Mission Complete

Casey's wedding cake turned out just fab. I was very pleased with the end result and must give props to the mother-of-the-bride, Nancy, who was also the florist---the fresh flowers really made the cake all that!


The groom's cake was funny (it's a traffic ticket...evidently he's had a few)...and a booger to pipe tiny wording...I'm not into putting things on cake like those "edible" images that you can print from a computer...but it sure would have been easier than this!
I sure wish I could be a fly on the wall at the wedding receptions I do...just curious about peoples' reactions to what I consider my artwork...that, and of course I'd like to have a piece of cake!

Smile Makers--for me anyway...

• My little nieces Naomi & Stella thinking that standing up is the only way to play on their sit-n-spin!
• Kai's giggle
• Elena's true-blue sparklely eyes
• One of my best friends wants to giggle when her yoga instructor tells her to "envision looking out your third eye" or other very serious things when doing a pose.
• acne.org -- Seriously, 6 months after discovering this site, my skin is clearer than it was before puberty hit! Evidently hormones can also go wack-o on ya after 30...or maybe after babies...or maybe both. But I'm smiling now.
• Daylilies
• That my mom has a 46 lb. bulldog. In the house. Along w/a mini-wiener dog, 2 cats, 2 teenagers and one almost teenager. I smile because it is her, not me. (Sorry Mom!)
• Allergy medicine
• Going out for Chinese with Eric last night. W/o kiddos!
• Our church's permission to use the coolest tree of life logo (its the logo in the background behind Dei).
• Keeping up with my laundry
• The thought of maybe having another baby...next year? Maybe. Guess it depends on the day whether that makes me smile or not.
• Snuggling under the blankets on crisp almost-fall mornings with the windows open.
  

Cutie Patooties

My sisters have both posted some cute pictures of my nieces lately. Click here to see Jodi's girlies and here to see Pud's munchkin!

Cake-o-rama!

It's wedding week around here again and today is baking day. It's only 2 p.m. & I'm wiped. I've baked a 9x13 sheet cake, 2 6" layers, 2 9" layers and then two 12" layers...the last one baking now. Besides that, we've done "school", had a tea party, played ISpy Memory and the kids have kept me hoppin' doing mommy things like disciplining fits, fights and cleaning up accidents of several varieties. Aaaack!

The GOOD thing in all this craziness today is that I've been cleaning as I go so my kitchen is practically spotless besides the giant stack of wrapped cake layers on cooling racks in one corner...whooo---hoooo! This is a momentous feat for moi! I guess you could say that I've given up on the magic kitchen fairy who I wish would clean up after me and donned my own set of wings.

Well, wish me luck the next couple days as I assemble and decorate this cake...hoping it turns out as beautiful as the picture the bride gave me (not anything like the cheesy clip art I put here)! For sure the 3 tiers of Dark Chocolate Almond cake filled with chocolate hazelnut mousse and iced with cream cheese frosting will be one rich & yummy delight...now if only I could eat some myself..........

J.O.B.'s

Edits in bold: Denise's comment made me remember more jobs...sure glad her dad was willing to employ me!

The jobs I've had in my relatively short life are varied (well, Eric says they're lame)...some are pretty funny...and none as rewarding or as adventurous as my current career of wife & mommy! These are in reverse chrono order...as best as I can remember:

1. Mommy & Household Manager
2. Cake Artist
3. Transcriptionist (thankfully, this contract fell apart after 1 month, it wasn't much fun)
4. Mortgage Processor
5. Insurance Claims Assistant (i.e. file girl)
6. Substitute Teacher (I actually liked Jr. Hi over HS & elementary--I'd never seen so much snot in my life!)
7. Office Organizer (this was a 2-day contract job)
8. Financial Services Business Development Officer (my "marketing career" job...I guess it put to use my degree for a while--still had to stuff envelopes though...gag!)
9. Office Assistant (@ various temporary assignments)
10. Retail Sales Area Supervisor (I sold dresses & sportsware)
11. Mary Kay Lady (I was a woman on a mission with a passion and a vision...for about a week. Then I was a woman with a lot of make up to sell and nobody who wanted to buy it and my honey wasn't happy with my credit card balance!)
12. Administrative Assistant @ Coca-Cola (another temp job)
13. Summer Nanny (these little girls are all grown up now!)
14. Office Assistant @ a public radio station (my boring college job--how do YOU like bulk mail? Well, labeling it is less fun.)
15. Income Tax Return Proofreader for H&R Block during tax time (great people to work with, hardest job EVER for a person who is NOT task-oriented!)
16. Waitress @ a Mexican Restaurant (much fun college job--still miss Antonio's)
17. Orientation Leader for College Freshmen
18. Waitress @ a small town cafe (would you like your tea in your glass or on your lap...oh, I'm sorry)
19. Office Assistant @ a small roofing company (out of the owners' trailer house...that was interesting as I paid bills with money that wasn't there)
20. Burger Flipper & Ice Cream server Extraordinaire @ Bob & Ella's (this was my High School job--great memories here & Jo worked here through HS too)
21. Golf Ball Picker-upper at a driving range (okay, it was in the field behind my house--Jo & I got paid by the bucket of balls)
22. Poop Scooper at a dog kennel (ye-ah, MOM signed Jo & I up for that one!)
23. House Cleaning Lady (after the lady said she didn't have a toilet bowl scrubber and just used a paper towl...I don't think I came back!)
24. Summer Babysitter (those kids were nuts--& all I wanted to do was talk on the phone, watch Y&R & practice my cheer routines...rah, rah, rah!)
25. Bowling Alley League Babysitter (I watched the rug rats in the bowling ball locker room while Mom bowled on Monday nights at Cheney Lanes)

Okay...well, that wasn't toooo many, was it? Just for fun.

Fav Song

"Be Thou My Vision" is one of my favorite songs. I found the following video on another blog site after googling the title for Kai. We sing one of his lullabys to the tune w/lyrics from the last verse of "Away In A Manger"--he wanted to hear it this afternoon. Please enjoy!

Planning

I always liked the beginning of each new school year. New pencils, new crayons, new TrapperKeeper, new clothes, new teacher....yaddax3. Now I'm 11 years removed from the last time I began a new school year. Yikes...that makes me sound old. Oh yeah...I IS old!

So now it's time for my munchkins to experience the whole 'new year of school' thing...but with a twist as we are homeschooling. Granted it's just pre-school for now, and to them just an extension of what we already do each day with reading and games and coloring etc...but I still want it to be special! So today I spent the afternoon planning out what our weeks *hopefully* will look like. Eric took one look at my meticulously wrote out plan and scoffed "So when are you doing all your running around? I'll bet you'll keep to this for maybe one week." Ah-ha, a challenge...guess I'll have to prove him wrong and stick to it for at least a week and a half...maybe even 2 weeks!

Seriously though, I purposely planned with lots of wiggle room...and school is only 2 mornings a week this year so I think just having a schedule wrote down will help us stay on track if things start rolling out of control. For now, this is a picture of me, relaxed and ready to embark on a our new homeschooling adventure. Maybe in a couple months this picture will change into a crazy psycho woman. But I doubt it. Oh, and in case you wondering why I rambled through all this...I really just wanted a new picture for my profile and thought I'd give myself some therapeutic blogging time. TTFN!