Galactic Jello

Well believe it or not, I am 3 days strong on my diet! I survived the Monday-Dieting-Biotch-fest, I survived some disappointing MOPS news yesterday morning, and I made it all the way through the day and night at Sea World yesterday without blowing my diet...or even making a single purchase there...I'm a rebel, I brake the rules and bring our own food in every time...don't tell security to check the bottom of my stroller!

Each week in school we have been studying each day of creation. We are in our 4th week of school, which means we are focusing on the 4th day of creation. When I did my grocery shopping on Saturday, who knew that I would STILL be on my diet by Wednesday!?!? Lord help me, I bought FULL SUGAR Jello!!! (HAHAHAHA!)

I was so disappointed that I was going to have to miss out on my self entitled "Galactic Jello" with the family after supper tonight! :0( But much to my surprise, full sugar Jello only has 80 calories per serving!...aaaand, I save myself from a day of cancer by not eating artificial sweetener! WOOHOO! (However, I'm now probably one day closer to diabetes...see, you can't win! LOL!)

Wyatt and I made this delicious concoction with grape jello, "Yogos" for the planets, and then silver and white pearlized sprinkles for the stars. We were so excited to see that a lot of the sparkly stuff had come off of the sprinkles and made a starburst effect on the bottom of the jello! All 4 of the Brumbaugh's say 80 Calorie Jello night was a success!

The Bake Sale Must Go On...

Well these cupcakes feel incredibly lame coming on the heals of the AMAZING, and BEAUTIFUL, and INCREDIBLE (I could go on and on) desserts that I sampled and just posted pictures of in my previous blog post entitled, "THE" Shower. However, the bake sale must go on! After my sister/Bestie (shout-out to Jenni!) and I left the bridal shower on Saturday night at 10pm, we went back to my house and decorated 75 cupcakes for the M.O.P.S. bake sale the next morning. We were up until 1am frosting little baseballs, soccer balls & basket balls. I did one sport, Jenni did another sport, and then there was a team effort at midnight to punch out the last sport...can you guess who did what!?!? And for the record...I did not consume a single sports cupcake! But that's probably becuase I went to a BBQ earlier in the day where I had a "Sprinkles" banana cupcake, and then went to the bridal shower where I tasted too many desserts to count. I did eat something while we were decorating these cupcakes though...TUMS and a chaser of Pepto Bismol! (Seriously! LOL!)

"The" Shower

I went to a "Dessert & Champagne" bridal shower on Saturday night for a dear friend of the family (Shout-out to Carly & Ben!)...and it was INCREDIBLE! I'm actually going to write less about this event, and let you take in the glory of the images!


The Beautiful Tables and some of the decorations...






The Cheese Table...




The Espresso Bar...




The Champagne Bar...




The Dessert Table...




Cheesecake Pops and Mini Eclairs...




Brownies (But that title does NOT do this version of the dessert any justice!)...



Grand Marnier Berry Trifles...





Lemon Meringue Bars...



Peanut Butter Mousse Cups...



Risotto Pudding with a Caramel Sauce...



Strawberry Shortcakes...



Me with 2 of my favorite people...

Chubby Diary Indeed!

It's a good thing that I did not entitle this blog, "My Weight Loss Journal!" It seems that all I have been posting about lately are the delicious foods I am baking...and CONSUMING! Eeek!

And in order to keep with the trend, here is another one of those posts...

My sisters will have to correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that last night was the first night that I have hosted an (intimate) dinner party for the first time in 6 years that did not include a family member as a guest! For the first couple of years in my marriage, I would have various people over for various reasons on a fairly regular basis. And even though Rick (my husband) is an introvert, and would rarely join my dinner parties, I would almost never let that stop me. He has always been supportive of my need to entertain. However, from the time we were blessed with our beautiful children, my entertaining days have now shifted from small random dinner parties, to over-the-top birthday parties and Thanksgiving Dinner in our home with family members exclusively...we have a LARGE family and a LITTLE home! :0) And between Rick's backward work/sleep schedule, and living on a tight budget, I have come to believe that entertaining outside of major "holidays" isn't really an option for me anymore.

A friend of mine casually mentioned to me last week that she would love to come over to my house and watch Big Brother (yes, I am a sinner!) together. My knee-jerk reaction was to brush it off, and pretend that I hadn't heard her request. After all, I have for some LAME reason, convinced myself that that isn't what I do anymore. However, the excitement began to build in my mind, and much to my surprise, when I approached my husband about having a small dinner party at our house on a night when he would have to work/sleep, he was more than agreeable...he was actually excited for me! (A man after my own heart!)

I absolutely LOVE to entertain! (If you have had the pleasure of being a guest at one of my mom's events, you would know where I get this from!) I love to browse through cookbooks and decide on a menu. I love to browse through the catalog in my mind to see what dishes and glasses and different serving pieces I should use. And I love to think about the "essence" of the event...what will my guests still be talking about when they leave my home. There is a sense of adrenaline...will I be able to accomplish the image in my mind??? I love the thrill and satisfaction of completing a GREAT dinner party!

Last night was a wonderful time with GREAT friends, and equally great food! ;0)

Our Menu:

Carolina Burgers- Angus burgers basted in a mustard BBQ sauce, a slice of Jack cheese, and a HEAPING pile of green onion slaw placed between a toasted bun.

French Fries

Vanilla Coconut Milkshakes with homemade whipped cream and toasted coconut on top.

One of my guests was kind enough to bring an additional treat..."Chocolate Dipped Cake Balls"...but that's a whole other blog post! ;0)

Who knows, in another 6 years, I may get up the courage to ask YOU over for dinner! :0)

Boot "Scootin'" with Woody

We are in our 2nd year of homeschooling, and with Wyatt (ahem, "Woody") entering 1st grade, came the responsibility of "Physical Education". I must say I was never this enthused about P.E. when I went to school! It was always the class I dreaded the most. I absolutely HATED changing in to my gym clothes in front of all of my peers, and nothing was more monotonous than running 4 laps around our track in high school. The only thing worse than changing in to gym clothes, was of course, changing into a SWIM SUIT! GAG!!! Water P.E. was the pits! I faked many periods to my male P.E. coach...for some reason they didn't make the females swim if they requested not to when we were menstruating!?!? Go figure!

Anywhoo, now that Wyatt is required to do P.E. I am having a blast, and it has really assisted in holding me accountable to exercise almost daily myself! Wyatt hops on his scooter, and he keeps right up with me as we go on a 3 mile lap around our neighborhood. There is the occasional water break, but for the most part he doesn't slow me down in the least. :0) Now, Beatrice tossing books out the side of the stroller, throwing fits that the wind blew in her direction, and/or her many requests for more snacks...now that is another story! (I'm slightly exaggerating, LOL)

Jim Henson Announces NEW Puppet!...

..."The Cupcake Monster!" Over the last week, I have made 150 cupcakes, and over the last 3 days I have consumed 4 of them...woops! Like I revealed in an earlier post, it is terribly difficult for me to resist a beautiful cupcake! Unfortunately the M.O.P.S. bake sale is continuing on for 2 more weekends which means I will be making 200 more cupcakes..."Lord, help me!"

Thank the Lord for Red Velvet Cake!

Beatrice and I went to a Mini Mouse Tea Party yesterday, and we had a wonderful time! Parties usually result in me over-indulging on anything delicious (a.k.a "Unhealthy"), but that was not the case yesterday! :0)

I was not perfect, however, there was no gluttony to be had! My biggest weakness in the world is a beautiful cupcake, and luckily when I offered to make some (ADORABLE!) mini (in size and theme, LOL) cupcakes, I was asked to bake red velvet cupcakes! WAHOOO!...I HAAATE Red Velvet cake! And even more so, the butter cream frosting had to be died RED! EVEN WORSE (or better, for me)! I 100% can't stand the taste of red food coloring in baked goods...it is very strong (IMO), and it totally ruins the taste for me. I wasn't tempted to do any taste-testing of the batter, frosting, or a finished cupcake! They sure did come out cute though...in my not-so-humble opinion! ;0)

Facebook Throw-up

Elizabeth Brumbaugh...deactivated her Facebook account a few weeks ago.

Elizabeth Brumbaugh...is somehow surviving life without it (who knew!?)

Elizabeth Brumbaugh...still comes up with a few (thousand) "status updates" a day in her head. To name a few:

Elizabeth Brumbaugh is either getting larger or her clothes are getting smaller...I'm THINKING it's the 2nd option.

Elizabeth Brumbaugh just discovered that on my computer, I have an actual folder of photos named "Food"...who does that!?!? And to make it worse, I have a 2nd folder of photos on my computer named "Cupcakes & Cookies"...SERIOUSLY!?

Elizabeth Brumbaugh is back on her diet! :0)

Elizabeth Brumbaugh is off of her diet. :0(

Elizabeth Brumbaugh is back on her diet! :0)

Elizabeth Brumbaugh looked at the calendar...it's the first of the month...diet time!

Elizabeth Brumbaugh looked at the calendar...it's Monday...diet time!

Elizabeth Brumbaugh looked at the calendar...it's the end of the month and I managed to GAIN weight this month (again!)

Elizabeth Brumbaugh is baking 324 cupcakes (literally) over the next 3 weeks.

Elizabeth Brumbaugh would be PERFECT if she wasn't fat...and well, nobody is perfect! ;0)