Example of a Crappy Day Package #6

A Lovely, Lovely Person* sent a Crappy Day Package to help me survive another few days feel loved!

So pretty!

Pampering samples!!

NEVER argue with a Lovely Person....

Opened before December 1st!

Festive, delicious muffins!

A MOST EXCELLENT thing to have in time of need!

Cupcake/Cookie decorating stencils!!

All of the different designs

Marie was in charge of the Family Night treat and was excited to use the stencils.  If you have magical powers look closely, you can see 4 hummingbirds.

SQUEE!!  Another pretty notebook!! And it matches my favorite clothespins!!!

SQUEE!!!  Another pretty list pad that also matches my favorite clothespins!!

SQUEE!!  A pretty journal that matches my favorite clothespins!!

Thank you, Lovely Person!!  I appreciate your thoughtfulness and am enjoying each of your gifts!!

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*I will be keeping Crappy Day Present senders anonymous so that the sender doesn't have to worry that Person Q is going to see what they (the sender) sent me and possibly feel bad that their (Person Q's) package was not as fabulous as mine ;-). But if you don't worry as much as I do aren't worried about that, you are welcome to claim your package in the comments!

A Brief, Delicious Post

So, a friend came over one day and gave me this:

The gift my friend gave me

This is, of course, lovely, but becomes downright IMPRESSIVE when you see this:

The gift my friend gave me, with a regular-sized one for comparison purposes

Another picture for drool-inducing scale purposes

Perhaps it would help with the sense of scale if I told you that the tiles are 6 inch squares

The delicious interior

I have to say, I thought this was a very fun idea for a gift because it is so unusually MASSIVE.  It was, well, IS (a person can only eat so much at once!) delicious!  I like the chocolate to peanut butter ratio, but it is a little messy to eat because the force required to bite through chocolate of that thickness causes the peanut butter filling to be squished out.  Yum!

Links to Examples of Crappy Day Packages/Presents

This is where I will keep track of other examples of Crappy Day Presents, so check back!  I will update as often as I have a new link =)!

1.  Twisterfish (example of CDPackage received) and all presents opened
2.  Devan (example of CDPackage received)
3.  Andrea Unplugged (example of CDPackage received) and some presents opened
4.  Laura Diniwilk (example of wrapped presents about to be sent out)
5.  Saly (example of CDPackage received and some presents opened)
6.  Clueless But Hopeful Mama (example of CDPackage received and some presents opened)
7.  Laura Diniwilk (example of CDPackage received and some presents opened)
8.  Life of Lacey (example of CDPackage received and presents opened)
9. No Whey Mama (example of CDPackage received and presents opened)

10. Tullybird (example of CDPackage received) and all presents opened
11. T (example of CDPackage received)
12. Twisterfish (example of CDPackage received and presents opened)
13. MamaBub (example of CDPackage received and presents opened)
14. Motherhood Is Painless (List of items received in a CDPackage)
15. Still Playing School (example of CDPackage received and presents opened)

16. Craftwhack (example of CDPackage received and presents opened)

17. Still Playing School (example of CDPresents)

Example of A Crappy Day Package #5

A Lovely, Lovely Person* sent a Crappy Day Package to help me hang in there brighten up my life, and it worked (and had excellent timing!!)!

YARN!!  Do you see the YARN?!  I had a VERY HARD TIME seeing past the yarn, but I forced myself to FOCUS.

Beautiful, sparkly lip gloss!

Magnets that match my FAVORITE clothespins!!!  I LOVE the patterns in this collection!

Recipe cards and coasters with HIGHLY appropriate sentiments

I quickly put the recipe cards to good use!

COORDINATING (you can never have too many coordinating things when you have children who cause chaos everywhere they go;  it is very soothing to see something that matches!) notepad and note cards!!!  I'm afraid I will NEVER have too many notepads since it is necessary for me to write down anything I don't want to forget, and I love to send notes to people using pretty cards!

Fun things I might share with the children if they are ever nice to me

YARN!!!!!
I was especially excited about the yarn because it is beautiful and I love yarn some of it is a wool blend, and I crochet for a charity that is happy to receive squares that involve wool (because of the warmth factor).

The charity is called Knit-A-Square .  They use 8" knitted, crocheted, or felted (out of old wool sweaters or blankets) squares to make blankets for some of the desperately poor children in South Africa.  People from all over the world make squares, as close to 8" as possible, in any thick, warm pattern, leaving a 1-yard tail attached for sewing purposes, using any yarn.  I made these squares quickly because there is a company called Jigsaw, with a location in California, that has offered to send our squares to South Africa through the end of this year, so I'm trying to make as many squares as I can by Christmas so that I can take advantage of that wonderful blessing!!  (Normally it costs just under $1 per square to send the squares to South Africa.)

Thank you, Lovely Person!!!  I appreciate your thoughtfulness and am enjoying all of the lovely things you sent =)!!

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*I will be keeping Crappy Day Present senders anonymous so that the sender doesn't have to worry that Person Q is going to see what they (the sender) sent me and possibly feel bad that their (Person Q's) package was not as fabulous as mine ;-). But if you don't worry as much as I do aren't worried about that, you are welcome to claim your package in the comments!

(Delicious) Adventures Making Dirt Pudding

Someone mentioned Dirt Pudding a while ago, and then I HAD TO HAVE SOME.  So, I unearthed the recipe someone gave me when I was in college and made it.  Now, it's been a while since I was in college, so I can't remember if the person who gave me the recipe said there were any typos, but, after looking up the recipe online, I'm pretty sure the amount of butter listed was a typo.  I have made this a few times, trying to get it just right.

FIRST TRY:  The original recipe said

8 oz. softened cream cheese, not low fat
1 1/4 C. soft margarine (I used butter and it was TOO MUCH BUTTER!)
1 C. Powdered Sugar
3 1/2 C. milk
2 small packages instant chocolate pudding (I used one large package because I didn't have 2 small packages)
12 oz. Cool Whip (I used the light whipping cream that comes in a spray can instead)
1-20 oz. package of Oreo cookies (Hmmm, Oreos come in a 15.5 oz. package now:  SNEAKY SHRINKAGE!)

Blend cream cheese and margarine in mixing bowl, add powdered sugar, milk, powdered pudding, and Cool Whip.  Put in flower pot to set up or in small dishes or large bowl*.  Use food processor to crush up the package of Oreos and sprinkle on top.  You may want to start with crushing 1/2 the package and adding more if desired (HA ha ha ha ha ha ha! Just crush the entire package.).  For tricking purposes, stick a plant with roots wrapped in a baggie in the middle or use plastic plant or flowers.

*Instead of pouring all of the pudding mix in a large bowl and putting the Oreo crumbs on top, I layered the pudding and Oreo crumbs to get a more pleasing distribution of Oreos through the pudding.

RESULTS:  I thought there was TOO MUCH BUTTER, and it was VERY SWEET.  I liked the results from layering the pudding and Oreos instead of putting all of the Oreos on the top.
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SECOND TRY:  This time I used

8 oz. softened cream cheese
1/4 C. soft butter
(completely left out the powdered sugar thinking there was enough sugar in the pudding mix and whipped cream)
3 1/2 C. milk
1 large package instant chocolate pudding
12 oz. light whipping cream in a can (I sprayed it into my glass measuring cup until it was at the 12 oz. mark as I do not believe that precision is vital to this recipe's success)
1-15.5 oz. package of Oreo cookies 

RESULTS:  I liked the amount of butter this time, but it wasn't sweet enough.  There was a definite, noticeable difference between the sweetness of the Oreos and the not-as-sweet pudding.
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THIRD TRY: This time I used

8 oz. softened cream cheese
1/4 C. soft butter
1/2 C. powdered sugar
3 1/2 C. milk
1 large package instant chocolate pudding
12 oz. light whipping cream in a can (I sprayed it into my glass measuring cup until it was at approximately the 12 oz. mark as I do not believe that precision is vital to this recipe's success)
1-15.5 oz. package of Oreo cookies

RESULTS:  Again, I layered the pudding mixture with the crushed Oreos, and I even made the layers thinner than before so there were more of them.  I was very happy with the results this time!!  The pudding mixture was slightly sweet, not overwhelmingly sweet, so I could actually taste the delicious CREAM CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE flavor instead of just a SWEET flavor.  This is the recipe I will use from now on!