These taste DELICIOUS fresh from the oven, but only if you’re OK ‘scooping’ into a bowl, eating with a fork, and don’t care about beauty/presentation. If you’re actually serving these to someone else this is what you do (and while time consuming it’s totally worth it!):

Let the pan cool completely and cut into bars or squares.
Remove from the pan with a spatula and place separately onto a sheet of waxed paper so that the bars are not touching each other.
Cover with a kitchen towel or another sheet of waxed paper and let sit overnight (or all day). This allows the bars to ‘solidify’ so that they won’t fall apart when eaten.

Bon Apetite!

2009-04-08T20:04:00.004-07:00

I'm a news junky and find no shame in admitting it.

As a teenager I would often have the house practically to myself and would sit on the floor of our family room eating breakfast and watching the Sunday morning political talk shows. I may have shed a tear when Tim Russert passed away and I might even admit to having had a teensy tiny crush on George Stephanopoulos at one point.

Because of my strange fascination with the news you can often find me skimming the headlines of MSNBC and CNN while I should probably be doing other things—like working, cleaning, sleeping, reading, maybe hanging something on the bare walls of the apartment I’ve lived in for 7 months. But I digress...Today as I was trolling the headlines I came across a gem in the CNN Living section that, while not incredibly newsworthy, was too good to not share.

All I could say after reading this was AMEN!

I think this could be a good article for my Bishop’s wife to use in the "Manaissance" night she is planning for the guys in our ward. But that’s the subject of an entirely different post and I’ve got laundry to fold…

2009-02-06T22:10:00.006-08:00

Fünf Sachen, dass ich diese Woche gelernt habe:

Eins: If I were redoing my previous post I would probably have a different answer to No. 12.

Zwei: Being happy for no particular reason is incredibly refreshing!

Drei: Sometimes it's nice to be hit on by a complete stranger. Even if it's the cashier at Panera.

Vier: As much as I complain about working too much, being busy is much better than being bored. If the next few days are as boring as the last 2 I'm going to start my vacation early!

Fünf: Driving with the sunroof open while the heat is on full blast isn't considered normal by some people--although I'm proud to have converted Courtney this week and urge everyone to try it. Your sunny February days will never be the same!

2009-01-08T23:36:00.003-08:00

I realize this so 2008 but I did it at New Year's but never got around to posting it.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Parasailing in Hawaii

2. Did you keep your new year resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Didn’t really keep them unfortunately. Who knows if I’ll make any for 2009…the year is young.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Kim in March; Erin in October

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thakfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit?
Mexico in February with my Tucson friends
Finland in May for work with a couple of layovers in the Frankfurt airport

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
More perspective.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
If we’re talking ‘calendar’ date? I’m not sure? Maybe August 6th--when we finished a huge project at work.
If we’re talking ‘with a boy’ date—Washington Park

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not letting work kill me

9. What was your biggest failure?
My Wii Fit test. I don't care what it says. I don't have the 'fit' skills of a 49 year old!!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Does a bruised ego count?

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Sudacare Advanced VaporPlug. Absolutely amazing!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Michael Phelps. I’d say winning that many gold medals merits celebration!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I won’t share that one with the general public. If you’re reading this it likely wasn’t you :)

14. Where did most of your money go?
Taxes

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Tropical Vacation 2008

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Coldplay’s Viva La Vida

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Definitely happier
ii. Thinner or fatter? About the same.
iii. richer or poorer? The same

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Played

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worked

20. How did you spend Christmas?
The best way possible: In Corvallis with family

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I wish

22. How many one-night stands?
Nope

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Grey’s Anatomy

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
My grandmother always told me hate is very strong word…use it sparingly.

25. What was the best book you read?
I didn’t really read too much this year unfortunately except while on vacation…and since The Secret Life of Bees was the only book I remember reading that might actually pass for literature I’ll say it was the best.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Josh Radin in late December. Thanks Jon Hastings!

27. What did you want and get?
A bigger apartment

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
No favorites but the Dark Knight was pretty good.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Day before: Book Club celebration with Nichole and Vicky
Day of: Dinner with Emily and Megan at Henry’s
2 Days after: party at Emily’s with a highly combustible cake and candles
3 Days later: Cake in Alabama with Kim, Mark, GW, and Gracie
Apparently turning 26 warrants 4 separate celebrations? I guess it was making up for turning 25 when I was in New Jersey with 50 complete strangers. Not so much fun.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Falling in love

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Jeans, black, heels, and Finnish H&M

32. What kept you sane?
Emily and Sheri

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most
Um...no one?

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
I don’t usually find politics stirring.

35. Who did you miss?
Kim. Sheri. Allison. Gayle. My grandparents.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Megan Leanne and Courtney Kay even though I technically met them in 2007.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
Hope springs eternal and Luke 1:37

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Option 1 from Matt Nathanson:
Come on get higher.. (no that’s not a drug reference)

Option 2 from Josh Radin:
Some kind of magic / Happens late at night /
When the moon smiles down at me / And bathes me in its light
…
It’s a brand new day / The sun is shining /
For the first time / In such a long long time /
I know / I’ll be OK

2008-11-17T21:53:00.004-08:00

For my SIL

in case your 7-11 career doesn't work out you can always work at this lovely place I discovered this weekend:

(let's see how long it takes before she notices this is posted)

2008-11-02T10:55:00.007-08:00

So there I was on Halloween...taking a break in the cool breeze outside, talking with Andrew, Nate, and a random boy dressed up as terrorist/rappper. Out walks a guy dressed up as him: Terrorist/Rapper Boy: "Oh, there's your date."

Me: dazed and confused silence.

Terrorist/Rapper Boy: "You know, Jessica. With Tony Romo"

Me: "Yes, I know who Tony Romo is thank you very much..."

What I'm still trying to figure out is how this:

Reminded him of this:

?????

For the record: Yes I wore spandex in public. No, I will never do it again.

For the confused: I was one-fifth of a league of Super Villains. Because of my habit of never making decisions they dubbed me 'The Deliberator.' My weapon was time. haha.

For my sisters: No group shots on my camera...I'll send you some when I get them.

2008-10-02T07:22:00.002-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in an episode of Seinfeld.

Does anyone else ever feel like this??

If you are, let me know and maybe we can meet up this afternoon for some soup from the Soup Nazi to eat with our stolen Marble Rye.

Happy Thursday!

2008-08-16T21:54:00.004-07:00

You know you're in Corvallis when:

Within 2 hours of being in town you run into 10 people you know including your second grade teacher, parents of your friends from middle school, and your high school counselor [who has no idea who you are].
You eat at the new, chic restaurant and the people next to you are in pastel tank tops, khaki cargo shorts, and Birkenstocks.
You go to a play on campus and know and/or went to school with at least 5 people whose names are on the program.
You buy a really cute headband at your favorite store and 3 hours later when you're enjoying your gelato at Francesco's you see someone wearing the exact same headband.
You see a bride and groom leaving their wedding reception...at American Dream. [Why would you celebrate your wedding there?? Why?? And at the risk of offending 95% of the Corvallis population I have to admit I don't even really like their pizza]

I can't believe that all of above happened in my quick, less than 24 hour visit! Oh, I love coming home! Happy Birthday Dad! (as if he even knows I have a blog!)

2008-08-04T23:19:00.005-07:00

MamaNirvana's MeMe
1. Besides your family, what is your most prized possession?
Is it a total cop-out to say I cherish my memories most of all?! I don’t really have any ‘thing’ that’s super important to me…it’s just stuff. I do really like the painting I’ve been ‘borrowing’ from Kim for years. She painted it during her ‘red stripe’ movement and I love it.

2. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?
Mom’s fried rice, french toast, twice baked potatoes, Veda’s rolls, Betsy Rolls, orange-sherbet salad, corn on the cob, fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, tossed salad with lots of cheese, flourless chocolate cake, strawberry lemonade, and ginger ale. (I’m on death row, who cares about calories and/or if the food ‘goes’ together?!)

3. At a party, would you be hiding in the corner or hanging out at the punch bowl talking it up? And, what food item would your bring to the party?
Depends who’s at the party. If it’s a bunch of people I know I’d be at the punchbowl. If I don’t know many people I’d be in the corner talking to those that I know. If I didn’t care about impressing anyone I’d probably bring a bag of chips.

4. What is the most "girly" thing about you?
People.com, high heels, & coats

5. What is your favorite piece of furniture in your home?
Right now: My wine rack from Dania (yes, a nice LDS girl with a wine rack...). It's actually the perfect bookshelf and has a great compartment at the top to store my blankets! But…if you asked me this question in 4-6 weeks I guarantee my favorite piece of furniture will be the Westin Heavenly Bed that I bought on Saturday. Can’t wait for it to arrive!!

6. What is most likely to be painted -- your toes or your fingers?
Toes.

7. If I was going to buy you a bottle of Bath and Bodyworks lotion, what scent would you want?
I don't really like scented lotions...if you're going to buy me a bottle of lotion I'd prefer Aveeno. But, if you had a gift certificate to B&BWorks and had to buy my gift there I'd want their clover scent which was sadly disconintued...so I guess I'd choose cherry blossom.

8. Do you like to nap? If so, how often do you get to during the week?
Yes I like naps but I only get one about 4 times a year. I don't think my boss would appreciate me sleeping at my desk! Check back in 4-6 weeks though and I might be sneaking in some more naps in my new favorite piece of furniture.

9. Do you have a place in your house where you "hide"? A place where you can have a long phone conversation with a friend without interruption? Where is your quiet place?
Anywhere I want to…one of the joys of no husband/children/roommates.

10. At this point in your life, are you living the life you imagined back when you were in high school/college?
Hmm…Whenever my brothers and sisters tell me I'm not old I like to remind them that by the time our mom was my age she was married, living abroad, had 3 kids, and cancer (go Mom!). So, I guess I thought I might at least have a husband by age 26 :0) But so far I haven't been too disappointed with where I've ended up. Oh, and when I was in high school I wanted to be a civil engineer-slash-architect. I'm glad that goal changed.

11. Would you ever get plastic surgery? What would you have done?
I’ve never wanted it but I guess I’d never say never.

12. What have you accomplished (besides having children) that you feel most proud of?
I don’t have children, does that mean I have to come up w/ 2 answers for this?! I like the sound of Diana R. Baumgartner, CPA.

p.s. My ultra-high-tech hairdryer died yesterday morning. No Joke. I think Revlon should remiburse me not only for the cost of the hairdryer but for the time wasted trying to figure out Ion Select (TM) dial. *sigh*

2008-06-28T23:32:00.009-07:00

Where's the Owner's Manual?

A few months ago my hairdryer stopped working. I was getting ready for work one morning and it just stopped dead in it tracks. Dead. Ever since then I’ve been using my ‘backup’ hairdryer…one of those $9 no-frills ones from Bi-Mart that I kept around for those ‘just in case’ moments. Lately I’ve noticed that it’s been frying my hair, and since the only thing I like fried are French fries and chicken strips, I broke down this week and bought a new one.

Yesterday morning I took it out of the box, plugged it in, and flipped the switch…and got…nothing. I flipped the switch again, reset the power-surge button, and still nothing. I looked down at the hairdryer in frustration and realized that I was flipping the wrong button (duh). So I flipped the other switch and still…nothing! Why was this so hard you ask? Because my hairdryer has SIX different

options!

Ceramic

You can turn it on or off?? I thought ceramic just was…

as in a ceramic pot. Ceramic tile. Ceramic figurines. Never heard of turning those off??

Hot/Warm

Pretty standard option

Turbo Boost
wow, sounds powerful! (can't figure out how to flip the picture...sorry, but you get the the idea)

Cold Blast (pretty standard option here)

The elusive ‘on’ switch

(again, can't figure out how to flip the picture in blogger)

And last but not least…my favorite

The Ion Select (TM) Dial

The folks at Revlon clearly mean business. Not only do I have to somehow learn how many ions my hair needs, I also now have to figure out the color coded system. Does my hair need Red, Yellow, or Orange levels of ions?!

When did hairdryers evolve into finely tuned scientific devices that have to be calibrated every morning?? I just want something that will dry my hair!

2008-06-22T19:31:00.012-07:00

Farmers Market

Good News: I bought these lovely flowers yesterday
Bad News: They're already wilting.
But At Least: that means it's finally warm here and that June-ary is finally over!

Good News: I bought some fresh, local strawberries
Bad News: There's no picture because I already ate them. All of them.
But At Least: that means they were as good as I was hoping they'd be!

Farmers Market, Flowers, and Strawberries.
Can't beat a Saturday with 3 of my favorite things!

2008-05-10T11:28:00.008-07:00

Suomi
(That's apparently the correct name of the country I'm in)

I made it here without too many mishaps and was checked into my hotel by 2pm this afternoon. Despite only getting 3 hours sleep I took advantage of the beautiful sunshine, put on my flip-flops, and took off to explore the city. I get the impression that the weather's not usually this nice and so there were tons of people out having picnics on the Esplanade. The city is a little more modern than I expected, nothing really looks more than 100 years old (if that) and there aren't really any skyscrapers to speak of. The city reminds me of a smaller Copenhagen, which I guess isn't too far fetched, as I am in a Nordic country and Helsinki is smaller than Copenhagen. My hotel is in the same building as E&Y and I also saw the KPMG building-I don't know why I think that's so funny, but I do.

I really like how many parks there are--Kind of like the park blocks but nicer (the grass is actually growing and not just mud with patches of grass!) I think I'll bring my book along with me tomorrow so that I don't feel so weird just sitting on the park benches!

I also stumbled across the largest H&M store I have ever seen and I'm not gonna lie--I was pretty darn excited! I first became addicted to H&M when I was in Aarhus and I got giddy with excitement the other day when I realized I would probably be able to get some new, fun, relatively reasonably priced clothes on this trip! I probably spent more than I should have but really only looked at about half of the store...I guess I'll just have to go back. I also spotted a Zara that will have to wait until after work some day next week.

Does anyone have any idea what this is?! It's perched next to the sink in my bathroom and the only thing I can think of is that it's some sort of hand-held bidet...which is why I refuse to touch it!

2008-03-24T20:52:00.007-07:00

Don't Say I'm Not Domestic

Lots of food + 3 borrowed tables + 8 borrowed chairs + 1 studio apartment + 10 friends =

1 incredible Easter

I thought the table looked pretty good

Yes, I was channeling my inner-Jan / mom-ness

Can you believe these were only $10

(I love Trader Joe's!)

The Easter group sans Emily

(Ben, Matt, Diana, Nathan, Megan,

Andrew, Eveling, Jon, Brittany)

I'll post a picture of her later...blogger won't let me upload anymore right now.

I love this shot of the open dishwasher and trashcan

And the most important lesson of the day:

Don't mess with me when I have a knife in my hand!

2008-01-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

Making Papa Proud

All afternoon my nephew Gage kept telling me he wanted to play with the crocodile that his younger brother Cole got for Christmas. Unfortunately, the crocodile was already packed away for the trip home and we were not going to unpack everything just so he could play with it. Brilliant aunt that I am, I pretended that I had no idea about the Christmas present crocodile and instead got out the Crocodile Dentist game in my parent's game closet (are you following me with all the crocodiles roaming the Baumgartner house? I could mention the pet crocodile my dad had when he was a kid, but that might just confuse the issue...)

So I pull the Crocodile Dentist game out of the closet and put it on the carpet for Gage to play with. The gyst of the game is this: you put the plastic teeth in the plastic crocodile and pull its teeth out one-by-one with these little plastic pliers. If the crocodile closes its mouth while you're pulling (or should I say extracting) a tooth, you lose. (And yes, I think this game must have been invented at the North Pole by Hermey the "I always wanted to study dentistry" Elf).

Gage looks at me and says "I need gloves Aunt Diana" and I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about. The house was warm, so no need to wear them for warmth. The plastic teeth are pretty easy to pull out--it's not like the pliers are going to give a 3 year old callouses or require work gloves for protection. So being thoroughly confused I tell Gage that we don't have any gloves...and luckily he was easily distracted and moved onto playing with something else.

A few hours later Gage again asks for the crocodile and I again suggest that he play with Crocodile Dentist and he again informs me that he needs gloves and I am again thoroughly confused. Lucky for me my brother Lans (who I think wins the award for the best daddy ever) is in earshot this time, runs out to the car, and comes back in with a little plastic bag that my dad's assistant Karla gave Gage that morning when he visited my Dad's office.

And suddenly Gage's request for gloves made complete sense:

As a side-note I think my favorite quote of the day was: "I'm going to the dentist. Do you know the dentist's name? (long pause) PAPA!"

2007-12-15T19:59:00.001-08:00

More Information About Me Than you Probably Ever Wanted to Know
My older and much wiser friend Deb tagged me, so here it goes:

Five Things I was Doing 10 Years Ago:
1. Living the good ole’ High School life
2. Learning how to drive
3. Listening to Mmm Bop by Hanson
4. 4th of July in NYC
5. that’s about it…I guess my life was kinda boring

Five Things on my To-do List Today:
1. Wrapping Christmas presents for my family
2. Go to the symphony with Mom, Dad, and JB
3. Coordinate delivering Christmas presents for the ‘adopted’ families
4. See Jessi’s new car!!
5. Vacuum (like that’s gonna get done)

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Dried pineapple slices from Trader Joe’s.
2. ICE CREAM!
3. Wheat Thins and Cheese (Tillamook, of course)
4. Granola Bars
5. Gum—does that count as a snack?

Five Things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
1. Buy a house in the West Hills and on Maui
2. Retire (and volunteer more)
3. Travel more
4. Establish a scholarship fund
5. Buy the Acres’ compound, tear it down, bring back the horses, and restore the beautiful view at my parent’s house

Five Bad Habits:
1. Biting my nails--I don’t think the last 2 months of not biting cures me. Once an addict, always an addict
2. Doodling during church
3. Talking too much--everywhere
4. Eating too many desserts
5. Analyzing things too much

Five Places I have Lived:
1. Mom and Dad’s House ( Corvallis)
2. Lincoln Ladies Apartment (Corvallis, Oregon)
3. Børglum Kollegiet (Århus, Denmark)
4. Menlor Lane (Tigard, Oregon)
5. “the Dorms” (Portland, Oregon)

Five Jobs that I’ve had:
1. Owner of a berry ‘stand’ at the end of my driveway w/ Jess when we were kids. I think we made less than $20 the whole summer
2. Sterilization/clean up guru at Dad’s office
3. Teaching Assistant & Student athlete tutor. My most ‘famous’ (liberal use of the word) students were Derek Anderson and Bill Swancutt
4. Auditor
5. SEC Compliance Manager (don’t ask, I still don’t know how to explain what it means).

Five Things you may not know about me:
1. I am slightly obsessive about my pencils—0.5 lead is all I will use. If a 0.7 pencil shows up on my desk I will throw it away. I’m not kidding.
2. I LOVE wrapping presents; when I was little I asked my mom if they had professional gift wrappers, because I wanted to be one.
3. I took piano lessons for 11 years--but I can’t really play anything other than Christmas music (all of which was cut to fit into my 45 second allotment for Nancy Johnson’s Christmas concerts)
4. I was born with a tooth
5. I used to read Trivial Pursuit cards to make me fall asleep.

2007-12-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

Is it Too Much to Ask...

...that if a guy asks me out he knows that my name is Diana and not Diane?
I guess it's just another one to add to the list.

2007-11-07T23:33:00.000-08:00

For my Mother

You can consider this your early Christmas present...

Love ya,

p.s. I still maintain that if biting my nails is th worst thing I do, then you have it pretty good!

Coffee, Tea, or Me?

2007-10-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

So I've never really been a very big Halloween fan. I read recently that people spend $5 Billion (yes, with a B) a year on Halloween and it just seems kinda wasteful. I also read that people in SLC spend more money on Halloween candy than any other state--Boise was 2nd and both Portland and Seattle were in the top 10. What do you think that means? Anyway, for some weird reason I felt festive this year and decided to celebrate Halloween. Maybe it was my way of protesting the fact that all the stores already have Christmas decorations up!

I am lucky enough to have an amazing friend Allison who used to be a flight attendant who was going to send up one of her old uniforms but then she remembered she had a vintage uniform from the 1960's and decided to send that up! She suggested that it would go nicely with a red pill box hat made out of an oatmeal container. For any normal human being this wouldn't be too hard, but you all know me and my lack of craftiness so I agreed to document the progress of the project which I dubbed--Project Overdose.

It all started with an empty oatmeal container
and of course I had to try to be precise. Try being the operative word.

Next came the hot glue gun and fabric. I only ripped off the fabric and started completely over once. Yeah me (said just like Darin with a chest-fist-pound). Project Overdose complete!

I had so much fun with the hot glue gun on both Thursday night with Project Overdose and on Friday night with another project that on Saturday I thought--why not use the hot glue gun again?! Thanks to the Dollar Store I am now the proud owner of a plastic-made-in-China-spraypainted silver-tray, cup and saucer, and red drink napkins. Thanks to my sweet hot glue-guning skills I had another accessory for my costume. Allison suggested the finishing touch--a button that said "Coffee, Tea, or Me?" Hey--a girl's gotta try right??

I think the costume turned out pretty well--considering that it was ME trying to put the stuff together. Thanks Allison for sending the costume and providing such great ideas! You're definitely the brains of the whole operation!

Russ "Do I have a Deal for You" Swalberg

with Leanne the Fairy Princess

Nichole and me

Casey, me and Matt--apparently they both thought a 'hat' qualified as a costume :0) To his credit, Casey had some nice fringe going on too.

All in all I think it was a pretty great Halloween (well, I guess Halloween's not for another few days but you know what I mean). Now that's it's over maybe I'll be ready to see all those Christmas decorations in the store..

Love ya,

Mom--ignore the messy 'bedroom' in the background