Alyssa over at Life From My Laptop is having a quick and fun contest on her blog! Head on over there to enter to win either a KitchenFolio or a MomAgenda Daily planner from the folks at MomAgenda.

I love being organized. When we were doing our back to school shopping I looked for a calendar everywhere we stopped - and walked away with nothing. My issue is any planner I use needs to start on Sunday - and everything I saw started on Monday. I used to have a DayTimer in college and I used that for years. My calendar slowly stopped having so many things and began to fill up with baby appointments or plans to get together with my girlfriends rather then classes or when my finals were.

I use Google Calendar now and love it - except when I am out and about and need to write down an appointment. then it stinks. I take the business card appointment reminder home with me, but usually lose it. Then I have to make a phone call to figure out the details, which is just too much time and I wait until the day before - or what I think is the day before.

I have plans to make a diaper bag for this new baby. I know exactly which pattern I am buying (this one over at Etsy from Craft Apple) and she just posted a quick tutorial on how to put on a magnetic snap. That looks so easy! Okay so I’ve never put a magnetic snap on anything, but doesn’t that look easy?

I’m not sure how I feel - boy or girl - so I haven’t bought the pattern yet because I’d like to get the ‘right’ material. Not necessarily pink or blue, but just the right kind. My Mom is coming to visit at the end of September so I may buy it before she gets here so she can help me pick material and maybe even help me make it. She’s such a great seamstress, she could probably get it done in a day.

Technorati Tags: Craft Apple, magnetic snap, sewing, diaper bag pattern

My friend Nell has a great contest going on over at her blog Casual Friday Everyday. Check out her meal planning made easy contest. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - groceries and cooking are the biggest things that hold me up in what I do around the house. I try hard to plan what we are eating each week and I am great at grocery shopping with a list.

But we typically eat the same ten to twelve meals over and over again. I might find a recipe here or there but rarely incorporate it into our regular meals (we have eaten the skillet goulash twice!). And I usually am making our meals from scratch! I know there are a lot of people out there who use prepackaged meals they got on sale and just add their own spices and such, but I haven’t mastered the ability to do that just yet.

Head on over to Nell’s and enter to win a year’s subscription to Menu Planning Central!

Since Alice was three and Jake was one I’ve made them a cake from a molded cake pan - you know, a shape or character. Okay so we’ve just used the same Dora and Elmo cake pans, but hey, it’s the thought that counts!

This year I made a gumball cake for Jake - thank goodness for eBay! I searched one day just in case a gumball mold had been made at some point - only to discover yes one had been made…back in 1987. Thanks to eBay I managed to score one and received it in the mail early last week.

It was super easy to decorate - three colors (really just two) and the gumballs! I suppose I could have squished the icing together more so you can’t see the chocolate cake underneath, but it still looks great.

Alice’s cake was a big tougher - she wanted a strawberry. Unfortunately a strawberry mold isn’t out there, only Strawberry Shortcake is. I figured making one myself couldn’t be that hard - a heart shape, something for the seeds and leaves. And so I made the circle cake and the square cake and cut the circle in half. Only then did I realize how much more the circle cake rose up! Rather then cutting down the circle cake, I cut the edges of the square cake and filled it in. Needless to say it didn’t look like anyone on Duff’s team of awesome cake makers was here helping! I wasn’t sure it would even work out - but check it out, very cool! I used chocolate chips for the seeds and a few fake leaves for the leaves. It turned out great. I even dyed the cake batter pink.

The party was great. The cakes turned out awesome, the kids had a great time and the adults all visited. I’ve been tired for a couple of hours already and I am SO glad we ordered pizza and I didn’t have to cook!

Be back tomorrow with pictures!

I was really lucky to only have one toy from the first recall list - it was the Elmo that was like a potato head, he had parts you could add to him. But the catch was the toy had to be made after May 2007 - ha, we’ve had that Elmo for at least three years! We did have to call in because of the toy oven recall - and would you believe they still haven’t sent the packaging/mailing info for that?

In case you missed this, here is a great list that Amy over at Angry Chicken put together - not made in china. I have a few things I am working on for the kids and for the baby, as well as projects the kids can make on their own. I’m hoping the sewing projects won’t be too advanced for Alice, but even with the little things she’s been working on she loves it and catches on quickly.

Technorati Tags: handmade toys

Is anyone watching Design Star on HGTV? I found it during the second show and LOVE it! The last episode had them doing an individual challenge of designing a small’ish room with a couch, coffee table and bookcase in it. And the key was they had to do all of their shopping at a 99 cent store! Too fun. Scott had to leave and I have to say I really liked him. I thought the one to go should have been Josh. He used shiny mirror like bags or mirrors all over the room and it was just way too much.

Oh and when they get kicked off the show, they are told that their show has been cancelled - because they are competing for their own show on HGTV! How cool is that. I love it.

I love setting up a house but I don’t think I’ve ever finished setting one up. Sure the first house I lived in (after moving out of my Mom’s place) was easy to decorate - I was young and just hung up a few autographed pictures of cute country singers and a thing for my mail. Easy! In college I decorated my dorm room (I requested and got a single room) and that was fun - I hung up posters and pictures on the wall plus had the cork board decorated too. When I got a roommate I don’t think I hung up anything around the main area of the house, just in my room. I think we had a bunch of posters everywhere otherwise. And the places Chris and I have lived together I halfway decorate, thinking I need to do something (paint) before finishing stuff (like hanging pictures). I finally have pictures hung up though we do still need to paint.

Of course now I’m thinking of what to change for decorations in the house - when really I should finish hanging up pictures then go back and paint a room at a time. I think I’ve said I’m going to paint a room at a time for at least six months so far. *sigh*