Easy Delicious Chocolate Cake

Oldest college boy came home for the first time this semester....

so "mom" (me) kicked it into gear....

and did a little baking

I made chocolate cake with marshmallow cream icing...

ok...so the cake was a box...

Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil's Food

but...then I made marshmallow cream icing

Here is the recipe:

3 egg whites

2 T water

1/2 C sugar

1 7 oz jar marshmallow cream

In a double boiler...

(I have a double boiler, but for this I use the bottom pan of my double boiler for my water and then use a heat safe large pyrex bowl to mix the icing in)

anyway....

in the top of the double boiler (pyrex bowl) mix the first three ingredients with an electric mixer until foamy...

Add marshmallow cream

Mix on high speed with the electric mixer until it is thick, pan is full, and icing is stiff and will not fall off beaters....then it's done!!!

The icing is so light and fluffy....

love it....

My mom's recipe....thanks Mom!!!

I made the cake Friday when he got home along with filet mignon, baked potato and Sister Schubert's dinner rolls...love me some Sister Schubert's

Saturday morning....

pancakes from my Southern Living cookbook....my go to recipe for pancakes and waffles...

excellent recipe....

my boys gag and say I ruin the pancakes when I pile the pecans on them...

omygosh...so delicious!!!

Then pot roast in my crock pot Saturday night.

Excellent eating weekend!!! None of it was rather healthy but oh so good....

Oh...me and the boys went to see the movie Captain Phillips on Saturday night...

Excellent movie, pretty intense...loved that is  based on a true story.

And...

in between all of that I worked on a couple pieces of furniture for the fall market that I will have a booth at in November...I will keep you updated....

here is the flyer..

                                                                                         

A shout out....love her entrepreneurial spirit

This is a little shout out to a fellow vendor at LaBahia...

Kiki Neumann sets up a booth on the other side of LaBahia from us...

She is such a fun, free spirit kind of girl,

so fun to go visit...

Here she is with her vintage trailer...so cute....

anyway, she does art with license plates...always so cool and creative...

Well, she decided Bu-cee's needed to sell her cards...

so just like that she sent them a "ransom letter" cut out of license plates that read

"YOU NEED ME IN YOUR STORE"

and guess what?

Here they are!!!

I love that she just

...went for it...

and made it happen!!!

Way to go Kiki!!!

See you in the Spring!!

                                                                            

Sometimes...it's the little things...

I crave organization...but I just cannot seem to get there

but every once in a while...

I just can't take it anymore...

love this...

  

and this...

I stared at this for about 3 months thinking...yeah...I need to do something about that...

this is beside my bed

I plug my phone in,  my bedside chandelier light switch plug...yes, they are cute...need to show you sometime...

alarm clock...which I loathe, my body needs to wake up on it's own...

I think that would relieve some stress

anyway...here is what I did...on the back of my bedside table I measured with tape for the screws to hang the electric strip

then added these little 3M picture hangers to hold the cords on top of the bedside table...

Pushed it all back against the wall and said

aaaahhhhhh....so much better...

I do have bedding....it was in the washer....

another little thing....

my oldest is in an apartment at college for the first time this semester...

it was a last minute decision, so things were thrown together rather quickly

he loves it...all plain and with nothing on the walls....oh my...

anyway...

there is a pretty big window in the bedroom...

which keeps the room pretty bright during the day...

and makes it hard to sleep past noon on the weekends

so forbid...something HAD to be done...

I dug in my fabric stash

and made a window covering...

a functioning window covering...

to keep that nasty sunlight out of his precious eyes until

he is good and ready to wake up on the weekends...

I used some webbing to make loops and just slid it on the curtain rod...

he said it was  PERFECT!

Yea!!! Mom!!!

We were up there this Saturday for the homecoming football game and parade

Here was the best picture of him during the parade...

they are always on the opposite side of the street...

For the game he changed into their new uniforms which were debuted at the homecoming game

they were soooo sharp looking...love the brighter purple

they sit on the visitor side and irritate the opposing team with obnoxiously loud music

love it!!!

It is sooo much fun to go watch them play...this is the largest band in the 90 year history of the school...

My parents drove up for the game...such a great picture

they drove up the night before and took Derek out to dinner...

they asked what he wanted and he suggested a steak house about 30 minutes away...

never ask a hungry college kid what he wants for dinner...geez

of course....they took him!!!

just trying to get a good picture of my youngest

ok...that's better...

love this kid!!!!

I am getting ready for a Fall Market in November...

here is a radio cabinet I picked up at our community garage sale...

not sure what to do with it but thought it was sooo cool

I popped the front out and think it will make a cute little bar area or bathroom piece with some shelves in it

I will keep you posted on my progress with this....

ok...gotta get ready for another week!!!

                                                                         

Round Top...fun beyond the booth

We had some great times with friends during our time at LaBahia...

Some friends of ours have retired

and are quite young as retired ages go

we are so jealous...

anyway

they invited us to their new farm in the Round Top area for dinner and a visit

 the drive was beautiful...

(excuse the wind shield shot from the camera and the bird poop, geez)

This is their driveway...oh how lovely is this???

and this is their new puppy, Sadie, who greeted us with great zeal

this is Randy's hobby...it was fabulous....he builds cars from the ground up

he is so meticulous to detail....Troy was in awe as he has been with all of Randy's cars

and this is the view from the barn

we had such a great time sitting under the trees enjoying this great view

oh..and dinner was delicious!!!

Thursday night is the oh so popular Junk Gypsy Prom....

yes...I like to dress up :)

This is just one of so many extremely creative hats and outfits that can be seen 

(the balloon is not part of her hat, that would have totally ruined for me, that is her table marker for her food)

ok moving on..

I took a blurry photo of Gypsy daddy...I love the way this family works together...they are so cute

John Evans and the band are always VERY entertaining

Gypsy Momma socializing in the Junk Gypsy tent

glitter and shot gun shells....how cute!...

oh, and remember my friend Rachel...

we both like powdered sugar donuts...

yeah, she was there, relaxed comfortably on the arm of a vintage couch

just chatting...how cool

ok...I told Troy

I think I NEED one of these!!! 

love this !!!

and a trip to Warrenton for the Junk Gypsy Prom is not complete without a 

Funky Chunky Chicken salad sandwich from Royers Cafe

We have been back a week now...trying to get life back in order around here... we both have been back to work and all the craziness that brings...

our neighborhood had a community garage sale on Saturday and

we found treasures!!! 

More on that later!

                                                                            

Antiques Week at LaBahia...PART II

Here are a few more pics of the booth as it transformed throughout the week.... 

I loved this little chalkboard...there was a mirror in there that was cracked and broken...so a little re-purposing had it back to cute and useful...

I have some before pics of this chandelier...it was a fabulous 80's brassy little number...

I was completely in awe of this chandelier makeover at Serendipity Refined so I did my own little treatment on this one but of course it is not near as fabulous as Kimberly's!!!

Remember Annette? My booth neighbor?

Here are a couple of pictures of her booth with all the fabulous vintage finds...

And my booth neighbors on the other side of me are Ellen and Sandra. They have the store in downtown Humble call Ellen's Timeless Treasures. It is a fabulous collection of antiques, vintage items, painted furniture and re-purposed treasures..

And here is their booth...

 On Tuesday evening we heard Rachel Ashwell, who is the creator, founder and mastermind behind the fabulous shabby chic style...was having a book signing at her new B & B in Round Top called The Prairie.

So, being the great guy he his...Troy said he would take me and Annette to stand in line, get our book signed and see The Prairie.

This is the driveway into the 46 acre B & B site....so lovely!!!

Her new book shows all the buildings and rooms that are available at The Prairie.

I know that if we had time to spend together...

me and Rachel would be great friends...

why?...well we like the same things...

chippy old furniture and powdered sugar donuts...

yes, great friends...

loved her snack table!!!

inside the store at The Prairie

Me and Rachel Ashwell...geez...could I lean in any more???

She was sooo personable and friendly...she took time to make small talk to every. single. person. there. 

I appreciate that!!!

This just may HAVE to be a destination for me and Troy to go stay and enjoy the hill country one weekend.

So....we get back to LaBahia....late...

I look at Troy and say..."Hey, you feel like re-arranging the booth"

There was just a slight hesitation then he so nicely said , "sure"

Little did I know that some of my booth neighbors wanted to officially welcome me into the LaBahia family. So after 1 1/2 hours of dolling up the booth we go to bed only to wake up the next morning to this....

Oh I can just imagine the giggling that went along with this job....They all denied it at first...

we had a good laugh 

I felt welcomed

and 

they helped me clean it up

as good neighbors do...