Junk Bonanza!

A Vintage Parcel had its debut as a vendor at Junk Bonanza. It was three days full of amazing junk, good conversations and lots of fun. Here are some photos of our booth.


We can't wait until Junk Bonanza in the Fall. We'll be back :)

Lego Party

We had a successful Lego Birthday Party for my 5 y.o. Alex. I did a lot of research (pinterest) and tried to find cool and inexpensive games, prizes and decorations. So I wanted to share my findings with others because I know Lego's are still as popular as ever!

Decorations:
I searched Amazon and Party City's websites. To my surprise Party City was actually less expensive for plates, cups and the wall decorations.

Party City

Alex wanted cupcakes with candy Lego's on top. His Grandma had given him candy legos before so I knew they existed. I found them on Amazon:

Candy Lego Bricks

They were the hit of the party!

For one of the activities I just filled a few bins with assorted legos and gave each kid a flat lego base and they just got to build for about 30 mins. The girls got bored before that time was up but the boys loved it!

Another easy thing was to fill a jar or vase with Legos and make a centerpiece. With older kids you could even have them all guess the number of legos in the jar and the winner gets to keep them. But with 4 & 5 years olds it was just a cool centerpiece.

It was a great party. Alex and his friends had a great time.


Jenni

Easiest (and Yummiest) Cookies

Hi Remember when I used to blog? (Ahem...April....Ahem) Oops!
Well anyway, I am back :) and I wanted to share the easiest (and super yummy) cookie recipe ever!
I learned it from my friend Lisa Gedker :)

Chocolate Chip PB Cups

Ingredients:
•Refrigerated Choc Chip Cookie Dough
•Bag of Mini Reeses PB Cups (not the new really tiny ones)
•PAM cooking spray (or other brand)
•Mini Muffin tin

A tube of cookie dough works too, but I was making multiple batches and needed more dough so I bought the bucket. :)

Preheat the oven according to the directions on the dough package.
Spray the muffin tin with Pam, so the cookies won't stick.
Scoop cookie dough into each muffin cup so it's almost full.

Bake them according to the dough package directions.

Meanwhile unwrap 24 PB cups and set them aside (so you don't eat them :)

When the cookies come out of the oven immediately press one PB cup into each cookie.

Then place the whole muffin tin in the freezer for a little while so the PB cups don't melt into pools of chocolate goo. When the chocolate sets you can take them out of the freezer.
TaDa! Easiest cookies ever!!

And when I am done baking with the mini muffin tin I make and sell muffin tin advent calendars :)
Check them out:
Check Out my Etsy store

:) Jenni

The R Word

Nope it's not Railroad crossing....the other R word. Running.
It's not a bad word...actually it sounds good. Like "I am going running" or "Let's go running together" Two phrases that I never thought I would say out loud. HOWEVER I have decided to start doing a little running. Not because I aspire to do a marathon or even become a runner, but because I signed up for some races with my husband and friends and don't want to die...
My biggest motivation is the MS Mud Run or Muck Ruckus (or whatever they are calling it) in August. I am very proud to be running this race with one of my best friends Ahndrea, who has MS. I can't think of a better reason to raise money and awareness about MS than my BFF. She is awesome and amazing and it will be an honor to run with her! This one's for you :) LYLAS

                                                     Ahndrea and her husband David.

Rockin Around

I bought Alex a rock polisher for his birthday. (really it was for me, but that's beside the point) We just finished polishing our second batch of prized Agates from the North Shore of Lake Superior. It's so exciting to take dull and rough rocks and see how they turn into sparkling gems in just a month.
This time I actually remembered to do a before & after photo.

So here is the Before:

And the after: Ooooh Aaaaaah so shiny!

It was definitely worth the wait!

Another addiction...

Earlier I posted about my sock addiction. Today I am posting about my thrift store addiction. Yes I love to go to thrift stores and get a great deal! Lately I have been buying some antiques, but mostly picture frames. Then I bring them home and spray paint them and resell them on ebay or etsy.
Even as a kid I was always an entrepreneur. I sold lemonade, pop, and yes...painted rocks. (Thank you nice neighbor Ron K. for buying all those rocks, you earned your place in heaven :)

Check out my work:

These two sets are actually on ebay right now. But I have PLENTY more in my garage. Just ask Ben...we haven't been able to park either vehicle in our garage for about a week. Sorry honey! :)

Success! (or failure??)

I am not sure which way to label what just happened...Success or failure???
Here is how it went down: I am in the garage painting some picture frames and I glance out of the door and see Alex in the backyard hiding behind a tree but he keeps looking in my direction to see if I am watching. I decided to hide so he was thinking that I wasn't looking and then peek out. So I see him with his pants down going toward the house and he says he needs some wipes. I thought maybe he just peed on himself. He comes back out of the house and runs to the garage and tells me "Mom I just pooped outside, and not in my pants!"

So do I consider this a success because he didn't poop in his pants or a pull-up? And he is getting the idea and the feeling of having his pants down and going? I have explained that only dogs go outside and he needs to use the potty chair or the toilet. But I did say that I was proud of him for doing it....