Well, somebody has really done it. They’ve actually gone and built the sweetest little fairy tale house from one of my favorite movies–“UP.” Best part is–it’s right here in Utah!
Can you imagine living in this lovely little thing? Apparently, you could–for the right price.
Oooohhh…It’s times like these when a rich, adoring Uncle would come in real handy.
*sigh*
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Read more about Carl and Ellie’s house right here.
I forgot to mention that I did pick up a little treasure on our antique spree the other day. It would, I’m sure, be considered a silly thing to most people. But when the lady unlocked the glass case and let me hold the darn thing…my hands were shaking. See, I’d been looking for this pretty cup for about 15 years, and never thought for a second that I’d ever touch one–never mind take one home.
Now I suppose there aren’t many people on this planet that know what this even is. But I’ll give you a tiny hint…
I remember some kid at school asking me one day, “Isn’t your dad that cake guy?” and I said, “Yep.” I didn’t really get how he knew it, though. Turns out, that his brother was in my sister’s class and she had brought her teacher a fancy birthday cake that dad had made.
Laurie and I were famous for about two days–as daughters of “that cake guy.” It was lovely while it lasted.
Many years later, when I was married, with a couple of kids, Daddy called me and said, “Marie Osmond wants me to make her wedding cake.” I positively–ok, ok, nearly fainted dead away.
What you may not know, is that I’d always been a Donny fan and was, in fact, certain that if he’d been in his right mind–which he wasn’t–he would have married me…instead of whoever he actually married. So this was indeed big news.
Dad fussed and messed around in the bake shop for weeks, figuring and calculating how to make the most enormous cake he’d ever made before–because it’s what Marie wanted. I remember the day he was working on that bottom tier–biggest thing I’d ever seen–when somebody said, “Well, it’s pretty, but how are you going to fit it out the door?”
Eee Gads.
Seriously.
There he was, nearly finished with the thing and in fact, it wouldn’t, couldn’t possibly fit out the door.
Do you suppose it’s blasphemous to pray your guts out for a cake? I hope not, because that’s exactly what we did. As Dad and the guys lifted the ridiculous thing and headed to the door, we all whispered, “Please-please-please-please…” Then, as they started to tip it to the side, we crossed our fingers that it wouldn’t slide off the cake board and smash to the ground. We all chanted, “don’t let it slip…don’t let it slip…don’t let it slip.”
Miracle of miracles–and lucky for US…our prayers were answered…
No, no–I’d never heard of such a thing either. But the idea intrigued me.
A sweet, delicate jelly with the essence of…roses. It sounded so like something the ladies would eat on teeny, tiny toast corners in Pride and Prejudice that, well, I couldn’t help myself. Absolutely had to try it.
Here’s how it works:
Ingredients
4 cups rose petals
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 pkg. pectin
4 cups white sugar
Stroll right out to the yard and carefully pluck about 4 cups of rose petals from the poor, unsuspecting bushes. Trust me, they’ll get over it.
Rinse them off, you know, just to make sure that petals are the only thing in the basket–if you get my drift.
Boil the petals in 4 cups of hot water—your house will smell incredible! Strain out the petals reserving all the liquid. Isn’t it amazing how ugly and colorless the sad little petals are now?
Add enough water to make four cups of juice again. It’s an interesting cider color…but just wait.
Next add 1/4 cup lemon just and watch what happens. The juice turns a lovely shade of pink–much prettier than it looks here. Amazing!
Stir in 1 package of pectin till perfectly blended.
Now then, cook over medium heat until it does that rolling boil thing. Now add 4 cups of white sugar stirring till dissolved and bring it all back to a rolling boil again. Watch it carefully because it needs to boil for about 15 minutes to reach it’s setting point–but it can bubble over real easily. We know this, so if you don’t want to spend the afternoon scrubbing jelly out from under the stove burner—stay near by.
With a small strainer, remove the foam from the top.
Pour into tiny, little hot, clean jars and seal.
Scurry off now, and make some crumpets. Elizabeth Bennet will be stopping by.
Here’s some amazing news from my daughter, April that I’d love to share with you~
Family and Friends–
I am so SO excited to announce the Grand Opening of my pattern shop, and the release of my debut quilting patterns! I feel like I have been telling people “soon” for so long, that I can hardly believe soon is NOW! 🙂 But it’s true, the day is here, the website is up, and the patterns are all written and ready to go. Click HERE to go to the website. The pre-sale is going on now, patterns will begin to ship out on October 15th, and any purchase of 3 or more patterns receives a free gift.
I know some of you aren’t quilters, (and never want to be, ha ha) but if you will tell every person you know that might be interested in some new, beautiful (if I do say so myself) patterns–I’ll give you quilting lessons…or chocolate…whichever. 🙂 There are links on my website for my Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr pages, so if you’re into any of those sites and want to share with your contacts there, that would be fabulous.
Thank you so much for all your love, encouragement, and support. I couldn’t have done ANY of this without you. You guys are the best.
