My new dresser

Ryan gave this dresser to me for Christmas. I love it! He searched a few different thrift stores for one, then found this. He said it was covered in ugly, thick, brown paint. But he saw the potential. He got it and sanded it over at his parents' house over a few days. (I'm told his mom helped a bunch too. =) I was busy getting Christmas shopping and baking done, so Ryan took Oliver over there with him for hours at a time while the girls were at school. I appreciated that so much. I value my alone time a LOT! So anyway, I knew he was up to something-- I just didn't know what. I love mystery and surprises!

After the sanding was done, he took it over to my step-dad's shop and he (Brad) put a beautiful finish on it. On Christmas morning, I opened up the package from Ryan, and inside were 6 metal dresser pulls. Hmmm.... what did it mean? I could only assume there was a dresser hiding somewhere, since I was in desperate need of one. Hooray! I'd been stacking my clothes in the closet and stuffing a little dresser with my socks and underwear, etc. I had to wait until later that day to see my present. It was waiting at my parents' house.

I wish he would have taken a "before" picture. Dang. Brad is a professional cabinet maker, and he said that this dresser is one of the nicest pieces of furniture he's ever seen. =) It's solid wood, and a great find. Job well done, Ryan. Such a treasure couldn't have gone to a more deserving recipient... ;)

Treats I've Made

One of my favorite activities is decorating my baked goods. Sugar is so fun to work with!

This is my second annual Peeps cake. I am making it a tradition. (Can't wait for Easter!) I've always loved Peeps. They are so cute! And they are best when eaten stale. =)

Here are some cookies I made last April. I live for cute cookie cutters. And delightful pastel sprinkles. =)This was Oliver's cake for his first birthday. It was fun to make, but a little tricky to get the proportions right. Anybody who knows me knows I'm all about proportions.

I made these with my cookie press and added the frosting and sprinkle accents. I packaged them up and sent them to my mommy for Mother's Day the year before last.

In my opinion, the best thing about Valentine's Day is it's a perfect excuse to make festive sugar cookies!

Cookies shaped like ice cream cones? Doesn't get much better than that. My personal favorite cookie cutter. If anyone finds a cupcake-shaped one, let me know. Or I could just make cupcakes...

Guess which holiday these were for.




I'm still a beginner at piping frosting. But the sprinkles seem to make up for it.




In general, I don't think Halloween colors are "cute", but these cupcakes were decent. I've always been a fan of candy-topped cupcakes. This love dates back to my elementary school years when every Friday after school the Science Club had a cupcake sale.

Oliver's 2nd Birthday cake. I should've tried fondant to make it look smooth, but haven't ever used it before, so frosting it was.




I wanted to make a fruit pizza, but there were no strawberries at the store, so I improvised with cookie "pepperoni" and candy topping.

Yay for Christmas cookies! I have a set of mini cutters that I love. This was the first time I tried the candy cane cutter, and they turned out to be my favorite. The best part about them: the stripes are sprinkles! So fun and easy.

Last year when I gave my neighbor some of these, I saw him a bit later that day, and he said, " I can't eat those cookies.... they're too cute to eat." Aw, how nice. Even though I spend a little extra one-on-one time with each of my cookies, they are still intended for guilt-free consumption. Cookie calories don't add up if you cushion your tummy with lunch or dinner first. At least that's what I keep telling myself. =)

These were super easy to decorate. Pipe on a few lines, dust with colored sugar, and put on a few pearly nonpareils. Those were my favorite sprinkles this year. They are so pretty, and they are soft and taste yummy too. Score!

Cupcakes and Ice Cream Cones Welcome Here.

I tend to gravitate toward cute, sweets-oriented things. I find stuff almost everywhere I go. Home decor, kitchen towels, kids' clothes, stationery, stickers. All with cupcakes or ice cream cones on them! I get so excited when I see these things. I decided a few years ago when we moved to Chubbuck that I was going to use an ice cream cone/cupcake theme in my kitchen. I love it! It makes me happy. I guess it's a little juvenile, with all the bright candy colors, but at the same time, what reasonable adult doesn't like treats?
Here is a shot of my jammies. They are so fun! So what if I look like a toddler in them. Not only do they showcase my affinity for ice cream cones and cupcakes, they also have sprinkle donuts on 'em, dang it!

I found this adorable cupcake candle at Kohl's. Who knew something good could come of Valentine's Day decor? ;)

These plastic plates (so classy!) were one of my first ice cream finds. Thank you, Dollar Tree.

I got these babies at Family Dollar. How could a store that carries so much crap have treasures like these?

I could tell about where I got everything else, but I just realized that's not necessary.

Yay for Michael's! Oops...

The three ice cream cone magnets clung to my mom's fridge when I was growing up. Maybe their presence somehow wove its way into my subconsciousness, and that's what made me want to decorate my kitchen the way it is now. Hmmm....

I got these fun additions at Target. Again, I have never seen such appealing Valentine's decor as this! I got the last rug they had, and when I was there a couple days later, the cupcake towels were fresh out. I'm glad I didn't miss 'em. And notice the sprinkles assortment. Yay! I think this V-day will be tolerable.

My mother-in-law surprised me with this cute matching apron and potholder. My sister, Erin, gave me the pink potholders. I was so excited on both occasions. I love it when people see things and think of me.

Our Not-So-Little Lytles

I took some current pictures of my kidlets yesterday.

I'm so happy to be a mommy. It's the toughest job out there, for sure, but somehow the fun-filled happy times seem to make the hand-wringing frustrating parts a little more bearable.











Here's our littlest, Oliver. He turned two on October 28th, and he just keeps getting less like a baby and more like a big boy, and too fast! While it's good that he's progressing normally, I don't like to think that he's not a baby anymore.
He's such a fun, sweet, energetic kid. He has so much enthusiasm for the things he loves. He is really interested in trains. He calls Thomas the tank Engine, "T-T-T!!!" And when he wants to hold the girls' hamsters, he cups his hands together and pleadingly says, "Wuhwee!" I don't know how he came up with that name, but it's so cute. He likes dribbling the basketball and drop-kicking things. He's all boy. He doesn't have an extensive vocabulary yet, but I can tell he understands what we're saying because he follows directions, when he wants to. When he doesn't want to, he says, "Doh!" which means, "no!" =) I always love the way toddlers pronounce things their own way, and I'm not in any hurry for Ollie to start talking "properly".
I'm so glad he's ours.

Jane is six and in the first grade. So far, not so good....... She says she hates school. I hope this attitude isn't here to stay, or she's going to have an awfully loooooong road ahead! She is also very particular about her wardrobe. It's an ordeal every morning trying to get her to pick something to wear that she approves of. If I suggest an outfit, it's automatically going to be unacceptable to her. =P

She's a fun girl when she wants to be. She's always been a good independent player. As long as she has something she likes to play with she'll keep herself occupied for quite a while. She is serious about coloring and does meticulous work. She has a good eye for colors and balance. She also draws a lot of cute pictures on her own. She still sucks her thumb and plays with her hair when she's tired. She's been doing that since shortly after she was born. I'm so happy to be her mom. Raising her is not always a piece of cake, but it's a treat nonetheless. ;)

The adorable strawberry dress she's wearing was mine when I was about her age. My Grandma McCaleb made one for me and one for each of my two sisters. We had a bunch of matching outfits over the years courtesy of her. We tried to say we didn't like dressing the same, but I think we secretly did.

Cora is eight and in the third grade. She seems to really like school. She is doing really well, in every subject, but especially in reading. That girl has some serious comprehension skills! She remembers pretty much everything she reads, down to the details. That's more than I can say for myself. ;) She's also good at drawing, mostly pictures of cute little animals. She loves stuffed animals, socializing, playing games on the computer, keeping current with her emails, playing piano, and building forts. She excels at being goofy, and I must admit that I sort of encourage that kind of behavior. =)

Sprinkles make me happy.

Sprinkles are tiny shards of pure happiness.

Whoever said things can't make people happy doesn't know how I feel when I see sprinkles. Say I'm minding my own business, perusing the aisles of whatever store I'm visiting, when suddenly my eyes behold a new display of brightly colored sprinkles. It's going to induce a visible rush of elation in me. Anyone around me will see the expression on my face as I clutch one (or more) of the sugar-filled containers and adoringly examine it. Now, I don't get all crazy about any old pack of sprinkles. It's usually only when I discover a variety that I don't already have, and it has to be an especially cute mix.

I have 47 bottles of sprinkles. Every major holiday is represented in my collection. I have a delightful array of colored sugar crystals, jimmies, nonpareils, hearts, flowers, and confetti--to name a few. =)

I don't just collect sprinkles. I use them. I use them well. One of my favorite things is baking sugar cookies. I lovingly frost and besprinkle each yummy one. I don't otherwise consider myself to be an artist, but when cookies are my canvas and frosting and sprinkles are my media, I am in my element, and I can quietly go about creating sugar-coated masterpieces. That's my kind of happy!





I was searching online for a stock photo of sprinkles to put on here, and I came across a picture of a woman with sprinkles covering her mouth. Why haven't I ever thought of that?! Of course I had to try some on and take eleventy thousand pictures of myself. I had to make sure I got at least one good shot.

I look miserable in the above photo, but I liked the contrast of the bright sprinkles against my pasty face.



A thick layer of lip gloss was necessary for successful sprinkle application.



I wore them so long it made my lips all tingly after I wiped them off. It felt like they were still there for a while.


I think this is going to be my new trademark. ;)



Oliver came in and crashed my photo shoot. He thought it was so funny.



He wanted to eat some.



Don't I look super casual?

Check out my clavicle!

 

This was taken right after Oliver came in with a wet washcloth and wiped the sprinkles off my smile. I guess he'd had enough of my silliness.

Gimme Some Candy!

I love candy. I look at it. I smell it. I savor it. I hide it. I have a large collection of it. The above picture was not taken at a candy store. It was taken the other day in my living room. Yes, this is my personal stash. This is by far the largest accumulation I've ever had at one time. I didn't plan it this way. It just kind of ... happened. I find after-holiday markdowns, or family and friends gift me some (the best kind of present), or I see a treat I can't pass up. The cycle repeats. I eat my candy a little at a time. I take small bites to properly savor it. I share it when the occasion arises, but even then I might go buy different candy so as to not make a significant dent in my inventory. (Could this be a mental handicap? Perhaps. But it's a yummy one, so I'm willing to deal with it.) And so my stockpile just keeps growing, and growing, and GROWING.

It's a family affair. Both my sisters have similar fixations with candy and also collect it in varying degrees. (Erin may even have MORE than I do!) My brother loves it just as much, but he consumes it before it can qualify as a collection.

I have been crazy about candy for as long as I've known it. Though I can't recall my first taste of it, I'm sure it was love at first bite. From the time I was old enough to independently leave the confines of my neighborhood it was one candy run after another. We lived in close proximity to a few stores. Anytime I had money I immediately headed to the store to satiate my sweet tooth. I realize it's not unusual for kids to crave candy, but I think my relationship with it is...unique. I used to talk about naming my future children after it! (Candy, Taffy and Jujube come to mind.) And I've always wished someone would dedicate the song "Candy Girl", by Frankie Valli or "Sugar, Sugar", by The Archies to me. I'm still waiting. I connect with candy. Something special happens when I see it. It's a deeply rooted, can't get enough-- affection for confection.

I Love Flowers!

Flowers are some of the most beautiful things on earth. I love 'em! They are so perfect, proportionate, pretty. I love all the colors and varieties. Spring is my favorite season because of all the blooming crocuses, daffodils, lilacs and tulips. Sometimes when I see a particularly cheery bouquet, (from the store, not your yard. ;) I treat myself.

They smell so good.

The pictures didn't do justice to this arrangement. It's so much brighter in real life.

You get the idea. I love flowers!

Here goes nothing...

I have been debating about whether or not I should make myself a blog. Well, after some half-hearted reflection I've decided to just go for it. I enjoy reading other people's blogs. I just figured if I had one nobody would feel inclined to look at it. Meh. I shouldn't continue to let my overactive assumptions dictate my every move. Enough of worrying about whether the only response to my periodic blatherings will be the sound of crickets chirping. I love to write, and I think about a lot of things and live to make automatic, unwarranted comments about stuff. This will hopefully be a nice little outlet for me. Even if it's only me reading and commenting on my own entries day in and day out, it will be done with tender loving care, and will therefore be worth my time and energy. This is not to say that readers other than myself will be unwelcome here. I happen to cherish a little validation every so often. It's a treat for my soul. Read my words, and by all means, leave your thoughty comments.

So, without further ado, I cordially invite you to frequent my blog.
Love,
Shannon