Martha Monday--Martha is a grandmother!

Martha Stewart became a grandmother earlier this year after daughter Alexis's surrogate gave birth to baby Jude. Here's what she had to say yesterday on her facebook page:

"This year is very special for me. My daughter, Alexis, has become a mother for the first time, and as a result I am a grandmama for the first time. It is hard to believe that I am now the senior woman in our family of three living generations and I am thrilled. Happy Mother's Day to every mother who has nurtured and cared for her own offspring and good luck to all of you who will soon be mothers. It's a good thing!"

With this news, and with so many friends and family members enjoying (or at least expecting) their own little bundles of joy, I have babies on the brain.  In the coming days I'll be sharing with you two baby showers I worked on recently, so get ready for some fun cookies and cakes coming your way. 

In the meantime, if you are hosting a baby shower or just need some party inspiration, check out MarthaStewart.com for baby shower themes, etiquette, favors and decorations. 

I hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day!

Gifts for grandmas

This year, I'm having the Little Guy make Mother's Day gifts for the three grandmothers.  If this goes well, I hope to have him, and eventually Little Miss, make all family gifts for birthdays, holidays and special occasions throughout the year.  And when our family and friends are thrilled with their gifts from the kiddos, we'll open our own TMI Etsy shop and craft our way to two fully paid college educations, all before they reach middle school.

The Little Guy is painting clay pots, which we will fill with potted Gerbera daisies from Lowe's.  I wish I had thought of this project in February, then we could have grown herbs from seed rather than buying blooms at the store.  Oh well, there's always next year for that.

As far as painting projects for three-year-olds go, this went really well. The Little Guy was focused and there wasn't much mess. 

Little Miss looked rather bored and bummed to be left out of the craft project, so I gave her a purple crayon and a piece of paper so she could create her own Mother's Day masterpiece. 

Then, I left the room for one minute (it's not often I get to use the restroom without an audience, and I wasn't about to let this opportunity pass by!) and you can guess what happened:  Little Miss tossed the paper on the floor and proceeded to color her high chair tray.

When she got tired of coloring her high chair tray, she simply chewed on the crayon until she had purple teeth.   

It may be a while before that TMI Etsy store is up and running.  Happy Mother's Day!

Labels and dates

During the most recent expedition to my basement for a sorting/organizing/purging session, I did something I should have done long ago...I labelled boxes. 

Yep, that's right: a Martha-Stewart-wannabe had not been labelling boxes in her own basement.  The horror!

And why hadn't I been labelling boxes?  Because I always think I will remember what is in them.  And do I ever remember?  No.  No, I do not.

As a result, I go through the same boxes again and again when I am looking for things. And each time, the angel on my right shoulder says "You should really label these boxes."  To which the devil on my left shoulder replies "Nah! You'll totally remember what is in each and every single box.  All 300 of them!"

And guess which one I believe every time?  Well, no more. I finally labelled boxes after I was done sorting and organizing the contents. Take a look:

Not only did I label the boxes with the contents, but I also included the date I labelled them. Now I know when this box of photo albums was sorted, and I can move on with my life. 

The little devil on my left shoulder has been stunned into silence.  I'm enjoying the quiet.

Lemon pound cake

In the May issue of Everyday Food, there is an entire spread devoted to pound cakes.  Mmmmm...pound cake. Now I like a good pound cake, but I had never baked one for fear it was too complicated.  It turns out that pound cakes are really quite simple to make, and seeing the ingredients and directions in print was all the inspiration I needed to tackle one.

The first step is to cream the butter and sugar together for eight full minutes.  This is the reason industrial-strength mixers (in kitchen sizes!) were invented.

I took my flavor cue from the Everyday Food spread with their citrus-glazed pound cake which called for orange zest/juice and lemon zest/juice in the cake batter and the icing glaze.  I was all out of orange juice and oranges, so I used only lemon juice and zest.

However, this makes absolutely no sense to me because I had to go to the store for the lemon. Why didn't I pick up an orange while I was there?  Sometimes, I have no idea what is going on in my own life.  Sigh.

Along with being the first time I baked a pound cake, it was also the first time I ever zested anything. Obviously, this was a big day for me.

The massive amount of butter in the cake makes it really moist. In fact, it kept bubbling around the perimeter.  This made me think that the cake wasn't done, and I ended up over baking it. 

Note to self: the next time you bake a pound cake, ignore the butter bubbles and take the cake out after 65 minutes. 

This was a really great, and easy, dessert.  Make the lemon version, or check out the May issue of Everyday Food to see more variations.  Enjoy!

Gift ideas for Mother's Day

Is your mom a Martha fan?  If so, there are some great deals to be had on Martha Stewart publications in time for Mother's Day. 

Get one year of Martha Stewart Living for $19.95.

Get ten issues of Whole Living for $10.00.

Get ten issues of Everyday Food for $10.00.

And to get this adorable front-page style coloring sheet, click here.

But don't stop the gift-giving with a magazine subscription. Seriously.

Is your Mom a fan of smelling awesome? Or a fan of gorgeous earrings?  Then compliment that magazine subscription gift with some lovely baubles and scents from Darling Clandestine.  Evonne sent me two new fragrances (Carny Wedding and Pyrotechnik) and I was blown away.

I am now the proud owner of eight fragrances in the Calliope Crash line. Before these arrived, I had them all arranged by my order of preference, which was an already difficult job. When Carny Wedding and Pyrotechnik got here, that comfortable and well-established order was totally disrupted. In fact, these two might have marched right into places #2 and #3.  That's how awesome they are.

So, if you were wondering to get Mom, or yourself, for Mother's Day, then I'm happy I could point you in the right direction:  a MS magazine subscription and fragrances from Darling Clandestine will thrill her for the entire year.  Have fun shopping!