Inauguration

There are a lot of things on my wish lish of things to own, but I hate shopping. That saves me money, but it also means that I live without things that I'd love.

Fortunately I've been blessed with a friend who loves to bargain shop, who can't pass a garage sale sign without stopping or regularly checking in at the thrift shops. She has my shopping list and watches out for things. Much of my furniture comes from her, either free or very cheap. Unfortunately, she (and I) always overestimate my time and ability to refurnish things so nothing matches. In my head I can picture it all looking like it was a planned decor. It's beautiful. Very 1960's like the house.

In the meantime I will continue to crop pictures so that you can't see much of it!

On my list was a cake stand. I've always loved the way beautifully iced cakes look on cake stands, or mountains of carefully placed cupcakes. Or even just one pretty cupcake placed in the middle. Last week I was gifted with one.

I love it. I love the way the school behind our house reflects in the glass ball handle.

I spent the afternoon thinking about how cool that was, and when I pointed it out to Yvon and the kids, someone said, "Umm... Mom, that's not the school. That's our bench." It's a sad day when you discover that your kids surpass your own brilliance. Whatever. I still like the smooth glass ball best about the stand, but it was cooler earlier in the day.

One of the things I remember growing up was what a great baker my eldest sister was. She could make the best brownies ever. The thing about her brownies was that she iced them. We didn't always have icing on our cakes and I save that specialty for birthdays myself. The best part about her icing was that she made beautiful little curls with the knife, swirling it through the icing. I swear it made the brownies taste better and it looked so fancy.

Well, I too can make swirls! Isn't it lovely?

My new cakestand needed a cake and this week the Pioneer Woman posted a yummy recipe for a coffee cake. Not a cake to eat with coffee, but a cake with a lot of coffee in it. I made it with decaf because of the kids, but it would be great to start the day with a big piece AND a cup of leaded coffee.

I won't always ice it, but it was great. It's already half gone and I'm trying to figure out how to pack the rest up to take camping with us. I've already told the kids about cake pops (which involves mixing up crumbled cake with the icing and sticking it on sticks) and we'll do that if it doesn't survive the trip.

Alice didn't care that it was moist and messy. She just sat on the table and picked it up with her fingers. We'll work on table manners later this year. I was in a rush to get it into my mouth too.