Is there anything better than a peanut butter sandwich made with homemade bread? I dunno, ask me again after lunch, but I suspect not.

It was a very busy and exhausting weekend. But lucrative, too. Can’t complain. Friday night I stayed in to get everything ready for the garage sale. Then we got up bright ‘n’ early to get everything set up. Of course it was about 90 degrees and 3394930% humidity. Anyway, the sale was a big success for me – we netted $111. Okay, so I was unable to resist two items, but they were very good buys…a light shade for a dining room light I’ve been wanting (they retail for $50, I got it for $10) and a beautiful ’50s or ’60s retro-modern sort of IKEA-ish cabinet. Ooh, here’s a picture of said cabinet:

Nice, yes?

So after that, I was pretty wiped out. Just spent the rest of the evening relaxing. I was a bit sunburnt too.

Sunday morning we got up bright ‘n’ early again to work on the yard. I’d post pictures, because yes, I did take before and after pictures of our yard (unmown since July) but really, it’s just grass. It was long, now it’s short. Like my hair. Har. But terribly exciting to me, nonetheless.

After we were done with that, I went to visit Ren and Gary and Alison and Ren’s cousin and her husband and baby and friends and cousins and all that fun stuff. Good times. Alison and her cousin Allee are too cute. My favorite part of the evening? When Alison had angel food cake, whipped cream and strawberries in one fist, and mini beef ravioli in the other hand. And she was taking turns shoving one or the other in her mouth. Reminded me of that episode of Friends, remember the one, you know, the one where Rachel made the trifle/shepherd’s pie? Good times. Ahh, the Friends.

So yeah. Okay. We went to Melting Pot last night. And now we’re that much further from our goal. ($200 down, $1800 to go!) I’m sending out some fliers today to pro photographers, in hopes that it’ll help me get some steady business with the wedding album design. Fingers crossed!

Also there’s the garage sale on Saturday. Must sell lots. Sell, sell, sell! (Getting myself psyched up.)

Going to see Ren and Gary and Alison this weekend too. Have I written all this already? I saw Alison six months ago. I’ll bet she’s driving by now. Kids. They grow up so fast. Here she was a year ago. (She’s the one in the middle. Ha!)

What a stylish kid in her pink and brown and her fur-lined cape. (Faux, I hope.) And those cheeks…don’t you just want to eat her up? Can’t wait til they move down here, Alison and I are going to be bff.

I wonder if my ads will now be about cannibalism?

Yes, I have a problem. I made more bread last night. MORE BREAD! And pizza dough. But dang, that was good pizza! Seriously, I’d better slow down or I’m going to burn out. And before I burn out, I want to learn to make bagels, english muffins, more foccacia, cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls. Yum. I wonder if this is some kind of mental backlash against my 10-day attempt at the South Beach Diet back in January? Hmmm.

Also, note to self: don’t store plastic things in the oven. And if you do, take them out before you turn the oven on. There go my plastic pouring shields for my mixer. Ah well. I never used them anyway.

This weekend is the neighborhood garage sale. I hope to make lots of money for Mexico trip. And get rid of crap. Garage sales are genius. As long as I don’t hit up the other sales for alternative crap. Hmmm. Must be careful about that. And then after the garage sale is the annual Mowing-of-the-Lawn! And sometime in there will be Seeing Renny and Gary and Hopefully Alison Too! It’s gonna be a great weekend!

(I will say here how serious I am about saving money for trip to Mexico. I told George we had to turn down an invitation to the Melting Pot, my new favorite restaurant, since the $100+ we’d spend would be better saved for our Trip to Mexico(TM).)

Yay for a nice new brown kitchen!

I also made some wheat bread and a Chocolate Guinness cake that was a big hit at a party we went to this weekend.

Wow, exciting.

I think I need to stop baking. I’m becoming obsessed. Last night I made a Guinness Chocolate Cake – though, in my defense, it wasn’t just for fun, it’s for a birthday party we’re going to tonight. Oh my…a pound of butter…cocoa, eggs, flour, four cups of sugar…and two cups of Guinness. Ew. But it turned out pretty well (I made a cupcake out of leftover batter so we could taste it.)

Tonight I will melt three bars of Ghiradelli chocolate and mix it with two cups of heavy whipping cream to make the icing. Dear sweet heaven.

Speaking of chocolate, tomorrow I’m going to paint the kitchen chocolate brown. It’s gonna be purty. I’ll do the dining room later, but I’m just itching to do something. And it’ll force me to scrub the kitchen top to bottom. That’s a good thing.

Next weekend (on the first) is our neighborhood garage sale. I am so looking forward to getting rid of a LOT of crap. Yay getting rid of crap! And making some money at the same time! It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Wooo! Shout out to the Easterling family! I will bring you back sand from Mexico. Yeeeah!

Last night we went to dinner at my cousin Lisa’s house. It was fun. We had steak. Now George is more determined to get a grill. Woo! Because he can’t get a grill until he mows the lawn. Only about 10 days until I get a nicely mown lawn. Only problem is, the only lawnmower we can borrow is a riding lawnmower. If you saw the size of our lawn, you would see why this is funny. Whatever. I don’t care.

So anyway, I brought some of the focaccia to Lisa’s house and her son Eli was alllll about the bread. V flattering. I wanted to bring him home with us, because he made us bananas foster for dessert. I’m usually not a fan of bananas, but woah. Yum. And he’s only 13.

Focaccia!

Sorry I haven’t posted much lately. I’ve been busy. Baking out the proverbial wazoo. This weekend, I made beer bread (bland), pear muffins (from Weight Watchers and not even yucky!), and hamburger buns (recipe had rave reviews, but I thought they were kind of bland too.)

This weekend, I have big plans to make a Guinness Cake for a friend’s birthday party and maybe some focaccia. (The recipe I have calls for potato. Isn’t that weird?) I’m also going to paint the kitchen, I think. We’ll see. I’m just itching to get started. Not literally. Har!

We’re back in our old offices again. It’s good to be back! I got to rearrange my office so it makes a bit more sense, and now I can see out the window…such a lovely view. Yay!

Looky what I made last night, from scratch!

I am baker extraordinaire!

Also, I’ve lost 5 lbs in two weeks on WW. Whew! Let’s hope I can continue at this rate. Not if I keep baking bread like that. Hmmm.

Uh oh, must remember to wear green today. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Poor George, he’s still sick from a cold. He might not be able to have Guinness today. That’s about the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.