Baking like crazy

We are having my in-laws over for a barbeque tomorrow night. So today I baked a Zebracake (german recipe here),

 a chocolate cake with the Pioneer Woman's frosting
(so delish: here) and a Fress-mich-dumm Kuchen ( a similar recipe is here at my fellow paraguayan blogger: Betty)

I'm also making a simple Bonnie Butter cake with mini chocolate chips just for us to enjoy for the weekend.

If you realize that I baked all of this with a broken oven door (I have to put a chair up against the door, so that it stays closed while baking), I might get a pat on the back:)

At the beginning of each year, we put the names of my parent-in-laws, my sisters- and brothers-in-laws and our own all into a hat, and everyone picks a name. I picked my MIL's name, so I am hosting her birthday party for the rest of the family this Sunday. It sounds complicated, but it's actually fun.


Ann from over here sent me an email yesterday, telling me that I was the first in place to receive her heart-shaped-rock. Ann has this great idea... read it yourself:


Last summer we started The Heart-Shaped Rock Project. The "little gem" got lost in a house along the way, so... due to lovely requests... I'm going to start it again. And we have a first few stops lined up!
Next week I will be mailing our little gem to Brenda "The Chaco Girl" in Paraguay. How cool, right?

So, I'll be waiting for a package in the mail soon! I hope to have a camera by then to take a pic of me and the cute rock:)

Have a great weekend, everyone! Love ya!

Have you ever been bored enough...

to do this:

I have to admit they are very cute, but I'd hate work so hard on something, just so that it lands broken in the crack of the sofa someday.

Check out the website here.

I was at the local craft show yesterday. I saw a lot of nice things, but it just made me miss my sewing machine even more. I hope it will be ready soon.

On Monday night I had a wonderful 4-way chat with all of my sisters at the same time. We laughed so hard!!! My sisters are special, because they don't really have to be my friends, they chose to be them!

I love Dani the most, because she's the oldest, tallest, has great kids, great kitchen skills and a love for all animals.

I also love Caroline the most, because she lives the closest to me, she babysits my kids, she gives me hugs, cookies and advice, whenever I need them.

And I love Andrea the most, because she's younger than I am, she's naturally blonde, totally dedicated to telling people the Good News with her remarkable language skills, and also an ace in the kitchen!

Today we celebrate friendship day in Paraguay, I'm grateful to the friends that I picked and also to the friends God picked for me!

Feliz Día de Amistad a todos mis amiga/os en Blogland!

Meet me for the seventh edition...

I'm back for Meet Me on Monday. I couldn't participate last week, because we headed out to Asuncion, bright and early last Monday.

Right now, I'm in bed with a very sore throut and general icky-ness. The power just went out, so I'll have to post this a little later, but at least I can type in the dark:)

Java has some great new questions for us to answer and I'm looking forward to bloghopping later on to see what you all wrote.

Questions:

1. What one food could you eat every single day?

Chocolate, or doesn't that count as food? I also love stir-fry and anything with chicken, broccoli and green tossed salads with a creamy dressing.

2.  Do you wear glasses or contacts?

I have glasses that I sometimes use, but I've noticed that my eyes have gotten better over the last years.

3. What kind of cell phone do you have?

I have a Nokia 6300, but it's starting to act up. I've been dreaming about an Iphone for months, but you can't get them that easy down here in Paraguay.

4. What did you have for dinner last night?

A homemade roll with a slice of sausage, a cup of coffee and a piece of Sigrid's Carrot Cake. (Delish!)

5. What is your favorite candy?

Anything with chocolate. But also Sweet Tarts, Twisters, the minty kind of Livesavers, grape and cherry Tootsie Pops! (Can't get any of that here either, except for chocolate!)

I was writing about Skip-bo last week and was wondering, if anyone has that or other card games they don't need anymore, and would like to send them to me:) I don't have it yet, and can't find it in out book store.

Well, I hope you all have a productive week! It's back to routine for us, as the girls went back to school this morning after a 2 1/2 week vacation. I wanted to get so much done today, but have only managed to send the girls to school (with a breakfast and a snack:), make breakfast for Marv and me, put 1 load of laundry into my new washing machine. (My old one broke down right before we left, and we had to get a new one on Thursday, I love it!)

New Blog Layout

Bear with me while I try to get my blog cleaned up and choose a layout that I like and that reads well.

Just came back from a delightful evening playing skip-bo with some great ladies:)

Our husbands are practicing for a volleyball tournament, so we get together and play some cards. The kids watch a dvd or drive us crazy, whatever:) But we always have a lot of fun!

Good night, friends!

Winter Vacation

This week was the second and last week of the girls vacation. We had to go to the capital for Brianna's check-up, so we made a family trip out of it. We had a lot of fun while driving there, except for the ever-present question: Are we there yet?

We went to the Expo first thing, because the weather was still a little warmer than the past days and then we didn't have to drive back and forth as much. We saw a lot of stands with doodads and whatnots. (I wasn't paying attention:) We saw some cattle and some horses.

We liked going to different shopping malls and supermarkets. The Casa Rica is always worth going to. I found some fresh raspberries there. (Andrea, don't compare them to BC-berries, these are a poor excuse, but welcome anyway) I baked some Raspberry Streusel Muffins this afternoon with them. They're yummy!