Stamp heaven

I just scored another awesome deal on craigslist.





For $90 I scored 950+ Stampin' Up! stamps (some of the best quality out there) plus 19 stamp pads, a stamp pad rack, refill ink bottles, and tons of extras.

That's about $.10 per stamp, when these retail anywhere from $5-$20 for a single stamp.

They took up my entire craft room floor just to look at all that I had bought.

Lots of good food.

Last Thursday I was excited to go home, get a little work done, and head to bed early. Life had other plans. I went home and made some banana bread (this stuff has gone over very well, and is so easy!).

I was just getting ready to head to bed when Klif called and let me know that he had picked up an overnight shift and could I bring him some food. I packed up a lunch bag with odds and ends so that there would be something that would sound good to him, and drove the 20 minutes downtown. Just a little behind my planned schedule, I headed back home to sleep. On the way, I got the text.

From: Jeremiah Cooper
"The baby is making a run for the border!"

I let him know I'd be there shortly. I stopped by home, packed a bag with work clothes for tomorrow, changed into my PJs, and grabbed my banana bread.

As soon as I walked in the door to their hospital room they wheeled her out. Turns out her water had broken the day before and she hadn't dilated at all. On top of that, Nichole was starting to get a temperature, and both her and baby's heart rates were raising. The doctors suggested a c-section to limit risks to either of their health.

About an hour later, Lily was born. Her blood sugar was a bit low, so she couldn't come into the room until about 11:30. I briefly held her, and then we all left so they could get some rest. I had to be at work in an hour and a half anyway, so I drover to work, let the security guards know that I was there, and napped in my car for 45 minutes until time to go in.

That was a rough morning at work. I left very early, and came home and slept until 4pm. Klif and I went back up to the hospital so Klif could see Lily, and then we went to dinner with mom and dad at Fox and Hound Pub.

A little too smoky, but the food was really good.

That night I cooked up some freezer meals for Jeremiah and Nichole so that they could relax a little.

The next morning I got up and headed to Muncie. First to get my haircut (thanks, dad!) and then to grandma's. We ran all over Muncie to different stores. After that it was time to go to mom's to get her my pictures of the baby for her printing needs. As always, that took 5 hours. By that time the storms were coming in really bad, so after having dinner with mom and dad at Taco Bell, we picked up grandma to stay the night with us.

Saturday we ran to some more stores, and then I went to see UP (3-D) (again!) with dad. After that, some putt-putt, and then to grandma's for the night. The next day was church, and then Father's Day lunch with dad, mom, and grandma.



I picked up Josh and Jill's dogs on the way home as they were on their way to Chicago for a couple of days.


Work as usual through the week. Tuesday Klif an I had dinner with an old youth leader of mine and her family. I met her youngest daughter, Hannah. She was adorable and had a great temperament!


I many be needed to watch Lily on Friday night for about an hour. I'm totally stoked.

Meet Lily!

Meet my new niece.




Lily Sunday Cooper was born Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 6:53 p.m. to my brother and sister-in-law Jeremiah & Nichole. She weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz., was 19 3/4 inches long, and has dark eyes and a full head of hair.

Baking machine.

The housewarming party was a success, and although I failed to take a single picture, I can assure you one thing. There was plenty of food.

Buffalo chicken dip, black bean/cream cheese dip, and parmesan bites were eaten so fast that I didn't get a chance to try them. As a matter of fact I spent a good amount of time assembling the parmesean bites just to have the whole pan eaten within 2 minutes. Next time I throw a party, I am throwing a parmesean bite party. Seriously.

We also had as amazing desert spread including cookies, brownies, creme puffs, and best of all...the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.

Yes, you read that right.

And they were amazing.

We had a good turnout, probably about 25 people in and out or so. And the dogs got some sweet gifts. And we got tiki-torches, so that was pretty sweet.

I was really happy with the evening, as the day was really hectic. I stopped on the way home to pick up some baking needs and some frames to cover up the shoddy TV mount job that was done the day before. I immediately started getting food ready. Kyle and Sara helped clean and prepare and Klif did some yard work. My parents even came a bit early to help with prep. I finished up most of the food just as the guests were arriving, and we all seemed to have a good time.

The next week we had the TV installation company send out another guy to fix the first one's mistakes, and are now pretty pleased.

After that it was back to work. About 2 weeks ago they announced 820 jobs were being eliminated, and we just got an email yesterday saying that they were completed. Only about 20 people at our location were laid off (out of about 900)so that was a huge relief.

Tuesday was Klif and I's 2nd anniversary. We celebrated on Monday by going to see UP (3D) (awesome) and then eating at Logan's. The next day, our actual anniversary, we spent cleaning. Hah.

Today I felt ambitious so I came home ans started baking.

Do you know what this is? I bet you wish you do. I'll tell you in a minute.


I also decided to make 12 more cupcakes, since I had leftover filling and icing. Please note that this is all made from scratch. Icing and all. Here are the cupcakes right out of the oven (The cupcakes are a Guinness chocolate batter).

I swear I don't know where the missing cupcake went.

Here they are after I take the lid off of the Jameson bottle and extract holes out of each of them.


Here they are after I fill those holes with made from scratch Jameson chocolate ganache.


And here they are after covering them with a heaping dollop of made from scratch Bailey's Irish Creme butter cream icing.



Stop drooling.

Oh yeah, and that pan full of amazingness I showed you earlier?

Bourbon Banana Bread. Let's just say I already bought more bananas.

I even did all of my dishes afterwards, which means I am exhausted, and now I want to go to bed.