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Carrot Tops
It started because I signed up to bring “veggies” to Bug’s preschool Easter Party. There’s always a list on her classroom door asking parents to participate with these parties and the cookies section is always taken by some other early-bird eager-beaver parent. Who is that parent anyway? I thought it would be super fun to make homemade sugar cookies and decorate them with hot pink icing but noooo, I’m stuck with veggies.
That’s okay. I’m creative. I can come up with something fun with vegetables other than the pre-cut plastic tray you buy at the grocery store.
For Valentine’s Day, Bug and I arranged carrots and celery and tiny grape tomatoes in the shape of a heart. I think it went over well. I never really get much of a response from the teachers at her school when I drop things off. I think they’ve all been-there-done-that a thousand years ago and my earnestness wearies them. But the vegetables were mostly eaten when I went to go pick up the plate.
So off I went to Walmart, my latest least favorite grocery store, to pick up some vegetables. I thought I could find something fun and creative, like say maybe I could carve an easter basket out of a jícama or something.
Who am I kidding!!!! Walmart doesn’t even know what a jícama is! They might grow them out here in the sticks but they do not sell them. Why? Because nobody is fool enough to buy weird funky food that doesn’t come in a box with cheese all over it and microwave directions. Okay. Sorry. I’m just a little bit bitter. They probably do sell them, they were just out of them like they were out of everything else. Can you tell I hate Walmart with a passion now that I live out here in the sticks? They are the evil empire who has put all the mom-and-pop stores out of business and if they didn’t carry cute white Jackie-O sunglasses for $10 I don’t know why I would ever shop there.
Oh, right because they carry Tassimo T-discs for eight dollars when everybody else sells them for ten. Ugh.
Anyway, I was thoroughly disgusted with Walmart’s produce selection. They didn’t have any jícama, their asparagus were dried out and moldy on the ends and their avocados looked like they were two weeks old. I walked around the two aisles that made up the produce section four times and I couldn’t find anything to be creative with for Bug’s Easter Party. Everything was old and awful and sometimes even rotten. I was just about to give up and go to another store when I got a brilliant idea.
Why not just take carrots and only carrots? Kids love long whole carrots when all they ever get are the small “baby carrots” that are actually regular carrots whittled down and marinated in chlorine. I know I do. There’s nothing more fun that munching on a great big carrot. They just taste more like garden to me.
Bug especially loves them but when I showed her the two big bags I picked up at Walmart she was sorely disappointed. “They don’t have their tops, Mom!” Of course. I should have known. Carrots need their tops. We’ve been spoiled by farmer’s markets.
So I devised a plan. Bwa ha ha ha! I’ll make carrot tops. They’ll be just like cupcake toppers except without the cake and frosting!
I cut out a bunch of paper leaves (doubled), stuck a toothpick in between the two pieces and then stuck them together with a quick swipe of a glue stick. It was a brilliant idea! Never mind that I didn’t get the after-dinner dishes done and Bug went to bed an hour an a half late, she’s going to have the BEST Easter Party veggie contribution ever.
Some wine may have been imbibed during my mad, late-night, carrot-topping.
But it was worth it. Bug loved the carrots. She ate two whole carrots before bed and then refused a poptart this morning in favor of another carrot. I was feeling bad about sending her off to school with such a limited breakfast but then I thought about all the cupcakes and cookies she’d be eating at the Easter Party and decided that maybe a carrot was a good start to the day. She couldn’t wait to deliver her carrots to all her friends.
Our car ride conversation this morning:
“Mom, I wish our house was made out of carrots.”
“Why?”
“Because then we’d have a carrot phone. People could call us on it and then we’d deliver carrots to them in our carrot car.”
I think my job is done here. I just hope the other kids are as excited about the carrots as Bug is. Her teachers didn’t seem to be when I dropped them off this morning but then again, they’ve probably seen this before a thousand times.
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The Royal Fifth Birthday Princess Party
The princess party was a smashing, over-the-top, regal affair. It was the perfect day for a backyard party! Blue skies, warm breezes…who knew!? I’ve always fretted about Bug’s winter birthday. I worry about the weather and people chickening out when the roads get slick, or choosing chicken noodle soup over cupcakes because it’s such a hassle to get kids in and out of the house to be somewhere at a certain time on their day off. What can I say, I’m a worrier by nature. Thankfully, I’m almost always proven wrong. Maybe because I worry so much? Who knows.
But I’m probably not going to stop being a worrier. It seems to be my good luck charm. The things I forget to worry about are always the things that go wrong! I worried about the weather; it was perfect. I worried about the tablecloths; they were perfect! That bed canopy thing that I bought for two bucks or something was the perfect table runner! I thought I was going to have to pull off some kind of crazy origami sewing project, so I allowed extra time just for setting the table and guess what? It was the exact right size to go over the cheap plastic tablecloths and dangled down just enough on both sides. I couldn’t believe it. Thrift stores, I love you.
The Royal Bounce House Ball was a bouncing success, of course. Those princesses bounced their little pink fluffy hearts out. The music, maybe not so much. We rigged up my Dad’s iPhone in an iPhone dock and played “joyful waltzes” from my very own personal Pandora station. It would have been perfect except I didn’t buy the party amp to make the music loud enough to hear over the bounce-house blower. I kind of forgot about that blower. It was a choice between the party dock or something that would look nice in my house after the party and unfortunately for the party, I chose the sleek smaller design with less boombox sound.
You could still hear the music, it just wasn’t as atmospheric as I had wanted it. Sometimes you gotta let things go though.
One of the best things about the party is how even the older guests dressed up. I think they know me! It made my day. My mom was the best. She sewed herself a crazy purple sequined skirt in about two minutes and then flounced around the party bippity-boppity-booing and giving out fake jewels and necklaces to everyone. What makes it even more amazing is that she also sewed the Bugalicious Pink Party Flags the morning of and cooked the french fries. Now you know where I get my over-achieving party skills from.
I love my mom. And check out my dress! It fit!!!
I even sword-fought in it!
And was victorious!
Don’t mess with the Queen Mother.
And I bounced in it!
But who cares about me. This party was all about Bug!!!
Except I didn’t take as many pictures of her as I should have because I was running around like a Queen Mother with her head cut off. Just call me Anne Boleyn, or was that Mary Queen of Scots? One of those queens. Queens do tend to get their heads cut off frequently. I’m pretty sure Bug still had a good time though, in spite of my headlessness. Maybe she was a sugar-powered blur that couldn’t be caught on camera. Yeah, that’s it.
I’m so glad Madge got this video because I didn’t get a single picture of her blowing out her candles. Shame, shame, shame on me. Note to self: next time delegate a photographer. Pay them if you have to! But Deb and Toby did get quite a few really great shots.
Deb was my own personal Cinderella. She came out the night before and helped me so much. She made the icing, iced the cupcakes, made a pattern and cut out the princess crowns for the tiara craft (that got sadly neglected because the bounce house was just way more fun). She mixed us up some magical margaritas from the lemons and tangelos that I picked from my own backyard (to help keep me awake, she says) and helped me set up a light summery Italian wine station for the older royalty.
They were so yummy! I recommend stopping by Trader Joe’s and perusing the Italian wine section if you want to get your hoity-toity midsummer-night’s-dream drink on. So cheap too—$5 and under!
Deb woke up with a stiff neck the day of the party (probably due to me pushing coffee on her the day before and making her sleep on a futon on the floor) but she powered through and kept on helping. I don’t even think anyone noticed she was in pain. She even jumped behind the barbecue at one point and flipped a few burgers when my Dad (who I had delegated way too many jobs to) got called away. She pretty much saved the day.
Speaking of hamburgers, we made little sliders or royal hamburgerettes as I like to call them. Bug’s favorite food is McDonald’s, sadly, so I did my best to fit that into the princess theme. We made homemade buns (I’ll have to blog that recipe someday, it’s easy and delicious) and tiny little patties flavored with powdered ranch dressing. They tasted pretty good, when they were hot. But I probably should have had somebody swing by MickyDees and to pick up 20 happy meals instead because no matter how hard I tried to get all the food on the table at one time, the hamburgers were about 20 degrees too cold by the time anyone got to eat them. It was sad.
Even the fries were cold. Too bad. So sad. But they did taste good warmed up the next day. So there’s that.
The cupcakes, however, were delicious! I made them too. They weren’t even a box mix! I actually followed a somewhat complicated recipe that Bethany emailed to me especially for the occasion. She’s blogged it here. If you bake and you like cupcakes, these are a MUST. Delicious and about a thousand calories each!
I think the little girls enjoyed the food. The ketchup and the candy at least!
All in all, the food didn’t really matter. It was just so great to be surrounded by so many friends. I was afraid they wouldn’t come, you know? I have a lot of family out here in the sticks but most of my friends had to make the drive from the OC and an hour and a half is no commute to sneeze at. Something funny happens when you live at the beach. Anything farther than 20 minutes away seems likes it’s days away. We like to stay put in our cozy little towns and save gas or something. I know this because that’s how I was. So I was super thankful that so many of my friends made the effort to come and spend the day with us.
Of course some of them came from across the street, but still! It meant the world to me and Bug.
My best friend Tamie (she goes by Tamara but I get to call her Tamie) from SECOND grade was even there. It was awesome.
I think she’s singing me a serenade here…or just talking. With Tamie, you never know!
It was really sweet to have my dad home for the party, and my grandpa too since I am living and throwing a party in HIS house. He seemed to like how I’ve fixed up the place. Phew!
Even Toby was there. Bug is so loved. And blessed.
And spoiled rotten. I think next year we are going to have to have a no-present policy. First, because I want her to appreciate gifts more, and second, because we have reached the Disney Princess saturation point. Bug is in heaven. She loves it all and would take more but I’m starting to feel like I’m in fuchsia hell.
Just kidding. You know I loved it too.
