Flour and dirt

The makings of lemon bars!

The sum of my days... and you will be thankful to know... never combined!

I rarely get any computer time these days so my writing between now and after the wedding will be sparse.  I may get in one Sunday Afternoon Tea post and a few weekday posts.  So, I thought I'd share my baking and gardening progress today.

The freezer is full of lemon bars, lemon tea cake, peanut butter-toffee-chocolate chip cookies, and citrus tea cookies.  I will be baking more lemon bars, regular chocolate chip cookies, and small loaves of quick breads this afternoon and tomorrow (I am taking Sunday off).

Then I begin the 200 to 250 cupcakes, mini cupcakes, and the cake balls I'm making (Bakerella style)... which will be presented in candy size papers instead of on sticks like those works of art Stephanie is making.

Oh, someone had asked in comments why we didn't just bake cakes in sheet pans?  Because Stephanie and I are making an attempt to create... magic (Narnia magic, of course).  The dessert buffet is to look beautiful and absolutely amazing!  As we have texted each other... "Let the angels sing!".  ;)

I love working with my daughter (even if at the moment we are 1,000 miles apart).  I don't have to explain anything, she gets it already.  A few words texted back and forth and we both... understand.

A small wedding cake is being baked for the bride and groom to cut for pictures (by a professional bakery) but we are in charge of the rest of the food.  It started out to be just a dessert buffet but tea sandwiches are being added to prevent over-the-top sugar highs.

I typed up and printed out my recipes to make it easier to follow

Most of the recipes have to be doubled

I'm learning that I can't do everything in one day so I'm also learning how to juggle baking, gardening, and the keeping of the house (with Christopher living here needing to be fed and extra laundry, too).  Not to mention a high maintenance Maine Coon.

But I'm well aware that there are only a few days left when Christopher will be here chatting with me after midnight or yelling at the TV during a Chicago Bulls game with his father... especially last night.  :(

Our car is still in the shop being fixed and Christopher will hopefully get his car back today.  It has been a faith building experience for all of this to happen at once.  I never like going through such experiences because they are inconvenient but when they are past, I can see God's hand at work.

Below are pictures of the garden as it looked yesterday (and it changes daily).  I still have to plant a few more items but we're already reaping the rewards of the garden with kale, lettuce, a little spinach for a salad (as only one survived the March heat), and mint or lemon balm for tea.

We just passed the last frost day so tomatoes and bush beans were planted.  I think I'm going to try pole beans where the lettuce is located right now.

I gave the apple mint a haircut after taking this picture

Cool weather plants

The lettuce "crop", I've thinned some but mostly harvested by cutting

Five tomato plants went in last week

This is what happens when you forget to lay landscape fabric before adding soil to your raised bed!

Hubby cleared out the above weeds yesterday (their roots were too strong for me!).  So I'll be planting nasturtiums in the front of that raised bed and "something else" in the back.  When I have a car again and a few extra dollars, I'll be heading to my favorite nursery for ideas.

I love my favorite nursery.  I could spend the morning there just coveting admiring their selection.  :)

It has been good to share my morning break with you (after baking five dozen citrus tea cookies).

Off to the garden now for a little planting and reaping and then back to make a second double batch of lemon bars.