On Awesome Avenue

I’m getting a ton (well, for me) of hits from those googling “speed racer cake” or variant as a search term. Hello, all. If you decide to make the speed racer cake and do happen to come back to my little home here, could you let me know how it worked out? And if you became a regular reader here, feel free to say howdy!

Kidding…this doesn’t surprise me on bit.

Oh, and for the record - I like Yo Gabba Gabba (the boys…meh), but it is pretty trippy. My favorite - in addition to Biz’s Beat of the Day (Biz Markie, ya’ll!) was the Elijah Woods Dancy-Dance:

OK, and here’s Biz. 

Lack of blogging due to a lot of work plus I was in Memphis for lil’ bro’s law school graduation - many pics taken at botanical gardens, of which I will share a few when I get a chance to upload them. I will say - I had not had an “adult break” in quite some time and, while I missed the boys and BHE more than I can describe, I had a very lovely weekend with my parents, brother and cousin. I came back quite refreshed.

A good write-up on natural cleaning for those interested - I’m so thankful she mentioned the use of essential oil in water for a Febreze effect - I’ve had a hard time finding how to make my own!

Ya’ll, about this time of year one of my favorite things to do, after the kiddos are in bed, is to sit outside with BHE and just talk and stare at the stars and listen to music. It’s peaceful and quiet and just a wonderful way to unwind together.

We also spend a lot more time outside during the day, playing with the kids and the dogs and tending to our tomato plants (boy, do I hope those babies produce some keepers this year - I am CRAVIN’ a good tomato sandwich), herb plants (got a basil plant and Italian parsley - LOVE readily available fresh herbs), and flowers (the zinnias are growing well - we put them in a big pot though instead of bothering with a bed).

Anyway, with all this outdoor time, at some point we need to invest in some decent patio furniture. And when we do, we’ll have to visit Cushions and Umbrellas. Cushions and Umbrellas is a small, family owned business in Pembroke Pines , Florida, which specializes in selling patio umbrellas and patio cushions online. They offer a wide variety of patio umbrellas to keep you shaded and cool, and the patio cushions look quite comfy. They also offer a number of fabric options to dress up your backyard and/or patio - you don’t have to settle for garden-variety green or blue (but if you like that, they included those popular styles too).

In regards to pricing, Cushions and Umbrellas “represents the best possible discounts available”, but from now until the end of May they will take it one step further - readers here at On Awesome Avenue qualify for a 10% discount! Just use code AA2008 when you place your order.

Enjoy the outdoors this spring, summer, and fall!

BHE and I have recently taken to using vinegar for a lot of our cleaning needs. Need to clean your carpets? Half vinegar, half water versus buying the solution that the Rug Doctor recommends - the floors look just as clean, if not cleaner, it’s cheaper, and there’s no nasty chemical mess. And our kitchen floors have never looked better since switching from your standard, chemical-laden mopping solution to vinegar.

It made me ponder - if vinegar is cheaper, cleans as effectively (if not better), and is friendlier to our bodies (and additionally to the environment) than using that chemical junk - how did we get this way? What happened over the last 25 or 50 years to progress us to this state of affairs? Are marketers that effective at their jobs that they could guilt all the moms of America into chemical cleaners?

Anyway, a couple of vinegar-related links:

Vinegar Tips - 1001 uses; it’s no joke that you can pretty much do anything with vinegar

Surprising Cleaners - this not only details vinegar, but baking soda and a few other natural ways to clean.

Well, about two weeks ago, Monkey changed his mind - we would not be having a Monster Truck party, as stated before, but instead Speed Racer would rule. So in addition to Speed Racer plates and banner, we also had to have the Speed Racer cake:

The border’s a bit off, I know. The icing got a little melty last night, and while I was working last night it slid a little. That, and I am in no way a professional decorator.

This was my first time making icing from scratch. I’ve always been a little intimidated by that for whatever reason and now I don’t know why! It was MUCH easier to work with that your readymade decorator icings sold at the grocery store. My mother-in-law got me a cake-decorating kit for my birthday a couple of months back, and it was so easy (and the Wilton cake colors are great). I had a lot of fun doing this. The icing was really delicious. Not too sweet, and exactly what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, I don’t recall where I found this recipe on the ‘net, but I’m posting it for you all:

1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
5 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup sugar (just regular, white, granulated sugar)Cook milk and flour into a thick paste (this will take a while) and let cool. Cream together butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat until fluffy. Add the cooled paste and beat at high speed until like whipped cream.

This icing will be quite soft at first and easy to work with, but I had problems with my border just as I was about to put this in the fridge, so it probably wouldn’t hurt to pop this in the fridge for a few minutes before decorating your cooled cake.

Oh, and the road for my Speed Racer cake - make from Oreos (the chocolate filled kind). Just made a border with my icing, crushed ‘em up, and carefully sprinkled them on the cake. It went over really well, because not only do Oreos LOOK great as a road - they TASTE great too.

I’ve been meaning to look up EASY sheet music for the Monkey as we’d like both boys to at least be exposed to playing musical instruments, and as I play piano and BHE plays guitar (and we have a drumset that neither of us can really play) - we should be able to at least provide them with a start.

Anyway, I was looking for simple songs, and I hit jackpot here.

I picked a few songs I think he will like. Also, there’s plenty of room below the notes for me to write the coordinating letter, which will be helpful as I already placed letter stickers on the piano keys (in the middle C range). Wish us luck. Monkey claims that he “already knows how to play” so we will see how this goes. I’m definitely not going to force him into piano.

As for me? No freebie songs today - I have plenty of piano books here at home to wade through, and not enough time!

OK, if you’re wanting to do a little gardening this spring, this is fabulous (mine is significantly smaller and was only a couple of bucks from Walmart, but it’s the same thing). On Friday, Monkey and I started with seeds; today we have this:

Aren’t they cute? I am just ecstatic because I apparently lack the “green thumb” gene possessed by my Dad, brother and cousin. Actually, right now we have rather lofty (for us) landscaping plans. I have seeds for an ornamental bean vine from my mom that I’d like to plant in the corner of our fence - this corner would be a flower bed. I’d also like to plant some herbs this year - basil and parsley at least, maybe some rosemary per Mom’s recommendation and some chives. Monkey wants an apple tree - I’m lobbying for Granny Smith.

Monkey loves planting things, and just learning about plants and animals and nature period. We also planted some zinnia seeds outside in a pot (we had too many seeds for our Jiffy greenhouse, and rather than waste them I put them in some dirt - call it an experiment if you will - that’s what Monkey and I are calling it). Unfortunately, I did not Bear-proof the pot and he knocked it over this morning while I was trying the get more shots of that redbird that hangs around our house (I’m fairly sure that he and his lady friend have a nest in the brush behind our house). Bear knocked every bit of dirt out. I found several seedlings that had burst from the seed but not made nearly as much progress as our Jiffy seeds. Monkey was elated to see a worm in the pot, because “that worm sure does like dirt!”. He held the seedlings while I scooped as much dirt as possible back into the pot - we’re hoping they made it through the Bear attack. The pot is now outside the fence, which will offer it a little more protection from the Bear.

Lil’ stinker.

I should go to bed but since I’m actually inspired to write now I’m going to roll with it.

While browsing my bloggy links, I found (via Nashville is Talking - I’m too lazy to link, so look to your right) a post or two on global waming - you know, the “global warming is some big, bad, nasty commie hoax” type of viewpoint.

Now, I’m no scientist - my last science class was AP Biology my senior year of high school, back in 1996 (but, I should add, I did score a 4 of 5 on that AP exam) - but the global warming thing makes sense to me. If we’re pumping chemicals and Lord knows what else into our air - stuff that God never intended to be there - I don’t know, but it seems that the effects would take a toll.

If you don’t buy global warming, fine. But a lot of the anti-global warming crowd seem to think the whole “clean up the air, take care of the Earth” thing is wrong. What’s the harm in cleaning up house, guys? Seriously. Do you want to turn your neighborhood into a landfill? No? Then recycle your plastics, your newspapers - it doesn’t take a lot of time, heck, some of you people probably have a recycling pickup as part of your trash pickup and just don’t take advantage of it! And it doesn’t even have to be expensive to be a little green - my husband last mopped our floors with a vinegar solution vs. going to the store and getting your chemical-laden mop mix - we both swear our kitchen floor has never looked so good, and it’s cheaper to boot!

Anyway, rant over. Happy Belated Earth Day, ya’ll.