Tall Stack

International Pancake Day is tomorrow. To get a stack this high you might have to start flipping pancakes today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
Source: Dakota Kelly one from her favorite family recipes.
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
• Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.       

Tall stack or short stack cook them up on this pretend stove.

Oscar Day Fact

Oscar Day Fact: Many of our beds have starred in movies and have also made television appearances. Some of the beds have even been regulars on soap operas. The latest two auditioned and were selected for Target television commercials.  Oprah had one of our family lounger bean bag chairs on her set years ago.

One could be a star in your home too.

Look for the Griggs Bunk Bed currently “starring” in a Best Buy commercial. When  beds from Totally Kids fun furniture & toys are selected for film or your home, we always think of them as stars.

Mid-Century Teen

The word teenager was created sometime in the 1950’s.

Before Modernism Week in Palm Springs comes to a close, and we are on to other ideas, let’s call today back to the future day decorating teen rooms

This 1954  bedroom was described as a boys’ room, but coral? A wooden mat is used for the vertical striped wall treatment used to protect the walls. Clever. But from what? Bolsters were commonly found atop tailored bedspreads.

Picture Source: Better Homes & Gardens

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With Mid-Century spirit, you can have this functional corner bed for your home.

Express yourself with color and personalize your room with the Arielle collection. Offered in a clean eggshell white finish, Arielle features removable color accent panels on case fronts and beds. Four color options for a total of eight color choices are stored inside the drawer fronts. Simply remove the knob and you can slide the panels in and out to create an array of color schemes. Mix and match the colors of midnight, snowflake, limelight, blue ice, cocoa, lavender blush, sea breeze and bubblegum.

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Commonly known with the slogan “It’s little…It’s lovely…It lights” the Princess Phone and you can have one.

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What did a teenager’s bedroom look like in the 1950’s and 1960’s?

Yahoo answers posts memories some folks shared of their bedrooms, such as:

I had a double bed with a hand-me-down yellow chenille bedspread. The furniture was blond wood that was the popular thing in the late 40’s, but traditional matching bed, dresser, & vanity with velvety bench with rose fabric. As a reward for cleaning my room, Mother bought be see-through yellow curtains to match. Then I had a bookshelf I made with Mother’s help, plus dachshund bookends, & all sorts of collectibles, like yellow poodle on chains, for the vanity. I also had a great washable pastel blue large chenille throw rug over hardwood floors. There was also corkwood above the knotty pine walls so I could put up stars’ pics & such. Oh, yeah, & I had a quilt my grandmother made, plus the stuffed animals she made, & a whole collection of dolls from childhood.

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1950’s Slang To Go Along With The Decor: Okay, let’s do this!from: Rockn Teen Parties

• Going Ape – to explode or be really mad
• Are you writing a book? – You’re asking too many questions
• Bad news – Depressing person
• Blast _ A good time
• Boss – Great
• Square – A regular, normal person
• Nerd – Bill Gates without the money
• No sweat – No problem
• Passion Pit – Drive-in movie theater
• What’s buzzin, cuzzin – What’s new?
• Wail – Go fast
• Tank – A large sedan – usually driven by parents or older people
• Threads – Clothes
• Unreal – unbelievable
• Wazoo – Your rear end
• Cookin’ – Doing it well
• Spaz Someone who is uncoordinated, or a clutz
• Submarine races – While waiting for the submarines to race, couples found creative ways of killing the time, hubba, hubba!
• Royal shaft – Badly or unfairly treated
• Righto – Okay
• Tear ass – Drive very fast
• Radioactive – Very popular
• Pound – Beat up
• Cloud 9 – Really happy
• Cat – A hip person
• Bread – Money
• Cool it – Relax, settle down
• Bash – Great party
• Bobbed – Shortened (as in haircut)
• Greaser A guy with tons of grease in his hair, Later this came to describe an entire group of people (think Fonzie)
• Cranked – Excited
• Crazy “Like crazy,man” Implies an especially good thing
• Dig – To understand and approve
• Fat City – Happy
• Flick – A movie
• Hang – As in “hang out” which means not doing much
• Heat – The Police
• Hip – Someone who is cool
• later, gator – Goodbye
• Like crazy – Really good
• Make out – A kissing session

Celeb Beds

Oscar Week and we asked our Facebook fans to do some movie star to bed pairings.

First off this multi-layered bunk bed is one that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt might consider for their brood now rumored to be targeted at 14. (jk – we know it’s better suited for a summer camp)

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Another fan chose the Open Seas Bunk Beds for Johnny Depp. Now why would that be, Captain Jack? Arrrrrr!

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This pretty poster bed was selected for Anne Hathaway. Our fan said “because Anne is a princess.” We all know the diary, right?

 

 

 

 

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Our Stella Loft another fan thought would be good for Silvester Stallone. Stellaaaaaa…

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This castle bed was selected for Colin Firth, The King’s Speech.

 

Modernism Week Continues

Thousands of aficionados of all things modern have descended on Palm Springs for the Annual Modernism Week, an homage to the ideals of mid-century modern design, architecture and culture running from February 17th to the 27th.

Palm Springs, is easily one of the best preserved Mid Century destinations in the country.

There are lectures, double decker bus architecture tours, travel trailer exhibits, vintage auto exhibit, fashion from the 50′s and 60′s with modernist style, tours of Frank Sinatras Twin Palms Estate plus an exhibit at the museum. The Elvis Presley Honeymoon Hideaway is a classic mid-century must see too.

We are off to the Modernism Week epicenter, the legendary Palm Springs Rivera Hotel tonight for “If You’ve Got it, Flaunt it: The Braniff Airlines Collection.” That will talk about at a later date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I mean back at Totally Kids fun furniture & kids; what do you think of these? Could you use a Ball  Chair or Yolk Chair, the pint sized replica of the of the iconic Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your little short stuff can have a Bertoia chairs and table set for the next play date.

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After all of this are you ready for some Grasshopper Pie? Family Fun had kids version of this classic chocolate-and-mint mid-century recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 7 whole graham crackers
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 gallon mint chocolate chip ice cream
• Chocolate sauce or hot fudge(optional)

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Instructions

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Remove the pan from the stove and let the butter cool for a few minutes.
2. Meanwhile, have your child crumble the graham crackers into the bowl of a food processor. Add the sugar and nuts, then pulse the ingredients in short bursts until you have very fine crumbs.
3. Empty the crumbs into a medium -size mixing bowl and stir in the cocoa powder and salt, then the melted butter. Have your child use her fingers to evenly blend the ingredients. Then blend in 1 or 2 teaspoons of water until the crumbs clump together slightly.
4. Heat the oven to 350º. Lightly butter a 9 -inch pie plate and press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and up the sides. Bake the crust on the center oven rack for 10 minutes. Let the crust cool on a wire rack, then chill it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Transfer the ice cream from the freezer to the refrigerator for 10 to 20 minutes, so that it will soften.
5. Now your child can spoon the softened ice cream into the piecrust, pressing it firmly with an ice-cream spade to fill any airholes. Smooth the top, then place the pie back in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until it’s firm. When it’s time to serve the pie, drizzle chocolate sauce on each slice, if desired. Makes 10 servings.

Wordless Wacky Wednesday

Snowman Woes

Mid-Century Kids

Here we are in Palm Springs, California, a town doubling as a virtual museum of Mid-Century Modern architecture with possibly the world’s largest and best preserved examples of elegant homes built during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

 

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the George Alexander Construction Company partnered with several architects to develop a unique approach to tract housing and built over 2500 homes in southern California. The company primarily worked in and near Palm Springs but their style of houses were emulated across the United States.

The Alexander Construction Company gave their homes a variety of distinctive roof lines similar to this one, which by the way, is available for immediate move in.  It features an open floor plan just as many of the Alexander homes built of more solid materials do.

An opportunity missed, but maybe another time to take this tour. Some of the houses on this poster depict features common to the Alexander homes, such as: expansive windows, windows and doors minus their typical moldings, breezeway connecting an open carport to the house, flat, slanted, or butterfly-shaped roofs, exteriors finished with two-tone wood, patterned brick, decorative concrete block and Three-quarter high wall partitions.

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Harry Bertoia’s diamond lounge chair and cyclone table remain a fascinating study in bent metal and a fixture of mid-century design, now scaled down 75 percent for the younger set.

Totally Kids fun furniture & toys will help you find the mid-century pieces that you are searching for, large or small.

 

 

Eames Hang It All will always have a place in kids rooms.

Moooo A Cash Cow For You….

Right now, can you even imagine purchasing a can or two of instant snow?

But, think of this: For some of us it would be like winning the lottery or having a cash cow if we could sell off some of our snow supply, right Minneapolis/St.Paul?

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Build  Your Own Frosty The Snowman.

Ingredients

• Small powdered doughnut
• Powdered doughnut hole
• Decorators’ gel

• Pretzel or potato stick
• Haviland Thin Mint
• Reese’s peanut butter cup miniature

Instructions

1. Set a powdered doughnut hole atop a mini powdered doughnut. (For a taller version, use a pretzel stick or a potato stick to secure a second doughnut hole atop the first.)
2. Use decorators’ gel to add a face, buttons, and a carrot nose. (If the gel won’t stick, try smoothing the powder with a dab of water first.)
3. To add a top hat to a shorter snowman, stick a small piece of a pretzel or potato stick through a Thin Mint and into a Reese’s peanut butter cup miniature, then secure the hat in place on the snowman.

Family Fun has many other ideas for you too.

Before you leave,  have you ever seen the Minnesota Blizzard People from the last record dump?

Mother Nature or Photoshop? We will see if  by tomorrow if is this deep.

Modernism Week Palm Springs

It’s Modernism Week here in Palm Springs where it is always sunny, except for today.

The 11th Annual Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale is a highlight of Modernism Week featuring 10 days of celebrating everything modern with mid-century design and architecture fans, friends and aficionados from around the world all visit.

Palm Springs was once famous for movie stars hideaway homes during the golden age of Hollywood, but today this desert oasis attracts more sun-seeking retirees and gay travelers than celebrities.

With leftover love in the air from Valentine’s Day, it is fitting to begin Palm Springs modernism week looking at the Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway.

After their Las Vegas wedding, Elvis and Priscilla honeymooned in this home on May 1, 1967 then lived in it for about a year before buying a home offering more privacy located less than a mile away.

Even before the Presleys arrived, the house was famous for its architecture. Designed in 1962 as “The House of Tomorrow’” it was an experiment in modern living by the architecture firm of  Palmer and Krisel which was then built for the hefty sum of $300,000.

The house was featured in LOOK magazine, a mid-century pictorial, shortly after the home was built. The entire house is a set of round forms on different levels, there’s not a square room in the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bedroom fit for a King.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throne Room complete with tub.

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You to can live like the king, rent the Elvis Honeymoon House complete with 2 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and 4,695 sq ft of living space. Or….you can take a tour and see if it’s really the place for you.

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My favorite tell it like it is in Palm Springs:

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We know where you can find this Hound Dog Set, at Totally Kids fun furniture & toys.

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Classic retro food for kiddos, Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese.

Campbell’s Cream of Tomato Soup

1 can Condensed Tomato Soup
1 can milk
Pepper to taste

Directions from the back of the can…Slowly stir together soup and one can of milk.

STOVE: Simmer, stirring often. MICROWAVE: Use a microwave-safe bowl (duh!). Cover: microwave on HIGH 3 minutes or until hot. Stir.

Classic Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2 slices white bread
2 slices Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food Product
softened butter or margarine

Heat a griddle or small frying pan. Butter both sides of bread. Unwrap cheese slices and place between slices. Toast on both sides to desired consistency Serve immediately.