CAKE!!

So, I was commissioned by a very dear friend to make a cake for her sister's baby shower. Though, I've only made... 4 other cakes, I completely welcomed the challenge. I'm really liking this cake business and I learn sooooo much every time I make one! It's usually involving my demise, but I still like it... And, honestly, even if it was a clump of cake covered with icing, what woman is going to complain? So, I felt less pressure, but still hoping the it turned out nice and 'creative'...

I made all 9 cakes the day before. Got up at 6:00 am and made a ton of icing! Yumm-O!

Sometimes this happens! :-/ But! Icing covers a multitude of sins!

The Baby's room was going to be pink and brown themed, so my idea was to make a neopolitan cake. 3 layers and each layer had vanilla, strawberry and chocolate cake. It was really pretty when cut and completely matched the icing colors. It was a good idea, I think..

Mmmm.... This was all I needed! And if you think I didn't stick my finger in this and lick it right off, you'd be crazy! My mamaw has always said that no recipe is complete until it has a little bit of spit! LOL! NO! I did NOT spit in it. It's just that the laws of double dipping don't apply to the woman cooks in my family!



It's a bit difficult to transfer the layers on top of one another, so this happens.... Oh well, more icing!



I used buttercream icing. Is there any other kind? ;-) I would like to try to work with a few kinds of jams or fruity icings.

See? All better! I set the cakes aside in order to allow icing to dry. Then, I can work on smoothing it a little more.

2 down, 1 to go!

I found these miss matched designs of ribbons that fit nicely and stiched them together... Took 4 ever. I may rethink this, too, in other future cakes. It was a bit expensive.... So, we'll see.

I masked the edges of the ribbon with a bead of chocolate. This is the bottom layer.

This is the top layer. I tried the Japanese blossom look.

I had this cake powder that was beautiful, but it would not look right on the cake, so I furred the top. It turned out MUCH nicer this way, anyways. So, I'm glad it happened.

Here's the middle layer. Wrapped a piece of ribbon around it and chocolate pearl accents.

Here's all 3 layers.

Here it is at the party! PHEW! It made it! Part of the theme of her party for her sister was, girly, girly, girly! Diamonds and Dior! Fabrics of pink and flowers! Major femininity ruled the air!

It all went really well and Melissa made sure the party was B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.!!!!!!! I was happy to be a part of it!

So long winter...

(Deep Breathe) I love spring! It's as though all of my friends are coming home for a visit or returning from a seasonal journey and staying at my house! I'm speaking of my precious friends growing in my very, very tiny piece of earth. They may not impress anyone other than myself, and I am completely okay with that! If I only had 1 pitiful little daffodil, I would probably feel contenment.

As corny as this may sound, I felt this tree kind of resembles the survivals that we undergo, yet can't let go of the things that have passed or been spent. Through the winter, this tree has survived, yet never did it let go of the leaves that needed to be returned to the ground...

A pinched version of a beach, Springfield, Ohio has a wonderful reservoire that, though it may contain a bit of urine and beer bottles, displays a beautiful bit of scenery for all of us to appreciate if we allow it. The snow gives us the feeling of white sandy beeches...

The snow and ice began to melt in the warm, 60 degree weather. I thought it made beautiful patterns in the slush covered body of water.

Gotta love my kitty, Sophia.

As the winter was leaving and the snow began to subside, often I'd awake to see a mist of humidity scaling around our neighborhood. I truly love waking up to sights like this.

This "in flight" bumble bee loves my redbud!

My redbud makes me feel like a great gardener! It always grows so fast and shows up right away!

When these (there were 3!) birds flew overhead while we were at a park a few days ago, I thought a kite was flying overhead! It's wingspan was so large that it shadowed the sun atop our heads. Neat!

Pick Your Battles... The Food Knowledge... or lack thereof!

I am an overweight, health conscience individual. In fact, sometimes I wonder if I'm overweight b/c of all of the information that has filled my brain over the last 10 years... Don't eat fat. Eat fat, but good fat. Watch calories. Calories from grown food are different than calories from processed food~ eat as many agricultural calories as you'd like. Butter. No, wait, marjorine. Nope, butter. Olive oil's best. Nope, sunflower or safflower oil is~ unless you have a nut allergy. Eat plenty of veggies, but don't go to the store everyday b/c that will cost you an arm and a leg! Buy frozen veggies. No, don't! They go thru a heating and cooling process that kills all of their vitamins. But, it doen't matter anyways, b/c ur gonna kill 'em once they hit the stove top burner. Never eat store bought orange juice for the same reason: pasterization. Don't eat wheat! Eat whole wheat. But, wheat turns into sugar. Eat Right For Your Blood Type. That diet makes no sense. No chips. Baked chips are better. But, yet the food nutrition stats on the back say otherwise. Tea! That's great for u... unless you decide to purchase non-organic. Tea's still shipped from all over the world, some parts of which they still are legally allowed to use DDTs. Sugar. No, Splenda. No, honey. No! Only Stevia!!! (Which is what I choose, mostly... then, honey... Sugar is a last resort, except for in cooking. The other things just don't bake right!) Eggs. Free range. Organic. Not just "organic", they need to be free range, too. Cage free just means that they let them out once a day for a minute or two or that they keep the chickes in a tightly enclosed pen, which they still can't move around. Support local farmers. Grow your own food! High fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated... everything! Oh, and by the way, your children are going to HATE all of the food you're switching to!


Then, IF you're able to achieve a sensible list of items to keep in your home, you have the guilt that comes along with buying packages of things that you don't know what's in them. And even worse, the guilt that comes along with not knowing how an animal is treated before they've slaughtered it for your table! I'm a firm believer that there are certain animals God has allowed to be utilized for food. I, however, am even more certain that God DOES NOT approve of the terrible conditions these animals are forced to endure their entire lives! Calves being ripped away from their mothers and fed a mixture of pigs blood and corn meal just so that the farmers can actively partake in the mass production of dairy milk! Lame, sickly and weak... Mad cow, swine flu, ecoli... there are reasons for these diseases coming in contact with us that has nothing to do with "the circle of life"! Being bled by having their throat slit while still alive isn't a good idea. Then, we decide to eat these mistreated animals. Tell yourself what you want abt the fact that they're bred to be slaughtered, no matter the method, and that it doesn't affect you... that you cook out all of the impurities. (Scoff!!) Whatever! If you ever wonder why you feel tired or depressed or unusually emotional.... take a look at the animals that you've eaten and the factual hormones that shoot through there bodies their life and assume that you won't feel the way your "now food" once did...


What's wrong with free range animals, happily fulfilling their lot in life, and when the time is right, instintanious annihilation? A quick jolt of electricity or a shot to the head. Though it still saddens me, animals in the wild annihilate one another in the most grotesque ways, BUT they are "complete" and "whole" mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc. until that time comes. THAT to me is the "circle of life". Right?


SIGH..... Anyways, now having vomitted that all out onto my plate (and yours), there are so many battles to pick. How can you decide what to eat? If you're like me, you have a grandmother that came from a very large family that had to have a farm to sustain them and butchered their own animals and had their own smoke house to cure the meat in and grew all of their own crops that were canned by the hundreds in quart jars on a daily basis. AND, they were much more healthier than we are.


Oh, and don't forget the fish! Farm raised or wild-caught. Well, DEFINITELY wild, that is unless another kunker oil boat decides to regurgitate all of it's black gold throughout our ENTIRE seasides!


Then, you have the "organic" or "non-organic" war. I've read a million books (well, a little over exaggerated, but you know what I mean) that have been written by ppl that swear you should ONLY, EVER EAT ORGANIC. Of course, they have their wealth from books and talk shows. Easy for them, right? Is it really organic if it comes from 1500 miles away or over seas? It's still picked too soon and rushed. Now, don't get me wrong... if the price is right, I will def choose the organic over the NOT any day, no matter if it's mushier or smaller... Most of the time, I'm pleased, to be honest. But, there was a study done with 100 lactaiding woman. In 85% of those women the scientists found jet fuel emmissions in their breast milk. So, even the healthiest of healthy is contaminated. Pollution is everywhere!


And am I the only one that's completely addicted to these cooking shows that show cuisines from all over the world that utilize their own fresh produce within a 15 mile radius?


All in all, I guess I just have to start by simply making 1 change at a time. First, of all, my family has cut WAY back on the fast food. Soon to completely eliminate. Which has been saving us a fortune! Well... maybe not, but pretty darn close! More home made meals at home, which you'd think would enable me to lose weight, but I'm such a d@r* good cook!

Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself n2 some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness!

Those are the words of Dale Carnegie, a businessman turn author/lecturer. Not, however kin to Andrew Carnegie of Carnegie Hall. He did tho, change the spelling of his name to match Andrew's seeings Andrew's success was growing.

Concerning happiness, I do so wish to write. I enjoy playing around on this blog, but I wonder if I could be a writer. Would I ever have a famous, cliche kind of quote others would recite for me long after I'm dead? Not recalling where it originated but its meaning was so powerful, it dare not be forgot. Doubtful, since I'll never seem to gather original, provoking ideas.

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything. ~William Shakespear

To come close to writings as Shakespear or Jane Astin or Louisa Alcott seems something only a well-learned man could accomplish! To recite old English the way they did, simply b/c it was their way and the only one they knew, but none-the-less, beautiful. Sometimes, tho, it didn't sound as nice as it read. I think I prefer to read it, unless it's uttered by someone such as Brian Cox.

But, then, about what would I write? Myself? Yawn. I have been known to be one of those people that have stated, "My life's so crazy, I could write a book!" (Say it in a Southern Draw and pretend you have a beer belly!) I may have some things to share that I haven't already, like how I pee in the shower... pretty much every single time I take a shower. I can't help it. I always pee before I get in, but then here comes the warm water. Or how I abhor crying b/c I feel it makes me weak. I could do mommy/daddy issues! UGH! Who cares about that?! I don't even want to talk about that junk! So over it! I could write about my family. Or should I say, MORE about my family. I do have plenty of stories for that! But, once I HAVE to do it I may not enjoy it anymore... I could include, tho, what it's like being a Christian woman, mother, wife and how I've fought to endure through all of our struggles and tribulations.... yada yada. It's been done so many times. Everyone strives to live by some guideline and struggles to maintain it. It's called LIFE! I am a frugal person/lover! I have ideas for that, but most of them come from books I've read! I could write fiction, non-fiction, biography, autobiography... But who cares?! I'm a no namer... Hhhhmmm... Well, I suppose for now, I'll write sheer, utter nonsense to myself on my blog... It'll be a journal of sorts... Maybe something could stem from it.... I might get to author a movie like Julia and Julia! OOOoohhh... Maybe I should test things out and document every single detail and post it for the whole world to see (In my mind I'm standing on a cliff shouting this out with my arms outstretched and head tilted back like in the Irish Spring commercials! LOL)! Ahem... excuse me. I can get carried away. I suppose that's already been done, too. Hmph! INSPIRE ME!

Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates!

Oh, that Forrest! How wise...

Ya know, life can be very much like that box of chocolates, not knowing what you're going to get, but yet, still how delicious that box is!

With all of the chaos going around the way - and not just us! I'm completely amazed by all of the ones that you would never have thunk come up to us and telling us their tragic/chaotic stories. People who were believed to really and completely have it ALL together - I've decided to take control of what I can... MY LIFE! And everything that's surrounding it. Can I control my finances or how someone else treats us (like luring our first pet into a cage and dumping her somewhere and acting like it was our fault!) or the endless phone calls from collectors of telemarketers that became old about 13 years ago when I first got my own telephone! Nope. I can't control them. But, I can control MYself, and how I look at things. We constantly allow so many toxins into our bodies from stress and why on earth give them that power over us?!

This is what I've started... It's small and many folks already do it, but here goes... For every bad (OMG! My life is ending!) situation that we're faced with, I find 3 positive things that have come out of it. Between that and my "Positivity Journal" that I keep, my attitude has really changed and I FEEL COMPLETE. I've even noticed a change in my children and husband. It's something that I've always known, how mom feels is how the rest of the family feels... but, this isn't only a change in my life, it changes how my children look at things and hopefully will represent the way that they choose to rear their children.

For the past... oh 8 or 9 days, every time something bad happens, be it bad news in the mail, kids fussing, bad neighbors doing illegal things and getting away with it, or just a gloomy, muggy day - like today- I jot down 3 things that are good that have came out of it. It may even be that I take out an old receipt from my purse and scribble down a thought or two.

For instance, when the cat situation happened (Long story short - Evil neighbor, lured innocent house cat (illegal), dumped far away (also illegal) and is not ashamed by her actions) it seemed as though no one would listen. It's not like we're the "cat people", we have 2. They're indoor. They snuck out one night. Loved it. She didn't.

One night, after the cat napping!, I was sitting there thinking... Is that okay? Can someone just take something that's yours (or in this case ReAnna's) and dump it somewhere and it's okay? If that's the case I could take all of the neighbors' barking K9's and ship them to the Reservoir.. So, I decided to call around and see what I could find out. Well, the police know nothing. We printed up the codes for them! They tell us to contact Humane Society. HS says call Sheriff. Sheriff is township, not city. They say call cops. That ticked off my mother, who happens to be more passionate about this cause than I am and she's contacted code enforcement (who never got back with us). Then, that guys secretary got tired of him not calling us back and gave mom the name and number of the City Manager! So, now they, too are on the case. Apparently, if it gets resolved a lot of folks may or may not get into some trouble for not doing their jobs. All I wanted was someone to at least give her a warning and say she can't lure pets with food and trap them. Sheesh!

Well, after being emotional about this for too long, I decided to be positive... First of all, we rescued the kitten that had been coming around for fear that she, too, may be dumped (and of course, I became hero to the children who have been driving me insane with wanting her since she showed up). And she is just a doll! The sweetest personality of any cat. When we let her in for the first time, she went right into the litter box, so we think that she was probably dumped in our woods, like so many of the strays over here. Secondly, it's made us appreciate the pets that we do have. We don't think of them as a burden (not that we didn't enjoy them, you've heard the stories) but a privilege to care for them and give them a loving home. #3 positive feeling was now our neighbor avoids us like the plague! It may not seem too positive to you, but we've dealt with her bad attitude and dislike for our children for the last 7 years. It's so nice to go outside and completely be ignored! It avoids that awkward tension experienced when you had to find something polite to say quickly without it seeming made up.

Also, as far as my husband being laid off and injured... though I thought for a long time of all of the negative things, I failed to see the positive. How we've received help from assistance programs, the time spent together - virtually stress free, having a helper around the house, getting projects done that have been ignored for years!, and who doesn't like the smell of coffee brewing and bacon in the skillet. My husband happens to be the absolute best bacon maker ever! He gets them so perfect. Chewy throughout. Mine are burnt in some spots and raw in others. UGH! We've been able to do our bible studies much more thoroughly and draw closer to Jehovah as a family. In fact the hard thing that I dealt with in trying to think of three positive things was that I couldn't limit it to just 3 things. There were so many wonderful things that have come out of this situation.

These are just a couple of my situations that I've changed my thought process on, but I have a notebook that's filling very fast, and you get the idea. I've even found that things that normally would irk me, don't. Like, if I don't feel it's important enough to take out my pen, I just let it fly!

I have so many books, bill books, budgeting and finance, self-help... Wouldn't it be great if others told me their stories and I put them together with mine? ....I'd like to have a book like that.