Lord of the Rings Party

 Come hobbitses, come! Pumpkinbutt invites us to his Lord of the Rings birthday party!

 This year's party theme for Pumkinbutt's 9th birthday was Lord of the Rings! For the invitations I downloaded several LOTR fonts and printed the text on parchment paper.  Some wording included :

You are invited to a Party of Special Magnificence!

To Join the Fellowship of the Ring in Celebration of his 9th birthday

with a Noble Hobbit Mission...Quest...Thing across Middle Earth!

Join us at his Shire.

I also included a gold ring on a string.

Hobbitses must be attired appropriately .  Here is Pumpkinbutt all Hobbited out: cloak, vest, Sting, and of course hairy feet!

 Entrance sign at the front gate

Doorway entrance 

(somewhat seen in the reflection was my costume...I was going for Eowyn because she is totally bad ass!)

All hobbitses were given a cloak, an Elven Leaf Brooch, fuzzy feet, a pipe and a map of Middle Earth.
The cloaks were made from tan fabric I had bought several years ago for a another project (stash buster!). The brooches were leaves printed on card stock with a pin back attached. The fuzzy feet tops were made from fuzzy brown fabric and black elastic.   The pipes were from dollar tree (pack of 2 for 1 buck) that you blow through and "magically" float a ball.  I spray painted the pipes brown and the balls white ( smoke). Great to keep Hobbitses busy in between activities.

Lembas bread for the journey.  

(Pizza crust wrapped in green napkins with a leaf pattern drawn on them.)

The Hobbitses also got a satchel to place all of their items needed for the mission in. I made them from a tan fabric strip and a small brown gift bag with the handles removed. Don't have a specific photo but in later photos there will be a glimpse.


While waiting for all to arrive, they decorated shields with markers.  I made the shields from cardboard (free from Lowe's) and grey duct tape. 

This will be one of several posts to cover the entire party.  I generally don't post PB's parties because it's a bit overwhelming to do it in one sitting.  Breaking it up should help!

Busy Weeks Meal

I hope everyone likes Kraft Macaroni Ring Mold because that's what is going to be for dinner for the next 2 weeks.  I am getting down to the deadline of the birthday party and only have 1 day off until the event, loads to do still.  Will not be around the "house" until after the candles have been blown out!

TV Dinner

With imitation beef flavored substrates!

x cake

Let's have a Jam-boree!

I didn't realize toast n' jam could be so much fun. Maybe I should wrap up a loaf of bread and jam for pumpkinbutt for his birthday. I'll attach this image to the gift so he understands that kids LOVE this as a present...clearly something must be wrong with him if he hates it. 

He'll never buy it...

Where's the Legos!? 

Wrapping

"This Reynolds Wrap is so handy to line pans with to cut down on the tedious task of washing bakeware!  I am going to wrap all of our plates, bowls, and silverware to get the most out of this time saving miracle material!  No more washing dishes for me!"

Stunning Seat

multi-tasking

"Yes....this can work. The cord is long enough.  I will save so much time if I can make breakfast while I am bathing in the mornings.  Set the skillet up on the commode lid...while it's heating up, I'll wash my face. Scramble the eggs, while I soak. I am brilliant! This is going to happen or I'll die trying! "

{Feel free to "caption this" as well}

candy wrappers

I really like vintage candy wrappers.  I am saving up dum-dums and mary jane wrappers to do something fun like these candy wrapper pails by martha:

Several images found via Collecting Candy.  An amazing website full of candy wrapper goodness!

seconds

perfectly spaced potatoes every time! 

vanilla ice cream cutie

Cookie Munchies

The weekly cookie sessions really took off when Gertrude brought back a new seasoning from Mexico called "mar-e-juan-a".

Feel free to "caption this"!

Deviled Crabs

Thicka Bigga

Sunshine, Daisies, Butter Mellow....

"Hmmmmmm..... should I bake a pineapple upside down cake or lemon cupcakes? Or should I make a yellow squash casserole with corn on the cob.  Maybe I could make banana pudding or peach cobbler... Better yet I could put my focus on hosing down the rest of the kitchen in yellow... curtains, flooring, and switching out that dreaded red clock for a nice mustard hued one.  Perhaps then I will bake a nice simple yellow cake...with yellow icing....and yellow sprinkles. God, why wasn't I born a blonde?!"

{Feel free to "caption this" as well.}

so here's the deal... no posts on weekends. It's just not going to happen with the long hours I work.

Cheery Red & Yellow Brownies

It does it all! It's a soil cleaner... It's a Laxative....A laxative for soil!
It's.....Soilax!

Nutrient Rich Breakfast

"Good morning dear! Make sure to eat all of your grapefruit.  The arsenic...er, nutrients settle on the bottom. "

Piggly Wiggly

"Hey Mister, Mommy said for you to be careful. You crushed her carton of  Winstons last time."

Bacon?

No, no! This is Sliced Breakfast Beef!

 Love the price frame shaped cow head with a cent sign.

fridge lovin'

Men love BIG ice cubes!

wieners!

Dinner Deluxe

" Hello dear, would you pass a message along for me to Mrs. Paul?  Tell her I am ever grateful  for her making this Haddock Deluxe Dinner taste like ass! I passed it off on my mother-in-law as homemade and have cemented that she will never grace my house for dinner ever again! I will be forever in Mrs. Paul's debt! My real question is can I buy these in bulk?  I have several applications to use them... House guests that have outworn their welcome,  to encourage the Mr. to get out of my hair for an evening, and a whole luncheon for the PTA biddies would be grand. I'll take 3 dozen, Thank you!"



* Feel free to "caption this" image also in the comments area!*

Birthday Planning Season

 Pumpkinbutt's birthday is at the beginning of March.  Every year he gets a bang up huge affair (fireworks may be involved this year). Therefore I will not have the time for much posting for the next month and a half. If you happen to look back at my posting history you will likely see that Jan and Feb are always lite, and that is the reason why.  Last year I made a personal goal to post more and to beat my number of posts from 2007, being 43. I did 51 in 2012, so yay for me! Pumpkinbutt was my biggest supporter and encouraged me greatly...so you can see why I always give him a huge birthday party because he is the best kid ever!

He and I made a new goal for 2013 to beat the 2005 number of posts being 66. So to keep up with this goal but keeping time restraints in mind, I have decided I will post a vintage image that I like, such as the birthday ones seen here, everyday until after his birthday (hmmmm... we'll see.). I will doubtfully make any comments on them...just eye candy.

I thought I would also put up a scan of some vintage candles I got at a thrift 10 years ago or so...for 15 cents.  We use one of them every year in our cakes.  We deem it the really lucky candle to be blown out first to insure maximum wish granting security. 

Disney World Hollywood Studios 50's Cafe

We just got back from Disney!  We made reservations a couple of months ago to save us a seat at the 50's Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios.  The entire restaurant is made to look like a home from the mid century.  The "Lounge" area is the living (waiting)  room:

The front entry is a perfect replica of a 50's kitchen:

At my table, some of the vintage (not reproductions)  knick knacks (all are glued down to the shelves..I checked):

Here are a few additional images of the interior, for your viewing pleasure, that I found on the nets: 

Hey, look! It's our table (below)!

Here is a really nice, clean shot with no annoy people in the photo:

The waiters/waitresses introduce themselves as Aunt Linda or Cousin Lou.  They also treat you like family, as in if you are naughty and don't eat your veggies they will help you by feeding them to you.  We behaved ourselves but while we were there a few folks got put in the corner and had to help clear their table!

I saw somewhere that if you don't finish your veggies, they bring them back to you as the "dessert" with whipped cream on top....hopefully they don't force you to eat that!

Super fun and wonderful atmosphere!