End of Summer Birtday Party...Theme Water!!!!

 

Both my son and nephew, who has been visiting us for the summer, were born on August 18th. We  decided to celebrate with a water party!
My brother and SIL flew over from Florida and brought all of the decorations and big toys.
We had:

Water Balloons


Water Guns

Toys and Prizes

Lots of Confetti

A Slip n' Slide

A pool

And most importantly, happy kids.  It was great having family and friends come together and enjoy each other's company.

Bahamian Fruit Punch

Whenever you attend a party here in The Bahamas, you will find great food and lots of drinks.  One drink that is always available is Fruit Punch.  

It's a great alternative to soda and is a hit with all ages. It can be served with or without alcohol.  Most of the local restaurants also make this Bahamian Fruit Punch available on their menus.

The ingredients are simple and can be made at the last minute.

All you need is:

 3 cups Hawaiian Punch - Fruit Juicy Red

 3 cups 100 % Orange Juice

 3 cups 100% Pineapple Juice

Makes 1/2 gallon of punch

Directions:

Combine equal amounts and serve cold or with ice.  If you want it a little sweeter, add a bit more Hawaiian Punch.  For those who like cocktails, add some Bacardi Gold Rum to individual glasses.

 

Linked To:

All Thingz Related
Someday Crafts

Eco-Friendly Wrapping Paper

I threw a birthday party for my son's 7th and nephew's  5th birthday.  I had no wrapping paper for gifts and did not want to buy any.  I'm really happy with the way they turned out!

 

All you need is newspaper and hemp chord.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

I'm still recovering from the festivities.  I will post about that soon!!

Linked To:
It's So Very Cheri
The Girl Creative
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Creating My Way To Success
Keeping It Simple
Simpsonized Crafts
Craft-O-Maniac
Skip To My Lou
C.R.A.F.T
Super Stinky Boys
All Thingz Related
Tip Junkie
Silly Little Sparrow
The T-Shirt Diaries
Blue Cricket Design
Someday Crafts

How to De-Oxidize a Tub

There was a horrible clog in the bathtub.  With three teenage girls who constantly shave and wash hair, as well as two young boys who think that anything can survive in water, it was bound to happen. 

I knew I had something under the kitchen sink that should work.  The bottle had a skull and crossbones on it. The main ingredient, Sulphuric Acid.  So, with just skimming over the directions, I poured it down the tub's drain, knowing it would work.

An overwhelming odor eminated from the tub.  I held my breath.  It had to work I thought, it was so stink!  Then to my horror, I slowly saw my tub turn from dirty soap scummy to ORANGE!!!  What??????? But Why?????  I looked on the bottle again to see if I missed something. There is no warning that this product may turn your tub orange!!

 

I ran to my husband and tell him about the tub in a panic.  He nonchalantly says, "I guess you need to buy a new tub." A new tub?  Tubs here are expensive here! We can't buy a new tub.
 

So, like any other person in a panic would do, I looked up "Sulphuric Acid turned tub orange" on the Internet.  To my relief, I wasn't the only one who did this.  Apparently the Sulphuric Acid oxidizes the tub, and turns it orange.  After reading a few suggestions, I settled on using Hydrogen Peroxide.  It was cheapest and had some good reviews.

 

Simply, get a roll of paper towels, soak them in the peroxide and apply to the tub.  You can wipe the tub with them or let them sit on it.

 

In less than ten minutes, my tub was back to normal. 

 

Thank Goodness!!! I have to host a birthday party on Saturday. I'm not confident enough to think that no guests would look behind the shower curtain.  There's always a snooper.

Pound Cake

I took Pound Cake to my cousin's birthday bbq last weekend.  Next to my mini-cheesecakes, it's my most requested dessert.  I usually bake it in a 9x13 inch pan and then cut it into equal squares (1.5 in.x 1.5 in) and place them in white muffin cups.  I get about 36 servings this way.  It's convenient at party time, not having to worry about slicing the cake.

I have had this recipe for years now.  I'm not sure where I got the recipe, but it's been my go to Pound Cake recipe forever.

Pound Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

3 cups sugar

6 eggs, room temp.

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 9x13 in. pan.

Combine dry ingredients.  Beat butter and shortening at medium speed.  Gradually add sugar.  Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.  Alternately add flour mix and milk to sugar batter, ending with flour.  Stir in vanilla. Pour into cake pan.

Check after 30 mins. Use toothpick test to check. I usually bake it between 30 and 40 mins in a 9x13 inch pan.  A 10 inch round pan takes about 1hr. 15mins. Let cool 5-10 mins. and remove from pan.

Enjoy!

Linked To:

It's So Very Cheri
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
I'm Topsy Turvy!
Today's Creative Blog
Crazy Daisy
Someday Crafts
Sew Much Ado
Blue Cricket Designs

Mini-Cheesecakes

My sister's co-worker asked me to bake some mini-cheesecakes for her when she visted her family a few weekends ago.

  

I have become pretty popular because of these.  They are cute and light and delicious. Everyone thinks I work so hard on these cheesecakes, but the recipe is so simple.

Ingredients:

2 8oz. pkgs. of cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup of sugar

2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbls. butter or margerine, melted

1 1/2 - 2 cups crushed cookies.  They can be Ginger Snaps, Oreos, Bourbon Creams or Graham Crackers.

1 pkg. foil cupcake tins.  I stress that you use foil.  The cheesecakes hold up better and they are more attractive.
Toppings of choice: cherry, strawberry, pineapple, blueberry etc.

This makes 1 1/2 dozen.

Directions:

Mix Cookie crumbs and butter.  Press onto bottom of foil cupcake tins.  Put cupcake tins in refrigerator while preparing the mix.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Cheesecakes bake better at a lower temperature.

Mix cream cheese and sugar until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth.  Try not to over mix.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, fill cupcake tins.  Bake for 15 mins, or until just set.
When you take the cheesecakes out of the oven, make sure there is no draft.  The cheesecakes will crack or sink.  I usually keep them in the warm kitchen with the window closed until cool.  Then I move them to a cooler area until completely cool.  Refrigerate until cold.  You may add various toppings.

You can serve them in or out of the foil tins.

Linked to:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff         

Blue Cricket Design
It's So Very Cheri
Tatertots and Jello
A Little Lovely
Funky Junk Interiors
Keeping It Simple
The Girl Creative
Making The World Cuter
I Heart Naptime
Skip To My Lou
Someday Crafts

Never Thought I'd be a Fan.....

As previously mentioned, my laptop power cord died and I had to wait for  a new one. The Hubby provided me with a temporary replacement desktop, but it's not the same.  Where's the portability?  I can't take a desktop in the kitchen and surf while I'm cooking.  I can't sit on the couch and visit my favorite blogs while pretending to watch "Fanboy and Chum-Chum" with my six year old.  Try curling up with desktop in bed.  Not possible.  They just don't do it for me.

So, since using the replacement was out, I decided to pick up a book.  Truthfully, I haven't read for pleasure in years.  I usually pick up a book, read a third of it and never finish it.  The last great books I read were One Hundred Years of Solitude and The Red Tent: A Novel.

We bought our daughter The Twilight Saga Collection for Christmas of last year. With all the excitement around the Twilight Movies which she enjoyed, we thought it would make for a good gift.  She screamed with joy when she saw the books Christmas morning!!!  Seven months later, she still hadn't read them.

I had never seen the Twilight movies so I only knew about them from media and what others had told me.  I knew that it was a teenege-girl-in-a-love-triangle-with-a-vampire-and-werewolf kind of book. I picked up the first book, 'Twilight'.  Initially, I was not impressed, but I kept reading on.  About a 3rd of the way through, the book gets really good. 

Now let me clarify something here.  "The Twilight Saga" of books are a great read, NOT great literature.  I think Bella is a silly little girl with low self esteem.  If I had a daughter like her, I'd cry myself to sleep every night.  It can make impressionable young girls think that love can conquer all.  Even if the boy they love has a darkside.  It's not for kids or even tweens.  I would take it so far to say it's not for immature teenage girls.  That being said, I finished the whole series in two weeks.  If I could have read non-stop without having to pause to bathe, eat, take care of the kids, cook dinner and have conversations with my husband I would've done it.  It is attention grabbing.  Read it if your not offended by a fictional vampires and werewolves. 

I'm Ba-a-ack!!!

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything.  But I have a few good excuses:

• The power cord on my laptop died.
• I'm allergic to desktops.
• I read the Twilight Series. (This is worth a separate post coming soon.) 
• I was in a water balloon fight.
• I went to a BBQ.
• I'm planning a birthday party for a 5 and  7yr. old.

Those are good right?