Herriman Lacrosse Tournament booth

So some of you know I've been working like a mad woman lately, trying to get a bunch of products made to sell at the booth my friend/neighbor Heather and I rented.

The "show" was a fund raiser for Herriman's kids Lacrosse teams.

It was estimated that over 3000 people would attend the tournament.

Heather and I worked our hiney's off all day/night Friday, getting ready for the 6:00am departure time. (I got about 4 hours of sleep, Heather didn't sleep AT ALL)

We loaded up my 1979 Mercedes station wagon to the gills, tied a couple of chairs and tent/canopy to the top, and off we went.

We found the park it was located in, and began setting up our booth. I found a prime location in the pavilion, up by the stage, in the shade, and out of the wind. (We really wanted shade for Heather's bakery goods, so the frosting, etc. would melt & get gooey)

We spent almost 2 hours setting up, but our booth was by far the cutest one there! (Pics of it later, they are on Heather's camera)

So the 8:00am start time came, and we didn't see any teams coming to play on the field adjacent to the pavilion. Hmmm... we tracked down the lady running the show, and were told that apparently the tournament had been moved to an upper field, because some T-ball kids needed the regular field. Nobody running the show had been told about the change until after the show began.

Lovely. Well the field they'd moved to was just south of the Pavilion, but on a different level (the field was level with the pavilion roof), but signs were being made and word spread to send people/parents down to the pavilion.

Well, long story short, nobody saw the signs, or cared about the fund raiser and we sold product to maybe 15 people all day. Five of them were Heather's relatives.

I sold a donut.

To Heather's dad.

(In case you're wondering why he would want a donut, he's a cop & is going to put it on his desk... hmmm do I detect a new market?)

Heather was more successful with her cupcakes and other goodies, but after the cost of the booth, she made about $25.00

Ooohhhh. Aaahhhh.

Pretty disappointing. We sent Heather's 2 teenage daughters out with samples, out bragging about how good the stuff was, and out with business cards/flyers to stick on cars. Nothing seemed to help.

I spent my money from the donut on 2 pecan logs another vendor was selling. (Happy Father's Day Dad and Dudley!) They were too yummy to pass up, and at least I made enough to cover their cost! Ha!

So... lessons learned:



1) Research the potential better in future. (although this one SHOULD have had plenty of potential)

2) We did learn how to set up our booth, what we needed, how to make it easier in future, etc.

3) Look for more shows to attend, with more proven success. (This WAS the very first Lacrosse fundraiser ever for Herriman)

4) Be happy my items are not perishable. Heather is going to try to unload some of her cupcakes on local restaurants for their dessert options.

5) Try, try again!

Anywho.. now you get to see the stuff I made for it! (Minus one donut.. it was yellow)

We are going to look into a booth at the Utah State Fair, will keep you posted!

Get your motor runnin’….

Dudley got his BMW out and running this weekend.. the boys both enjoyed a ride around the neighborhood. Drew was first…suited up in the harness we bought when Douglas was little and riding to preschool every morning with Dudley. Douglas watched and waited anxiously for his turn, helmet ready.

Drew returns with Dude, and Douglas takes his place… but what? Drew going through withdrawals already? Oh….poor Drew! He finally “man’s” up right before Dudley and Douglas return home.

Do I see more motorcycle rides in the boys future?

Dish Drying Mats

I finished a bunch of dish drying mats for my sisters, sisters-in-law, and mother's birthdays this year.

These are made out of my fabric scraps and a dish towel.

I made a BUNCH of these at Christmas for all my neighbors/friends, and one for me. I use mine ALL THE TIME, every time I unload the dishwasher I set the drippy dishes on the towel.

I also use it as a hot pad for my larger pans, cake pans, etc.

Felt Flower Basket

My neighbor "re-gifted" this to me the other day, I filled it with goodies for Teacher Appreciation Week. I thought it was cute and would be pretty easy to replicate, so I took photo's for inspiration for all who want to look!

Curry Chicken Pot Pie

I made this tonight for the famdamly, it was very nummy. Dude declared it a "keeper".
I found the recipe on foodnetwork, one of Alton Brown's recipes. You CANNOT go wrong with Alton Brown!

Ingredients

• 4 cups frozen vegetable mix, peas, carrots
• 1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1 package puff pastry

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss frozen vegetables with canola oil and spread evenly onto a sheet pan. Place into oven and cook until golden brown.

In a saute pan heat 1 tablespoon of butter and sweat the onion and celery. In another saucepan, heat the broth and milk. Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to the celery mix and cook out the water. Add the flour and curry and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the hot milk mixture and cook until thickened. Add the parsley, salt and pepper. Toss the browned vegetables and the chicken. Pour into a shallow baking pan, or a large terra cotta pot base, lined with foil, and top with 6 to 8 circles of puff pastry. Place into the oven and cook until puff pastry has browned and the mixture is hot and bubbly, about 25 minutes.

Changes I made were:

Used fresh and frozen veggies

Added sauted mushrooms

Used pie crust instead of puff pastry (my local Smith's didn't have any puff pastry).

I also served it with white rice:

1 C Jasmine rice

2 Chicken boullion cubes

2 1/4 C Water

2 TBS butter

Crush boullion cubes, combine all ingredients, bring to boil, stir and lower heat to simmer for 18-20min.

MMMMMmmmmmmm Yummy!

Leather Wall Update

I realized I haven't updated my "Leather Wall" post... I've hung my new photo's of the kids, as well as our last 2 years worth of family photos.


I'm sure I will expand on the photos as years (or the summer) goes by, but this is a start for now!


Also, having moved my sewing/craft stuff up to my new 'studio', (It all used to be up against the 'leather wall) I now have a TON more room in the front room.


Seriously, the room hasn't felt this big since we moved in!


And yes, the remaining walls in the room are all now blank (I'm soooo not used to having ANY wall space at all!), that now I suppose I'll have to make a wall hanging or something to add a bit more excitement in here...


I'm sure you'll see it when I figure it out!


And last but not least... Bubba napping/nursing the nasty cold that has clobbered us all in the past week or so. At least he's napping through the neighbor kids birthday party... the one Douglas is attending, and Drew thinks he should be. Now he won't even realize he missed it!

One can hope!

Rainey Days and Mondays!

Welcome to Spring Break in Utah...

Douglas is out of school all week, and our Monday started out wet wet wet.

Drew constantly wants "outside!" now, he's even learned how to (mostly) undress himself in the mornings in order to force me into getting him dressed into play clothes suitable for outside. (At least he realizes jammies are not outside clothes!)

So today, as we did the ritual point out the window and yell "ME OUTSIDE!" I tried to explain that it was raining and wet... and mucky.

I lost.

The kids got to use the new IKEA umbrellas I bought last year, and Drew got to wear his froggy boots, (hand me downs from Douglas that are WAYYYY to big for Drew still), and away they went to parade around the house and open and close the umbrellas a million times.

Until Drew started using his umbrella as a Bulldozer, ripping a hole in one of the seams....

Why do I buy umbrellas?