Another Year, Gone In A Flash!!

I don't celebrate birthdays much, at least not in my house.  In the first place, I can never remember how old I am, and in the second place, I don't want to know anyway!!  Seems I'm always a year or two off.  At any rate, at least SOMEONE wants to give me presents .... Joann's craft store sent a nice coupon.  How sweet is that??

Yes, I know the only reason is to get me in the store so I will spend even more, which usually works in their favor.  Yesterday however, I just might have come out ahead ..... maybe ..... just a little.

You know I love cupcakes and have recently come across several recipes I want to try that require things I don't have in my pantry.  These little candies that you make with a mold are one.

The easiest way to make these decorations is to melt Wilton's candy, pour it in a mold and voila!!  Candy!!  Even "I" can do this!!  

It was a nice birthday surprise (mind you, they are a few weeks early) when I received the 25% discount coupon.  It was even nicer when I discovered everything Wilton and cake decorating in the store was already 25% off.  Being the accountant that I am, I quickly figured out that meant 50% off anything I wanted ... and I wanted this cupcake/cake carrier, along with some frosting tints, candy molds and miscellaneous hardware.

So what did I do when I got home??  I made pie of course!  Having stopped by Harbor Freight for lights to hang over our rally site, I ran in Food Max (right next door) just to pick up a couple items.  This seems to be Save Mart's lower end store that I never shop at.  Wow has it changed!!  The interesting thing is they have almost everything the big store does, but at lower prices.  I'm not sure how that works out, but I saved $8 on $28 of food, all name brand stuff.  The downside is you have to bag it yourself ... unless you act very confused and the nice girl does it for you!!

Back to the pie, if you like peanut butter AT ALL, you will LOVE this.  Soooooo simple!  Whip together 8 ounces of cream cheese with one cup peanut butter, blend in 1-1/4 cups powdered sugar, then one container cool whip.  Mix well, scraping bowl, put in pie shell and stick it in the freezer.  How easy is that?  Of course I didn't make the crust, but you could, out of crushed oreo cookies instead of graham crackers.  Super fast for company ... or four more birthday parties for me before I begin another year.

Yes, I celebrated a little early, hoping maybe I can get in another couple of dessert celebrations before the month ends.  People talk about their birthday week, I'm having a birthday MONTH!!  I'm also hoping to make cactus cupcakes, but that will have to wait.  I'm due at the Elks kitchen at 8:00 (Ugh ... I hate these early hours) to prepare what we can ahead of time for the big Mother's Day Brunch ... complete with champagne and roses!!  That of course, means ANOTHER early morning tomorrow!!