Saturday Miscellany

I have a bunch of random thoughts in my head, none of which really qualify for an individual blog post. So, here you go – a peek inside my crazed mind!

• I jokingly told Olivia we didn’t have any birthday presents for her. She said she knew Angie had made her something, and she was pretty sure Steven and I had been working on a gift. How did she know? “Y’all were whispering about something and being very pronounish.” So there you have it! I might have a new favorite word now.
• Speaking of Olivia…I think she enjoys her newfound ability to operate a riding lawn mower a little too much. The look of glee on her face is a little scary!!
• Steven and Angie, on the other hand, are having a bit more difficulty with growing up right now. They hear a whole lot more, “You’re getting too big for that!” than they do, “You’re now big enough to ____________.” Growing up can be tough.
• We have apples! We really didn’t expect to see any this year, but there are two on one tree and three on another! How exciting!
• Meanwhile, our peaches are looking fantastic! My friend Julie had mentioned the idea of pruning the peaches so as to encourage the remaining fruit to grow bigger, so we did some research on that. Our trees are technically too young to actively prune fruit, so we left them all. But, the late frost and our many storms seem to have taken care of some of them for us. One tree has lost most of its peaches. We have five nice, big ones and a dozen or so little ones. The bigger tree, however, still has two and a half dozen big peaches and quite a few smaller ones, even after losing quite a few to the frost and storms! I can’t wait to bite into one of those juicy treats!
• Angie was taking something out to the garage trash can yesterday morning and came back with the report that there was a baby possum in the can! Oh, was he ever mad! He was hissing and spitting like crazy. Doug dumped him out in the yard and tried to shoo him away, but apparently the dumping occurred too close to the house. The possum got right past Doug and headed straight back into the garage! We haven’t seen him again, so we don’t know if he’s still holed up and hiding in there or if he’s moved on. The garage trash can now has the lid firmly reaffixed.
• I accomplished something amazing this week – I finished a birthday present with three days to spare!! (Steven’s gift to Livie will end up being last minute, though.) Here’s what I made – I think this is now my favorite summer nightgown pattern. So easy!
• Mary Ann sent out a text on Thursday saying the pool water felt great! We couldn’t go that day, but we fully intended to swim before the weekend was out. Then Friday ended up with a high of 77! No problem, right? Just wait until Saturday’s mid-80’s. Ah, no. Today is once again only forecasted to reach the upper 70’s. Yes, the kids were disappointed, but at the same time none of us will ever dare complain about a late spring. We’ll have plenty of time for swimming weather!
• Even so, summer is here. What is my proof? This:

A batch of cake mix – enough for three birthday cakes. For the past couple of years, this has marked the introduction to Hibbard family birthday season, aka summer. I’m excited this year because I’m trying out a different flour. The past cakes have been good but heavy, and they never have risen very well. This year we had some artisan flour on hand that we’ve been using for breads, so I gave it a try. The cake definitely rose well! It’s almost twice as high as previous cakes! I’m looking forward to doing a taste test. Hoping for a much fluffier, lighter cake.

Ah, my brain feels lighter already! There’s more floating around in there, but I won’t bug you with it. I’m instead off to write a review for my other blog, tackle my few remaining edits for this week, try my hand at making buttercream fondant, take birthday pictures, finish a sock doll dress, cut hair (Doug and Steven), wrap presents, and try to make a TARDIS cake. Fun day!